The unluckiest route 13

Tuesday 2nd April 2024

It’s not often a bus service has to succumb to a 10 mile diversion due to a road closure resulting in half its route and two villages left unserved for up to six months.

That’s what happened when Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks embarked on its multi-million pound “Alton-Bordon Network Investment” project in February, installing over 11 miles of new cable for the expanding town of Bordon with a consequent need to close the B3004 (south of Alton) along which the cable is being laid.

As the map below shows, there are also other road closures throughout the area during 2024 to faciliate the work.

But add to that a second unconnected road closure on the B3349 (north of Alton) due to roadworks and resurfacing making the other half of the bus route inaccessible with a second 12 mile diversion and more communities left isolated and it’s pertinent to ask whether the route actually exists any longer.

It’s like the proverbial broom having both its brush head and handle replaced. Does the original broom exist?

It’s exactly what happened to Stagecoach South’s route 13 during the last two weeks of March completely disrupting its normal hourly timetable between Basingstoke, Alton and Whitehill/Bordon .

I was alerted to the first long term road closure necessitating the 10 mile diversion between Alton and Whitehill/Bordon by blog reader Steve. This disruption began in early February with an expected completion in August once the new power cable has been installed along much of the B3004.

Steve lives in the village of Selborne on the B3006 (bottom centre of the map above) which, ignoring school/college journeys, normally enjoys just three journeys a day on the infrequent route 38 between Alton and Petersfield. Steve describes the route as “a pretty useless service, as it tends not to connect with the train service at Alton, and returns as soon as it gets there, meaning shoppers have to wait some 3 hours for a return journey. Because of this it is, naturally, lightly used apart from schoolchildren.”

So, imagine his joy on suddenly gaining an hourly bus service on the diverted 13 between Alton and Bordon serving Selborne as well as providing a new direct link to Basingstoke for villagers. Concerned that Stagecoach hadn’t promoted this new bonus bus service he took it upon himself to include details on the village Facebook page and “alerted as many people as possible”.

Steve contacted me seeking advice how he could persuade Stagecoach and Hampshire County Council to consider making an arrangement similar to this diversion a permanent feature of the Hampshire bus network.

He suggested running a 13A and 13B alternately on a clockwise/anti-clockwise loop via the normal route to Bordon and continuing back to Alton on the diversionary route (and vice versa) thereby serving all communities and enabling route 38 to be cut back – which he points out costs the County Council over £100,000 to fund each year. Selborne Parish Council has backed Steve’s proposal and are passing it on to Stagecoach, East Hants District Council, Hampshire County Council and the South Downs National Park, all of which have an interest in promoting better buses.

Steve invited me to pay a visit to the area to see for myself the merits of his proposal and when I was planning a trip looking at Stagecoach’s website over the weekend before Easter I was intrigued to see route 13 was subject to the second diversion for six working days spread over two weeks.

It was too good an opportunity to miss to have a look at the impact all this disruption was having.

To try and explain what was happening as I took a ride on route 13 last week, on the Wednesday before Easter, here’s a map showing the normal route (marked in yellow) and the two diversions (marked in green) – A for the long term diversion and B for the two week diversion.

As you can see, aside from serving the bus station in Basingstoke, a few bus stops in Alton and the Bordon and Whitehill area, the route is completely different due to the extensive road closures.

I tried to find out what was happening for those communities on the normal route of the 13 and who were cut off by the diversions. As far as I can tell residents of North Warnborough, Odiham and South Warnborough (between Basingstoke and Alton) lost out completely for the six days of road closure B with no replacement provided. And just to add to the confusion, the driver I travelled with on Wednesday told me the previous day (Tuesday before Easter) the road was open, as it had been the previous weekend, only to be closed again on the Wednesday and an expectation it would be closed yet again on Thursday. I guess the wet weather was playing havoc with the resurfacing.

Residents of East Worldham and Kingsley (between Alton and Bordon) on the long term diversion A have fared better by the provision of a four-journey a day minibus between Alton and Bordon avoiding the road closure by taking very narrow roads as a diversion. It was a devil of a job trying to find out about this. There’s nothing on the Stagecoach website other than the reference you can see above to “Hampshire County Council and Scottish and Southern Electric are in discussion regarding any replacement service for customers in this area”, which isn’t exactly helpful if you want to find out further details and actually travel by bus.

There’s nothing on the Scottish and Southern Electric dedicated webpage for the project nor could I find anything by searching Hampshire County Council’s website. Its Journey Planner simply takes you to Google maps which suggests walking to Kingsley and showing no public transport to East Worldham.

Undeterred I gave the Community Contact Number for Scottish and Southern Electric’s Alton-Bordon Network Investment Project a ring and having explained my query a couple of times was advised I’d receive a call back when the person had found out the information.

In the meantime I rang Kingsley Parish Council to see what they knew but got the impression a replacement bus service wasn’t high on Pam, the Parish Clerk’s, list of priorities just advising me a bus would run at the times shown on the bus stop, which wasn’t very helpful for a non resident of KIngsley wanting to visit the village.

Then I got a call back from the Community Contact Number with news that an eight seater minibus was providing a free to use limited number of journeys funded by Scottish and Southern Electric Networks. The person kindly emailed me the details. Sadly this information only came to light after I’d returned home from my Wednesday trip so I headed back over to Alton again on Thursday to sus out this minibus replacement service.

Here’s what I found.

On Wednesday I caught the 09:40 departure from Basingstoke bus station on route 13. The bus didn’t come on stand until 09:42 and by the time the driver had explained four times to a confused passenger he wasn’t able to take her to Odiham due to roadworks it was 09:47 when we got going with four on board.

It was then a non-stop journey along the normally bus-less A339 to Alton. It felt very ‘express bus’ like as we made good progress along a fast flowing road.

The tracking map on bustimes.org showed us, and one of the other three buses on the route heading towards us, off the normal line of route but for the longer term diversion the timetable, route and map has been updated to show the changed route.

As we entered Alton we regained the normal route and picked up one passenger with a need to wait a few minutes as we’d obviously got well ahead of the normal schedule even having left five minutes late.

All four Basingstoke passengers alighted in Alton with four new boarders and having waited a further six minutes until 10:26 we began the second diversion.

The B3006 is not as fast a road as the A339 having less road width and making passing other large vehicles a bit tricky…

… but we still made good non-stop progress.

There are also some pinch points in the village of Selborne where the road narrows in several places.

No one else boarded or alighted until we reached the Whitehill turning circle at 10:53, seven minutes ahead of the revised timetable and where we were due to depart at 11:05.

The passenger who’d boarded as we approached Alton alighted and seven students bound for Alton College boarded.

The route then circles the expanding community of Bordon before heading back on the diversion to Alton.

Our four Alton passengers alighted as we circled round Bordon where we also picked up an impressive 21, mostly students, making for quite a busy return journey.

As we approached Selborne a passenger was waiting to board so Steve’s work had paid off. In Alton High Street seven alighted and nine boarded with three more getting on at the Church Street bus stop.

16 students alighted at Alton College with two more passengers boarding, after which it was non-stop back to Basingstoke with 17 on board who all alighted at the bus station as we arrived at 12:22, 13 minutes early.

Meanwhile the following day I was back in Alton to take a ride on the 12:35 minibus replacement for the 13 via the villages of East Worldham and Kingsley between Alton and Bordon/Whitehill.

I was a bit sceptical whether it would actually run, especially as I’d arrived in time to see the previous journey due into Alton at 11:24, but it turned out to be a no show.

After 70 minutes exploring Alton in the pouring rain 12:35 finally arrived. There was no timetable displayed at any of the bus stops in the High Street but I guessed the minibus would depart from the southbound stop used by buses on the 13.

A couple of passengers were waiting in the shelter both admitting they’d missed the 12:26 route 13 for Bordon. I told them I thought a minibus would be coming for Bordon very soon but I may have imparted my scepticism as the female wandered off into Boots opposite the bus stop.

12:35 came and went with no minibus and then at 12:37 a grey 19 seat Mercedes (a Mercedes 515CDI / Optare Soroco to be precise) operated by Cresta Coaches of Alresford duly appeared. It didn’t have any route board or destination showing but it was pretty obvious to me this was what I’d been waiting for.

Mick, the driver, gave a friendly welcoming smile and was amenable to me checking Boots over the road to see if I could find the Bordon bound passenger. Sadly I couldn’t so we left with just me on board as the other passenger in the shelter seemed disinterested.

The vehicle is usually a Peugeot eight seater but Mick does the duty on a Thursday with this 19 seater and very nice it was to ride in too.

We passed numerous Road Closed Ahead signs as we headed east along the deserted B3004…

… and arriving at the Three Horshoes on the western side of East Worldham…

… we had to turn on to the diversion and it soon became obvious why a smaller minibus is more appropriate to use.

Not only was the road very narrow …

… but in places it was almost river like …

… due to the amount of rain that had fallen in recent weeks and days and was continuing in the same vein as we drove on.

It took 28 minutes to reach the Whitehill turning circle (the 13 took 27 minutes on its diversion) and I spotted a timetable in the bus stop frame similar to one Mick had displayed in front of him in the driving seat (shown earlier).

Bus stops in the Kingsley area seemed to be displaying this too but I got the impression awareness is very low and Mick confirmed he seldom carries anyone and I’d been the only passenger on Thursday as we headed back to Alton.

As the months go by and residents of Selborne get used to their new hourly bus route on the 13 while those living in East Worldham and Kingsley become accustomed to being bus-less, apart from the limited minibus option, Steve’s suggestion of serving all communities may well have some merit.

However it could prove confusing for passengers on the circuit in Bordon with differing times to get to know on alternate hours and catching the bus on different sides of the road bound for Alton and Basingstoke.

Although that’s not widely different to the new world of AI generated timetables some operators are raving about as being ‘the future’.

Roger French

Blogging timetable: 06:00 TThS

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