Thursday 29th August 2024
I took a ride on Stagecoach South East’s route 100 last year and blogged about it at the time. It turned out to be the inspiration for this year’s fortnightly series.
While enjoying the East Sussex scenery between Hastings and Rye last summer, it set me wondering how many other bus routes used the iconic number 100 and after a bit of research, aside from school routes, sightseeing tours and summer only specials, I established there are 26, hence featuring one every fortnight this year. Interestingly this weekend see’s the withdrawal of two route 100s already featured – the Onslow Park & Ride in Guildford and as mentioned last time, Preston’s route 100 will be no more, being replaced by two other routes in a mini network reorganisation in the city.
Before this summer’s over for another year I thought it appropriate to return to East Sussex for another coastal bus ride on that county’s route 100, so here we are again.
A few weeks after I made the journey between Hastings’ Conquest Hospital and Rye in August 2023, Stagecoach reorganised its routes in the area with route 100 extended to Camber and over the county border into Kent, continuing to Lydd and New Romney with a compensating cut back in route 102 which was shortened to run from Lydd to Dover instead of its previous western terminus of Rye.
Closely associated route 101 continues to operate between Hastings and Rye via Fairlight and both that and the 100 are hourly with the 102 half hourly (every 15 minutes further east between Hythe and Dover).
On Sundays the 101 is extended at both ends of its route, northwards to Conquest Hospital in Hastings and eastwards from Rye to Lydd and New Romney and as both the 100 and 101 run two-hourly to a coordinated timetable, it makes for an hourly frequency on common sections of route.
Trying to work all that out just from the timetables is not easy especially if you want to make a connection between the 100 and 102 in Lydd (or New Romney) to make a journey, say, from Rye to Folkestone for example, which prior to September 2023 had the direct route 102. Without intimate knowledge of where the timing points are located and which different routes between Lydd and New Romney are taken, it’s impossible to be sure what you’re doing …. which is all building up to saying …. please Stagecoach, resurrect the lovely network map you used to produce showing your bus routes in Kent and East Sussex. There are now now no maps at all, which makes things so much harder to work out where routes go. In that absence here’s my rough guide to what goes where.
Journey time from Conquest Hospital to New Romney is one hour 53 minutes (two hours for the return) making it the second longest route 100 (Compass Bus has the longest)
There’s minimal layover time at both ends of the route with two minutes at Conquest Hospital and four minutes in New Romney but buses have a 10 minute break in Rye in both directions (and perhaps some at Hastings bus station too – although none is shown in the timetable).
Four double deck buses are needed for this route 100 with ADL Enviro400s from Silverhill garage in Hastings, and I noticed very few now carry the Wave branding, once a big feature of the route and still displayed on bus stop plates.
I took a trip on the route after I’d sampled the inaugural journey on Stagecoach’s new route 500 from Ashford to Camber at the end of July. With hindsight it wasn’t the best date to choose as New Romney was having its annual Country Fayre that day which involved a parade along the main Dymchurch Road (A259) through the town during the morning causing traffic delays and diversions.
However, the bus I was catching – the 11:14 from Camber across to New Romney escaped that mayhem as it was coming eastwards from Hastings at the time, but nevertheless still didn’t arrive (with eight passengers on board) until 11:27, 13 minutes late due to slow traffic through Rye. By Lydd Camp we were 17 minutes late and struggling through the congested traffic and crowds enjoying the Fayre in New Romney…
… meaning an arrival at the terminus in a small industrial estate in Collins Road at 12:05, 24 minutes after the scheduled 11:39.
The driver made a call to the depot to let them know he was way behind schedule but told them he’d carry on through until Silverhill where he was scheduled to come off, so we set off joining the slow moving queue of traffic into…
… and through, New Romney again.
By the time we reached Lydd we were half an hour late and you could sense the frustration from passengers as they boarded – we had about 15 on board – having endured such a long wait on a very hot sunny day. Lovely for those enjoying the Country Fayre but not so good for those wanting to catch late running buses.
We carried on across the southern edges of Romney Marsh, along the coast through Camber, which fortunately was free flowing that day, but has a notorious reputation for delays…
… and hit the outskirts of Rye at 12:47 where we encountered more slow moving queuing traffic through this delightful East Sussex coastal town.
We finally arrived on to the stands in front of Rye railway station at 13:00 and any hope of making up a bit of time by forgoing the 10 minutes scheduled layover sunk when I saw the queue of passengers waiting at the bus stop.
However, it turned out almost all were waiting for the 13:00 eastbound departure for Camber, Lydd and New Romney…
… which was also running behind schedule and so we got away with just a few passengers boarding and left at 13:03 – but still 27 minutes late. And so it remained with more passengers boarding on the route as we continued through Winchelsea – complete with its hairpin bend…
…. Icklesham, Guestling Green and Ore until we hit more slow moving traffic in Hastings…
… and finally arrived at the bus station in front of the railway station at 13:49, still half an hour late, and after the departure time from Conquest Hospital for the bus’s next return journey (13:45).
Having sampled the route up to the Conquest on my trip last summer, and having been on the bus for two hours and 12 minutes by then, I decided to call it a day and leave the soon to be relieved driver to take the few remaining passengers up to the Hospital. And it wouldn’t have surprised me if the journey back from Conquest into town was cut to try and recoup some of the delayed time.
A couple pf points of interest for railway buffs on the route include New Romney station on the Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch Railway…
… and a rather forlorn looking Lydd Town station (1937-1967) on the freight line out to Dungeness (whch joins the Ashford-Rye line at Appledore) – I don’t think it’ll be reopening any time soon.
So, in summary. A busy day for the 100 thanks to lovely weather, a Fayre in New Romney, lots of passengers wanting to travel between Rye and Camber, lots of traffic to contend with, not least in New Romney, Rye and Hastings making an hourly frequency feel a bit like under provision at times, but I can imagine on a day with foul weather and no outdoor activities it could be rather barren and desolate on much of the journey.
It was great to meet up and chat with blog reader Paul on the journey between Camber and Rye. Many thanks for introducing yourself Paul.
And finally, in case anyone with a good memory was also wondering if that open-top shelter I spotted in Ore on last year’s trip had been repaired … it had been taken away. Saves the bother, I suppose.
Roger French
Did you catch the other seventeen ‘Every route 100’ blogs so far? Here’s 1 of 26 (Stevenage-Hitchin) 2 of 26 (Crawley-Redhill), 3 of 26 (Lincoln-Scunthorpe), 4 of 26 (Glasgow-Riverside Museum), 5 of 26 (Campbeltown local), 6 of 26 (Guildford’s Onslow Park & Ride), 7 of 26 (Warrington-Manchester), 8 of 26 Chatham-St Mary’s Island, 9 of 26 St Paul’s-Wapping, 10 of 26 Syston-Melton Mowbray, 11 of 26 Wellington-Telford Sutton Hill, 12 of 26 Hanley-Stone, 13 of 26 Burgess Hill-Horsham, 14 of 26 Aylesbury-Milton Keynes, 15 Pontypridd-Royal Glamorgan Hospital, 16 Barry circular, 17 Farringdon Park-Larches (Preston).
Blogging timetable: 06:00 TThS with Summer Su extras including the last this Sunday for this summer, before reverting back to the winter blogging timetable.
Comments on today’s blog are welcome but please keep them relevant to the blog topic, avoid personal insults and add your name (or an identifier). Thank you.
BusAndTrainUser 
The A259 is notorious for bottlenecks, some man-made! On one of my recent East Sussex jaunts the Stagecoach Route 99 was “precarious” owing to roadworks and temporary road signals just to the west of Little Common. I did get from Eastbourne to Bexhill for my JDW visit but the bus was only going as far as Glynde Gap. After my JDW visit in Bexhill I needed to run for my return Route 99 bus as it was stationary at a stop in Sackville Road. Plans for a leisurely extended visit to Bexhill sea front needed to be shelved. A 99 in the hand is better than two in a bush
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I’ve enjoyed travelling on buses in “Kent and Sussex” for nigh on 50 years which nowadays includes the Unitary authorities of Medway and Brighton.
Maps (“pocket Bus Times” to you and me) are the introduction to a route network. In this part of the world Medway’s online map shines above the rest having every stop named including those the Isle of Grain.
The Countyvisation of Public Transport has led to planning a journey crossing between counties being a challange due to small minded thinking that needs national intervention at pace.
Buses aren’t as fast as they used to be, not my words those of a lady sitting opposite me on a red and cream Brighton Scania.
It is a sad indictment of the industry that I feel relieved when seeing a hoard of people that don’t want to “catch the bus” I’m on.
On Tuesday I used similar cross county route 29 to attend the “Catch the Bus” event in Brighton. The queue outside the Opera House in Tunbridge Wells said here’s the Brighton bus as a red and cream Gemini came into sight.
This also lost over 30 minutes in part due to excessive boarding times caused by customers being unaware/uninformed of the travel products to facilitate their journeys.
I wonder how many people in your photograph catching the bus in Rye actually knew when their bus was coming let alone being ready to board.
You can tell in an instant how open a bus company is to feedback by the visibility, size and message of their feedback sign.
Really good bus companies have money back guarantees.
Railways have Delay Repay, mind you if I claimed for every time my train was late I’d be a millionaire by now!
What are actually required is innovative solutions that place the passenger/customer/user at the heart of delivering buses as a punctual mode of transport.
John Nicholas
Despite the delay I arrived in time for the Catch the Bus event but I didn’t get to wave a red hand. Better luck next time!
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Excessive boarding times and very slow journeys are unfortunately very much the norm these days on Brighton & Hove, even on the city services. The issue seems to be that drivers are expected to indulge the time-wasters by engaging in long conversations, instead of just banging out £2 singles and getting on with the journey. It would help on routes such as the 12 and 28/29 if timetable leaflets were available on the buses but they aren’t as a rule.
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As a London resident it amazes me just how slow boarding is on many “provincial” buses. And it’s become even more crazy now there is close to a flat fare system across much of the country.
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And I find passenger boarding in London slower than most other European cities. So tourists using a provincial British bus must find it unbearable!
AB
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London has it spot on, I haven’t noticed any particular delay in boarding a London bus, apart from when people have occasional problems with their cards, or they’re using a phone and it doesn’t pick it up first time, even moreso when they had the makeshift covid seals around the machines, thankfully most are removed.
In provincial bus land, there seems to be a lot of variation amongst how they operate, some ask for the destination, others don’t. Some issue a ticket, others don’t. There is no consistency. You’re right, it’s all very slow though.
In my local area (Surrey), they use the Ticketer machines which seem awfully slow as it seems the driver has to ring in a ticket to a destination, then get a payment, the machine defaults to cash (why, in 2024 is this the default?!) and then you have to faff with taking the card off the reader whilst they switch the payment option, and put your card down again and out comes the ticket. Woe betide you if you’re an impatient phone hoverer, you’ll get the bleeps of death and a groan from the driver and passengers alike.
I can only surmise the asking for the destination is for the bus operator’s own data to get trends in where the most/least popular journeys and tickets are.
Chris.
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London is fairly good.
But in many continental European cities, buses often have two or three doors where people can enter and not have to go to the driver.
I also find double-deckers not particularly good at peak times, with many people crammed in the lower deck, as many are unable to or unwilling to go upstairs if they are making short journeys.
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I had recent trips to Brighton and Eastbourne and there were timetables on both the Coaster and Regency routes.
People are posting about delays from boarding but this clearly wasn’t the issue on Roger’s journeys. He had a three minute stop at Rye for passengers; it was traffic congestion.
Bus priority is perhaps deliverable in major cities and towns but in the wilds of Rye, Lydd and Camber Sands…
BW2
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Yet again, Stagecoach have re-organised the 100-102 road. I have lost count of the times the service has been split at either Rye or Lydd, but with summer road traffic they have little alternative but keep having to adjust. There was a period when the through Hastings service was diverted completely away from Camber at times, and ran via Brenzett, leaving Lydd to be served by the more local Dover/Folkestone journeys. Rather restricted travel for those enjoying a holiday at Pontins camp. And who can forget the amazing and typically “Stagecoach under the Souters”, de-regulation at it’s best, hourly express 711 Dover-Brighton which overlaid the stopping services in the mid 1990s. Sadly, a repeat impossible nowadays for numerous reasons.
They do seem to be clued up and alive to late running, as I notice vehicles get switched off/on from other routes thus commencing on time (mostly) from Silverhill, but of course only if the Driver taking over hasn’t come off late from a previous spell elsewhere! It must be a nightmare for the Detailers.
Terence Uden
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It’ll never get past the accountants, of course, but what about adding a bus into the cycle, with decent recovery times at each terminal? One wonders how much revenue is lost from passengers waiting for 15 minutes and giving up, when the bus may only be another five minutes away?
Perhaps a Summer and Winter timetable? Another planner’s solution that seems to have been lost in the mists of time.
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Often reading one of Roger’s blog posts feels like being present on the journey but on this occasion I actually was. It didn’t take long to realise someone in front of me was checking operational aspects & taking note of numbers boarding & alighting. Stuck in traffic approaching Rye was an opportune moment to introduce myself. Little did I expect to get a mention in the blog but thank you, Roger.
A few points regarding connections between route 100 & 102. Connections are poor, even if buses are on time, & casual observations suggest few passengers are changing between buses at Lydd or New Romney. The 102 runs half-hourly daily between Dover & New Romney Westbound, where it effectively becomes two routes.
One runs directly to Lydd Camp via Hammond’s Corner. The other runs via Greatstone to terminate at Lydd on Sea, Pilot for most journeys with only three mid-evening trips extended to Lydd, Monday to Saturday. No 102 journeys link Lydd with Lydd on Sea/Greatstone towards Dover at any time. The cumulative effect is to reduce journey opportunities with a corresponding slump in patronage.
I have suggested to Stagecoach a loop operation be considered, in both directions, to re-connect Lydd with Lydd on Sea/Greatstone. It would restore some direct links & improve connections with route 100. Some positive remedial action is needed along with helpful local maps showing connection points between services.
Paul D
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The invidious impact of too many cars is sad to see and obviously doesn’t help bus services or their passengers. How many who tried to use the bus on that day will now no longer bother. They’ll stick to the car or may even buy one for the first time thus making the problem worse. Modal shift is an uphill battle in Britain. Even London has far higher car use than it should. Most car journeys in London are for a mile or less. Ridiculous! And how can you provide better bus service when traffic is so bad? It would cost a fortune. We need a consensus for steady consistent improvement and a commitment that setbacks shouldn’t lead to a default giving up. It will cost money but add value. And maybe one day we will have the courage to bring in road pricing.
MikeC
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