998: Seen Around

Thursday 31st October 2024 (No 998)

Another month end means it’s time once again to look back on things I’ve spotted on my travels which haven’t made it into a full blown blog. First up some good news from Padstow.

Padstow extends eviction deadline to April 2025

Further to last Thursday’s blog a lively meeting of Padstow Town Council on Tuesday attended by 34 members of the public to discuss the bus stop issue saw the Council postpone the November deadline to next April to allow for discussions with Cornwall Council and Go Cornwall Bus. A joint “letter of intent” was sent to the Town Council acknowledging “the issues and their intention in working collaboratively with Padstow Town Council” to resolve them. The Town Council Chair “appreciates the commitment and wants to move forward in a constructive and collaborative way.  It is disappointing that it has taken this long to get to this point but consider the Letter of Intent a “reset” and one that myself and my Council welcome.  We look forward to working together.” Hallelujah. Let’s hope a lovely new ‘transport hub’ is the result.

Riding around East Riding

Following my three-bus “X-rated bus riding” in Kent six months ago I did a similar three-bus circular trip last weekend in East Yorkshire. It’s a lovely part of the country and East Yorkshire’s buses always look so attractive in their smart red and cream based livery, especially alongside the rather corporate style of Stagecoach’s colour scheme in Hull.

From Hull I took route 24 which heads north-eastwards to the coastal resort of Hornsea. It runs roughly every 90 minutes on weekdays and two-hourly on Sundays. However, the good news is from 11th November the weekday frequency improves to hourly. The not so good news is on Sunday the bus operating the journey I was catching, 14:15 from Hull, didn’t arrive from its previous journey until 14:25 (25 minutes late). After a driver change and a wash and brush up from a cleaner, we left 15 minutes late at 14:30.

The bus terminates at the closed down East Yorkshire bus garage on Cliff Road in Hornsea. It turned out to be a rather bleak and desolate place to wait for a bus…

… alongside the boarded up former Travel Office and a small bus shelter with no information or signage at all. You wouldn’t know four bus routes continue to terminate there.

From Hornsea I took single deck route 129 along the coast to Withernsea.

This week the timetable includes four southbound journeys and five northbound (four on Sundays) but oddly, from next week the number of southbound journeys decrease to just three on Mondays to Saturdays but remain at four on Sundays. Northbound reduces to four which applies daily. On Sunday I caught the last of the four southbound journeys (16:20 from Hornsea) which left with eight on board but they all alighted at two of the many holiday parks along the route within the first 25 minutes with just me on board for the remaining 40 minutes to Withernsea and a very friendly driver.

After an overnight stay in Withernsea including admiring the long standing East Yorkshire bus garage still functioning in the resort, I caught an early morning journey on Monday morning on hourly route X7 which links the resort with Hull alongside parallel hourly route 75 which takes the same route except for including a deviation to serve Burstwick.

The 07:00 from Withernsea carried a good number of commuters heading to work in Hull but as it was a school holiday we made good progress without traffic delays which I assume plague it on schooldays as despite leaving Withernsea five minutes late we arrived into Hull’s Paragon Interchange 15 minutes early. Not bad going.

Route 262’s last ever bus goes AWOL in Ashdown Forest

Earlier this month East Sussex County Council announced its subsidised Saturday only route 262 between Uckfield and Hartfield via the lovely Ashdown Forest (close to the iconic Pooh Bridge) was ending last Saturday, 26th October “due to insufficient funding and low passenger numbers”.

I still have fond memories of the journey I took on the route eight years ago in 2016 so thought I’d give it one last ride on Saturday before last, 19th October.

Except it didn’t work out. After waiting over 15 minutes in Uckfield I gave up and with no reply from ringing the bus operator Wealdlink (North Wealden Community Transport) I gave them another call on Monday to find out what had happened only to be told “as only one passenger regularly uses the route” they’d already withdrawn the route as “it wasn’t worth running” despite still promoting the service on its website, including the timetable.

Elsewhere I did find a note confirming they’d stopped running the service at the beginning of August…..(update)… which as someone in the comments has just pointed out was …. August 2023! …. (update on the update) … someone else has added the service was reinstated in a slightly modified form in January 2024 with funding from the Community Rail Partnership which has run out hence its withdrawal again, albeit prematurely.

It’s a pity they didn’t tell the County Council as it was advertised on Bus Times and the County Council’s website last week as running.

It’s also a pity to see it’s demise as it did provide useful links not available from other bus routes as this poster from 2016 demonstrates.

I did let the County Council know and suggested they delete reference to it running on 26th October, but it takes 10 working days to receive a reply so that was a waste of time.

At the time of writing on Wednesday evening, I’ve not had a reply as we’re only at ‘working day’ number eight night, but maybe it’ll come today. It just goes to show you can’t rely on it “all being online”. Because it might not be what’s actually happening.

It did give me an opportunity to take a look at work in hand to revamp Uckfield’s bus station with the installation of new bus shelters which was due to be completed last weekend.

Mayor Johnson’s Tiger Network

When in Cambridge recently for the Young Professionals conference I was intrigued by the odd graphics at the rear of the bus Stagecoach provided for our trip up and down the Busway. Apparently it’s a prototype of what the Mayor envisages will be a franchised network branded as the Tiger Network.

It’ll certainly be worth avoiding the seats at the back of the bus if you enjoying looking out of the windows when travelling.

WESTbus livery

Over in the West of England Mayor Norris has opted for a more sedate branding using the WEST name which has now morphed from its use as WESTlink DRT to a generic WESTbus for tendered bus routes, as seen on a recent visit to Bath.

Newly extended route 375 gets let off the map

Earlier this month I had an enjoyable ride on the recently revamped route 376 from Bristol through Wells and Glastonbury, continuing beyond its previous terminus in Street as a 375 to Bridgwater making for a lengthy three hour end to end journey (and it also extends on to Yeovil as a 376). It was good to see updated timetables were on display at bus stops along the route (shame about route 19 being askew – see above photo) but disappointing that First Bus hasn’t updated the very attractive route map on the wall of Bridgwater bus station.

This still shows the old route pattern with route 376 terminating in Glastonbury and other routes continuing to Bridgwater (75) and Yeovil (77).

Group run coaches

While in Bridgwater I spotted coaches at work from Truronian and Dartline in their well known liveries hiding the fact from their customers and the public that they’re owned by First Bus and the Go-Ahead Group respectively. The two Groups seem to be on a roll to see which can buy the most coach companies with three more being purchased in the last few weeks (Regency Coaches – Go-Ahead and Anderson Travel and Lakeside Coaches – First Group). And on the same theme I was in Grays a couple of weeks ago and noticed First Bus has retained references to Ensignbus being a “top independent operator” on the buses.

I hope the same approach is taken to preserve bus liveries that work well around the country including excel (Peterborough-Norwich), Jurassic (Jurassic coast), Badgerline (Weston-super-Mare), RailAir (Heathrow) and many others including in Cornwall (see below), rather than steamrolling its new corporate livery everywhere. However, judging by a visit to see the new Halifax bus station last weekend the new livery seems to be rolling out much quicker than a standard repaint programme would entail with quite a number of buses seen in the new livery – but not the new logo, as apparently that has to wait until later next month for an official launch.

So these newly liveried buses will have their logos replaced within a matter of weeks. I’m sure passengers are waiting with bated breath.

While on First’s liveries, it’s such a shame to see how far downhill the company’s image has plummeted in Cornwall. When I was there at the end of last month it took me back 15 years or so to the beginning of the 2010s when Western Greyhound was the dominant operator and the image of First was appalling with hand-me-down buses in a tatty state imported from all over the country.

It seems history is repeating itself.

The era of smart new buses providing an excellent image has disappeared. Now there’s a hotch potch of liveries among the green and route branded buses that remain.

When I did see one of those lovely smart liveried buses it was on the wrong route. Doesn’t anyone at Camborne care anymore?

Timetables and opening hours

In more positive news from Cornwall, it was great to see large stocks of the updated Bus Times widely available including in Truro’s bus station waiting room…

… which despite the notice on the door…

… was open on a Saturday, much to the delight of passengers, including myself.

And where else can you find a large display of departure times by service? This is on the wall of the bus station in Truro.

It’s recently been announced First Bus has retained the Truro Park & Ride contract which must obviously be a relief for the company as I assume its bid included a much needed uplift to the profit margin. I hope the new timetable is realistic too…

… as it needed a strong dose of AI adjustments when I saw it on that recent Saturday afternoon.

Passengers were not very happy at the long wait they’d endured for the bus, only to find two turn up together.

And finally, for Cornwall, this formal looking notice on the glass in Truro bus station advised passengers of fare increases from 12th May explaining that inflation and cost increases mean the April 2022 Bus Fares Pilot project can’t be sustained.

I do hope with all the “millions of pounds” the notice quotes passengers as saving, or to put it another way, taxpayers have been paying, means there’ll be a full transparent analysis and report made public on how the Pilot has gone. No? Thought not.

First Great Western lives on in Plymouth

A blast from the past can be found in Plymouth railway station above the subway from the ticket office and gateline to platforms 5, 6, 7 and 8.

Eaglescliffe APT

I was catching a train from Eaglescliffe station a couple of weeks ago and was impressed with the £15 million makeover the station is receiving and which I read about from all the hoardings around the construction areas.

But, what is that train at the top of the image above? Surely it’s not an Advanced Passenger Train that’s going to re-enter service once the station revamp is complete?

It’s got an uncanny resemblance to that most famous of prototypes from 1981.

Missing vinyl

This month’s award for the most glaring missing bus vinyl goes to Go North East for its nearside abomination on a Country Ranger branded bus between Sunderland and Stanley, which having ridden on it didn’t come across to me as a particularly country type of route anyway.

And interestingly, and unusual for a bus these days, it came fitted with a proper three-pin plug socket and on/off switch, as well as two usb slots.

Bus shelter of the month

This month’s unusual bus shelter spot, courtesy of John, is in Henlow Camp, Bedfordshire. The interior foliage is worth seeing too.

Out-of-date notice of the month

Also thanks to John for spotting this poster on the side of a Hemel Hempstead based Arriva bus advertising a “4-WEEKLY SAVER” offering unlimited travel on two routes no longer operated by Arriva and even when they were they had different route numbers. Meanwhile, sadly no-one told Luton Foodbank poster frames inside buses are never in landscape format.

Lakekside ignores TfL

I was intrigued to see Thurrock Council’s real time display feed at Lakeside Shopping Centre bus station completely ignores the fact routes 370 and 372 are TfL bus routes and instead brands them as Arriva and Stagecoach, the contractors. I wonder if TfL approves?

Jump for joy in Basildon bus station

Basildon’s bus station won’t win any awards for architectural brilliance but I had to smile at the efforts to create a positive vibe alongside the shuttered and closed down retail units at the southern end of the concourse.

Sadly these make for a rather depressing entrance to the long line of departure bays.

But more positively, each departure bay used by First Bus has branding either for the local services branded as ‘shuttles’, albeit not on the buses themselves or anywhere else I could see…

… or the more generic Essex Bus. Sadly, also expected to be displaced by the new livery.

And good to see plenty of network maps on display too. More of this please.

Five or 10 coaches?

I was among many confused passengers waiting for the 14:43 GWR train from Bath Spa to Paddington the other day with station staff warning us “this train will be extremely busy as it is only formed of five coaches” and doing a good job at pre-warning us there’d be no seat reservations and to wait in zones 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8. But then as the train approached the sign changed to show 10 coaches and a mystified station announcer told relieved passengers to spread themselves back out along the platform again as the train had magically acquired another five coaches since departing Bristol Temple Meads, so we all did as we were told, to “use the full length of the platform”.

And when the train appeared a few seconds later it was indeed of 10 coaches except a hurried announcement told us the rear five were locked out of use and we should all board the front five prompting much repositioning on the platform again. (It turns out the rear five had a defect and were being taken back to be serviced and fixed in London.)

Seat reservation misinformation

GWR still thinks passengers “must reserve a seat” on the Brighton Main Line. I’m sure it must confuse unfamiliar passengers when booking advanced tickets online from the company’s website.

Blockade at Euston

After my enjoyable ride on route 997 I was coming back south from Birmingham New Street a couple of weeks ago when the 12:21 Avanti West Coast departure to Euston was delayed until 12:55 (problems north of Carlisle) meaning the next train at 12:47 was extremely crowded with passengers sitting on the floor once we left Coventry even though there were a few seats vacant. Despite the conditions on board staff carried out a ticket check although I don’t know whether everyone got checked but when we arrived at Euston we were met at the concourse end of platform 12 by a blockade of about four or five Avanti staff and two BTP officers carrying out a full ticket check further delaying those passengers who’d wanted the 12:21 departure and were already arriving 20 minutes later than they’d wanted. It seems Euston is not only renowned for its stampede to catch a train but also a queue to get out of the place having arrived.

Quite why those carrying out such exercises can’t be more discriminatory to minimise passenger inconvenience is beyond me. In view of the delay passengers had already experienced, that train could easily have been given a miss and another arrival checked instead.

More DRT crazy plaudits

I see Carousel Buses are trumpeting the achievement of carrying 140,000 passenger journeys in the first two years of the High Wycombe based PickMeUp DRT operation. Managing Director Luke Marion told Route One magazine “to have achieved more than 140,000 journeys in the first two years of PickMeUp is a fantastic milestone.”

So let’s do the maths. 140,000 divided by 14 hours a day, 102 weeks, five days a week, and 8 minibuses gives a result of 2.45 passengers per hour. Luke is right. It’s a “fantastic milestone” (for DRT) with most of them languishing at less than two passengers per hour. Steven Broadbent, Buckinghamshire Council’s Cabinet Member for Transport, added “we’re delighted with the success of the PickMeUp service in High Wycombe.”

I just hope Steven is working out where to find the money after year three is up and the £736,000 Rural Mobility Fund from the DfT is all spent.

Left hand drive Rail Replacement Buses

I see Southeastern has fallen into the trap of depicting left hand drive buses to advertise where to catch its replacement buses. And sometimes leaving you to guess how many minutes the walk will take.

Back to front double arrow

And while I’m being a logo pedant this direction sign to Walsall railway station really annoyed me.

it wasn’t as though it was ‘see through’, as the other side was correct.

Bizarrely as you enter the station which is accessed through the Saddlers Shopping Centre you have to be on the ball to spot the logo confirming you’re going the right way.

And I’ve no idea what a “Route to NCN5” is all about, and neither would I have any idea whether the “kgCO2 saved since 2015” at Birmingham New Street Station is impressive or not, even if Network Rail and Birmingham City Council declared how much it was on the sign outside the station. I’m sure it is “Making Birmingham Greener” though. (I ‘Googled’ EQUANS and apparently it “supports businesses, communities and the public sector by mobilising its expertise to provide low-carbon energy solutions, offer cutting-edge technical and FM services and transformative regeneration across the UK & Ireland.” Pity it can’t sort the sign out then.

Go-Ahead London’s driver recruitment drive

It must cost a fortune to own and run so many shuttle vehicles taking drivers to their buses at Orpington railway station from Go-Ahead London’s (former Metrobus) bus garage located a couple of miles south of the town by Green Street Green. But at least they’ve become mobile advertising hoardings for bus driver recruitment – albeit not very mobile when I visited recently and found four parked up on paving outside Orpington station.

Are these the worst hand dryers on a train?

This month’s toilet news features the washbasin and dryer on a GWR Class 165 which gets my vote for being the most ineffective tap – the water just dribbled out – and hand dryer – the air is so pathetically weak your hands would never get dry. Elsewhere in the train I was intrigued to see a nod back to the First Great Western moquette on just one seat leaving me to wonder whether it had been recovered as one of those heritage celebratory livery type things.

I can’t understand why they used that rather than the new green and grey version.

Joint bus routes reduce to just seven

Another jointly operated bus route comes to an end next weekend when East Yorkshire withdraws its one bus involvement on route 350 between Hull and Scunthorpe. Stagecoach will take over the bus working making the route, which crosses the Humber Bridge, an exclusive operation by that company. Interestingly the current timetable displayed on Stagecoach’s website makes the odd distinction between journeys run by “Stagecoach in Hull” and those run by “Stagecoach in Scunthorpe” (ie East Midlands)

Even more confusing … the Bus Times website timetable only shows those journeys operated by “Stagecoach East Midlands” (ie Scunthorpe) with gaps when the Hull based buses run. Each directional timetable is bizarrely headed “Ashby Market – Hull Int Bay 10”.

Details of the remaining seven jointly operated bus routes can be found here.

When a London bus is a Morris Minor

I had the pleasure of visiting Grant Palmer in Flitwick last week and among all the impressive things to see was this amazing self built London bus based on a Morris Minor chassis which is used at events in the area. Superb. Obviously it can’t run on the Luton Busway though!

Paddington’s TVMs

My apologies for wrongly stating in a recent blog that GWR had only four ticket vending machines on the concourse at Paddington. As I was passing through the station last week I spotted another batch of five machines.

Delay Repay update

And finally for this month, I’m pleased to report further to last month’s update, Southern paid up for my delay back from Bangor in early September so for the first time for many months I have no outstanding claims.

More Seen Around at the end of next month including oddities from my trip to Hull at the weekend and a confusing bus stop in Tunbridge Wells.

Roger French

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