Every route 100. 26 of 26.

Thursday 19th December 2024

The final bus route numbered 100 to feature in this blog series is the newest, the least frequent and the least used of all the 26.

The route between Devizes and Marlborough only began in October 2023 and was initially part of Wiltshire Council’s semi-flex DRT initiative. It’s operated by Go South Coast’s Salisbury Reds.

When introduced last autumn the timetable initially comprised four return journeys, three of which were numbered 100X and took a more direct route on the A361 and A4 via Beckhampton…

… with the fourth journey numbered 100 taking in some of the hamlets including Allington on a slightly longer route. Both the 100 and 100X offered bookable options for more pickups as per Wiltshire Connect’s long established arrangements which I’ve blogged about before. There was no fixed timetabled journeys on Saturdays with journeys from the places served along the route having to be booked.

However, this arrangement obviously turned out to be overkill as the timetable now in operation, 15 months on, offers just two fixed timed off-peak return journeys with only one flexible option of boarding or alighting in Manton High Street close to the A4.

The two return journeys are inter-worked at Devizes with route 101 which runs between Pewsey and Devizes, but it’s a very tight schedule.

The 09:45 departure from Devizes on the 100 operates off the 101 arriving at 09:43. It then has just one minute turnaround in Marlborough (10:19/10:20) and back at Devizes at 10:54, where it looks like the driver has a break until heading over to Pewsey at 11:30 where it has three minutes layover at Pewsey Co-op (12:12/12:15) before getting back to Devizes at 12:58 for the 13:00 to Marlborough (100). In Marlborough it again has just one minute turn around (13:34/13:35) then back to Devizes arriving at 14:09 for the 14:15 to Pewsey (101).

Adding to the timekeeping challenge is the option for passengers to book deviations off the fixed route on the off-peak journeys on route 101 and there’s also an issue in Devizes with the main bus stops by the Market Place being out of action for some time due to fire damage to a building necessitating alternative temporary stopping arrangements on a diversion.

The upshot of all of that was when I travelled on Tuesday last week it didn’t surprise me to see online that the bus due to pick me up for the 13:00 departure from Devizes to Marlborough was 17 minutes late at All Cannings Village Hall on the incoming route 101 although it was also showing it had left Pewsey only four minutes down.

Screenshot

Jeanette eventually arrived into Devizes at 13:10…

… having done very well to recover five minutes of that lateness. After turning round we left the temporary stop on New Park Street outside the Police Station at 13:12, 12 minutes late.

Sadly there were no other passengers wanting to travel to Marlborough so I’m guessing the incoming journey at 10:54 may also have been devoid of passengers.

Once we left the congested confines of Devizes, Jeanette made excellent progress along the A361 from where there are some lovely views across the Wiltshire countryside…

…. and along the A4.

It was interesting to listen to Tina Daheley sitting in on the Jeremy Vine show on Radio 2 on the bus radio which helped the time pass even more quickly and we arrived into Marlborough at 13:38 only four minutes late having made an excellent recovery.

Jeanette explained she’d got a bit lost on the 100 journey to Devizes due to a diversion and a passenger giving what they thought were helpful directions but which turned out not to be the case! I thanked her for making up so much time enabling me to catch an X5 back to Swindon which I was thinking I’d miss as two passengers boarded and she headed straight away back to Devizes just three minutes down.

It was an interesting end to my year long odyssey discovering all of Britain’s 26 bus routes numbered 100. Sadly it was the least used perhaps reflecting its minimal frequency and I suspect its long term future must be in doubt. There’s also total confusion whether passengers can book additional flexible journeys over and above the two fixed Monday to Friday timetabled ones as well as any time on Saturdays. The app didn’t let me do so, saying it was “out of zone” and when I rang the Wiltshire Connect booking number I was told flexible bookings are not possible on route 100 yet both the Wiltshire Connect and Salisbury Reds websites show information dated September 2024 that such bookings can be made.

So I ended my very last route numbered 100 experience thoroughly confused.

Reflecting on the 26 routes featured over the last 12 months, it’s interesting to note that two disappeared after I travelled – Guildford’s Park and Ride 100 from Onslow to the town centre and the Preston Bus 100 which fell foul of a route restructure in September, which coincidentally also served a Park & Ride site. However, as also featured, two other 100s were added for the summer season in Great Yarmouth and Norwich.

Two route 100s run 24 hours – both serving airports -Lothian’s 100 from Edinburgh Airport to the city centre and Metrobus’s 100 linking Redhill, Gatwick Airport with Maidenbower in Crawley.

Longest journey by time is on Compass Bus 100 between Horsham and Burgess Hill taking two hours and 19 minutes, followed by three routes within one minute of each other – Stagecoach’s 100 between Lincoln and Scunthorpe at one hour and 55 minutes just beating Stagecoach’s 100 between Hastings Conquest Hospital and New Romney at one hour and 54 minutes which in turn just beats the Bee Network’s 100 between Warrington and Manchester taking one hour and 53 minutes.

The accolade for the shortest route 100 is more contentious with the inevitable circular type routes around residential areas confusing things. In terms of a straight out and back single journey, Stagecoach’s 100 Park & Ride in Cheltenham featured last time at just 12 minutes probably wins the prize but Arriva’s 100 between Chatham and St Mary’s Island takes 17 minutes for a full round trip (nine minutes out and eight minutes back) so must be a contender as are the two cross town routes in Scotland – West Coast Motors’ 100 in Campbeltown takes 14 minutes to do one of the two round trips and 14 minutes to do the other, while Avondale Coaches 100 in Clydebank takes 10 minutes to Linvale and 13 minutes to Parkhall. Globe Holidays’ 100 between Wakefield and East Moor is not much longer at 15 minutes out and 17 minutes back.

Most route 100s are inter-urbans (in addition to those already mentioned above) there’s Aylesbury/Milton Keynes; Stevenage/Hitchin; Wellington/Telford; Hanley/Stoke; with Syston/Melton Mowbray being particularly rural along the way, as is Devizes/Marlborough, and Basildon/Lakeside; Pontypridd/Royal Glamorgan Hospital; and Morecambe/Lancaster University being particularly specialist (serving a shopping centre, hospital and university respectively) or they’re second tier local routes within cities such as Wapping/St Paul’s; John Radcliffe Hospital/Blackbird Leys; Glasgow/Riverside Museum and of course, not forgetting, the amazing Sunday mystery tour of Barry and Barry Island. Tidy.

The best frequency you’ll find on a route 100 is Lothian’s Airlink running every 10 minutes increasing to every eight minutes at busy times.TfL’s route 100 is close behind running every 13 or 14 minutes with Cheltenham’s Park & Ride 100 every 15 minutes as is Stagecoach’s 100 to Lancaster University and the Bee Network’s 100 between Manchester and the Trafford Centre but only half hourly through to Warrington. The Metrobus 100 in Crawley/Redhill, First’s 100 (Lakeside) and Avondale’s 100 on Clydebank run 20 minutely and others are mostly half hourly or hourly with Adventure Travel’s Sunday only 100 in Barry running around every 90 minutes and today’s sample ride in Wiltshire being the least frequent with just two return journeys on Mondays to Fridays.

And that’s the variety Britain’s has to offer if you choose to sample every bus route numbered 100. Thanks for joining me on the journeys during 2024.

In case you missed any of the previously featured 25 routes here are links to them all: 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), 18 Hastings Conquest Hospital-New Romney, 19 Morecambe-Lancaster University, 20 Wakefield-Eastmoor, 21 Clydebank Parkhall-Linnvale, 22 Airlink Edinburgh Airport-Edinburgh Waverley, 23 Basildon-Lakeside, 24 Blackbird Leys-John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford, 25 Cheltenham-Arle Court Park & Ride. And those two summer extras in Great Yarmouth and Norwich.

Roger French

Don’t miss these upcoming blogs for the festive season – the BusAndTrainUser Review of the Year and Annual Quiz on Saturday followed by a special Christmas Eve blog next Tuesday celebrating the winners of the coveted BusAndTrainUser Awards for 2024. The annual 100 Bus And Train Events of 2024 (in just 10 minutes) vlog will appear on YouTube on Boxing Day after which blogging will take a short break and return in the New Year.

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.

27 thoughts on “Every route 100. 26 of 26.”

  1. What a great series this has been, showing the full spectrum of bus services and wide range of tasks they fulfil. You’ve certainly had to travel to cover it!

    Intrigued to know what will replace it?

    Thanks for bringing it to us.

    Michael

    Liked by 1 person

  2. I wonder how different things would have been if you’d picked say route 94s or 103s. I’m guessing picking a round route number in the 100’s skewed the sample towards airport services and P&Rs.

    Otherwise a downbeat end to the series, with a bus which mainly seems to move fresh air around and surely has no long term future, marked by the usual difficulties for customers in actually working out what the service is and delays caused by roadworks.

    What this series has illustrated is the lack of lack of clarity on what public subsidy should buy, is it more important to retain last resort services in deeply rural areas or should we be doubling down on high frequency urban and inter urban routes where the potential exists for real modal change and CO2 reductions?

    Liked by 1 person

  3. Good Morning Roger,

    Regarding the Devizes to Marlborough Wiltshire Connect service, apart from the two direct journeys. It is not possible to book a DRT journey between Devizes and Marlborough. Your travel options to Marlborough apart from the two direct journeys. Are catching the Stagecoach 49 from Devizes to Avebury, then changing onto the Swindon Bus 42 to Marlborough. You could book a DRT from Avebury to Marlborough. The other option would be, DRT from Devizes to Pewsey and then the X5 to Marlborough. I agree the limited service on the Marlborough to Devizes 100 is part of the problem. The lack of available communities that the service passes through reduces the customer base on this service. If there was a Saturday shoppers service and a more usable return service for the people of Marlborough, this may help increase passenger numbers.

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  4. Interesting blog on all 100s, wonder if Roger will do the A to Z again [or backwards one from Z to A😂] as their are many places beginning with the same letters, well apart from Q that is.

    SM

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  6. I checked to see if the Barry Circular is still running. It is – hopefully drivers know the route by now!

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  7. Barry circular – nope they don’t. That experience Roger compiled is typical for their operations. You really do get an Adventure.

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  8. Both Devizes and Marlborough are very prone to traffic congestion. The tight timetable doesn’t seem to have any resilience built in to mitigate.

    Peter Brown

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  9. I’m sad to see that you’ve caught the “arrived into” bug. I hope you recover soon.

    I find radios on buses annoying, and have certainly never longed for time to pass quickly on these lovely routes.

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    1. | I’m sad to see that you’ve caught the “arrived into” bug.

      As a youngster on the railway being trained as an announcer, many years ago, I was taught that you arrive in a town and at a specific station (or, for buses, a specific stop).

      “Arriving into” niggles me as it does you, although not quite as much as does “between … to”, which should of course be either “between … and” or “from … to”.

      We have a lovely expressive, nuanced language which is being dumbed down by, I think, sheer laziness.

      Liked by 1 person

  10. Thanks for Roger’s report on an area I know well. TBH, the 100 is a recent creation and really doesn’t serve much of a purpose. The main routes are the aforementioned 42 from Marlborough to Beckhampton and Calne which is a continuation of the long established Wigglybus/Connect Line 4 route, and the 49 that runs hourly from Swindon to Devizes and Trowbridge.

    So for the main flows from villages such as the Kennets/Lockeridge into Marlborough, that has a superior service, and from Beckhampton to Devizes… the 49 is a better option for the few people who might stand at an isolated farm track waiting for a bus. So it’s really only a benefit for end to end passengers and providing a link that hasn’t previously been provided and one that no one knew was required though I guess it is provided a minimal marginal cost.

    BW2

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    1. | the 49 is a better option for the few people who might stand at an | isolated farm track waiting for a bus.

      Do buses still stop at the end of isolated farm tracks to pick up people nowadays?

      When I’ve travelled on rural routes in the past couple of years, with a few honourable exceptions where the driver has gone out of their way to drop people off as near as possible to their homes, I’ve generally got the impression that rural buses are now ‘limited stop’ outside urban areas, only stopping at marked stops in villages at hammering along at maximum possible speed between those villages.

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      1. In response to A Nony Mouse, I’d suggest you have a look at the route 🙂 There are no homes between Beckhampton and the outskirts of Devizes!! So when I said about the odd farm track… that’s about it.

        As for anon 5.33pm, I don’t know how many people have often requested it. How that then translates into usage is a different discussion point!

        BW2

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      2. I can’t speak for all operators but those of my employer are all still registered as “hail & ride in rural areas or on sections of route with no fixed bus stops” as standard (though there are exceptions on some trunk roads with stopping restrictions) and we do still get a small number of inquiries about this matter checking whether this applies or whether a location is a suitable spot. Our standard general advice is to ensure you can be clearly seen and the location you are waiting has clear sight lines for the approaching bus (so not just after a corner) on the basis they will be travelling at some speed so the driver needs time to safely stop.

        Dwarfer

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  11. Well done for the perseverance and the associated legwork. Now do route 1s? How many are there?

    George Standfast

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  12. Have all forgotten the identity of Marlborough’s finest student and protagonist of railway travel? This was no less the ambassador for the use of public transport than John Betjeman an Old Marlburian. He overlooked “cuttings” and “tunnels” in one of his black & white travelogues in stating that one can see more from a train than a motor vehicle upon a mere “road”! “Embankments” these days are blighted by tree and shrub growth which would have been unheard of in the days of steam when hot coals rolled off a footplate to incinerate lineside growth. One could see the trains from my school’s playing fields in Walton on Thames in the era of steam but with arboriculture stranglehold now in force both sides of that embankment one can hardly sightsee the area from a passing train. My only visit to Marlborough was on 22/07/1978 driving my Honda CD175 on the last day of that year’s holiday. That day’s motoring being from Bath to my home in Walton on Thames. A4 was compulsory as I was still on L-Plates!

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  13. Following these blogs on DRT buses for a while, it is clear fully flexible buses don’t work and passengers clearly prefer a timetabled service. Even if it only runs 3 days a week, like some of the rural routes that exist in Hertfordshire! Personally I’d like to see DRT evolve, semi-flexible routes seem like a good idea to me. Providing certainty for people at the busiest parts of the route and allowing almost door to door service for rural communities seems like a no brainer to me. Also, where DRT has been relatively successful like with Hertslynx, I would like to see the county evaluate the busiest journeys and see if routes could be created out of it, or even if an existing rural route could be enhanced as a result. DRT should fill in the gaps in service rather than replace fixed routes.

    Also all the 100s blogs were pretty cool too. Surprised you didn’t say what you favourite 100 was. I only ever ridden on the TFL 100 but thought it was interesting route around the east of Central London and the old historic dockyards of Wapping.

    Aaron

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    1. Totally agree. I’ve long concluded that semi-fixed routes with timetabled times at one or both ends of the route and variations on demand in between. The longevity of Compass Bus route 99 which uses this model, when compared with the litany of failed fully DRT set-ups, must be great evidence. It really is the best of both worlds, and it’s ‘criminal’ how the millions of DRT money hasn’t been spent on developing this concept.

      stephen H

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  15. thank you Roger for your in depth analysis of the industry we love.

    Re the wiltshire routea 100 it is really only holding on by it’s skin trying to hold on to a historical low used one. Wiltshire is excepting i suppose swindon rural we arent ever to see frequencies like that of dorset (Morebus)

    The council do little in the way of publicity or attempt to generate business. All routes are driven (play on words) by the council. The salisbury reds run services primarily on their behalf. Sadly with out any drive (play on words) or encouragement it all stays relatively stagnant. Interesting to see if they get their act together in early 2026 and get them peoples out of their bloody cars. There’s money around here and masses of suvs and alike. Please can we push out the buses off castle street more regularly. 26 electrics is a bloody good start I CANT F’N WAIT

    apologies for my shoddy language I am a grammar school six former 😅

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    1. “Wiltshire is a rural county” is often trotted out by the council when explaining when something can’t be done. However the majority of the county’s population live in the main towns, Chippenham, Calne, Devizes, Melksham, Trowbridge, Bradford on Avon, and the city of Salisbury.

      There are fairly decent frequencies on the main inter urban services. Chippenham to Bath every 30 minutes (plus an hourly direct service weekdays), Chippenham to Frome via Melksham and Trowbridge every 30 minutes. Chippenham to Swindon every 20 minutes. Melksham to Bath every 30 minutes.

      These examples are all from the northwest of the county which is more built up, all operated by Faresaver apart from the Chippenham to Swindon route which is Stagecoach.

      Peter Brown

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  16. It would be interesting if you did a blog post on the (Compass Travel) Village Rider 167/168 in Sussex. Another rural Village bus between two towns with journeys going different ways & some journeys having certain places that you need to book to get on/off.

    Dan.

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