Thursday 23rd April 2026
They keep on coming. Thanks to the Government’s three year award of Local Authority Bus Grant (which has hoovered up BSIP and BSOG previously paid to Councils) we are seeing a number of new routes continuing to start up across the country.
So far this week I’ve taken a ride on three examples introduced ten days ago on Monday 13th April to see what the chances are of them becoming a permanent feature of the bus scene.
All three routes operate on Mondays to Fridays with no weekend service.
First up is route 33 in Hertfordshire providing a new four-return-journeys a day link between Hoddesdon and Bishops Stortford.
Operated by Central Connect for Hertfordshire County Council (HCC) using a one year old Mercedes Sprinter which I reckon is going to have to work hard to gather up enough passengers to make this new route worthwhile.
Dan and the HCC team have so far done a good job introducing enhanced inter-urban links across the county as well as supplementing Arriva’s network but I think this one is going to struggle.
I sampled the route on Monday and sadly no timetable information was on display along the route. Worse than that, in the two villages which have regained a bus service – Gilston and High Wych – the bus stops still had notices on display advising passengers “this Bus Stop is currently not served by any local passenger buses”.
Unsurprisingly no-one travelled on the journey I made (at 12:20) between Hoddesdon and Bishops Stortford and although the incoming journey to Hoddesdon dropped a passenger off at the Clock Tower, Simon, the driver, told me she’d just boarded at the previous stop served by Arriva’s frequent route 310 making for an otherwise empty journey.
The other obvious route characteristic was a ridiculously slack running time – Simon warned me as I boarded we’d be stopping frequently to wait time and he was right. We reached every timing point early and all told spent 21 minutes standing idle on an end-to-end journey scheduled for 62 minutes.
Not only that, but waiting time for six minutes at one of the timing points – in Gilston at the Plume of Feathers pub – involved stopping on a busy road near bends causing a hazard for other road users passing by.
Furthermore, three minutes of the journey sees the bus speeding along the A414 dual carriageway for two and three quarter miles where there are no bus stops and no potential passengers.
Add to that, the journey I caught is timed one minute behind one of the hourly journeys on route 25 which serves similar points leaving Hoddesdon (albeit by a slightly different route), including that stretch of the A414, before turning off for Harlow…
… then after the exclusive section of route through the villages of Gilston and High Wych we emerged in Sawbridgeworth following an Arriva bus on route 510 into Bishops Stortford.
Admittedly the other journeys are not timed in the same way in that the frequency of the 33 is every 70 minutes but it does bring home the only new markets being served by this new route are to those two villages or for anyone wanting to travel between Hoddesdon and Bishops Stortford.
Simon was making notes of where the timetable can be amended each time we paused and had already reported the need to update the timetable displays so hopefully some action will be taken on both fronts otherwise any passengers who do manage to find out about this new route serving their village will soon become frustrated at the prolonged journey time.
When I checked on Monday, a week after introduction, the Hertfordshire network bus map on the Intalink website hadn’t yet been updated to include the 33…
… but I’m pleased to report it has now been added including the exclusive section of route now served by this new route.
Next up yesterday was a visit to Suffolk to sample two of the three routes introduced by that County Council – the third between Diss and Framlingham will have to wait for another day.
These two routes – numbered 51 and 52 – are also operated by Central Connect (albeit currently using the soon to be abandoned Konectbus name)…
… with another one year old Mercedes Sprinter in the company’s livery (and with a fleet name this time) and provides a link between Stowmarket and Hadleigh (51) and from Hadleigh to three nearby villages (52).
Route 51 comprises six return journeys every two hours from 07:00 to 17:00 (return times from Stowmarket 07:40 to 17:40) with a 34/36 minute end to end journey time.
On arrival into Hadleigh at 10:16 and 12:16 the bus and driver do an anti-clockwise circuit on route 52 which takes 31 minutes. I guess at 08:16, 14:16 and 16:16 the driver has a break or there’s a changeover.
Sadly once again there was no timetable information on display throughout the route which is particularly unfortunate at Stowmarket railway station where the number of bus departures on other routes is severely limited with no indication to passengers this situation has now changed very much for the better.
Route 51 provides new travel opportunity for people living in the villages of Great Finborough, Hitcham and Bildeston…
… while route 52 gives an out and back journey opportunity to Hadleigh for an 89 minute visit from the villages of Aldham, Elmsett and Whatfield.
I did a round trip on both routes leaving Stowmarket at 11:40 (51), Hadleigh at 12:20 (52) and Hadleigh at 13:00 (51). I was encouraged to see three passengers alight as the bus arrived at Stowmarket at 11:34 but only one person travelled on the next 51 journey (Hitcham to Hadleigh) with two going home from Hadleigh to Elmsett (on the 52) and no one travelling to Stowmarket at 13:00.
Still, its early days and with no publicity out there at bus stops the aforementioned numbers must be considered credible.
More positively, Central Connect (Konectbus) has produced a Hadleigh Bus Guide, with copies available on the bus, containing timetables, fare and route information for both the 51 and 52 and also its route 53/53A which provides a Wednesday only shopping journey to Bury St Edmunds.
This is very commendable but it’s a shame it doesn’t include other bus routes in Hadleigh to make it more useful for passengers especially as I’m sure they’re probably all funded by the County Council including another operated by Konectbus – the hourly route 50 to Sudbury.
These new routes 51/52 have significantly improved travel opportunities for people living in the aforementioned villages. Until now residents have had a once a day route 461 operated by Hadleigh Community Transport (which has now been made somewhat superfluous but is still running)…
… as well as route 111 operated by Mulleys Motorways with three return journeys between Hitcham and Bildeston to Ipswich.
Both routes 51 and 52 offer some lovely Suffolk scenery to enjoy including the charming village of Bildeston with its clock tower…
… some lovely countryside…
… as well as narrow lanes around the 52 route.
I just hope the current £9 million per annum funding stream enjoyed by the County Council continues beyond 2029….
… so the routes don’t just become a three year piece of bus route history, as numbers travelling will never make for a commercial proposition.
Roger French
Blogging timetable: 06:00 TThS
BusAndTrainUser 
I don’t how Roger does it! I had been thinking that I ought to e-mail him and tell him about a couple of new routes that have just started in rural Suffolk. Not only does he know about them, he has already been on them which is more than I’ve done.
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In VERY round terms, and assuming that a bus route with 1 PVR and a single-shift operating day costs around £150K pa, that’s around 60 PVR that could be funded!! That’s substantial, especially as any route funding does not now need to be for “new” routes, as early BSIP funding was. Of course, the BSOG funding has been subsumed into the overall pot, but even so . . .
This area of Suffolk was originally served by Corona Coaches, and was where John Hibbs “cut his teeth” in operating buses in the 1950s. It was Hibbs, of course, that was the original architect of the 1985 Transport Act, which spawned bus deregulation of 1986, and which is now being steadily dismantled in big urban areas, and being left alone elsewhere.
I’ll need to check . . . but wasn’t the road between Hadleigh and Stowmarket via Bildeston one end of the Corona London route? A through service from Bildeston to London every day (and with weekend duplicates as well) . . . seems inconceivable now!!
This new Route 33 was served by various LT Country Bus and Coach incarnations, as part of various longer routes, but the “freehold” section hasn’t been served for many a long year . . . I can’t help thinking that any local passenger traffic would be to / from Harlow, so like Roger, I can’t see this one lasting very long.
I hope that Herts CC have some vigorous monitoring in place to see if any passengers do actually use the route . . . I’d be surprised if more than 10 passengers a day travel (excluding the St Margarets – Hoddesden section, of course); or is there a school movement at the Stortford end?
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Without looking it all up, I think the 33 freehold was served until very recently by the Epping Forest CT 347 “bread van” which trundled between Harlow and Hatfield Broad Oak. It ran almost without any identification, and thus only “those in the know” and those pretty quick on their feet were able to stop it at places en route! But how on earth did they get the timings so wrong? I had to look twice when I saw the timetable, and now this has been confirmed.
Good to see the Bildeston-Hadleigh road being served once more regularly, as together with the lost Sudbury link, the whole area only had a normal service to Ipswich. Sadly, none of this is likely to last as it is almost too much for passengers who have been used to virtually zero for years. Unless of course our beloved London-centric Politicians are planning to build over yet more farmland!
And I do hope John Hibbs is looking down and smiling, seeing such developments on his “patch”. I was once trapped in a lift with him for almost an hour, and learned what a fantastic Suffolk accent he could imitate.
Terence Uden
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The Stowmarket – Bildeston section was indeed served by the London service of Corona Coaches. It then continued across country to Sudbury from where it took a fairly direct route to London. There was a separate feeder service from Hadleigh to Sudbury where it joined the main route.
When Corona collapsed in 1959, Taylor of Bildeston was going to take over the London service but backed out at the last moment so E.J. (“Jack”) Mulley took it instead before selling it to Eastern Counties in 1963. Taylor’s long disused premises are still a prominent feature of Bildeston High Street.
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Doubtless the 62’00 on the 33 could be whittled down to 55’00 to give an hourly frequency, but really there is no shame in standing waiting time every now and again. Wait til the winter, Black Friday, an accident on the A10/A414 or the inevitable roadworks, and all that slack time will come in handy. The bus I get to work [Stagecoach East X5] arrives 15’00-30’00 late every day in both directions because of hopelessly optimistic scheduling. That’s a worse situation.
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I can’t help but think this funding would be best spent on improving the existing network, providing timetable information and bus stops, putting on extra evening/Sunday journeys, etc. Spending in this way would hopefully increase ridership and perhaps tip some routes over into being commercial. This only results in moving fresh air around that will stop when the funding runs out. It seems such a waste of money.
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Bury St. Edmunds – Bildeston – Hadleigh
Konectbuses have renamed the service 379 to service 53.
53A (461)
Whatfield – Elmsett – Hadleigh
Konectbuses have renamed the service 461 (Wednesday only service) to service 53A. The Hadleigh CT service 461 (non-Wednesdays) remains as 461.
A lot of housing is planned for the Gilston area
Harlow and Gilston Garden Town
To help meet the challenging level of housing need in East Herts, the council has allocated land in the Gilston Area for a new development of 10,000 homes.
The allocation was approved after a lengthy independent examination by the Planning Inspectorate and the site forms part of the development strategy identified in the East Herts District Plan 2018.
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Some updates from Central Connect:
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Interesting , where space allows should bus stops have a “coming soon . from date . bus route number. from/to” advert put in them with website to have the timetable on ? then ensure panels swapped – for m/f services can be done in a weekend – with the times for the go live date.
Maybe that Hoddesdon terminator should also visit the other recent bit of west development there for a northern transport option or drop down to the other development area also recently mentioned if the 33 times allow for such within a 58 min running time, departures not being full clockface is not overall a big worry more that departures are timed to be useful
JBC Prestatyn
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While I note narrow lanes and I have previously not been against the privatisation era colourful bread vans on town services it does seem a Spinter has a welfare transport air about it. Somehow something like a proper bus engine at the back and doors at the front seems better.
On the other hand providing hand additional wheelchair capacity can mean those apparent duplicated timings might prove to be useful if people who need it get to know
JBC Prestatyn
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Maybe a Mellor Strata bodied Sprinter would be better, greater capacity than current vehicles and more economic to operate than a rear engined small bus?
Peter Brown
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I think it would be more sensible for the 33 to just run between Gilston and Bishops Stortford
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Thanks, Roger, for your observations.
Note that the 33 is being funded through developer contributions from the St James’ Park housing estate in Bishop’s Stortford and not through BSIP/Local Authority Bus Grant. This should give the route a bit more time to establish itself as the funding stream is quite generous.
It is always going to take some time to generate patronage when you are putting villages back on the bus map. As Terence Uden says, in the later years the 347 had become something of a half-hearted attempt to serve Gilston and High Wych.
Greenline727 is right to mention school movements. I am convinced there is unmet demand on this route for school travel as the 33 serves both Leventhorpe School in Sawbridgeworth and the recently-relocated Bishop’s Stortford High School at St James’ Park.
The 33 also provides a quicker journey time from St James’ Park into Bishop’s Stortford as the existing 511 service does a rather circuitous loop around Thorley.
As mentioned elsewhere, a revised timetable will start in July which should address the running time on this route. Those Sprinter minibuses do live up to their name, however, and I do wonder whether the timetable is more easily achieved with a small Enviro 200, even though the capacity is not (yet!) required…
Dan Tancock
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Many thanks for all this additional information and explanations, Dan. Much appreciated.
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Riding that dual carriageway section of the A414 on a Route 724 felt all rather odd as it meets a roundabout at the eastern end, then a full right turn towards Harlow Town Station. Are there any Essex or Highway experts out there? Ought that section of the A414 been joined up with the M11 at Junction 7a? Junction 7a needed to be built to reflect the growth of Harlow’s industrial might. For lorries going north it was frightfully awkward needing to join the M11 at Junction 7 (Hastingwood). It’s awfully fun riding buses at speed on such dual carriageways!
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Nice to hear about the 51 and 52 – this is a lovely area; I remember in the early 1960s holidaying near Hadleigh. The local bus ran only once a day each each on Saturdays, but it was a big double-decker, with a conductor, and took you all the way to Ipswich. I was about to say it was a pity that the beautiful Kersey village (that of the famous time-warp) was not served by the new bus but, just in time, I checked on bustimes and see that there is a bookable Community Transport bus on Monday to Friday which serves Kersey and lots of other villages in the area.
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I struggle to understand Hertfordshire’s approach to public transport and some of the contracted routes introduced by the current leadership, which are, in my opinion, a very poor use of scarce funds, whilst other much more worthwhile projects don’t even reach the starting blocks. Ok, so it’s not helped by what used to be an integrated and focussed Passenger Transport Unit being split apart to fit the Departmental organisational template but the approach to infrastructure, roadside information, publicity and internet presence just seems to amble along with no sense of timeliness, accuracy or urgency. Route 33 will have been planned many months in advance, so why does the mapping and roadside information appear almost as an afterthought? What has happened to the focus on the passenger and delivering a quality product?
Hertfordshire still seem to be one of DfT’s ‘Golden Boys’, I can only assume this is because they are better at writing bid documents than delivering the goods.
‘Old Timer’
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Another Hertfordshire route, yet more scepticism! Despite the need for vast continued improvements here. Herts suffered some of the worst bus cuts of anywhere during the 2010s. In a county that is spread out and with no dominant towns, cross-county links are the only way of fixing the bus service.
People should remember Gilston is set for major development on the edge of Harlow in the coming years. I liken this route as future proofing the service by funding a basic timetable to the existing villages and towns now. With scope to enhance the service as the ‘Garden Villages’ get built and people move in. The transport really needs to be put in before the houses, so they are doing something right here. Essential given the large scale of development here. Herts really need to improve their information provision though, they’ve been rubbish at that lately.
Gilston will obviously need links to Harlow but something to Hoddesdon and Bishop’s Stortford will prove useful in time. Maybe even provide links to Hertford and divert the 25 for links to Cheshunt Brookfield, itself facing major expansion in the medium term.
Also good to see a comment saying the 33 will get a more consistent timetable soon, I hope they consider having it leave half way between the hourly 25’s so 2 buses aren’t going through St Margaret’s at the same time. I would consider using the 33 myself if it timed decently with the 25. Something annoying about the 35 route too. And wouldn’t be surprised if Hertslynx journeys were used to create new fixed routes on the more popular journeys, so DRT is additional to the buses, rather than the only option.
Aaron
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Aaron has just reminded me that of course, until recent times that various subsidy streams have become available, buses were rarely introduced to new housing areas until after the houses had been built.
Thus, the sight one evening of the magnificent RMC4, subbing as usual for an expired Leyland National, incongruously trundling around yet-to-be-built Panshanger (Welwyn Garden City) as a “G4” along new roads but without a house in sight, has been an everlasting memory. The crew (thank goodness they still had spare Conductors at Hatfield garage) happily stopping to allow a photograph as of course passengers were non-existent!
Terence Uden
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That’s a pretty cool memory. I’m guessing Panshanger Estate was built in the 70s? And maybe the 33 is a bit premature but shows the need to link housing and transport policies. Ideally the bus would’ve started just before the first houses were occupied but sounds like St James Park in Bishop’s Stortford got there first.
At first I thought it was silly opening Meridian Water station years before any of the flats were finished but better to put it in early than not at all. The contrast with the large Beam Park estate near Dagenham shows the opposite problem where promised services and infrastructure are stuck in limbo. Seemingly same issue with Cheshunt Lakeside promising improved local services just for the developer to go bankrupt after building 2 blocks!
Also surely all the post WW2 new towns had buses instated, very early on, in the construction of the towns.
Aaron
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In the days of regulation, it was the case that operators would put in services ahead of houses being built in order to safeguard the route for the future – United Auto did this in Coulby Newham and Hemlington (Middlesbrough) to try to secure this territory ahead of Cleveland Transit.
Of course, it cost a lot of money to do this. Something that operators today can’t do without s106 funding.
BW2
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Developer Funding is a specified amount in the planning conditions that allow the houses to be built and will be set at sufficient amount to last 3-5 years – if you set the amount too high to pay for a longer period of operation it won’t be viable to build the houses at all. The issue will be that if you start the bus service before the first house is occupied in any estates it will have run out before the last house is occupied meaning the service ends just as it is most needed as it hasn’t achieved profitability (or got to the point the operator can see that it will) and so gets withdrawn. In the past the companies themselves were state owned so that loss making would be rolled up differently.
There is also the issues of when the roads are sufficient and safe for a bus service to start, these days the first houses at the edge of the estate may be occupied whilst most of the roads are unfinished and there is no safe place to turn a bus for a significant period of time.
Dwarfer
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Good to see that TMS are continuing to expand with taxpayers hard earned money in Suffolk at a time where they are still frequently cancelling services for many months on the routes they were already getting subsidy and BSIP grants for because of a lack of drivers, which is probably something to do with the fact that other operators in Suffolk offer better terms and conditions.
The fact that Suffolk County Council seems to turn down schemes from other operators whom but continue to be happy to provide funding to the former Hedingham and Chambers operation to expand their network without any kind of requirement to make sure the routes they are already getting money for are running reliably first tells you all you need to know about bus transport in Suffolk and how much passenger interest is taken into mind.
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SCC seem to only consider price, Reliability and quality of service etc is ignored so hence the frequent cancelled services
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I cannot help thinking that these routes are solely a way for Central Connect to utilise surplus breadvans. Hertfordshire had been an exemplar in creating new interurban routes and increasing frequencies with BSIP funds, and these are the only routes that have a chance of becoming viable rather than introducing various bits of rubbish rural routes that will never carry many people. Planners need to understand that people will not change their lifestyles to use the bus until there is certainty that services will not be withdrawn or radically altered. Perhaps Hertfordshire has run out of ideas for sensible improvements, but for example links from Hertfordshire to Stansted Airport could be improved ( I think there was a 700 service that filled that gap before being removed 10 or so years ago)
Moving to Suffolk a route between Hadleigh and Stowmarket is a route from nowhere to nowhere, both towns having poor shopping facilities. The go to town in this part of Suffolk is Bury St Edmunds which is booming. It’s success as an attractor is shown by Dans Coaches relatively new service between Stowmarket and Bury, commercial Monday to Friday and subsidised on Saturday, and the subject of one of Roger’s past blogs. Suffolk has seen massive new housing development , the rural railways aided by Greater Anglia’s excellent reliability are booming. What should have been provided is the expansion to Monday to Saturday operation of the Hadleigh to Bury service, which would serve more villages and serve a really attractive destination. Stowmarkets other main service is First’s pathetic service to Ipswich which fails to serve the majority of the housing away from the railway and was recently reduced to an unmemorable every 40 minutes. This surely needs putting back on a clock face timetable and re routing in Stowmarket.
As the rural railways are booming perhaps the bus network should be evolving by developing new inter urban services. Travel east-west across central Suffolk is impossible. Ipswich – Hadleigh is every 2 hours, Hadleigh- Sudbury every hour but plagued by unreliability, Sudbury – Haverhill does not exist, Haverhill to Stansted Airport ( First X40?) disappeared several years ago. What about Ipswich – Hadleigh – Sudbury – Haverhill – Stansted Airport which would open up many new areas to a decent bus service and a much better use of the staggering annual £8m that Suffolk does not seem to have much idea of how to spend.
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The Hadleigh to Ipswich service is currently every 2 hours run commercially but the operator wants to expand that but for that to happen then the local authority have to agree to give BSIP money rather than to services like the ones above. This is despite the fact the family owned operator in question prides itself on operating a fleet of vehicles which are modern, properly cared for and pays a wage that means it is able to attract and retain drivers. It is the total opposite of Konnectbuses in that regard. Maybe it’s not the most commercially astute, but like most independents, it actually gives a damn. Apparently they are looking into S106 money now as an alternative funding stream.
Instead SCC they have been ploughing both subsidy an BSIP money into the 50 from Hadleigh to Sudbury to run hourly, despite the far less potential demand for this route to the point that every journey needs to be propped up with taxpayers funding and the operator runs a bunch of 17-20 year old vehicles that are very tired inside, need a deep clean inside and look like they haven’t seen a bus wash for goodness knows how long. That’s before we get into the issues with staffing.
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What the logic is for the 50 who knows. It has one route on Monday to Saturday and a different route on a Sunday and to add to the confusion some of the journeys are by another operator and with a different route
It should be possible to run an hourly service Sudbury, Great Cornard to Ipswich with most journeys being commercial with a good reliable service
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Because there was a route for whole distance from Sudbury to Ipswich but the Sudbury leg was losing a fortune following a covid as it was fully commercial.
It then got split with the commercially viable part between Hadleigh and Ipswich running still and the Unviable leg being put out to tender which leads us to where we are now. Sunday is also not commercially viable and is using14 seater breadvans.
There’s also disquiet about Chambers winning such tenders when they have a poor track record of performance but price is only thing that matters. Sadly I know of many occasions elderly people have got stranded.
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To Anonymous – If you’re inferring the 33 is a ‘rubbish rural route’ that shouldn’t be getting BSIP funding, then please read my post elsewhere on this blog. The 33 is operated using developer contributions not BSIP monies.
It is unlikely you’ve seen the end of Hertfordshire’s BSIP enhancements, but any changes have to be proportionate to the funding available and the time scales remaining in which the service is able to become a commercial.
By the way, I always think the credibility of a comment (particularly if critical in nature) always carries more weight if it is written by someone who doesn’t remain anonymous. Even a made-up name is preferable…
Dan Tancock
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Stevenage to Stansted is an obvious missing link, the unfortunate thing is the lack of fast and direct roads the whole way. The road to Buntingford is a series of winding country lanes, so buses would always have to slow down to let traffic past. Population on the way is tiny. Also, the A120 where a bus can go reasonably fast only starts at Standon. Otherwise the alternative is a less direct route. I would probably serve Hertford and Ware over Hitchin and Letchworth with such a route, as there are more population centres along the way.
Also, Hertfordshire as a whole is why traditional counties are not sensible geographies, all the improvements required are cross-boundary in nature, including to London. The current situation is not great.
Also agree on an Ipswich to Stansted route, would open up a lot of opportunities for more local travel too. Sudbury to Haverhill requires a change to a very rare bus in Clare for example. Also, surprising Haverhill has no bus to Stansted. The town being so dependent on Cambridge without the appropriate infrastructure makes it feel somewhat isolated. Even it’s bus to Saffron Walden was under threat till recently.
Aaron
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You are correct about Stevenage-Stansted Airport. This was mooted at one stage of BSIP discussions, but the road network and lack of built-up areas are two of the reasons that it was set to one side. The other was the requirement from the airport for a 0200 arrival in Stansted in order for them to consider funding. I’m sure the residents of Cottered or Puckeridge would be extremely happy to hear a bus rumbling past their front doors at 0100!
The other issue with airport services is the cost of running a 24/7 operation. HCC did put out a tender for a service between St Albans and Stansted as part of the original BSIP proposals. The cost provided was not only eyewatering but would have eaten the entire HCC budget.
With regard to Service 33, it may not be a money-spinner, but it does tick the box of a socially necessary service following the loss of 347. As was stated in another comment, it is funded with s106 contributions. There is also a view to the future when the Gilston development finally comes to fruition.
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One of SCC’s latest brain waves is a modified service 700 which is a very strange route well in reality it is 3 different routes using one route number and just to make it even more useless the outbound and inbound routed are different so you may be abloe too travel out but will not be able to get back
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If the 33 is funded from S106 monies from St James Park then I would expect that the residents there would expect a frequent service into Bishops Stortford town and station, and possibly to Harlow but I would accept that it is further and Harlow is a less than brilliant shopping experience. After all the S106 cost has been added to the cost of every house, it’s not free money. I don’t think they would be pleased to be funding a pretty useless service to Broxbourne, another less than brilliant shopping experience.
Not Hertfordshires best idea I’m afraid
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Useful information from Dan Tancock. That’s what this blog really needs; informed comment rather than supposition and negativity. Nicely done Dan.
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I’ve now made a trip from Stowmarket to Hadleigh and back today so have seen how Service 51 is working out.
Firstly a bit of history. Around 1927, Eastern Counties Road Car introduced Service 24 Stowmarket – Bildeston – Hadleigh i.e. exactly the same route as Service 51 today. It operated six days a week (not Wednesdays) with three through journeys and four short workings to Bildeston. After a few years it was truncated at Bildeston. When Eastern Counties Omnibus Company was formed in 1931 it was renumbered 224 and kept that number until withdrawal on June 6th 1971. For many decades, Charles Joshua Partridge of Lower Layham (later Hadleigh) covered the route on a Thursday but deviated off the main road to serve to serve Brettenham and Buxhall. After Eastern Counties withdrew, Philip Brian Squirrell of Hitcham (of a family involved in the road transport for around a century) provided a Thursday service from Bildeston to Stowmarket in the 1970s and 1980s.
Having sampled Service 51, the worst aspect is the lack of suitable stops in Stowmarket. It is an unfortunate consequence of the road layout but does need addressing urgently. While serving the Railway Station is admirable, shoppers would much prefer that the Market Place “outside Argos” stop be used. The driver told me that this has been an issue with elderly passengers but has been reported to “management”.
With regard to the Sudbury – Hadleigh – Ipswich service mentioned by other posters, this is an unfortunate issue. It was a very early route of Eastern Counties (Service 5, later 205) but eventually they lost interest and after a period of competition, Beestons of Hadleigh took over around 25 years ago. Post Covid, Beestons seem to have lost interest and, it would appear, were unable to get sufficient subsidy for the weaker Hadleigh – Sudbury section so they withdrew it, leaving just Hadleigh – Ipswich route. Subsequently Konectbuses (Hedingham & Chambers)/ Central Connect have managed to get enough funding to run Sudbury – Hadleigh on an hourly basis and have also introduced a Sunday service over the whole route. It is reported that connections at Hadleigh are not always made and I’m tempted to think that there may be an element of sour grapes from Beestons who may think that, after 180 years in the business, they are the natural provider of services in the area. One problem with the route is that it takes over an hour end to end so is very difficult to schedule efficiently.
Nigel Turner
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Not true.
The Hadleigh to ipswich leg by Beestons and the Hadleigh to Sudbury leg by Chambers did connect until CHAMBERS changed the timetable which broke it.
Beestons were not able to change with them because the bus runs on a loop from Ipswich to Hintlesham and then the back roads to Hadleigh and out from Hadleigh on the bypass way to Hintlesham then on to ipswich to makes sure that all passengers are served.
in addition the Beestons services also take a fair few kids to various schools and this restricts the operational flexibility of the timetable. They can do it with one driver and bus now as well but only just.
Home working post covid killed off a lot of the sudbury to ipswich commuter demand and also some of the schools have now deployed their own closed door bus services which further killed demand. The 50 is now almost exclusively concessionary passes.
The other thing about Beestons is that they might not be cheapest operator but their operationa reliability l and vehicle standards are immaculate. Chambers cancel at the first sign of trouble. Beestons just send another bus out and every service runs no matter what and the owning family will drive if there’s nobody else.
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