Saturday 26th October 2019
TfL’s policy of redeploying buses from Zone 1 routes into the suburbs moved forward a couple more centimetres today with the launch of brand new route 335 linking the expanding residential development at Kidbrooke with Blackheath and North Greenwich for its ‘Millennium Leisure Park’ (basically posh looking sheds with retail, restaurants, cinema etc), Jubilee Line station and ‘O2’ Arena (and a cable car).
It’s the second new suburban route to be introduced since June’s major cull of central London bus routes. I took a ride on the new 301 between Woolwich and Bexleyheath not long after it’s July introduction, but today was the inaugural day for the 335 and I’m delighted to report bus stop flags have had the 335 treatment and timetables have appeared in the cases on each bus stop. Bonus points all round.
It’s a pity online and bus stop displayed spider maps haven’t been updated, but they seldom are.
TfL consulted on proposals to link Kidbrooke with North Greenwich back in April and May. This included two options – either Option 1, a standard all stops route via Rochester Way/Kidbrooke Park Road and Blackheath Royal Standard, or Option 2, a quick non-stop route via the western end of the A2 and A102 shaving at least five minutes off the end to end journey time.
It turned out 65% supported or strongly supported Option 1 which provides more travel options and supplements routes 132 and 108/422 on common sections to Blackheath and on to North Greenwich, while 50% supported or strongly supported the quicker Option 2 indicating it obviously wasn’t a binary choice. 16% opposed or strongly opposed Option 1, while 20% opposed/strongly opposed Option 2.
So Option 1 had it and luckily that was TfL’s preference too.
The scheduled end to end journey time is around thirty minutes and the route has kicked off with an impressive 12 minute frequency from 05:00 to 00:30 with a 15 minute headway after 21:00 (and all day on Sundays).
Seven double decks are being used on a schedule which includes generous stand time – I noticed a bus was on the stand when we arrived at Kidbrooke and one was just pulling on to the departure bus stop at North Greenwich as we pulled in to the arrivals bus stop.
The route is operated by Arriva London’s bus garage in Dartford. It hasn’t been tendered in the usual way as it’s compensation for Arriva’s loss of the recently withdrawn route 48 (London Bridge to Walthamstow Central).
A start up route of this kind anywhere but London would come with a major marketing, promotion and PR launch to actively sell the route to passengers. TfL don’t do ‘selling’ though; they hardly do ‘informing’ as mentioned above, spider maps hadn’t been updated to let passengers know where the route goes visually.
I asked at the Information kiosk in North Greenwich bus station (it was closed on my first pass through at 09:45 but had opened by my return at 11:45) if there was any information or leaflet “about the new bus route to Kidbrooke” and was met with a completely blank look from the staff member behind the glass telling me the information is at the bus stop. However I spotted a supply of timetable leaflets in a rack for Stagecoach’s new M2 route to Canterbury and asked for one, so didn’t come away empty handed and was reassured actively marketing new bus routes is still a thing.
Unfortunately the marketing suite in the Kidbrooke residential development was closed too and unsurprisingly I couldn’t see any attractive looking leaflets promoting the new 335 bus route inside on the coffee tables.
I’m sure word will spread about this new travel option for Kidbrookeians especially as without any traffic delays, such as this morning, it only took twenty five minutes to make it down to Kidbrooke and that included a five minute stop in Annesley Road (just north of Kidbrooke) from 10:02 to 10:07 ‘to regulate the service’ – can’t have passengers arriving early at the terminus!
Obviously loadings were low on this first morning and most passengers looked quizzically as the bus pulled up at bus stops served by other bus routes. But buses were carrying between half a dozen to a dozen passengers, although many may have been abstracted from parallel bus routes.
I was a bit surprised the 335 didn’t make a call at Kidbrooke station in either direction this morning (it’s listed on TfL’s website as a stop), but this may be because trains were replaced by buses for engineering works today although there seemed to be plenty of room at the bus stops by the station entrance and I spotted a bus on route 178 coming out of the slip road as we passed by.
The massive Kidbrooke development straggles both sides of Kidbrooke Park Road and the 335, like the other longer standing (thirty years) Kidbrooke terminating bus route B16 (from Blexleyheath) serves both areas by a loop arrangement as shown in the map above. There’s also route 178 which only serves the eastern side, except not today, as it passes through from Lewisham to Woolwich and was double decked only last December.
Route 335 will normally travel around the eastern loop both towards the terminal stop on the western side and on the return journey to North Greenwich, except it’s a shame repairs to a minor road, Ryan Close, on the eastern side during the past week meant today’s inaugural operation had to miss out this section of route.
I had a wander around and it seemed to me a bit overkill with only minor repairs on half the road although it’s likely the roadworks were coming to an end. Despite it having been bus less for a week I found passengers waiting at stops expecting a bus to come around.
I was kept quite busy letting everyone know there were no buses – few people bother to read notices placed in timetable cases.
Back at the Kidbrooke terminus on the western side, it looked like some ‘officials’ were getting their photograph taken in front of a laying over bus to mark the auspicious occasion of a first day launch.
It also looked as though Arriva’s Dartford garage has added an allocation of ferry cars to whisk drivers up and down the A2 for meal and duty reliefs.
And I thought it was a missed opportunity that the bus shelter at the terminal point didn’t have any promotional information about the new 335 nor even an out of date spider map. Perhaps this will change in the coming weeks.
The area known as Kidbrooke used to comprise a large housing development called Ferrier Estate which was built between 1968 and 1972 and sadly gained a reputation for crime and a lack of social cohesion. Controversially the whole area was flattened between 2009 and 2012 and is now being slowly rebuilt with 4,400 new homes, 300,000 square foot of commercial and retail space, a school and parkland.
It’s pleasing to see TfL have resisted being taken in by Berkeley Homes’ misappropriate branding of the area by calling it Kidbrooke Village, preferring to stick with the long standing plain Kidbrooke on bus destination blinds.
There’s nothing ‘Village” about Kidbrooke. Just look at the scale of property development now underway which even includes some secure underground parking.
It will be interesting to see whether residents opt for the new route 335 and Jubilee Line option of reaching London Bridge, especially as southeastern can whisk passengers there in a third of the time in just sixteen minutes from the adjacent station.
It’s only fair to point out the development does also include some tastefully landscaped parkland, and to end on a positive, it is excellent to see a new bus service being introduced at such a high frequency and still relatively early on in the development.
Roger French
Xplore Dundee, the National Express owned bus company in Dundee, launched a brand new airport express coach service back in June linking the city directly with Edinburgh Airport via the A90 and M90.
Four months on I thought it was a good time to take a look and see how it was doing so took a ride north from the airport earlier this morning and was pleasantly surprised and suitably impressed at how well it’s doing.
This airport service, numbered X90 (although not prominently displayed), runs seven days a week every ninety minutes with an end to end eighty minute scheduled journey time meaning two coaches are needed to run the very intensive 24/7 service – with just one return journey missing in the middle of the night.
Fares are reasonable for an airport service of this kind at £16 single and £22 return with advanced booking rates of £12 single/£18 return and other discounts for students and families. Scottish concessionary passholders travel free.
There is a timetable for the X90 displayed together with fares information.
I arrived in good time this morning to watch the 08:20 arrival from Dundee which came in at 08:12 and an impressive 22 passengers alighted.
The driver supervised the unloading of luggage from the lockers and then got straight back in the ‘cab’ to load up the twelve of us waiting for the departure at 08:30.
I was a bit surprised to see a farebox by the entrance door of the coach and was relieved to see a contactless Ticketer ticket machine by the driver who confirmed cash was taken (as well as bank cards) and put in the box and reassured me change was available if needed.
It all seemed a bit of an odd arrangement if drivers carry cash for change giving to have a farebox. Still, none of the eleven other passengers paid cash either as most had an advance ticket or a concessionary pass so the farebox was an irrelevance.
The road layout means it’s easier for Dundee bound buses and coaches to use this route rather than the newly classified ‘bus and coach only’ old Fourth Road Bridge.
The coach was presentable and comfortable. Leg room was adequate. There was a toilet on board but no usb sockets nor wi-fi showing its age but it was a smooth non-stop journey, literally, all the way to Dundee where we arrived 70 minutes later at 09:40.
As we arrived at the terminus in Dundee which is at a stop midway between the train station and main city centre bus stops, there was already a good crowd of about 18 passengers waiting to board the next departure at 10:00.
The arriving driver jumped out to help unload luggage for those from the airport and load luggage of waiting passengers while a fresh driver got in the cab to check tickets calling out those pre-booked should come on board first. It seemed a slick operation.
Xplore Dundee certainly seem to be on to a winner with the X90 and a few more months of growth will no doubt see a frequency increase to hourly – certainly by next summer I would think. It’s heartening to see a new market being developed successfully especially as I didn’t detect a major spend on promotional collateral for the X90.
At Edinburgh airport I noticed when exiting both the domestic and international arrivals just past a stylised map of the Airlink network you’re directed to the exit towards the tram terminus and then have to walk back via the bus stops for Lothian’s 200/400 and 100 Airlink routes before reaching the X90 stance.
At least the X90 is listed on the information displays inside the terminal though, if you look hard enough.
I also noticed if you turn right from arrivals rather than as directed left, you reach a more convenient exit right by stance E and interestingly pass by a ScotRail ticket vending machine (TVM) which is programmed to sell tickets to all stations and checking Dundee brought up an inclusive bus and train ticket using the Stagecoach 747 to Inverkeithing on its route to Halbeath Park and Ride. Ironically the TVM idle screen makes reference to ‘Xpress’ – the branding used by Xplore Dundee!
I doubt many passengers would spot this TVM, let alone use it for what is now a longer and more expensive journey to Dundee involving a change from bus to train so perhaps not surprising the X90 is doing so well.
These really are massive beasts – more tri-axle mega sized Enviro 400s – and their new livery definitely gives them a classier presence than previously.
I travelled into Edinburgh yesterday evening and enjoyed the mood lighting upstairs until spotlights suddenly came on right above my head sitting in the front nearside giving a feeling of being rather under a floodlight – especially when they got even brighter when we stopped at a bus stop and the doors opened.
The new interiors have done away with tables in favour of more plush seating with a deep red patterned moquette which looked a little dated when I first saw it but grew on me as I travelled and the seats were certainly very comfortable…
….except the back row of five on the upper deck which were far too upright and very uncomfortable.
At the front of the upper deck there are five single seats on the nearside which makes for a larger circulation area at the top of the stairs.
The lower deck has a large offside luggage rack as before, although I understand there are plans to extend this as it’s slightly smaller than previously existed. It looked pretty big to me but I know passengers are wedded to more and larger luggage in their travels than ever before. The buses also have centre exit doors.
As with Lothian’s previous batch of tri-axles there are two large monitors at the front of the upper deck with one giving next stop announcements including, uniquely, sign language as the audio plays out, while the other has more generic marketing material as well as airline departures from the airport and estimated arrival times at upcoming stops by the bus, although last night this was erroneously showing the next journey rather than the current one.
I travelled back to the airport earlier this morning just as it was getting light so had the opportunity to see the livery close up. It’s classy.
It’s definitely an improvement on what went before and I noticed the new brand colours have been followed through to signs and posters at the airport as well as the ticket office by the departure stance.
Unlike First’s route 500 from Glasgow airport which takes the motorway and runs fast into the city centre. Lothian’s Airlink runs limited stop along the A8 past Edinburgh Zoo and Murrayfield stadium among the stops observed. Journey time is half an hour and it’s a fairly swish ride utilising bus lanes for much of the way.
Metroline, the Singapore based ComfortDelGro owned bus company, which operates a large network of bus routes for TfL across north and north-west London has been in the news recently as they roll out an expensive new fleet of 67 all electric battery-rechargeable double deck buses. Having read glowing coverage in the trade press, I decided to take a zero emission bus ride with industry colleagues yesterday afternoon.
The buses are being introduced gradually on to both routes as they are delivered and passed fit for service. The first BYD/ADL bus began operating on the 43 between Friern Barnet and London Bridge on 1st July with that route currently about 80% converted to all electric running. The first Metrodecker appeared a few weeks later on the 134 (North Finchley to Warren Street) on 19th August with that route currently having around 20% electric bus operation.
Introducing electric buses is no easy task; it’s not like topping up your mobile phone battery by just plugging it into any handy three-pin socket overnight. Recharging a fleet of buses can mean a whole new sub-station and associated infrastructure having to be installed, as happened at Holloway garage back in 2017 when Metroline first began running BYD ADL Enviro200 electric single deck buses on route 46.
First impressions of the new Optare Metrodecker were very favourable with a brightly lit entrance area in front of the driver’s cab.
But just past that is a rather odd back lit panel on the stairs which only serves to highlight the ‘official’ (very) small print notices. I would have throught something better could have been arranged for this eye-cathing welcome space?
… and some of the workmanship around this area was noticeably slapdash on both the offside and nearside.
… whereas the Metrodecker uses a darker material for the plastic type panels….
As befits London it’s all a bit clinical and utilitarian – not particularly welcoming – and there are some odd mouldings here and there on the Metrodecker …
Bearing in mind the amount of money spent on this whole electric project – the infrastructure and the vehicles themselves – why oh why is the seat comfort and layout on both vehicles so poor. It reminds me of Thameslink – where billions have been invested in infrastructure improvements and new trains yet seat comfort for passengers is dire.
… not exactly inviting on that back row of five is it? And not much room for legs when all four of the double facing seats are occupied but, that’s pretty good compared to the abomination at the rear of the BYD ADL described below.
Yesterday I sampled the new open-top sightseeing tour introduced this summer by Go North East and branded as ‘toontour’. There’s been a bit of a change round on the open-top tour front on Tyneside this year. Stagecoach pulled out of the City Sightseeing franchise with Go North East filling the void and confidently using their own unique local brand for the service rather than paying to use the familiar red and yellow City Sightseeing livery.
Probably a wise decision; the Best Impressions designed livery looks great and it very much does what it says on the buses.
Two buses provide a half hourly frequency between 10:00 and 17:00 on a circuit taking in the sites of both central Newcastle and south of the Tyne on the Gateshead side including the Baltic and Sage buildings ..
…and a great view of the Millenium Bridge, which unusually was open as I passed by yesterday.
The full tour takes just under an hour and has a very informative commentary which can be easily heard over the bus PA system. There’s an attractive and informative leaflet widely available with map, times, prices and descriptions of the attractions including some discounts. There’s also detail about Go North East bus routes to other tourist towns and cities in the region (eg Durham and Hexham).
The bus seats might still be in CS colours but the buses have been repainted into ‘The Seasider’ branding with a pale sky blue and yellow beach livery which strangely makes no reference to the route taken or destinations served.
The Seasider route also runs half hourly from 10:00 to 16:20 and is more in the style of a traditional seaside open-top service than a city-sightseeing operation reflected in the cheaper fares of £2.50 single or £4 all-day with concessionary passes fully valid. It’s a weekends mid-April to mid-September venture with daily operation during school holidays.
Buses pick up conveniently from the bus turning circle just a short walk from the cross-Tyne passenger ferry’s North Shields landing stage and the route stops outside North Shields, Tynemouth and Whitley Bay (photgraphed below) Metro stations.
It’s a great half hour ride offering some delightful seafront views on this popular stretch of coastline.
I hope Stagecoach are having a good summer with the venture and repeats it next year.
I took the opportunity on my journey on the Metro between these two open-top rides to check out the brand new transport interchange which opened earlier this month at the end of the line at the South Shields terminus.
Bus station provision in PTE/Combined Authority areas is usually exemplary and it was great to see a brand new facility offering an airy and clean area to wait for a bus with a large passenger circulation area and seats for each front-on departure bay.
Real time departures were shown in the concourse and at each bay but I was a bit surprised there were no toilets; the Travel Shop was a closed-in talk-through-window affair and the only retail offering was a Greggs (which at least you could walk into rather than be served at a security window).
Meanwhile upstairs the Metro platform offered scant protection from the elements although there is a large area well under cover between the top of the escalators and the ticket barriers which would provide shelter waiting for the train to arrive before ‘turning round’ and heading back.
Perhaps finances were tight and these extras got culled.
I took a ride across the Tyne on the passenger ferry which is just under a ten minute walk from the South Shields transport interchange.
Gerry Marsden has made the equivalent Mersey ferry world famous with his dulcet tones blasting out from the vessel’s speakers as you cross; I half expected Lindisfarne’s ‘Fog on the Tyne’ on this trip but it was all quiet on the impressively quick seven minute crossing.
It almost took as long to load all the passengers on the pay-as-you board system!
The ferry runs every half an hour with a bargain fare of £1.30 single and a range of other tickets which on first reading can appear quite complex. Run by Nexus, my Metro day ticket was valid for travel so that was a welcome bonus.
On the North Shields side as well as the Seasider open-top, Nexus fund a half hourly route 333 which provides convenient timetabled connections to the ferry a short walk from the landing stage. Ferry tickets (including my Metro day ticket) are valid as far as the nearby North Shields Metro station which is handy as it’s a bit further to walk than on the South Shields side.
It’s been a few years since I had a ride on the splendidly scenic and appropriately, yet oddly, numbered bus route AD122 which links Hexham with Haltwhistle along the eerily straight B6318 (thank you, Romans) adjacent to Hadrians Wall.
Two buses in a bespoke livery provide the hourly service (with some lunchtime gaps) daily from mid April to the end of September. It’s a popular service with tourists, campers and walkers enjoying this fascinating part of Northumberland with its rich history across a number of easily accessible sites to explore along the route.
I caught the first journey from Hexham at 08:35 this morning. This runs direct to Haltwhistle using the A69, only deviating off it to call at Barden Mill, but as a 685 runs at a similar time it wasn’t surprising I was the only passenger on what is effectively an in service positioning journey.
In Haltwhistle an obvious regular passenger with shopping bag got on for the return journey to Hexham even though a 685 had departed a few minutes earlier and would have got her to Hexham in 36 minutes instead of the 57 minutes we took. Still I don’t blame her as the views along the AD122 route are stunning and the commentary over the bus PA provides a fascinating insight into the sites and sights the route passes.
We picked up and dropped off nine passengers at various points along the route and it was just me and my fellow shopper who travelled the full route.
A few were obviously camping in the area while others looked as though they’d left a car nearby and were taking the bus to then walk back.
The two buses have a fantastic display of leaflets and information on board too, and I was impressed to see these being topped up on our arrival back at Hexham bus station.
Hexham bus station is a smart functional, if somewhat clinical, affair opened just three years ago. There are three departure bays on the north side (as well as some layover space) with two on the south, roadside.
….. and three individual toilet cubicles (signed for male/female/accessible) on the eastern side …..
…… which also has a number of anonymous doors creating a bit of an unfriendly impression – one door leads into a staff facility which drivers accessed and the leaflet rack filler-up man too
Bus timetables weren’t displayed by each stand but instead were grouped together in one place, stuck on the large waiting room windows.
Real time departures were showing in the waiting room and by each stop on the north facing three bays but not on the two south facing roadside bays.
The bus station is used by Go North East buses in their localised branding for ‘Tynedale’ routes ….
….. as well as the half hourly all stops ‘Tyne Valley Ten’ (route 10) to Newcastle (84 minute journey time)….
….the semi limited stop hourly ‘Tynedale Express’ route X84 to Newcastle (65 minute journey time) and the hourly route X85 very limited stop (48 minute journey time)….
Go North East also run a more rural 4-5 journeys a day route 74 taking 84 minutes between Hexham and Newcastle.
…. but the following bus was in standard livery …
…. as was a Stagecoach single decker showing its age too.
Stagecoach does have at least one double deck sporting Cross Pennine branding but Twitter comments indicated this is not always allocated or possibly a temporary diversion on route is currently making a double decker unsuitable. Either way it’s a shame this prestigious route with its inspiring brand is not more consistently promoted.
It’s also a bit odd Northumberland County Council have left the two former shelters and bus stop flags in situ at the old bus station in Hexham (closer to the town centre too). Three years on, it’s now looking somewhat forlorn and unloved.
Before leaving Hexham it’s worth noting since May Northern have improved the frequency of trains on the line to Newcastle with two semi-fast trains an hour taking just 31 minutes and a third train an hour stopping at all stations taking 43 minutes. Journey time from Hexham to Carlisle is 52-56 minutes (twice an hour) compared to 84 minutes on the 685.
…. and returned later this morning on the fast X85 taking the same journey time which was also a well loaded and busy journey.
I enjoyed both journey experiences.
I kept an eye out for the latest vesion now applied to one bus on the ‘Castles express’ route X21 to replace what I regard as one of the worst liveries ever put on a bus …
… but didn’t spot it this time. The photographs of it circulating on social media a few days ago look like it provides a huge improvement.
I’m sure this other ‘angel’ atrocity will also be revised and replaced as Martijn Gilbert’s new broom continues to sweep through Go North East.
… which I hope is not just for one or two spare buses! If you’re going to do route branding you must do it properly … or not at all.
Well done everyone. Other PTE areas please note.
Having travelled up to Cape Wrath last month to visit mainland Britain’s most northerly bus terminus I thought it was time to take a look at the most southerly bus stop.
Route L1 runs almost hourly from Helston down to The Lizard (there are a couple of two-hour gaps in the morning timetable) with most journeys projected back to start from Redruth Station’s Platform 3.
That’s where I began my travels, having taken GWR’s Night Riviera sleeper from Paddington on Monday evening.
….. and admire the signs directing passengers to the bus stop outside the station ‘for Helston & Culdrose’, quaintly called Platform 3 complete with a ‘3’ in former BR corporate style.
This is from the time the innovative Truronian bus company branded the route The Helston Branch Line in the 1990s which is still displayed on the bus stop.
There are ambitious plans to extend the line further south but it’s going to take a long time and much more hard work.
There’s the usual shop and cafe in a former DMU located at Prospidnick…..
….which is a twenty minute walk from Crowntown (along an overgrown footpath and country lane) where the two hourly route 38 passes on its run between Helston and Camborne so careful planning is needed to visit the railway by bus and fit in with both bus and train times. I think I was the only one yesterday morning.
The Helston branch left the mainline just west of Camborne; it closed to passengers in 1962 so for the past 57 years the bus has been the only way of reaching Helston and south on to The Lizard peninsula.
Journey time from Redruth to The Lizard on the L1 is 83 minutes including eight minutes stand time in Helston. The 08:00 journey took eight of us from Redruth as far as Helston and a similar number south from there with most alighting in the village of Mullion.
…. but only one other passenger joined me all the way down to The Lizard. I’m sure the journey is much busier on a schoolday and I noticed a double deck in Lizard branding on another journey indicating school children are a key market for this route.
Britain’s most southerly bus stop is next to The Green with surrounding gift shops and eateries. The arrangements for where buses stand and wait seemed confused with the driver of my incoming journey stopping alongside The Green (photographed below) but the driver of the next journey reversing alongside the stop itself as photgraphed above.
I had just enough time for breakfast and a brisk walk down to the lighthouse and Lizard Point itself before returning to catch the next bus back which operates via the hamlets of Ruan Minor and Kuggar (with nice seating in the shelter) …
… and then the outward route in reverse to Helston and Redruth. It became a very busy journey with all seats taken and we arrived back in Helston fifteen minutes late necessitating a change to my original planned itinerary – this happens a lot in Cornwall – experience has taught me to allow at least a 15 minute buffer for late running across Kernow land but I still ignore my own advice sometimes with the consequential need to replan on the hoof.
Camborne bus station is adjacent to First Kernow’s main offices and bus garage for Cornwall.
It’s pretty basic with lots of signs telling passengers to stand behind the barriers, and there’s staff coming and going through a door marked PRIVATE, but otherwise not much to report.
I also noticed the low flour easy access arrangement from the bus station saw-tooth layout doesn’t allow for the door behind the front wheels layout on the smart new Optare Solos.
First Kernow have done a fantastic job displaying maps and timetables in the shelter… 
… and the Council have included electronically displayed upcoming train and bus departures.
It’s a shame the dedicated First Bus Travel Shop has closed …
…. but it probably made financial sense to utilise the adjacent Visitor Information Centre which has a great display of timetables and yet another helpful network map.
The A2 continues to St Ives where it morphs into an A3 around the coast to Lands End changing again there into an A1 to complete the circuit back to Penzance. The full circular ride takes 3 hours, 40 minutes and many people make a day of it breaking the round journey up into bite sized chunks.
I’m pleased to have ticked off St Michael’s Mount which was very busy during the period when low tide allows access and despite the excellent bus service there were all too many cars parked in fields on the edge of Marazion.
Marazion is also served by the hourly route U4 one of four routes First Kernow run for the University of Exeter’s campus at Penryn just north of Falmouth.
And commendably these run during college holidays and are popular with tourists and locals.
… and St Keverne. We took about half a dozen workers home and brought back about the same number of tourists on the return journey. The bus arrived about 15 minutes late into Helston – and didn’t make the time up during the journey or back again. It was an incorrectly Atlantic Coaster branded bus.
There are only six journeys a day on the L2 four of which continue to or start from Truro.
Route 46 runs hourly and takes around an hour to reach Redruth having headed westwards first, then north and then south (repeating a few times) as it generally meanders eastwards. I reckon a detailed map of this and sister hourly route 47 would be a great help to demistify where the buses actually go – the network map isn’t much help as illustrated by an enlarged extract below. There are maps showing “where to catch your bus in Camborne” and maps showing limits of zone tickets, but there really needs to be a town bus map showing roads traversed. (Update….see PS at the end of the blog).
The 46 continues every two-hours beyond Redruth to Truro via a lovely rural route including Gwennap, Perranwell and Devoran.
The bus was already six minutes late leaving Carnon Downs and negotiating traffic on these narrow lanes meant twelve minutes late arriving into Helston just in time to see my planned connection on route 35A to Falmouth departing – will I never learn!
More positively the Penryn campus bus stops are well laid out with clear signs indicating where to catch the various bus routes.
The U4 branded route is a later addition to join the original U1 and U2 routes as can be seen from the outdated and updated maps on the sides of the latest buses now in service.
I headed back over to Redruth on a north westerly bound late running U2 which arrived into Redruth just as a T2 was leaving for Camborne and St Ives and despite two passengers jumping off the arriving U2 and frantically waving their arms at the T2 driver, he chose to ignore them and drive on.
Now travel truly has been transformed and after an incredible turnaround in vehicle investment a resurgent First Kernow are running an extremely modern fleet on which you feel proud to travel.
But much greater care is needed on vehicle allocation. As noted above, I saw an Atlantic Coaster on a Lizard L1 and another on an L2; as well as a red Tinner on a blue U4; a Lizard on a standard route 38. Because the brands are so high profile, these incorrect allocations cause confusion and undermine the whole branding.
There are plans to coordinate First Kernow’s bus timetables with the new improved regular half-hourly GWR train service on the main line from December. If integrated timetables are the name of the game it needs a rethink of whether bus schedules are currently realistic, otherwise passengers are going to miss connections.
The most flexible yet top-secret ticket is the ‘Ride Cornwall’ which gives bus as well as train travel throughout the County. This ticket has had a recent chequered history – at one time it was anomalously cheaper than the bus only day ticket but due to First Bus refusing to advertise its existence, very few people were aware of it. Matters came to a head at the beginning of this summer with First Kernow no longer accepting ‘Ride Cornwall’ tickets until GWR (and Cross Country) increased the price, which they’ve now done to £18 for a day; and in a stingy move withdrawn previously available one-third off discounts with Railcards. This is a great shame bearing in mind the desire to integrate bus and trains across the County. There’s still no mention of it at all on any First Kernow printed literature (including a leaflet entitled ‘price & ticket guide’. or online; nor can I find a reference to it on GWR or Criss Country’s websites but full marks to Go-Ahead’s Plymouth Citybus, who also accept and issue it, and at least reference it under Tickets; Day Tickets; Other Tickets on their website.
South West Trains started the ‘run trains to link with heritage railways’ trend a couple of summers ago (before they handed the keys over to South Western Railway) by running a few trains on a summer Saturday on the connecting tracks from Wareham to the Swanage Railway at Corfe Castle. This summer on selected Saturdays GWR are doing the same thing between Taunton and the West Somerset Railway at Bishops Lydeard.
You can also buy through tickets to the West Somerset Railway (but not its individual stations) from any GWR station and this includes travel on the shuttle train.
Indeed, as well as GWR’s shuttle train, West Somerset Railway was running a few additional journeys with its DMU shuttling between Bishops Lydeard and Norton Fitwarren as has happened in previous years after the platform was built on its current sight ten years ago.
I travelled on the first shuttle train from Taunton at 09:35 this morning and our refurbished Class 150 two coach train left with a full seated load.
The deal with GWR seems to be they provide the driver and train with West Somerset Railway providing the ticket collecting staff and other staff to marshall and assist passengers. They were certainly doing a good job making sure everyone had tickets this morning and making us all feel welcome.
About two-thirds of the passengers on board alighted at Norton Fitzwarren (photographed above) for the Rally and the rest of us continued to Bishops Lydeard (photographed below) with most then continuing on to Minehead on a WSR steam train.
We pulled into Bishops Lydeard on time at 09:56 to find the platform heaving with excited Steam Fayre and Vintage Rally bound fans. Luckily everyone just about managed to cram themselves on and we left for the return journey to Taunton on time at 10:03 full and standing.
Most alighted at Norton Fitzwarren but a few of us continued back to Taunton and one or two, like me, were pleased to have ticked off this unusual extension to the national network rail map.
In the meantime here’s a lovely bus I spotted back in Taunton this morning also running a shuttle to the Rally at Norton Fitzwarren and this one was free.
I hear the bus is owned by one of the Directors of the West Somerset Railway so good to see modal integration on heritage railways even if mainstream rail struggles with it sometimes!
….. with the Summer Saturday only route 271 from Newton Abbot to Widicombe.
Stand in Newton Abbot’s ‘bus station’ (bus stops either side of the bus only Sherborne Road) for a short time and aside from Stagecoach it soon becomes obvious just how dominant Country Bus has become in the local market.
Route 271 runs four times a day but only on Saturdays from June to mid September – that’s sixteen days in all. One minibus covers the schedule.
Interestingly no concessionary passes are valid on this route, it being deemed by Devon County Council who fund the service, to be a tourist route. Instead pass holders get a £1 discount on the round trip fare of £5, paying just £4. My experience this afternoon indicated this policy certainly hasn’t deterred seniors from travelling. Indeed, I suspect they value the service even more by handing over cash to travel. Two seniors on my journey paid up, like me, to just enjoy the trip right around the circuit which takes an hour and forty-five minutes. It’s certainly well worth it.
I travelled on the 13:40 departure from Newton Abbot this afternoon and there were five of us on board as we left although one didn’t travel far getting off at an exclusive looking private school, Stover School, just outside the town with another passenger joining us at Bovey Tracey getting us back to five again, although he alighted at the Moor’s Visitor Centre just past the hamlet of Haytor Vale where the Moor proper begins.
We picked up four more here and when we got to Widicombe one got off and there were eight waiting to board who’d all obviously travelled out on one of the two morning journeys and had enjoyed a walk across the wonderful scenic countryside.
After a short pause in Widicombe in the Moor we retraced our route up the steep narrow access road for a couple of miles before turning sharp left and heading up a narrow unclassified road, along which, after a few more miles we picked up three more walkers who’d travelled out this morning.
We then turned right along the narrowest of roads for the longest duration I think I’ve travelled along – it even beat some of the narrow roads in Pembrokeshire used by the Strumble Shuttle.
Inevitably we met a car coming towards us which had no option but to reverse some distance to enable us to pass.
At the village of Manaton one of the five passengers who’d got on at Newton Abbot alighted and we picked up three more making for twenty on board.
I heard the driver telling the lady alighting that he’d look out for her on the next and last journey of the day and he reassured her there’d be room but “I’m expecting the journey to be busy”. It had obviously been a busy first two journeys this morning; and it’s great to see that.
The photographs here cannot do justice to the amazingly spectacular scenery this bus route offers; sadly the bus windows were not particularly clean, especially the back window, but I still found it exhilarating and I rank it as one of the best scenic bus routes I’ve travelled on. It was also lovely to see so many Dartmoor ponies freely roaming around too.
It seems a shame the route only runs on a Saturday as I would have thought it would be just as popular on a Sunday with both walkers and people just enjoying the ride around. The fact that everyone pays a fare means the revenue is as it is with no discounted reimbursement issues.
Unfortunately the bus was not accessible having a three step entrance rather than being low floor so there was no provision for a wheelchair despite the capacity stating there was.
The standing capacity showing as zero indicates Country Bus are using the ‘get out’ clause of the vehicle being classified as a ‘coach’ so will only be caught by the accessibility legislation from next January when it will become illegal.
The interior of the vehicle also had an odd pair of seats which made for an unkept appearance.
That aside, it was a very enjoyable ride around with a friendly and helpful driver, expertly driven and scenery to die for. It was very encouraging to see it so well used too and not a free ride in sight. Definitely a bus route ‘to do’.
…. but entering X64 into the ‘Timetable’ look up brought no results. I’m grateful to John Crowhurst, who also encouraged me to ride the 271, for explaining the X64 has been replaced and revised and the section of route between Totnes, Newton Abbot and Exeter is now numbered 7.
I’m not sure how you’re supposed to know that as even the map dated April 2019 in what’s left of Exeter bus station is showing the X64 still operates.
Anyway we made good progress on the 41 minute journey to Exeter thanks to the free flowing A380…
…and arrived at the now truncated Exeter bus station where redevelopment of much of the former land is now well under way.
This operates from Aviemore Station on an adjacent platform alongside the main line used by ScotRail, LNER and Caledonian Sleeper trains between Inverness and Perth.
The line’s fortunes changed dramatically in 1892 when a new more direct line from Aviemore to Inverness was built via Carrbridge, which are the tracks used by the main Highland Line today. The Strathspey line consequently lost it’s reason for being but it hung on well into the 20th century before closing completely by 1968 with tracks lifted and abandoned.
More recently tracks have been extended beyond Broomhill for about another mile where the train comes to a stop and the engine transfers to the other end via a parallel track before returning to Broomhill.
The running season operates between April and October (as well as Santa Specials and some extra days in February) with continious daily operation from mid June to early September. There’s the usual special events, dining experiences and occasional vintage diesel railcar days. Three return journeys operate on the Standard Service with an additional Sunday lunch return.
A standard adult return is £15.75 with cheaper fares for seniors and children. The day I visited saw coach parties taking a one-way ride as part of their tour of Scotland and I guess this is a popular source of income for the railway.
It’s very easy to visit the Strathspey Railway by public transport with the main Highland line serving Aviemore station but there are also regular bus and coach services passing by between Inverness and points south including the impressive ‘citylink gold’ route.
This enchanting railway in Launceston is a narrow gauge steam railway covering around two and a half miles along the Kensey Valley westwards to the hamlet of New Mills. It covers the trackbed of the old North Cornwall Railway which at one time linked Padstow with Waterloo. Originally opened in 1892 it closed in 1966.
The gauge is 1ft 11.5inches with open and closed carriages hauled by one of three steam engines including Lilian who started it all off when the line was established in 1983.
This was thanks to Nigel Bowman, a keen enthusiast who, when aged 19, found Lilian in Penrhyn Slate Quarry in North Wales and bought her for £60 at the same time the railway through Launceston was closing in the 1960s. Nigel rebuilt Lilian in a foundry by his parent’s home in Surrey while he was undertaking a teacher training course.
The first train ran on Boxing Day 1983 after a lot of hard work and thanks to the Royal Navy Armaments Depot in Plymouth coincidentally wanting to dispose of its narrow gauge railway in the Docks.
Trains run on Sundays to Fridays from mid May to the end of August and on Monday to Fridays around Easter, September and the Autumn half term. There’s an hourly service with a round trip taking about 35 minutes.
There’s a lovely cafe and gift shop at Launceston station including a fantastic book shop on the first floor with an amazing collection of transport books – I came away with two books but could easily have bought many more. Over the road from the cafe is a fascinating Transport and Engineering Museum with a range of items to interest the engineering fanatic.
Launceston can be reached by both Stagecoach route 6A (from Exeter) and GoCornwall (Plymouth Citybus) route 12/12B (Plymouth to Bude).
It may not rank as high as the West Highland Line, the Kyle of Lochalsh Line or the Far North Line in the great Scottish Scenic Rail Lines stakes but ScotRail have rightly designated the line down to Stranraer as a Scenic Rail Journey and very justifiably so too.
While I was in Glasgow on Monday in between consecutive night sleeper train travels I took the opportunity to take another ride down to Stranraer and remind myself why I ranked it thirteenth in 
It’s not that Stranraer itself is a must-visit destination, sadly the town is well past its prime now the Belfast ferry has moved further up the coast, leaving desolation where lorries and cars once formed their orderly queues before boarding.
It’s also not that the first part of the journey south from Glasgow is particularly scenic either. It’s not.
The line’s scenic reputation comes from the eighty minute ride south of Ayr on the single track section through the lovely stations at Maybole, Girvan, and Barhill.
It’s not that there are lochs. Nor mountains. Nor huge spectacular valleys.
It’s just mile after mile of stunning Scottish countryside with rolling hills, rivers and plenty of lush green landscape.
The Stranraer timetable is not particularly attractive either. It’s an approximate two-hourly frequency but only three journeys start in Glasgow (six hours apart at 0808, 1413 and 1813) with most of the other journeys starting in Kilmarnock. Even those Glasgow journeys are bettered by taking a later train on the more direct route to Ayr, saving twenty minutes, and having a handy 6 minute connection in Ayr to the earlier leaving Stranraer train that went the slower route via Kilmarnock.
Still, on the upside I had a bit of time to look at the major work now in progress to renovate and make safe the hotel above Ayr station which began as an emergency measure a few months ago when the building was suddenly declared dangerous necessitating the complete closure of the station and rail lines in the area at great inconvenience.
It turned out eight of us bound for Stranraer were left stranded in Ayr and in view of the two hour wait until the next train staff summoned an eight seater taxi which arrived in twenty minutes and we set off for the eighty minute drive down to Stranraer, which aside from the wait, took about the same journey time as the train.
I’d travelled this route before on Stagecoach’s route 60/360 and it’s a great scenic ride with some lovely coastal views contrasting with the more inland route taken by the train, so it made for an interesting and welcome variation.
This headland peninsular is officially called The Rhins but apparently the locals don’t call it that. It protrudes out towards Belfast in the south western corner of Dumfries and Galloway.
Luckily when I was in Dumfries earlier this year I took a photograph of a bus map displayed in bus shelters in the town as in the frustrating absence of finding a bus map online to refer to, this proved invaluable in working out which bus routes to travel on to explore both ends and both sides of The Rhins. Update is I found the online map after publishing this post thanks to a helpful reader – see below for more explanation.
The timing worked perfectly to travel on the 1155 one-return-journey four-day-a-week departure on the McCullochs Coaches operated circular route 412 from Stranraer to Leswalt, Envie and Galdenoch (see map above).
This was a lovely thirty-five minute run with just me and one other passenger who alighted in Leswalt leaving just me to enjoy the trip round. The route was slightly curtailed due to a road closure but it was still an enjoyable and quiet rural ride.
The Fiat minibus has an interesting staggered 2+1 seat layout ….
…. and a livery which seems to be the base colours for the ‘south west of Scotland transport partnership’ brand as I saw another bus wearing similar colours and sporting a logo to that effect on route 500 to Dumfries operated by Stagecoach.
When I’d investigated the 
This eight journey a day route is shared with McCullochs Coaches who operate two school journeys and Wigtownshire Community Transport who operate a journey at 1700. We took nine passengers as far as Sandhead which is half way along the 44 minute journey (see map above) but the second half was just me on board although we brought two back from Drummore and another half dozen from Sandhead on the return.
Stagecoach also operate route 408 up to Kirkolm to the north of The Rhines but sadly the 1410 departure didn’t arrive, or more possibly the driver of the 407 when he got back to Stranraer st 1402 didn’t change the blind. There’s one other route, the 387 to Portpatrick on the west coast which is shared between Stagecoach, DGC Buses and Wigtown Community Transport and a convoluted town route in Stranraer, the 365, which Stagecoach also operate.
Having enjoyed the scenic rides up and down the ‘hammer head’ I decided to head back to Glasgow on the 1500 ScotRail departure from Stranraer; the scenery as far as Ayr was as gorgeous as ever and I thoroughly enjoyed the journey.
Frustratingly this train arrives Ayr at exactly the same time a fast train leaves for Glasgow making a connection impossible so I continued to Kilmarnock (photographed below) where there’s a more convenient three minute connection across adjacent platforms to a train passing through from Carlisle and which gets into Glasgow at 1737, whereas if the connection had been possible in Ayr it would have meant an earlier 1710 arrival into Glasgow.
If ScotRail are serious about promoting the scenic delights of the Stranraer line I would strongly recommend reviewing those tight and missed connections and promoting the timetable better – for example whereas the Ayr trains which offer either tight or missed connections are shown in the Stranraer leaflet; the Kilmarnock connections aren’t.
Annoyingly my shower didn’t work (again) along with the toilet flush packing up during the night and only a trickle of water from the basin tap in the morning. I experienced the same plumbing problems on my inaugural journey at the beginning of last month which indicates snagging issues are still very much to the fore on the new sleeper carriages.
