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Post by wirewiper on Feb 17, 2023 14:20:03 GMT
More ways to Moretonhampstead
Tuesday 14th February's trip was from Exeter to the Dartmoor village of Moretonhampstead - by different routes there and back. I took the train from Torquay to Exeter Central which usually takes around an hour each way.
Dartline's 173 runs five times a day from Exeter to Chagford, with two journeys extended to Moretonhampstead where they connect with route 178 to allow shopping opportunities in Bovey Tracey and Newton Abbot. The 13.25 departure from Exeter is one of these journeys. so myself and one other passenger boarded Optare Solo SR YJ10 MHF at Sidwell Street, the terminus for most non-Stagecoach services. Going through the City we picked up eleven more at Queen Street, close to the main shopping area, and one more at St Thomas Station so we had a respectable fourteen on board.
The 173 takes a scenic high road above the upper Teign Valley, with extensive views over Dartmoor, and we dropped two off in Nadderwater and one more in Whitecross before descending into Tedburn St Mary where two more alighted - this latter village, and Cheriton Bishop where another passenger alighted, are also served by Stagecoach 6A and the Devon County Council timetable shows both 6A and 173 journeys. We then took to the narrow country lanes, dropping off one more passenger after squeezing through a narrow gap between buildings in Drewsteignton. We had a brief glimpse of Castle Drogo which was designed by the architect Edwin Lutyens in the 1920s, then continued via a double-run to the Market Square in the charming village of Chagford, where six people alighted.Because of its remoteness railways never came to Chagford and the village had to wait until 1903 for its first bus link with the outside world. The 173 has the same role today, although there is also a once-a-day shopping link to Okehampton. The bus then retraced its steps along the double-run and continued the two miles on to Moretonhampstead. The bus terminates in a car park on the edge of the village, one corner of which has been marked out as a bus stand which buses reverse into. We were bang on time at 14.44 when I, the only remaining passenger, alighted.
I had a while before my return journey so I had a good wander round the village, taking in the former Devon General Bus Garage that now houses a motor museum, sadly this is closed until mid-March. I made my way back to the bus stand for the 359 service, which is operated by Country Bus and is more direct than the 173, taking just under 55 minutes for the journey to Exeter. Indeed the 359 is the main link for the village and its seven departures of the day are almost as many as all its other routes combined. Unlike Chagford, Moretonhampstead did have a rail link until the late 1950s, but it went South to Newton Abbot; from the 1920s onwards buses took villagers directly to Exeter, where most of them wanted to go.
ADL Enviro200 214 (SN65 OFC) arrived in good time for the 16.15 departure and I boarded with another passenger travelling on an ENCTS pass - he was an expat from Southend-on-Sea and I mentioned that I had lived for many years in the East End, so he regaled me with stories of the Basildon music scene in the 1980s whilst I nodded and pretended to be knowledgeable. He had heard Alison Moyet singing at age sixteen and knew even then she would go far. Anyway we set off, picking one more passenger up in the village itself, before climbing over the hills and dropping into the steeply wooded Teign Valley. The bus deviated off the main road at Dunsford down some single track roads to serve the village centre where we picked up one passenger, so making the effort worthwhile, we picked up one more on the edge of the village, then that was it as we headed through the long village of Longdown and hit the outskirts of Exeter around half-an-hour after leaving Moretonhampstead. Traffic in the city was lighter than usual, probably due to it being half-term holiday. A couple of passengers ignored us on Cowick street but we stopped for a couple of youngsters at St Thomas Station, who decided after a short debate that the 359 went close enough to where they wanted. I alighted at High Street with one other passenger, the bus was around a couple of minutes early at this point.
So - value for money? No doubt whatsoever. I don't know what the single fares are on the 173 and 359 normally, but I would expect they are well in excess of £2. The total spend would be no more than the price of a Devon Day ticket, £9.60, which is issued and accepted by both operators. However had I chosen to travel only by bus, I could also have used the Devon Day ticket to travel from Torquay to Exeter and back, which would involve two buses and take around two hours each way.
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Post by wirewiper on Feb 17, 2023 16:01:00 GMT
Some good news - the Government today agreed to extend both Bus Recovery Grant (BRG) and Bus Fare Cap Grant (BFCG) for a further three months, from 1st April to 30th June. The total available will be up to £155 million split roughly evenly between the two grants. The Government says that evidence in January is that the Fare Cap is growing bus use, and the extension of both grants will help passengers save money on fares, get more people on buses and help protect services. www.route-one.net/news/bus-revenue-support-and-bfcg-in-england-extended/ |
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Post by wirewiper on Feb 17, 2023 17:15:29 GMT
Ashford Hospital to T5 on a 442. I wonder what that would cost normally? Some services are supported by Heathrow Airport so fares aren't as expensive as might be expected. |
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Post by ibus246 on Feb 17, 2023 17:35:58 GMT
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Post by MetrolineGA1511 on Feb 18, 2023 15:33:09 GMT
I decided some time back to go to Liverpool on May 13th to see all the Welcome to Liverpool for Eurovision 2023 banners etc
I have just booked a no change no refund £3 fare for National Express there from Manchester.
I can travel to Manchester for £2. Then get 3 buses home for £2 each, changing at Warrington then either Altrincham or Trafford Centre. If I settle for the former, then I can have all 4 buses with different companies - Stagecoach, Arriva, Warrington's Own Buses and (Rotala) Diamond!
I did consider using the coach from Manchester Airport and getting there using High Peak from Stockport. Then I would have a Stagecoach, Manchester and rail free zone! However, that bus to the Airport would be less frequent and the coach more expensive yet a shorter ride. I think this is to discourage people from using the Airport stop and therefore give us a quicker journey to Liverpool.
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Post by wirewiper on Feb 19, 2023 10:21:43 GMT
I decided some time back to go to Liverpool on May 13th to see all the Welcome to Liverpool for Eurovision 2023 banners etc I have just booked a no change no refund £3 fare for National Express there from Manchester. I can travel to Manchester for £2. Then get 3 buses home for £2 each, changing at Warrington then either Altrincham or Trafford Centre. If I settle for the former, then I can have all 4 buses with different companies - Stagecoach, Arriva, Warrington's Own Buses and (Rotala) Diamond! I did consider using the coach from Manchester Airport and getting there using High Peak from Stockport. Then I would have a Stagecoach, Manchester and rail free zone! However, that bus to the Airport would be less frequent and the coach more expensive yet a shorter ride. I think this is to discourage people from using the Airport stop and therefore give us a quicker journey to Liverpool. National Express typically charge more for Airport services. This may be because people are more willing to pay for the convenience, and to allow flexibility in case of flight delays - you want to be reasonably sure of being able to get on a later coach. But I digress .... (and National Express services do not come under the £2 fare cap - imagine if they did!) |
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Post by SILENCED on Feb 19, 2023 10:40:29 GMT
I decided some time back to go to Liverpool on May 13th to see all the Welcome to Liverpool for Eurovision 2023 banners etc I have just booked a no change no refund £3 fare for National Express there from Manchester. I can travel to Manchester for £2. Then get 3 buses home for £2 each, changing at Warrington then either Altrincham or Trafford Centre. If I settle for the former, then I can have all 4 buses with different companies - Stagecoach, Arriva, Warrington's Own Buses and (Rotala) Diamond! I did consider using the coach from Manchester Airport and getting there using High Peak from Stockport. Then I would have a Stagecoach, Manchester and rail free zone! However, that bus to the Airport would be less frequent and the coach more expensive yet a shorter ride. I think this is to discourage people from using the Airport stop and therefore give us a quicker journey to Liverpool. National Express typically charge more for Airport services. This may be because people are more willing to pay for the convenience, and to allow flexibility in case of flight delays - you want to be reasonably sure of being able to get on a later coach. But I digress .... (and National Express services do not come under the £2 fare cap - imagine if they did!) Probably because airports charge operators to use their facilities. Operators need to recuperate their costs. |
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Post by MetrolineGA1511 on Mar 12, 2023 7:59:46 GMT
For my tour of Rawtensall & Oldham yesterday, I used the £2 singles to/from Rawtenstall plus a System One Bus & Tram Daysaver for the rest of my trip.
This cost me a total of £11.80 rather than £15.20 for a Wayfarer. It also meant that I did not pay for validity I did not require, such as National Rail. Furthermore, as Wayfarers are not valid on every operator I was unsure whether it would be valid on Nexus Move route 356 in Oldham.
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Post by VPL630 on Mar 23, 2023 7:14:36 GMT
Again, another spontaneous trip up North planned on the morning as my cat decided that she must be fed at 0400 woke me up.
Ticking off a few things, A Voyager DMU, a MAN EcoCity an Ex London MHV and finally a MAN Engined Enviro 400.
So Avanti West Coast Voyager 221113 + 221109 to Chester, believe it or not this is the first time I’ve actually been on a Voyager in my life as I don’t ever really need to use Cross Country or Avanti, quite a pleasant ride up to Chester and arrived on time which is a first for me using AWC…
A short walk from Chester Station to the Bus Station to catch the X30 to Warrington and it was nice to see a bus station that’s had a half decent attempt at being good, I’m not saying it’s perfect but it serves its purpose, one side is somewhat sheltered from the elements and the bays are pretty sizeable.
The X30 is quite a boring route with quite lax timings, there were occasional nice views but nothing to write home about, at the end of the day I specifically chose this route to get a good run on a MAN EcoCity, I rode the Anglian Bus ones(Now with Plymouth Citybus) when brand new and they pulled very well at the time however with time and this seems to apply to all Gas Buses, they seem to lose a lot of their get up and go, with these also being fitted with the ZF Ecolife gearbox which does not have kickdown fitted they can be gutless dogs at times as proven by some of the inclines on the route, the gearbox also have a typical ZF trait of slamming into drive every time it was engaged. Uneventful journey, leisurely pace and heating working
From Warrington I was planning to do the Cat 5 or X5 to Altrincham but the Cat 5 was going to be CX65 BUH an Enviro 200 and tbh I have a strong dislike for any E200 built after 2011 and even more so a mini E200 so i decided to get the X5, only problem being it turned up on time, driver got out of bus, driver disappeared and 40 mins later the bus still hadn’t departed with no information, nothing on twitter, no one in the office and no one answering phone calls I decided I’ll just got the 100 as an EvoSeti had pulled in, very slow and boring drive to the Trafford Centre with questionable driving skills, mostly a boring route that follows a main road most of the way ducking into a housing estate along the way, very lax timetable, arrived on time, got some food and a quick check of bus times revealed that I was going to have the choice of 2 MAN Enviro 400’s to choose from.
The 23 or 25, as both of these beasts turned up at the same time it was a clear winner as to which one I was going to take, 19623 pulled in on the 23 but I clocked it was a new driver with a mentor, no thanks, I’ll take 19624 on the 25 which pulled in quite hastily behind it. 19624 is part of a batch of only 20 in the world MAN D0836 engined Enviro 400’s, unlike the many MAN E200’s and E300’s that have been repowered with Cummins Engines, these E400’s still retain their MAN Engines, internally you lose one rear seat to accommodate the cooling pack but other than that, they are a bog standard Enviro 400 with a trident chassis and even retain the standard E400 dash. While they don’t have kickdown they are still very powerful and this driver was eaking every bit of performance out of it, handbrake takeoffs, tricking it to kick down and just generally giving a fast ride, I will also say the engine was actually a lot quieter than the Cummins lump, quite a nice experience if you ever get to ride one.
After arriving in Stockport, a boring and packed journey home on a 9 car Pendolino
AWC 221113 + 221109 1D83 0902 London Euston to Chester
Arriva 5009 - MX13 ABF, X30 Chester to Warrington
Go-North West 3065 - BV66 VHC, 100 Warrington to The Trafford Centre
Stagecoach Manchester 19624 - MX59 KHT, The Trafford Centre to Stockport
AWC 390008 1A66 Stockport to London Euston
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Post by VPL630 on Mar 23, 2023 19:30:24 GMT
You can probably tell that I don’t tend to plan that much and today really highlighted that, all week I’ve been wanting a ride on one of the 2 Euro 2 Dennis Dart/ELC Spryte‘s and all this week they haven’t come out once, anyway I decided to head for Oxford in the hope it may appear.
It didn’t so thought ah, let me tick off a Citaro on the Pulham’s 99’s, what’s the best way for me to get to Cheltenham or Gloucester from Oxford?
Now I could just get a train to Didcot and then another to Gloucester which would be logical but a Scania E400 had passed me on the S6, I made the silly assumption without checking that it must be Scania E400MMC operated, turns out waiting for the next one it wasn’t, a check of bus times showed more normal MMC’s but I thought I’ve never been under the bridge at Oxford (which is very very low) so let’s do this to Swindon and then get the 51 to Cheltenham, due to roadworks the S6 arrived into Oxford late and left late, lost more time on route, the fans on the front upper deck were really getting on my nerves after about an hour of listening to them, anyway arriving into Swindon after navigating the Magic roundabout a few buses decided they wanted to change bays, which meant we had to wait a few mins while they sorted themselves out, then I saw the heard of people waiting for the 51 and thought, no thanks, I’ll just get the train.
Train to Gloucester and then a short wait for the 99, a lovely high spec and well maintained Citaro C2 turned up, Single to Cheltenham please, that’ll be £3.60 oh, turns out Pulham’s are only doing the £2 single on their 51 route, oh well I wanted the bus so £3.60 it was. There is absolutely nothing along the 99 route to mention, it just connects 2 hospitals really, we lost a lot of time getting out of Gloucester due to traffic which meant a nice fast run down the A40 and into the outside lane for some overtakes, these Citaros pull so nicely, it’s a shame there aren’t more of them.
Due to the late running I missed my connection with the 801, so had about 45 mins to kill until the next one, had a quick walk around the town.
The 801 I was now going to get was to be a brand new MCV/B8RLE - DD23BUS, I’ve been on quite a few of these MCV’s now and they are quite nice and rattle free, the driver however after calming getting out of town then decided he was on a mission to get to Moreton-in-Marsh and it’s been a long time since I’ve been on a Volvo that’s been driven this hard, while these still have the boring Ecolife 2 in super eco mode, at one point it kicked down from 6th to 4th going up hill where he moved into the outside lane to overtake a slower moving car, I’ve never heard a Volvo D8K engine pull so hard, it was actually enjoyable for a modern bus, the route has lots of nice scenery as well, so double bonus, I did however have to pay £4.10 for the privilege, train from MIM to Pad
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Post by southlondon413 on Mar 24, 2023 8:52:42 GMT
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Post by wirewiper on Mar 24, 2023 9:09:46 GMT
I suspect it may be discontinued on longer routes, however if the Government is willing to continue funding at some level £2 fares could be retained in more localised areas based on operators' own fare zones. Some areas which have BSIP funding can also use this to keep fares down. |
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Post by wirewiper on Mar 28, 2023 16:37:40 GMT
CityBus in the Country
Back on Thursday 2nd March I took three £2 rides. all were on Plymouth CityBus although one took me deep into the countryside and up onto Dartmoor.
I bought a return train ticket to Plymouth, but got off at Ivybridge on the outward journey as I wanted to "bag" route 20. Although the number has been used before, and its derivative the 20A has served Ivybridge for a number of years, the current 20 was only introduced on 31st October 2022 to provide new links to the rapidly-developing New Town of Sherford, on the outskirts on Plymstock. The route runs hourly on Monday-Saturday daytimes.
I boarded the 12.05 departure from the Town Hall which was operared by Enviro200 no. 148 and had a decent load on. Route 20 operates a big loop around Ivybridge housing estates which used to be covered by the 20A. The estates are built on hills and the bus link is clearly appreciated by locals as a number alighted going round the estates, a few also joining the bus en-route. The route then goes onto the A38, turning off to serve the huge Tesco superstore at Lee Mill. The bus circles the perimeter of the huge car park to serve a dedicated bus stop just past the store entrance, where a few passengers alighted - clearly another valued local link for Ivybridge. Then it was back onto the A38 to the Deep Lane Interchange, where the bus turned south to aim for Sherford which was reached a few minutes later. Much house-building is still in evidence, but residents are moving in and one hailed our bus to board a Sherford Valley School. Stagecoach route 2A also reaches this point from Plymouth, having been extended a couple of years ago with support from Section 106 Developer Contributions, although this takes a longer route via Plymstock and Elburton whereas the 20 takes the direct route along the A379. Arrival at Royal Parade was a minute early, at 12.54. The 20’s current route is destined to be short-lived; from 2nd April Stagecoach is rerouting its Gold service to operate via Sherford and the A379 instead of Marsh Mills and the 20 will operate instead via March Mills.
I had a bit of a wait for my next bus on route 59, another one I wanted to "bag", so I sat and had my lunch whilst watching the CityBus and Stagecoach comings and goings on Royal Parade. I boarded another Enviro 200, this time smaller 30-seater 2207 (YY64 TXM) which had been SE227 in the Go-Ahead London fleet for route 100 and which came down to Devon when Go South West landed the Transport for Cornwall contract in 2020. We departed bang on time at 14.10 and despite me expecting a very light load on this rural service, there were a respectable 16 on board with a further passenger boarding at Viaduct Street.
The 59 is a route of great contrasts; although it starts and finishes within the city boundary it passes through urban housing estates, deeply rural villages and goes high up onto Dartmoor through an area that is surprisingly industrial, as China Clay is still mined in the area. Unsurprisingly the route is supported financially by Devon County Council and Plymouth CityBus has held the contract since 15th August - previously it was with Oakley's Coaches and before that, the now-defunct Target Travel. With a journey time of 1 hour 24 minutes a single vehicles is able to operate four round trips at 3-hourly intervals, although the last departure from Plymouth City Centre is held back to 17.35 which better meets the needs of commuters.
The 59 heads out via Plympton; since 30th January it has operated via Merafield, an area which lost its previous bus service when Plymouth City Council withdrew subsidy for the hourly 19 after mounting losses. Plymouth CityBus negotiated with Devon County Council to vary the 59 as a partial replacement. Three people alighted as the bus proceeded around the estate, which is located on a steep hillside. Three more alighted on the outskirts of Plympton, at an estate not served by other routes. The route then took to narrow country lanes through farmland as it wound its way past the villages of Hemerdon and Sparkwell before reaching Lutton where three more alighted; three more alighted at Cornwood where we also surprisingly took two more on who would ride all the way to The George. Beyond Cornwood the landscape changes as the route climbs up, firstly through woodland than onto more desolate open moor, and in contrast to the farmland there is much evidence of the China Clay extraction which has been carried out here for hundreds of years and is still thriving. The bus made a short double-run via Lee Moor where one passenger alighted, and continued through Wotter where one more left us. These villages are high up on Dartmoor and have extensive views out to the sea; also visible are the northern postwar suburbs of Plymouth reminding us that the City is not far away. Despite their location these are not pretty rural places, but very much working villages largely set up to house the China Clay workers.
The route then descends to Shaugh Prior which is a more conventionally pretty village, and crosses Shaugh Bridge into Bickleigh where incongruously high-security fences surround a military base next to the village. One person joined us here for a short ride to the main A386 Tavistock Road, then we were suddenly in the outskirts of Plymouth where a few minutes later we arrived at our destination, the George Park & Ride site. Recently the route had a short-lived extension to Derriford Hospital, but this was sacrificed to allow the extra time for the diversion via Merafield.
My last ride was on the 42C to take me back into Plymouth City Centre, aboard one of CityBus’ stylish ADL Enviro400 MMCs that were new in 2019 and operate most journeys on the 42 group. Although there was a lot of traffic it was moving well, and after an uneventful journey I alighted at North Road lass than half-an-hour later.
Value for money? Definitely – I paid £6 in total for the three rides. To ride route 59, which proved to be a fascinating route of great contrasts, would have required a three-zone CityBus day ticket which costs £8, so a £2 saving.
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Post by MetrolineGA1511 on Apr 1, 2023 11:52:08 GMT
Again, another spontaneous trip up North planned on the morning as my cat decided that she must be fed at 0400 woke me up. Ticking off a few things, A Voyager DMU, a MAN EcoCity an Ex London MHV and finally a MAN Engined Enviro 400. So Avanti West Coast Voyager 221113 + 221109 to Chester, believe it or not this is the first time I’ve actually been on a Voyager in my life as I don’t ever really need to use Cross Country or Avanti, quite a pleasant ride up to Chester and arrived on time which is a first for me using AWC… A short walk from Chester Station to the Bus Station to catch the X30 to Warrington and it was nice to see a bus station that’s had a half decent attempt at being good, I’m not saying it’s perfect but it serves its purpose, one side is somewhat sheltered from the elements and the bays are pretty sizeable. The X30 is quite a boring route with quite lax timings, there were occasional nice views but nothing to write home about, at the end of the day I specifically chose this route to get a good run on a MAN EcoCity, I rode the Anglian Bus ones(Now with Plymouth Citybus) when brand new and they pulled very well at the time however with time and this seems to apply to all Gas Buses, they seem to lose a lot of their get up and go, with these also being fitted with the ZF Ecolife gearbox which does not have kickdown fitted they can be gutless dogs at times as proven by some of the inclines on the route, the gearbox also have a typical ZF trait of slamming into drive every time it was engaged. Uneventful journey, leisurely pace and heating working From Warrington I was planning to do the Cat 5 or X5 to Altrincham but the Cat 5 was going to be CX65 BUH an Enviro 200 and tbh I have a strong dislike for any E200 built after 2011 and even more so a mini E200 so i decided to get the X5, only problem being it turned up on time, driver got out of bus, driver disappeared and 40 mins later the bus still hadn’t departed with no information, nothing on twitter, no one in the office and no one answering phone calls I decided I’ll just got the 100 as an EvoSeti had pulled in, very slow and boring drive to the Trafford Centre with questionable driving skills, mostly a boring route that follows a main road most of the way ducking into a housing estate along the way, very lax timetable, arrived on time, got some food and a quick check of bus times revealed that I was going to have the choice of 2 MAN Enviro 400’s to choose from. The 23 or 25, as both of these beasts turned up at the same time it was a clear winner as to which one I was going to take, 19623 pulled in on the 23 but I clocked it was a new driver with a mentor, no thanks, I’ll take 19624 on the 25 which pulled in quite hastily behind it. 19624 is part of a batch of only 20 in the world MAN D0836 engined Enviro 400’s, unlike the many MAN E200’s and E300’s that have been repowered with Cummins Engines, these E400’s still retain their MAN Engines, internally you lose one rear seat to accommodate the cooling pack but other than that, they are a bog standard Enviro 400 with a trident chassis and even retain the standard E400 dash. While they don’t have kickdown they are still very powerful and this driver was eaking every bit of performance out of it, handbrake takeoffs, tricking it to kick down and just generally giving a fast ride, I will also say the engine was actually a lot quieter than the Cummins lump, quite a nice experience if you ever get to ride one. After arriving in Stockport, a boring and packed journey home on a 9 car Pendolino AWC 221113 + 221109 1D83 0902 London Euston to Chester Arriva 5009 - MX13 ABF, X30 Chester to Warrington Go-North West 3065 - BV66 VHC, 100 Warrington to The Trafford Centre Stagecoach Manchester 19624 - MX59 KHT, The Trafford Centre to Stockport AWC 390008 1A66 Stockport to London Euston I live just a 5 minute walk from route 25! I agree it is a more pleasant route than route 23, as it goes through more residential areas. |
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Post by WH241 on Apr 3, 2023 16:50:34 GMT
Ensign joined the scheme from April 1st.
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