Given the 9 or Blue/Green take only 10-15 mins from Sowton and the Red/4 take 10-15 minutes from Honiton Road its is sensible for Falcon not to serve Exeter but the connections need better publicising. Also Falcon drivers do not make it clear that the bus to the City is included in the price and I've yet to find a driver on a local bus that knows that either. Not sure how many Plymouth drivers know that a Falcon ticket is valid to Tavistock/Saltash/Totnes either. From Exeter to Dartington I usually travel via Marley Head now using Falcon and Gold.
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Stagecoach West/South West/South Wales - Fleet News & Discussion
- Thread starter Temple Meads
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Given the 9 or Blue/Green take only 10-15 mins from Sowton and the Red/4 take 10-15 minutes from Honiton Road its is sensible for Falcon not to serve Exeter but the connections need better publicising. Also Falcon drivers do not make it clear that the bus to the City is included in the price and I've yet to find a driver on a local bus that knows that either. Not sure how many Plymouth drivers know that a Falcon ticket is valid to Tavistock/Saltash/Totnes either. From Exeter to Dartington I usually travel via Marley Head now using Falcon and Gold.
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Temple Meads
Established Member
Indeed - I would make more use of the through tickets but it gets a bit tiring having to do the management's job every time!!
A £7.70 day explorer covers the entire Stagecoach Southwest network, including the Falcon from Plymouth to Taunton.
Surely Stagecoach could run just one park and ride bus on a loop from Honiton road to meet up with the Falcon times to run people into Exeter city centre up to about midnight.
Surely Stagecoach could run just one park and ride bus on a loop from Honiton road to meet up with the Falcon times to run people into Exeter city centre up to about midnight.
Last p and r is 1955 mon to fri (2055 thurs and 1925 sat) Any Falcon arriving to Exeter after 1900 could almost certainly make it to the city centre and back and still keep to the 3 hrs 15 minutes allowed to complete the entire Plymouth to Bristol journey.
It does seem odd that the time allowed for the entire falcon route is almost exactly the same regardless of what time of day it is. The journeys deep into the night are surely knocking off at least half an hour off the route compared to those during the day.
It does seem odd that the time allowed for the entire falcon route is almost exactly the same regardless of what time of day it is. The journeys deep into the night are surely knocking off at least half an hour off the route compared to those during the day.
Marcus Fryer
Member
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- 27 Dec 2014
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- 735
With the ENCTS pass being valid now between Bristol and Taunton (as well between Cullompton and Plymouth) it can presumably be used for travel between Bristol and the Airport - after North Somerset Council/Bristol City Council decided in July to withdraw its validity on the A1 and A4!
The 4 runs later fron Honiton Road and the 9 does from Sowton and those connections are used, even of the driver of the 4 or 9 make connecting passengers pay again wrongly.
True, but it is still a little messy and risky as these buses can be delayed and have other problems. Whilst the park and rides are as solid as a rock and are very reliable.
You obviously don't travel in peak in Exeter where often there are 30 minute gaps on the RED and BLUE in evening peak so it is common around 6pm from Honiton Road for 3 REDs and 2 BLUEs to arrive together after a long gap. The 4's are however reasonably reliable compared. It can often take 25 mins to get from to/from the bus station in peak too so you'd be adding around 30-40 mins to the journey in peak.
DaveHarries
Established Member
Although the Enviro200 MMCs recently put into service from Porth depot by Stagecoach South Wales are all branded for Service 132 (Maerdy - Cardiff) it looks as if they may be being tried on other routes as well. Seen on Thursday 22nd December were YX66 WJE & YX66 WJO both on Service 122 (Tonypandy - Cardiff).
Dave
Dave
iantherev
Member
PVR for the 132 is 19 so there will be 5 spare. The 122 is the first choice for any spare vehicles.
The Falcon seems too struggle to keep up with the daytime timetable.
Just so much can slow it down between Plymouth and Bristol.
Everything from local traffic to motorway problems, tight turnaround schedule, loading luggage, barriers, you name it.
I think it is a brilliant idea, just what the westcountry needs but it has to be more reliable, after all it's main objective is passengers to Bristol airport and that is not to be taken lightly.
Are the loops into Lee mill and Marley head really needed? Does anyone ever get on at Bridgewater or cullompton, (I rarely go up that way) and does every journey really have to go into Bristol city centre?
A few tweaks here and there would make up all the difference.
Just so much can slow it down between Plymouth and Bristol.
Everything from local traffic to motorway problems, tight turnaround schedule, loading luggage, barriers, you name it.
I think it is a brilliant idea, just what the westcountry needs but it has to be more reliable, after all it's main objective is passengers to Bristol airport and that is not to be taken lightly.
Are the loops into Lee mill and Marley head really needed? Does anyone ever get on at Bridgewater or cullompton, (I rarely go up that way) and does every journey really have to go into Bristol city centre?
A few tweaks here and there would make up all the difference.
221129
Established Member
Yes..
Temple Meads
Established Member
The problem is if you add too much extra running time and you risk putting people off using it. To be honest unless there is major disruption on the motorway the daytime trips are usually between 5 and 15 minutes late arriving at Bristol city centre, so I don't think anything drastic is required - you can't add an hour into the schedule just for the occasions when there's a crash on the A38/M5!
Cullompton does get used enough to justify the short time off the motorway, but Bridgwater perhaps less so - I've not seen anyone using it when I've been on the coach, I know one person who has used it, albeit an enthusiast.. in fact they have commented on this thread
I would regretfully perhaps suggest curtailing evening/overnight trips at the Airport, but some daytime ones do seem to be fairly busy to and from the city centre, and I think there's potential for development there. The poor atmosphere and waiting facilities at Bond Street might be limiting this aspect of the service though..
I've been informed that the service is still losing money, but not as much as management expected!
I use it from Honiton Road to Marley Head to change for Gold to Dartington and Totnes. Its picked up and dropped off every time I've used it at Cullompton and Bristol carries quite a few locals from between Brent Knoll and Churchill who all pay although whether thats enough people to justify the extra running time and unreliability caused by going into the centre is another matter but it possibly is. Bridgwater however does seem pointless whereas Taunton is busy and so are both Park and Rides in Exeter, particularly Honiton Road. Stagecoach also should update all their local bus posters to inform passengers that they can now use Falcon with passes and that it is a fast way from Plymouth to Exeter.
Gloucester routes 97/98 are being upgraded to Gold in a few weeks time; allocations today (which suggest the route allocators in Gloucester are not even at Bronze yet) included; one unbranded Gold decker, one 97/98 branded Gold decker and one 10 branded Gold decker (i.e. branded for a completely different Gloucester-Cheltenham route!).
A 97/98 branded Gold decker decided to visit Quedgley instead on the 12.
Not to be outdone one of the 12 branded single deckers decided the 9 was a better route for it.
Another 10 branded decker decided to visit Ledbury on the 132 and one of the unbranded Gold deckers was off on a tour of the Forest of Dean on the 23!
A 97/98 branded Gold decker decided to visit Quedgley instead on the 12.
Not to be outdone one of the 12 branded single deckers decided the 9 was a better route for it.
Another 10 branded decker decided to visit Ledbury on the 132 and one of the unbranded Gold deckers was off on a tour of the Forest of Dean on the 23!
Generally passengers travelling up from the south west to the airport are gonna be more concerned about the Falcon turning up than people travelling back after their holiday.
So therefore it is vitally important that is starts off from Plymouth dead on time.
The continuous back and forth means that it would never catch up if delayed somewhere much earlier in the route.
At some point during the day a fresh Falcon needs to start from Plymouth to get the timetable back on track.
I understand that this could be hard to predict and each day is different but looking on the Falcon twitter account there are problems everyday and customers complaining about it being unreliable.
So therefore it is vitally important that is starts off from Plymouth dead on time.
The continuous back and forth means that it would never catch up if delayed somewhere much earlier in the route.
At some point during the day a fresh Falcon needs to start from Plymouth to get the timetable back on track.
I understand that this could be hard to predict and each day is different but looking on the Falcon twitter account there are problems everyday and customers complaining about it being unreliable.
The Falcon i used was held up for an hour due to an accident on the A38 near Chudleigh. The driver checked destinations and was aware of flight times for some airport travellers (about 50% of users were destined for the airport) There was nobody for anywhere intermediate from Exeter to Airport, so he ran fast from Exeter to Airport making up around 25 minutes. The entire way up the M5 he was on the speed limiter
221129
Established Member
Which is no good for people waiting to board it between Exeter and the Airport.
overthewater
Established Member
- Joined
- 16 Apr 2012
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- 8,176
Why if he deley by an hour then the next coach will be hide it thus you want both to operate at the same time?
Used the falcon today to trafel from Bristol to Brent Knoll and back and was very surprised by the loadings.
I got the 1130 from Bristol and 18 others boarded there(stop near fabric land), then 2 at the Winterstoke Rd stop and 2 at Highridge. Only 3 got on at the airport. On route I found out that the 1030 had not run as it had broken down near the airport, so that partly explains the high numbers.
Was waiting for the 1515 to go back and a falcon came at 1513 which turned out to be the 1415 running very late due to problems on the M5. This had around 30 people, 15 of whom got off at the Airport, 2 on Winterstoke Rd and the remainder in Bristol Centre.
Glad to see it's doing well, and from my (limited) observations it does seem worthwhile to continue to serve the centre of Bristol.
I got the 1130 from Bristol and 18 others boarded there(stop near fabric land), then 2 at the Winterstoke Rd stop and 2 at Highridge. Only 3 got on at the airport. On route I found out that the 1030 had not run as it had broken down near the airport, so that partly explains the high numbers.
Was waiting for the 1515 to go back and a falcon came at 1513 which turned out to be the 1415 running very late due to problems on the M5. This had around 30 people, 15 of whom got off at the Airport, 2 on Winterstoke Rd and the remainder in Bristol Centre.
Glad to see it's doing well, and from my (limited) observations it does seem worthwhile to continue to serve the centre of Bristol.
Although the driver was using his initiative in what was clearly a damage limitation situation, did he have the right to go off the route like that?
I can see the point of it, why have everyone miss their flights when at least some people will make it.
I just wondered how I would feel if I was waiting somewhere along the motorway (say Cullompton) and heard my Falcon had not left the motorway and adhered to the route and I missed my flight because of it.
I suspect that the Falcon drivers have a procedure to follow for delays which either involves contacting a control room or being told under what circumstances they can go 'off route' As another poster said with a delay of an hour it's possible that the next coach is close behind, or a duplicate has sent. At the end of the day it's a numbers game (you're going to have some unhappy people, how do you make it the lowest number possible). Of course registering the service as a bus service (as they have done recently) means it's likely to be covered by the TC's requirement to operate every journey and for them to be no more than 5 minutes late!
During the period of road closure for the hour we were stationary I believe he'd spoke to control, in reality the following service probably would have caught up in the jam, and maybe be only a mile or two behind,
This may sound crazy but could the Falcon run via Ashburton, Buckfastleigh and South Brent? This could in-effect replace the X38, transferring more passengers onto the Falcon increasing its viability. I worked the time penalty out to be around 18 minutes but this could be partially offset by removing Lee Mill with connections available onto the GOLD at South Brent. Bridgwater could also be removed if it isn't getting used to keep the overall journey time down.
Certain journeys could do Buckfastleigh as it is the old a38 so not a bad road,
but taking Falcons through Ashburton would be a total nightmare in terms of time and almost a health and safety risk.
As for South Brent the Falcon does serve Marley head so a connection could be made there at the moment.
The Exeter loop can take over 20 minutes on a busy day, what about the Falcon skipping Sowton park and ride (sorry if you use this one!) altogether and just leaving the motorway at j29 to visit Honiton road p and r then turning at the roundabout by the railway bridge.
Controversial I agree but a lot quicker.
Rapidash
Member
I'm still waiting for it to become easier to access from Torbay. I have quite a few mates who use Bristol Airport who develop terrible twitches when it comes to parking there.
None of really fancy hanging around a roundabout near Newton Abbot
Any ideas what these new purple buses coming to the 2 are? More MMCs?
None of really fancy hanging around a roundabout near Newton Abbot
Any ideas what these new purple buses coming to the 2 are? More MMCs?
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