heart-of-wessex
Established Member
What an interesting day that was!
go a train to Bristol TM, then tried to buy an Avon Day Rider, that was difficult! Two First Bus drivers had no idea what it was, and tried to sell me a WoE rider. He showed me the 4 pages on his ticket machine and wasn't there. Seeing that the machines were all the same I gave up and walked to the bus station to sort it out. On arrival I saw an Abus Citaro on the X8 so tried to get one on there, but it's the same machine and the Abus driver said that the Avon Rider is a Wessex only ticket!
I noticed though that the travel shop was actually open (it was about 08:30 in the morning so didn't think it would be open) and managed to get an Avon Day Rider there with ease.
Apart from red penning a lot of First Bus Vehicles, I managed to get CT Plus Dual door Dart SN53 EUD / DP1 which was operating the 506 Shuttle, as was a VW minibus in yellow BCT livery.
Later in the day, I noted a dual door Enviro200 was on the 506 Shuttle and then was later sighted on the 506.
I did a 506 spin from Broadmead to Days Road (by Turners Coachways yard) on CT Plus Enviro200 YX17 NRY, coming back on YX17 NSK.
Saw Abus Solo Y555 AJP was on the 672 all day, so decided to get the 14:25 672 from Broadmead to Temple Meads, though I wasn't sure if Temple Meads was a pick up only stop or not. Driver refused travel to Temple Meads though would accept Bedminster Parade so went there instead.
Still not sure what the Temple Meads stop is, as we went round Temple Circus Gyratory, then straight to the outside lane and went bombing down Temple Gate bypassing the bus stop completely. Even if you did want to flag it down there was no way it was stopping and was in the wrong lane to access the bus stop.
When I was at Temple Gate later on, I noticed the 672 passing on the 16:45 to Blagdon, and again sped down Temple Gate in the outside lane, maybe Temple Meads is no longer a stop, or maybe the driver assumes no one gets on there anyway?
Of the 38 First Bus vehicles I went on, I got refused to travel on the 24 as apparently my ticket was invalid as it had no scanning thing (to be honest I didn't know what he was on about) but was not letting me on despite me telling him that is how it was printed. I didn't argue as I was at the Old Market so I could get any bus to the City, and sure enough a moment later another service arrived and my ticket was accepted.
Interesting note as well, before the 24 arrived, I noticed a 48 came along but didn't go through the bus lane at Old Market, instead it went down the road behind the bus stop and stopped by some lamp post further down to let someone off, and carried on. I can only assume it was a later runner possibly, but can't think why didn't it set down the passenger at the registered bus stop, surely pulling into the bus lane can't add that much of a delay?
No other issues through the day, though doing some of these City - Temple Meads leaps were a drag, traffic was a nightmare! Even worst was trying to get back from Bedminster Parade to the City on the 76, the traffic queue was very slow
go a train to Bristol TM, then tried to buy an Avon Day Rider, that was difficult! Two First Bus drivers had no idea what it was, and tried to sell me a WoE rider. He showed me the 4 pages on his ticket machine and wasn't there. Seeing that the machines were all the same I gave up and walked to the bus station to sort it out. On arrival I saw an Abus Citaro on the X8 so tried to get one on there, but it's the same machine and the Abus driver said that the Avon Rider is a Wessex only ticket!
I noticed though that the travel shop was actually open (it was about 08:30 in the morning so didn't think it would be open) and managed to get an Avon Day Rider there with ease.
Apart from red penning a lot of First Bus Vehicles, I managed to get CT Plus Dual door Dart SN53 EUD / DP1 which was operating the 506 Shuttle, as was a VW minibus in yellow BCT livery.
Later in the day, I noted a dual door Enviro200 was on the 506 Shuttle and then was later sighted on the 506.
I did a 506 spin from Broadmead to Days Road (by Turners Coachways yard) on CT Plus Enviro200 YX17 NRY, coming back on YX17 NSK.
Saw Abus Solo Y555 AJP was on the 672 all day, so decided to get the 14:25 672 from Broadmead to Temple Meads, though I wasn't sure if Temple Meads was a pick up only stop or not. Driver refused travel to Temple Meads though would accept Bedminster Parade so went there instead.
Still not sure what the Temple Meads stop is, as we went round Temple Circus Gyratory, then straight to the outside lane and went bombing down Temple Gate bypassing the bus stop completely. Even if you did want to flag it down there was no way it was stopping and was in the wrong lane to access the bus stop.
When I was at Temple Gate later on, I noticed the 672 passing on the 16:45 to Blagdon, and again sped down Temple Gate in the outside lane, maybe Temple Meads is no longer a stop, or maybe the driver assumes no one gets on there anyway?
Of the 38 First Bus vehicles I went on, I got refused to travel on the 24 as apparently my ticket was invalid as it had no scanning thing (to be honest I didn't know what he was on about) but was not letting me on despite me telling him that is how it was printed. I didn't argue as I was at the Old Market so I could get any bus to the City, and sure enough a moment later another service arrived and my ticket was accepted.
Interesting note as well, before the 24 arrived, I noticed a 48 came along but didn't go through the bus lane at Old Market, instead it went down the road behind the bus stop and stopped by some lamp post further down to let someone off, and carried on. I can only assume it was a later runner possibly, but can't think why didn't it set down the passenger at the registered bus stop, surely pulling into the bus lane can't add that much of a delay?
No other issues through the day, though doing some of these City - Temple Meads leaps were a drag, traffic was a nightmare! Even worst was trying to get back from Bedminster Parade to the City on the 76, the traffic queue was very slow
Did the Cotswold Explorer in July and had no issues on Pulhams or Swanbrook but no Stagecoach drivers knew it. That and the leaflet is 4 years out of date! Of the five Stagecoach drivers (one Oxf, four West) - one didn't care less, two queried but seemed to be fine once I showed the leaflet (incl. one who said I should show the inspector should one appear). One was more confused but eventually relented whilst one I had to really stand my ground, though we joked about it when I got off. That said, it is an issue of training and awareness so I'm always diplomatic and try to be sympathetic.
Only later on did a Hengrove driver say "Oh, it's because it's off the Park and Ride".....
