Hello all - another travelogue (sorry if these are getting a bit dull) but I had the opportunity to get out and about in a part of the world that I'd not visited for a very long time. So I took the plunge. I hope you enjoy the photos - they aren't scenic (at all) so I won't be rivalling
@RELL6L in his photographic endevours. Not only do we have a shortage of drivers but Saturday's buses were also caught up with the traffic jams caused by drivers panic buying fuel. It was a tough day and more challenging that I had envisioned - I hope you enjoy the read
It's been about 20 years since I had a trip in the home counties in what was London Country North East territory, and Arriva was very much a novel invention, sweeping away The Shires, County Bus and eventually absorbing Blazefield's Sovereign business. I'd overnighted in Hemel - a town I've visited only a couple of times. I wandered down past the closed shops (it was early) and waited next to the now deceased Debenhams store for my first bus to St Albans.....and I waited. Ordinarily, I'd have continued waiting but after 20 mins and knowing I had an appointment near Sandridge to get to, I went to the hotel, grabbed my car and drove! I assume this was a driver shortage issue and 3 other prospective passengers were also affected. So we tried again, stashing the car in St Albans and catching an Arriva 357 for Harpenden. I paid the £9 for my Intalink Explorer and went to sit down realising that I was on what had clearly been a First machine with lilac seats etc. Turns out, Arriva have three of these that they acquired from Metroline! After a short journey, I ended up catching the same machine back and my first experience of central St Albans.
First impressions are of a typical affluent south eastern town. Quite nice but with some awful 1980s architecture thrown in. However, the really noticeable aspect was the choking traffic along St Peters Street - nose to tail and indicative of a town that sees car driving as an inalienable right, irrespective of how damaging it is. I got breakfast but then headed out for my 724.... It wasn't tracking. The LED displays in the shelters aren't real-time AFAIK, so simply repeat the excellent roadside timetable provision that Herts CC commendably maintain. I elected to make the same journey to Harlow but in stages so it was Uno's 602 to Hatfield. It duly arrived and no issues with my ticket as I boarded a Citaro that wore its 13 years very well. Very nicely turned out inside as we headed out through the traffic. There's little countryside between there and the edge of Hatfield as we then headed around the University campus, my relaxation broken by an emergency stop as a car driver absentmindedly pulled out in front of the bright pink and purple bus! I got off at Hatfield Galleria which is a set of stops in some wasteland away from the shops.
It was straight onto the Arriva 302 with a slightly newer e300 but more depressing interior. The seats were ok but internal ads ranged from the Arriva "don't do that" notices that they have a fondness for, through to very old promo ones for schemes that have long gone (Ice points?) and then to Covid warning ads, ads sowing a disheveled pensioner and the telltale signs of self neglect, and of course, the adhesive marks where ads have been removed. Talk about depressing... Still, the driver was keen to make up time and he fairly aimed the e300, passing Hatfield town centre which looks like its seen better days and then past Hatfield station where a smart Uno e400city was parked up. We arrived in Welwyn Garden City and I confess I've never been there before. A shame I've not done so, nor took time to explore more, as it's a lovely place. Beautifully laid out (as it should be) - I really liked it. I must have a better explore sometime. We swung into the small bus station after passing the rail station that seems out of character for the rest of the place and had it not been for my delays already, I'd have taken time to wander around. Instead, it was a short break before catching the 324 to Hertford. Another Arriva service, this was a slightly dowdy but reasonably tidy 58 plate Versa that seems to shuttle between the two towns. The dowdiness continued inside with very faded seats - odd because whilst I've criticised Arriva a bit recently, the other Opcos seem to have been decent at stuff like refurbs. The trusty Versa though performed nicely as we left the industrial areas of WGC behind, which are interesting in themselves with lots of classic brick built commercial premises unlike today's standards. It was at this point that we passed a 724 to Harlow.....my earlier missing non tracking bus had been running all the time, just about 45 mins late!
We arrived into the small bus station at Hertford - a depressing little affair but the rest of the town was a delight. Again, bustling and affluent and quite attractive. Again, it's mainly Arriva but Trustybus also operate here, using a rather scruffy ex First Solo that I remember very well, it being part of the Bath allocation so I remember them being delivered and serving the city for the next 13-14 years. I had chance for a sandwich and was chomping it when the 724 arrived. It was one of the 17 plate e200mmc that was at Maidstone but has been reallocated to the 724 to meet emissions requirements for its Heathrow leg and was one of the first deliveries in the Arriva sky blue. To be honest, the condition was appalling - dirty, battered paintwork and it embodies the lack of marketing flair in Arriva in contrast to the days when the 724 was a Green Line route. However, worse was to come.
We crossed the River Stort and entered Essex, arriving into Harlow. I had chance to have a quick wander round the town centre. Now, I have an interest in architecture and human geography and so found walking round really interesting. Opposite the bus station is Terminus House which is a large office block now converted to housing - it is basically a human warehouse and has been beset with social problems. Interesting yet demoralising about how we house people for profit. The town centre is also very much as it was built as a new town; it feels you could almost list it as an example of post-war planning and design. That's the interesting bit - good and bad. However, then we get onto the bus related aspects....and it's bleak. The bus station was rebuilt in 2001 apparently - a bizarre two stage design of which half is undercover. There's an information office - locked up. A poster next to it about where to catch your bus - dates from 2017. Bus shelters are a mess, dirty and opaque windows where countless notices have been cellotaped on and then removed. It seems it may be a Harlow Council facility and it's definitely a miserable hell hole. Even worse then is the fleet. There is Galleon Travel with its fleet of partly repainted ex London tat with faded red and dark blue but with Central Connect fleetnames though also referred to as Trustybus - a low quality independent carving a niche on tendered stuff and work discarded by Arriva. That's bad enough. However, I struggle to recall in recent memory an operation by a major operator as poor as Arriva in Harlow. The 724 and Stansted services have 2017 e200mmcs but they were uniformly filthy . The town routes had a selection of 17 year old Solos that were as shoddy as Trustybus if not worse. One had sustained accident damage so simply had a bit of filler, unsanded and unpainted, in the near corner. Other local services were entrusted to larger vehicles such as a former Max standard Eclipse with a range of mis-matched repairs that according to flickr have been like it for four months. There was another newer Eclipse that had been route branded for the 310 - it had been debranded on the cove panels but only on the nearside. It was awful. So I was looking forward to leaving my Essex interlude but then it started going wrong. I wanted to head west (724), south west (410) or north (510) but then suddenly, those vehicles failed to turn up. In the shadow of Terminus House, I felt like I was in Hotel California - I could have gone to Staple Tye several times but nothing to get me away. Eventually, a 508 for Bishops Stortford but I'd have missed the Stevenage connection so I'd have been worse off. Then came the 410 so I was going to try for Broxbourne but the eastern European driver was insistent that my "Arriva ticket" was not valid. At this point, a 724 for Heathrow turned up and I ran to it like it was the last chopper out of Saigon! What had been a mildly diverting 45 mins in Harlow had turned into a two hour trap! In fairness to Arriva and TrustygalleonConnect, the lack of drivers and idiocy of car users blocking roads by panic buying at petrol stations had destroyed any semblance of a timetable though the Arriva drivers in Harlow were no advert for the firm - getting out of cabs, leaving buses idling as they vaped and looked at their phones like recalcitrant teenagers, but why should they care when Arriva clearly don't.
The 724 was a Sapphire liveried e200mmc similarly shifted from Kent, but from the Bluewater service. It was a relief to finally be moving as we headed west. Not wishing to cover old ground, a quick check revealed a service from Ware to Stevenage, operated by Trustybus. I got off in Ware by the college and walked into what is a very pretty small town that feels more East Anglian that South Eastern. The 383 duly turned up and it was a Solo with a dateless plate. This driver had no qualms about my ticket and after about 5 mins, it was just me and the driver for the duration. This was a former Arriva machine with the old moquette as per the Versa and, it transpires, was newer than the Harlow Solos! We made our well to Tonwell where it transpired there was a blockade and that necessitated a diversion....virtully all the way back to Hertford (passing the North station) before he blazed a trail all the way to Stevenage where we were barely more than a few minutes late. Stevenage seemed smarter and happier as a place than Harlow and so did the people. I noticed the shops that had been built on the old London Country depot had now just been demolished, reinforcing the view that we built and pull things down all too quickly to be sustainable. My next bus was another Arriva e300 similar to my earlier example, for the 100/101 to Luton that takes an age at an hour. This is a route that had been a Sapphire service but is now just operated by unbranded fleet of various ages and models. We made our way to Hitchin being shadowed by another bus I recognised in a previous guise - former First 53205 (still with the fleetnumber) still in Buses of Somerset livery from its time in Yeovil was vying with us in the service of Trustybus.
An uneventful run brought me into Luton. Again, it's been ages since I was last there and the European style bus stops by the rail station. I went for an coffee in the Starbucks there though the Arriva bus shop is, of course, now stubbornly closed. This is again Arriva Shires territory but it isn't - since the Shires was split asunder, the former London Country ops are now Southern Counties whilst this was Arriva Midlands....I thought how I could travel on the same OpCo and end up in Wrexham as well as Watford! My bus was the 321 to St Albans and it was a relatively modern machine with a Streetlite that had lost its Sapphire livery. In standard sky blue, it retains Sapphire branding on the headrests but everything else inside had been debranded. We made our way out and past the Matalan store on Castle Street that occupies the former depot site and then....stop. There's a petrol station and people were queuing....that act saw us travel 160 metres in about 15 minutes. Then we crawled up the hill on London Road at walking pace; really, those Streetlites should be on something like Oswestry to Shrewsbury not on an intensive route like that. Dusk was falling fast as we arrived in Harpenden but my phone was dead and I couldn't see if the 357 was operating so I stayed on for the duration; shame as Harpenden looks a nice spot. Instead, I stuck it out on the 321 and into St Albans where a 357 was due to reunite me with my car.
It was a good day but stressful with the twin disruptions of driver shortages and fuel panics. However, I did enjoy it, even Harlow though that did get a bit tiresome. A bit like arriving at a party that isn't as bad as you thought yet you can't then leave because your lift isn't ready to go yet! And Arriva....they have a lot to sort out but without it being a group therapy session, they have to admit they have a problem before they can move on. It may be some wait. Hope you enjoyed the write up and feel free to contribute or make corrections.
