Whiteway215
Established Member
Pronounced Bough Rill should anyone ask a local for directions!
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First West of England (Bristol, Bath & The West)
- Thread starter Ivo
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Kernow Dave
Member
Does anyone know the current position of Somerset Passenger Solutions. I only ask as the recent fleet deliveries Owner is given as First South West.
It was said that the ex "Crosville" part and Southern National etc. were continuing under JJP Holdings SW Ltd. ownership when the Crossville cessation was announced.
http://www.route-one.net/articles/Crosville_to_close_next_month_after_seven_years_in_Weston
http://www.route-one.net/articles/Crosville_to_close_next_month_after_seven_years_in_Weston
iantherev
Member
Currently SPS vehicles are either running on either Southern National (JJP Holdings) or First South West discs. An application has been made for a SPS licence - if granted, presumably this will cover all vehicles.
g4mby
Member
ALX400s seem to be making a steady return to the Yate routes with 32004, 32013 and 32074 appearing on the 47, X46 or X49 recently.
Looking very smart and clean but out of place this afternoon is 32011 on the 82.
Looking very smart and clean but out of place this afternoon is 32011 on the 82.
TheGrandWazoo
Veteran Member
66729 is another Eclipse displaced from Bristol. Working 265 at Limpley Stoke earlier
freetoview33
Established Member
Sooner most of the singles have gone from Bristol the better! (Except the 5 and 24) and maybe the 35
I was at Cranmore today for East Somerset Railway Gala, but had a text from a fellow Yeovil bus enthusiast who said his £12 BoS day ticket issued on the new ticket machines was not accepted by the WoE ticket machines. Not being forceful (like me!) he gave up and left Wells on a 75 and stayed in BoS territory. Has anyone tried using a WoE issued day ticket on BoS since the new ticket machines were installed?
Class 33
Established Member
- Joined
- 14 Aug 2009
- Messages
- 2,362
Interesting that 172, 173 and 174 will soon be going to double deckers. I'll have to do a Bristol-Wells via Bath journey one day during the summer. Which service out of the three has the best scenery? I've done one or two of those services before, but can't recall which service had the best scenery. I'm unlikely to have done the 172 by the looks of it, as according to the current timetable it only runs the full route between Bath and Wells during the evenings only.
Interesting also that at least one of the dual doored Enviro 400 MMC's are currently on the 376. Would be a great journey on one of those down to Wells/Glastonbury/Street. They're very nice buses. Whilst I like the Streetdeck's, I don't really think they're suited to the 376 or any of the country services. They're better suited to city services like the 70 & 71.
Also why do some of you refer to double deckers as "deckers"? Surely all buses are deckers - single deckers and double deckers!
Interesting also that at least one of the dual doored Enviro 400 MMC's are currently on the 376. Would be a great journey on one of those down to Wells/Glastonbury/Street. They're very nice buses. Whilst I like the Streetdeck's, I don't really think they're suited to the 376 or any of the country services. They're better suited to city services like the 70 & 71.
Also why do some of you refer to double deckers as "deckers"? Surely all buses are deckers - single deckers and double deckers!
TheGrandWazoo
Veteran Member
What do you mean "maybe the 35" - like that needs deckers!!! The 36 doesn't justify deckers on some of the boards, and neither does the 177/178.
It's good that sufficient capacity is being introduced with deckers though I'd always hope that isn't at the expense of headways. However, and I hope this is where you're coming from, I do hope we see the end of single deckers having to cover on busy city routes.
Probably as it is two different OpCos, the QR code on the ticket would have been for a Somerset Day, this is a product not sold by WoE so would not be recognised. The equivalent on WoE services, is the First Day West of England Plus which covers most of, if not all the same area and is only £10! Somerset passengers are certainly getting the raw end of the deal buying a ticket on a BoS service compared to those buying one on a WoE service.
It's just an expression used in the industry, a single deck vehicle is referred to as a single and a double deck vehicle is referred to as a decker as it has more than one deck, probably just laziness more than anything.
freetoview33
Established Member
The fact if there are singles around still for routes like the 35/36/177/178 they will still end up on other services, so if there were spares it would probably be better to axe the singles.
I thought the 35A and 42A could have merged as to provide a better service to Bridgeyate and have Double deckers on the route! Just an idea.
36 Might as well be Double Deckers if half of them already are anyway. Not sure of the 178 really.
They are decker operated already because they are positioning journeys, and often lightly loaded anyway.
TheGrandWazoo
Veteran Member
Indeed they are - the 35A are purely positioning journeys for the 42 so they can get the BSOG and are generally Gemini operated. Very, very lightly loaded as you say - a very limited passenger demand for the key Lawrence Hill to Bridgeyate corridor!!
I can't see the point of a B7TL lumbering around on the 36 with few passengers rather than a Streetlite.
178's can carry a few in peak but no need for deckers at all.
Before long, I can see everything that can accommodate deckers being operated these. The exceptions would be those services which can't due to route clearance issues e.g. X8, 24, 126, Bath 5 etc. or those where it would be dramatic overkill to operate a decker.
I can also see the fleet being harmonised with cascaded. I can see all B7 deckers either Geminis or ALX400s going except 32001/32002/32012 and the Streetdecks too. Replaced with a standardised decker fleet or either ADL or Scania E400s and B9 Geminis.
Singles will be more of a mixed bag, the Darts will go sooner or later and where possible anything will be replaced by Streetlites. Except the specialist services which need Solos, the newer B7RLEs for capacity and the longer E200s.
I can also see the fleet being harmonised with cascaded. I can see all B7 deckers either Geminis or ALX400s going except 32001/32002/32012 and the Streetdecks too. Replaced with a standardised decker fleet or either ADL or Scania E400s and B9 Geminis.
Singles will be more of a mixed bag, the Darts will go sooner or later and where possible anything will be replaced by Streetlites. Except the specialist services which need Solos, the newer B7RLEs for capacity and the longer E200s.
The problem is is the FWoE Plus is unlikely to be accepted by the new BoS ticket machines as well.
Doesn't mean it isn't valid for travel. Drivers are instructed, should a QR code not be accepted or if a ticket doesn't have a QR code, to use the time old manner of checking the ticket and recording it manually. I don't know why drivers make life so hard.
TheGrandWazoo
Veteran Member
I had a FWoE mticket the other day on BoS and every driver in Yeovil and Taunton was fine with it.
TheGrandWazoo
Veteran Member
Some standardisation is probably desirable but it won't be for a while. There's a lot of B7TLs to get rid of, and even with the e400s, we have:
- E400
- E400H
- E400mmc (ADL)
- E400mmc (Scania)
- E400mmc (Electric)
- E400mmc (CNG)
Whiteway215
Established Member
First Group Fans report FWE 66886 seen on a Thorntons low loader heading North at Strensham North Services.
freetoview33
Established Member
Metrobus delayed again! Now the first route will be the M3 not the M2!
TheGrandWazoo
Veteran Member
It is beginning to get silly now.
Of course, the new roads with the SBLR and now the Stoke Gifford link are now open. It's almost like they focussed on getting those non-bus bits sorted first!!
Seriously, we heard the statements about unknown utilities delaying the introduction of pay points but what is it this time? You would have thought the M2 would've been easy to do.
THarris123
Established Member
I got a £10 WoE plus day on Saturday and managed to get to Minehead and back on it. It worked absolutely fine.
father_jack
Member
- Joined
- 26 Jan 2010
- Messages
- 1,125
Unusually 36823 on a 42 Bitton at Old Market about 1740, almost empty so assume only started the journey there.
Hi,
The new machines only came into use on Monday 19th March so any travel before that date would have been permitted by the old machines. The problem with all this extra wonderfull modern stuff is there's a lot more to go wrong. I was lucky enough to remember the Explorer tickets of old (NBC Days) which was valid on many operators. That would not be economic nowadays of course but I can understand why people choose a car over the buses with all the over the top complexities of ticket validity etc. Cheers, Mike
Dai Corner
Established Member
- Joined
- 20 Jul 2015
- Messages
- 6,342
Over this side of the Bristol Channel we have Day and Weekly tickets valid on the big groups, the municipals and most if not all the independents so it is possible. It's a paper ticket, verified by the good old Mk1 driver's eyeball though.
TheGrandWazoo
Veteran Member
Granted, it was the old Almex ticket machines but drivers had no problem with a visual check!
I also remember the old Explorer tickets. They had the advantage of being used across multiple NBC operators and you could buy them in advance and then scratch off the required date.
However, you weren't able to buy on the bus (think it was bus offices and post offices mainly) and where I lived, there were a number of odd conditions so that you couldn't use it for a journey wholly within Tyne and Wear, nor before 0900 on Mon to Fri plus some other constraints.
TheGrandWazoo
Veteran Member
There are a number of areas with multi-operator tickets in the West. CUBA has all the Rider tickets though First are rather reticent on mentioning them! Ride Cornwall and the Devon Day Ticket is also good, and Wiltshire Day Rover is a superb ticket. However, Somerset and Dorset are resolutely poor!