Dead runs that have since been converted into passenger carrying services

Partly inspired by this discussion I started a while ago, it made me wonder how many dead milage runs have since been converted into to passenger carrying runs.

That example in the discussion of a dead run straight from Brigg back to the Hornsby depot in Scunthorpe no longer exists as looking at the timetable for the service between Scunthorpe and Brigg, the last service back to Scunthorpe weekdays is just after 23:00 and runs straight back to the Hornsby depot. Previously, this would have been a dead run backto the depot.

Can anyone here think of any more examples of dead runs since becoming passenger service runs?

Notts and Derby run a 50 service between Uttoxeter and Derby every school day which saves a 25 mile dead run although very few people use the service. Sometimes other drives can be on the bus to save taking other buses back during the day as well.

Ensignbus’ cross river X80 was set up to liven up dead runs to and from the Stroud tunnel rail replacement contract

ArrivaBus Wales No.12 Rhyl-Llandudno is served only from the depot in Rhyl, which meant a number of empty runs back to Rhyl after the tea-time peak.
Now they run in service as X12, and omit the loop via Rhos and then use the A55 dual-carriage was from Llandulas to Abergele, hence missing-out Abergele town. They complete the route in about 50 minutes, as against 1hr 20-30 mins normally. The 1810 I used the other day got back before the arrival of the previous 2 departures from Llandudno.

All First Glasgow No.1 services in the 3xx range and First Glasgow No.2 8xx services. Some have been cancelled recently and others are due for withdrawal soon.
Garelochhead Coaches have additional services registered in the morning and evening to get buses to Coulport and to and from the Vale of Leven.

ANDREW_D_WEBB said:

Ensignbus’ cross river X80 was set up to liven up dead runs to and from the Stroud tunnel rail replacement contract

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That would be a heck of a dead run! Strood, on the other hand.......

Go North East have a couple of positional moves from their Hexham garage that run in service.

The bus that operates routes 681 and 185 runs as service X81 from Hexham to Alston (and return). The first AD122 service of the day from Haltwhistle (and the final service to Haltwhistle) run to/from Hexham via the A69 as X122.

A few local to me.

Cardinal Buses run an 856 college service between Sunbury and Woking College. They have now added morning/afternoon ‘shorts’ between Woking Station and Addlestone, which is where their depot is.

When Reading Buses took over the 702 Bracknell to London Greenline service from First’s Bracknell depot, the first and last few journeys of the day were extended west of Bracknell to/from Reading, where unsurprisingly Reading Buses are based.... Whilst the structure of the route has since changed, these early/late live positioning journeys still remain.

Courtney Buses run a network in Maidenhead and used to run journeys with a ‘D’ suffix from/to the Hogwood Industrial Estate around 17 or so miles away (where their sole depot at the time was). Not much use to anyone in reality given the times of day they ran, but I guess Courtney could possibly have claimed BSOG or something hence running them in service? They no longer run the D routes though.

Stagecoach Hants & Surrey run a route 33 between Guildford and Woking which caters for what would be otherwise dead runs (depot is near Guildford). First/last trips are the vehicle for the Woking to Barnsbury circular 81, the second and penultimate trips are linked to the interworked 690 school route and 39/40 daytime shoppers, and middle of the day trips are for route 81 driver changeovers/break cover. Not sure if these really count though as the 33 began when Stagecoach took on the 39/40/690 and 81 tenders.

McGills run a number of services that extend beyond their normal terminus to Johnstone depot, including route 7 (extending at the Linwood end), 17, 60 and 61 (extension from Paisley), and theres also route 51A, a route number only used for runs to the depot

One that springs to mind is the Stagecoach East Mids 99 Hull - Bridlington P&R, after they took over the P&R contract there from East Yorkshire not too long ago. Has two journeys north bound of a morning, and two southbound of an evening

East Coast Buses X7 buses used to run part route Haddington to Dunbar AM, and Dunbar to Haddington PM, coming from or going back to Musselburgh depot. When the 106 between Haddington and Musselburgh was launched in 2017 though these X7 journeys became 106’s running Musselburgh to Dunbar, and vice-versa - thus cutting dead mileage to zero. (No 106’s run direct between Musselburgh and Dunbar during the day)

Frome Buses X47, X69, 67 and 234 (not to be confused with the main Faresaver service) appear to be routes which link Frome with Melksham and Trowbridge to get buses there for town services.

Flange Squeal said:

Courtney Buses run a network in Maidenhead and used to run journeys with a ‘D’ suffix from/to the Hogwood Industrial Estate around 17 or so miles away (where their sole depot at the time was). Not much use to anyone in reality given the times of day they ran, but I guess Courtney could possibly have claimed BSOG or something hence running them in service? They no longer run the D routes though.

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Courtney Buses's BSOG claim was complicated by having to account for mileage run by their vehicle(s) which ran on vegetable oil separately !

East Midlands ran an express bus on Fridays and Sundays between Ongar and Mansfield, which was their way of attempting to get some revenue out of them moving buses to and from their East London base for their LRT routes. This would have been back in about 1986-89. I do wonder if many people actually made use of it. Of course not long after Stagecoach bought EM their London operation was sold to Ensignbus

Cambus731 said:

East Midlands ran an express bus on Fridays and Sundays between Ongar and Mansfield, which was their way of attempting to get some revenue out of them moving buses to and from their East London base for their LRT routes. This would have been back in about 1986-89. I do wonder if many people actually made use of it. Of course not long after Stagecoach bought EM their London operation was sold to Ensignbus

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Ah yes - remember that though seem to think it was less to swap buses as the EM deckers stayed down there. They used to RELHs so think it was a bit of that but also to take staff down and also other essentials (e.g. admin, ticket machines, etc).

In my youth, United Auto had some interesting tenders that needed some placement journeys. The 94 from Malton to Helmsley had placement journeys registered from Thirsk to Malton at the start and end of days - 26 miles each way.

The better one was the market day journeys on service 78 from Leyburn to Bedale. These had been operated in some other way (I forget now) but were then given to Richmond depot to operate so they were registered as circular services 178/179 so they ran Richmond to Leyburn (11 miles) to Bedale (13 miles) to Richmond (10 miles) and vice versa, twice day on a Tuesday and a Friday. They were tendered so assume NYCC were ultimately paying!!

The Stagecoach West 52 between Stroud and Cirencester is a staff transport that's been made into a passenger carrying service.

First Glasgow have some but used to have far more of them as 3xx and 8xx services. A particular one I remember that now doesn't run was a 313 from Scotstoun to Maxim Park. Can't imagine anyone ever using most of them