Whisky Papa
Member
- Joined
- 8 Aug 2019
- Messages
- 395
The 589/590 already interwork with the 588 at Rochdale
I had wondered about that, it seemed the logical way of covering the 588 but that does not always mean it is what has actually happened. I recall Todmorden having a brief spell covering a working on the 457 (the 588's prdecessor basically) that was a stand-alone overtime duty spent shuttling from Rochdale to Stansfield Estate all day. Once was enough for me!
Or if my suggestion is too tight could it run a shorter distance up the valley rather than to Portsmouth - if there is somewhere else to turn round.
I'm afraid there is definitely nowhere to turn betweeen Todmorden and Portsmouth - the A646 is hemmed into a very narrow valley for much of this stretch.
The running time to Portsmouth is somewhat notional at 15 minutes, and used to easily allow time to turn at Station Parade and have a few minutes in hand. Most of the day it would be possible to cover in 10 minutes, particularly if you are not loading as many passengers by not continuing to Burnley. However, if a run up to the layby is now required to turn it would be a bit tighter but not impossible.
Incidentally, Universal did run a competetive service between Rochdale and Portsmouth some time around 2001 which they managed with two buses. It is perhaps fortunate (for First) that there is unlikely to be any interest in filling the 589 gap from other local operators. TLC operate the tendered minibus network but don't seem interested in competetive work as a rule, and Transdev seem to be in defensive mode with some of their more rural routes already (Rosso service 7 from Todmorden over to Bacup and Rawtenstall is being culled in January).