First West of England (Bristol, Bath & The West)

carlberry said:

Which does reinforce the idea that they're short of single deckers.

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lx12ddo said:

35115 has subbed 10169 on the U3. Displaying U1X instead of U3! Very interesting stray if anyone want to try get a pic / see it. Its next board should be the 1725 off Campus.

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sk688 said:

First really do need to get a grip of the purple bendy buses on the U1

10179 had a steady stream of water coming in onto the seats at the back , on an afternoon journey on the U1

The white bendy buses don't seem to have this issue

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D2007wsm said:

I don’t see how hard it is for them to get the Hanover’s reprogrammed, it’s simply a case of plugging a USB or the older adapter in and takes a matter of seconds.

I heard there are still some 18s displaying 19A.

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sk688 said:

First really do need to get a grip of the purple bendy buses on the U1

10179 had a steady stream of water coming in onto the seats at the back , on an afternoon journey on the U1

The white bendy buses don't seem to have this issue

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lx12ddo said:

Just wait till you sit on 10178 in the rain on the 4-seat sections at the rear. Grimey stuff. You might remember 10035-037 were horrendously worse!! Got 10036 this year and it dripped on the whole back row, one of the penultimate row, and two of the set-of-4 seats in front of those. Speaking of water related features, 10177 has an inch of rain water in the double-glazing gap of one of the windows towards the rear of the bus. Going up bathwick it shows the angle of ascent very clearly!

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Tommy Walters said:

It doesn't even have to be done at the depot. I've seen supervisors simply plugging a USB in up at Bath Uni, and updating it there & then, not even delaying the vehicle from departing!

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Whiteway215 said:

It sounds to me as if the purple bendis are on the way out. Will they still be running in the new uni year 2020/21? Can they be converted to comply with a Euro 6 Bath Clean Air Zone from November?
The tracker says 10174 was last used on 23 October and 176 on 27 Nov so maybe these have already fallen by the wayside.

37585/86 were side by side in Bath bus station this evening,both on X39.

Where are Bath's Streetdecks? I only ever see 35113/39 these days. Of some others I haven't seen 35110 since July and 35115 before that.

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lx12ddo said:

Artics wise - no idea where 036, 174 and 176 are. 174 most probably had an issue in Nov and has caved in / not worth repairs. 036 I reckon is out for good with its ticket machine seeming to have been moved around; 176 usually is a very last resort, seeing very little action since 2016.

Aside from the 35115 on the U3 today, can't vouch for any Streetdecks! Odd that it tracks as 35116... maybe that was just today?

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Tommy Walters said:

It doesn't even have to be done at the depot. I've seen supervisors simply plugging a USB in up at Bath Uni, and updating it there & then, not even delaying the vehicle from departing!

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TheGrandWazoo said:

Memories of yesteryear....

A post prompted me to check back in the archive and a trip out that I had in 1992 with a Badgerline Day Rambler!!!

The day started in Kensington in Bath with a National Mk2 on the 3 but then a Lynx on the 173 to Wells and then an RE down to Taunton on the 163 (via Bridgwater). Two hours there before back to Bridgwater on an Optare Star Rider and then a single deck B10M to Weston on the 112. Then a D10M on the 353 to Bristol (operated by Marlborough Street!!!) before taking advantage of the evening interavailability of tickets on various tendered routes including Arrow on the 509 (Merc 609) and a Lynx on the 1 before back to Bath on a Gardner powered ex MRW National 2 (also ex Marlborough St) on the 339 and a Transit back to Kensington on the 8 (wherever that went - Larkhall via some lost route? or is now the 779?).

Forgot what quite an interesting fleet Badgerline had and, to be honest, it's quite varied these days!

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Private Baxter said:

Thanks for this interesting piece. Makes a change from reading about what is and isn't tracking on 'bustimes'!
I'm afraid I'm too young to really remember buses in those days, though that is partly because I never used the bus back then! I do remember using those super mini buses on local routes round Wells (171) perhaps a year or two before your report, though my first real memory was on the 376 from Bristol to Wells in 1993, onboard an H reg lynx. Some of those routes you mention have changed little in the 28 years since, notably 173, but I think others are very similar to what they always have been. To be fair however, you could do most of that trip today, with obviously a few changes, and it would take longer but much of it is still in place.

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TheGrandWazoo said:

Indeed - there was a world before bustimes!! Glad you enjoyed it.

The main Wells services haven't changed so much - the 376 is the same route (albeit doubled with deckers) and not running past Street to Yeovil. The 173 and 126 are much the same. The 75 is basically the old 163 albeit not running south of Bridgwater; it's the marginal/tendered services that have obviously declined over time (and First don't seem so interested in operating those types of route).

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Private Baxter said:

Yes, the core Bristol to Wells section of 376 has never changed, though south of Wells tends to fluctuate - sometimes (as with now) it carries on to Street, other times it had gone all the way to Yeovil, and sometimes only as well as Wells.
To make it to Taunton now, you would need to time your 173 arrival with least amount of waiting time for 75, as this is only a two hourly service, and you would have to get off at Bridgwater, for, presumably the 21 for what would essentially be a return trip, the return leg extending to Burnham.

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Private Baxter said:

Yes, the core Bristol to Wells section of 376 has never changed, though south of Wells tends to fluctuate - sometimes (as with now) it carries on to Street, other times it had gone all the way to Yeovil, and sometimes only as well as Wells.
To make it to Taunton now, you would need to time your 173 arrival with least amount of waiting time for 75, as this is only a two hourly service, and you would have to get off at Bridgwater, for, presumably the 21 for what would essentially be a return trip, the return leg extending to Burnham.

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• 376 Bristol to Street (every hour)
• 376 Wells to Yeovil (every two hours)
• 163 Wells to Taunton (every two hours)

CD said:

Why would you go via Bridgwater?
Most of the day 173 arrives Wells XX24. 29 direct to Taunton departs Wells XX35 on odd hours.

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TheGrandWazoo said:

At that time, the 163/376 was set up as follows (providing a bus every 30 mins between Wells and Street)

• 376 Bristol to Street (every hour)
• 376 Wells to Yeovil (every two hours)
• 163 Wells to Taunton (every two hours)

The 21 was two hourly but at that time, Southern National was part of Cawlett so Day Ramblers were not accepted.

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Private Baxter said:

Ok so the core Wells to Street routes is still every 30 mins (376), with irregular extras thrown in, 29 & 77 every 90 mins and 75 to Bridgwater every two hours once again... so not entirely different!

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Whiteway215 said:

What happened to the various 676xx E300s? Did they go back to First Potteries?

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DanTrainMan185 said:

One thing I've noticed on buses in Bristol, more so than anywhere else I've been in the country, is that passengers wait until the bus has come to a complete stop before standing up and alighting the bus. Personally I'm too scared to, because in Cardiff and London for example if you're not down the stairs ready in time you risk not getting off and the driver carrying on!

Obviously I'm not talking about the elderley/disabled or ternini of routes, where it's clear there isn't that risk, but last week I got the Metrobus from UWE and so many students were getting off and I had to wait at the foot of the stairs for at least sixty seconds until everybody had alighted (through the rear), although I appreciate that this was an anomaly with it being a busy service. This then held up the rest of us boarding, and as I was first on I made a note to the person behind me to say I couldn't move which thankfully she could see.

I know bus companies prioritise safety which is paramount but I do find it particularly annoying when younger people wait for the bus to stop, then collect their belongings, then go down the stairs and then alight. Whilst it's only sixty seconds which I'm not exactly going to lose sleep over, if that happens at every bus stop then buses lose time but also when people are boarding they then have to huddle in the corner by the front windscreen all because people have left it last minute. Honestly it is an absolute pet hate of mine and practice that I throughly discourage.

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DanTrainMan185 said:

One thing I've noticed on buses in Bristol, more so than anywhere else I've been in the country, is that passengers wait until the bus has come to a complete stop before standing up and alighting the bus.

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