Bus Routes With Inaccurate Destinations (Or Could Destinations That Could Be Improved/ Renamed)

tbtc · 22 Feb 2020

Following the thread about bus destinations that have been renamed, what routes are there that ought to be renamed?

Sometimes due to the destination being inaccurate, sometimes due to the destination being ambiguous (e.g. on the border between two suburbs) or where something is known by a different name by locals.

For example, the Lothian Buses 19 terminates short of Kings Road.

RailUK Forums

peterblue · 22 Feb 2020

The hourly 15 Preston-Broughton does not actually go into Broughton village centre itself. It stops about 1/2 a mile short at a housing estate. So the destination display is somewhat inaccurate.

PaulMc7 · 22 Feb 2020

First Glasgow's 57 terminus for Westerhill is right but it's more Bishopbriggs than Auchinairn yet shown as Auchinairn on the bus. Can't really think of any others for here though off of the top of my head

cnjb8 · 22 Feb 2020

The L2 in Nottingham terminates at Assarts Farm. Some people call it this, like the medical practice, others disagree and call it Mornington, like the school.

peterblue · 22 Feb 2020

There are also many examples of bus stops being named after pubs that don't exist anymore

LancasterRed · 22 Feb 2020

peterblue said:
The hourly 15 Preston-Broughton does not actually go into Broughton village centre itself. It stops about 1/2 a mile short at a housing estate. So the destination display is somewhat inaccurate.

The 88 used to be an offender for this too. Larches via Savick. It did a circular round Ashton but didn't go into Savick, just calling at the old terminus (which is right on the edge and should not count)

Due to the amount of different routes certain services have operated you can see the 88, 89 and 31 running round with the old destination on!

The 1A Preston-Gammull Lane should state "Grange Estate"

If we're going to be pedantic, the 16 Preston-Farringdon Park should say "Tudor Avenue via Cemetery" but that causes issues with whichever of the 31 or 89 is being run to Lea that year. Maybe Fishwick Gaythorne Avenue via Cemetery? I suppose?

The 77A doesn't go through Ashton. Lane Ends would be better.

The 1/1A/4X in Lancaster ought to list "via Greaves and Scotforth" but that's picky

swifty · 22 Feb 2020

First West of England service 42 in Bristol terminates at Cherry Gardens about a mile from the village of Bitton.

The destination always used to be Cheery Gardens but in the last few years has been changed to Bitton even thought it doesn’t actually service the village.

TheGrandWazoo · 23 Feb 2020

swifty said:
First West of England service 42 in Bristol terminates at Cherry Gardens about a mile from the village of Bitton.

The destination always used to be Cheery Gardens but in the last few years has been changed to Bitton even thought it doesn’t actually service the village.

If only they were cheery!!!

That was the one that I thought about. It definitely stops short of Bitton and would probably be more Willsbridge

martyjon · 23 Feb 2020

m3 in Bristol has a peculiar mishmash of stop names, Broadmead inbound is actually on Rupert Street and outbound on Lewins Mead with Broadmead being half a mile from each stop.

njlawley · 23 Feb 2020

peterblue said:
The hourly 15 Preston-Broughton does not actually go into Broughton village centre itself. It stops about 1/2 a mile short at a housing estate. So the destination display is somewhat inaccurate.

It's within the Broughton bounds, so is correct. LCC also refer to the terminus as Broughton, and it is their service. It doesn't have to terminate in the dead centre to show the place name. Sunningdale isn't going to mean anything to the vast majority of passengers.

The only thing I could suggest is it reads...

Broughton
Sunningdale

JonathanH · 23 Feb 2020

Since it has been cut back from West Croydon Bus Station to Katharine Street in Croydon, most drivers on the 405 Redhill to Croydon service have used the "South Croydon South End" destination blind rather than "Croydon Town Centre", neither of which are particularly accurate.

The distance between the terminus of the 405 and the 468 which might both show "South Croydon South End" but approach from different directions is 0.8 miles https://goo.gl/maps/uk36VpsDDKHqkLNd8

Statto · 23 Feb 2020

London blinds just have the place name, rather than place name & terminus point such as South Croydon Swan & Sugar Loaf, it's just South Croydon which may look fine but there about 3 terminus points in South Croydon

LancasterRed · 23 Feb 2020

njlawley said:
It's within the Broughton bounds, so is correct. LCC also refer to the terminus as Broughton, and it is their service. It doesn't have to terminate in the dead centre to show the place name. Sunningdale isn't going to mean anything to the vast majority of passengers.

The only thing I could suggest is it reads...

Broughton
Sunningdale

Legally yes it's Broughton but if you're expecting the main area you're in for a nasty shock.

LCC should change it to Sunningdale via Deepdale, Longsands, Asda, RPH, Woodplumpton and Wynchnor. Or just merge it with the 88/89 and bring back the Orbital...

Class 33 · 23 Feb 2020

Not really a bus route, but a coach route. But I notice that of the National Express service 040's from London that go a little beyond Bristol Bus Station as far as White Tree Roundabout in Bristol, on the destination displays it says "WHITE TREE via Bristol". Which seems a bit odd to me, when White Tree Roundabout is in Bristol anyway, and some people will be a bit baffled with White Tree as the destination. The destination should be more like "BRISTOL - Bus Station and White Tree Roundabout".

Pat1105 · 23 Feb 2020

63 in Birmingham terminates at Holly Hill in Rubery, not Frankley as the destination states.

njlawley · 23 Feb 2020

LancasterRed said:
Legally yes it's Broughton but if you're expecting the main area you're in for a nasty shock.

LCC should change it to Sunningdale via Deepdale, Longsands, Asda, RPH, Woodplumpton and Wynchnor. Or just merge it with the 88/89 and bring back the Orbital...

But Sunningdale is a small cul-de-sac which is going to have absolutely NO meaning to passengers. You might as well put "North of Preston", or "Middle of Lancashire" if you're going to be that pedantic. That's why if you want to use Sunningdale, you need to show it beneath Broughton.

Even if the terminus isn't in the centre of the village, showing Broughton is still the best option. If you're that bothered, why don't you get in touch with LCC and try to get them to extend the bus into the village. There is enough layover in the 15/45 cycle to do so.

Mike99 · 23 Feb 2020

Class 33 said:
Not really a bus route, but a coach route. But I notice that of the National Express service 040's from London that go a little beyond Bristol Bus Station as far as White Tree Roundabout in Bristol, on the destination displays it says "WHITE TREE via Bristol". Which seems a bit odd to me, when White Tree Roundabout is in Bristol anyway, and some people will be a bit baffled with White Tree as the destination. The destination should be more like "BRISTOL - Bus Station and White Tree Roundabout".

Is there a reason for the extension to White tree?

vlad · 23 Feb 2020

I did the 15H in London last year. When I got on outside the Tower, the display on the front said "Aldgate" which was then changed to "Trafalgar Square". This confused a lot of passengers who were thrown off at the final stop, outside Charing Cross station.

Class 33 · 23 Feb 2020

Mike99 said:
Is there a reason for the extension to White tree?

No idea why some(the 1830 and 2100 departures from London) services extend to White Tree Roundabout. As whenever I've been on these services and get out at Bristol Bus Station, there's never more than a few people(if any) still staying on the coach. So don't know why they bother with so few passengers on.

Actually whenever I wait for these services and see White Tree as the destination, I wish I'd have booked to Clifton Down Station instead of the Bus Station, as that's closer to where I live. Could just stay on till then rather than getting out and waiting for a bus.

mlambeuk · 23 Feb 2020

First Yorks route 4 & 5 could have the Acomb destination edited to show which route it takes.

Busaholic · 23 Feb 2020

vlad said:
I did the 15H in London last year. When I got on outside the Tower, the display on the front said "Aldgate" which was then changed to "Trafalgar Square". This confused a lot of passengers who were thrown off at the final stop, outside Charing Cross station.

The 15H doesn't go to Aldgate, though: it's probably the first display on the destination blind and hadn't been wound. The stop at the Tower is quite explicit where the 15H, and indeed the 15, goes to= Trafalgar Square, which is only a short distance from Charing Cross Station. The number of tourists who'd have even heard of Aldgate would be small. In any case, the rear destination blind (and passengers get on at the rear) would have been extremely unlikely to have shown Aldgate.

paulmch · 23 Feb 2020

One for the pedants - Stagecoach Midlands' route 2 from Corby to Kettering shows its destination as "Kettering Tesco's".

LordCreed · 24 Feb 2020

The 54 Wootton Bassett to Swindon shows "Town Centre" on the blinds when Swindon bound. Given that Wootton Bassett is also a town, it isn't a hugely helpful display.

duncanp · 24 Feb 2020

Several National Express West Midlands bus services that run to and from Birmingham city centre just have Birmingham on the destination blind, despite there being several places where buses terminate.

As does the tram. It still says Birmingham on the front, even after being extended from Grand Central to the Library.

Mal · 24 Feb 2020

Edinburgh used to show 'Circle' as a destination with 2 or 3 Via points and also used 'Part Route' and 'Route Diverted' on the Via screens on the old roller blinds.

quarella · 24 Feb 2020

This thread reminds me of when I made my first trip to Northern Ireland getting around on Ulsterbus. As I was using a weekly pass I was not stating my destination. Unfortunately I cannot remember the towns but one evening instead of catching a direct bus back from where I was to Belfast, I saw a bus to another town which I had previously visited so knew I would be able to get back to my accommodation and see a bit more of the area. All went well until we pulled into a bus depot. We stopped at a bus depot and the driver asked me where I was going. I told him and he informed me that this one only ran to the depot. "It says on the front (name of town)" "That's where the number XX goes." I then pointed out I was changing at X to go to Belfast. He had a quick talk with a colleague and I was then driven in an out of service bus to intercept a Belfast bound bus.

vlad · 24 Feb 2020

Busaholic said:
The 15H doesn't go to Aldgate, though: it's probably the first display on the destination blind and hadn't been wound. The stop at the Tower is quite explicit where the 15H, and indeed the 15, goes to= Trafalgar Square, which is only a short distance from Charing Cross Station. The number of tourists who'd have even heard of Aldgate would be small. In any case, the rear destination blind (and passengers get on at the rear) would have been extremely unlikely to have shown Aldgate.

My point is though that you'd expect a bus with "Trafalgar Square" on the front to go there and not throw you off before you get there, even if it is only a block away.

Busaholic · 24 Feb 2020

vlad said:
My point is though that you'd expect a bus with "Trafalgar Square" on the front to go there and not throw you off before you get there, even if it is only a block away.

There are far worse examples in London, especially with recent cutbacks. The 15 proper, before it too got truncated at ''Trafalgar Square'', terminated at ''Oxford Circus'', but in fact in Regent Street, where it had a junction with Conduit Street. Other routes going north along Regent Street terminating at Oxford Circus, like the 3 and 12, did actually make it to a stop a few yards short of Oxford Street. Eventually TfL admitted via a new blind that the 15 DIDN'T get to O.C. With the 'Heritage' 15, though, because Trafalgar Square can no longer be accessed by bus on the Northern side, it could go a stop further into Whitehall, passing the S.E. corner of the square, but you still wouldn't actually be dropped at the square, but I still think it's permissible to label the terminus as such: after all, Trafalgar Square would be far more familiar to a tourist, for whom the route is aimed, than Charing Cross Station would be.

Statto · 25 Feb 2020

Stagecoach have a thing on displaying 000 for when their buses is not in service, i find it weird as every other company displays, sorry, not in service without the route number ecc

Many moons ago 00 was used for a bus service, by Birkenhead Corporation with one journey a day departing 05.30 from Woodside to Stork Works in Bromborough, 00 was withdrawn mid 70s.

Busaholic · 25 Feb 2020

Statto said:
Stagecoach have a thing on displaying 000 for when their buses is not in service, i find it weird as every other company displays, sorry, not in service without the route number ecc

Many moons ago 00 was used for a bus service, by Birkenhead Corporation with one journey a day departing 05.30 from Woodside to Stork Works in Bromborough, 00 was withdrawn mid 70s.

As the Stork great selling point was that selected members of the public in a blindfold taste test couldn't tell Stork from butter (they'd obviously been born without tastebuds :lol:

) perhaps their workers likewise couldn't tell 00 from an ordinary bus service!

Bus Routes With Inaccurate Destinations (Or Could Destinations That Could Be Improved/ Renamed)

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