Arriva (Beds, Bucks, Herts)

[Three_Counties]

The Arriva website never improves, does it?
I followed @arrivamatt's link above for the MK changes to find at as soon you navigate to route level for further details, all that is provided is a line diagram list of bus stops served, a Google Map that fails to load properly marked "for development purposes only" (have Arriva paid for their licence?) and a link to download the pdf timetable that just takes you to a page to buy tickets online.

What a shame nobody with any clout at Arriva ever checks the functionality of their website, especially as it is effectively their only shop window to sell their services to would-be customers who will undoubtedly decide that if this is as good as Arriva gets, they might as well use my car and add to the very traffic congestion that delays so many bus services.

I also note @Voyager 2953's comment about management change with the change of ownership BUT this will only change things for the better if those managers changed are the ones at regional and national level, making everything so difficult for the worthwhile local management who must feel that they are constrained by wearing strait-jackets most of the time.

 

[nesw]

Timetables for the Milton Keynes changes (inc. schools service 89) are already available from open data by selecting a future date on Bustimes.

 

[greenline712]

I followed @arrivamatt's link; selected Route 4 (at random); clicked on "take a look . . . "; scrolled down to "download pdf timetables" and along came the pdf.

I agree that the initial link to download the pdf timetable didn't work, and there's something up with the map . . . but I got there fairly easily. Compared with the Arriva website a few years ago, it's a wee bit easier to use . . . not much, but a bit. Still needs some work, for sure.

 

[markymark2000]

I followed @arrivamatt's link; selected Route 4 (at random); clicked on "take a look . . . "; scrolled down to "download pdf timetables" and along came the pdf.

I agree that the initial link to download the pdf timetable didn't work, and there's something up with the map . . . but I got there fairly easily. Compared with the Arriva website a few years ago, it's a wee bit easier to use . . . not much, but a bit. Still needs some work, for sure.

One of my big issues with Arriva's site is that PDFs must be downloaded, they don't just load with browser PDF which is very annoying. Means to check how changes affect you, your device ends up with loads of PDFs taking up space on the device. Not sure why it happens but other sites seem to work fine, just Arriva that struggles.

 

[Voyager 2953]

The Arriva website never improves, does it?
I followed @arrivamatt's link above for the MK changes to find at as soon you navigate to route level for further details, all that is provided is a line diagram list of bus stops served, a Google Map that fails to load properly marked "for development purposes only" (have Arriva paid for their licence?) and a link to download the pdf timetable that just takes you to a page to buy tickets online.

What a shame nobody with any clout at Arriva ever checks the functionality of their website, especially as it is effectively their only shop window to sell their services to would-be customers who will undoubtedly decide that if this is as good as Arriva gets, I might as well use my car and add to the very traffic congestion that delays so many bus services.

I also note @Voyager 2953's comment about management change with the change of ownership BUT this will only change things for the better if those managers changed are the ones at regional and national level, making everything so difficult for the worthwhile local management who must feel that they constrained by wearing strait-jackets most of the time.

My opinion is that much of the local and regional management are clueless uni graduates, most of whom have never driven a bus in service or know how to interact with the customers.

In all honesty the Aylesbury and High Wycombe changes have been an absolute shambles, people pay more, wait more and get much less in return. The new Aylesbury numbers are ridiculous, I mean what on earth is the X90?!!. Why advertise X for an Express service which is actually slow.

There are more buses going through Naphill than Saunderton which is where the competition lies. It’s just a very backward organisation with no forward thinking.

The Optares at Wycombe are not suited to the hills, you’ll often be stuck behind one at 5mph.

Things have to change

 

[Jamiescott1]

I've attempted to take the 800/850 twice this one.
Once the bus was a no show.
Today the bus arrived but had no ticket machine so saved myself £2

 

[Parebunks]

Significant cutbacks coming in May for Buckinghamshire (link to news item):

Service 2 will operate every 20 minutes during the daytime between High Wycombe & Booker. The evening service is unaffected.

Service 4 will be withdrawn. This service is supported by Buckinghamshire County Council and they are looking into finding a replacement operator to run this service.

Service 5 will be withdrawn and replaced by service 7, which is detailed below.

Service 7 will change its routeing to run along Kingsmead Road replacing service 5. London Road in Wycombe Marsh will no longer be served by route 7. The combination of Services 6 and 7 will provide a 30 minute service between High Wycombe and Bourne End throughout the daytime.

Service 10 will operate every 30 minutes between High Wycombe & Downley. The evening service is to be unaffected.

Service 12 will operate every 20 minutes between High Wycombe & Micklefield. The evening journeys will return to their previous routeing - serving St Hughs Avenue towards Micklefield only.

Service X7 will operate every 30 minutes between Aylesbury & Oxford. Service X8 short journeys will be withdrawn

Service X9 will operate every 30 minutes between High Wycombe & Aylesbury.

I applaud Arriva for putting this out so early, but the changes themselves are quite unfortunate, their position does look increasingly unworkable in the area, particularly Aylesbury. Redline is now as or more frequent on the Aylesbury-Oxford and Wycombe corridors, with consistently lower fares and new buses, so Arriva has very little left going for it.

 

[Mark J]

Seeing as the original Arriva thread is closed I thought I’d create a more simplified one that would focus more on Bedfordshire, Bucks, Oxon and Hertfordshire.

As stated on here before 6149 is the new decker at Wycombe. Currently has a spare ticket machine so quite hard to track.

3580 has had a new engine fitted.

4749 has had an engine seizure so won’t be returning back.

Apparently more deckers are due from Leicester in the new year for the 800/850 in the form of Gemini B9s. Not sure how true this is but the state of the buses on what would be the flagship route is just something to marvel at.

As much as I like Arriva having worked for them in the past, I think they need a new strategy and not necessarily new buses. For example they have a plethora of DB300 DW class buses that have come off London tendered work sitting around gathering dust and being sold on..but they’re actually Euro 6 so could easily be used to upgrade some of the fleets in Kent (I know some have moved over to Tunbridge Wells) and High Wycombe. Even the cowboy operator has managed new buses in the form of some MCV Evoras..

The up and coming numbering system especially for the 300/X30 just seems odd and confusing to me because the 300 isn’t exactly a quick service. If they wanted lower numbers why not just number it the 30 and the X3 the instead of X90.

Here are some shots of the buses I’ve taken over a the past few weeks. I can’t help but laugh when I see the new posters regarding new changes. Not to slate Arriva but it’s we have to be honest out of all the big operators in the UK, they have the absolute worst and these things need addressing.

You missed the image of one of the Mercedes-Benz Fleet used on the 800/850 route.

Has a leaky roof when it rains, roof is gaffer taped up and many of the seats at the rear are covered in water.

Encountered this bus a few months back. Was utterly disgraceful.

Talk about running a clapped out fleet.

Arriva could seriously do with some newer buses.

 

[Voyager 2953]

Significant cutbacks coming in May for Buckinghamshire (link to news item):

I applaud Arriva for putting this out so early, but the changes themselves are quite unfortunate, their position does look increasingly unworkable in the area, particularly Aylesbury. Redline is now as or more frequent on the Aylesbury-Oxford and Wycombe corridors, with consistently lower fares and new buses, so Arriva has very little left going for it.

I agree; it’s all too little too late.

 

[Deerfold]

Significant cutbacks coming in May for Buckinghamshire (link to news item):

I applaud Arriva for putting this out so early, but the changes themselves are quite unfortunate, their position does look increasingly unworkable in the area, particularly Aylesbury. Redline is now as or more frequent on the Aylesbury-Oxford and Wycombe corridors, with consistently lower fares and new buses, so Arriva has very little left going for it.

There's quite some cutting there. I hope it means they can massively improve their reliability. I believe work will be taking me back to High Wycombe, but just before these changes come into effect.

 

[greenline712]

There's quite some cutting there. I hope it means they can massively improve their reliability. I believe work will be taking me back to High Wycombe, but just before these changes come into effect.

I understand that the HW fleet were to be replaced and upgraded by buses from Leicester, which were to be released by new electric buses. It seems that there are "issues" with the provision of the charging points there, which is delaying the cascade.

Not entirely Arriva's fault .... and I suspect there simply aren't any spare buses elsewhere in the Empire. The economics at HW probably don't permit spot-hiring buses from dealers either.

As the deputy manager at LCNW HW in 1990 .... it's all rather sad ... Wycombe was a good bus town then.

 

[A0wen]

I understand that the HW fleet were to be replaced and upgraded by buses from Leicester, which were to be released by new electric buses. It seems that there are "issues" with the provision of the charging points there, which is delaying the cascade.

Not entirely Arriva's fault .... and I suspect there simply aren't any spare buses elsewhere in the Empire. The economics at HW probably don't permit spot-hiring buses from dealers either.

As the deputy manager at LCNW HW in 1990 .... it's all rather sad ... Wycombe was a good bus town then.

London Country and High Wycombe had a bit of an odd relationship though. LCBS closed their garage in High Wycombe in 1977 and ran all Wycombe services from Amersham leaving Alder Valley with a garage in Wycombe.

They then went back to Wycombe at some point and closed Amersham - Alder Valley in the meanwhile sold Wycombe to Oxford Bus Company, who in turn sold out to Arriva. And it seemed to be a bit of a dumping ground where vehicles were concerned - wasn't it the last of the old London Country garages to be operating Atlanteans ? Which were still in all over green having passed through LCNW, Luton and District and onto The Shires without ever getting repainted into something newer IIRC.

Wycombe always seemed to be caught between a number of different operators depending on which way you looked.

 

[greenline712]

London Country and High Wycombe had a bit of an odd relationship though. LCBS closed their garage in High Wycombe in 1977 and ran all Wycombe services from Amersham leaving Alder Valley with a garage in Wycombe.

They then went back to Wycombe at some point and closed Amersham - Alder Valley in the meanwhile sold Wycombe to Oxford Bus Company, who in turn sold out to Arriva. And it seemed to be a bit of a dumping ground where vehicles were concerned - wasn't it the last of the old London Country garages to be operating Atlanteans ? Which were still in all over green having passed through LCNW, Luton and District and onto The Shires without ever getting repainted into something newer IIRC.

Wycombe always seemed to be caught between a number of different operators depending on which way you looked.

Wycombe was always a boundary town . . . right back to 1930, when LPTB was formed, and Amersham and District was purchased by LCGS.

It was all to do with the garage at Amersham . . . this was a LPTB garage opened in 1935. Unfortunately it was gently subsiding into the brook at the rear of the site (the pits had to be pumped out every month or so after any heavy rain). The site was sold to Tesco, which is still there.

HW (LCNW) was opened in December 1989 along the West Wycombe road . . . the site is currently a builders yard. The operation was an early example of having maintenance contracted out to a third party . . . which didn't really work well. LCNW was sold to Luton and District in October 1990, which morphed (via British Bus) into Cowie and then Arriva.

Alder Valley (North) became the Bee Line at privatisation, which was sold to Len Wright Holdings. Eventually, Bee Line (Wycombe) was sold on to the Oxford Bus Company, who sold on to Arriva, giving Arriva a monopoly in the town; their operation having moved from West Wycombe road to Cressex sometime in the 1990s.
I'll stand to be corrected, but ISTR that Oxford sold to Arriva because Newlands Bus Station (where AVN had their garage) was to be redeveloped, so effectively they had no base anymore.

In the meantime, an independent operator (backed by David Crowther of Black Prince fame in Leeds) started running locally . . . this morphed into Carousel (Steve Burns was the main man there), who used a logo not unlike the LCBS "flying circle". Steve sold out to Oxford Bus Co. sometime in the 2000s . . . and so OBC came back to High Wycombe !!
Hope you're keeping up at the back there . . . I think I've got the timeline right, but I left HW in 1990, so it all got a bit blurred . . .

I would opine that the circle might well come round again soon . . . I can't see Arriva lasting much longer at either Aylesbury or Wycombe (they're a bit small now) . . . it's looking rather like Guildford.
With Carousel in the wings (backed by Oxford) in Wycombe . . . Carousel could take the X9; Oxford could take the X7; which leaves the X5 for Hemel Hempstead to take up. All a bit "crayonista" . . . but stranger things have happened . . .

 

[PeterC]

Wycombe was always a boundary town . . . right back to 1930, when LPTB was formed, and Amersham and District was purchased by LCGS.

It was all to do with the garage at Amersham . . . this was a LPTB garage opened in 1935. Unfortunately it was gently subsiding into the brook at the rear of the site (the pits had to be pumped out every month or so after any heavy rain). The site was sold to Tesco, which is still there.

HW (LCNW) was opened in December 1989 along the West Wycombe road . . . the site is currently a builders yard. The operation was an early example of having maintenance contracted out to a third party . . . which didn't really work well. LCNW was sold to Luton and District in October 1990, which morphed (via British Bus) into Cowie and then Arriva.

Alder Valley (North) became the Bee Line at privatisation, which was sold to Len Wright Holdings. Eventually, Bee Line (Wycombe) was sold on to the Oxford Bus Company, who sold on to Arriva, giving Arriva a monopoly in the town; their operation having moved from West Wycombe road to Cressex sometime in the 1990s.
I'll stand to be corrected, but ISTR that Oxford sold to Arriva because Newlands Bus Station (where AVN had their garage) was to be redeveloped, so effectively they had no base anymore.

In the meantime, an independent operator (backed by David Crowther of Black Prince fame in Leeds) started running locally . . . this morphed into Carousel (Steve Burns was the main man there), who used a logo not unlike the LCBS "flying circle". Steve sold out to Oxford Bus Co. sometime in the 2000s . . . and so OBC came back to High Wycombe !!
Hope you're keeping up at the back there . . . I think I've got the timeline right, but I left HW in 1990, so it all got a bit blurred . . .

I would opine that the circle might well come round again soon . . . I can't see Arriva lasting much longer at either Aylesbury or Wycombe (they're a bit small now) . . . it's looking rather like Guildford.
With Carousel in the wings (backed by Oxford) in Wycombe . . . Carousel could take the X9; Oxford could take the X7; which leaves the X5 for Hemel Hempstead to take up. All a bit "crayonista" . . . but stranger things have happened . . .

Oxford taking the Aylesbury corridor really would be full circle. I can't be bothered to dig it out now but I have a timetable from, I think the early 70's that shows this as a COMS route. However Redline are already strong on both the X9 and X7 corridors. Do GoAhead have the stomach for a fight?

 

[riceuten]

My opinion is that much of the local and regional management are clueless uni graduates, most of whom have never driven a bus in service or know how to interact with the customers.

Things have to change

I suspect that most of the "Customer Service" has been outsourced - their social media presence certainly has.

I see no compelling reason Arriva have to change - they have little or no competition or service level agreements to meet and can run as few or as many buses as they have drivers or vehicles for.

Nationally Arriva are recognised as awful company and I really do hope ISquared break off parts of the company and sell them to more capable operators such as Stagecoach, First and Go Ahead. The whole company is a shambles from top to bottom.

I suspect ISquared will sell off the profitable parts of the company - such as they are, and close down the non-profitable parts (and probably sell off the depots servicing them for development)

Isquared taking over will avail nothing if there isn’t a change in the management of what is an awfully run company.

I suspect that management will be there to swing the axe and asset strip.

 

[greenline712]

Oxford taking the Aylesbury corridor really would be full circle. I can't be bothered to dig it out now but I have a timetable from, I think the early 70's that shows this as a COMS route. However Redline are already strong on both the X9 and X7 corridors. Do GoAhead have the stomach for a

Concerning the Aylesbury - Oxford route .... that's correct. Oxford outstationed a few buses at the UCOC garage in Aylesbury to service the route. I'm not sure if the route was joint with UCOC at one time ....

Redline run via Saunderton, not Knaphill .... but it would be easy to divert half their service via Knaphill, which would see off the X9.
I wonder if that'll be a deal-maker .... X7 to OBC; X9 to Redline ??

 

[GusB]

We're getting a bit off-topic with these trips down memory lane. If anyone wishes to discuss the historical aspects of services in this area, you're welcome to start a new thread on the subject. Let's keep this thread for discussing current operations, please.

Please also ensure that any jargon is properly explained - terms such as LCBS, LCNW and UCOC are rather meaningless to anyone who doesn't know the area or the history.

Thanks, everyone

 

[greenline712]

I think that background information actually adds to the current discussion .... often, by looking at history, we can understand the current situation better. The High Wycombe area is particularly complex .... I felt that the background would be useful.
However, you're the mod here, so ....

Your point about acronyms is well made, however. Here we go:
LCNW: London Country North West, one of the four privatised chunks of LCBS.
LCBS: London Country Bus Services, the former Country Area of London Transport, split off from London Transport in 1970, and privatised in 1987/8.
UCOC: United Counties Omnibus Company, based in Bedford and mainly operating in Luton, Beds and Bucks.
OBC: City of Oxford Bus Company, often abbreviated to COMS.
HW: the garage code for the LCNW site in High Wycombe.

Hope this helps ....

 

[PeterC]

I think that background information actually adds to the current discussion .... often, by looking at history, we can understand the current situation better. The High Wycombe area is particularly complex .... I felt that the background would be useful.
However, you're the mod here, so ....

Your point about acronyms is well made, however. Here we go:
LCNW: London Country North West, one of the four privatised chunks of LCBS.
LCBS: London Country Bus Services, the former Country Area of London Transport, split off from London Transport in 1970, and privatised in 1987/8.
UCOC: United Counties Omnibus Company, based in Bedford and mainly operating in Luton, Beds and Bucks.
OBC: City of Oxford Bus Company, often abbreviated to COMS.
HW: the garage code for the LCNW site in High Wycombe.

Hope this helps ....

To be pedantic Oxford Bus Company (OBC) is a modern brand name of City of Oxford Motor Services Ltd (COMS).

I agree about the historical background.

 

[RELL6L]

Significant cutbacks coming in May for Buckinghamshire (link to news item):

I applaud Arriva for putting this out so early, but the changes themselves are quite unfortunate, their position does look increasingly unworkable in the area, particularly Aylesbury. Redline is now as or more frequent on the Aylesbury-Oxford and Wycombe corridors, with consistently lower fares and new buses, so Arriva has very little left going for it.

Sadly this is totally predictable. We were told that last autumn’s changes in High Wycombe were successful and encouraging more passengers but then the reliability plummeted because Arriva were not prepared or able to let High Wycombe have enough serviceable buses to run them. You get the impression that local management did their best but the service quality was very poor. They did - and sometimes still do - run the 11 with buses that only arrive a few minutes after the 11 should have left- this is generally OK as they have enough recovery time to catch up again. But the quality of the tracking and the App do not help. Many journeys show as cancelled on the App when they aren’t and people do use this. You will see people waiting for a bus when the App says it is running and not when it says it is cancelled. Some vehicles track very erratically, 3920 for example didn’t track for well over a week but was running, others I saw included 3010, 3013, 3025, 5460. So Arriva really are the architects of these cuts.

So they will reduce the 2/12 by two vehicles. Cutting the 4 saves another one. I presume the 10 and 13 will be delinked, the 13 could stand alone or could work in with the 2/12. The 10 might interwork with the 6 & 7, the cuts on these routes saving another 2 buses. Or maybe these will link in with the 11/800/850. It just gets smaller and smaller!

At Aylesbury the setup of the X7/X8 looked a bit fragile, any delays and you could not do X7>X8>X8>X7 within allowed driving hours, but this is quite a retreat. The X9 is a big cut too. Not sure how many buses will be cut at Aylesbury. They just seem to be getting closer to conceding these routes to the competition altogether, closing Aylesbury and leaving the X5 to Hemel.

I do hope Go Ahead come in and put down this wounded animal. Look at the level of cancellations at Carousel - almost nothing.

 

[A0wen]

I think that background information actually adds to the current discussion .... often, by looking at history, we can understand the current situation better. The High Wycombe area is particularly complex .... I felt that the background would be useful.
However, you're the mod here, so ....

Your point about acronyms is well made, however. Here we go:
LCNW: London Country North West, one of the four privatised chunks of LCBS.
LCBS: London Country Bus Services, the former Country Area of London Transport, split off from London Transport in 1970, and privatised in 1987/8.
UCOC: United Counties Omnibus Company, based in Bedford and mainly operating in Luton, Beds and Bucks.
OBC: City of Oxford Bus Company, often abbreviated to COMS.
HW: the garage code for the LCNW site in High Wycombe.

Hope this helps ....

Nearly - United Counties head office was Northampton, not Bedford.

And for clarity, when London Country was separated into 4 smaller companies for privatisation, so was United Counties.

United Counties survived in North Bedfordshire, Northamptonshire and West Cambridgeshire.

Milton Keynes Citybus took over operations in MIlton Keynes.

Luton and District took over the North Herts, Luton, Dunstable and, relevant to this thread, Aylesbury.

It was Luton & District which took over London Country NW and in turn became British Bus and ultimately Arriva.

 

[greenline712]

I reckon that Aylesbury will have a PVR (peak vehicle requirement) of around 17 buses. That would seem to be too small to financially support a full Garage overhead cost .... perhaps it will become a satellite of High Wycombe or possibly Milton Keynes.

I haven't done the sums at Wycombe, but assuming a PVR of 29 now, then that looks like a new PVR of 24 buses. An overall cut of 10 buses should sort out the fleet until the ex-Leicester buses turn up .....

 

[Parebunks]

Concerning the Aylesbury - Oxford route .... that's correct. Oxford outstationed a few buses at the UCOC garage in Aylesbury to service the route. I'm not sure if the route was joint with UCOC at one time ....

Redline run via Saunderton, not Knaphill .... but it would be easy to divert half their service via Knaphill, which would see off the X9.
I wonder if that'll be a deal-maker .... X7 to OBC; X9 to Redline ??

From the Oxford perspective, I'm not even sure OBC would want the X7 in its current form. I use it semi-regularly from the train station up to Headington within Oxford, and the vast majority of people are using city passes or making trips no further than Wheatley. Add in that the Brookes campus at Wheatley is closing in September, and it's clear that the whole X7/X8/X20/400 complex of routes is unsustainable and will need a significant restructure. IMO once the campus shuts Wheatley only needs 3-4 BPH total, and Thame needs no more than 3-4 to Oxford and 2 to Aylesbury. Redline could easily provide the Thame service with few extra resources from what they're doing now, and Wheatley could either be bundled into that or a standalone OBC route (400 as at present, or something else using capacity released by traffic filters and leave the 400 for P&R and Brookes).
Aylesbury depot in general I can't see lasting beyond this year - are the X4 and X6 both worked from Milton Keynes now? X5 could indeed go to Hemel, or Red Rose already run a Sunday service and could be interested. X9 is increasingly a poor relation to the 130, which would only need a few tweaks to cover at this point. Wycombe might hang on a bit longer, but doesn't seem at all in isquared's interest to hang on to the area at all.

 

[Voyager 2953]

I reckon that Aylesbury will have a PVR (peak vehicle requirement) of around 17 buses. That would seem to be too small to financially support a full Garage overhead cost .... perhaps it will become a satellite of High Wycombe or possibly Milton Keynes.

I haven't done the sums at Wycombe, but assuming a PVR of 29 now, then that looks like a new PVR of 24 buses. An overall cut of 10 buses should sort out the fleet until the ex-Leicester buses turn up .....

The ex-Leicester buses aren’t coming.

 

[Simon75]

Do the shires have any outstations ?

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

Do the shires have any outstations ?

https://www.ukbuses.co.uk/fleet/amn.pdf

 

[arrivamatt]

We're making a number of fleet moves as part of cascades facilitated by the successful introduction of Electroliners in Leicester. The original plan to send some of the below vehicles to High Wycombe will no longer happen as a result of service alterations in May.

Milton Keynes will receive six ex-Leicester Volvo B9/East Lancs Olympus for routes X4 and X6. Two Enviro 400s will be sent to Leicester to help standardise fleets in return, with four Volvo B7/Wright Eclipses being withdrawn.

Luton will also receive six ex-Leicester Volvo B9/East Lancs Olympus - one should already have arrived. This facilitates the withdrawal of the last Dennis Trident/ALX400 and some Volvo B7/ALX400s, with others being sent elsewhere in the business. The two remaining Dennis Dart MPDs at Luton will also be withdrawn.

---

Milton Keynes' service changes go live from this Sunday 14 April. Further south, a number of service enhancements that facilitated as part of Luton's £19m BSIP funding have been combined with punctuality and capacity improvements in the Luton/Dunstable conurbation, which will go live on Sunday 2 June. More details will be published in due course.

 

[Voyager 2953]

We're making a number of fleet moves as part of cascades facilitated by the successful introduction of Electroliners in Leicester. The original plan to send some of the below vehicles to High Wycombe will no longer happen as a result of service alterations in May.

Milton Keynes will receive six ex-Leicester Volvo B9/East Lancs Olympus for routes X4 and X6. Two Enviro 400s will be sent to Leicester to help standardise fleets in return, with four Volvo B7/Wright Eclipses being withdrawn.

Luton will also receive six ex-Leicester Volvo B9/East Lancs Olympus - one should already have arrived. This facilitates the withdrawal of the last Dennis Trident/ALX400 and some Volvo B7/ALX400s, with others being sent elsewhere in the business. The two remaining Dennis Dart MPDs at Luton will also be withdrawn.

---

Milton Keynes' service changes go live from this Sunday 14 April. Further south, a number of service enhancements that facilitated as part of Luton's £19m BSIP funding, have been combined with punctuality and capacity improvements in the Luton/Dunstable conurbation, which will go live on Sunday 2 June. More details will be published in due course.

Any chance some Pulsars could make it to High Wycombe? They could do with a bus or two?

 

[Edvid]

Hertfordshire June 2024 changes are up on Intalink, almost entirely on Arriva routes. Relevant changes quoted below.

Of particular note are the 100/101 becoming the 100/101/102 (part of the aforementioned BSIP package?) and the 328 being withdrawn.

97 Hitchin to Stotfold
Arriva
Additional morning peak journeys for better train connections and additional early evening journey to Stotfold.
From 02.06.24.

100/101 Stevenage to Luton
Arriva
Major route and timetable changes, up to four buses per hour between Stevenage and Luton with quicker journey times. Service 100 will now operate a new route in Luton via Hitchin Road to the interchange, then Crawley Green Road, Wigmore Lane, Eaton Green Road to the Airport. The return route via Airport Way and the Busway. Service 101 will no longer service Little Wymondley but instead serve Little Wymondley by-pass. Please see Centrebus service 80 for Little Wymondley. Additional evening journeys Mondays to Saturdays 2045 from Stevenage and 2145 from Luton. Butterfield will continue to be served but by service 100.
From 02.06.24.

102 Stevenage to Luton
Arriva
New route variation of services 100/101. Service 102 route will travel via Lilley Mondays to Saturdays in peak times.
From 02.06.24.

301 Stevenage to St Albans
Arriva
Minor changes to timetable for punctuality.
From 02.06.24.

328 Abbotts Langley to Mount Vernon Hospital
Arriva
Service being withdrawn a replacement service is being investigated.
From 02.06.24.

724 Harlow to Heathrow Airport
Arriva
Additional journeys Monday to Friday morning journey between Hertford and Harlow. Additional stop being served on Rickmansworth Road at Shepherds Road in Watford.
From 02.06.24.

725 Stevenage to Rickmansworth
Arriva
Minor changes to timetable for peak times journeys to make service more punctual. Additional stops being served at Chelwood Avenue, Birchwood in Hatfield and Watford also Rickmansworth Road at Shepherds Road.
From 02.06.24.

SB1 Stevenage to Poplars
Arriva
Revised timetable. Monday to Friday peak-hour journeys to and from Gunnels Wood Road being withdrawn. From 02.06.24.

SB7 Stevenage to Great Ashby
Arriva
Minor change to Sunday timetable.
From 02.06.24.

 

[riceuten]

725 Stevenage to Rickmansworth
Arriva
Minor changes to timetable for peak times journeys to make service more punctual.

It has to be said the timetable as is, is ‘ambitious’. Much as I am in favour of longer distance routes, once of the criticisms of the 300/301 routes was that a rounder from the Lister to Hemel and back (plus inevitable delays, often approaching 30 minutes one way) was approaching the daily permitted hours for a driver. So the solution is to have an even longer route?

The other thing is that the limited stop services keep getting stops added to them. Again, according to my source at Stevenage, some of my fellow oldies are complaining that the limited stop bus doesn't stop at their stop - well, that's kind of the point!