Bus route suffixes

[Dai Corner]

Here in Newport, the independent operator Phil Anslow use an unnecessary suffix on their 24X. They don't have a route 24. The reason is to associate it with rival Stagecoach's X24.

 

[bussnapperwm]

In Dudley, NX West Midlands have 2 routes with a H suffix and 1 with a M.

The one with a M (4M) is a variation of the 4 which extends to Merry Hill, same with the 4H which extends from Blackheath to Halesown.

The other H suffix route also runs to Halesowen (17H), but has the suffix because another route in Dudley ran by NXWM is also numbered 17.

Also Stagecoach Warks have suffix letters on the 48 Nuneaton service (A for Atherstone, C for Coventry and L for Leicester services).

Iirc during Covid Stagecoach Warks used C as a suffix for School/College routes.

Trentbarton are a real mix of different types of suffixes or none at all.

The threes have the 3A, 3B and 3C and they correspond to each services taking a variation in route on their way to and from Mansfield.

On the other hand you have services like the nines and the sixes that use decimal points. There is a 9.1 and 9.3 but no 9.2, whilst the sixes you have 6.0 to 6.4 but also the 6X and 6E just to confuse matters.

They also operate the Rainbow 1 which could use some suffixes. Two buses an hour go to Henor, two to Ripley and two to Alfreton but all are simply labelled and displayed as Rainbow 1. Surley the 1A, 1B etc would help here?

Overall it's a bit if a mess and probably links into Trentbarton having brands doing their own thing rather than routes. I feel that when the post covid government money ends and a pernamemt network emerges they could do with going through all their routes and making it a bit more consistent.

Didn't Premiere in Nottingham also have a couple of routes that had a ".1" suffix too?

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

For example, in the morebus network, 3x is a limited stop version of 3, while X3 has completely no relationship to 3 at all (while X1, X2, X3 and X6 forms a coherent network of express services).

The X prefix in this case denotes cross-county or cross-regional, rather than express. All four routes are all-stops, as is the X8 (although they do have fast sections). It is carried over to Salisbury Reds with the X4/X5 and X7/X7R.

Even then, it's not a straightforward as @miklcct would expect.

The 3/3x were traditionally numbered 132/133 (I think) so the morebus numbering is a recent phenomenon.

The X3 is a much more long-standing service number, dating from the mid 1980s with the X1/X2. These were faster services from Poole to Bournemouth and then to Ringwood, with the X1/X2 heading to Southampton, and X3 to Salisbury. The X3 is just a relic of those though, of course, the X3 is now an X as part of the Cross Country network from more/Salisbury Reds.

The X7 is also a long-standing number and was also a faster service (I think) for Totton to Southampton but is now an X-Country route; the X7R appearing later (for Romsey) when it was diverted in order to allow the 34 to be replaced.

 

[miklcct]

In Dudley, NX West Midlands have 2 routes with a H suffix and 1 with a M.

The one with a M (4M) is a variation of the 4 which extends to Merry Hill, same with the 4H which extends from Blackheath to Halesown.

Are there any use of the M-suffix to represent metro in the UK, for routes which act as a feeder to the metro station?

 

[Mojo]

Are there any use of the M-suffix to represent metro in the UK, for routes which act as a feeder to the metro station?

I would have expected any feeder buses to have a prefix rather than a suffix, the latter of which normally refers to a variation of an existing route.

For instance when Tramlink first starts running the three feeder routes were T31, T32 and T33.

 

[miklcct]

I would have expected any feeder buses to have a prefix rather than a suffix, the latter of which normally refers to a variation of an existing route.

For instance when Tramlink first starts running the three feeder routes were T31, T32 and T33.

The M-suffix can be used for a short-working variation of a trunk route which only goes to the metro station.

 

[Mal]

Trentbarton are a real mix of different types of suffixes or none at all.

The threes have the 3A, 3B and 3C and they correspond to each services taking a variation in route on their way to and from Mansfield.

On the other hand you have services like the nines and the sixes that use decimal points. There is a 9.1 and 9.3 but no 9.2, whilst the sixes you have 6.0 to 6.4 but also the 6X and 6E just to confuse matters.

They also operate the Rainbow 1 which could use some suffixes. Two buses an hour go to Henor, two to Ripley and two to Alfreton but all are simply labelled and displayed as Rainbow 1. Surley the 1A, 1B etc would help here?

Overall it's a bit if a mess and probably links into Trentbarton having brands doing their own thing rather than routes. I feel that when the post covid government money ends and a pernamemt network emerges they could do with going through all their routes and making it a bit more consistent.

I agree. Though the idea of branding is a good one, route identification is one hell of a mess. Routes with suffixes, routes with decimals, routes (and variants) with names and colours!! Allestree uses blue and green.
Rainbow 1 is a perfect example, but there is Skylink Derby, Skylink Express and Skylink Nottingham. All go to East Midlands Airport, but Skylink Nottingham also extends to Loughborough or Coalville!! Just remembered that Skylink Deby continues to Leicester just to confuse things! All this under Skylink - just ridiculous! Why not number them in a straight series??

 

[Ken H]

Not sure if this counts as a suffix or not, but Ashford in Kent has numbered routes for the out of town services but lettered routes (A, B, C, D and E) for the town services. Of an evening the part of route A takes on part of route D and runs in a single-direction loop displaying the route number "AD."

Yorkshire Woolen used to do that. Dewsbury town services were letters. eveything else were numbers.

 

[JD2168]

There is a 22X in South Yorkshire which runs between Rotherham & Barnsley by Stagecoach, originally introduced as a response to First service 22 over the same route (now withdrawn).

 

[WibbleWobble]

30 (Swanage - Dorchester) is a cross-country or cross-regional route but it doesn't have an X-prefix. It is just a normal route.

The 30 used to be numbered X43 when it was a Dorset tender, probably to make it sound similar to First's X53 (which is also an all-stopper, just like the X51). It got renumbered 30 to bring it in line with the other Purbeck Breezers - 40, 50 and 60.

I don't know about the other X-routes, but it's the fact that X1/X2/X3/X6 are express routes when the section between Bournemouth town centre and Royal Bournemouth Hospital is taken into consideration. They are much faster than taking the Yellow Buses 2 and 3 which stop everywhere between the town centre and the hospital!

The 3 doesn't run any more, since Yellow Buses closed down. The 2 is now run by Morebus.

I wouldn't deem running via the A338 to make it an express, it is just a slightly quicker route with no bus stops along it. By that logic, the 40 between Poole and Swanage would be an express because it uses Holes Bay Road.

 

[Redmike]

The x suffix in Greater Manchester used to denote a short working e.g. 192x was a short working of the main 192.

 

[AndyW33]

I agree. Though the idea of branding is a good one, route identification is one hell of a mess. Routes with suffixes, routes with decimals, routes (and variants) with names and colours!! Allestree uses blue and green.
Rainbow 1 is a perfect example, but there is Skylink Derby, Skylink Express and Skylink Nottingham. All go to East Midlands Airport, but Skylink Nottingham also extends to Loughborough or Coalville!! Just remembered that Skylink Deby continues to Leicester just to confuse things! All this under Skylink - just ridiculous! Why not number them in a straight series??

Although both are Wellglade group companies, Skylink Derby is not a TrentBarton route at all, it is licensed to and operated by Kinchbus, so should it be numbered in a TrentBarton series, the Kinchbus series, or even First Leicester's series (Kinchbus has a small shareholding in First Leicester)? Whichever is chosen it would be advisable to avoid duplicating route numbers of other operators using the same roads/stops, so watch out for Arriva routes running from Derby and Leicester too.

 

[Tetchytyke]

What was wrong with the "traditional" numbering of airport routes after Boeing aircraft (747, etc)?

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

What was wrong with the "traditional" numbering of airport routes after Boeing aircraft (747, etc)?

Ironically, it discriminates against Airbus!!

 

[GusB]

Ironically, it discriminates against Airbus!!

Funnily enough, that also crossed my mind. Service A320, anyone? Or, if being run with a double decker, A380!

 

[Deerfold]

At one time they used to say on their site something like the following: A "B" suffix meant the journey would finish Before the normal destination (eg 9B finishing at Rushcliffe school and returning as an 8). "C" was for Continuing after (eg 10A extending to Rushcliffe country park), and "X" was some deviation on route (the return journey of the 10C is a 10X because it misses some of the usual stops in Ruddington). But A also seems to be used for deviations on route.

When I lived in Nottingham in the nineties, B indicated an early finish for a route going out of Nottingham, C indicated a trip that finished in the City Centre - at the time many routes were cross-city; most of these were in the late evening peak, but some routes had a higher frequency on one side. An E suffix was used for an unscheduled duplicate (Extra) which may or may not go the full extent of the route (these were not common).

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

Are there any use of the M-suffix to represent metro in the UK, for routes which act as a feeder to the metro station?

Not that I can remember. This photo by Jason Rodhouse shows the early days of Midland Metro, which was also operated by Travel West Midlands. They used to show an M symbol on blinds to denote it served the Metro but the actual service was not renumbered with an M

Travel West Midlands 1538

Travel West Midlands 1538 (R538 XOB) a Mercedes-Benz 0405N, is seen on Braford Place, Walsall, picking up passengers on route 404 to Cradley Heath. April 2000

www.flickr.com

In Tyneside, there were a couple of Northumbria (later Arriva) services that were prefixed with M (M46/M55) but they were to denote Minibus rather than a connection to the Metro

The 30 used to be numbered X43 when it was a Dorset tender, probably to make it sound similar to First's X53 (which is also an all-stopper, just like the X51). It got renumbered 30 to bring it in line with the other Purbeck Breezers - 40, 50 and 60.

I think you're right that the 30 was renumbered as per the other Purbeck routes.

Interesting you mention the X53 and X51. The X51 was previously the X31, and before that, it was the 31. At no point did it have an express element, AFAIK.

 

[Deerfold]

Trentbarton are a real mix of different types of suffixes or none at all.

The threes have the 3A, 3B and 3C and they correspond to each services taking a variation in route on their way to and from Mansfield.

On the other hand you have services like the nines and the sixes that use decimal points. There is a 9.1 and 9.3 but no 9.2, whilst the sixes you have 6.0 to 6.4 but also the 6X and 6E just to confuse matters.

They also operate the Rainbow 1 which could use some suffixes. Two buses an hour go to Henor, two to Ripley and two to Alfreton but all are simply labelled and displayed as Rainbow 1. Surley the 1A, 1B etc would help here?

Overall it's a bit if a mess and probably links into Trentbarton having brands doing their own thing rather than routes. I feel that when the post covid government money ends and a pernamemt network emerges they could do with going through all their routes and making it a bit more consistent.

When introduced there were the 9.1, 9.2, 9.3 and 9.4 (each hourly). There was a 6.1, 6.2, 6.3, 6.4 and XR6.

The Rainbow 1, like several other routes, used to indicate variations with coloured dots on the destination display. It was also one of a number of upgraded routes which were all Rainbow X - the main predecessor to the inidgo was the Rainbow 5 (B, C, X, along with the 3, 10, 310, 506, 1).

West Yorkshire (the operator) used to have a habit of numbering some routes (mainly short variations) with an M suffix, but I don't know what it stood for - they used to use A, B, C and M regularly. The 34M lasted longest as a short variation of the 34 (later X35 and 781) Leeds - Otley despite the 34 running 1-3 times a day and the 34M running several times an hour.

One of my local routes (the 66) used to have A and C variations - the A ran via Airedale hospital grounds rather than stopping outside, the C ran an extra 10-15 minute diversion on a couple of early morning services to serve stops on the 62 route before it started. The service no longer runs via the hospital at any time, whilst the early morning diversion may come as an expected surprise as no suffixes are used, now.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

Another one I remember was the use of Y suffixes in Birmingham by Smiths of Tysoe/Shennington (aka YourBus) who competed against West Midlands Travel on key routes, so on the 50, they would number their route the 50Y.

This continued for a while after WMT bought them and operated as a low cost unit until they were finally absorbed.

 

[kijeta]

Is the use of bus route suffixes common in the UK? London no longer uses it, why did London get away with all suffixes? Doesn't London even have a route which share the majority of common sections with only minor deviations, and works on combined schedule?

In Hong Kong, the most extreme case was that a route grew to nearly a dozen variations, each with its own suffix, all serving the same district with most of them peak-hour variations of the base route. Eventually the variants continued to grow their own variants with different suffixes and got renumbered into two distinct groups of routes according to the places served.

In the UK outside of London, which route has the most variations with a suffix? For examples, letters A, B, C are common to be used for variations of a base route, and the letter X for express route, how about the others? Are there many uses of the letter H (hospital), M (metro), P (peak hour), R (recreational / racecourse), S (special / school) or U (university)? Are there any routes with variations sequentially lettered from A to G or beyond?

Also, the Keswick - Lancaster 555 has a variation which runs on the motorway and arrives Lancaster earlier than the normal departure afterwards. It can be confusing to people requiring intermediate stops skipped by the motorway. Why isn't it called 555X instead to help passengers picking the right bus?

Anecdotally, the reason for most routes in Hong Kong having a X (express) suffix is due to routes and demand evolving. When an express variation is launched (normally when a tunnel or bridge is built, providing a shortcut), most of the passengers change to it, and the slower, original route gets phased out. That, imo, is undesirable as it diminishes the meaning of suffixes. I must not elaborate, as this reply would otherwise be better suited to the international category. Most of Britain simply has less drastic demand changes and therefore less suffixes.
Locally to me, Newport Transport uses suffixes to denote the direction of (some) pairs of circular routes, which I find more intuitive than Cardiff Bus' solution. 2A is immediately obvious to mean anti-clockwise and 2C is clockwise. Compare that to Cardiff Bus where drivers are routinely asked which direction 17 and 18 goes in.

 

[tbtc]

West Yorkshire (the operator) used to have a habit of numbering some routes (mainly short variations) with an M suffix, but I don't know what it stood for - they used to use A, B, C and M regularly

… and that’s the problem - you are clearly a very knowledgeable person when it comes to public transport but if even YOU can’t work out the logic in some of these (re) numberings then what chance do members of the public have?

I instinctively don’t like situations like the Lothian Buses routes (e.g. 26, 31, 37) where there’s multiple termini at one end of the route (Lothian screens certainly used to have a yellow destination screen when a journey is “part route”) - same route number used though - but the more I read on this thread about some people who seem to want to complicate every route depending on how many train stations/ hospitals/ bingo halls it serves, there’s maybe something to be said for clear destination screens rather than expecting regular passengers to know all twenty six variations of their local bus route, depending on the various permutations of subsequent stops

 

[Ken H]

The M-suffix can be used for a short-working variation of a trunk route which only goes to the metro station.

Not that I can remember. This photo by Jason Rodhouse shows the early days of Midland Metro, which was also operated by Travel West Midlands. They used to show an M symbol on blinds to denote it served the Metro but the actual service was not renumbered with an M

Travel West Midlands 1538

Travel West Midlands 1538 (R538 XOB) a Mercedes-Benz 0405N, is seen on Braford Place, Walsall, picking up passengers on route 404 to Cradley Heath. April 2000

www.flickr.com

In Tyneside, there were a couple of Northumbria (later Arriva) services that were prefixed with M (M46/M55) but they were to denote Minibus rather than a connection to the Metro


I think you're right that the 30 was renumbered as per the other Purbeck routes.

Interesting you mention the X53 and X51. The X51 was previously the X31, and before that, it was the 31. At no point did it have an express element, AFAIK.

In West Yorkshire Road Car Co Ltd, a M suffix denoted a variant that went along the main road.
Link to WYRCC Leeds Area timetable from 1973, route 34 and 34M on Timetable World as an example. There are other M suffixes in that timetable if you want to browse.

Timetable World

timetableworld.com

Connexions use an X prefix for some of their services. It doesnt me express, it just denotes a Connexions route.

 

[danm14]

They do like a suffix in Northern Ireland - the 194 has a different one for almost every journey.

In most cases, every single tiny, minor, inconsequential to variation of a route has its own suffix. This started happening suddenly, almost overnight, a few years ago.

Outside of the Belfast and Londonderry city bus services (Metro and Foyle Metro), the suffixes are very rarely displayed on destination blinds unless they're highly relevant to the passenger - which does lead to occasional confusion as they are always displayed on timetables, journey planners and departure boards at bus stations.

In your 194 example, I would expect only the 07:00 194f and 15:45 194g to show a suffix. The rest would most likely just show 194.

If you want to see suffixes in high quantity I suggest you look at Translink Metro in Belfast. 12 suffixes for the 2 (but no 2 without a suffix!), lots for other routes as well.

And often in a very confusing manner. It was a thoughtless decision to mash round pegs into square holes - a few years ago they decided every route in Belfast had to become a 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 or 12 - even those which don't follow the 12 main arterial routes out of the city which the corridors originally corresponded to.

The worst offender is the 6c which bears no resemblance whatsoever to the broader 6 corridor - it should without question be a 7, but was lumped in with the 6's because of the destination it serves (Newtownbreda) - despite the number of almost every other route being chosen based on the broad route taken out of the city, not the destination.

 

[miklcct]

but the more I read on this thread about some people who seem to want to complicate every route depending on how many train stations/ hospitals/ bingo halls it serves, there’s maybe something to be said for clear destination screens rather than expecting regular passengers to know all twenty six variations of their local bus route, depending on the various permutations of subsequent stops

How can the bus company put so many words on the destination screen? For example, if there are 6 permutations all mixed together in a single hour (one regular, one serving a school, one serving a hospital, one serving another school, two does skip-stopping, etc.), without the use of route suffix how can the bus company communicate to the passenger which is which?

Or in the case if the regular off-peak service runs A-B-C-centre, but peak hour services run only either A-B-centre, A-C-centre, C-D-centre, or even A-B-centre-elsewhere, how can they be recognised without the use of suffixes?

 

[zwk500]

How can the bus company put so many words on the destination screen? For example, if there are 6 permutations all mixed together in a single hour (one regular, one serving a school, one serving a hospital, one serving another school, two does skip-stopping, etc.), without the use of route suffix how can the bus company communicate to the passenger which is which?

By careful selection. 27 via Hospital, 27 via St. A's School, 27 via St B's College, 27 limited stop, etc. Most buses now have a digital display that can scroll through messages as well.

Or in the case if the regular off-peak service runs A-B-C-centre, but peak hour services run only either A-B-centre, A-C-centre, C-D-centre, or even A-B-centre-elsewhere, how can they be recognised without the use of suffixes?

Well, the C-D-Centre route would have a completely different number anyway. I'd personally use a suffix, but 'fast from B' would equally fit on the front blind.

 

[Tetchytyke]

There are three main ways of dealing with route variations: prefix/suffixes, different route numbers, or the same route number with accurate destination blinds. There are pros and cons to each.

Accurate destination blinds only work if the driver remembers to key in the right code, and notices if they don't. This isn't infallible. And it also requires passengers to read it, and to have time to read it- if you wait for a scrolling display to come round, the bus will have sailed past you. And simple via points are also a risk if the blind doesn't update when the bus has gone beyond the via. I remember Stagecoach Newcastle buses all saying "via City Centre" at one point. New to the area, I ended up on Chillingham Road in Heaton and all the buses said "via City Centre", including the ones that had already been through town and were heading out to the suburbs again. Helpful, not.

Separate numbers are clear, but then you have to remember your buses are the 17/22/44/389.

I like prefixes and suffixes as they're a good way of meeting all the demands. If you're on the "mainline" you know you just want a 33, but then if you're on a branch you know you specifically need a 33B.

 

[edwin_m]

There are three main ways of dealing with route variations: prefix/suffixes, different route numbers, or the same route number with accurate destination blinds. There are pros and cons to each.

Accurate destination blinds only work if the driver remembers to key in the right code, and notices if they don't. This isn't infallible. And it also requires passengers to read it, and to have time to read it- if you wait for a scrolling display to come round, the bus will have sailed past you.

Separate numbers are clear, but then you have to remember your buses are the 17/22/44/389.

I like prefixes and suffixes as they're a good way of meeting all the demands. If you're on the "mainline" you know you just want a 33, but then if you're on a branch you know you specifically need a 33B.

Nothing to stop them doing both an accurate destination display, and a route number/suffix that distinguishes each variant for those with the necessary knowledge.

 

[bussnapperwm]

Not that I can remember. This photo by Jason Rodhouse shows the early days of Midland Metro, which was also operated by Travel West Midlands. They used to show an M symbol on blinds to denote it served the Metro but the actual service was not renumbered with an M

Travel West Midlands 1538

Travel West Midlands 1538 (R538 XOB) a Mercedes-Benz 0405N, is seen on Braford Place, Walsall, picking up passengers on route 404 to Cradley Heath. April 2000

www.flickr.com

Some of the fleet had them as vinyl stickers to act as a "fifth" number with them also being a option to select them in the Rollers with the other letters (so if the tram was substituted by buses, they would have them as a number and "Metro Replacement Service" as the destination.

Of course some of the fleet didnt have the Metro symbol in the Rollers, and the buses fitted with digital displays (such as the Tridents) didn't have the stickers either.

If i remember correctly from when a relative worked there, it was only buses allocated to the 4 Black Country depots that had the M stickers/rollers fitted (Merry Hill/Pensnett, Walsall, West Brom and Wolverhampton)

Another one I remember was the use of Y suffixes in Birmingham by Smiths of Tysoe/Shennington (aka YourBus) who competed against West Midlands Travel on key routes, so on the 50, they would number their route the 50Y.

This continued for a while after WMT bought them and operated as a low cost unit until they were finally absorbed.

Yardley Travel also used the Y suffix on their version of the North Birmingham 28 (it only ran between Perry Beaches and Erdington mirroring the NXWM route)

 

[Ken H]

Yardley Travel also used the Y suffix on their version of the North Birmingham 28 (it only ran between Perry Beaches and Erdington mirroring the NXWM route)

There was a 50Y which shadowed the WM buses 50, run by Yourbus

 

[bussnapperwm]

There was a 50Y which shadowed the WM buses 50, run by Yourbus

Yep, as said by @TheGrandWazoo in the quoted post.

They also ran a circular service at one stage (A6Y and C6Y via Nortfhield and Solihull) which was unique as it was the only Midlands service to have both a prefix and suffix (until the late 2010s when NXWM introduced the X51S)