Bus services on unusual roads

[Liam]

Similar to PSUL, but for buses. No schools only services, but service buses to and from schools are OK.

3 I can think of in my local area, Fife.

Stagecoach 41A Leven-Cupar one bus in each direction uses the B927 road, avoiding Kennoway and Bonnybank.

One X60 each way per day serves a few hamlets and farms near St Andrews.

201 Glenrothes-Kinross, one each way per day serves the hamlet of Glenlomond.

I think these are all to pick up school kids, but the 201 also runs on Saturday.

Another, not connected to schools is the Saturday only 36A which uses the road between Gateside and the Bein Inn. Twice each way every Saturday.

Does the 21 Kelty/Cowdeneath-Burntisland still run on Burntisland games day?

 

[David Goddard]

My local once per week shopper service- the 145 from Three Mile Cross into Wokingham on Tuesdays...
http://fleetbuzz.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/Route-145-Fleet-Buzz-1st-April-2012-Webfile.pdf

Route in grey as per South west corner of map at http://www.wokingham.gov.uk/EasySiteWeb/GatewayLink.aspx?alId=215130

 

[overthewater]

Does the 21 Kelty/Cowdeneath-Burntisland still run on Burntisland games day?

21, has not operated since 2007 If the No 7 get divert there so use that road

Another service is No56A Ketly - Perth, via Maryburgh 3 times aday not for schools.

Old 69/70 there used to go via alot of these routes. old 64B a single morning journey did the same.

78/79 by Strathtay I think is the same aswell.

 

[90019]

Lothian's 12 out to Ratho, between Ratho station and Ratho itself.

Two points in particular, the first of which is this bridge in Ratho, which is steeper than it looks in streetview.

The second is this section of road, which is fairly tight (and Google maps has straightened out the corners at the Ratho end). A car and a bus can pass easily, so long as both are against the edges of the road, but if either a bus or HGV comes the other way, depending where you are along it, one may have to mount the rather narrow kerb to get past, while the other is rubbing against the bank on the other side. On sundays it's possible to meet another bus there as well, which has only happened to me once so far. As luck would have it, there was actually a bus in that section when the streetview car went along it (back when it was the 48/X48), and you can see how tight it gets.
It's particularly bad on this corner, which you have to crawl round in case anything comes the other way. If you meet an HGV there, one of you would have to reverse, as there's not enough space to pass.

 

[nicobobinus]

Stephenson's of Essex run the 14 service from Southend to Shoebury approximately every 90 minutes - basically a semi-rural trundle linking the intermediate villages with the two built up areas at either end. But two journeys (4 on Sats) divert over the bridge to/start from Foulness Island, a MoD restricted area used for munitions testing that happens to still have a couple of small villages in the middle. Passengers need MoD permits to be allowed access - these are checked, whether on foot or on the bus!

http://www.stephensonsofessex.com/pages/local-bus-14.php

 

[Liam]

Another Stagecoach Fife service, 94 will divert off route to serve Collessie and Burnturk on demand only, either by telling the driver when you board or by calling a number to book the service.

 

[plymothian]

Stephenson's of Essex run the 14 service from Southend to Shoebury approximately every 90 minutes - basically a semi-rural trundle linking the intermediate villages with the two built up areas at either end. But two journeys (4 on Sats) divert over the bridge to/start from Foulness Island, a MoD restricted area used for munitions testing that happens to still have a couple of small villages in the middle. Passengers need MoD permits to be allowed access - these are checked, whether on foot or on the bus!

http://www.stephensonsofessex.com/pages/local-bus-14.php

What about the driver/s?

 

[W-on-Sea]

Yep, the drivers would need MoD (or technically, I guess, now QinetiQ) passes to be allowed onto Foulness, too - no exceptions. Basically it's the nearest thing there is to a police state in the UK....

There was a pub on the island that closed about five years ago: if you wanted to go there (and didn't live on the island, and so have permission to be there - although the MoD owns all the houses there, too) you could phone the landlord, and give him details of your car registration number (or, I suppose, inform him that you would take the bus, were there to be one at a suitable time), and this would be passed on to the inspectors at the entrance to the island.

I think there is usually one day a year during which there is something like open access to the island -birdwatchers love it, I believe.

 

[PaulLothian]

I think that the Cape Wrath Minibus service is the most bizarre example I know. Not quite sure whether other people would consider it a service bus, but it does run (fairly) regularly in summer months.

It runs several times daily from the ferry pier on the west side of the Kyle of Durness to Cape Wrath, passing through an MOD firing range, complete with manned sentry posts (although no need for passes). The only way to reach the bus is by ferry, although both sides of the Kyle are on the Scottish mainland, and therefore the service is occasionally disrupted by very low tides.

When we last visited a few years ago, the bus driver explained that at the beginning of the season, the bus was floated over to its route on a pontoon! I can only find a picture of a very small early minibus, but the bus we used was much bigger!

The road itself is probably the only remaining Highland road not to have been improved since someone filled the cart wheel tracks with some of this new-fangled tarmacadam!

 

[Ivo]

I've heard some funny stories about the 14 to Foulness Island (previously 4, and before that 18).

One driver, who I know quite well, told me that he once pulled up at the gate in an M-reg Dennis Lance, ready for the inevitable inspection. As well as passengers, he was carrying an unmarked box of equipment on this journey. The guards came along, and verified all passes as required - but didn't even consider checking that the box was legitimate. For all they knew, it could have been a bomb (it wasn't of course), but alas...

N.B.: This story harks back to Arriva days. They passed the route to Stephenson's in 2004.

I think there is usually one day a year during which there is something like open access to the island -birdwatchers love it, I believe.

You no doubt will remember this, but for everyone else's benefit, there is an organised cycle ride from Southend to Foulness every year. This is usually the one day the island's "borders" are thrown open to the general public. Otherwise,advance permission is required where no permit exists.

--------------------------

Around here, there are a few oddities. Here are a few (map):

42 Bristol to Bitton, extending to Keynsham (may be too frequent for this list)
179 Bath to Midsomer Norton, diverting via Farrington Gurney
184 Bath to Frome, diverting in the Peasedown St John area
265 Bath to Warminster, extending beyond Warminster to Heytesbury

Until recently there were others too, but these were done away with last year. Routes affected included 178 (Bath to Bristol) and 231 (Bath to Chippenham).

 

[34D]

The road and level crossing outside Cattal railway station have one bus a day (mon to fri, at around 07:50) which goes to York via Long Marston

 

[causton]

In Hertfordshire we have the weekly shoppers services, which divert down every little street and look quite odd to say the least down a residential road barely wide enough for the bus!
There are also a few rare services, such as the Uno buses that go all the way to/from Wembley Park station, the last 615 of the evening (which normally goes straight from Hatfield to Borehamwood via the A1(M) which goes via Welham Green, Potters Bar and South Mimms and for a short time on a Saturday there were only two direct fast bus (not coach) services from Hatfield to Stevenage at 1915 and 2115 - with none throughout the rest of the day due to Uno having the evening contract only for a route running from Stevenage to Luton!

 

[Liam]

Thanks, these are all great.

Another one is Stagecoach 67B, 3 times per day and the only bus to serve Tofthill. As an aside the 67B has no real relation to the 67 or 67A, other than they both start/terminate in Glenrothes.

 

[overthewater]

Thanks, these are all great.

Another one is Stagecoach 67B, 3 times per day and the only bus to serve Tofthill. As an aside the 67B has no real relation to the 67 or 67A, other than they both start/terminate in Glenrothes.

Of course use the same bus

 

[Liam]

21, has not operated since 2007 If the No 7 get divert there so use that road

http://www.stagecoachbus.com/serviceupdatedetails.aspx?Id=6488

Only just noticed this today. Might get a chance to take this diverted service on Monday. I remember when the 7 was diverted, used another bit of road without regular service to get into Aberdour.

 

[VTPreston_Tez]

Preston Bus 31/31A. Some buses 'miss' West Park Avenue when they shouldn't. Thankfully I never have to get off down there.
The 695 being forced around Lea Road Station when it's a double decker?

 

[ATW Alex 101]

The bus from the Eden project to St Austell station goes on some pretty narrow country roads through the villages Trethurgy and that.

Also the bus that goes from my nearest road (my house is on a dirt track off a road) to Ellesmere port which is just a tiny residential road and pretty much all the roads through the estate are and the bus does pretty well to get down the tiny little streets.

 

[Batman]

Before the Green bus company went bust in 2009 there were loads of shoppers services that ran only 1 day a week and served tiny little Hamlets and side streets on estates in and around South West Staffordshire.

The only example I can think of off the top of my head is the 16 that used to run from New Invention co-op on the edge of Wolverhampton to Walsall via Essington, Springhill and Bloxwich on Tuesdays only.

I think you only got about 90 minutes shopping time before the return bus!
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Before the Wasall bus routes we're regorganised in 2010, Travel West Midlands, the last 355 of the day (Walsall - Aldridge via Rushall and Red House Estate) towards Aldridge used to turn off Red House Lane part way along for no apparent reason and run through the Westgate industrual estate before terminating on Anchor Road in Aldridge town centre.

I think a morning peak service in the opposite direction did the same as well.

This was totally pointless as the diversion only served an industrial estate (which was served by the 997 (Walsall-Aldridge-Birmingham) back then every 30 minutes) and meant that half of Red House lane nearest to Aldrdige town center had unnecessary gaps in its bus service.

 

[ValleyLines142]

Wessex Red route 14 in Bristol runs from UWE to the Centre of Bristol along the M32, pretty interesting on a bus!! Takes about fifteen minutes, which really isn't bad at all!

First Bristol route 1 (Cribbs Causeway to Broomhill) and the 54 (Cribbs Causeway to Stockwood) come out of Cribbs Causeway and fly down the A4018, where the 1 goes down the B4055. It starts to creep up a hill but it does look as if the bus is going to overturn as there's a pretty steep drop to the left!

First Bristol route 74 also calls in the Willow Brook Centre in Bradley Stoke which has it's own little barriers to get in and out of, which I think is quite funny.

Also, a few buses, including First's 18, 73, 74 and 319 and Wessex Red's 501, 502, 581 and 625 as well as Severnside Transport's 312 call at Bristol Parkway station and drivers have to make the incredibly tight swing right around the front of the station. One driver on the 73 approached it with a little too much speed and we very nearly overturned into the station concourse!

A few other routes worth mentioning is Cardiff Bus's X91 which goes on the A4232 between Leckwith and Culverhouse Cross.

Also, there's the X30 from Cardiff to Newport which runs on the M4.

 

[trentside]

In Lincoln, a number of the unusual diversions have been culled in recent council cutbacks, and another has now been given an hourly service when it was previously only served twice a day.

As it is, the only significant variants that spring to mind are the 3A via Linwood. This is a once daily working in each direction, there's also the 3B via Brookenby but that's a school days only variant. This is on the InterConnect 3 between Lincoln, Market Rasen and Grimsby.

We've also got the 31X which runs straight down the A15 avoiding Potterhanworth, Nocton and Dunston on a few journeys between Lincoln and Sleaford - this is to allow a double decker to operate some journeys at school times from Sleaford (but runs during school holidays too). This is due to the Joint Line getting in the way with some low bridges.

There's also a once daily 2X that comes straight down Canwick Hill from Branston, it can be done very quickly if the traffic lights are in the right direction. It's reverse workings in the morning have just been withdrawn.

We also have irregular Tesco and Asda buses. Stagecoach's T17 (Thursdays only) from Ruskington to Tesco Lincoln is the only bus service in Lincolnshire that still traverses a ford.

There are more with other operators around Lincolnshire, but I'll come back to those when I have more time.