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

[TheGrandWazoo]

Based on the info over the last page, a working out of Taunton might look like this:
54 Taunton to Yeovil
77 Yeovil to Wells
55 Wells to Taunton
Good obviously to restore regular links Wells to Taunton, but wouldn't that then create a twice hourly service between Wells and Somerton? And might the 29 eventually become obsolete? But like everyone wonder what will be filling the vacancies left by 375/377 in Wells.
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Sometimes routes move depot in what seems like a temporary solution, and often it seems as though the decision will be reversed. Examples over the last five years include 332, 357/8/9, 126, X6. Some of the forthcoming transfers I think will not last forever.

I don't know about the 29 becoming obsolete (and we don't know what the 55 does look like).

Whilst end to end might be affected, how much trade is there (really) between Wells and Taunton? There will still be the heaving centres of commerce that are Burrowbridge, East Lyng, Othery and Creech.

 

[THarris123]

No it won't! It'll be operated from Taunton in a cycle with the 54 and 55

So I was right first time then. My assumptions are correct (or nearly).

So I guess its 54 to Yeovil, 77 to Wells, then 55 to Taunton. Yes great plan that.
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the 376 was doing a interesting diversion today passed one in stowey due to a accident on the A37 the deckers took a slight diversion.

That must've been tight and very interesting - I understand the drivers virtually have to stand on the brakes to make them work effectively - so must have been interesting doing that tight corner on the hill

 

[DaveHarries]

Aw diddums. So First have noticed that they handed the Wells to Taunton traffic to Webberbus and can't stand the competition eh? If they wanted to keep a reasonable amount of the Wells to Taunton traffic then First shouldn't have reduced the 29 to such a poor level of service. I hope the 38 will prevail.

Dave

 

[THarris123]

I don't know about the 29 becoming obsolete (and we don't know what the 55 does look like).

Whilst end to end might be affected, how much trade is there (really) between Wells and Taunton? There will still be the heaving centres of commerce that are Burrowbridge, East Lyng, Othery and Creech.

We don't know what 55 looks like, no, but I fear it will be similar to 38, which is pointless in my opinion.

What I would have done -
Created a cycle of 29 to Wells, 377 to Yeovil and 54 to Taunton. That would only be 2 hourly though, operated by Wells and single deck.
377 every 2 hours would be operated by Wells
54 would be decker every 2 hours operated by Taunton.

Truth is we don't know what is happening, but whatever it is, it's certainly not as good as at the moment.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

We don't know what 55 looks like, no, but I fear it will be similar to 38, which is pointless in my opinion.

What I would have done -
Created a cycle of 29 to Wells, 377 to Yeovil and 54 to Taunton. That would only be 2 hourly though, operated by Wells and single deck.
377 every 2 hours would be operated by Wells
54 would be decker every 2 hours operated by Taunton.

Truth is we don't know what is happening, but whatever it is, it's certainly not as good as at the moment.

Without knowing what the 55 looks like, what the frequencies look like and, to be honest, knowing is actually going to happen, I don't think any of us can say if it's good, bad or indifferent.

I'm guessing that the times will appear on Traveline by end of next week (but no guarantee on that) and it'll be interesting to see what's on there. Even then, we won't see the cunning ways in which drivers (rather than buses) are rostered

 

[THarris123]

Without knowing what the 55 looks like, what the frequencies look like and, to be honest, knowing is actually going to happen, I don't think any of us can say if it's good, bad or indifferent.

I'm guessing that the times will appear on Traveline by end of next week (but no guarantee on that) and it'll be interesting to see what's on there. Even then, we won't see the cunning ways in which drivers (rather than buses) are rostered

True, but the system works at the moment. Yes 375 could do with being 2 hourly beyond Street, but 377 works well.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

True, but the system works at the moment. Yes 375 could do with being 2 hourly beyond Street, but 377 works well.

We will see what the 73 is like - it'll probably be more surprises.

 

[matt_splat]

could the 73 be a simular set up to the 29 at the moment, with maybe the x75 making a return to how it was before?

 

[THarris123]

could the 73 be a simular set up to the 29 at the moment, with maybe the x75 making a return to how it was before?

Could be. Would make sense, but I fear it could be much less frequent.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

Could be. Would make sense, but I fear it could be much less frequent.

Will be interesting to see. Here's some timetabling from the past!

 

[DS85]

The other thing I was told the 73 would be Bridgwater- Woolavington only. How true this is I don't know I would be surprised to see them give up on the rest of the route completely.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

Could be. Would make sense, but I fear it could be much less frequent.

And some more

 

[THarris123]

The other thing I was told the 73 would be Bridgwater- Woolavington only. How true this is I don't know I would be surprised to see them give up on the rest of the route completely.

That might link in to what I was told - the driver told me they aren't replacing the current 375.

It's ashame if that does happen

As I say, if they had it every 2 hours past Street (just like the Southern National timetable) it would be viable.

Webberbus have won if this is going to be the case.

 

[matt_splat]

That might link in to what I was told - the driver told me they aren't replacing the current 375.

It's ashame if that does happen

As I say, if they had it every 2 hours past Street (just like the Southern National timetable) it would be viable.

Webberbus have won if this is going to be the case.

How have they won if they use the X75 as a method of attack?

until the full information is published we can only go on a certain amount of information or speculation we will soon find out but i still think that wells - bridgewater will have a service.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

That might link in to what I was told - the driver told me they aren't replacing the current 375.

It's ashame if that does happen

As I say, if they had it every 2 hours past Street (just like the Southern National timetable) it would be viable.

Webberbus have won if this is going to be the case.

To be fair, my (limited) experience of the 375 has Woolavington as the main traffic source/objective. Another 1994 upload...of that very corridor. Two hourly ish 163 but hourly 102s though half were just Woolavington to Bridgwater.

Let's see what happens when the times come out

 

[THarris123]

How have they won if they use the X75 as a method of attack?

until the full information is published we can only go on a certain amount of information or speculation we will soon find out but i still think that wells - bridgewater will have a service.

When did I say that X75 would be enhanced and become hourly again?

I have no idea what will happen and it would be really nice to know.

 

[BPWUser1]

Bit of congestion on the northbound M32 this morning. Looks like a relatively minor RTA involving First Bristol 32074 and a car - hopefully it is just pride and body panels that were affected and that no injuries to people were sustained

Also saw this on the M32 this morning. I got the impression that the bus was not in service at the time of the accident.

On my way back home via the M32, a 70/71 branded Streetdeck had 47 on the display whilst returning to Bristol (although I've no idea whether it had been to Yate and back).

 

[DS85]

Also saw this on the M32 this morning. I got the impression that the bus was not in service at the time of the accident.

On my way back home via the M32, a 70/71 branded Streetdeck had 47 on the display whilst returning to Bristol (although I've no idea whether it had been to Yate and back).

It was 35112 left Bristol as an X47. Was Steve white driving and said he had it for an X9 after as well.

 

[ValleyLines142]

It was 35112 left Bristol as an X47. Was Steve white driving and said he had it for an X9 after as well.

Whaaaat?! This is awesome! Why is 35112 at MH though?

 

[carlberry]

The 8 & 9 has always been single decker services. Although back in the early 1990's there were some instances of double deckers being used on some of the workings. I remember a few times seeing the lovely Leyland Olympians on these services. And here's a photo(not my photo though) of one of those instances!

I believe that the 8/9 stop at Temple Meads can’t accommodate deckers and there’s been at least one occasion of damage being caused because of deckers trying to get there. Therefore the benefit of capacity is balanced by the disadvantage of trying to get people to walk from the stop to where the decker can get to.
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A history of the service 72, though not in too much detail! The 72 was introduced some time back in the 1970's! Initially as a Centre-Filton service. Then extended to a Hartcliffe-Filton service in 1982. Then from 1986 became a Centre-Stoke Lodge service. 1988 and it was extended beyond Stoke Lodge onto Bradley Stoke and Cribbs Causeway. 1989 it was then cut back to Bradley Stoke. Service lasted untill 2002, when it was then axed. However September 2014 and the 72 was back again, this time in it's current form of a Broadmead-UWE service.

The current 72 is basically the old 99 that First withdrew when Wessex got the UWE contracts (as there was a duplicating service) but reintroduced as the numbers got better. It's now numbered 72 to confuse people in Gloucester Road who get on it and wonder why it then takes twice as long to get to Broadmead as the bus they wanted.

 

[DS85]

Whaaaat?! This is awesome! Why is 35112 at MH though?

Don't have a clue, He has posted pictures on the Facebook enthusiast group if your joined.

 

[baza585]

Aw diddums. So First have noticed that they handed the Wells to Taunton traffic to Webberbus and can't stand the competition eh? If they wanted to keep a reasonable amount of the Wells to Taunton traffic then First shouldn't have reduced the 29 to such a poor level of service. I hope the 38 will prevail.

Dave

Please explain why you are criticising First/BoS for (allegedly) copying Webberbus 38 route, yet you don't criticise Webberbus when they copy First routes (too many to mention..............) and/or run just in front of them.

You are of course at liberty to give your custom to Webberbus 38 rather than the First/BoS alternative, though don't be surprised if the Webberbus vehicle goes missing sometimes, and don't expect the driver to be fluent in anything other than Romanian!

 

[THarris123]

Please explain why you are criticising First/BoS for (allegedly) copying Webberbus 38 route, yet you don't criticise Webberbus when they copy First routes (too many to mention..............) and/or run just in front of them.

You are of course at liberty to give your custom to Webberbus 38 rather than the First/BoS alternative, though don't be surprised if the Webberbus vehicle goes missing sometimes, and don't expect the driver to be fluent in anything other than Romanian!

I think I agree - Webberbus have just literally copied nearly every First route in Somerset now and are just skimming off a few customers from First. I hate Webberbus - their lack of servicds in evening and Sunday's and their fare system and reliability are appalling. Webberbus can still make money though, as their private operation and school contracts give them enough money to play with. I hate it completely.

But on the other hand I do hate what First has done to 29 - it is a unique service, which was quicker than 38. First didn't advertise it as that and gave up. In my opinion the 29 would have been a better tool to use at competing against Webbers.

 

[freetoview33]

I think I agree - Webberbus have just literally copied nearly every First route in Somerset now and are just skimming off a few customers from First. I hate Webberbus - their lack of servicds in evening and Sunday's and their fare system and reliability are appalling. Webberbus can still make money though, as their private operation and school contracts give them enough money to play with. I hate it completely.

But on the other hand I do hate what First has done to 29 - it is a unique service, which was quicker than 38. First didn't advertise it as that and gave up. In my opinion the 29 would have been a better tool to use at competing against Webbers.

Might be better if the 29 became an X service to show it was/is a faster version ....

 

[THarris123]

Might be better if the 29 became an X service to show it was/is a faster version ....

You and your renumbering. No it wouldn't work, as it takes practically a different route to any other. And also if you renumber the 29, you have the potential risk of losing even more custom, which isn't really a risk at the moment due to its current appalling structure and low demand.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

Might be better if the 29 became an X service to show it was/is a faster version ....

Doesn't all of this suppose that the main flows emanate from Wells/Street to Taunton?

Clearly, that's not the case as a) the 29 couldn't sustain an hourly service in the past and b) Webberbus didn't register that route

The 38 makes its money not from end to end traffic but a series of different flows, not least out of Somerton and Langport but also capitalising on the Wells to Street corridor.

 

[vicbury]

An excellent solution to catering for passenger growth in Bristol:

 

[carlberry]

An excellent solution to catering for passenger growth in Bristol:

Harry Potter has already tried it and some driver will manage to get it under Gypsy Patch bridge in it's first week anyway.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

An excellent solution to catering for passenger growth in Bristol:

Thank you Harry

 

[carlberry]

Thank you Harry

You can tell it's not real as First havent plastered the spare advert panel with anything, or covered the windows with contravision.