[TRIVIA] Appropriate/Imaginitive Route Numbers

[WibbleWobble]

There used to be an M1 service Huddersfield-Sheffield and an M62 service Leeds - White Rose Centre - Halifax using the relevant motorway.

And a service M60 from Halifax to Trafford Centre via that motorway.

 

[JD2168]

In Sheffield the service between Hallamshire Hospital & Northern General Hospital is numbered H1.

The Stagecoach service between Chesterfield/Mansfield & Nottingham is named Pronto.

The Stagecoach service between Worksop/Retford & Nottingham is named Sherwood Arrow going via Sherwood Forest & Rufford Country Park.

 

[DunsBus]

The 95 (now X95), when it ran from Edinburgh to Carlisle, is said to be so numbered as that is/was the length of the route in miles.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

At one point First Leeds had a route 55 from the city centre to (if I'm remembering right) Beeston. Some did a part-route and terminated in Holbeck, and were numbered 55A... which was appropriate as it was the BR shed code for Holbeck!

 

[jumble]

I was wondering what examples of more imaginative or locally appropriate route numbers exist, rather than just having 'a number'. What I mean by this are examples such as:

• Stagecoach South's Andover to Picket Twenty route has the appropriate route number P20.
• National Express's former Woking Railair was 701, but following a doctored meme with 'Woking 925' displayed on the front of a coach doing the rounds as a reference to the Dolly Parton 'Working 9 to 5' lyric, the operator actually then changed the route's number to 925.
• A number of airport buses from towns/cities have/had '7x7' route numbers, presumably in reference to the Boeing aircraft manufacturer's numbering system (e.g. Aberdeen 727, Bournemouth 737, Edinburgh 747, Glasgow 757).

This is 100% OT as was not a bus but imaginative all the same
1938 stock underground tour to heathrow in 2019

Running number 747

 

[Ken H]

First Leeds 7A goes to Alwoodley and 7S goes to Shadwell

The Scott Hall group is 7, 7A and 7S. Why the 7 (which goes to Primley Park) isn't the 7P I don't know.

(Oh for the days of 34, 35, 37, 43, 69, 70 dont think the 69 and 43 existed at the same time though)

 

[CBlue]

Stagecoach Bedford had a bit of a wheeze under James Freeman about 15 years ago when they introduced the "Planets" route branding and renumbering.

Seem to recall they were Mars, Venus, Jupiter, Pluto, Saturn and Mercury with M, V, J, S and P prefixed route numbers to match, however Mars and Mercury went to completely different places despite having the same prefix:

M1/M2/M3 "Mars" went to Biggleswade, iirc whereas the Mercury M50 went to Kettering. Jupiter was Flitwick, Pluto was Northampton, Saturn was Luton and Venus was out to Cranfield and Milton Keynes. Apart form some new SLF darts branded as Mars, every other route ended up with the step entrance darts or Olympians as before with the branding slapped on seemingly at random. The branding scheme didn't last long although some of the route numbers survived until a few years ago.


The former Guide Friday / Ensignbus operated railway station shuttle service in Cambridge numbered 007 was given some curiously James-bond esque numbering graphics when Stagecoach took it over and branded up some elderly Darts for the service. Think it caused confusion more than anything as people assumed it wasn't a Stagecoach service and therefore that their tickets weren't valid!

Finally Norfolk Green was another operator in east anglia that liked playing with route numbers. Most of the Kings Lynn town services were named instead of numbered, so instead of service 1 to Fairstead it was called the "Fairstead One". The masterstroke was service 2 to North Lynn which was a new venture and named "North Lynn Too!"

Seem to remember there was also the "Pandora Four" and "Hardwick Six", along with the Ely city service that got named rather catchily as "AbsolutELY"

Everything was changed back to numbers after the Stagecoach takeover, the ely city service for example getting given the rather forgettable and somewhat random "15A"

 

[GusB]

Stagecoach Bedford had a bit of a wheeze under James Freeman about 15 years ago when they introduced the "Planets" route branding and renumbering.

Were they orbital routes?

 

[CBlue]

Were they orbital routes?

It would have been far more appropriate if they were!

Bizzarely all the town routes continued with their existing numbering, think it caused confusion more than anything else!

 

[tbtc]

the Ely city service that got named rather catchily as "AbsolutELY"

Brilliant!

That reminds me… around fifteen years ago First had a Student service along Ecclesall Road in Sheffield (using knackered double deckers cascaded from London in a pale blue livery)

Since the main Ecclesall Road services has been the 81/82/83/84/85/86, the new route was numbered 80 but soon became the “UniversEIGHTY” service

A more niche one that I quite liked was when the Dronfield- Sheffield route (286) was diverted via the 43 route in Sheffield (or the 43 extended to Dronfield… essentially the familiar tactic of merging two routes so that the “out of town” one now takes a slower urban route to try to sustain both markets)… the combined service was numbered 143 - i.e. half 286, but also fitting in with the old 43 number…

 

[Deerfold]

Stagecoach Bedford had a bit of a wheeze under James Freeman about 15 years ago when they introduced the "Planets" route branding and renumbering.

Seem to recall they were Mars, Venus, Jupiter, Pluto, Saturn and Mercury with M, V, J, S and P prefixed route numbers to match, however Mars and Mercury went to completely different places despite having the same prefix:

M1/M2/M3 "Mars" went to Biggleswade, iirc whereas the Mercury M50 went to Kettering. Jupiter was Flitwick, Pluto was Northampton, Saturn was Luton and Venus was out to Cranfield and Milton Keynes. Apart form some new SLF darts branded as Mars, every other route ended up with the step entrance darts or Olympians as before with the branding slapped on seemingly at random. The branding scheme didn't last long although some of the route numbers survived until a few years ago.

The M1 and M2 went to Hitchin (the current 9A and 9B).

The M3 and M4 went to Biggleswade. The M3 continued to Hitchin (the current 74). The M4 is the current 73 (all comparisons with current routes are approximate).

 

[Lewisham2221]

Were they orbital routes?

I've often wondered if anybody, anywhere, operates a circular route numbered 360?

 

[Flange Squeal]

I've often wondered if anybody, anywhere, operates a circular route numbered 360?

Not sure about any now, but Travel de Courcey (RIP) used to run an orbital route circumnavigating Coventry numbered 360.



(Image shows a route map of the old 360 route)

 

[TC60054]

Surprised the former Hulleys X57 which used to use the A57 to cross the Pennines hasn't been mentioned yet...!

 

[GusB]

I'm not sure if it was intentional, but the Inverness to Aberdeen service was numbered 960 in Citylink days, its journey following the A96.

 

[clockend]

Stagecoach has the Triangle - Canterbury/Herne Bay/Whitstable. Uses a triangle in place of number on blinds etc..

 

[CBlue]

The M1 and M2 went to Hitchin (the current 9A and 9B).

The M3 and M4 went to Biggleswade. The M3 continued to Hitchin (the current 74). The M4 is the current 73 (all comparisons with current routes are approximate).

Thanks for the correction, details about what went where seemed a little thin on the ground when I searched.

Perhaps more bizarre/unusual than imaginative was also the rebranding done by Dews Coaches of their Cottenham-Ely contracted service 106, which was renamed to "The Ely Zipper" with no route number. Another tendered service around Ely they've taken on recently has also been renamed to "The Ely Zipper 2"

 

[padbus]

Here in Exeter, city services have route letters, rather than numbers. Some of these coincide with the destinations but whether that's by accident or design I don't know. For the record, they are: A Alphington, C Sandy Park for Exeter Chiefs home matches, E Exwick, H passes the Hospital, I IKEA, M Mount Dinham, P Pennsylvania, R Rifford Road, T Topsham, U Union Road.

 

[bussnapperwm]

National Express West Midlands had (imaginatively?) applied a P suffix to service 97 journeys terminating short at Pine Square in Chelmsley Wood when the main 97 service ran a loop of Chemsley Wood after serving Pine Square (and also applied a A suffix to 97 journeys heading to Birmingham Airport which did not do the Chemsley Wood loop) in the mid 2010s.

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Stagecoach has the Triangle - Canterbury/Herne Bay/Whitstable. Uses a triangle in place of number on blinds etc..

Which if i remember correctly sprouted out of the route branding which was applied to buses ran on the 4/6 when they were circulars.

Also, they have the Loop which runs around the Isle of Thanet as a... loop

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Also, In Leeds, Yorkshire Tiger ran services using numbers 737/747 to Leeds-Bradford Airport.

 

[jammy36]

Which if i remember correctly sprouted out of the route branding which was applied to buses ran on the 4/6 when they were circulars.

Yes, although not so much circulars but, with three main destination points - Canterbury, Whitstable & Herne Bay - the route effectively forms a Triangle. Herne Bay & Whitstable being on the coast and Canterbury being the opposing point inland between the two. Hence the route branding/name adopted

Also, they have the Loop which runs around the Isle of Thanet as a... loop

There were a few route brands introduced by Stagecoach in East Kent about the same time in a similar style. The Loop ran clockwise and anticlockwise around the Thanet towns. There were also Thanet Stars and The Link (which ran Canterbury to Folkestone) either direct or via the Elham Valley. I think these two retained their traditional route numbers though.

I believe Stagecoach also similarly used the same Loop branding in Eastbourne, with Loop again used as the route 'number'?

 

[Mikey C]

Stagecoach East have merged the 81 (Bedford to Luton) and 99 (Luton to Milton Keynes) and called it the MK1, which seems a cross between Milton Keynes (MK) at one end, and the M1 Motorway which it uses to run down to Luton Airport!

 

[Deerfold]

Also, In Leeds, Yorkshire Tiger ran services using numbers 737/747 to Leeds-Bradford Airport.

The 757 was the service from Leeds, the 737 and 747 were from Bradford to the Airport. They had the same numbers when run by First before that, but are now Transdev Flyers' A1, A2, A3 (A being for Airport).

 

[318266]

I've often wondered if anybody, anywhere, operates a circular route numbered 360?

Xplore Dundee had it's 434 (a Wright Streetlite WF, later 0405 with McGill's Group, who placed it in reserve in March!) branded up for its City Circle service - numbered 360.