Trivia: Bus Depots/Garages Difficult to Reach by Public Transport

[Ianno87]

Afternoon all,

[I don't think this topic has been done before]

I've got to go help the mother-in-law retrieve some lost property from Stagecoach East's Fenstanton Garage, which appears to be highly difficult to actually reach by Public Transport. The majority of nearby routes only serve Fenstanton village, and then it's a ~25 minute walk to reach the actual depot. And even then, most of the routes aren't even the run by Stagecoach!

Are there any other similar examples?

 

[A0wen]

Afternoon all,

[I don't think this topic has been done before]

I've got to go help the mother-in-law retrieve some lost property from Stagecoach East's Fenstanton Garage, which appears to be highly difficult to actually reach by Public Transport. The majority of nearby routes only serve Fenstanton village, and then it's a ~25 minute walk to reach the actual depot. And even then, most of the routes aren't even the run by Stagecoach!

Are there any other similar examples?

Isn't that the old Go Whippet one on the old A14 though ? It's not exactly prime passenger territory.....

 

[Simon75]

Arriva Macclesfield out station
Arriva Winsford depot (there is one early Winsford to Northwich journey through)

Isn't that the old Go Whippet one on the old A14 though ? It's not exactly prime passenger territory.....

Yes it is

 

[Cambus731]

The now closed Stagecoach depot in Spittalfield, Perthshire was a delight for the bus crank with loads of various types out in the large field, most at some stage of cannibalisation. But the 34 was fairly infrequent so sometimes one would have to be prepared for a long wait for a bus back to Perth. I visited in 1990. Got permission to take photos,, spent a while doing that. Then had to wait two hours for a bus back to Perth. Good job I brought a good book. If there was a pub in Spittalfield I couldn't find it, so I sat in the woods overlooking the bus depot and read my book. If anyone wishes to know, it was The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin.

 

[markymark2000]

Stagecoach Chester (Waverton) depot. There is an hourly bus 5 minutes away from the depot but this is ran by another company and passes aren't accepted. The walk as well is along an unpaved country road. It is wide enough for 2 buses to pass but with no pavement, cars can go at some speed as well, it's not the nicest. The closest bus stop with a Stagecoach service is a 25 minute walk. Again though, unpaved country road and the stops only have a bus every 90 minutes to Chester or Wrexham.

They do have a shuttle bus but this is in place for getting drivers from the depot to town for changeovers, not aimed at getting people to/from work.

 

[neilmc]

When I worked for Metro Leeds I was allocated to Torre Road garage not Seacroft even though Seacroft was my nearest garage and operated the majority of buses past my home in Cross Gates. I was very grateful for this as Torre Road was situated on several extremely busy trunk routes along York Road including mine whilst Seacroft was on an industrial estate on the ring road, which had an hourly service, plus the Monkswood Gate service which ran via Harehills, in fact Seacroft wasn't even very accessible from most parts of Seacroft. Not surprisingly it was the first depot to go once fleet numbers started to fall.

 

[Snow1964]

The main First depot in Bath is on an island (between river Avon and a canal cut of the river). Can get relatively near but still need to cross the bridge to the island.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

The main First depot in Bath is on an island (between river Avon and a canal cut of the river). Can get relatively near but still need to cross the bridge to the island.

That's one of the easiest depots to reach - there's a bus every 12 mins to Twerton High Street and then walk down. Not only that, but there's a public footpath through the depot.

One depot that is very definitely difficult to access is the Arriva NE depot in Belmont in Durham which is at the bottom of an industrial estate bounded by the A1(M) at the bottom. Even the main routes nearby are Go North East.

 

[carlberry]

The main First depot in Bath is on an island (between river Avon and a canal cut of the river). Can get relatively near but still need to cross the bridge to the island.

Dont say that to the coach drivers that are now told this is the only place they can park for Bath (that's if their coach is clean enough not to have a fine and they've managed to get through all the traffic ongestion caused by private cars that dont have the same polution rules and can still park in the city centre)!

 

[bobslack1982]

Go North East’s Deptford depot has no public transport running past it at all.

 

[Falcon1200]

In complete contrast, Oxford Bus Company recently introduced a limited (if not non-stop) route, 11X, between Oxford City Centre and the BMW factory in Cowley, which I presume is in actuality a staff shuttle to their adjacent depot. And it's operated by their former X90 coaches !

 

[robertclark125]

Moffat and Williamson's St Fort depot is built next to the East Coast Main Line. Stagecoach Express buses pass by. Yet, only a 2 hourly local service operated by M&W serves the side road the depot is on.

 

[43106]

The original London Transport Uxbridge depot (not the one adjacent to the bus station) was on the east side of Oxford road, NW of Uxbridge, but it was served by no LT red bus services. However, there were plenty of Green, then later London Country, routes.

 

[nw1]

That's one of the easiest depots to reach - there's a bus every 12 mins to Twerton High Street and then walk down. Not only that, but there's a public footpath through the depot.

Sounds like the Bath depot has moved, I remember it in the nineties under Badgerline as being somewhere central, roughly between Pulteney Bridge and Widcombe - but still near the river.

What I do remember is how huge the nineties depot was, with many, many buses parked up there. Depots I had seen before included Hindhead and Guildford (Alder Valley) and Winchester (Stagecoach) and it seemed immense compared to either. But not surprising: the above depots seemed to have roughly 25-30 single-deck and 10-15 double-deck workings per day while Bath - though I never counted - seemed to have considerably more than that.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

Sounds like the Bath depot has moved, I remember it in the nineties under Badgerline as being somewhere central, roughly between Pulteney Bridge and Widcombe - but still near the river.

What I do remember is how huge the nineties depot was, with many, many buses parked up there. Depots I had seen before included Hindhead and Guildford (Alder Valley) and Winchester (Stagecoach) and it seemed immense compared to either. But not surprising: the above depots seemed to have roughly 25-30 single-deck and 10-15 double-deck workings per day while Bath - though I never counted - seemed to have considerably more than that.

The old Badgerline depot was on London Road (Kensington) which is where the Morrisons store is located

 

[A0wen]

The original London Transport Uxbridge depot (not the one adjacent to the bus station) was on the east side of Oxford road, NW of Uxbridge, but it was served by no LT red bus services. However, there were plenty of Green, then later London Country, routes.

I have a feeling it wasn't an "LT" depot as such but one they inherited as part of the 1931 "takeovers" which saw LT subsume most of the Home Counties independents who operated on the periphery of London.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

I have a feeling it wasn't an "LT" depot as such but one they inherited as part of the 1931 "takeovers" which saw LT subsume most of the Home Counties independents who operated on the periphery of London.

I think you're probably right. It was quite a small depot in Denham that gained an extension in the early 1950s, I believe.

 

[nw1]

The old Badgerline depot was on London Road (Kensington) which is where the Morrisons store is located

Ah ok - knew it was near the river and somewhere central, but I'd obviously misremembered the exact location!

 

[pepperpot80]

In complete contrast, Oxford Bus Company recently introduced a limited (if not non-stop) route, 11X, between Oxford City Centre and the BMW factory in Cowley, which I presume is in actuality a staff shuttle to their adjacent depot. And it's operated by their former X90 coaches !

Oxford has a much less ostentatious but seemingly well organised staff shuttle which can be spotted in-between the city centre and Cowley House! I presume the X11 has some funding from BMW.
[/tangent]

 

[aliceh]

Damory/Go South Coast's depot in Pimperne is relatively hard to get to, having only a 5-journeys a weekday route 20 going past

 

[LOL The Irony]

The D&G Wincham outstation. It's a good walk from the nearest bus and there isn't really a pavement to get there. I believe the last D&G bus to serve there leaves Northwich at quarter to 2.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

Since Spring 2020, First Kernow's Summercourt depot (former Western Greyhound) is now served only by a once a day college service from FK.... but is served regularly by services to St Austell, Newquay, Bodmin and Truro (and other spots) by Go Ahead's Transport for Cornwall operations including some run on their behalf by Summercourt Travel/Travel Cornwall whose depot is adjacent to First Kernow's.

 

[lxfe_mxtterz]

Compass Travel's outstation in Dunsfold looks to be quite difficult to reach by public transport.

From the nearest bus stop at Nanhurst Corner - which isn't all that frequently served, either - it's a 35 minute trek (1.7 miles) along a road with no path.

Both routes serving Nanhurst Corner (24 and 42) are operated by Compass Travel, and, combined, provide an irregular service ranging between half an hour or more than an hour between buses - and the last bus towards Guildford is at 16:06!

 

[heart-of-wessex]

Dont say that to the coach drivers that are now told this is the only place they can park for Bath (that's if their coach is clean enough not to have a fine and they've managed to get through all the traffic ongestion caused by private cars that dont have the same polution rules and can still park in the city centre)!

Or Odd Down? Or do they not want to advertise the coach park there because its cheap, and you pay more for Weston Island parking? (But a free ticket to town)?

 

[Roilshead]

I have a feeling it wasn't an "LT" depot as such but one they inherited as part of the 1931 "takeovers" which saw LT subsume most of the Home Counties independents who operated on the periphery of London.

It was built by London General in 1921, but was used by Thames Valley from the following year when they took on General services in that area as agents, before being handed back to General along with the services concerned in 1929.

 

[Statto]

The d&g Wincham outstation. It's a good walk from the nearest bus and there isn't really a pavement to get there. I believe the last d&g bus to serve there leaves Northwich at quarter to 2.

Had a look & Wincham has a population of 2,162 & a large industrial estate where D&G have there depot, but don't think the village has ever had a regular bus service going through it, the Cheshire Cat 9 goes down the A559 but still a bit of a hike from the nearest stop to the village

 

[Falcon1200]

Oxford has a much less ostentatious but seemingly well organised staff shuttle which can be spotted in-between the city centre and Cowley House! I presume the X11 has some funding from BMW.
[/tangent]

I haven't seen their minibuses much in the city centre recently (although I'm not there that often). On the occasion I sampled the 11X I was the only passenger !

 

[carlberry]

Oxford has a much less ostentatious but seemingly well organised staff shuttle which can be spotted in-between the city centre and Cowley House! I presume the X11 has some funding from BMW.
[/tangent]

It's the staff shuttle converted to a public service details here from when it started last July:

Oxford Chiltern News website

l adds "The 11X is our staff bus converted to a service bus whilst it is using full size buses."

Or Odd Down? Or do they not want to advertise the coach park there because its cheap, and you pay more for Weston Island parking? (But a free ticket to town)?

Last year when Bath still had a coach setting down point (it used to be a coach park with cafe and toilets however the local council don't like encouraging riff raff in coaches!) the signage only refered to the Weston Island facility. Now they've removed it completely the coach drivers don't even have that to help them!

 

[Whiteway215]

The old Badgerline depot was on London Road (Kensington) which is where the Morrisons store is located

Kensington Depot was a great place to view what was going on in most of the parking areas and a distant view of the maintenance sheds. You could also get a closer view down a side road off London Road.
As a teenage schoolboy in the earlyish 1960s I boldly walked into the Allocations Office and asked if there were any unpaid jobs I could do in the depot during the summer holiday. I was politely asked to leave!