Trivia: Largest towns/cities not to have regular double decker operations

[Cambus731]

I don't think anywhere is going to beat Chelmsford on this..
The only regular double decker operated routes are the 70, the X30 and various school routes, none of which go through the main city centre.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

I don't think anywhere is going to beat Chelmsford on this..
The only regular double decker operated routes are the 70, the X30 and various school routes, none of which go through the main city centre.

This is going to be almost impossible to quantify.... the bus station is 500m from the main shopping centre so how do you measure the "main" city centre?

Perhaps a more relevant question would be the largest town or city without scheduled double deck operation?

 

[Eyersey468]

This is going to be almost impossible to quantify.... the bus station is 500m from the main shopping centre so how do you measure the "main" city centre?

Perhaps a more relevant question would be the largest town or city without scheduled double deck operation?

I agree, without a definition of main centre it is hard to answer

 

[CD]

Start the ball rolling : Yeovil population 45,000.

 

[Robertj21a]

Is it UK or just England?

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

Start the ball rolling : Yeovil population 45,000.

Bridgend - 49k? Don't think that has regular DD workings?

 

[Falcon1200]

Paisley for a while had no double-deckers, however recently the main local operator has I believe obtained a small number.

 

[Simon75]

Telford 140k
Shrewsbury 71k

I don't think anywhere is going to beat Chelmsford on this..
The only regular double decker operated routes are the 70, the X30 and various school routes, none of which go through the main city centre.

The reason why is double decker, can't go through Duke Street bridge, due to the height.
Historically they did, but due the height of the bridge 'shrunk' (due to the road surface increased, and no low height deckers)

 

[Robertj21a]

Good shout on Telford and Shrewsbury - I think the 70 from Oswestry to Shrewsbury has had double deckers at times, but can't think of anything at Telford.

 

[RELL6L]

The 71X in Chelmsford is also mainly double deckers (off the 70) but I agree this low bridge makes the town a bit of a desert.
Agree the 70 to Shrewbury sometimes has deckers.
I got a decker on the 18 from Much Wenlock to Telford in October 2017 but I don't think Arriva has an allocation there now.
Yeovil appears to occasionally see deckers on the 54.
Hereford almost nothing but Sargents of Kington has one or two and I think they come into Hereford on a scheduled run, at least in school terms.
Much of South Wales is without deckers, eg Merthyr, Caerphilly, Blackwood, Aberdare, Pontypridd although there is the odd one now in Cwmbran.
Bridgend agreed, also Llanelli, Ammanford, Carmarthen and all points west. Just a handful in Mid Wales and North West Wales, none in Caernarfon (odd T2s??).
Stockton? Occasional deckers on the X12 but not much else, none allocated locally. Middlesbrough only on the X9/X10 and X93 I think.
They are pretty rare in Sunderland and South Shields but there are some routes (56, 26/27).
The main operators in Portsmouth and Southampton do not have any deckers but they do come in on the 700 to Portsmouth and several country routes to Southampton.
Stevenage? Can't think of anything here which might be.
Stafford? Odd 101s perhaps.

 

[carlberry]

The main operators in Portsmouth and Southampton do not have any deckers but they do come in on the 700 to Portsmouth and several country routes to Southampton.

I think Go Ahead would be regarded as one of the main operators in Southampton and have a serious number of deckers there! Portsmouth also used to have the park and ride, I don't know what's happening about that now.

 

[iantherev]

Hereford sees Stagecoach deckers on the X3 from Cardiff most days since Cwmbran got its Enviro 400s and I think they still work up from Ross on Wye.

 

[RELL6L]

I knew I would get things wrong! I concede on Southampton, I was thinking of First as successor to Southampton City with no deckers. On Hereford of course the X3 now has deckers, the 33 from Gloucester and Ross does and I think some journeys on the 36 from Monmouth do as well. Ignore them!

 

[Bristol LHS]

They are pretty rare in Sunderland and South Shields but there are some routes (56, 26/27).

Stagecoach’s depot in Sunderland went from a position where at deregulation (apart from a couple of coaches) they had nothing but deckers, to being entirely single deck for some years; but they now have some E400s. Similarly, Go North East had a period where their operations in the city were largely single deck (the first iteration of the Fab 56 was operated by solars, for example) but they’ve crept back on the 56 and unbranded routes.

 

[Flange Squeal]

Woking in Surrey, population 101k. Mainly restricted by Victoria Arch under the railway "shrinking" over the years. Most recent change was around 2010 when it changed from 4.2m/13'9" to 4.1m/13'6". This severely limits what routes can take deckers. Arriva were briefly using a couple imported from Kent for a short period last year to aid social distancing on two routes during frequency reductions which don't touch the arch, but those couple of months aside the only deckers you'll see in Woking these days are rail replacements south towards Guildford (they can't even really do east or west rail work due to other bridges on those routes too!).

 

[cnjb8]

TrentBarton operate no deckers so the following qualify
Heanor
Ilkeston
Ripley
Belper
Matlock

Some non TB towns that qualify are
Newark
Buxton
Melton Mowbray
Oakham
Loughborough

 

[43055]

Matlock

Loughborough

Matlock has Stagecoach Gold X17 and Loughborough has NCTX Navy 1 and Arriva 127 which are all decker routes normally.

Stafford:
Arriva - Single Decks on the 5
First - Branded Omnicity's on the 101
Chaserider - Only has Single Decks
Select - Has 1 decker which seems to run one AM journey near Wolverhampton on the 878.

 

[AB93]

Some non TB towns that qualify are
Newark
Buxton
Melton Mowbray
Oakham
Loughborough

Loughborough has Arriva deckers pass through frequently.

 

[RELL6L]

TrentBarton operate no deckers so the following qualify
Heanor
Ilkeston
Ripley
Belper
Matlock

Some non TB towns that qualify are
Newark
Buxton
Melton Mowbray
Oakham
Loughborough

Newark sometimes has deckers on the 37 to Retford. Not much though - shame given the Gash history!
Melton Mowbray has regular deckers every half hour on the Arriva 5A to Leicester.
Matlock and Loughborough have already been mentioned.
I have seen a Stagecoach decker in Ripley but I think it was a school service so doesn't count.

 

[CBlue]

Milton Keynes?

Apart from the odd Arriva or Stagecoach visitor from Aylesbury or Bedford I believe Arriva MK's fleet is or was completely single deck.

 

[Stan Drews]

The Inverclyde council area (essentially Gourock, Greenock, & Port Glasgow) has a population of 78k and has no double deck buses in scheduled operation.

 

[WM Bus]

Kidderminster.
I don't think the Rotala depot in the town has ever had any double deckers allocated there.

 

[johnnychips]

Just flicking through the thread, is Telford the winner then, with 140k and no deckers?

 

[Journeyman]

What about Falkirk? Can't think of any 'deckers there. Population 160k.

 

[Robertj21a]

Milton Keynes?

Apart from the odd Arriva or Stagecoach visitor from Aylesbury or Bedford I believe Arriva MK's fleet is or was completely single deck.

Arriva deckers operate regularly from Milton Keynes to Aylesbury, Stagecoach deckers still appear, and Uno operates to Cranfield/Bedford.

 

[RELL6L]

Arriva deckers operate regularly from Milton Keynes to Aylesbury, Stagecoach deckers still appear, and Uno operates to Cranfield/Bedford.

Indeed Arriva still has around 4 deckers allocated in Milton Keynes on a variety of services. Stagecoach X6 from Northampton is part deckers and the X60 sees a number, particularly in the peak hours. Plus Uno.

What about Falkirk? Can't think of any 'deckers there. Population 160k.

Can't tell from Bus Times but I thought the 38 was split with the Stirling to Falkirk section (38) using deckers while the Falkirk to Edinburgh section (now X38) can't.

Just flicking through the thread, is Telford the winner then, with 140k and no deckers?

I think so!

 

[Alex 2901]

Just flicking through the thread, is Telford the winner then, with 140k and no deckers?

Telford has had deckers in fairly recent history, and still does, albeit only on a school working of the X5, the SX5 run by Regional Transport, and University of Wolverhampton's own fleet of deckers, which run the intercampus routes. So nothing to the general public, but still sees deckers on a daily basis.

Arriva did have deckers based at Telford (2 DB250LF/ALX400s) until the end of 2019 iirc, they often ended up on the 3 (Town - Brookside - Town) and 18 (Telford - Much Wenlock)

 

[Robertj21a]

Telford has had deckers in fairly recent history, and still does, albeit only on a school working of the X5, the SX5 run by Regional Transport, and University of Wolverhampton's own fleet of deckers, which run the intercampus routes. So nothing to the general public, but still sees deckers on a daily basis.

Arriva did have deckers based at Telford (2 DB250LF/ALX400s) until the end of 2019 iirc, they often ended up on the 3 (Town - Brookside - Town) and 18 (Telford - Much Wenlock)

Rather confirms that Telford, at the present time, probably wins the contest!

 

[Cambus731]

Looks like I was wrong. I didn't realise Telford is bigger than Chelmsford.

 

[nw1]

I knew I would get things wrong! I concede on Southampton, I was thinking of First as successor to Southampton City with no deckers.

True, they were up to a few years ago - but First seems to be cutting back routes while Bluestar is certainly as dominant, and that is predominantly a double-decker operation on the city routes at least - more than it used to be in fact, the 7, 17 and 18 used to be mostly single-decker, now mostly double-decker.

First always used to have a lot of double-deckers, certainly before the major 2012 timetable change, and even after for a short while. They seemed to disappear about the time the 'City Red' branding came in.

Portsmouth meanwhile seems, from what I can make out, to have been without double-deckers on its city operations for many many years. Last time I saw a Portsmouth city bus as a double decker was January 1990, when the operator was known as Portsmouth Citybus. I can't be completely sure but ever since First took over I don't remember seeing any. Plus, there was a relatively short-lived dominant operator in the 90s (between Portsmouth Citybus and First), Red Admiral, and they seemed to operate purely with minibuses!