TRIVIA: Reversing Buses

[peterblue]

This afternoon I rode the splendidly quaint 576 Arriva route departing from Shrewsbury to Oswestry via a plethora of isolated villages every 2hr. The route had its scenic charms, but it was noteworthy to me as it reversed twice en route.

I can think of plenty of routes that reverse once, but none others that do so more frequently.

So my question for the evening is: can you name any bus routes that reverse during the ride (not including reversing out of a bus station). Bonus points if you can name one that does so more than once.

 

[SuspectUsual]

The 574 from Halifax to Midgley reverses in Booth

 

[route101]

23 from Perth to Dunkeld reverses at Bankfoot.

 

[Hardcastle]

T3 Wrexham-Barmouth reverses at Llanuwenllyn.

 

[richw]

Transport for Cornwall
85 at Holywell bay
56 at Constantine bay

first kernow
24 at fowey, and mevagissey.
87 perranporth beach

 

[WY Bus Spotter]

Halifax to Bradford 571 usually reverses up at Southawram, though sometimes the driver can turn it round in one go.

923 Otley to Wetherby reverses at Scarcroft

I believe the K14 & K16, Keighley to Stanbury cirlculars reverse up at Ponden Resevoir (the middle of nowhere basically).

173A, 174A, 175 & 175A all reverse at 'Bottom Boat Road' in Wakefield.

Can't think of any double reversing routes off the top of my head.

 

[Contains Nuts]

D&G 73 reverses at Cronkinson Oak in Nantwich and 108 at Breech Close in Waterhouses.

Point to note: if a bus needs to reverse on a public highway it must be shown in the official route description registered with the Traffic Commissioner.

 

[Typhoon]

East Kent route 7 (Herne Bay - Canterbury), journeys that serve Reculver reverses into a car park entrance by the King Ethelbert. I'm not certain about the 36 services operated by Regent that also serve Reculver - they are smaller vehicles.

Regent Coaches route 634 (local service), reverses at its western terminus (Riley Avenue, Herne Bay). Private road. Also at Telford Court, on Greenhill. Might need to reverse at its eastern terminus (Bishopstone) but I've never gone that far.

 

[Eyersey468]

Not a current route but the 195 that EYMS used to run reversed at Thornton, Seaton Ross and Everingham as it turned round.

 

[43055]

Not sure if it still does but the midland classic 12 (was 812) use to reverse in Fradley to serve more of the village.

 

[MotCO]

I recall the old 300 open-top bus reversed at Sennon Cove - does the new route do likewise?

 

[GusB]

This is a trivia thread, which is suppose to be fairly light-hearted. Let's not get bogged down in the rules.

 

[richw]

I recall the old 300 open-top bus reversed at Sennon Cove - does the new route do likewise?

It has to. Unless it fancies going out to sea!

 

[MotCO]

It has to. Unless it fancies going out to sea!

I realise that, but what I didn't know was whether it still went via Sennon Cove

 

[Class465pacer]

Arriva Medway Towns route 191 Chatham - Grain reverses at Kingsmead Caravan Park, Allhallows, skip to 6:26 to see the reverse in this route visual video

 

[MotCO]

Arriva Medway Towns route 191 Chatham - Grain reverses at Kingsmead Caravan Park, Allhallows, skip to 6:26 to see the reverse in this route visual video

It also reverses right at the end to stand at the stand.

 

[Class465pacer]

It also reverses right at the end to stand at the stand.

Yep, although I was thinking of reverses during the route rather than at start/end, but that can be counted

 

[johnnychips]

Stagecoach 65 from Buxton to Sheffield reverses at Litton.

High Peak services serving Whaley Bridge Tesco sometimes choose to reverse on the roundabout there rather than taking a massive swing.

 

[GusB]

My own local route (Stagecoach Bluebird 32, previously 331) is a straight point-to-point route (Elgin - Duffus - Hopeman - Cummingston - Burghead), but for a while they changed two of the evening journeys so that it went via Lossiemouth. Unfortunately they still wanted to serve all the places along the route, early evening return journey would be Burghead - Cummingston - Hopeman - Duffus (reverse at the post office and return the way it came) - then finally Lossiemouth - Elgin. The reverse would be done later in the evening. It wasn't so difficult to do the turn in a Mercedes minibus, but occasionally a larger vehicle would be substituted and it would have to reverse.

Of course, nobody ever boarded or alighted in Duffus at that time of night, nor did anyone board or alight in Lossiemouth for that matter. It made for a rather tedious journey and I would often find myself getting the earlier bus into town and the last one home to avoid it! It's a moot point these days since we don't have any evening service at all. C'est la vie!

 

[duncombec]

Stagecoach East Kent buses on routes 1/1A/1X between Canterbury and Ashford reverse at Chilham, Felborough Close.

I also recall some 12 or so years ago travelling on the "school" journey (15-something from Bangor) on service 85 Bangor-Llanberis, when it was operated by KMP. I can't find anything to match now (the timetable appears to have been simplified over the years), but I remember that as having at least one, if not more reverses, including one on the edge of a quarry. I thought it was Dinorwig, but Google maps now shows a nice turning circle there and no quarry.

 

[OmniCity999]

Lothian Country 43/X43 used to conduct a turn in the road at a junction i believe in South Queensferry.

Previous incarnations and variations from previous operators (Stagecoach 40/40A & First 43 ) used to also conduct this manoeuvre i believe.

Other operators including Lothian and Horsburgh used to run other routes that used to terminate in this fashion too. It was a semi-temporary terminus i believe and has since been extended to a new housing estate where Lothian Country and First now terminate.

 

[lxfe_mxtterz]

Not a timetabled one, but a rather interesting one to note is the White Bus routes 462/463 between Woking and Guildford. Part of the routing involves travelling down a spur towards Ripley and looping around the roundabout at Ockham Park Turn to come back again for a second time through Ripley and rejoin the main route.

A map of which is shown below:



Occasionally however, it seems that the drivers can't be bothered to go down to the Ockham Park Turn bus stop to use the roundabout (not that I blame them, as there's nothing there and I doubt any passengers actually use a stop with practically no pedestrian access off the side of a motorway!)

So instead, they do a reversal a few minutes down the road on Ripley High Street, which incidentally also saves a little bit of time.

 

[Gostav]

Arriva Medway Towns route 191 Chatham - Grain reverses at Kingsmead Caravan Park, Allhallows, skip to 6:26 to see the reverse in this route visual video

Looks like a turntable would make the reversal to easier.

 

[GusB]

Looks like a turntable would make the reversal to easier.

A bus turntable in the UK? Nah, that'd mean spending money!

 

[OmniCity999]

A bus turntable in the UK? Nah, that'd mean spending money!

Far too much common sense in this, right?

These would be great in some bus stations though!

 

[AB93]

Not a timetabled one, but a rather interesting one to note is the White Bus routes 462/463 between Woking and Guildford. Part of the routing involves travelling down a spur towards Ripley and looping around the roundabout at Ockham Park Turn to come back again for a second time through Ripley and rejoin the main route.

A map of which is shown below:

View attachment 85357

Occasionally however, it seems that the drivers can't be bothered to go down to the Ockham Park Turn bus stop to use the roundabout (not that I blame them, as there's nothing there and I doubt any passengers actually use a stop with practically no pedestrian access off the side of a motorway!)

So instead, they do a reversal a few minutes down the road on Ripley High Street, which incidentally also saves a little bit of time.

Interesting - I’ve seen Countryliner drivers do it before, but they were proper cowboys toward the end.

I’d expect better from White Bus. Just goes to show the leasing a shiny newer E200 than previous operators isn’t the be all and end all of actually operating the registered mileage.

 

[bobslack1982]

Stagecoach 27 from Inverness to Contin has to reverse (or at least do a 3-point turn) near Strathpeffer.

 

[Flange Squeal]

Stagecoach South‘s Woking shopper bus routes 39A/B/C all feature 1 or 2 reversals, as part of their routes to penetrate areas that aren’t served by main bus routes.

39A and 39B both reverse twice en route - once on Robin Hood Road into Nottingham Close to turn around, and a second time into one of the side roads on Bingham Drive to turn around.

39C reverses once en route - on Claydon Road into Tresta Walk to turn around.

Coincidentally, the school/college bus route that the vehicle works either side of the daytime shopper routes, the 690, also has a reversal en route - on Billesden Road into Slade Road to turn around.

 

[lewisjn]

Occasionally however, it seems that the drivers can't be bothered to go down to the Ockham Park Turn bus stop to use the roundabout (not that I blame them, as there's nothing there and I doubt any passengers actually use a stop with practically no pedestrian access off the side of a motorway!)

So instead, they do a reversal a few minutes down the road on Ripley High Street, which incidentally also saves a little bit of time.

Thanks for putting this on - something to investigate and stop.

I’d expect better from White Bus. Just goes to show the leasing a shiny newer E200 than previous operators isn’t the be all and end all of actually operating the registered mileage.

Bit harsh.

 

[CBlue]

Service 75 Cambridge-Wrestlingworth reversed at least twice on each journey, before having to do so again at the terminus.