TRIVIA: Reversing Buses

[MotCO]

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.

Does the registered mileage reflect the precise route, or just the bus stops it calls at? If there are no bus stops beyond the reversal point, does it matter if it reverses or uses the roundabout?

 

[Bletchleyite]

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

I'd go with "wasting money" - what's the point in spending on that when you have a vehicle that can turn round without one?

 

[PeterC]

Whelpley Hill in Bucks is set back from the main road and Red Rose 71/73 use a small traffic island to turn. The stop, however, is a few feet down a side road requiring a reversal. With the elderly residents who need the bus pulled up to the kerb shielding the few younger (under 75) passengers just step on and off from the carriageway.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

Two very longstanding ones each with a pair of double runs involving reversing manoeuvres.

464 Berwick to Wooler - at Lowick and Bowsden
280/1 Llandovery to Carmarthen - at Llangadog and Cwrt Henry

 

[Busaholic]

I'd go with "wasting money" - what's the point in spending on that when you have a vehicle that can turn round without one?

Although I have no memory of it, I certainly witnessed the trolleybus turntable in action at Christchurch on the Bournemouth system in the early 1950s, as we had a holiday in Christchurch and I apparently spoke of little else for a few weeks after (that's how obsessions grow, not that anyone on here would understand that. )

 

[Welshman]

T3 Wrexham-Barmouth reverses at Llanuwenllyn.

And also in Llandderfel Village, if I remember correctly.

And speaking of TrawsCymru, the T2 Bangor-Aberystwyth pulls into the village at Gellilydan, necessitating a reversal to regain the main road.

And on a route which might be taken over by TC, most journeys on the X51 Denbigh-Wrexham reverse in Llandegla Village.

 

[fairysdad]

The number 1 bus from Tiverton to Exeter does - or, at least did! - reverse at a dead end in Sampford Peverell. I think it may also have done at Uffculme, but don't hold me to that!

 

[DunsBus]

A couple of journeys on Travelsure service 34 (Berwick - Eyemouth - Duns) reverse at Coldingham.

Borders Buses service 51 (St Boswells - Edinburgh) does a reverse at the entrance to a housing estate in Oxton whilst their Galashiels local service 70 reverses at the Langlee terminus.

 

[MedwayValiant]

Another one from the Medway area.

Not all journeys on Nu-Venture 151 serve Upper Halling, but those which do reverse there. The last stop on Browndens Road, Upper Halling is accessible only by driving past it and then reversing into the side road where the stop is. If the driver goes in forwards, she's going to have to reverse out round a blind bend, and she's on the wrong side of the road for the stop.

 

[221129]

The number 1 bus from Tiverton to Exeter does - or, at least did! - reverse at a dead end in Sampford Peverell. I think it may also have done at Uffculme, but don't hold me to that!

Yes, in Sampford and Uffculme.

 

[alex397]

Stagecoach East Kent routes 1 and 7 have been mentioned, but there is also the 11 (Canterbury- Westwood). This reverses at the village of Wickhambreux.
(I’d certainly recommend this route, especially as double-deckers are mostly used. Great scenery and narrow lanes too).
This operator probably has a few other routes with reversing manoeuvres as well, but they don’t spring to mind at the moment.

 

[Siemens Trains]

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.

For the 43/X43/X4 services along with Lothian's version of the 63 plus Davidson's 474 the Sommerville Gardens junction was used as a terminus. For Stagecoach services, Horsburgh's 63 and 7 it was mid-route although usually without very many passengers. There was enough room to turn buses here but if not judged correctly (or if impeded by parked cars, large piles of snow etc) a reverse was necessary. Here's the Google Streetview image where you can make out some skid marks:

The mouth of this junction was filled in a few months ago and all services are now supposed to turn at Borrowman Square in the new housing scheme. For a while the Horsburgh 7 drivers were trying to turn in the narrowed entrance to Sommerville Gardens but they know the script now.

 

[father_jack]

Does that Swanage to Worth Matravers bus still do a very tight reversal ?

 

[Westcountryman]

It appears not to be running at present, so no it doesn't.

 

[Mitch in Notts]

Stagecoach 95 & Gem 195 Gainsborough to Retford reverse 3 times each journey:

At:
Bole
Habblesthorpe
& South Leverton.

 

[Simon75]

64 Shrewsbury to Market Drayton/Hanley reverse at Tern Hill barracks

 

[SeveerYeliab]

Stagecoach East Kent routes 1 and 7 have been mentioned, but there is also the 11 (Canterbury- Westwood). This reverses at the village of Wickhambreux.
(I’d certainly recommend this route, especially as double-deckers are mostly used. Great scenery and narrow lanes too).
This operator probably has a few other routes with reversing manoeuvres as well, but they don’t spring to mind at the moment.

I believe the 111 reverses at Burmarsh and the 15S at Brabourne (which is very tight in a Dart or E200!!)

Edit: here is the triangle for reversing at Brabourne (the bus enters and leaves by the road on the foreground), I've heard of the back wheels being dug out of the triangle with a shovel before !!

 

[Mitchell Hurd]

Oxford Bus Company City4 services to and from Abingdon and Oxford via Wootton - they reverse into Sandleigh Road.

I'm not sure if its literally been on this thread but I believe route 1 from Penzance to Lands End still reverses - once its got down the hill into Sennen Cove. Last time I did those routes was in July both 2009 and 2010. 2009 on an A-reg ECW-bodied Leyland Olympian and 2010 on an Alexander Royale-bodied Volvo Olympian. I'm not sure if I've done it on a D-GHY Volvo Citybus though.

 

[MotCO]

Oxford Bus Company City4 services to and from Abingdon and Oxford via Wootton - they reverse into Sandleigh Road.

I'm not sure if its literally been on this thread but I believe route 1 from Penzance to Lands End still reverses - once its got down the hill into Sennen Cove. Last time I did those routes was in July both 2009 and 2010. 2009 on an A-reg ECW-bodied Leyland Olympian and 2010 on an Alexander Royale-bodied Volvo Olympian. I'm not sure if I've done it on a D-GHY Volvo Citybus though.

Yes - in my post #31, but as the old 300 . I have done it once, and I think it was in a D-GHY Citybus.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

Yes - in my post #31, but as the old 300 . I have done it once, and I think it was in a D-GHY Citybus.

The turning area at Sennen Cove but the old Penwith minibus rather than an open topper

View attachment DSC_0133.JPG

 

[callumowen]

Does that Swanage to Worth Matravers bus still do a very tight reversal ?

Route 44 hasn't run for a good few years now, after being withdrawn in July 2017, due to a cut in council funding.

 

[Ken H]

Lancaster - Malham Dalesbus Sunday service reverses at Malham tarn. Unless he can do a loop in the car park, but it gets very full.

 

[L401CJF]

Arriva Merseyside 487 Liverpool to Parkgate (Sundays only). Bus has to do a 3 point turn at Parkgate Square. The bus used to run every evening but they now terminate in Little Neston as the daytime service serves Little Neston.

 

[Daniel740]

Are there any London bus routes that have to reverse? Apart from Kingston Cromwell Street bus station I can’t think of any

 

[PeterC]

Are there any London bus routes that have to reverse? Apart from Kingston Cromwell Street bus station I can’t think of any

I think that most, if not all, were eliminated as services were converted to OPO.

 

[Statto]

Arriva North East X18 Newcastle-Berwick, i believe does a reverse into the stand at Craster

All buses using sawtooth style bus stations.

 

[MotCO]

Are there any London bus routes that have to reverse? Apart from Kingston Cromwell Street bus station I can’t think of any

Orpington Bus Station - the buses swing round from the 'downside' station, and reverse into their parking bay.

Also route 139 does a u-turn in Waterloo Road with the aid of traffic lights.

 

[SCH117X]

Transdev Harrogate 24 reverses at Birstwith going to and from Pateley Bridge, some services used to be timetabled to avoid the reverse but more recently all have undertaken it

 

[asb]

In Cambridgeshire, the 118 as was reversed at Caxton and Bourne, whilst the 146 as was reversed at Barrington and Bassingbourn.

 

[WY Bus Spotter]

From spending many childhood hours on holiday along east coast at Skipsea (near Bridlington), I remember an East Yorkshire route (I assume it still runs, maybe the 130) that reversed at Barmston Caravan Park, then also reversed at Ulrome.

The interesting thing to note is that I believe this route used to be able to run down the coast road all the way to Skipsea Sands (I would guess until the mid 2000s), but because of coastal erosion now has to go back and forth from the main road several times.