Trivia: Short Lived Bus Routes

[Flange Squeal]

Mortons Travel have attempted two. The first was an open top service numbered 100 that operated in the Winchester and Alresford areas in Summer 2008, using former York Pullman liveried Bristol VR VDV 140S rebranded The Hampshire Pullman. Their next service that qualifies here was a proper commercial Mon-Sat stage carriage type affair - the “tadRed” route TR1 between Reading and Tadley. They gave it a good shot with pleasantly branded vehicles but having begun on 1 September 2016, it was reduced to just three return trips from 21 August 2017 before being withdrawn on 24 November the same year.

Jeakins Coach Travel are a Surrey coach operator that attempted a commercial service numbered 9 linking Englefield Green, Egham, Virginia Water, St Peter’s Hospital and Chertsey. This was intended to partially replace links lost when the ‘Peterbus’ network of minibuses serving St Peter’s Hospital were withdrawn. Commencing in April 2013, a smartly branded Optare Solo tried to tempt passengers for seven months on a roughly two hourly frequency, including for a time an extension beyond Chertsey to Addlestone, before the route was discontinued in early November.

This third one might be considered a bus war by some, so might be excluded from this thread. Countryliner (Surrey) ran a commercial Guildford to Cranleigh service numbered 464 between August 2010 and mid-May 2011. While Arriva did also run over much the same route at the time with their 53/63, it could possibly be argued that it wasn’t an out and out typical bus war so might be a valid entry in this thread as it wasn’t close to matching Arriva’s frequency (or destinations beyond Cranleigh which their routes continued to). It did also differ slightly in that it served Guildford railway station and more residential areas in Cranleigh, so did actually offer new journey opportunities.

 

[LancasterRed]

PC0001777/169 – bustimes.org

Preston Bus' 26 not even lasting 3 months while only running two days a week.

 

[Martin2013]

National Express routes 331 Bristol to Bradford and 338 Paignton to Leicester which both launched in February 2020 and were withdrawn just over a month later as a result of Covid.

Also I think Flixbus launched a Portsmouth to London route in July 2020 which lasted for just over a week!

 

[kez19]

Another one from Dundee, this time Stagecoach the X8 Arbroath/Perth

Back to Xplore in 2011: the 26 Dundee City Centre via Ninewells to Broughty Ferry, this was just an odd bus NX ran at the time (sure this was down to withdrawing and then reinstating the 9/10 circular back in)

 

[bussnapperwm]

The Green Bus service 125 (Dudley - Wolverhampton)
Registered on 24/08/2012 Service started 22/10/2012
Deregistered on 28/09/2012 Service ended 25/11/2012

-------------------

Even shorter...

National Express West Midlands service 226 (Dudley - Merry Hill)

Service Started 10:15 26/12/2008
Service Ended 19:15 26/12/2008

Although this one was only for 1 day, as it was a TfWM Boxing Day contract covering the service that Diamond Bus ran under contract on Sundays and evenings

 

[JD2168]

Stagecoach East Midlands ran a 909 between Doncaster & Scunthorpe via Lakeside Shopping using B10M’s on N & P reg, it did not last very long.

This is different to the old 909 which was run with bendy Coaches.

 

[Flange Squeal]

Buses Excetera ran an hourly commercial route 489 in Surrey between Leatherhead and Merstham via Dorking, Reigate and Redhill. It began on 23rd September 2017 and ceased after just a few months on 19th January 2018. It seemed to essentially exist primarily as something to try out after they lost several council tenders around Cranleigh to Compass Bus, and also offer a link between their somewhat distant depot in Merstham and what was by then left of their diminishing 'network' (in particular their most frequent route, the Epsom - Leatherhead - Guildford route 479). The company themselves ceased trading just over a year later.

This is not to be confused with a previous - but totally unrelated and with clear couple of years between the two - route 489 they ran several years earlier, which was a competitive venture with the established Epsom to Guildford route 479.

 

[Wyrleybart]

Arriva's Diamond service Huntington - Cannock - Walsall was equipped with new SN64xxx Streetlites and was going to be a flagship service.

One by one the streetlites disappeared and the service was given anything the Cannock garage could muster. Then the route was deDiamondised.

Arrival sold out to ??? and what was left of the Cannock fleet was painted bright red as Chaserider. Then Chaserider abandoned the service to Bloxwich and Walsall, leaving to NXWM's Platinum X51 route between Great Wyrley and Bloxwich.

No idea where those rattly creaky streetlites went but in my view they were awful things

 

[EdinRH]

When First withdrew their 43 service from Edinburgh City Centre to South Queensferry, Lothian started running a service with the same number from the city to Barnton only. This did not last long.

Following Stagecoach's withdrawal from South Queensferry, Lothian started the 43 again this time operating over the full route through the Lothian Country subsidiary. This still runs today.

 

[SSmith2009]

Arriva's Diamond service Huntington - Cannock - Walsall was equipped with new SN64xxx Streetlites and was going to be a flagship service.

One by one the streetlites disappeared and the service was given anything the Cannock garage could muster. Then the route was deDiamondised.

Arrival sold out to ??? and what was left of the Cannock fleet was painted bright red as Chaserider. Then Chaserider abandoned the service to Bloxwich and Walsall, leaving to NXWM's Platinum X51 route between Great Wyrley and Bloxwich.

No idea where those rattly creaky streetlites went but in my view they were awful things

They sold out to D&G (part of Centrebus)

The streetlites went down to Luton afaik.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

Arriva's Diamond service Huntington - Cannock - Walsall was equipped with new SN64xxx Streetlites and was going to be a flagship service.

One by one the streetlites disappeared and the service was given anything the Cannock garage could muster. Then the route was deDiamondised.

Arrival sold out to ??? and what was left of the Cannock fleet was painted bright red as Chaserider. Then Chaserider abandoned the service to Bloxwich and Walsall, leaving to NXWM's Platinum X51 route between Great Wyrley and Bloxwich.

No idea where those rattly creaky streetlites went but in my view they were awful things

Think you're confusing yourself. It was Arriva's SAPPHIRE brand for flagship services, and they were FJ64*** and are now at Milton Keynes.

Arriva sold to D&G (Julian Peddle) who then set about replacing the worst of the Arriva fleet as it had been a dumping ground as they went into close down mode.

 

[DunsBus]

When First withdrew their 43 service from Edinburgh City Centre to South Queensferry, Lothian started running a service with the same number from the city to Barnton only. This did not last long.

Following Stagecoach's withdrawal from South Queensferry, Lothian started the 43 again this time operating over the full route through the Lothian Country subsidiary. This still runs today.

However, the Lothian 43 was started as a response to Stagecoach's 40/40A, so doesn't count as it was effectively a bus war albeit a very brief one.
I think we need a wee reminder of @Statto's original brief - no examples of routes started then withdrawn due to bus wars, takeovers or the operator going bankrupt.

 

[EdinRH]

However, the Lothian 43 was started as a response to Stagecoach's 40/40A, so doesn't count as it was effectively a bus war albeit a very brief one.
I think we need a wee reminder of @Statto's original brief - no examples of routes started then withdrawn due to bus wars, takeovers or the operator going bankrupt.

Was it a bus war? I was under the impression it was to partially replace the First service for people working in the Scottish Government offices, people who lived at Abbeyhill etc as the new Stagecoach service served the bus station rather than Regent Road. I deliberately didn't mention any of the many short-lived First services in Edinburgh in late 2001/early 2002 for this very reason. There is however one short-lived First service from this time that was based on an old Lothian service, but didn't overlap with its predecessor so may be an acceptable answer. There was an 87 running from Lochend(?) to the Gracemount area.

 

[43055]

Arriva Derby had a couple:
RL1 ran between the bus station and train station whilst the Alverston routes were diverted via pride park due to bridge works.
More recently I think there was a 3 which ran for a few months believe it was like a shopper route from Alverston to the Sainsbury's next to Peartree station.

 

[Ken H]

The 85/85A from Huddersfield to Barnsley for Centrebus/Huddersfield Bus Company (prior to the Tiger rebrand) only lasted a couple of years. Consisted of one return trip from Huddersfield bus station to Barnsley Interchange (85) with the vehicle doing a return trip back from Barnsley to the depot at Waterloo (as 85A) in between.

In the late 2010s First Leeds experimented with extending some daytime journeys of one of their routes (I forget which number, but may have been the 55 from Morley) to Batley bus station which is deep in Arriva territory. These only lasted around a year, if that.

55 used to be a joint service with Yorkshire Woollen. It went to Bruntcliffe mear Morley. Maybe someone here knows about its history post 1974 when WY Metro started.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

55 used to be a joint service with Yorkshire Woollen. It went to Bruntcliffe mear Morley. Maybe someone here knows about its history post 1974 when WY Metro started.

Slightly off-topic but in Yorkshire Rider days some 55s ran short to Holbeck... appropriately for rail enthusiasts, these were numbered as 55A- the former code for Holbeck shed!

 

[SCH117X]

A short term extension was of Transdev Harrogates 1A from Knaresborough to Boroughbridge which commenced 29 May 2016 initially continuing from Boroughbridge to Roecliffe, but then changed from 30 October 2016 to serve Kirby Hill instead of Roecliffe, and then cancelled from 29 October 2017 returning the 1A to a Harrogate-Knaresborough (and its estates) service.

 

[dodecahedron67]

A short term extension was of Transdev Harrogates 1A from Knaresborough to Boroughbridge which commenced 29 May 2016 initially continuing from Boroughbridge to Roecliffe, but then changed from 30 October 2016 to serve Kirby Hill instead of Roecliffe, and then cancelled from 29 October 2017 returning the 1A to a Harrogate-Knaresborough (and its estates) service.

The extension is now the Transdev 21

 

[SCH117X]

The extension is now the Transdev 21

The 21 has always existed, previously as the 57 running via the vilages between Knaresborough and Boroughbridge then Roecliffe (and originally started at Harrogate)
The extended 1A ran via the A658, A59 and A1(M). For the duration of the 1A serving Roecliffe the village route terminated at Boroughbridge.

 

[DM352]

x25 Tamworth Lichfield Stafford
Though not used by me it came back around 2015 briefly but was replaced by 825 higher frequency though that route.

Main benefit was it used A51 and missed the zig zags that served entrances to estates so was never busy.

I used the previous pre privatisation version of the x25 which included P reg leyland nationals

 

[bussnapperwm]

x25 Tamworth Lichfield Stafford
Though not used by me it came back around 2015 briefly but was replaced by 825 higher frequency though that route.

Main benefit was it used A51 and missed the zig zags that served entrances to estates so was never busy.

I used the previous pre privatisation version of the x25 which included P reg leyland nationals

Wasn't the Tamworth section because Central Buses had introduced their X55 Lichfield to Tamworth direct service?

 

[341o2]

Transpora 2 and T1 in Bournemouth last year.

 

[Martin2013]

Am I right in thinking there was a bus company that briefly ran Sunday services in Shrewsbury several years ago? Can't think of their name but guessing they didn't last very long.

I remember a company that in 2011/12 ran a short lived commuter service between Bristol and Yate. Not entirely sure of their name but seem to recall they might have been a sightseeing entity and their name made reference to London. Can anyone remember the name of that company?

Also remember a few years ago Eurotaxis/Eurocoaches running some short lived services from Yate Park and Ride to Eastville, UWE and possibly Bristol Centre. Think they only ran from early 2022 to mid 2022 and were presumably a way of utilising vehicles heading to and from school contracts.

 

[joieman]

Another service that springs to my mind that I don't think lasted particularly long was the xprss service by Trentbarton running between Nottingham and Leicester. I think it was intended for shoppers to go to Leicester from Nottingham, but I don't really see the point, as what does Leicester have in terms of its shopping experience that Nottingham didn't back then?
Then there was their Club Class service, the name of which to me sounds more like an executive coach for hire!

 

[DaventryRabbit]

Another service that springs to my mind that I don't think lasted particularly long was the xprss service by Trentbarton running between Nottingham and Leicester. I think it was intended for shoppers to go to Leicester from Nottingham, but I don't really see the point, as what does Leicester have in terms of its shopping experience that Nottingham didn't back then?
Then there was their Club Class service, the name of which to me sounds more like an executive coach for hire!

I seem to recall using this back in early 2001. Also Seem to remember it went literally direct ie not even via Loughborough

 

[joieman]

I seem to recall using this back in early 2001. Also Seem to remember it went literally direct ie not even via Loughborough

Yes, old maps suggest it went via the A46.

 

[Cambus731]

First Essex 125 from Braintree Bus Park to their depot at Springwood Industrial Estate must have lasted for less than a year

 

[318266]

McGill's (Scotland West) ClydeFlyer 903 - a short duplicate of the 906 from Greenock to Wemyss Bay via Branchton. Lasted from 27/12/16-06/04/17.
It ran around 10 minutes in front of a 906, ostensibly to connect with the 901, but in reality proved to run fairly empty and was quietly withdrawn not longer after introduction.

 

[bussnapperwm]

Am I right in thinking there was a bus company that briefly ran Sunday services in Shrewsbury several years ago? Can't think of their name but guessing they didn't last very long.

The Skiers Lodge trading as Easycoach

 

[Simon75]

The Skiers Lodge trading as Easycoach

Which did services to Manchester Airport