[Trivia] The Biggest Difference Between Journeys On One Service

[tbtc]

Some operators use various different prefixes or suffixes to distinguish minor/major route variations. But some operators prefer to stick to one number for more than one version of a route.

For example, Stagecoach run some 555s “slow” from Lancaster up through Carnforth to the Lake District and some “fast” up the M6 but with exactly the same service number…

Lothian Buses have different eastern termini on the 21, different eastern termini on the 26 and different southern termini on the 31…

First in Sheffield have two different western termini for the 52a…

TM Travel use the same number (218) for clockwise and anticlockwise loops around Chatsworth/ Bakewell…

What other big discrepancies are there between journeys that use exactly the same service number by the same operator in the same town/city at the same time? Current or historic examples welcome.

I’m not talking about part route journeys or journeys extended beyond the regular terminus (so serve all of the same stops but then extend to serve some in addition); I’m talking about serving somewhere completely different instead.

Bonus points for daytime discrepancies (rather than one obscure trip on a Sunday morning)

(for the purposes of this thread, the 73 and 73a and X73 are completely different services – I’m talking about journeys with exactly the same number run by the same company at the same period in history)

 

[sussexbythesea]

What about the Stagecoach South 700? Three different main routes, with a vast multitude of destinations at each end.

 

[Wirewiper]

Filers Travel's 303 service between Barnstaple and Woolacombe follows three different routings as well as having a couple of other minor variations:

http://www.cartogold.co.uk/Devon/timetables/303_Woolacombe-Barnstaple.pdf

Also their 31 service between Ilfracombe and Woolacombe operates both clockwise and anti-clockwise around the Woolacombe-Mortehoe loop.

 

[Jordan Adam]

Lets run through the First Aberdeen network...

Service 1: Danestone terminal split 50/50 between Laurel Drive at Tesco and Laurel Place at Laurel Terrace
Service 1B: Main Service to Dubford, but also the number used for University Short Workings.
Service 3G: Southern end of the route varies depending on time of day.
Service 17: Every second bus terminate short at Newhills
Service 17A: Variation of the 17 that goes via Dyce Victoria Street (northbound) and Kincorth Shops (Southboumd only)
Service 172: Identical to the 17A, but doesn't serve Ferryhill.
Service 18: Peak buses take a lengthy diversion via Altens Industrial Estate.
Service X27: Northern terminal varies between Aberdeen Heliport, Dyce Railway Station & The Event Complex Arena.

Actually not as many irregularities as i thought.

For reference here's a link to the network map - https://www.firstgroup.com/uploads/maps/Aberdeen_Network_Map_WEB_sept19.pdf

 

[scotrail158713]

Lothian Buses 3 & 37 also have different southbound termini

 

[Andyh82]

Lothian Buses 3 & 37 also have different southbound termini

as does the 10

 

[scotrail158713]

as does the 10

Yeah forgot about that. I think the 29 used to split at the southern end as well, can’t remember when that stopped though.

 

[Ianno87]

The 3 in Cambridge has (in one direction or the other)

Fison Road to Fulbourn* via Whitehill Estate

Fison Road to Fulbourn* not via Whitehill Estate

Whitehill Estate to Fulbourn*

Fison Road to Cherry Hinton via Whitehill Estate

Fison Road to Cherry Hinton not via Whitehill Estate

Whitehill Estate to Cherry Hinton

One morning peak journey from Waterbeach via Fen Ditton

One morning and evening peak journey to Stechworth

*Journeys to Fulbourn do not serve the terminal stop in Cherry Hinton.

 

[Flange Squeal]

White Bus 500. Basic weekday route is Staines > Egham > Virginia Water > Sunningdale > Windlesham > Lightwater > Bagshot > Camberley > Frimley Park Hospital

Variations:

• Weekday morning and evening peak journeys omit a large part of residential Lightwater, just running direct along the main road.
• On school days, some trips divert off the main route near Sunningdale to serve Charters School.
  
• On Saturdays, the entirety of Lightwater is ommitted.
• Also on Saturdays, the section of route south from Camberley to Frimley Park Hospital doesn't run, buses instead travelling west to Blackwater (The Meadows M&S/Tesco shopping centre).

This means that there are five individual routings various journeys take over the short Sunningdale to Bagshot section!

On weekdays, 'shorts' start/finish at Sunningdale station forecourt instead of using on-road stops like the through journeys, but not sure if this really counts as a seperate route as you're just talking turning off the main road immediately into a car park.

https://www.whitebus.co.uk/bus-services/500/

 

[Tetchytyke]

What about the Stagecoach South 700?

Surely has to be the winner? Struggling to think of another similar example.

 

[bussnapperwm]

X10 in Birmingham. Every 3rd journey between 0700-2000 Monday-Saturday starts from Gornal Wood, during events at the Arena Birmingham goes via a different route and IIRC goes via a different route in Pensnett on Saturdays. Also has some journeys starting/finishing at Halesowen and some early journeys starting at Bearwood all bearing the same number

 

[edwin_m]

First Manchester 184. Most of them terminate at various places in Saddleworth, but every hour one goes about twice as far to Huddersfield.

 

[vlad]

The First PMT route 3 was timetabled for a few years as running between Madeley (Staffs) and Crewe, although no single journey ever did that run.

IIRC they alternated between Keele to Crewe and Madeley to Talke (a place that wasn't on the mainline of the route).

 

[Tom B]

Yeah forgot about that. I think the 29 used to split at the southern end as well, can’t remember when that stopped though.

Mayfield or Gorebridge or Gilmerton I seem to remember.

16 used to do Hunters Tryst, Colinton or Torphin.

 

[goldisgood]

Many of the S series services around Oxford have different routes, although they may not qualify as some are 'extensions' if you like.
The S2 has at least 4 variations: Carterton to Oxford via A40, Witney to Oxford, Carterton to Oxford via Witney and Carterton to Oxford via Witney and Spareacre Lane, and this is before you take into account the different termini in Carterton and Oxford.
The S3 has 11 variations: Gloucester Green to Wootton Turn, Rail Station to Chipping Norton (West Street), Rail Station to Wootton Turn, Rail Station to Chipping Norton (Churchill House), Gloucester Green to Charlbury, Gloucester Green to Chipping Norton (Churchill House), Rail Station to Charlbury, Gloucester Green to Chipping Norton (West Street), Gloucester Green to Chipping Norton (West Street) via Charlbury and Chadlington and Rail Station to Chipping Norton (West Street) via Charlbury and Enstone
The S5 has 13 variations: Glory Farm to Speedwell Street via JR, Glory Farm to Magdalen Street via Kingsmere, Glory Farm to Magdalen Street direct, Launton to Magdalen Street via Kingsmere, Langford to Magdalen Street direct, St Georges Barracks to Magdalen Street via Kingsmere, Caversfield Turn to Magdalen Street express, Launton to Magdalen Street direct, St Georges Barracks to Magdalen Street direct, St Georges Barracks and Bullingdon Prison to Magdalen Street direct, Bicester to Magdalen Street direct, Bicester to St Georges Barracks and Bullingdon Prison and Oxford to Bicester via Kingsmere - I may have even missed some here.
The S8 has 2 variations, one running via the old route (Main Street) with a single morning journey and the main route via Brereton Drive in Grove.

 

[transmanche]

Stagecoach Newcastle route 1.

It has a bifurcation in Benwell, at the western end of the route, where alternate buses head towards either Buddle Road or Slatyford. This doesn't happen in the summer months though when the service level is reduced and all buses go to Slatyford. At the other end of the route, one in every four buses is extended from Coach Lane Campus to Cobalt Business Park. All buses show as route 1, with no suffixes.

 

[Class45]

Until recently there was the Centrebus X31 which ran from Luton to Dunstable and then split with journeys going either 15 miles north to Milton Keynes or 10 miles south to Hemel Hempstead but all with the same service number.

 

[Mitch in Notts]

Trent Barton:
Rainbow 1 standard route now Nottingham to Eastwood then goes off to - Heanor and Ripley or - Alfreton via Selston or - Alfreton via Jacksdale.
i4 from Nottingham goes to Sandiacre, half go on to Derby, half do a circular of Sandiacre's housing estates.
Indigo Nottingham to Long Eaton then half to Derby, half to Briar Gate.
Skylink Nottingham to East Midlands Airport. Some terminate, some to Loughborough, some to Coalville.

The above routes all used to have even more variations in the past but those have largely been dropped.

 

[SCH117X]

Transdev Harrogate use 36 as a brand so any working using those vehicles is normally a 36 service. The one difference to that are the first three weekday workings on Route 3 which according to the 3 timetable do not return to the town; that's due to them 36s through to Leeds. So 36 covers the main Ripon-Harrogate-Leeds route but also Jennyfield or Bilton-Harrogate-Leeds (that direction only), Starbeck-Harrogate-Leeds or Ripon

 

[Wirewiper]

Until recently there was the Centrebus X31 which ran from Luton to Dunstable and then split with journeys going either 15 miles north to Milton Keynes or 10 miles south to Hemel Hempstead but all with the same service number.

The X31 also had a third variant to Toddington, but this was replaced by Busway route E in 2013. Before the Busway opened the X31 was the fastest route between Luton and Dunstable as it used Hatters Way to avoid the traffic congestion in Bury Park.

 

[madannie77]

Stagecoach in Cumbria's 104 has regular journeys which run from Carlisle via Penrith to terminate at Center Parcs or Newton Rigg Campus (term times only). Outwith college terms the latter terminate at Gilwilly Industrial Estate in Penrith. There are also several journeys a day which terminate at Penrith Bus Station and one which takes a different route in Penrith via estates.

Early morning, late evening and Sunday journeys also have variations on the route taken through an estate in Carlisle as well.

A few years ago one of the two journeys an hour served High Hesket village and the other by-passed it, but they all go via the village now.