Sunday 11 July 2010

There's another fine mess ...

The suburb of Bents Green (in Sheffield) is a relatively quiet area with little claim to national or international fame. A dubious piece celebrity trivia is that Gary Glitter used to live (with his mum) in a flat above the red painted shop in the picture above. The suburb has a frequent "main road" bus service run (from 26th July) exclusively by Stagecoach and a "back way" route via Greystones (service 81) run by First.
Early on Saturday and Sunday mornings and late on Sunday evenings, when First Bus (Worst Bus?) declines to run a commercial service, Sheffield Passenger Transport Executive has graciously provided financial support to Stagecoach to run the 88A route from Sheffield via Greystones to Bents Green - herewith a timetable extract as correctly included on the "81" leaflet.
But therein lies a snag. I can get FROM Sheffield TO Greystones at these times but, sadly, I cannot get FROM Greystones TO Sheffield.  I must presume from the extract above that the buses evaporate at the Bents Green terminus! They certainly never come back, at least not on the 81 and 88A Greystones leaflet.

Yet again fat bus bloke smells a rat - and, lo and behold, sapristi, abracadabra (etc.) a close inspection of a separate and completely different leaflet for service 88 reveals a tranche of Stagecoach buses popping out of a Tardis at Bents Green and running back direct (i.e. NOT via Greystones) to Sheffield City Centre!    And they leave Bents Green a few minutes after the evaporating 88As arrive.

Yes - you've worked it out!   At Bents Green, he 88As via Greystones turn like a chrysalis becoming a butterfly into "normal" 88s back to City direct. So I CAN get back from Greystones to Sheffield by catching the OUTWARD journey, sitting tight and becoming an 88 at Bents Green. I don't need to worship overnight at the shrine of disgraced pop idol Glitter after all.

Now you could all work that out couldn't you?  And all you need is several leaflets, a route map, a street map and a degree in advanced thermo-nuclear physics!

P.S.  Just to add  to the fun (?) the description of the route of the service 81 tells me it calls at Ecclesall.   No it doesn't, or, at least not to any part of the city that Sheffielders would call "Ecclesall".   In my previous blog, I irreverently suggested that the leaflet's compilers didn't actually know where the buses run.   Then it was a joke - now I am not so sure!

P.P.S.  The 88A buses call at High Storrs School and the 81 service doesn't - WRONG AGAIN, they all do, as do 83s and 88s.   Pay attention at the back or you'll never learn!

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