From Surf to Star [1]

Via Illenoo?

No, fbb hasn't flipped completely. It all starts when his lorry driving chum is stuck at ...

... on an exciting "zone industriel" ...

... (aerial photo, bottom left) for 17 hours waiting to make a delivery. Now, even for long-time trucker Dave, a sojourn in a beautiful industrial estate in north western France can lose its inherent attraction after a few hours (even minutes!). So off Dave toddles, bravely and with exploratory determination, to investigate the availability of public transport.

A few hundred yards past the big roundabout (centre, above) he spies this ...

... a stylish people shelter, sheltering stylish French people. The shelter, unlike the majority of its UK brethren, is equipped with lots of useful information. There is a network map ...

... and a list of departures.

The photo is a bit phuzzy, but in the true spirit of "Le Secret d'Horaires", departures are listed in time order but not in day order. So "Lundi a Vendredi", "Samedi" and "Dimanche" are all muxed ip; Not the most helpful of algorithms. Most of the buses seem to run to Rennes.

It is at this point that trucker Dave makes a few notes and adjourns to his truck for tea and buns with a view to retuning roundabout-wards to photograph two impending departures.

And at this point he sends a txt to fbb challenging him to find service 9A at Saint Aubin de Cormier by diligent on-line search.

So fbb needs a map.

Simple, then. If the buses run to Rennes (bottom right), seek out a suitable site of the web variety and download the 9A timetable. It's looking good so far.

But not for long!

There's no 9A in Rennes and the destinations for the 9 are simply suburbs and do not include Saint Aubin de Cormier.

More infromation needed.

Txt from fbb to Dave, "Operator of the 9a?"

"ILLENOQ"

Thanks to the wonders of Google, typing in "Illenoq" produces this ...

... and thus this ...

... and, eventually, this:-

And that red squiggle might make the O into a Q.

Illenoo is, indeed, the bus operator for the Rennes rural area. Le Star (see above) is the brand for the urban network and we will investigate further tomorrow.

In the meantime, blog readers may wish to amuse themselves and/or challenge their "leedle grey cells" by working out a possible meaning of the name "Illenoo". It is not arbitrary; in fact it's quite clever if you speak French. A small prize will not be awarded to the best answer received.

P.S. Saint Aubin de Cormier is twinned with Richmond, North Yorkshire. fbb wonders what you might find in a similar Richmond location, i.e on he fringes of the town centre.

A shelter, stylish or otherwise, is sadly lacking and fbb can't quite make out the network map and the detailed departure list.

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"The Bridge" - Update

See "The Bridge Part 1" Well, here's another fine mess ... (read again)
See "The Bridge Part 2" April Fool? (read again)

from Councillor James Alexander (Labour), Council Leader.

We have said from the outset the purpose of the Lendal Bridge trial is not to generate revenue [£1.3 million in fines so far], but to reduce traffic going over the bridge and through the city centre, as part of a long-term vision to create a more attractive and thriving city centre for us all [sound of gentle but emotional weeping] - just as pedestrianisation of the city centre has.

The principle of having a trial traffic restriction along Lendal Bridge was right and legal counsel has confirmed the implementation of the trial was fully legally compliant [although charging fines wasn't?].

Such a closure has been talked about since the 1970s and was called for by the Leader of the Conservative opposition before the last local elections. It was included in Liberal Democrat transport plans agreed by the council before they left office. [so we have all agreed it would be a good idea, then the nasty Tories and the horrid LibDems changed their minds; Labour would never do that.]

Through the trial we have gathered valuable information about traffic flow and seen the benefits of significantly improved bus reliability and passenger numbers. Air quality has improved across the city and both footfall and hotel accommodation has recorded increases. [i.e. the trial has been very successful]

It is however clear the trial has been polarising [we'll lose too many votes next time] and we need greater consensus amongst residents and businesses over measures required to tackle congestion in our city.

We  have listened to business and the public alike and I am therefore announcing that after seeing results from the [successful?] trial and these results being debated amongst my colleagues, I have asked the council's Chief Executive to lift the restriction from Saturday through the appropriate procedure. [i.e. as it has been so successful we are ending it!]

Because we are, politically, ...

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 Next bus blog : Friday 11th April