It sounds like a book by Enid Blyton ...
... and in many ways it might form a good plot. The Secret Seven go in search of a ghostly bus service which runs from Carterton to Oxford.
It first appears in 2010 as a semi-ghostly Monday to Friday only service from Witneyto Oxford's mega-Hospital.
In 2014 it materialises on a posh Stagecoach Gold leaflet ...
... which suggests that this "new route" has just been extended from Witney to Carterton. It provoked some controversy because at first it didn't serve the Hospital grounds and left passengers with a bit of a walk.
Apparently, after the victory, it now went into the Hospital itself but in one direction only - well, you wouldn't want those pesky passengers to upset your careful scheduling, would you?
Headley Way (below, far left) is hardly convenient for the Hospital.
In 2014 the extended service was still running Monday to Friday only.
The main services on the leaflet were the S1 ...
... and S2.
Also in 2014 you had a very good map showing detail in the Carterton area ...
... confirming that the S2 is the faster route via the A40, the S1 serves two significant villages and the S7 wanders over a wider territory. In Oxford the differences are again clear.
The S2 is very much a slower route into the city, and, as expected, the S7 doesn't touch the city centre at all.
In 2017 fbb has only found a leaflet cover ...
... with the S7 being an obviously subsidiary concept when set again the "Gold" S1 and S2.
Now correspondent Keith takes over the narrative.
I have just spent a few days in Carterton, Oxfordshire visiting relatives. On previous visits the Stagecoach Gold S1 & S2 routes provided a combined x15 frequency to Witney and Oxford and very good it was too.
But idly watching these new buses pass through Carterton Town Centre I was puzzled to see an S7 going to Brookes University.
Intrigued on seeing this I made my way to the main Town Centre bus stop to check the roadside information – see photograph of the roadside case below. There was the half-hourly S1 ...
... and the half hourly S2 as expected.
The display was dated 3 September 2017.
There was no reference to the S7 – just the S1 & S2 as I had always known them.
So I asked the driver of the S7 if he had a timetable leaflet and the reply was that there were none available as they (Stagecoach) hadn’t printed any.
Still confused I checked on line when I got back to the house and discovered that the S7 had replaced one of the S2s per hour.
Previously the S1 took 1h08 to get to Oxford and the S2 53 minutes so the S2 was always the quickest choice to get to Oxford. Now one of the S2s per hour has become an S7 ...
... and doesn’t go to Oxford City Centre, doing instead an northern orbital route via John Radcliffe Hospital to Brookes University.
It does now appear to enter the hospital grounds.
Follow the PUCE line for the S7; which now runs Monday to Saturday hourly (fbb comment)
So, Carterton has lost one bus per hour to Oxford City Centre. I haven’t got a problem with this network change as Stagecoach no doubt had good reasons for it. But I do have a problem of it not being communicated to its customers.
I checked every bus stop in Carterton (they are to a high standard) and every one was showing a 3 year old timetable display with no reference to the new hourly S7.
Utterly hopeless and beyond belief!
To add to the discombobulation, The current on-line Carteron and Witney map says the S7 continues to "Oxford" ...
... which may be geographically correct (the Hospital is in Oxford!), but is not helpful!
By contrast independent operator Pulhams have recently (1 Sep) won the tender for the 19, Carterton via the villages to Witney from Stagecoach.
Every bus stop in Carterton has been updated with a smart new Pulhams timetable display ...
... and their drivers were happily handing out timetable leaflets.
Full marks (and a chocolate peanut) to Pullhams.
No marks at all to Stagecoach.
But, of course ...
IT IS ALL ON LINE
Next Barnet blog : Wednesday 4th November
I have heard that Stagecoach South West have stopped printing timetables, moving to online only. This might just be a temporary measure. I was wondering if anyone has any information on this?
ReplyDeleteIt's permanent and all travel shops have closed permanently too.
ReplyDeleteMany thanks, sadly I suppose to be expected with all that is happening at this moment!
ReplyDelete