Turbo-Charged in Sheffield
Services 7 (run by Stagecoach) and 8/8a (First Bus) came into being as part of the farcical and useless Sheffield Bus Partnership, a thinly veiled disguise for substantial service cuts. In the north of the city, this set took over from the traditional and long-standing route 49 via Wordsworth Avenue.
South East of the city centre, route 7 was once the 23 to Woodhouse ...
... and the 8/8a was the 83 to Base Green and Birley (later renumbered 63).
The lure of the retail shopping experience means that the 7/8/8a run through to Crystal Peaks ...
... Monday to Saturday daytimes.
The 8 uses the old road through Hackenthorpe Village ...
... whilst the 8a (off peak only) serves new development off Donetsk Way called Moorthorpe (NOT Owlthorpe as mapped by First!).
The 8/8a have a "revised" timetable from 2nd January. Here is the PTE 7/8/8a Monday to Friday extract.
Note the running time of 12 minutes between Crystal Peaks and Birley. The 12 minutes applies to the opposite direction as well.
Now look at the Saturday times.
Wowsers - a turbo boosted six minutes from shopping to suburb - half the Monday to Friday times. It remains at every 12 minutes in the opposite direction.
fbb's reaction was to think, "Hey ho, another bludner by the PTE!" - but no. The First Bus timetables show the same boosted run - 12 minutes Monday to Friday ...
... but 6 minutes on Saturday.
First have no truck with all this partnership twaddle and only show their own journeys all the way to Wordsworth Avenue!
However, fbb has sent one of his intrepid reporters out to Beighton Road in Hackenthorpe to picture a Turbo boosted 8 on its way towards Birley.
First Bus have not explained why this spectacular demonstration of "fire" power only applies in one direction, and only between Crystal Peaks and Birley, and, again, only on Saturdays.
It would appear that older vehicles are used for this experimental technology!
Ironing Boards - A P.S.
In response to the on-line discussion about uncomfortable seats in some modern buses, Ralph Roberts (CEO McGills) also agreed with Roger French about the upright, hard and back crunching seats right behind the driver's cab.
Puzzle Picture
Nice Artwork from East Midland Railway, but where is it posted? There are clues, to which fbb might add pictures of "water carriers for Mesopotamia"???
Answer tomorrow.
What's It All About, Alfie *rriv*?
The above document was forward to fbb by a "mole" deeply embedded in the management structure of one of the UK's national bus companies. It cannot be extracted as it is a graphic, not a PDF. Keen readers may wish to download it or view it full size.
Suffice it to say, it is corporate twaddle and has nothing to do with running buses profitably and, hopefully, in an attractive way to encourage ridership.
fbb is reminded of the principles vehemently propounded by Gerry Fiennes in his seminal work ...
.... "Whatever you do, do NOT re-organise!" His vehemence was in protest at yet another cunning plan by the British Railways Board.
They sacked him for saying it!
Arrival - NOT Arriva
They make electric vehicles including, as recently developed, electric buses.
R&D takes place at their facility in Banbury, Oxfordshire. In March 2020, Arrival acquired a new factory in Bicester with plans to be operational by 2021 and start production in 2022. In December 2020, Arrival established its North American headquarters in Charlotte, NC, USA.
Arrival claims that their electric vehicles are the first EVs that cost the same as petrol and diesel equivalents. The company has created an electric vehicle platform that can be scaled to make many variants in multiple vehicle categories.
It was announced that Arrival had raised $118 million from US funds manager BlackRock Inc in October 2020, adding to previous investment from Korean automaker Hyundai Motor Co and sister company Kia Motors Corp of $111 million.
Further news as it happens.
Seaview Services
There is also a model of Seaview Services OB (see yesterday's blog). Should fbb buy one?
Not really. He never knew this vehicle. It had been withdrawn before the young lad first visited the Isle of Wight.
The PUDDLE puzzle blog, which now includes a MERMAID, is postponed until tomorrow.
Next Watery blog : Tuesday 11th January
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