Saturday Variety

Mouth Not Minster, Mutt-head!

Thanks to Andrew (and others) who pointed out that fbb does not know where he has been (It's being old, you know!). His Wednesday lunch was, of course, at the Ship Inn AxMOUTH not AxMINSTER. Now what was the old bloke saying about fading brain?

Do They Use Their Own Web Site?

fbb mentioned that Hulleys header tells us that there is no Sunday service on the 257, when, since January 2022 there has been a bus every two hours. But the site does have a splendid map, notably revealing the route of some occasional journeys which remain a mystery on the timetable. They do not exist!

There they are on the map in pale blue.

But from 17th April these journeys appear (or, more correctly re-appear - as they have existed before the change last January) as shown below.

It's that journey marked "Brad" which is explained as "runs via Hope and Bradwell". 

But if you click from a different link you get this ...

... which confirms a daily service -  but the map makes no mention of the full diverted route.

It would appear that oner bit of the web site is up to date, but another chunk of the same web site is showing older information mixed with the same current timetable.

But, all together now ...

IT'S ALL ON-LINE

 Domestic Snippet

Mrs fbb sent away on-line for some washing machine "tabs" which are not tablets but wobbly thingeys with three blobs of chemicals therein. Impressive environmentally as per the "label" above.

Sadly they were packed in a very large PLASTIC bag.

Stagecoach Bargain!

Bus passengers went into a frenzy at the weekend when Stagecoach South West annual MegaRider tickets accidentally went on sale at up to £1,000 less than their true value.

Word spread quickly on social media and some people began buying up multiple tickets for re-sale after the online App reduced prices to just 10 per cent of their real price - saving passengers up to £1,000 a year. The MegaRider Gold bus pass which gives unlimited travel across the whole South West for a year should cost £1,320 - but instead customers were grabbing the bus pass for just £13.20 on the online ticketing system. And the Torbay MegaRider which is £891 for 52 weeks was £8.91.

Stagecoach South West quickly spotted the blunder and took "immediate steps" to correct the mistake. But the bad news is that the bus company now says they are contacting customers to tell them the tickets are not valid.

But ...

However, some customers believe Stagecoach will have to honour the deal. He said: "I was woken up Saturday morning by my mother-in-law telling my Mrs that Stagecoach have messed up their prices and they will have to send the ticket and honour it.

But, all together now ...

IT WAS ALL ON-LINE

Rail Information Really Improved?

It's not just ANY clock - it is an on-screen digitally created analogue clock on a station managed by L N E R. (Newark Northgate?)

Next up the pole(s) is a departure board with the addition of colour!

Note red for "cancelled" and orange for "delayed".

The third screen shows the usual next train from that platform.

Impressive, eh?

fbb wonders when similar screens will arrive at Axminster. (NOT Axmouth!)

Spot The Bus Station (1)

It has hardly changed at all! 1927 above - today below. The four storey white building links the two pictures.

Annemasse Adventure

Annemasse is in "Greater Geneva", but Geneva is in Switzerland, whilst Annemasse is to the east and across the border in France. A Twitterer wrote enthusiastically about a bus ride he had enjoyed.

The bus was articulated, and what impressed the author of the tweet was that the "bellows" were translucent, letting in light to the bendy bit!

After a lot of head scratching, fbb has finally identified the route.

It links two Park and Ride sites in the town, running from the site at Altea ...

to a similar at Jean Monnet.

The route is branded Tango.

A fascinating bit of public transport detective work for fbb. And yes ..

IT'S ALL ON-LINE.

... but it is quite hard work to sort it out!

 Next Variety blog : Sunday 27th March