All Change In Cornwall
Today is the day that bus fares are REDUCED significantly throughout Cornwall. A substantial government grant has enabled this "trial area" to take place and the reductions are, similarly, substantial.
Also today First Kernow introduces its "Summer" timetable and there are major differences from last years summer schedules. fbb will review these changes, hopefully in time for tomorrow's blog - but no promises!
Belay that graphic, fbb. The NEW prices for "local" areas should read (from top to bottom).
£2.50
£1.50
£10
£6
£40
£22.50
Spotted the wrong copy-and-paste too late to recopy and repaste!
As usual a new timetable book is produced ...
... as are the three Go Cornwall area books.
Sadly, despite a combined network map and fully interavailable fares, the two chummy operators have not yet managed to produced joint timetable booklets, so anomalies still exist.
The always-alert brain of fbb (?) did spot one surprising change.
Service 36 (Helston, Helford and St Keverne) is MISSING from the new network map.
But residents of St Martin, Helston, Manaccan and Porthallow need not panic as their minimalist 33 timetable still appears in the West Cornwall booklet!
Was it a map making mistake or, more likely, was the service due to be withdrawn and then there was a last minute change of mind? fbb guesses the latter.
Sullivan's Rescued 84
Sullivan buses stepped in after Metroline announced at was withdrawing the route from St Alban's to Barnet.
Presumably Hertfordshire's offer of some tender support was insufficient to persuade Metroline to keep going, but enough for Sullivans to giver it a go. Savings were made by only running to Potters Bar. Pictures were posted of a double decker bering "branded" for the 84 ...
... but, as yet, no pictures of a branded green machine so adornerd have appeared on-line. What has been posted are a couple of snaps of PJ52 BYP looking very London Buses like!
There is even an LT roundel where the rear number might be shown!
Then And Now
fbb cane across this and it led to a fascinating search.
West Sutton is west of Sutton and is on the "Sutton Loop" with a half hourly service of Thameslink trains.
The line was a bit of an afterthought in some ways, a response to the Underground Northern Line penetrating the Southern Railway's south London territory.
There is one picture on line showing the station building emblazoned with its 1930s owner's lettering.
There is also picture from the road bridge just beyond the art deco building which shows a footbridge emerging from the back of the building and leading to an island platform.
But, stand on the bridge today and it looks very different.
The footbridge has lost its roof and, possibly, been rebuilt; and only the foundations of the station building remain. Wander round from Norman Road to Gander Green Lane ...
... and you will search fruitlessly for the building.
It has gorn!
There is just a footpath leading to the footbridge ...
... more easily understood by viewing it on Google Earth.
St Helier Station ...
... has suffered the same fate!
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You could say it all started with a fruit tree, a fruit tree that was forbidden. Whether you take the story of Adam and Eve literally or as as huge "parable", the message is the same. Keep away from the fruit from "the tree of knowledge of good and evil" or you will be in trouble.
That evening they heard the Lord God walking in the garden, and they hid from him among the trees. But the Lord God called out to the man, "Where are you?" He answered, "I heard you in the garden; I was afraid and hid from you, because I was naked."
"Who told you that you were naked?" God asked. "Did you eat the fruit that I told you not to eat?"
That shows the risk that God knowingly took.
Humanity was provided with free will - the ability to do right or wrong. But, without free will, how could mankind grow into the creature God intended? Without freewill mankind would be a fake perfection, an automaton with no real "humanity" at all.
It would always be a problem for humanity and a problem for which God would provide an answer.
Forgiveness - but at what price?
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Next Vive La Difference blog : Monday 11th April
It's the 33 that's missing from the map. It was withdrawn once before but returned after protests. It is now actually doubled for the summer season. First didn't run many open-tops on its L1 last year so wonder if it will this year, a note on its timetable doesn't sound particularly committal saying it may on a sunny day? Without being open-top it just duplicates Go Cornwall Bus but far less frequently and without early or later services.
ReplyDeleteWell two different open-top buses broke down on the L1 today my friend if that answers your question (replaced by a closed-top decker on the third changeover). Not a great start to the season.
DeleteThe Sutton loop wasn't reaally a response to the Northern Line by the SR. The Southern took over the powers to build it from the District Railway, which in part explains some of the sharp curvature along the line. The District had been identified as the operator in the original Act of Parliament that was passed in 1911, long before the SR was formed.
ReplyDeleteThe story fills around nine pages in the excellent "London's Local Railways" by Alan A Jackson, so difficult to summarise in a few words, but ultimately the SR agreed to build it to prevent the District from running to Sutton.
You always post about how God exists outside space and time, so how come he hasn't managed to come up with a workaround for the free will paradox yet?
ReplyDeleteSo much for Firsts new open-top Tin Coaster, saw it with closed roof today.
ReplyDeleteGuess the open-tops weren't got ready in time as it was sunny?
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