Surprising Sheffield Speedy Service to ...

... Rotherham MSA?

There are two straightforward ways to get from Sheffield to Rotherham. There is the A6102 via Meadowhall (yellow blob) and the A6178 via Tinsley. The difference is not too clear above, so we enlarge a little.

The yellow blob at Meadowhall is for the tram stop and it is joined by a red blob for the proper railway.

The route through Tinsley once had trams all the way, which became bus 69 to Rotherham. The faster route was via Meadowhall (long before the shopping centre appeared!) and was route 77 plus a later route 78 to Doncaster via Rotherham. With the arrival of the PTE and a subsequent reorganisation, the Doncaster service gained just one number, 278 and later X78.

fbb will spare you the farrago of recent revisions and leave you with today's situation. The Doncaster route is now service X3 and runs via Tinsley.

The former 69 is now X1 and X2 and runs via Meadowhall (yes, for some unaccountable reason the routes have swapped over.)

Of course First has abandoned local branding so such delights as the above selection will be consigned to history in favour of national, bland and boring.

But that is progress, we are told!

Here are the PTE network map extracts showing the routes out of Sheffield (towards top right) ...

... and the continuation from Meadowhall Shopping Centre towards Rotherham.

And you have spotted that both X1/X2 and X3 run via the Meadowhell home of retain therapy. Neither runs "direct".

With this in mind (???) fbb has received an email!

The missive came with a nice graphic in First Bus pink - and the message was undoubtedly a shocking pink!

fbb's agile mind began asking several questions.

What does Sheffield to Rotherham "direct" actually mean? 

Had someone built a new road? 

Would the new X6 eschew the obvious traffic objective of Meadowhell?

Would the X6 be more "limited stop" than today's X1/X2?

Would the new X6 simply run non stop all the way between the two communities?

And, generally, why add the extra service?

And why doesn't First tell you anything?

And why, oh why did it start on Friday 17th? Sheffield timetable changes have always been on Sunday or on Monday of the service lacks Sunday journeys.

Does the timetable help? Here is First's published timetable that accompanies the on-line "launch"?

Please note that First offers no map, no indication of where it stops in addition to the point times above, in fact no useful information for the omnibologically ignorant - and that includes fbb.

Alert readers may translate Intc as "Interchange" (i.e. bus station) but will struggle with Mft (it means "Moorfoot") but Rotherham MSA is a complete mystery.

These time points also beg another question. Does "direct" mean that only these points will be stops on the X6. If so there would be no stop in Sheffield City Centre. This seems unlikely.

Aha, thought fbb. Traveline has all stops timetables.

Except that Traveline knows nothing of he X6!

But, as ever, fbb has the answer.

The new timetable has probably been developed using First Bus' £4 million purchase of AI software (which isn't AI at all!). That would be ...

Astoundingly

Incomprehensible 

Perhaps fbb should download the App?

OK, he's not that desperate ...

YET!

Happier Memories!

The 69 was joint between Rotherham and Sheffield Corporations.

The 77 was a three way joint operation between Sheffield ...

... Rotherham ...

... and Doncaster.

Tomorrow, fbb will conclude this investigation. The blog will be a bit more than "mini" and maybe a welcome break from fbb's  usual blogging regime.

 Next Surprising Service blog : Tues 21 Jan