The Best 'O' Leicester(shire) - 3

A Brief Aside On Park And Ride

Looks impressive, doesn't it? But fbb has waded through a morass of confusion to prepare this blog. 

For some years the service has been operated by Roberts Coaches, they of the one-time 159 of recent mention! Some on-line pictures show one of their vehicles en route.

It is an older vehicle registered BU16 UMW.

But we would expect the new electric buses to be prominent on the County web site.

It is a different livery but the same registration. Never mind, eh? 

We are told all about the new electric buses - well, actually we are not. We are diverted to the Pelican Yutong site which gives info of all their electric bus types.

But from somewhere on-line fbb picked up that the new Park and Ride vehicles were type E12.

The spec seems to match the pictures of the motors in action!

So Where Can You Park And Ride?

There are THREE sites, colour coded GREEN, PURPLE and GREEN(!)

fbb is familiar with Enderby and Birstall, but Meynell's Gorse has not yet crossed fbb's intellectual Leicester path.

Confusion Of Colours : Nutty Nomenclature

Maybe the individual route maps can help?

Meynell's Gorse 103 (PURPLE) is GREEN on its map! It is on the Hinckley Road A47 close to the bridge over the M1. There is, however, no junction wth the M1.

In fact the site is just off the A47 ...

... a right hand turn off the B5380.

The 203 (GREEN) is at Enderby but colored PURPLE on its map.

It is just off the Narborough Road close to the M1 M69 junction and is labelled Grove Park. The whole junction set up is horrendous ...

... and fbb could not work out, c/o Google Maps, how to get to the distinctive Park and Ride stops on Smith Way. You might be able to pick out the label for Grove Park centre bottom above!

Here is one lavish stop ...

... Or is it this one?

Or is fbb missing something obvious?

The third site for the 303 (GREEN) is at Birstall on the Loughborough Road  coloured ORANGE on the map below!.

Unlike Meynell's Gorse (where Streetview did not venture in) and Enderby (where the location was unclear), the electronic cartography permits us to see the Ride bit in action ready to depart from a rather splendid terminal.

And there is good signage Although maybe a bit of hedge pruning might help the unwary to remember to turn left!t

Shortage Or Superfluity If Stops?

We note that, apart from a very occasional extra, the services run non stop from the Park and Ride sites to the city centre, terminating on the very edge of the main shopping areas.

Or maybe not? 

Elsewhere on the web we have these panels, three off: for 103 ...

... then 203 ...

... and 303.

Just in passing, what is a "route stop"? Is it different from "bus stop"? Surely "stops"  would do?

So one place says non stop, another says many stops.

Frustrating Fares Farce

We do have the privilege of a PDF file of a Park and Ride leaflet available on-line. This gives details of the fares.

£3.50 ain't bad these days, especially as parking is free. But the group travel at just 50p more is a real bargain.

Or is it?

Elsewhere on-line we have these fares.

The day ticket and the group ticket have increased significantly but now OAP concession holders travel free instead of £1 on the green leaflet.

It all seems a right mess!

fbb thinks the problems are as follows.

1 Too Many Web Sites!

There would appear to be Park and Ride web pages from Leicestershire County, from Leicester City, from Roberts Coaches and a separate set for Park and Ride. Surely only one site is necessary?

2 Unclear Changes!

It appears that big changes are coming in on 26th August, including a significant fares increase and loads of extra stops. fbb guesses that this has been brought about by a new tender, won again by Roberts.

It seems that these three routes have now become commercial services with financial risk taken by Roberts, hence higher fares, OAP concessions valid and additional stops to garner extra passengers.

It is not clear whether local short hop fares are offered for local short hop passengers.

But, because of messy presentation, the truth is hard to fathom for an outsider like fbb.

Surely, publicity should make it easier for newcomers and visitors to Leicester to travel without fear and confusion.

A potentially good quality Park and Ride has too much of both.

Abd, talking of confusion ...

 Next Best 'O' Leicester blog : Fri 8 Aug