Deary Deary Me, I Forgot The 703! (2)

For the record, Reading Buses suspended the 702 (Legoland to London) on Monday last 6th April ...

... but the 703 is still running as far as fbb can tell. The company web site has a geographically "accurate' map of the 703 (Hooray) but is a Google maps overlay type (Boo) and it is AWFUL!!

It is still awful if you enlarge it ...

... but you now get little 703 icons trundling around. The only names apparent at this stage are those on the underlying map, namely the larger communities which may, or may not (Ascot) be in the 303 route. Note also the terrifying time warp between Windsor and Slough where the green line (or Green Line) buses evaporate and leap across a bus-less emptiness.

When fbb returned to the task a day later, the lines had disappeared leaving a wiggle of disconnected dots.

If you continue to enlarge, these dots turn into blue blobs.

Prod one of these with your pointer and you get the stop name ...

... and prod the departures button and you get the next few departures.

This outworking of modern timetabular technology is impressive indeed, but not much use unless you first KNOW which blue blob to prod. Pre-prod there are no names along the line to even offer the user a clue.

Is the map accurate? Surely the computer can, in some unfathomable way, discover exactly which roads the bus uses and drawn an accurate map. Well, it can't between Windsor and Slough, but what about in the hidden hinterlands of Ascot?

Tske a look at the road due north from Heatherwood Hospital - sorry, you can't because you don't know where Heatherwood Hospital is!

The Hospital is bottom right where there is a little turning circle.

That is the roundabout at which the 703 will disgorge you for hospital visits ...

... whence you must toddle around the roundabout and straight on towards Ascot and there you will find the entrance.

So far, so good. Before dealing with the rest of the map, let us take a quick glance at the timetable.

Aha! Some buses run non stop (presumably) between Legolamnd and the hopsital, so they are the wiggly green line going north from the roundabout. This route takes you via Burleigh Road ...

... Kennel Avenue ...

... and Kennel Ride ...

... before joining the A330 Winkfield Road and the other "half" of the route.

The roads look absolutely ideal for Reading Buses swish big green new double deckers! NOT.

Maybe they have had the tree-lopper out since Goodle Streetview drove the route?

Or maybe, just maybe, buses run via the A332  Windsor Road to join the A330.

The blurb about the route changes did say "main road".

To save too much confusion, fbb will reveal that half the 702s do a double run to Heatherwood Hospital, then trundle through North Ascot, Brookfield and, so we are told, Winkleigh.

The others run non-stop and, yes, via the main roads and most definitely NOT the wiggly bit shown on the map.

In one sense the silliness doesn't matter as the buses don't stop there; but maps and timetables are all about confidence and comprehension which, surprise, surprise, fails again at "Winkfield".

But it took fbb several cups of tea (not Sherlock Holmes' pipes) to sort it all out in preparation for his diagrammatic cartography.

Google overlay maps may look like an easy option but they are rarely much use. A map drawn by someone who knows where the buses go and which are the main stops will always be better, it will always add confidence to comprehension.

 Next 703 map blog : Sunday 12th April 

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Short Thought

The Day When Nothing Happened ...

The body was placed temporarily in a borrowed tomb to allow the rules of the Sabbath to be obeyed. The formalities of pre-burial embalming would have to wait until Sunday. Sabbath started at sunset on "Good" Friday.

The authorities were anxious to prevent any jiggery pokery with the body, so guarded the tomb.

So nothing happened.

Which gives us the opportunity to look at a particular word that features strongly in the Christian message.

REPENT

Repent comes from the Latin "poena" (as in "subpoena" and "penal") and in about 1300 this word had the meaning;-

"to feel such regret for wrongdoing as produces an amendment of your life"

Repent doesn't just mean being contrite or saying sorry; it implies doing something positive about life and attitudes. It implies, to coin a phrase, a change of heart AND PURPOSE.

It isn't a joke - because it makes a real difference.

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Farnborough Fun : Farnborough Farce (1)

Our senior Isle of Wight correspondent (our ONLY Isle of Wight correspondent, but he enjoys the status!) was celebrating his 40th (ruby) anniversary on Sunday 1st October. Although it was to be almost exclusively a family "do", the fbbs also had the privilege of an invitation.

Mrs fbb advised that two journeys on the Sunday might be risky, a wise counsel as things turned out; so outwards travel from Axminster to Farnborough (Hants) was on Saturday. Thanks to good fortune, or, more likely, divine intervention, Mrs fbb found a delightful Bed and Breakfast establishment in Netley Street ...

... technically in North Camp, part of greater Farnborough. A bus stop at the end of Netley Street ...

... is served by Stagecoach Gold service 1, as are the stops outside Farnborough Main Station.

The timetable showed a ten minutes service ...

... with a time pont at the end of Netley Street - couldn't be better.

A few oddities to confuse the unwary. 

1. Where is "Farnborough Main" railway station? fbb arrived at Farnborough!

2. Or is there another station at Kingsmead as shown by the "double arrow" logo on the timetable?

3. North Camp Netley Street says Stagecoach, timetable and next sop signs on board. But Google Maps and the bus stop flag have a different idea.

Historically, buses in Farnborough (etc) were provided by Aldershot and District whose service 1 ran to Aldershot even then!

How you get from Aldershot and District to Stagecoach must be one of the most complex machinations of the bus industry and for too involved to cover in this blog. But the journey takes you via Alder Valley ...

... a non-existent chunk of the geography of the UK.

The name Aldershot may have derived from alder trees found in the area (from the Old English 'alder-holt' meaning copse of alder trees). Aldershot was included as part of the Hundred of Crondall referred to in the Domesday Book of 1086. John Norden's map of Hampshire, published in the 1607 edition of William Camden's Britannia, indicates that Aldershot was a market town. There is an "Alderholt" near Fordingbridge in East Dorset.

But Stagecoach is now the incumbent.

Service 1 was gilded with due ceremony ...

... and much emptying of Uncle Brian's fairly capacious piggy bank ...

... last December.

Say it quietly lest any one is listening, but this would be the very first time that fbb has travelled on a "Gold" route. He has attended a couple of launches (Exeter to Plymouth, just called "Gold" and Exeter to Exmouth, Gold 57) but has never experienced the delights of the brand.

Excitedly he and Mrs fbb (less excitedly!) alighted from the class 159 at Basingstoke; crossed from platform 3 ...

... via the subway to Platform 1 to await the onward local train. Time to spot yet another failure of electronics ...

... namely a "not in service" train packed with happy passengers on their way to Southampton and Bournemouth.

There was also time to spot the slick scheduling. The stopper arrived from Waterloo, unloaded and pulled forward into a siding to the west of the station where it lurked patiently for the well loaded out of service train to pass by, followed by Cross Country ...

... which needs to weave its way across all through lines to get from the Reading tracks across to Platform 1. Meanwhile a slow to Southampton uses Platform 2 and ...

... tada! The fbb's slow via Farnborough not Main pulls out of its hideyhole and back in to Platform 1.

Tomorrow we ride the Gold and experience the Farce.

 Next Farnborough blog - Wednesday 4th October 

Lost in Lyme? Physically and Mentally

It Is All Available On-Line

As the introduction of Stagecoach's new 9A extended to Lyme Regis approached, fbb sought solace and inspiration from the Stagecoach web site. Helpful, it wasn't. fbb knew almost before it started that the former routes 52A and B between Exeter and Seaton/Honiton were almost unchanged. So he was looking for a full timetable for the whole caboodle.

So search for 9.

There are the three identical copies of the Barnstaple area service as previously blogged, plus a service 9 to Seaton/Honiton. There was no mention of Lyme Regis.

And the table displayed went no further than Seaton or Honiton. (click on the image below to enlarge it)

As an alternative, fbb tried enquiring about a 9A.

The bottom two gave the same result as for 9 above whilst the top 2, tada!, gave a separated and unconnected 9A between Seaton and Lyme.

And ne'er did the twain meet.

Who designs these things? Does the boss ever look at them? 

After a week of operation, most enquiries manage to come up with a version of the Stagecoach leaflet for 9 and 9A combined.

But not quite. The 9A Exeter to Seaton/Honiton query still produces the internal working timetable without Lyme Regis as pictured above.

Who designs these things? Does the boss ever look at them? 

But then erupts the problem of Lyme Regis. Dedicated blog readers will remember that that route creeps into a Lyme housing area to turn round.

Despite Traveline's inaccuracy, buses run via Anning Road and Queens Walk to a terminus at the end of Kings Way (two words not one - already a problem for the journey planners.) The bus then lurks there for a while ...

... before returning to Lyme Regis Square and thence to Seaton, Sidmouth and Exeter. Now a wary fbb was checking on this for a Sunday (and thus a bank holiday) journey in case he had misunderstood something vital in the timetable, Although it is hard to believe, the chubby one has been known to make mistakes and miss buses.

So, back to the Stagecoach journey planner.

Back comes the answer ...

... with an odd walking man striding out to get to the bus. Uh? Ask for details ...

... and even check on the Stagecoach map.

But the daftness is true. Stagecoach technology tells you to ignore the bus standing at the shelter at the end of Kings Way and walk along to the stop on Anning Road, inexplicably called Cloverdale Court. There you catch the bus at xx19. Phew.

But, and a very big but it is. The bus left the terminus at 1206.

Does it really take 13 minutes to travel about a quarter of a mile along a quiet road on Sunday morning?

Who designs these things? Does the boss ever look at them? 

How does Traveline cope?

It doesn't. Here is Traveline's answer (this time for a 1000 departure on a Sunday).

Let the bus leave at 1006, wait for 15 minutes then sprint off to Langmoor Gardens. And the route of this sprint?

Start from Kings Way (red dot with blue line around it) and follow an utterly impossible trajectory using narrow roads, footpaths and, apparently, swimming down the river Lym before arriving, wet and exhausted at the Langmoor Gardens stop.

Where, sadly, there is no stop. Buses may (or may not) stop there but there is no pole, stop sign or timetable frame to indicate its existence. fbb has been there and, honest injun, there is nowt, zilch, nix and nada.

How can Stagecoach and Traveline get it so horribly wrong.

Who designs these things? Does the boss ever look at them?

Aha, the answer is easy; it's all the fault of the computer!

Amazingly, Google Transit gets it right! 

Although it does get its electronic knickers in a twist with Kingsway and/or Kings Way (delete where inapplicable).

The First Bus journey planner is different again. Again this time you ignore the bus at the stop and walk to Lyme Regis Square to catch it.

But to add to the silliness, it turfs you off at the wrong stop in Seaton.

fbb wonders what regular correspondent (and a very nice man) Ken Traveline-Dorset, makes of it all.

 Next nothing to do with 9A blog : Tuesday 10th May