Go Ahead Grabs All (1)

Local-Bus Network Changes 

from 15th February

Go Cornwall Bus, as part of Transport for Cornwall, has worked closely with Cornwall Council to design a revised network that maintains strong accessibility for communities, major employment sites, education, health and key destinations across the county. While the current First Bus network will not be replicated like-for-like, we have ensured alternative or amended services will operate from 15th February with the pivotal priority to keep Cornwall connected.

Alongside the introduction of these new commercial services, a number of further changes on the network will be introduced on the 15th February, becoming the first main network change date for 2026, with a later review in the summer. The wider network changes are primarily to improve service performance, connectivity, reliability and punctuality and are based on customer and stakeholder feedback.

As outlined in our communication on 21st November, the revised network has been developed on the basis that the former First Bus network would not be replicated, with a strong focus on ensuring the long-term financial sustainability of all new and revised services.

Hmmmm?

So, over the next few blogs, fbb will present his loyal reader with a before and after report allowing (a) comparisons to be made and (b) considering whether the aims covered in the company info above were fulfilled.

Spoiler alert : they weren't!

We will take services area by area, beginning with some of the Penzance routes.

Lands End 

The above map shows a simple "lollipop" route with the assumption that one way round is 1, the other way is 1A. The current timetable does not show "circular" journeys, the passenger has to work it out.

The on-line 'active' route map shows a more complex picture ...

... with variants mainly at school times.

This is what GoAhead says about the 1 and 1A.

The new timetable looks much the same.

But what GoAhead has not written about, is that buses will now run via Paul replacing current service 5. Local users are worried about bigger buses using the narrow roads and a possible problem of bigger buses meeting on the narrow bit.

Many journeys will also take longer.

Madron, Lower Boscaswell

And yes, it is the same current map. For the time being fbb will ignore the 17E (for evening) journeys run by GoAhead. Currently the 17 runs across Penzabce to St Ives.

The 17 and 17A combine to provide a 30 minute headway between Heamoor, Penzance and St Ives. This is a long standing through route.

From February the link is to be broken. 

The Madron and Lower Boscaswell section becomes routes 4 and 4A,

There is a loop element in this timetable which becomes more apparent if we look at the reverse direction.

Route 4A follows the former 17 route to Newbridge and St Just, then, after a break, continues to Boscaswell, 55 minutes later. That is significantly longer than the current 17.

But passengers could take the 4 via Madron and Portherras Cross (the latter tagged on this map) ...

... and get to Boscaswell in 38 minutes, also longer than the 17.

It looks as if many journeys will take longer; even longer if you have to enjoy the delights of St Just bus shelter whilst 'waiting time'.

Which takes us, naturally, to St Ives, currently enjoying a bus every 30 minutes on 17/17A.

St Ives

See 17/17A timetable above. The current map is straightforward ...

... and, apart from a few schooltime wiggles in Penzance, the live map is also OK.

But take a look at the new Go Ahead 17.

More like Go Backwards 17 with a drastic reduction to hourly.

GoAhead does confirm this.

Not good news!

Mousehole

Readers will doubtless remember the fbbs trip to 'Mowzle' in September 2025, enjoying diddy minibuses right down onto the Harbourside.

The service currently runs every 20 minutes.

There were the obligatory school oddities, but the route is simple.

The M6 does provide a local service in Penzance itself. As far as fbb can tell, the route in the town is unchanged but with no 'M' on the blinds.

But the frequency is reduced to every 30!

But it gets worse. In order to reduce the frequency, GoAhead will use bigger buses which will not fit through the chicane that leads to the Harbourside.

So the terminus will be one stop short at The Old Coastguard Hotel ...

... not the best welcome to the picturesque harbour.

So a worse service than current in two ways.

But local knowledge suggests that drivers find a turn at the Old Coastguard ...

... too unsafe and make the turn two stops short of the harbour.

So the new 6 service is palpably worse than current M6.

We have looked at just three existing First Bus routes from Penzance, replaced by four GoAhead schedules. With the exception of journeys between Madron and Boscaswell, all are in some way inferior.

Penzance people are probably particularly peeved at the paucity of the replacement provision.

There will probably be pitchforks at dawn when the changes happen in February.

More services will be reviewed in tomorrow's blog.

  Next GoAhead blog : Thursday 22nd Jan 

Nostalgia ...

 ... Isn't Like It Used To Be

Back in the day, your Cornwall bus service would, with very few exceptions, be run by Western National. The company was under the overall management of The Transport Holding Company Ltd, formerly Thomas Tilling.

THC and the British Electric Traction (BET) group both became, effectively, state owned and were later formally united as The National Bus Company.

The NBC adopted a policy of local branding which begat "Cornish Fairways" ...

... soon to be eclipsed by a variety of privatisation paint schemes, a mixture of red, blue and cream.

The nicest was the "flags" version ...

... downgraded to something more boring when First Group bought the company.

Then along came pre-barbie ...

... followed by Barbie ...

... then Barbie Mark 2! 

First continued it's trend of adopting boring liveries in weak colours.

Competition hit when former First employees set up Truronian.

A highlight was the development of "The Helston Branch Line", route T34, building on nostalgia for a much loved but closed railway service.

Truronian's enthusiastic local management produced an effective and successful local brand which nibbled away at First's network.

Next came pink liveried Western Greyhound ...

... a bit insipid, but certainly "different".

Colours later became green and white ...

... then all over green with a tasteful orange line. The company was, by now, biting, not just at the heels of First, but devouring the whole business. There were also some powerful route developments and some very smart double deckers.

First Bus, long regarded as a 'basket case' by the industry, fought back by buying Truronian. The rumour in the pubs frequented by Britain's bus managers was that First had paid too much for Truronian "to keep Stagecoach out"!

Then the wheels began to fall off Western Greyhound. The end was sad and abrupt. The company was sold but the new owners gave up before they really started and First took over the bits.

First was back in almost total control of the county.

BUT ...

For reasons which are not clear, good things did not last. There was route branding ...

... and an explosive growth of open top buses.

The leisure services centred on The Eden Project ...

... we're complex but unsuccessful; and a similar lack of business eventually removed open toppers at Falmouth, Newquay and Exeter ...

... together with the closed top run over the moors from Exeter to Plymouth ...

... although shorter versions remained for a year or so.

Then came the decision to withdraw ALL open top services including the apparently successful ones!

It was the recent competitive attacks by GoAhead that seems to have thrust the knife into the ailing company and was the final straw that broke the First Camel's chassis.

Fortunately there has been little evidence of First's latest boring livery ...

... with only one such evident when the fbbs sojourned at Penzance in September last year. But what was palpably evident was that First had already given up. Buses were no longer in the correct branded livery whilst a selection of cast-offs from other group companies accompanied the mess.

So what will Go Ahead do with First's much depleted network?

Outline information is now available for the February changes.

  Next Kernow blog : Weds 21st Jan 

Monday Variety

Glorious Gronk 2

This company has taken a rather tatty and unloved class 08 ...

... and removed everything under the bonnet! Actually the bonnet itself has gone as well.

What is left has been cleaned down and protected by coats of heavy duty paint.

In the space go the batteries ...

... and a new drive train.

The original 08 is a diesel electric shunter, so it appears that the electric motors that turn the wheels are retained in the 08e.

It is all computer driven ...

... and miles away from the greasy growl in the cab of a Gronk!

Create a new lower height bonnet and you are ready for a launch.

Of course it has to have a leaf green livery to emphasise the environmental credentials of the rebuild.

News breaks more recently of the  first 08e to be sold for real.

Whilst the steady eddy of the 08 is no longer the normal sight in every goods yard (there ain't  no "every" goods yards nowadays) it would be good to see more of these delights.

You wonder who will be the first to market a OO model of the 08e

Puzzle Picture

This is a clue!

It was professor Eric Laithwaite ...

... who introduced the linear electric motor to the World, which, combined with vehicles floating on a magneti field gave us "Maglev" trains.

 

As it so often the case (see tilting trains) the UK failed to develop the idea. 

This is the best and only Maglev train to enter commercial service at Birmingham Airport. 

It was replaced with a more conventional string hauled system!

But others from far away have funded the development - and this is the latest result.

Seen above on its test track, it is now ready for public use, the technicians claim.

It goes quite quickly.

The plan is for Japan Railways ...

... to build a brand new Maglev line ...

... linking Tokyo with Osaka.

The road distance is just a smidge under 500km.

Trains currently do this trip in a little over two hours, so nippy in the extreme. In theory the new trains will take less than an hour! 

In the UK, that would be like London to Carlisle in just one hour.

Yikes.

How does it work.

It is levitated up and down ...

... guided side to side ...

 

... and propelled along ...

... all by magnets!

The principle of all three is simple (Yeah, right!!) with alternate north and south poles attracting and repelling in sequence.

That's  how fbb understands it - but what does he know? Not a lot and most he learned from Eric Laithwaite's Royal Institution Christmas lectures.

But that was nearly 60 years ago and, possibly, things have moved on a bit in the meantime!

The puzzle Picture is a bogie from the Japan train. And it doesn't  make understanding it any easier. It seems to have wheel, presumably for low speed manoeuvering. 

What they need is an 08e shunter!

More Model Railway Madness

Look at this, guv!

Sorry, that should read ...

Look at this GUV.

A GUV is railway parlance for a General Utility Van and the above were in use for the Rail Express Parcels service, now long gone.

But you can buy a model for you very own little railway. This one is OO gauge and by Bachmann.

The price is relatively cheap by today's  standards,

But what about this one?

It is by Heljan and is twice the price and more.

Shock Horror!!

But, dear reader, it is to O gauge and nearly four times the size by volume.

The mind boggles!

Tomorrow (provisionally) more mind boggling stuff from Cornwall.

  Next Kernow madness blog : Tues 20 Jan