Saturday Variety

Bridgwater Corporation Transport!?

So far it is only the former PTEs that have embraced their new powers to "Franchise" their bus services, with Manchester's Bee Network begining the the only one to actually happen at the moment.

Cambridgeshire has made the appropriate noises.

But Bridgwater, a small market town in Somerset ...

... has aspirations.

This is what the on-line article says.

So, what would the new municipal bus operator actually operate?

Not a lot. 

Here are maps from First Bus, no longer branded as 'Buses for Somerset'.

Service 14 is a relatively unfrequent rural service which fills a few occasional journeys via Haygrove. Journeys also extend cross town to the hospital.

The pale blue and dark blue are inter-urban services from afar and to afar which are unlike to be devolved to the Town Council.

Which leaves the B1 town service. This offers forgettable frequencies at irregular times past each hout with the best of a bad lot in Mondays to Fridays.

And yes, there used to be a B2 until First merged the two into a mega wiggle!

On Saturdays and Sundays times are less frequent and not at all memorable ...

... at every 65 minutes throughout most of the day.

Things were much better before yet another of First's  cutbacks.

Perhaps the town ciuncil has aspirations to provide a half hourly service in the B1?

As yet there are no details, nor any clue as to where the money will be coming from.

AB1 Autonomous Bus

Abandoned Bus

A piece of news that fbb missed earlier in the year.

The driverless bus with driver plus customer care assistant ran from Edinburgh Park (above) to Ferrytoll Park and Ride (below) across the old Forth Road Bridge to the Kingdom of Fife.

Anyway it all ended!

If fbb remembers correctly, the driver had to take over anyway at the two termini as the autonomous technology was not auto enough!

Needless to say, Roger French enjoyed a ride a while back and published copies of the enthusiastic leaflet ...

... which included the enthusiastic timetable (over enlarged by fbb)

Unfortunately nobody really wanted to go from the Park and Ride to the a terminus in the western fringes of Edinburgh.

So, whilst technically it worked for most of the journey, it was hardly a roaring success passenger-wise.

Try again, folks!

Again the key question, "Where's the money coming from?"

Hythe : Hopeful or Hopeless?

After being ditched by the new owners of Red Funnel, the Hythe Ferry Company went into administration. 

The Parish Council has hopes...

... but, where will the money come from to fund this perennially loss making service?

It will be very sad to lose the really weird pier train at Hythe!

But it only ran to connect with the ferry.

A Nearby First Bus Cutback?

fbb has no idea where the above First Solent branded double decker is parked or is operating. But further research reveals an on-line item headed by a picture of red single deckers for Southampton city services ...

... operating under the brand of 'City Red'.

First no longer operates the city network in Southampton, leaving the business to an expanded GoAhead's BlueStar.

So what's  going on in Gosport?

Here's  the map.

This shows the Gosport end of bus routes between there and Fareham. The main direct link between the two towns is the busway routes E1 and E2 branded 'Eclipse'.

And the buses are electric! Wow!

The traditional "round the houses" service is currently provided by the 9/9A.

Together, these two provided a combined 20 min headway.

Without access to the revised timetable it is not entirely clear; but the plan is to divert the existing 9A journeys via the 9 route giving a 20 minute frequency throughout.

The application is that some 9A roads will lose their service but many passengers will have an improved frequency.

Whether that warrants the negative headline is a matter of conjecture. You would guess that depends in whereabouts along the route you live!

Historically the nearest to the 9/9A would have been Provincial's 8 and 8A.

And a route 8 bus in the depot yard at Hoeford.

Nice!

Isn’t The Internet Wonderful No. 471

You might think that after 60 years, the press could get the logo the right way round!

For a while the arrows were so presented on Sealink ferry vessels.

But only on one side. The top arrow pointed to the front of the boat!

fbb is not sure how that worked on the Yarmouth to Lymington ferry ...

... because the boats did not have a front!  Photos suggest that the arrows were consistently for left hand drive on both sides.

More tomorrow including giving a lift to an Underground station that is over ground.

  Next Variety blog : Sunday 17th May 

Yoo Hoo Wuhan Part 2

A Linguistic Challenge?

Above is the rail map of Wuhan!

We shall refer to it later in this blog when we go for a bus ride.

Buses - An Introduction

But first, a guide to bus travel in the city in English (nearly) but helpfully with French subtitles.

Did you spot the ticket price? More on that topic to follow next week.

There is no commentary on this next video but best watch it first, looking out for the bridge over the Yangtze river.

The bus route runs between two stations that carry the names of two of the three communities that were merged to form the city of Wuhan; that's  Wuchang station on the north of the river ...

... and Hangkou on the south.

fbb guesses that those are the two black station sausage shaped blobs on the rail map above. They are joined by a blue line which represents a main line train service.

The Big Bridge

The bridge carries road and rail traffic as seen here from above the Yellow Crane Tower.

Next we have a picture of the bridge from below ...

... clearly showing the overhead masts for the electric trains. The mini pagodas at both ends of the bridge are a reminder that bustling modern Wuhan has a deep  and sometimes unhappy historic background.

The Wuhan Yangtze Great Bridge (simplified Chinese: 武汉长江大桥; traditional Chinese: 武漢長江大橋; pinyin: Wǔhàn Chángjiāng Dàqiáo), is a double-deck road and rail bridge across the Yangtze River in Wuhan, in Central China. At its completion in 1957, the bridge was the easternmost crossing of the Yangtze, and was often referred to as the "First Bridge of the Yangtze".

Here it is under construction ...

... and, atmospherically, at sunset!

Until the bridge was opened, through railway carriages crossed the Yangtse on a train ferry. Sadly, fbb could only find pictures of a modern Chinese train ferry ...

... but you will get the idea.

Tomorrow, we talk some more about bus fares!

In the meantime, yesterday fbb wrote briefly about the tendency if the Yangtze river to flood.

Best keep your wellies handy!

Wuhan blogs continue on Monday.

 Next Variety blog : Saturday 16th May 

Yoo Hoo Wuhan - Part 1

 

Wuhan in China has the dubious reputation of probably being the source of the Covid outbreak, an appellation hotly denied by the Authorities. Lockdown was very severe and heavily enforced. Here is the bridge over the Yangtze river during and after.

The city was 'created' from three conurbations. The 'Wu' comes from Wuchan, the 'Han' from Hankou and Hanyang.

The prefecture-level city of Wuhan, the capital city of Hubei province, China, has a long and rich history that dates back over 3,500 years. Starting out from the Shang dynasty-era archaeological site at Panlongcheng associated with Erligang culture, the region would become part of the E state and Chu state during the Zhou dynasty. 

The region evolved into an important port on the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, and the cities of Hanyang, Hankou and Wuchang were united into the city of Wuhan in 1926. 

Modern-day Wuhan is known as 'China's Thoroughfare' due to its status as a major transportation hub, with dozens of railways, roads and expressways passing through the city and connecting to other major cities.

Current population is approx 13 million!

It's big!

 

There is history in the big city, but most of it has been moved, renewed or repurposed. Typical is The Yellow Crane Pagoda ... which has seen many versions over the long years. Here us Pagoda Mark 1 (probably "imagined" ...

A more recent rebuild ...

... and today's bigger  and better version.

It looks as if the build it bigger at each rebuild!

There is a resited Buddhist pagona ...

... and a memorial to one of the many revolutions that has beset city and country in the past.

Talking of revolutions, Mao Zedong wrote a celebratory ode to uphold his aim to prevent flooding buy building upstream barriers of concrete.

He never did!

Flooding has always been a problem. Here is a holy site (not at Wuhan) no longer open to the public, set high up on its fluvial rock.

And here's why!

The palace survives!

But fbb's interest is, as ever, in Wuhan's public transport. There is lots to investigate - but with some trepidation as fbb's  knowledge of Chinese is limited to a Chop Suey (which was invented in the USA!)

Here  is a taster ...

... NO ... not a toaster but a taster. fbb's  mum and dad had one of these that always sent the slices of bread into flames and billowing smoke. fbb did try it when they were out and it did, spectacularly!

Back to the taster. Wuhan has ...

High Speed  Rail

 A large and relatively recent Metro network

Trams

One of these?

Buses

Trolleybuses

 

Tour buses

AND ferries!

When and how these modes will be covered is not clear.

But surely fbb will unearth some delights.

As you might expect with a big city in China, technology is King! So don't expect too many timetable leaflet PDFs.

  Next Wuhan mini blog : Friday 15th May