1, 1A, 1B, 1C, See : BCT & more More (2)

Jumpers Very Necessary ...

... but not quite like that!

The Morebus 'main line' route between Bournemouth and Christchurch is numbered 1A. It continues across the River Avon ...

... to Somerford, terminating at Sainsburys ...

... where buses stop opposite the petrol station.

But why wear a jumper?

Jumpers Common was a village between Christchurch and Bournemouth, effectively now a northern suburb of Christchurch. It is extends northwards between the River Stour to the west and the River Avon to the east (which two rivers unite in a single estuary to the south in Christchurch town centre before entering the sea).

The roundabout by the A35 label s known as Jumpers Corner. This location has been a time point on the route to Christchurch since trolleybus days and, presumably, before that. Here is the current 1A timetable ...

... and here is a route 20 trolleybus, predecessor of the 1A air the Bournemouth town centre terminus.

Here at Jumpers Corner turning circle is a trolley on its way back to town.

Jumpers Corner was the terminus of ccasional short workings, numbered 24 (?).

Of course, the highlight of the trolleybus routes to Christchurch was the turntable just off the High Street.

And again in colour!

Even better, we see one of Bournemouth's "unique" ooen top trolley buses on the turntable.

Super juicy!

And yes, turning is manual, in the hands of driver and conductor.

With the end of trolleybus operation, the turntable site was redeveloped as flats. But, in the courtyard, there is still a non operational 'circle' to remind residents of the history of their block.

Now that MoreBus runs the 1A, the quality of the service has improved over the Yellow Bus offering. Here are some Morebus vehicles, snapped by enthusiasts.

But the 1A is not a BlueStar route.

Nor does it serve the University.

And you cannot visit the New Forest on the 1A.

It is a pity that operators, even those with a reputation for quality, see the need to dilute the "brand" by using the 'wrong' vehicles.

Please note that despite huge amounts of on-line prodding and poking, fbb could not find the origin of the name 'Jumpers Common'.

At Jumpers Corner, there used to be a Tea Room. Now demolished, but again information is sparse.

But the woolly clothing location was prominent on trolleybus destination blinds ...

... despite the fact that Jumpers was only one stop away from Iford!

Tomorrow, we ride the 1B, see!

P.S. 1870 Jumpers

Perusing an 1870 map of the area now served by 1. 1A, 1B, 1C, fbb noticed that just north if Iford ...

... was located Jumpers House, surely the origin of the name.

Here is a map showing streets laid out ready for development surrounding the ancient property.

Then we have today's view of where the House usn't; from the end of Stourvale Avenue.

The crosspiece of the T Junctiin is named Oakwood Avenue on the old map above, but is now Oak Avenue.

Still no knowledge is provided of the origin or etymology of the word, 'Jumpers'.

But we do now know that Jumpers House gave its name to Jumpers Corner OR did they both take the name from the micro community of 'Jumpers'?

 1, 1A, 1B, 1C; The Next One : Thurs 10 Sept 

1, 1A, 1B, 1C, See : BCT & more More (1)

 Baffling Bournemouth Buses

We do know about the much maligned and quickly dropped Yellow Buses network with prefix letters. In the fuziness we can just about focus on ...

P1 via Iford, Jumpers Corner and Christchurch to Somerford.

P2 via Fishermans Walk, Cranleighh Road, Tuckton and Christchurch station to Christchurch

P3 via Fishermans Walk, Southbourne, Tuckton, Christchurch station, Christchurch, and Hunt Road to Somerfotd

We also note ...

R4 via Fairmile, Christchurch Hospital, Christchurch and Somerford to Mudeford.

We can also find this map on-line, undated and even fuzzier!

Despite the fuzz, we can guess that the R1, R2 and R3 routes have been renumbered as 1 plus suffix; we have a pink line via Fairmile, Christchurch Hospital; and nothing via Mudeford. The observant will notice that the Southbourne route has gained an extra bit, via Harbour Road and Broadway, east of Southbourne itself.

Then we can find an undated list of Yellow Buses routes ...

... with one 1 from Poole, another one, the 1A extended beyond Somerford to New Milton and the third one, the 1B, also to Christchurch. This source does not give any intermediate routes,

But this source does give frequencies - in great detail to the right of this extract, hence the acres of white space.

It is a reasonable guess that the routes remain the same, but the 1B now extends to Mudeford.

Confusing, innit?

Perhaps rather than double guessing the distant past and revealing his ignorance of the historic detail, fbb should concentrate in what he does know.

He does know, because it is fully explained on-line with a non fuzzy PDF map, which routes MoreBus took over when yellow Buses collapsed into administration and closure.

Here are the three ones.

1A : via Iford, Jumpers Corner and Christchurch to Somerford Sainsburys

1B : via Fishernans Walk, Cranleigh Road, Tuckton, Christchurch station and Christchurch to Two Riversmeet.

1 : via Fishermans Walk, Southbourne, Tuckton, Christchurch station and Christchurch to Two Riversmeet.

MoreBus did not immediately take on journeys via Christchurch Hospital OR via the Hunt Road area of Somerford OR anything via Mudeford.

We may also note ...

33 : the extra bit of Southbourne once served by one of the 1s

The sanity in all these changes is that the various 1s ...

... all leave Bournemouth via the bus station at Boscombe ...

... and the railway station at Pokesdown ... 

... after which they go their different ways.

Hold on to that truth; and tomorrow fbb will begin to explore the 1 routes now (September 2026) operated by Morebus.

 Next one about the 1s : Weds 9th Sept 

Big Finance for fbb?

How Much? (1)

fbb was idly looking through the 'Pre Owned' pages in the huge web site for Rails of Sheffield, when he saw this advert.

Surely, he thought, this must be a mistake.

Northcord buses are top of the scale for detail and price, nowadays costing about £80 - too much for fbb to contemplate. Remember he is hyper stingy! But 'Pre Owned' versions of these Stagecoach Oxford buses ...

... will set you back about £55; same bus, different livery!

So fbb was about to include the greens and white in a blog offering a mild titter about a Rails pricing bludner. 

Then he discovered this on-line ...

... at £249.50!

And another one.

So Rails price appears realistic and ridiculous; because of rarity.

You pays your money ... if you've got enough!

There are some people, it is hard to believe, who collect OO scale tank wagons!

How Much? (2)

It is unusual for hospital services to attract the bus spotters, the wider interests in operation or historical enthusiasts or even the passing curiosity of an fbb blog reader.

The plain white bus above hardly stimulates the omnibological juices.

The white bus in question linked Sheffield's two big hospital sites. 

Back in fbb's youthful days, Sheffield Teaching Hospital was on Glossop Road ...

... just round the corner from the main University campus. But this hospital grew massively ...

... with a huge tall block and premises filling every corner of the site. It was also renamed The Royal Hallamshire Hospital.

To the north if the city was Fir Vale Infirmary, based in a looming Victorian red brick warren of wards, corridors and offices.

It began as Fir Vale Workhouse ...

... and became Sheffield's geriatric hospital. 

It was on a large site, so, over the years, multiple hospital buildings elsewhere in the city (Glossop Road, Nether Edge, Women's) were closed and moved to the Fir Vale site, now renamed The Northern General Hospital. It is very huge.

... with the original blocks centre right.

Plenty of buses pass the edges if this vast site ...

... but, according to Travel South Yorkshire, only the 'local' and circuitous 32 enters the grounds.

It runs from city via most of of the Northern estates, including the hospital, to Meadowhell. The service is roughly hourly.

But the network map ignores route H1.

A good few years ago, the Hospital Trust saw a need for reliable transport between the Hallamshire and the Northern General; transport for staff and not the general public. The availability was extended to those with booked appointments.

By 2018 the H1 had become available to all passengers. The H1 (there never was an H2 etc.) was operated by Sheffield Community Transport (SCT), another not for profit company that has come close to collapse.

So it should be on the network map. The white buses (two required for the half hourly service Mon to Fri only) are from SCT.

Here is SCT  at the Hallamshire turning circle.

But the service has just changed hands. The new incumbent is ...

... Hammond's of Nottingham, hitherto strangers to bus operation in Sheffield. Hammond's is seen (above) at the same location (above) ...

... and at the Barnsley Road entrance to Northern General. The PTE  shows no change of timetable ...

... or route ...

... or operator!

No rush to keep up to date folks, the new operation started on 2nd September.

But what we do have is the tender price, obtained by a Freedom of Information request.

Who can ever understand why that odd £2 sits atnthe end if the contract fee.

But we can now calculate what this huge sum means in practice.

fbb has been told the contract is for FIVE years.

So we can do the Math based on the service operating five days a week only and not on bank holidays.

The service requires TWO buses to provide TWENTY round trips each day. To allow for a Christmas shut down, we can call it 50 weeks, 20 journeys, five days and 5 years.

That's £3,208,602 divided by ...

50 x 20 x 5 x 5

... which equals ...

... a tender fee per round trip of ...

£248.34

Seems a good deal for Hammonds but we don't know who gets the fares revenue - and we don't know who is expected to pay a fare. The Hospital web sites are n9t helpful on the subject of fares.

Hopefully fbb's maths us correct; he did get an 'O' level in 1959!

Sad Snippet

A few years ago the bosses at Northern General (well, some if the bosses, apparently)  decided that access to the hospital by bus should be improved. So buses on route 2 (Sheffield to Barnsley) was diverted via the little turning circle near the old workhouse buiykdung (above, upper right).

fbb thinks this was on Sundays only.

Big deal!

But one Stagecoach driver went via the triangle with canopy.

CRUNCH!

The service was temporarily removed then quickly deleted completely.

Other bosses did not want nasty double decks in their hospital anyway. "Let them walk from the nain road," was the helpful philosophy.

Next we unravel some seaside routes 1, 1A, 1B and 1C. It's complicated!

 Bournemouth baffling bus blog : Tues 8 Sept