Web site headings were very positive.
14 : Bridgwater - Cannington - Watchet
... leaving the rest of the route to Webberbus. The 17 and 18, by the way, are not new routes operated by buses with refreshment bars (shame!) but refer to a list of "real ale" pubs.
Note that the 24s leave Bridgwater 7 minutes before First's 14. Which one would you catchassuming you were at th stop in good time?
26 : Taunton - Creech Heathfield
withdrawn This service was started to "have a go" at Webberbus who had previously won the tender ...
... then they promptly withdrew, leaving the route (now theoretically "commercial") to First. The revised service 29 (see below) provides replacement journeys, but not as many.
reduced from hourly to every THREE hours and diverted via Creech Heathfield replacing 26 : a massive chop.
The service no longer runs to Wells (except for "commuter" journeys), now terminating in a large loop serving the hinterland of Glastonbury.
But, we hear our intellectual readership cry, what about Brittons Ash?
What about Brittons Ash indeed?
The old 29 went via Priorswood Road, the turned right at Monkton Heathfield ...
What about Brittons Ash indeed?
The old 29 went via Priorswood Road, the turned right at Monkton Heathfield ...
... then left onto the A38, the main road to Bridgwater, where there are stops to serve some new housing.
Brittons Ash is the next stop along, at the end of the eponymous but uninspiring side road.
Because the new inferior 29 is now trundling via Creech Heathfield, it cannot go via "Brittons Ash". What has actually happened will be revealed in tomorrow's blog.
fbb knows that his loyal readers simply cannot wait. But they will have to!
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Top Reporting From the ...
... about the Cambridge busway
The busway, which runs between Cambridge and Huntingdon, has had 11 million passengers since it opened four years ago, but it has been plagued with defects. A technical report six months ago said the busway, which was built by contractor BAM Nuttall, had £31 million worth of defects. Next weekend, the section from Addenbrookes’s Hospital to Trumpington will be shut for maintenance.
Speaking to BBC Radio Cambridgeshire, Bob Menzies, service director for strategy and development at Cambridgeshire County Council, said they may be forced to put rubber pads under every beam of the track. “It’s a real shame we have this problem, that we’re having to close it over a weekend, having to divert the buses round, and we many have to do more of this in the future. Our experts’ view is that eventually we’ll need to fix it all. And it’s a real shame. If we (the county council) have to we’ll lift every beam up and put these rubber pads back under each one of them as they should have been done properly in the first place.”
Such is the power of the press.
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Next bus blog : Wednesday 15th April
I think the picture IS taken on the Cambridge Busway. A First single decker and a Lothian double decker were loaned for testing during the construction phase - and the background does not look sufficiently urban for busways in Leeds or Bradford (and in the latter, many are one-way single track sections).
ReplyDeleteVideo of the two buses here:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.noguidedbus.com/video/BBC_LookEast_158848_16x9_bb%5B2%5D.wmv
Thanks for correction - I was confused. The picture is misleading, however, if it purports to be of the current operation.
ReplyDeleteSurely 'fewer buses'?
ReplyDelete