Readers of this blog may be surprised to hear of a councillor wanting less buses - what crisis in these two districts of Derby provokes the Council Leader to call for a reduction in service?
The village of Alvaston has existed since at least the eleventh century. Rapid expansion came in the second half of the 19th Century and in 1904 the electric tram replaced the horse-bus service and, with the advent of the motor car, London Road became the A6. Alvaston became part of Derby in the late twentieth century.
The smaller, neighbouring village of Boulton has been swallowed up by Alvaston, and Boulton is rarely referred to by name.
The green road running from upper left to lower right is the "new"A6; the "old" A6 is the yellow road which sort-of parallels it. The A5111 is the Derby ring road and the red road is Derby's London Road.
This is an extract from a map of the City's trolleybus network.
Trolleybi ran south from the centre to Shelton Lock (at the bottom of the map) and as a circular via the Normanton Road (off the map, left), round to Alvaston "Blue Peter" (map, centre right) ...
... and back via London Road (and vice versa).
As the areas of Alvaston and Boulton developed they were served by motor bus routes.
Former trolleybus routes (40 and 41) are shown in a 2014 map in BROWN ...
... but still showing something of their heritage. Former bus routes, but expanded, are in DARK BLUE (43 Boulton Lane) ...
... and LIGHT BLUE (44/45 Alvaston Circulars).
Apologies to knowledgeable folk for this simplification!
Derby Corporation Transport had became Arriva, of course, and the most recent developments show former trolleybus routes and bus routes merged into a mega Alvaston "lollipop" and (a year or so ago) renumbered 1 and 1A both running via London Road.
Today's map looks like this:-
The former trolleybus circular 40 and 41 have become a more prosaic (and much less frequent) 4 and 4A.
But back to the 1 and 1A.
Arriva runs every 15 minute both ways round the "head" of the lolly.
If fbb's mathematical ability is undiminished by age, the above timetable gives us eight buses an hour. We need to find another 12 to explain Councillor Ranjit Banwait's expressed concern. Back to the Derby Telegraph.
The city council, which Mr Banwait has led since June 2014, has no control over service frequencies or route choices of private bus operators.
In a letter seen by the Derby Telegraph, Mr Banwait outlined his frustration to a Government traffic commissioner.
Traffic commissioners are responsible for the regulation of bus, coach and goods vehicle operators, and registration of local bus services.
Councillors can be somewhat ignorant of the workings of Public Transport industry, but one thing is certain. The Traffic Commissions have no powers to force any company to reduce or increase the frequency of any commercial bus service. Councillor Banwait's letter is a waste of time.
Tomorrow we will find the extra journeys, a search which takes us, in recent history, to nearby Nottingham.
Derby Daftness revealed : Thursday 21st September
You say Ranjit Banwait wants "less" buses.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure he'd settle for "fewer".
Yourbus have been round for quite a while in Derby. They would have pulled out by now if things were going wrong.
ReplyDeleteArriva Derby is ripe picking judging the amount of times they've been u0 before the TC