... it is in Derbyshire. Once upon a time the County produced free timetable books - now, in these chastened times, you pay £2.50 (£3.50 by post). But at least these booklets are an excellent reliable one-stop-shop for bus services in the county. The Library, which isn't on Cockayne Avenue any more ...
... stocks The South and Peak District books and the opening hours are remarkably generous.
The TiC adds the North East booklet and is located in the back yard of the town hall building on the attractive Market Square.
Opening times are more complex and less favourable, so unless you are desperate for a North Eastern book, the Library is best.
Jan & Feb - Mon & Fri 10.30am-2pm
Tue-Thurs 10.30am-1.30pm
March - Mon-Fri 10am-4pm, Sat 10am-2pm
April-May - Mon-sat 10am-4pm
June-Oct - Mon-Sat 10am-5pm Sun 10am-4pm
Nov-Dec Mon-Fri 10am-3.30pm Sat 10am-2pm
Derbyshire books contain excellent local maps ...
... and a Countywide network map is also available.
Joyous indeed.
Yourbus operates with 110/111 to Matlock, which includes a Sunday service ...
... and Monday to Saturday services 113 and 114.
there is no Sunday service.
High Peak runs the 442 to Buxton, again with four trips on a Sunday.
The 442 pictured above is being overtaken by "Swift", the only service to be up the pole.
"Swift" is part of Trentbartonland and runs every hour between Derby and Ashbourne continuing to Uttoxeter (pronounced Ucheter, by ancient locals!); five trips on Sundays. Being the usually good folk at Trent, this service, as well as its attractively branded buses ...
... has its own timetable frame at Ashbourne bus station ...
... but without a "proper" timetable, merely a departure list. But all timetables are on display using the low tech method of pasting pages of the Derbyshire book on a large poster.
Simple, effective and easily modified if a timetable changes.
The network map and the local town map are also displayed.
So the bus station may be barely a bus "station" but its information provision is significantly better than many. It knocks Sheffield Interchange into the proverbial cocked hat and, clutching you timetable book, you can plan bus journeys without even the smallest of wifi signals.
Bonus.
Whoops; fbb nearly forgot service 108 to Leek ...
... operated by the delightfully named Aimée's company.
Is this the UK's only bus company with an acute accent?
They have some nice coaches as well.
fbb's omnibological trivia department reminds his readers (how could they ever forget) that their route 109 ...
... runs via the village of Rudyard. Kipling's middle name was chosen by his parents as an ongoing memory of Rudyard Lake.
The Lakeside boasts a small steam railway ...
... which fbb had never heard of until his ramblings (intellectual, not physical!) took him over the border from Ashbourne and into Staffordshire.
Thanks to Roy (Sheffield) for the bus station photos.
Next newsy blog : Sunday 21st January
Derbyshire's area timetable books were never free- though they used to be considerably cheaper. There were some booklets covering more restricted areas (e.g. a single town) but these lasted only a couple of years in the noughties. It is worth mentioning that amendment booklets to the three area books are still sent out free if one returns the reply postcard in the three booklets.Not bad for these straitened times!
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