Around And About (1)

Fares Folly in Guildford?

fbb had intended to do a more thorough survey of the fares on offer from the three insane competitors. Sadly Safeguard let fbb down with an evaporated web site!

Before it leapt off the information super highway into a bottomless chasm of unavailability, fbb thinks that the key offer was a weekly ticket at £7.

Stagecoach, surprise, surprise, also had a £7 weekly ticket. 

fbb dutifully downloaded the T & C.

Terms and conditions

Available for use on all Stagecoach services in the Guildford local area bounded by Artington, Burpham, Sunnydown Plantation, Jacobs Well and Cobbett Hill, with some minor exceptions for private contracts & special event services.

Special promotional price available until Sunday 6th January 2019.

Ahem? 'Tis now July; has the offer ended? Who knows? Slick publicity, Stagecoach!

But, by comparison, Stagecoach's weekly ticket in Woking, just up the road, is much more pricey.

fbb no longer has a detailed "feel" for bus economics, but even his limited financial entrepreneurship suggests that 50p for a single bus ride in 2019 is something of a bargain; so much so that the companies MUST be losing money with every ticket it sells.

Potty.

And Arriva?

Self destructive seven quid again. 

But fbb is puzzled by the above panel. Think about it.

£25 for a four week ticket - OK so far?

£100 for a twelve week ticket - erm ...

£75 for three four week tickets?

And even with decimalisation, metrification, the loss of groats, rod, poles and perches, four time sthree is still 12, surely?

So why pay a ton for twelve weeks?

Weird!

But at £7 "threepenny bits" a week ...

... nobody is making money!

As a committed Christian fbb is very keen of the concept of repentance and Divine forgiveness (ever necessary!) so feels bound to confess a "mortal sin". A week ago on Friday, Guildford was really hot, stuffy, sweaty and less than pleasant. Your peckish author had, of course, espied the delights of the bus station caff.

Paul's would be fbb's noshery of choice; and a mugga plus wad of something stodgy would have fortified him for the return trek to Axminster. But the heat ...

Just inside the doors of the Friary Centre, and much cooler, was a place for the elderly one to enjoy a pot of tea (1⅔ cups) and a lemon tart.

Yes, the old man went to Costa Lot - the shame, the ignominy, the duplicitousness of the man!

And the lemon tarts are MUCH smaller than they used to be!

Crazy Competition in Scarborough?
A picture from a Twitterer caught fbb's eye.

East Yorkshire (now part of GoAhead) have broken open their piggy bank and provided the traditional sea front route 109 with shiny new vehicles. Memories abound of the silliness of competition here.

Applebys had a go ...

... but for some time Shoreline Suncruisers has been a vigorous competitor.

Indeed until the council stepped in to "regulate" departures, things got very factious at the busy stops! An "agreement" was reached with specified departure slots for each operator and severe restrictions on "hanging around". A tentative peace was established, but there were still oodles of buses rattling along the esplanade.

Are they all still there?

Suncruisers web site says so but fbb is not sure? Easy Yorkshire, as well as very nice (and expensive) buses, has a superb publicity leaflet.

It combines two Scarborough services and the open topper down the coast at Bridlington. A neat idea; having enjoyed one breezy ride, folk will be tempted to take the bus along the coast and experience the other one.

The benefits of a printed leaflet rise to the fore again!

The seafront 109 remains the flagship but (from memory) with a more stable timetable.

In the heady days of "competition" buses would run every few minutes, usually with similarly few passengers!

Routemasters with bow ties were a feature ...

... followed, historically by one man motors with a distinctive triangular paint scheme but in the company colours.

A brand appeared ...

... and a different livery. But the new scheme, out on the road since June, is better than ever.

In addition, at weekends and school holiday times, another open top route runs.

It starts from the station ...

... and continues beyond the 109 northern terminus.

Every 30 minutes.

From the Sea life Centre at Scalby Mills, you can join the town's popular miniature railway for the ride back to Peasholm Park where the 109 awaits you.

It has been around for many years, since 1931 in fact. It has five locomotives ...

... and its latest acquisition is a new-build live steam loco called Georgina.

Well worth a ride on the open toppers and the train.

The Bridlington service, also peak times only, is a different kettle of fish ...

... extending to tourist "hot-spots" to the south of town ...

... and the magnificent cliff tops at Flamborough to the north.

fbb was last on the beach at North Landing (not the bit with the lighthouses) ...

... in the autumn of 1964 on a works outing by train with a Uni chum whose landlady/lord invited both lads. It was not quite as remote as in this old B&W picture.

But the two students eschewed the fleshpots of Brid and, on fbb's advice, caught an ordinary service bus to Flamborough Head where they threw pebbles into the sea until the next bus took them back. Such simple delights amused the young bloods in those happy and stress-free days before mobile phones and social media.

It has a much posher caff now ...

... and a splendid "runway" to ease the launching of boats.

If you choose the right dates, you can enjoy the trip by open top. But, beware; wrap up well, the wind can whistle bitingly over the Flamborough cliffs, even in the glory of a typical British Summer.

Another bus trip that is well worth taking.

P.S. fbb is confused. Is Shoreline Suncruisers still operating? Everything on their web site is dated 2018!

 Tomorrow we go to Wales and Cheltenham