Yesterday we saw that the various journey planners did not want to take the innocent potential passenger to Sheffield's Batemoor estate - instead requiring a walk from various stops well short of the desired destination on Batemoor Road.
It would be interesting to look at Stagecoach's on-line or printed timetable but on-line the company uses Travel South Yorkshire tables and fbb did not find a Service 1 leaflet when he was in Sheffield a few weeks ago.
So, in the absence of printed material we are stick with the standard Travel South Yorkshire non-leaflet ...
... which doesn't mention Batemoor on the heading page. You begin too wonder whether the PTE or Stagecoach actually want passengers to travel to Batemoor at all!
Maybe the map can help? TSY's maps show an accurate route overlaid on a blank road network but with very few printed names to help the passenger.
Nope, Batemoor gets no mention. Why two Jordanthorpes and no Batemoor?
The timetable is equally unhelpful as regards the Batemoor estate.
A knowledgeable user, well versed in the geography of the area might be able to guess that buses timed at Meadowhead Dyche Lane/Bochum Parkway might (yes might) trundle round Batemoor on the way ...
... but most journeys are not timed there, so, you would presume, don't go there. Oh look, there is one journey at 1032!
In fact a total of SIX journeys are timed beyond the Jordanthorpe "terminus" and therefore via Batemoor throughout Monday to Friday.
fbb does have a copy of the Stagecoach "working timetable" which is even less helpful. It still shows only those six journeys ...
... but gives the "terminus" as Batemoor Dyche Road which we know is NOT Batemoor at all, it IS the Jordanthorpe terminus cum turning loop. Stagecoach doesd show the same six journeys as continuing beyond Jordanthorpe as per this example:-
In passing, please note that ALL buses serve Ecclesfield Morrisons, not just the paltry few shown above!
But this blog is headed "At The Bus Stop" and we have already seen that the electronic displays admit to the existence of Batemoor ...
... but no such luck with the departure lists.
fbb is mystified as to why these times are called "Estimated". The stop is Sheffield High St on the printed timetable and buses wait for their scheduled departure time there.
Or there is the associated "map". Called "spider maps" by Transport for London, in Sheffield these purport to show routes from this stop in a useful but diagrammatic form. Both service 1 and service 75 are shown as terminating at ...
... Jordanthorpe! Batemoor, yet again is relegated to the depths of unrevealed secrecy.
Widen the lens and you can see the whole "spider" in all its helpful magnificence.
No Sheffield resident would ever tell you that the 97, 98, 75 and 76 serve Nether Edge, likewise the 1, 11 and 11a do not run via Highfield in any normal sense of the word. Abbeydale Road South at Millhouses and Chesterfield Road at Woodseats are long roads and to give them a specific running time from City (24 and 28 minutes respectively) is unhelpful.
But the biggest howler of all is the 11a.
It does NOT follow the same route as the 11 although they do cross over at Newfield Green, which, helpfully, is not shown on the map.
By even the widest stretch of the imagination the 11a simply does not serve Hemsworth even if you stretch Highfield beyond belief and totally beyond truth! And yes, fbb has mis-spelled Hazlebarrow Road. Naughty step again with no pudding!
Incidentally the 97, 98, 75 and 76 DO serve Highfield, calling near the well-known Highfield Branch Library ...
... yet another place where essential relief has been withdrawn!
Before one of the many anonymice adds a snide comment, fbb is well aware that regular users of Stagecoach Service 1 will soon find out that the end of the route is a somewhat tortuous loop brought about, in part, by the turn restrictions on Bochum Parkway.
Buses "wait time" at the Jordanthorpe turning circle ...
... and then set off back to City VIA BATEMOOR.
Surely it is not beyond the wit of timetable architects to create a time for Batemoor on the outward journey. A simple solution would be to show the departure time from Jordanthorpe even if a passing time on Batemoor Road were beyond the ability of the Deep Throat computer.
fbb had hoped to provide his chums at GoTimetable Sheffield with such information; but it is often unclear from published data which bus leaves at any particular departure time, especially at start of service, end of service and peak times.
The aim would be to make it easier to understand what the buses actually do, to reduce passenger frustration and, dare fbb suggest it, encourage passengers to use the buses.
A highly dangerous practice! A security camera snapped the face of a Stagecoach timetable planner when fbb suggested this policy at a meeting a year or so ago.
Next bits and pieces blog : Sunday 13th October
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