fbb has previously reported on the swift way in which Derbyshire managed to cover most (all) of the Your Bus tendered services and have them up and running on the Monday after the close-down the previous Thursday.
Here is the list from the weekly digest of registrations sent each week from County HQ.
Note that the Notts and Derby replacement for Y59 was taken on commercially, the rest are tendered.
Once again, the speed with which the folk at Derbyshire managed to overcome the loss of YourBus is magnificent.
Did they get a tip-off in advance of the collapse?
Farewell 66 Or Is It?
Another entry on the same weekly bulletin reported the withdrawal of Hullesy's service 66 between Baslow and Buxton.
Connecting journeys from Chesterfield are by the company's 170 to Bakewell.
Is this really the end of a long standing "country" service?
Perhaps not if we look again at the registrations digest ...
... and a "tease" on the company's web site.
IN 2018, Hulleys did a passenger survey on the 66 and maybe the new X70 is the result. (click on the graphic below for an slightly larger view).
fbb has asked Hulley's for an X70 timetable but, as yet, has received no reply.
Beautiful Boatyard Bus
Roy (from Sheffield) is very keen on eating - especially in buses that have been turned into cafes. A recent visit has been to Heath Charnock near Chorley in Lancashire. Roy takes a train to Adlington then a 15 minute walk, but Heath Charnock is on Stagecoach's frequent bus 125.
This runs every 10 minutes between Preston and Bolton and is an enjoyable ride in its own right.
When Streetview trundled past, the bus was parked just over the hedge from the road.
Entry is on nearby Rawlinson Lane ...
... via what looks like the drive to somebody's bungalow.; which it is! But press on and you come to the eponymous boatyard where the bus is now ensconced complete with dinky little fence.
Roy speaks highly of the menu and service ...
... but, be warned, opening hours a somewhat restrictive!
Thanks to the EXCELLENT Ian's bus stop we can see the history of the vehicle.
Bought in 1989 for London Buses route 237 ...
... it was once branded "Riverside Buses".
It found its way to Pilkingtons of Accrington via East Yorkshire and then to the owners of the Boatyard. where it retained its most recent Pilkingtons livery.
Apparently the Breakfasts are very good.
I See No Geese!
Also from Roy (he gets about a bit!) is this.
It was plying its wares at Nottingham Goose Fair - with no geese.
The Nottingham Goose Fair is an annual travelling funfair held at the Forest Recreation Ground in Nottingham, England, during the first week of October.
Largely provided by travelling showmen, it is one of three established fairs in the United Kingdom to carry the name, the others being the smaller Goosey Fair in Tavistock, Devon, and the even smaller Michaelmas Goose Fayre in Colyford, East Devon.
The Tavistock and Colyford (near fbb's Seaton) events still have geese, albeit fairly nominally.
Or are they ducks?
Although it is now known for its fairground rides and attractions, the Nottingham fair started as a livestock and trade event, with a reputation for its excellent cheese. The name "Goose Fair" is derived from the thousands of geese that were driven from the Lincolnshire fens in the East of England to be sold in Nottingham at the fair each year.
More stuff tomorrow.
Next bits and pieces blog : Monday 14th October
Gosh, that's an old 237 timetable! Long before I moved to the area in 1994, it had been extended to Shepherds Bush - I used it quite often and so I must have travelled on that bus!
ReplyDeleteThe 237 in its various guises is an interesting route as it largely follows trolleybus route 637 which was withdrawn in, I think, 1934 and which itself followed an earlier London United Tramways route. Indeed there had been a tram stable at the end of my road although the building has long gone (the pub next door is still there although rebuilt!) See: https://tinyurl.com/yxtlxxd6
The 237 Hounslow to Chertsey became familiar to me in 1965 when I lodged briefly in Feltham at the start of my working life in London, though its buses were then RFs not fitted with doors. I also recall the 90B Kew Gardens to Yeading (RTs from Twickenham AB), the 285 "London Airport Central" to New Malden (RMs, Fulwell) and the peaktime extensions on the 152 (RTs, Merton). And on a Sunday visit to Fulwell I saw most of the first batch of XA Atlanteans which were in store there before they went to Chalk Farm for the 24.
DeleteThe 237 shown was a single-deck route which saw a number of types over the years but was converted to OPO RF and then Bristol BL type buses. As one of the early casualties of LT 'out-County' reductions in the Eighties, the section from Sunbury Village to Chertsey was given up to Surrey County Council and the rest of the route, from Sunbury to Hounslow was converted from OPO BL to crew RM and extended to Shepherds Bush. At the same time the 117 was curtailed from Shepherds Bush to (I think Brentford) and converted to OPO Leyland National.
DeleteThe X70 timetable can be found on Hulley's Facebook page. It is not extending to Buxton.
ReplyDeleteStagecoach Chesterfield were due to take over the routes they have started operating at the end of the month. I have not yet been able to establish whether other Yourbus routes had similarly been retendered, but it is possible that some other operators were similarly almost ready to go.
Yourbus had lost some of the Alfreton area services from the end of October to Stagecoach Mansfield, though as you I cannot ascertain whether it was some or all of what they have gained from Yourbus.
DeleteThere was a routine DCC retendering exercise in mid-August with a change date of 26th October but didn't include all of the YourBus contracts, though it is also unclear how much was actually awarded. I believe DCC had been separately lining up cover for the YourBus since late August, so there was clearly some prior info, though no matter how prepared you are when you get so little notice of such a large failure it still depends on vehicle and driver availability how quickly operators can actually cover new work.
DeleteThe new X70 timetable is also available from DCC's timetable library at http://www.derbysbus.info/times/
ReplyDeleteAnd Nottinghamshire County County appear to have done nothing at all to replace the commercially operated, hourly, Y10 Eastwood town service. Eastwood is a particularly hilly area and the withdrawl will have left a lot of people stranded.
ReplyDelete