No 3 son was travelling from Basel to Glossop for his chum's 40th Birthday (as you do). He decided to spend Wednesday night in an hotel in central Manchester and proceed to Glossop on Thursdasy morning.
Seemples?
NO! From a machine at the Airport he was sold a ticket for £4.
Unbeknown to No 3 this particular ticket was endorsed TransPennine Express only. The lad was berated for his disgraceful sin as he had NOT boarded a TransPennine train!
Yer what?
A quick check at 1400 yesterday afternoon revealed this astounding piece of pricing pottiness. Fares at £4 ...
... or £3.80 ...
... both off-peak day single. Also available for occasional journeys at arbitrary times was ...
... and Advance for £3.
I wanted an Airport Glossop return, and there were unmanaged queues at the ticket machines. The airport machine conveniently sold me the attached which was invalid.
What brainless system has allowed this to happen, fbb cannot discern. But as No 3 son wrote "It is ridiculous!".
On Thursday Morning he then bought a ticket to Glossop which came as another surprise.
"Never seen one of these before!" commented the lad.
Actual ticket to use on the barcode scanner screens they have on barriers now, notionally for mobile phone tickets . So the qrcodes are now taking over, didn't work getting out at Glossop, probably because the reader was covered in slime as they are little plinths on the horizontal.
Good design, eh?
The Fruit Harvest Fails
Long-term blog readers will remember a major branding exercise for First Potteries? Each group of routes would be colour coded and named after (mainly) fruit. Lime Line, Cherry Line, Charcoal Line, Chinese Gooseberry Line etc etc.
There were well designed timetable leaflets, a really good network map and a dedicated "fruity" web site. Some routes were branded accordingly.
Sky, Cherry and Plum appeared (maybe others) then, almost suddenly, the whole thing fizzled out and buses became simply "Potteries". The dedicated web site also vanished.
Ray Stenning did a great job for network publicity but it was never sustained.
But a new kid has now appeared on the block, also the scion of the ebullient Mr Stenning. Potteries service 18 runs to Leek.
It has recently carried rather a weak "18" branding ...
... with a pale something front wedge.
Wishy washy grey line?
But young Ray has come up with a cracker, the "Leek Bus" ...
... with one of Ray's "creating desire" self-promotion adverts on the back.
The cappuccino "F" may well be the only mention of First Bus in Ray's design.
The bus, of course, is far from new; escaping from First in Essex ...
... where is once wore a little black dressing for Park and Ride.
Trolley Service of Light Refreshments
Not uncommon on the platforms of busy stations in days past. When a tiny little fbb (aged 4) was off on holiday to Colwyn Bay, he well remembers mum and dad purchasing a cup of tea from one such, possibly on Crewe station.
Your author was aghast when the cups were brought on the train and train, parents, kids and cups all set off for North Wales.
Dad had stolen some teacups from the man on the platform.
Dad tried to explain that the offending crockery would, by some administrative magic, find its way back to the trolley. The young boy was unconvinced and confidently expected a police constable to make an arrest upon arrival at their seaside destination.
P C Plod did not appear!
The Skill Of Relaxing!
Since fbb mansions became feline free with the departure of the wonderful Jacko to the happy mousing grounds via the Vet's crematorium, fbb and Mrs have to enjoys the delights of cat-life more remotely.
Here is one of Ray Stenning's cats (via a Twit message) managing to get a few minutes rest during a busy day supervising the design work.
Cats really have this snoozing thing well under control!
A Re-Tweet?
The morning train from Bradford to Kings Cross.
Glorious!
Fruit in Pots
If you would like to follow fbb's blogs from 2014 charting thr Fruity Bus Branding in the Potteries, start (here) and then use the links on the left of the blog page.
Long-term blog readers will remember a major branding exercise for First Potteries? Each group of routes would be colour coded and named after (mainly) fruit. Lime Line, Cherry Line, Charcoal Line, Chinese Gooseberry Line etc etc.
There were well designed timetable leaflets, a really good network map and a dedicated "fruity" web site. Some routes were branded accordingly.
Ray Stenning did a great job for network publicity but it was never sustained.
But a new kid has now appeared on the block, also the scion of the ebullient Mr Stenning. Potteries service 18 runs to Leek.
But young Ray has come up with a cracker, the "Leek Bus" ...
The bus, of course, is far from new; escaping from First in Essex ...
Trolley Service of Light Refreshments
Your author was aghast when the cups were brought on the train and train, parents, kids and cups all set off for North Wales.
Dad had stolen some teacups from the man on the platform.
Dad tried to explain that the offending crockery would, by some administrative magic, find its way back to the trolley. The young boy was unconvinced and confidently expected a police constable to make an arrest upon arrival at their seaside destination.
P C Plod did not appear!
The Skill Of Relaxing!
Since fbb mansions became feline free with the departure of the wonderful Jacko to the happy mousing grounds via the Vet's crematorium, fbb and Mrs have to enjoys the delights of cat-life more remotely.
Here is one of Ray Stenning's cats (via a Twit message) managing to get a few minutes rest during a busy day supervising the design work.
A Re-Tweet?
The morning train from Bradford to Kings Cross.
Fruit in Pots
More Medley on the Morrow : Sunday 17th November
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