Whoops Forgot!
Sadly omitted from yesterday's blog was the video produced by West Yorkshire Combined Authority (effectively the PTE with a posh name) to tell the world about its proposed multi-coloured bus "corridor" publicity scheme. Our readers, always agog for moving pictures, would not want to have missed such excitement.
So here it is:-
fbb has dispatched an informal enquiry to First Bus in Leeds, seeking their views on the proposal, and will include their comments (if any) in a future blog post.
A Gold Star For Sanders
fbb is rarely provoked into such generosity, but ...
Correspondent Andrew drew fbb's attention to a very well equipped web site, In particular, Andrew as impressed with the headline "stuff" for the 6/X6.
This provides a link between Cromer and North Walsham as 6A ...
... continuing as X6 to Great Yarmouth.
Please note: excellent maps!
Maybe the headline phrase "along the coast" is a bit over-optimistic ...
... as the 5 and 34 are closer to the actual sea side for most of the way!
What impressed Andrew was how the timetable is "delivered" on phone and on line.
Basically for EVERY service, you click on the box next to your departure point (in this case, Cromer) ...
... you choose the desired departure time and, ping ...
... the rest of the journey appears down the page next to the route number. It is almost as good as GoTimetable!
Of course PDF timetables are available; as is a fares calculator (yippee) and ...
.... steps back in amazement ...
... a printed timetable book.
Major operators, take note.
In Contrast ...
A report extracted from a blog about buses in Lancaster.
Online Timetables
The excuse usually given for not producing printed material is that "it's all online" and the BUG will admit that it is easier and cheaper for operators and councils to do it that way, although it's not necessarily more effective. Both our local operators and Lancashire County Council produce online timetables, so how what have they been doing to promote the new Sunday buses?
The County Council has updated its online timetables and produced new ones for the Sunday buses to Kirkby Lonsdale which have different service numbers (81A and 81B) to the weekday buses (81 and 582). The problem with the County's website however is that to be able to see a timetable you have to enter the service number into a search box, or select an individual bus stop by following a lengthy and convoluted process, so if you don't already know that there is a new service 81A or 81B then you are unlikely to come across it.
Kirkby Lonsdale Coach Hire's website contains a full set of the company's timetables but whilst the company has posted the new Sunday services on its Facebook page, and included a link to the Facebook pages from its website, it has not updated the timetable pages on the website itself. The 81A and 81B are not listed as "current services" ...
... and anyone following the link to the weekday service 582 to Kirkby Lonsdale will find a copy of an out-of-date timetable that explicitly says "No Sunday Service".
Surely Stagecoach can do better? In its case there are not "new" services, just Sunday journeys added to the existing 7, 10, 11 and 18 routes in Lancaster, so surely calling up these services in the "Timetables" section of the website will show the new journeys? Well, no, actually it won't! At the time of writing, no one at Stagecoach has thought to update the timetable files, so the service 18 timetable (for example) on the company's website looks like this
(Note the "No Service on Sunday" bottom left!)
It's not rocket science, even the BUG ...
... has managed to show up-to-date timetables on our website, even though we have had to link to Traveline or to files sent to us by others to do so. Our "Maps and Timetables" page has up-to-date links to ALL services in the District.
Verdict on all except the BUG
FAIL - 0/10
fbb suspects that the BUG is the Bus User Group. The author of the above piece does stress that the timetables are on the County Council site and up to date - but you can only find them if you know they are there.
A Thought-Provoking Video
There is growing concern about the environmental impact of our love of cheap flights (and expensive ones!). This video seems to offer miracle technology that reveals a wonderful way of de-carbonising air travel.
Seemples! Take off without using the engines.
"But ye canna defy the laws of physics, cap'n!"
Of course you can't. Flukily the "frame rate" of the video camera exactly matches the rotation of the props - so they LOOK as if they are stationary. The telly often shows pictures of helicopters with their blades moving impossibly slowly; or carts in Western movies with their wheels turning backwards whilst the horses gallop forwards.
Our physics defying aircraft is created by a similar concatenation of technologies.
The Great Carriage Shed Rebuild.
The old carriage shed had plywood walls, old plywood, which is why, despite regular painting, it eventually disintegrated. But at least is was firm and "solid" - until it wasn't!
But even two layers of sheet polystyrene, copiously glued together, appeared to be too "flappy" for comfort.
The answer ...
... Meccano! It is still available, second hand or repro, from Meccano spares sites on-line. Bolts (bigger that the fiddly old Meccano provision) were obtained from the wonderful Akermans hardware purveyors here in Seaton, and ...
... that wall ain't flexing no more, no more. All fbb has to do is disguise those huge bolt heads; a bit too much for yet more panscrub.
He feels a plinth coming on!
Keep It In The Family
Roger French, erstwhile boss of Brighton and Hove buses and now a prolific twitterer, blogger and bus/rail passenger, has a grandson; and this is he.
And this is grandpappy's tweet.
Nice.
fbb's "next generations" tolerate the old man's interest, often with insincere remarks like "do tell us more Pops!" El chubbo fears there will be no succession to the blogging service when the old man's core processor finally shuts down.
Next mixed-bag blog : Sunday 26th July
Our physics defying aircraft is created by a similar concatenation of technologies.
The Great Carriage Shed Rebuild.
The old carriage shed had plywood walls, old plywood, which is why, despite regular painting, it eventually disintegrated. But at least is was firm and "solid" - until it wasn't!
But even two layers of sheet polystyrene, copiously glued together, appeared to be too "flappy" for comfort.
He feels a plinth coming on!
Keep It In The Family
Roger French, erstwhile boss of Brighton and Hove buses and now a prolific twitterer, blogger and bus/rail passenger, has a grandson; and this is he.
fbb's "next generations" tolerate the old man's interest, often with insincere remarks like "do tell us more Pops!" El chubbo fears there will be no succession to the blogging service when the old man's core processor finally shuts down.
Next mixed-bag blog : Sunday 26th July
Sanders are my local company and they have been excellent in the lockdown. FBB would do well to look at their operation
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