Follow-Up Friday

THE HAMMERSMTH BLOGS WILL FOLLOW NEXT WEEK

Not So Handy For Flixbus Thandi

The interwebnet reveals that Thandi have FIVE coaches for Flixbus work. If you half-close your eyes and use a vivid imagination you could almost believe that this registration plate spells the company name.

We also know that Thandi have had their licence to operate revoked by the Traffic Commissioner but have appealed, hence can continue in  business.

Whether this incident will help or hinder their case is not known BUT ...

... the coach in question was snapped on the M1 in the roadworks area near Northampton having, apparently, lost a wheel. Thandi operates the Flixbus service from London to Birmingham and Manchester.

Disgust With The Diverted Diversion

Readers will remember fbb's coverage of the diversion of all buses from the west of Sheffield away from the popular stops for shops in Leopold Street and Pinstone Street ...

... (and nearby, of course) in favour of a grotty back street (Carver Street GREEN) and recently further diverting them to new stops on Rockingham Street (RED) even further from where people wanted to go.

Rockingham Street is LEFT, Carver Street RIGHT; both very obviously contributing to the attractiveness of shopping in the city centre.

This all comes hot on the heels of Mayor Dan Jarvis' commissioned report on how to improve buses in the city.

The policy is going well, then Dan me lad?

Anyway, Sheffielders are revolting - or, at least, starting to revolt.

Last Wednesday's local rag carried a full and frank expose of the problem ...

... which fbb has summarised.

A spokesperson for shopkeepers on Surrey Street located alongside the Town Hall ...

... is Elaine Bird, an optician.

She has already objected vociferously to the whole idea of closing the main streets, originally using Covid as an excuse, and now moves on to get something done about the buses.

In her discussions with the Council, Elaine was incensed that officials suggested they might install some benches on Norfolk Street ...

... so the elderly could rest as they struggled uphill from their distant city bus stops.

What an insult!

The call for a free city centre bus, like the good old days, is echoed by Douglas Johnson, a "Green" Party Councillor.

Below is the launch of Freebee which died to save money.

Before that, of course, was the hugely successful City Clipper. That, too, was free in its later incarnations.

Nigel Eggleton ...

... boss of First Bus explained:-

To my mind Freebee is a proposal which stands on it’s own merits, and I remain unconvinced that the total removal of bus services from Pinstone Street was the right choice.

Yet more confusion is being caused by changes to services near the city centre by the closure of Carver Street and reversal of the one-way on Rockingham Street.

A bus is by far most travellers’ alternative to the car, and yet life is being made more difficult for existing passengers, still less new ones.

Well said, Nige!

The Greens have a costed proposal for the Freebie replacement.

An electric FreeBee had been in their budget proposals for the last three years. He said the service would cost £427,000-a-year, plus £1,080,000 to buy three new, electric vehicles.

He added: “More space for walking and cycling is very welcome but the move of bus stops from Pinstone Street has led to confusion for some regular users. A city centre bus would help that.

“Under the Green councillors' fully-costed budget proposals, a frequent electric bus would reduce air pollution and the vehicles would be owned by the council, not a private company. It would run every 10 minutes for 12 hours a day."

But fbb is always willing to share his advice and expertise - in this case absolutely free of charge; generosity beyond compare! fbb's plan will cost the Council NOTHING! And it is ...

PUT THE BUSES BACK ON

LEOPOLD STREET

AND PINSTONE STREET

Job Done Courtesy of the fbb blog!

Readers may remember the ludicrously potty departure list posted by the ludicrously potty PTE on the diverted diversion at Rockingham Street.

It missed out the whole of First's ten minute frequency to Crystal Peaks, that is except one sad and soulful departure at 0900. A copy of the above picture went to boss Nigel who contacted the PTE who replaced the display.

As an indication of the usefulness of these departure lists, fbb wonders whether anyone else noticed the error.

Quite why the correct list says "then every 9-10 minutes", when buses run every ten minutes between 1001 and 1501, is anyone's guess. Some journeys do differ by one minute (xx12 and xx42) but these differences are not shown.

Also look at the note in red. It says "Bus times shown in bold red terminate at Halfway or Sheffield." The two are very different.

In fact the ONLY bus that terminates in the city centre is the last bus from Fulwood on Sunday night. Surely the PTE's whizzo technology could tell us that without creating yet more confusion? Which bring is to ...

Isn't Technology Wonderful?

As a result of the wurgling at Rockingham Street, the above services now follow a completely different route westbound in the city centre.

They now use stop H5 opposite the cathedral.

Or do they? Here is the electronic display at stop HS5.

So maybe they don't.

Meanwhile at stop HS4, next to HS5, more services stop.

But the electronic system totally ignores service 51 ...

... which runs every 12 minutes - and WAS running every 12 minutes when the above picture was taken. Two 51 journeys should appear.

And, by the way, Service 30 does NOT run to Broomhill! It runs to Hallamshire Hospital, which, despite the PTEs obsession with wrong locality names, is NOT at Broomhill.

Canopy Construction Continues

Because fbb used a very precise tool to cut the strips of plastic for the canopy extensions ...

... the edges are not always clean.

Bodge No 4 : Make it so the straight edges of the plastic sheet, source of the strips, are on the outside ...

... and use some round beading to cover the embarrassment where the cut edge joins the ancient Triang canopies!

To come : legs, lighting and livery!

 Next variety blog : Saturday 24th April