Commercial Considerations Confuse Customers
Sadly, Bankhead Church (behind the tram) ...
... is now closed and was for sale when Google trundled by.
We have previously seen that, back in times ancient, there was a tram service, colour coded green, from Aberdeen to Bucksburn and on to Stoneywood. Currently two First Bus services (or service groups!) call at Bucksburn. One is the X27.
Both the leaflet and the timetable on the Airport web site show a 20 minute frequency from Dyce station (below, lower right) ...
... looping round the top side of the Airport ...
... into the terminal area and on into the city centre. It also runs via TECA, which must be nice for all concerned. It is also called P&J Live ...
... and looks like something dropped in from the Planet Zog.
The acronym means The Event Complex Aberdeen!
But it is all a lie and a delusion. The X27 is currently only every hour.
According to Google Maps there is a branded route 17 and 17A at Buckburn.
fbb guesses, as it turns out, correctly, that they are also First Bus routes, as Stagecoach, we know, is not a great lover of route brands. Pictures show route 17 vehicles with a picturesque "Northern Lights" lettering.
But there is also a 172 with the same brand ...
... and the vehicles also show that route 18 is part of the fun and games. The ethereal Aurora Borealis graphic looks very, well ...
... Northern Light-ish!
Reduced, no doubt, for the duration.
Service 17 was an old Aberdeen Corporation route number, following part of the old tram route ...
... but clearly the original has been much extended. Where do we start? Map or timetable?
Here we have a simple 20 minute frequency on service 18 and simple 20 minute frequency from Newhills on service 17 with one such starting back from Dyce. The 17s you will note call at "Howes Road" which we know is Bucksburn.
Maybe a map will help.
The First Bus map shows everything running round a large anti-clockwise loop at Dyce, popping into the shopping centre on the way. Buses turn "round the back" ...
... before completing the loop to stop near the end of Station Road in Dyce.
At Bankhead, the 18 and 18A continue to Aberdeen via Mugiemoss Road (what a gorgeous road name!) but what and why some are shown via the A947 is a mystery to fbb.
Meanwhile, the 17, 17A and 172 run round the Newhills estate ...
... before stopping at Buckburn Howes Road on the way into Aberdeen.
In the interests of completeness, we should ask what the 17A and the 172 are - because they do not appear on the basic 17/18 daytime table.
It is all very simple once you know.
The 17A runs on Sunday daytime all the way from Dyce (there are no 18s on Sunday) ... 
... and the 172 runs every evening including Sundays.
First is not clear which the central stop in Aberdeen might be, but "Adelphi" seems likely.
A hotel? A cinema? A theatre? A sophisticated gentleman's club?
None of these - it is a cobbled cul-de-sac ...
... accessed by a very bus unfriendly arch!
A better name for the timepoint would be "Union Street Adelphi" because the stops are on Union Street near the Adelphi Arch. But First would not want to be TOO helpful to their customers.
Fortunately, our study of buses at Bucksburn does not require us to understand where they go on the far side of the city centre ...
... or, even more challenging, to grasp the peak hour worktime variations to the east of Wellington Road.
There is something intriguing about catching a bus to the Suez Recycling Point!
fbb does wonder whether showing these services on one table and in one colour is the best idea. Surely separating the routes would make it all much easier to understand?
The beauty is a joy to behold!
Making things easier for the passenger to understand is what has provoked these blogs and will form both the conclusion and the denoument in tomorrows offering. It is all about helping the passenger with electronics.
And it carries a heading for NESTRANS, to boot!
And an apology to Stagecoach. In yesterday's review of services, fbb forgot to include Stagecoach 220.
This runs from Alford eastward to Kemnay and across to the A96.
Sorry fbb missed it, Mr Stagecoach; a long-standing route number!
Also not yet covered is the one "independent" ...
... service 305 operated by Bains Coaches.
Next Bucksburn bus blog : Friday 2nd July
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