Moving On In The Millennium
fbb is not very hotton the history of Potton, but yesterday he included two United Counties services operating in 1979. Thanks to the great Great Britain Bus Timetable, we can move on to the 21st century - just.
Those who really understand these things celebrated the start of the new century at midnighton December 31st 2000. The first year of the new era was 2001. Sadly most of the world celebrate one year early. As there was no year zero, year 2000 marked 1999 years of history, not the start of a new 1000!
The last GBTT was dated from November 2000 to June 2001 - so just made it! There was a spartan service 178/179 from Bedford ...
... via Sandy, Potton and on to Gamlingay. A more frequent offering ran as 188 from Biggleswade direct to Potton ...
... also continuing to Gamlingay. There was a subsidiary service 173 to Wrestlingworth with evening journeys to Potton, portmanteau style.
These locations can be identified today on the Central Bedfordshire bus map. 
The council warns that its maps are not always fully up to date, but the above is good enough to give us a guide. Visualise it with a road map ...
... with Gamlingay off-piste top right and we have made a start!
Roll the calendar on to the current schedule.
Centrebus is operating a two hourly 188 melded with a two hourly 190 to give Potton an hourly service to Biggleswade or Sandy, surely a welcome improvement over what had been available in the past.
fbb has added these services to the council map.
But Centrebus operation ends this bank holiday weekend. A new tender will be in operation from next week covered by local company Herberts Travel.
At first glance Herbert's service looks much the same.
Two observations can be made immediately. Service 188 now serves Cockayne Hatley although it may be by a double run from Wrestlingworth (slacker again) and also calls at Everton where it joins the 190. fbb has (tentatively) created a revised map.
Occasional 188s via Gamlingay are now numbered 189, but the diversion was not new. In the previous operation, these "oddities" retained the number 188. The service via Potton remains hourly with a significant doubling of frequency at Everton!
There is another minor but interesting development. When Herberts 188s get to Sandy, they don't just turn tound to return to Stevenage. They trot off for a little tour via Moggerhanger and Blunham.
Moggerhanger is a village in the English county of Bedfordshire. It is west of Sandy on the road to Bedford. Its population in 2001 was 636, but had reduced to 620 at the 2011 Census. In the twentieth century the village name was spelled variously as: Moggerhanger, Mogerhanger, Muggerhanger and Morehanger. Local pronunciation of the name is as Morhanger.
So now you know!
Correspondent Katie, who reported to fbb about things Potton in the state of Bedfordshire, suggested that fbb should be excited about this little loop. Excited? For why?
Because the loop is shown at both ends of the timetable ... 
... to continue from Sandy towards Potton etc. Equally the same loop is shown on journeys from Potton.
How refreshing! Think how many times fbb haa complained vociferously about poor presentation of loops - making it difficult to complete a journey in one direction. Herberts Travel gets it RIGHT!!
Needless to say, Traveline can't cope!
From The Guinea, Bedford Road, Moggerhanger,
take 73 bus to Station Road O/S Sandy Railway Station, Sandy
20 minutes. Depart 10:24, Arrive 10:44
Take 190 bus to Church Road Opp The Thornton Arms, Everton
7 minutes. Depart 11:16, Arrive 11:23
But then comes the surprise!
Stagecoach 73 runs/ran from Biggleswade to Bedford twice an hour.
From this coming weekend. one journey an hour diverts via Potton as route 72.
To help our comprehension fbb has added the "new" 72 to the map.
That gives a magnificent two buses an hour from Potton to Wigglesbade and Sandy.
It is not at all clear why Stagecoach is disturbing its tidy "every 30 minutes" frequency on the 73. Whilst the extra travel opportunities will be good news, they are unlikely to double the number of customers - so both parties will lose out.
Our competitive system really does need a makeover!
And a little twist in the tale. Look up service 72 on line for Stagecoach Bedford and you get details of buses between Bedford and Hitchin ...
... which no longer exist! The extract above is from Hertforshire's data uploaded to the interwebnet by a third party and never removed. It is no longer on the "official" Stagecoach site or available from Intalink, Hertfordshire.
But, caveat emptor.
Just because "ITS ALL ON-LINE" doesn't mean it's right!
The headings are all still there from Stagecoach ...
... they haven't been deleted.
But there seems to be "a problem" with the timetable - yup it doesn't exist! The 71/72 disappeared in December 2018.
Route 9 + 71/72 – Routes 71+72 will be withdrawn and replaced in part by route 9. Route 9 will operate a revised route/frequency between Bedford and Shortstown.
Buses will operate up to every 15 minutes in both directions between Bedford and A600/Harrowden Lane junction. Two buses per hour will serve new bus stops on the A600 for the New Cardington development, then operate back to Bedford town centre via Southcote, Greycote, South Drive and the Hwy. Two buses per hour will serve North Drive, Greycote and Southcote before continuing on to Hitchin. One hourly route 9 journey will continue onto Hitchin from Shortstown through Arlesey and Ickelford, one hourly journey will continue to Hitchin via Henlow Camp.
It's the 9A and 9B now - obviously.
Fun, innit!
Next "Why Do They Do That?" blog : wednesday 25th August
Saturday afternoons are particularly exciting, since Potton lost its Saturday afternoon services altogether a few years ago (pre-Covid) due to, er, lack of passengers. It now gets the 188/189/190 back AND the 72, together with late evening services too. The 188/189/190 is subsidised. The 73 was in part, particularly the double run to Tesco in Sandy which is dropped from the 73 variant, but still no idea why the 72 suddenly appears on the scene...
ReplyDeleteThe Saturday afternoon services on the 188/190 were cut due to a need to make savings on the tendered bus services budget, the same happened to all supported services in Central Bedfordshire. CBC have been able to access some additional funding and have been able to restore the Saturday afternoon services on a number of services including the new 188/190, this was due to happen regardless of the retender and other changes.
DeleteWhat I am surprised at is that CBC haven't modified the timetable more in the light of the Stagecoach extension, they knew about this early in the tendering process. I would have expected a modification to enhance the 190 portion rather than keep the old pattern and have this duplication.