Tuesday 17 May 2022

East Ham Versus Exley Head (1) ...

... Comtrast And Compare!

It is probably fair to say that almost every reader of this blog will have heard of West Ham, largely due to some eleven-a-side team game which, fbb understands, is popular in some quarters. West Ham United used to play at the Boleyn Ground (a k a Upton Park) ...
... but have moved (controversially and cheaply to the detriment of HM Government's piggy bank!) to the former Olympic Stadium. The old stadium was just across the border in East Ham! 

You will not find the previous stadium there nowadays.
East Ham and West Ham are part of the London Borough of Newham. It should really be pronounced New Ham (as in pork derived cooked meat) but is known universally and disappointingly as "New'Um".

We met East Ham, briefly, in yesterday;+'s blog, when fbb helped out Transport for London by explaining, very simply, the changes to route 300 due this coming Saturday.

East Ham is on the Underground's District line and one stop short of the Barking terminus on the oddly named Hammersmith and City line which, as its name suggests, runs from Hammersmith to Barking, somewhat beyond "The City",

Back in the day, the line was in the hands of the London Midland and Scottish Railway ...
... which ran rains all the way to Saarfend. Later the station acquired an "Underground" sign ...
... and tram trundled past.
The station is little changed today.
But, whichever way you look at it, there is plenty of public transport at East Ham - even if, for buses at least, the information is appalling.

Things are somewhat different at Exley Head.
It doesn't even warrant an entry on "Wheres The Path" ...
... but it is there, upper right on the road between Keighley and Oakworth.

Google maps offers us ...
... Exley Head Methodist Church in Keighley.
But the community does feature on the Keighley Buses route map.
It is on the K7, near the K11 and not far from the K6.

Indeed, it is a time point on the K7, running every 20 minutes Monday to Saturday ...
... and hourly on evenings and Sundays.

So, already, we are miles better off than, say, service 300 from East Ham to Canning Town. 

It is shown on the excellent Keighley Buses town network map ...
... and we have a PDF timetable page which implies some kind of leaflet or timetable booklet. Even if Covid has interrupted the provision of print for passengers ...
... we can assume that, as things recover, print will return.

It's all looking very good for Exley Head - and even more very good when compared to the lack of useful information at East Ham.

Not only that, but a month ago, Transdev Keighley and District published a revised network map, text summaries of all the changes and all the new timetables! A whole month ago!
We are even told what ISN'T changing - and that includes the K7.

And look! The K7, a reltively minor route in an "average" West Yorkshire town (an averagely lovely West Yorkshire Town!) is operated by route branded buses.
Just like London Buses' 300 ...
 ... WHICH ...
... NEVER ...
... HAS ...
... BEEN! Unless you count the generic "Hoppa" brand which applied to a network.
Meanwhile, back at Exley Head ...

Trandev Boss Alex Hornby never misses a chance to promote change ...
... via the local media.
Needless to say, The Mayor (who wants to get rid of Transdev, Keighley Buses and Alex - shame)  is claiming credit for more or less everything!
Tracey (an ex Corrie actress, so knows a bit about buses) wants to be "like London".

Yeah right!

Keighley Buses, serving Keighley people as they always have done!
CWX 671 is a heritage vehicle in preservation.

So fbb had better look at what happened over the weekend at Keighley and check out the improvements. 

Were there any reductions? Betcha there were.

 Next Keighley blog : Wednesday 18th May 

1 comment:

  1. Print already has returned. Transdev have kept the faith in Keighley as elsewhere.

    ReplyDelete