The Problem Partly Resolved
No one could fault the on-line presentation of the changes to Keighley's buses that happened last Sunday. Locally, there was a launch accompanied by the Great and Good ...
... and there were timetable books a-plenty which included the excellent new network map.
None of this was on offer to the residents of East Ham for whom there was an almost unintelligible description of their changes, but no timetables and no map. It most definitely was NOT all on line!
Whereas Exley Head residents were told all about it's changes at least a month ago.
"We will double the amount of buses on some routes" - a cracker of a non-spoken sound bite. And it was true!
K1 to & from Laycock
We will increase back to running every 30 minutes (currently hourly) Monday to Saturday.
K5 to & from Thwaites Brow
We will increase back to running every 30 minutes (currently hourly with some extras) Monday to Saturday. Evening and Sunday buses will run hourly.
K6 to & from Fell Lane
Frequency will increase to every 30 minutes (currently hourly). Evening and Sunday buses will run hourly.
The cynical amongst our readership (a label that you could never affix to fbb!) might question whether these were real increases. The phrase suggests that the half hourly headway had been downgraded for the duration so, yes an increase, but not a new increase.
It is still worth shouting about, though.
But fbb was still confused and by more than the off-the-map difficulties in the Oakworth, Haworth and Oxenhope areas which baffled the elderly brain cells as revealed in yesterdays blog.
Slowly (far too slowly as the brain addlement increases with the effluxion of time - i.e. dafter and older!) it dawned on your esteemed blogger that, all the time, he was looking AT THE WRONG MAP. The Keighley buses web site included a list of all the revised services complete with full timetables BUT WAS SHOWING THE PRE-CHANGES MAP!
Mega bludner of the highest order! So where the on-line network map showed the K10 (ORANGE) ...
... it should really be showing its replacement via Harewood Road, namely the K15 (ORANGE) and there it is on the new map ...
... only available as part of the one-month-old pre change publicity.
Whoops!
There is no mention of the Harewood Road's replacement as part of the K10 deletion text ...
K10 to & from Spring Bank, Ingrow and Oakworth
The K10 will no longer run. The 67 will serve Spring Bank every hour as a replacement with K7 and K9 continuing to run to Oakworth and Ingrow.
... but it does get a mention on the K15.
K15 Keighley to Haworth then Oxenhope
The K15 will be running to a different route. It will no longer reach Oxenhope, Leeming or Marsh Top, and will instead follow the route through Oakworth, Harewood Road and Bracken Bank.
Maybe it should have said "replacing parts of the K10".
And maps of the whole of the Brontë area, before and after, would be a great help.
Despite the occasional shortcomings, the Transdev stuff for the Keighley change is very, very good. Of course it could be better, but, presumably, with limited resources, the company has spent where the spending is necessary and where most passengers will benefit.
Such a pity about the wong map, though. Inexcusable.
Before fbb moves on to some Keighley changes that are less encouraging, a quick look at some more excellent publicity.
Some wonderful coloured leaflets with excellent maps ...
and timetables.
There are well presented vehicles ...
... and superb publicity to actually encourage folk to travel with them.
GoAhead? Stagecoach? First Bus? Transdev? Arriva?
Of course not. This is ...
... with an equally impressive web site.
Erm, no!
East Ham Versus
Who are We?
Our Mission is providing a safe, reliable and courteous local bus, serving those rural and urban communities in our part of East Sussex not served by the commercial bus companies.
Our Vision is being the Community Bus Service of choice in our area.
We have been operating for over 45 years and run a small fleet of 16-seater mini-buses from our base in Berwick. We operate over 20 weekly timetabled services, requiring nearly twice as many half-day shifts, taking people to their nearest centres for shopping, appointments, or for pleasure. We also operate summer leisure services and offer private hire facilities. We provide special annual services for International Tennis in Eastbourne, and the Charleston festivals.
We are a Registered Charity (#1120494) and Company Limited by Guarantee (#06032000). Trustees (and Directors for the purposes of the Companies Act 2006) are:
Beryl Smith, Chair
Susan de Angeli, Secretary
Philip Ayers, Managing Director
Stewart Fuller, Finance Director
Kevin Fryer, Operations Director
Nick Price, Personnel and Compliance Director
Andrew Cottingham, Customer Relations Director
The company is run entirely by volunteers; there are no employees. We have some 45 fully trained drivers and some 10 additional volunteers who all help run the fleet and keep the wheels turning. Want to join us as a volunteer? See the 'volunteering' link below.
We are like any other bus company except we operate smaller buses to help reach parts other buses can't reach. E&W concessionary passes are accepted on all our timetabled services.
In a normal year (pre-covid) we run 125,000 miles and undertake over 80,000 passenger-journeys.
East Dean and Herstmonceux
Contrast and Compare!
Next Keighley blog : Thursday 20th May
Good to see that splendid paper publicity from Cuckmere Buses - and all run by volunteers too. Well done Philip and your team, you certainly show how it can and should be done!
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