Best O'Leicester - Or Sometimes Not! (Part 2)

 CORRECTION!!!

fbb is grateful to correspondent Julian for helping him resolve the vexatious Novus complexity.

Readers may remember that the above web site lists Novus Direct, the "normal" bus service from New Lubbesthorpe to Leicester, and provides a PDF file of the excellent leaflet with proper timetable and map. fbb reviewed this in yesterday's blog.

Because there is no mention of the "demand responsive App booked"  ...

... Novus Flex, fbb assumed, fool that he is, that it no longer operated, having been replaced by its "proper bus" cousin. But Julian tells fbb that the Flex still operates serving destinations outside the city centre that were served by Arriva Click and are NOT served by Novus Direct.

Novus Flex, according to the operator's web site, will take you to Brunstone, Leicester Forest East (Zone 2), Enderby, Narborough (Zone 3) and, weirdly, Leicester city centre (Zone 1),

But the fares "table" adds a considerable complication.

You cannot make journeys entirely in Zone 1

You cannot make journeys entirely in Zone 3

You cannot travel between Zone 3 and Zone 1

You CAN travel anywhere from or in Zone 2

So, from the passengers' point of view Novus Flex is really ONLY for folk who live in Zone 2. For any other journeys you use Novus Direct or other proper buses.

It might make sense commercially, but it will be beyond most occasional passengers and utterly baffling to a visitor.

Hop is a better idea.

Listen For The Frog

Those as old as fbb will remember the huge success of Sheffield's City Clipper. It carried loadsa passengers when the fare was a modest 2p ...

... it carried huge loads of passengers when it became free.

Its successors have never captured the public's imagination in the same way.

Manchester's free bus has just changed from three routes to two longer routes and, as a result may be less popular. They serve more places, GOOD ...

... but they take longer to do it - BAD.

They were branded MetroShuttle 1, 2 and 3 ...

... and are now called, with classic Mancunian ingenuity, Freebus 1 and (guess what?) Freebus 2.

Note the distinctive livery for each service!

And So To The Frog!

Apparently, as you travel round Leicester's FREE city centre bus (called Hop) ...

... You can here a frog croaking in the background. When Leicester correspondent David travelled with his sister Kathryn, she heard the frog but David did not. It could be that the continuous croaking might encourage regular passengers to rip out the loudspeakers and jump on them. But maybe it is not very noticeable - if so why bother?

Roger French was impressed. He found lots of roadside publicity ...

... plenty of bus stop information ...

... and plenty of printed leaflets.

Chum David and sister Kathryn were also impressed and sent fbb a leaflet and the article that appeared in the local rag.

The article's author was clearly not a bus user. Despite the instruction in the leaflet to "signal clearly", he did not and was astounded that his chosen departure sailed past without stopping. He didn't like the frog either!

Julian has emailed to report that on Saturday 15th (end of the first week's operation) 530 passengers travelled. The Monday to Friday average, so far, has been a tad over 400 per day. fbb guesses that the 10 minute frequency will soon not be enough so they had better get some more buses on order quickly.

To maintain the frequency over the peak hours, a third bus is thrown into nthe melting pot. David snapped it grazing peacefully at St Margaret's bus station in the middle of the day.

Which brings fbb to one of his two concerns.

Hop does not serve St Margaret's bus station. According to David, the stop in Savoy Street is only 100 yards away.

Savoy Street is bus only ...

... and thus not visited by he Streetview noddy car. But an aerial view ...

... shows he route from bus stop (bottom right) to St Margaret's (top left). Obviously locals and regulars will soon get used to it, but newcomers and those arriving at St Margaret's wanting to avail themselves of a free ride for the first time will not have a clue.

Will the walk link be properly signposted?

Then there is the stop at the railway station. It leaves from stop EG which is opposite the station exit. Hooray.

But to get to it involves the crossing of a horrifically complex junction. There are traffic signals (lots)  - fbb has negotiated them in many occasions in the past - but it is far from obvious. Again, is there adequate signposting from station to any of the bus stoops towards city?

There certainly wasn't when fbb made the crossing when the road plan was easier to cope with.

There are four bits of road and one cycle track to cross, with three of the roads equipped with Pelican crossings. 

The Hop stop is top left, the cycle way and  first road crossing are bottom right.

It was a bit of a mystery when fbb last toddled across there; but then the bus stops were closer to the station exit and visibly more obvious.

But, let not these problems detract from what is a superb  bus initiative from the Leicester buses consortium.

Pity their web site is not of the same quality as the Hop publicity and infrastructure.

Tomorrow's blog investigates.

 Next Not So Bert O' Leicester blog : Friday 21st April