Something Old, Something New (1)

The Council Says It Is Wonderful!

The centre retains some of its market town charm. But The Council was talking about the improved (?) bus services from this coming Sunday. 

Changes are being implemented to the Daventry Stagecoach bus services to improve the work, leisure and shopping transport links for residents.

West Northamptonshire Council (WNC) has been working with Stagecoach to improve the bus services in Daventry ... 

... with the financial support of Prologis UK, a Solihull-based industrial real estate agency.

These changes to the Stagecoach services came in response to customer demand. Councillor Phil Larratt, the Cabinet Member for Environment, Transport, Highways and Waste, said the feedback from residents was also considered while making the changes.

Phil must be a busy chap  ...

... because he looks after Highways, Waste, The Environment and (how does he find the time?) Transport for West Northamptonshire Council.

Cllr Phil Larratt said: “Working together with Stagecoach and Prologis UK we have been able to enhance bus services within Daventry, as well as improving the connections to both Northampton and DIRFT (Daventry International Rail Freight Terminal).”

Phil must be rightfully proud of these improvements as he is paraded round Daventry shoulder high by the adulatory voters

So we start at the very beginning, not with Doh Ray Me but with

ROUTE D1 Current

Seems straightforward. Once it gets going, the D1 runs hourly from Northampton to Daventry continuing to Rugby.

D1 UPCOMING

Will run hourly Monday - Saturday between Rugby, DIRFT and Daventry. This service will now serve the northern part of DIRFT. It will no longer serve the housing estates in Daventry, providing a more direct service between Rugby, DIRFT and Daventry.

DIRFT - Daventry International Rail Freight Terminal.

Without a current map, fbb cannot evaluate the consequences of "no longer serving the housing estates" but it doesn't sound like an improvement for them! Better for DIRFT, of course - but maybe that is because Prologis is paying! Also better for Rugby and intermediate communities.

The D1 is withdrawn between Daventry and Northampton

Improvements?

But by ditching the service to Hemans Road, Shackleton Drive, Ashby Fields, Lang Farm and Middlemoor (!) buses are 10 minutes quicker. These areas are served by the infrequent D4 and the hourly D6 under the new scheme.

More of this when we get to D6!

We need a Geography lesson!

Currently, the D1 follows the old A45, now A4500, then diverts to an even older bit of the A45 (now a yellow road on the above map) via Flore and Weedon. At the Northampton end, it nips off to serve the Sixfields housing estate ...

... and at the Daventry end, runs via Long March and Southbrook. (map below, yellow road)

The new truncated D1 doesn't run beyond Daventry centre and no longer via Southbrook and Long March, leaving it to the D6.

D2 CURRENT

Here's the map again!

In another outbreak of Stagecoach efficiency we have NO Current D2 for Monday to Friday or Saturday available on-line. Click on D2 and you get Current D3 Monday to Saturday and no D2.

If you are foolish and click on the lower two of the D2s too - then you will get the D1 - again.

Good, innit?

It's NOT All On Line.

However, we do get  current D2 for Sunday on a joint table with the D3.

It runs, apparently in a mapless Stagecoach world, via Sixfields as D1, the via the main road (A4500 and A45 fast NOT via Flore and Weedon) then some mysterious wiggles in and around Daventry. With D2 and D3 currently running locally beyond Daventry centre.

D2 UPCOMING

Will run hourly Monday - Saturday and two hourly Sunday between Northampton and Daventry. The D2 will no longer serve Southbrook, providing a direct service to and from Daventry, an additional stop in Panattoni Park named Hotel Chocolat in both directions will be added to the timetable.

Pannatoni Park? Sadly, no swings and slides ...

... it's yet another batch of impersonal warehouses in which to lodge your istics and drive truckloads of them via the M1.

The cake is "pannetone". Hotel Chocolat is, obviously, not a hotel; but it does have a shop and a caff.

So another chunk of estate running excised from the D2 and left to the D5.

The new D1 no longer runs to Northampton. So three buses an hour between the two towns is 'improved" to two.

And, tada, here is the new D2 and D3 on Sunday for comparison purposes.

Not doing the wiggles saves ten minutes for A4500/A45 passengers - a significant improvement at the expense of the estates and a minor bonus for the loss of the hourly D1 - but not much of a bonus.

And there is a glimmer of better news. The new D2 is also available disconnected from the D3 if you look in the forthcoming changes information.

Seemples.

But once upon a time it was even more seemples! Sorry about the fuzzy screenshot.

Back in the days of the Daventry Darts ...

... the D1 and D2 followed the same route between Northampton and Daventry; via Weedon and Flore and then via the Southbrook estate every 30 min. (Do TRY to pay attention there!). From Daventry they diverged to serve different housing area.

Nice back then!

Eyeball investigation calls. Off to Wonford Hospital for fluorescent dye injection and more pictures of the back of the eyeball. Discarding the vernacular that's fbb's macula.

It may turn the pee orange and the skin yellow. In exceptional circumstances it might cause vomitting. Sounds fun!

They did but fbb didn't!

 Next Daventry blog : Friday 27th October