Arriva's Cunning Plan
To mitigate the complete withdrawal of services 405 and 408/9 with a half hourly service from Askern into Doncaster via Owston, Toll Bar and Bentley, the 51 is diverted via the A19 instead of the Great North Road (A1 as was).
Odd, really, as it only provides a service between Toll Bar and Bentley as shown on the current PTE map above.
Bentley has its own 66 and 64 offering frequent buses into Doncaster. The 66 is every 12 mins ...
... and the 64/64A every hour.
In fact there is only the community of Toll Bar to be served by the diverted 51.
Upon investigation, it turns out that the most dramatic change is that Arriva took over the 51 service from First Bus!
So what fbb needs, as he pursues his investigation, is a full route map of the Arriva 51 from October 2022. There ain't one! The standard travel South Yorkshire non-leaflet is mapless!
And, to help the public, there appears to have been no printed material even for the change, so more tough cheese for the confused passenger! And more frustration for fbb!
Arriva does have a map on its web site ...
... which doesn't work, in common with much of Arriva's awful web presence.
Moovit has an unhelpful set of wiggles which ...
... seem inadequate and incomplete.
Another information provider called Transitland (no neither had fbb) looks a bit better ...
... but it is certainly not an adequate map by fbb's definition. Add this squiggle to the current Attiva timetable for the 51 ...
..., and it all reveal that the service now diverts via Norbreck estate and Eden Drive (as did the 405 an 408/409) and runs to Norton which was, you remember (of course you do!!) also served by the 408/409.
But, oh for a proper ma
Then fbb had a jackpot idea. If, he guessed, Arrive did once have a map, published for the takeover, maybe it would still lie hidden in the cobweb strewn depths that is the interwebnet.
It did and it was!
Arriva's cunning plan does something (but not that much) to offset the loss of the 400s along the A19. On the negative side, everyone who is "rescued" by the revised 51 will have a longer journey and many will inevitably abandon the bus as a result.
Maybe that is already happening, because what now pops up on line is ...
Arriva's New Cunning Plan ...
... complete with new high quality map. After only about 18 months of the Arriva 51, the company is proposing another major change for its hard-done-by few remaining passengers.
Enter the 44 and 45! There's a 45A evenings and Sundays!
Buses are hourly each way round.
Arriva tells us proudly how much better this will be than the half houry 51.
Really?
Here are the main points of Arriva-speak with comments by fbb.
It is good to see that Councillors, not Arriva, now decide to reduce services from half hourly to hourly. Twaddle. The new service can only be hourly, Councillor or no Councillor. Bet his/her voters are really pleased.
An improvement, yippee. The southern part of Campsall was not served (was never served?) by bus!
In general most 51 passengers are a little better off in tunning time but worse off in a halving of frequency. All former 408/409 passengers are still worse off in running time than they were with the original
And here is an extract from the new timetable which starts on April 7th.
Notes A and B merely tell you that buses continue round the loop, "A" from Askern to Norton and "B" from Askern to Sutton.
Askern, Burghwallis and Campsall solved - until the next time!
It never ceases to amaze fbb that bus companies can advertise a poorer service as an improvement.
Forget The Wagons
Eat The Scratchings
Another OO fake advertising model from Rails of Sheffield, including a small bag of porcine snacks.
But the big question is, are they "Barnsley" pigs, "Porkshire" pigs oir Yorkshire pigs?
fbb is already salivating at the thought of a bagful!
And only about 5 million calories a bag!
Tomorrow we go to a hotbed of the technical revolution,
Next Dudley blog : Thursday 29th Feb
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