Riding the Xciting X6

Where Does It Go?

Information on the new and "exciting" X6 as promoted on-line by First, and on a non printed leaflet by Travel South Yokshire (TSY), is hard to fathom. TSY makes a slightly better job of it than First, but neither offers anything like helpfulness.

Perhaps both parties would prefer it if nobody used the X6.

Although it us up to 9 minutes faster than the direct routes, you would only use it for end to end journeys if you knew what it was and if you happened to be at a stop also served by the X1, X2 and X3.

Despite the fact that Traveline doesn't know anything about it (fbb checked at 1630 yesterday!) it does appear that Google Maps has been party to the route's dark and well hidden secrets.

In Sheffield

Yes, where? fbb knows!

The terminus is Moor Market at the southern extremity of the central shopping area. It then serves Moorhead (outbound) ...

.. and Hallam University opposite and inbound.

.

... from where you might choose to walk to the railway station. Then the useful (?) bus calls at the Crucible Theatre and opposite on inbound journeys.

You might choose to walk through from here to the bus station (called the interchange because hardly anything uses it these days).

And that's yer lot. 

From "Sheffield" (see TSY leaflet) it runs non stop to J33 setvices.

At Welcome Break J33

Here, amazingly, the stop is right outside the the main block ...

... a k a the "Amenity Building"; but, to get there, the bus has to make several complex gyrations of roundabout and assorted access roads. Correspondent David did explain it all in a series of texts, but it is a little beyond both fbb and possibly his loyal blog readers.

STOP PRESS : fbb will publish the "TO Sheffield" route of the X6 via the Services as a snippet in a future blog. It is "fun" especially at busy times.

It should be said that there is no indication in the "Amenity Building" to tell any lover of omnibological exploration what is going on.

Spot the bus stop sign!

Thankfully correspondent David took a close-up picture of said stop ...

... showing timetable frame, timetable and map, all helpfully provided by TSY - NOT

The X6 gained not a single passenger at the pretty stop and set off six minutes early to Rotherham - so tough cheese if you arrived at the stop on time, having refreshed yourself within!

Note the excellent blind display on show throughout the route - and reprise fbb's  thought about whether the providers actually want any customers.

And On To  Rotherham

A reminder of the X6 (PALE GREEN)

The bus calls at two stops in West Bawtry Road (or is it West Bawtry Way - sources differ). One is ideally situated for passengers wishing to visit Wickes ...

... and the other for those seeking to stock up with Breedon Cement.

These stops are on the bit of the A631 between the two roundabouts on the map below.

There are a few houses here ...

... but they are hardly likely to provide many customers for the X6. 

From Canklow ...

... it is non stop to Rothernham Intch (above map, top)

When David rode on Sunday, the driver went the wrong way through the Intch and ended up on the wrong stand ...

... but he nipped over to the correct location to collect the crowds of waiting passemgrs. There were none for the Welcome Break. In fact (apart from David, who doesn't count) there were no passengers to or from the Service Area in either direction, on or off.

David was intrigued by the traffic management in Corporation Street as the bus left the Intch.

Here is what it used to look like when it was busy with buses and their passengers,

This is the view from a bit further back where the exit from the Intch is now.

Note the Odeon Cinema beside the bus. And note the same building as it continues to decay, as pictured from the top deck front of the departing X6.

And further on, how do you manage those cycle lanes and oncoming traffic?

Were fbb a cyclist, be would be wary, very very wery indeed!! And there's even more.

To be fair, David's short jaunt  from Welcome Break to a short break in Rotherham Intch was on a Sunday. But even so, there seemed little justification for the bus at J33. The few through passengers were either enthusiasts or joyriders or folk who just happened to rock up at a suitable bus stop.

The service is badly conceived, badly publicised and almost certainly a waste of somebody's money. But if it is paid for by Welcome Break, it will be very "small change" compared with the revenue from the franchisees selling their tasty wares.

Maybe, just maybe, Welcome Break have had to provide a useless bus service as a condition of getting planning permission.

Perhaps fbb should take a trip there to avail himself of the fitness facilities inside ...

... and out.

Possibly, at nearly 80, your cheery blogger is past such lifestyle modifications.

Must get on, time for a cuppa and a KitKat before dinner.

 Next Manchester blog : Thurs 23rd Jan 

Sheffield Speedy Service to MSA

Fast? Direct? How Come?

It is not really possible to offer a clear guide as to the running time of existing services between Sheffield, Meadowhell and Rotherham But below is a sample of the X1/X2

Midday Monday to Friday it works out at somewhere around 39 minutes. The problem is First's AI, Awful Interference with sensible travel plans.

The parallel X3 route is similar ...

... with a running time of 36 minutes - approximately.

The X6 timetable is spectacularly faster than both ...

... at a mind blowing 30 minutes running time. The 1730 from Sheffield is the exception, but it will encounter peak hour cloggage, so the extra 10 minutes is probably necessary.

There will be people in Sheffield who can identify MSA - an interpretation which remained beyond fbb sitting at his laptop in Seaton, Devon.

First's publicity is utterly useless.

But (and fbb never thought he would ever write this), thank goodness for Travel South Yorkshire (TSY), the brand of the PTE now calling itself a "Combined Authority".

TSY has produced a non-printed leaflet with no map and a pitiful lack of detail ...

... BUT it does help with those farcical First point times.

It looks as if MSA might be Motorway Service Area. 

TSY says it is at Brinsworth whilst the correct address is ...

... Whiston.

At the motorway roundabout, it is nearer to Brinsworth in geographical terms ...

... but, despite this, it really is in the Whiston village postal area. And who knows the thinking behind postal delivery area names?

"It" is at Junction 33 on the M1 and "It" opened on Friday 17th January 2025.

The bus times are clearly designed for shift patterns at the nosh house; more formally a brand new motorway service area.

But "direct"?

The X1/X2 is ORANGE

The X3 is LIGHT BLUE

The new X6 is LIGHT GREEN

Now listen here First Bus! That GREEN route may be the fastest way between Sheffield and Rotherham but not in a million bus miles is it direct!

Dictionary definition.

direct

adjective

going in a straight line towards somewhere or someone without stopping or changing direction

The main services building is squeezed in between the M1 (left) and the fast road from Sheffield, the A630, right. The picture below is drone delivered whilst building work was still ongoing. The view is looking due east.

Like so many service areas you can sit outside and enjoy your "meal' to the calming roar of traffic and the sweet smell of badly tuned exhausts.

But an explore inside reveals a better sort of service area. Sadly, no more can you experience steak pie, chips and peas followed by stodge and custard. 

But the usual suspects are within, espied after enjoying the "water feature".

The fast food consumer is faced with a bewildering choice of "names", all delivering the same "plastic" food as ever, delicious but probably not good for you!

There are additional drive-thrus outside and one more inside with which fbb is not familiar.

Most retail units are arranged to look like "shops|" (rememer them?) built round a market square.

There's Waitrose and W H Snith at the end.

Oh my! It's just like being down town!

If you have any change from your coffee and wad at Pret, you can spend it in the "funhouse". 

Yay!

Outside there are lots of these ...

Some sources suggest that "filling up" with these on fast charge is significantly more expensive than petrol or diesel.

And there's more?

All the above are on the south of the M1. On the north is the HGV park (lorries to fbb, trucks to the more youthful reader.

Joining the two is a tunnel.

So, where is the X6 bus stop?

fbb's Sheffield chum, David, who lives nearby, took a short trip to the services on Sunday, especially for fbb, and from there took a ride on the X6 from MSA into Rotherham and back.

And here comes the bus!

Thanks, David!

More tomorrow.

 Next X6 Bus Ride blog : Wednesday 22 Jan 

Surprising Sheffield Speedy Service to ...

... Rotherham MSA?

There are two straightforward ways to get from Sheffield to Rotherham. There is the A6102 via Meadowhall (yellow blob) and the A6178 via Tinsley. The difference is not too clear above, so we enlarge a little.

The yellow blob at Meadowhall is for the tram stop and it is joined by a red blob for the proper railway.

The route through Tinsley once had trams all the way, which became bus 69 to Rotherham. The faster route was via Meadowhall (long before the shopping centre appeared!) and was route 77 plus a later route 78 to Doncaster via Rotherham. With the arrival of the PTE and a subsequent reorganisation, the Doncaster service gained just one number, 278 and later X78.

fbb will spare you the farrago of recent revisions and leave you with today's situation. The Doncaster route is now service X3 and runs via Tinsley.

The former 69 is now X1 and X2 and runs via Meadowhall (yes, for some unaccountable reason the routes have swapped over.)

Of course First has abandoned local branding so such delights as the above selection will be consigned to history in favour of national, bland and boring.

But that is progress, we are told!

Here are the PTE network map extracts showing the routes out of Sheffield (towards top right) ...

... and the continuation from Meadowhall Shopping Centre towards Rotherham.

And you have spotted that both X1/X2 and X3 run via the Meadowhell home of retain therapy. Neither runs "direct".

With this in mind (???) fbb has received an email!

The missive came with a nice graphic in First Bus pink - and the message was undoubtedly a shocking pink!

fbb's agile mind began asking several questions.

What does Sheffield to Rotherham "direct" actually mean? 

Had someone built a new road? 

Would the new X6 eschew the obvious traffic objective of Meadowhell?

Would the X6 be more "limited stop" than today's X1/X2?

Would the new X6 simply run non stop all the way between the two communities?

And, generally, why add the extra service?

And why doesn't First tell you anything?

And why, oh why did it start on Friday 17th? Sheffield timetable changes have always been on Sunday or on Monday of the service lacks Sunday journeys.

Does the timetable help? Here is First's published timetable that accompanies the on-line "launch"?

Please note that First offers no map, no indication of where it stops in addition to the point times above, in fact no useful information for the omnibologically ignorant - and that includes fbb.

Alert readers may translate Intc as "Interchange" (i.e. bus station) but will struggle with Mft (it means "Moorfoot") but Rotherham MSA is a complete mystery.

These time points also beg another question. Does "direct" mean that only these points will be stops on the X6. If so there would be no stop in Sheffield City Centre. This seems unlikely.

Aha, thought fbb. Traveline has all stops timetables.

Except that Traveline knows nothing of he X6!

But, as ever, fbb has the answer.

The new timetable has probably been developed using First Bus' £4 million purchase of AI software (which isn't AI at all!). That would be ...

Astoundingly

Incomprehensible 

Perhaps fbb should download the App?

OK, he's not that desperate ...

YET!

Happier Memories!

The 69 was joint between Rotherham and Sheffield Corporations.

The 77 was a three way joint operation between Sheffield ...

... Rotherham ...

... and Doncaster.

Tomorrow, fbb will conclude this investigation. The blog will be a bit more than "mini" and maybe a welcome break from fbb's  usual blogging regime.

 Next Surprising Service blog : Tues 21 Jan