Marty Approaches
the Squinty Bridge
at exactly 88 mph!
The Story So Far
Just a reminder in case you are confused. You are? Well, just try to concentrate and fbb will attempt to make it understandable.
With the introduction of "theone" brand ...
... services along the Dumbarton Road were grouped to present the public with a positive frequent mini-network, also branded simpliCity. Frequency started at ...
... 10 buses an hour, then with extra bits added in, grew to 12 buses an hour.
Here fbb must apologise for yet another bludner. He said that the 1C had disappeared by 2019 which it had but it hadn't. It had disappeared from the timetable pattern as below ....jpg)
But the 20 minute headway 1C to Drumchapel was shown on a separate table at the very bottom of the PDF leaflet.
What did happen post 2019 was that the 1D to Mountblow did disappear. It was replaced by route 11 which no longer ran into the city centre running only as far as Gartnavel Hospital..jpg)
So those Blowing on the Mountain had to change at Clydebank.
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fbb had failed to scroll completely.
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Well done First!
Up to the end of February this year , however, the rest of the service was still recognisable.
But note that the 1B to Helensburgh had become hourly from every half hour.
Big Change From March 2nd
And fbb means big, brutal and baffling!
Where once there were four buses an hour through from Glasgow to Balloch, two 1 and two 1A (with a few 1E at peak hours); now there are no through buses except the occasional peak time 1E. Everyone has to change in Dumbarton.
The 1 becomes the 205, the 1A becomes the 204 both to Balloch. The route of the 206 is unchanged on its Balloch section; but it now runs through to Helensburgh, replacing the 1B.
The 208 is unchanged in route.
So there is massive inconvenience for through passengers.
Well done, First!
But First Bus have another trick up their sleeve. There were once six buses an hour between Glasgow and Dumbarton (three each of 1, 1A and 1B.) But see timetable below ...
Well done, First!
But when the unwary passenger alights in Dumbarton for his onward leg, say to Vale of Leven Hospital to visit aunt Aggie ...
... he will find that the new Dumbarton services are now NOT on a 30 minute cycle, but on the daftest and most befuddling every 40 minutes. Ann it is an erratic 40 minutes as well; see Vale of Leven Hospital arrivals above at 1337, 1418 and 1459.
The 208 was every 45 minutes (below) - equally daft ....jpg)
... and remains every 45 minutes; but the new schedule is an erratic 45 minutes as it hurries towards Silverton..jpg)
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Well done, First!
And talking of the 208 ....jpg)
... fbb is reminded that the most recent branding for theOne with prominent purple wedges ...
... is on its way out to be replaced by corporate tedium..jpg)
Well done, First!
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It must take some real management skill to make a timetable change so horribly unattractive to your customers.
Well done, First!
Next Variety blog : Saturday 8 Mar
See https://news-scot.firstbus.co.uk/news/first-bus-to-improve-reliability-of-services-in-dumbarton-balloch-and-helensburgh for a more correct summary of changes.
ReplyDeleteAs can be seen from the timetable posted above the 1D wasn't withdrawn in 2019, it was withdrawn at the end of Februaray as part of the overall changes.
The 1/1A are now 8 buses an hour between Dumbarton and Glasgow, not 6.
'the one' branding/renumbering predated the simplicity concept having been introduced in November 2012.
The 208 is a marginal service which makes the maximum utilisation of one bus, an additional bus isn't viable so the only alternative for a regular timetable would be less journeys.
As part of the changes the 206 has also had a cut in frequency to every 20 mins with alternate trips extending past Westcliff to Helensburgh.
In reality outside peak times the traffic on the 1/1A/1B has been three distinct flows, Balloch/Helensburgh to Dumbarton, Dumbarton to Clydebank and then Clydebank to Glasgow. The alternative rail links are considerably quicker and for most a far better choice given the levels of traffic congestion experienced along the corridor used by 'the one'.
Will agree the 'ai' timetables are nonsense though.
And finally here is the last 1B to leave Helensburgh for Glasgow: https://flic.kr/p/2qPtcWQ (My shot)