Sunday : Axminster, Seaton, Beer
Readers may recall the surprise announcement that Sunday buses would run between Axminster, Seaton and Beer for the first time since almost ever - certainly since the withdrawal of Western National from the route.
The new service, incomprehensibly numbered 379 rather than the existing 885, started on April 20th and, on Sunday, fbb took a first look. He had intended to ride an afternoon round trip, but the road between Musbury and Whitford was closed (yet again - section in pale blue on the revised map below) ... 
... so whatever diversion was in place might well deplete the loading. Thus, fbb would wait for a undisturbed schedule. The old man contented himself with local observation of the first round trip of the day from Axminster to Beer and back.
He positioned himself in the coach park at Seaton Underfleet and waited excitedly! Of waiting passengers for the bus to Beer, there were none.
Soon, and only three minutes early, Stagecoach's finest and smallest hove into view ...
... and drove straight past!
But fbb spied three passengers on board. THREE! Quickly he nipped round to the sea front's new stop and shelter and noted that the scheduled route to Beer was also closed.
The three passengers sat resolutely on board whilst the driver ...
... c/w baggy shorts and hi-vis vest, was on his mobile phone for advice - possibly for the second time on this first trip. He seemed to understand and set off for a quick tour of Seaton town to rejoin his correct route at the top in the hill.
More excitement. A male personage and two children settled in the left hand end of rge shelter. Were they waiting for the next 379 to Axminster?
NO, they soon wandered off.
Soon the bus arrived back at the sea front stop ...
... bereft of passengers on the 1205 from Beer.
Then one mature lady, with obligatory copious bag, boarded and settled down.
Then after a while she abandoned the project and began to deal with essential bag matters off-bus. She did not re-board.
But, fbb's excitement is now almost boundless! A male "senior" passenger boarded and got into a lengthy conversation with the driver. He sat down!
And the bus departed. From his general demeanour and lack of knowledge of what the bus was and where it was going, fbb guesses that he was a local saving the effort of a walk home for his Sunday lunch.
To conclude his stimulating omnibological experience, fbb, travelling solo, tailed the Solo back to the Underfleet stop ...
... where nobody boarded!
So; total revenue observed for a round trip of one hour and forty-eight minutes was four "Seniors".
Lets hope the subsidy for the route is substantial!
The only publicity for this service is a timetable buried deep in the DevonBus web site, a timetable buried deep in Traveline and, possibly, a timetable at some stops. fbb did not check the Stagecoach web site.
The problem with all of these is that you needed to know that the service existed in order to even consider looking for its timetable!
It was a fine day with a brief shower and a trip from Axminster to Seaton and Beer would be a pleasant outing.
Clearly very few people knew about it, even after three weeks of operation, but ...
... It's All On Line
... so that's all right, then.
Next Knightsbridge blog : Weds 14 May
Try Googling "bus axminster seaton sunday", you will get several responses. The third entry links to this page:-
ReplyDeletehttps://dcrp.org.uk/new-sunday-and-bank-holiday-buses-between-axminster-station-seaton-and-beer-start-on-20-april/
That page includes a link to:
https://dcrp.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/379-and-885-April-20th.pdf
So not too difficult really.
RC169
But isn't the point that if a service has not existed for many years, why would someone assume that it does now?
DeleteThe search term would be the same, regardless of whether the person searching knew that a service existed, or had previously existed, or didn't have any knowledge about the history of the service. The search results should show :-
Delete1. whether the service existed; and
2. if it does exist, it should point the searcher to the timetable.
RC169
Right, not difficult unless you don't have a computer or mobile phone. A bus company should be pro-active in trying to get passengers. No one's going to ride a bus they don't know about!
ReplyDeleteI would not dispute your point, but if you lived 200 miles from a place that you wanted to visit by bus, but did not have a computer/mobile phone, etc, how would you find the information? The easiest solution would probably be the local reference library, and use their internet connection.
DeleteRC169