Anglo German Annoyng Grumbles

"Anglo" : Impossible Arriva Information

The main road from Leicester to Burton upon Trent used to be the A50. The village of Groby, where dwells long term chum David, is by-passed by the route to the M1 at Markfield. Services 29 and 29A used to run all the way.

Then came a big changes. Service 9 ran from Burton to Coalville and the 29/29A continued on a much shorted section to Leicester. The buses were so branded.

More recently it had changed again, seen below in the from Leicester direction.

There were two buses and hour with an extra short working to Coalville.

The 29s now run to Swadlincote with the route 9 between there and Burton. This change came about because Arriva no longer runs beyond Swad to Burton. These services are now in the hands of Diamond Bus whose 9 extends from Ashby de la Zouch to East Midlands Airport.

Nice map, Diamond. 

Sorry that Arriva can't be bothered with a proper map.

The routes in the Coalville area are indirect as here between Ashby de la Zouch and the town centre.

Beyond Coalville it is still far from direct!

Of course, there is no printed timetable information available these days, so David decided to download and print out the latest version.

Most of the download was straightforward ...

... despite the implication that you need a change in Coalville with only a couple of minutes to find you onward bus. SCARY!

Actually it is a lie - the buses run through.

But David was far from happy with the Monday to Friday panel.

Service 29 buses visit Markfield twice after a backwatds through time link between Linford Crescent and Glenfield! Then all buses serve Leicester between Whitwick and Glenfield.

Crackpot.

Remember; buses should start at Leicester then run via Whitwick, Coalville and Ashby to Swad.

It is not just the timetable nonsense that infuriates, but the fact that the potty timetable has been available on-line since February.

Nobody at Arriva has noticed and, even if they had, nobody cares.

"German" : Baffling Beautiful Bus Station

Remember that horse tram outside Mainz Kastel railway station.

The first baffle is to ask why Mainz Kastel is not part of Mainz.

It's complicated!

So now you know!

Today's "Kastel" station is somewhat less impressive an edifice than that from the early 1900s.

But it does have a bus stop outside but only in one direction.

Surely, being super efficient German public transport, we should expect some sort of "interchange" or bus station very close to the railway station.

Indeed, Mainz Kastel does have a very spectacular bus station at the north Western end of the Rheinbrucke, the bridge which carries bus services between Mainz and Kastel.

And here it is, "Kastel Bruckenkopf",  seen from the point of view of a bus crossing from Mainz.

And there it is c/o Google Earth.

The V shaped "tent" covers two sets of platforms, for straight on and for a branch left. Here is a view of the "straight on" stop looking towards Mainz.

There is a standard bus stop sign for each platform ...

... and below, the left hand fork routes.

There are also electronic screens.

Which leaves one simple question.

How do you get there by foot to catch your bus?

You might think there would be a lift and some steps from the end of the station platform?

But there is no link - well, no signposted and obvious link. 

You can go round to the back of the station and stride off through the old goods yard ...

... where the unappealing environment soon turns into a narrow road ...

...which delivers you to a short dash across the pedestrian crossing to enter the tent.

There are multiple footpaths and tunnels under the road junction. They are spooky but offer no link up to the bus station, occasionally and enticingly spotted far above. Here is a typical view of the glorious gloom ...

... and a selection of steps ...

... none of which ...

... take you into the bus station.

From all of these anonymous ascents you still have a busy road, with fast moving traffic, to cross.

Streetview did spot one very faded directional sign with four fingers - none of which mentioned the bus station.

It certainly is NOT ...

Vorsprung Durch Technik

Tomorrow we return to the sanity of the Mainz public transport network, notably that with wheel on rail technology!

 Next Mainz tram blog : Fri 13 June