Not Quite A Book Review (1)

Links In A Chain

A short while back, Mrs fbb bought her chubby hubby a second hand book for his intellectual delectation.

Although the book was about the 1970s (there is a clue on the cover!) it was published in 2006 ...

...  well after the horrors of privatisation and (so-called) deregulation (with lots of regulations). Like many books of this genre it is a varied and eclectic collection of photographs, a style of publication that does not engender in fbb much enthusiasm. Gavin Booth's opus looks, in a rough geographical order, at examples of vehicles operated by most of the big companies which ultimately became National Bus.

There is only a smidgen about "independent" operators, and very little about any routes operated.

But as your eager beaver blogger perused, he realised that there were stories to tell and an opportunity to ask, "What's happening there now?" For obvious reasons almost nothing from the 1970s remains untouched by the industry today.

Here, for example, is a Bristol bus in Bristol, notable for its four track number blind.

It is going to the "Centre"; but where might this "centre" be? This is what it looked like once ...

... but it doesn't look like that now. Below is a view from St Augustines Parade towards the Colston Street junction, seen top centre in the old view above.

If we turn through 180 degrees the view is like this.

This, very roughly, is is an even older picture showing where most of Bristol's trams met up; thus it was called The Tramway Centre and ...

... below is a similar view colourised.

Turning back through 180 degrees we see a view from The Tramway Centre towards Colston Street ...

... which is upper right in the old snap above.

So when the trams were withdrawn, The Tramway Centre became just "The Centre" - hence the destination blind above.

We move to another Lodekka, this time from the stables of Wilts and Dorset. 

It is going to "Harnham" which is a suburb of Salisbury. There are plenty of Harnhams on a modern map of the city.

... but today's r5 local route, the equivalent of the old 55, says it goes to West Harnham - every 30 minutes.

It is run by Salisbury Reds a k a MoreBus, a somewhat odd re-brand of Wilts and Dorset in the Salisbury area.

Here is a map of the r5.

East Harnham and Harnham Hill are served by the r14. This runs via the narrow Old Blandford Road and calls at Lywood Close on its one way mega loop.

Even in the good old days, fbb doesn't think a double decker would venture that way.

And even if it did, it wouldn't do it very often! Here is today's r14 timetable ...

... (Mon to Fri shown, Sat is similar) and being Wilts and Dorset you also get an excellent map.

Our next nostalgia link is called Admiral Boscowen.

You may ask, "Who?"

He lived from 1711 to 1761 and is remembered on Wikipedia for his numerous naval battle honours.

He is also remembered as the officer who signed the warrant authorising the execution of Admiral John Byng in 1757, for failing to engage the enemy at the Battle of Minorca (1756). In his political role, he served as a Member of Parliament for Truro from 1742 until his death in 1761 although, due to almost constant naval employment, he seems not to have been particularly active. 

His name adorns a bus going here  ...

... which was the route of Falmouth's open top service operated by Western National.

The open top town route returned, briefly, a few years ago as part of First's dramatic expansion of tourist bus activity in Cornwall.

Why, even Roger French took a ride. But as usual with today's publicity daftness, there were no printed leaflets readily available (if at all) in the town so nobody much bothered with it.

Like the Southern Vectis Sea Breezer, the only fare was an expensive "rover", which probably contributed to the service's failure.

Nice route, though.

 Next Book Nostalgia blog : Saturday 31 May 

To Seaview With A Sea View (2)

Excellent Publicity

Southern Vectis still produces a good quality timetable book but gone are the days when all public transport - including trains and ferries - was included. Now it is just the bus. But the booklet is free!

The Sea Breezer to Seaview is in a special section at the front of the book. Like other Tourist related services, it does not have a route number. In fact, as we shall see, it is not a service bus at all.

It is a "tour" ...

... with generic Breezer branding and the route name on the electronic blind. Breezing passengers may alight and board en route, although fbb guesses most will just break their journey in Seaview for sustenance and/or a PNB.

The timetable offers a ride as a round trip ...

... once an hour but with a break at lunchtime, presumably so it could be operated by one bus and the same driver all day. We have already met the route map ...

... which is clear and helpful. There are also two pages extolling the wonders of places en route.

Empty Promises?

Appley Tower is, well, a tower at Appley ...

... but the bus doesn't go there. It is a lengthy walk from either of the two ends of a sea front footpath. 

The tower was once a sea front folly, part of the estate of a big mansion called, unhelpfully, Appley Towers - because it was at Appley and had towers. 

Clever, eh?

It would make a splendid place to visit but was demolished in 1959. It used to have its own pier ...

... and an in-period boathouse which is still in use by the local sailing club.

So the Tower, now some sort of arty place ...

... needs a brisk stroll from the boating lake or from Puckpool Park. Much of the walk route was served by the Ryde "Dotto" train, also run at one time by Southern Vectis.

So potentially, the most interesting part of the route is not directly accessible from the Sea Breezer; or has been demolished!

The timetable book blurb also mentions the beach at Seagrove Bay, Equally not directly served by the tour. The village of Seaview is delightful, but hardly "iconic". 

Its Yacht Club has regular regattas on summer evenings, but usually during the day only at weekends.

But, despite the paucity of places to peruse, the sea views are delightful and the "tour" would be well worth a £3 "covid recovery" fare.

But it is NOT a bus service - it is a tour!

Expensive Price

So here are the fares. SHOCK HORROR.

Yes folks, he only fares are "Rover" type fares which are valid on all the six "Tourist" routes, i.e. those with names. So that does include the other open topper service to Alum Bay and the aforementioned Downs Breezer.

The ticket is, effectively a Rover ticket for all the island's bus routes, although if old crocks like fbb can resist the temptation of being breezed, with the delightful extra of being rained upon, then all the numbered routes are FREE at weekends and Mon to Fri after 0930.

Correspondent Alan has been out with his Box Brownie and submitted pictures of the Sea Breezer along the sea front at Seaview, see ...

... and, as a very special treat, passing the end of his cul-de-sac at Nettlestone. 

There is no real sign of the community's existence from 1066 as extolled by the Southern Vectis snippets in the timetable.

Ex Seaview resident fbb thinks the pricing is wrong. There will be plenty of people, including car drivers and weekend holiday makers, who won't spend  big dollars for the rover when they do not want to rove.

But they might spend a normal fare, and Aunty Rachel would reimburse the company for the oldies who might travel if it were "free'. 

Maybe the meanie IoW Council has refused to spend its state-given cash on open top buses, despite the huge revenues from Grockles that keep the Island running?

Mind you, that was the Council that proposed a £10 visitor tax a few years ago.

But fbb has a possible cost-saving recommendation.

If the 48 hour ticket is for a genuine 48 hours (rather than two calendar days) then riding from say 12 noon on Tuesday after an early lunch until 12 noon on Thursday, followed by a later lunch, would be reasonably good value for money.

There are plenty of Island buses running in the evenings!

 Next (delayed) book review blog : Fri 30 May 

To Seaview With A Sea View (1)

Southern Vectis' NEW Open Topper

Seview sits happily on the North Eastern facet of the diamond that is the Isle of Wight. fbb first visited there in 1958, then almost every year until he and the family moveed there to work at the Westbrook Crusader holiday centre. He then ran his own small bus company ...

... later working full time for Southern Vectis as editor of the Great Britain Bus Timetable and chief honcho of the unsuccessful electric information system, Xephos. After 30 years on the Island he retired to Seaton, Devon.

Historically, his local buses on the Island were route 8 via Nettlestone and Bembridge ...

... route 7 to Seaview village ...

... and Seaview Services via a bit of the coast, also to Seaview.

Seaview Services was mainly a coach operator with its depot plumb in the centre of the village.

Its two iconic service buses were the decker ...

... and the Bedford VAL ...

... both of which fbb travelled on, usually in the company of an overload of boys making for said holiday centre, having arrived by train and ferry at Ryde.

With deregulation, Seaview Services expanded in competition with Southern Vectis and their traditional route became Redlynx service 12 continuing to Bembridge and Sandown.

This development did not go down a bundle with the bosses at Southern Vectis and led to some "interesting" encounters, and one near pugilistic propensity, at the annual Coach Owners dinner!

In terms of frequency, Seaview Services and Vectis' route 7 never ran more frequently than hourly; but at one time the 8 was offering a 15 minute headway in the peak summer timetable.

For the record, the modern equivalent of the past's up to 6 buses an hour serving various bits of this part of the Island has been progressively reduced to a portmanteau hourly route 8, now diverted to serve Seaview village. There is now no No 7 and no Seaview Services.

Also in recent years, the Downs Explorer has run via a circular anti clockwise route from Ryde, but diverting from Brading to run via a bigger loop and Bembridge, shown on the maps below as a PALE BLUE thin line.

fbb will return to this route and the thin BROWN line in a later blog.

But, almost lost in the dark and creaky recesses of fbb's memory, is that route 7 to Seaview was, for a couple of seasons, operated by open top buses. There are no pictures of this allocation on-line.

There are pictures, however, of its inaccurate recreation by the Isle of Wight Bus Museum.

The Vectis historic open top 7 followed that route's normal trajectory inland via Nettlestone with only a glimpse of the sea from Ryde Esplanade.

The Museum re-creations ...

... followed the coastal road as formerly used by the Seaview Services route. Pictures are available of open top Lodekka journeys which, although Museum promoted, were equally false. OT Lodekkas never ran to Seaview!

Southern Vectis buses have not used the sea view route to Seaview in normal service recently ...

... until this year, that is.

In a surprise move, the open top to Seaview returns for this season c. 60 years since the OT 7 referred to above.

After leaving Ryde Interchange (that's the bus station in a cunning disguise - it hasn't changed in function!) the "Sea Breezer" does a quick one way tour of the boating lake ...

... by veering left off the Esplanade and doing a U turn at the far end.

There are gorgeous beach and sea views (more sea when the tide is in!) together with a distant panorama of Portsmouth - brief but pleasant.

Then the route goes inland to follow the old sea side route to the village.

Again, the broad sweep of Spithead is joyous.

The route ends in a loop via the exisyiting service 8 round the estate at Nettlestone, passing close by the fbb's former residence. This is just a very ordinary housing estate and has little of interest to excite the tourist. The route does not actually pass the fbb's former residence, which is in a cul-de-sac, and, sadly, the blue plaque has yet to be installed on the property anyway.

Tomorrow we will look at the publicity for this brand new open top route and make a note of the fares.

Unbelievable!!

Just for the record, Vectis" route 7 was usually a cross-town service coninuing south of Ryde to Haylands.

From memory, that Haylands section used to be every half hour.

Some readers may recognise that the Rydabus name, used for the towns local routes, has been resurrected for a bus running day.

Sadly, you have missed this year's event!

 Next sea view blog : Thurs 29 May