BBC Boosts Bovisand Beach Bus ...

 ... Or Doesn't!

It was 'Bank Holiday' Monday, often a slack news day', and BBC for the South West was seeking to fill a slot in their Spotlight local news programme.

So we were told that route 54 would be starting up at the late May half term; operated by Stagecoach and running from Plymouth to Bovisand. The 54 is known colloquially as 'the beach bus'. A couple of web sites covering this route are available with a picture of 'the beach bus' to titillate our transport taste buds.

Sadly both headline pictures are of a branded bus on route 99 to the beach at Boscombe, Bournemouth. The bus, HW64 AXA used to be with Southern Vectis ...

... and moved to fellow GoAhead company More Bus before bening 'branded'.

So, as an illustration for Stagecoach's Plymouth based route 54, everything is wrong with the picture.

Wrong in a "slightly" differed way is this picture of a Plymouth Citybus as another headline for the 'new' Stagecoach 54.

Again from the GoAhead stables, this is  Plymouth Citybus on service 43 to Ernsettle!

Don't you just love the privilege of imbibing impressive information via the interwebnet?

Spotlight told us that the the bus service was starting at half term and included a picture of its destination.

Eager for a "sitz im leben", fbb had already downloaded an image from on-line sources to give credence to his blog. Here is the fbb download.

Spot the difference. 

As the bus is not running yet and the BBC had not bothered to send a reporter with a Box Brownie ...

... the relevance of the 'news' report was unclear.

There was a 'talking heads' slot with the Stagecoach boss ...

... who told us, enthusiastically, how wonderful the service would be at keeping cars off the road and (surprising concept No. 1) out of car parks. 

And the bus, at a capped fare of £3, was 'affordable'!

Try telling that to mum, dad and 2.4 children seeking a low-cost day trip outbound and pay again inbound! And that is after they have used a Citybus from home to Plymouth centre (and back) to connect with the 54.

For the record, here is the exciting bus that would carry you excitingly to and from Bovisand!

Enjoy the 'Beach Bus' branding!

Then there us this little niggle. The interwebnet provides us with a PDF leaflet for the 54.

No, it is not quite the same picture of the beauty and facilities of the trendy with-it destination of Bovisand, but undoubtedly snapped from the same vantage point. The leaflet has a route map.

Hurrah, we can see where the bus goes, or, more correctly, where it went in 2022.

Helpful, eh?

Equally helpful (NOT) is the trajectory of route 54 on a Plymouth network map.

The BROWN line starts at Plymstock and evaporates well before the Bovisand terminus is reached.

Tomorrow, fbb will explore Bovisand and reveal the forthcoming timetable.

Bank Holiday Quiz Answers (1)

Question 1 to 10

Yellow Bus was once Bournemouth Corporation Transport. The privatised Yellow Bus had been sold to RATP (Paris), but continued to decline; then was sold to its management for £1. Yellow Bus went bust to be replaced by MoreBus.

The River Medina at Cowes, Isle of Wight. The vessel has been a disaster since delivery and continues to fail far too frequently.

Clevedon, Somerset.

Named after the County's fabric industry, this is the title chosen for the franchised bus services of West Yorkshire.

This particular train ferry ran between Dover and Dunkirk.

It floats on concrete pontoons in Seattle, USA.

A potential London steam bus from the early 1900s.

The buses are owned by the Newman family, former owners of Ensign Bus, a company now owned by First.

This is Magna tram stop at Templeborough, Sheffield, taking its name from a science and technology "experience" housed in a former steelworks.

These are existing and proposed rail routes associated with London's  Heathrow airport.

Ten more tomorrow.

 Next Bovisand blog : Thursday 7th May