Northcord buses are top of the scale for detail and price, nowadays costing about £80 - too much for fbb to contemplate. Remember he is hyper stingy! But 'Pre Owned' versions of these Stagecoach Oxford buses ...
... will set you back about £55; same bus, different livery!
So fbb was about to include the greens and white in a blog offering a mild titter about a Rails pricing bludner.
Then he discovered this on-line ...
... at
And another one.
So Rails price appears realistic and ridiculous; because of rarity.
You pays your money ... if you've got enough!
It is unusual for hospital services to attract the bus spotters, the wider interests in operation or historical enthusiasts or even the passing curiosity of an fbb blog reader.
The plain white bus above hardly stimulates the omnibological juices.
Back in fbb's youthful days, Sheffield Teaching Hospital was on Glossop Road ...
... just round the corner from the main University campus. But this hospital grew massively ...
... with a huge tall block and premises filling every corner of the site. It was also renamed The Royal Hallamshire Hospital.
To the north if the city was Fir Vale Infirmary, based in a looming Victorian red brick warren of wards, corridors and offices.
It began as Fir Vale Workhouse ...
... and became Sheffield's geriatric hospital.
It was on a large site, so, over the years, multiple hospital buildings elsewhere in the city (Glossop Road, Nether Edge, Women's) were closed and moved to the Fir Vale site, now renamed The Northern General Hospital. It is very huge.
... with the original blocks centre right.
Plenty of buses pass the edges if this vast site ...
... but, according to Travel South Yorkshire, only the 'local' and circuitous 32 enters the grounds.
It runs from city via most of of the Northern estates, including the hospital, to Meadowhell. The service is roughly hourly.
But the network map ignores route H1.
A good few years ago, the Hospital Trust saw a need for reliable transport between the Hallamshire and the Northern General; transport for staff and not the general public. The availability was extended to those with booked appointments.
By 2018 the H1 had become available to all passengers. The H1 (there never was an H2 etc.) was operated by Sheffield Community Transport (SCT), another not for profit company that has come close to collapse.
So it should be on the network map. The white buses (two required for the half hourly service Mon to Fri only) are from SCT.
Here is SCT at the Hallamshire turning circle.
But the service has just changed hands. The new incumbent is ...
... Hammond's of Nottingham, hitherto strangers to bus operation in Sheffield. Hammond's is seen (above) at the same location (above) ...
... and at the Barnsley Road entrance to Northern General. The PTE shows no change of timetable ...
... or route ...
... or operator!
No rush to keep up to date folks, the new operation started on 2nd September.
But what we do have is the tender price, obtained by a Freedom of Information request.
Who can ever understand why that odd £2 sits atnthe end if the contract fee.
But we can now calculate what this huge sum means in practice.
fbb has been told the contract is for FIVE years.
So we can do the Math based on the service operating five days a week only and not on bank holidays.
The service requires TWO buses to provide TWENTY round trips each day. To allow for a Christmas shut down, we can call it 50 weeks, 20 journeys, five days and 5 years.
That's £3,208,602 divided by ...
50 x 20 x 5 x 5
... which equals ...
... a tender fee per round trip of ...
£248.34
Seems a good deal for Hammonds but we don't know who gets the fares revenue - and we don't know who is expected to pay a fare. The Hospital web sites are n9t helpful on the subject of fares.
Hopefully fbb's maths us correct; he did get an 'O' level in 1959!
Sad Snippet
A few years ago the bosses at Northern General (well, some if the bosses, apparently) decided that access to the hospital by bus should be improved. So buses on route 2 (Sheffield to Barnsley) was diverted via the little turning circle near the old workhouse buiykdung (above, upper right).
fbb thinks this was on Sundays only.
Big deal!
But one Stagecoach driver went via the triangle with canopy.
CRUNCH!
The service was temporarily removed then quickly deleted completely.
Other bosses did not want nasty double decks in their hospital anyway. "Let them walk from the nain road," was the helpful philosophy.
Next we unravel some seaside routes 1, 1A, 1B and 1C. It's complicated!
Bournemouth baffling bus blog : Tues 8 Sept
