Was Your Bus Green? (Part 1)

Is Your Bus Green?

Local buses from Seaton to Beer, Seaton to Axminster, Seaton to Lyme Regis and, once a day, Seaton to Exeter via Beer, are usually red; certainly red once the lad at Axe Valley depot has done a repaint job. Some of the buses are ex London Transport, so they are already red but a different shade thereof,

The main service to Exeter is the 9A c/o Stagecoach - which used to look like this ...

... but are often yellow.

At his previous residence, buses used to be a standard THC group Green ...

... followed by National Bus "leaf' green.

Southern Vectis was privatised in a different green ...

... but branded routes became blue ...

... and red!

The route branding craze faded and we are now back to ...

... greens! Although some of the greens are nearly yellow ...

... with the latest 'green' green electric arrivals being even more greenish yellow ...

... or is it yellowish green?

Note that the design has gone back from swirls to diagonals which was the fave for Vectis' sister fleet over the water at Solent Blue Line.

It began with an elegant simplicity, then became more complex but still diagonal ...

... and then back to one diagonal plus stripey bits ...

... and, while the designers were at it, a different yellow!

Now they have changed the name ...

... and gone for a rich distinguished blue plus a few stars, plain and simple ...

... or not ...

... as the whim of the brand management team changes just like the weather in the UK.

Sometimes, simple is the most attractive and the most memorable.

"Midland" is 'Midland Scottish" formerly Alexander Midland, part of the Scottish Bus Group. Only one group member painted it's buses green, namely Scottish Motor Traction (logo "SMT") ...

... later Eastern Scottish.

Tomorrow's blog will explore three new bus routes recently started by SMT.

Now that is an fbb tease.

The GREEN agenda Part 2 will continue - soon!

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fbb - Spending Again!

He has bought a whole station, but quite a small whole station.

He could have spent £54 including postage.

Or he could have paid just under £25.

For the record, a brand new R590 bought direct from Hornby today will cost you ...

... £20 plus postage!

Or how about £19 'nrand new'?

Even better there was a pre-owned offer of just under £14.

In fact fbb's pre-owned R590 cost just over £11 including postage! To be fair, it did not come with a box and the name board, seat and trolley - the green bits - were missing.

So fbb began by sawing bits off the platform ...

... and he has made a sandwich!

More later.

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 Next SMT blog : Thurs 8th Oct 

"oo" or "oh" : Whoh Knoos? (2)

There is no doubt that this Nolan/Shayshutt product represents an admirable effort to provide bus information for the town. It would be churlish to pick holes in this delightful booklet; but fbb has some concerns which might well be addressed in any future editions.

The big question here is to ask, "Who is it for?"

It is certainly a good buy for a bus travel explorer or bus timetable enthusiast. Whilst fbb has long lost the physical ability and the mental dedication to nip north to Shrewsbury to explore, he can now do so from his armchair. 

But will the typical Shrewsbury bus passenger buy it? 

As the production is not supported by Shrewsbury Council, Shropshire Council or any of the operators listed within, it is only on sale from EBay (£4.99 plus 91p postage).

So it is first and foremost a book for enthusiasts.

That said, do enthusiasts want postal addresses of all the operators or lists of subsidised services? Certainly the general public is not interested. Mrs Miggins might like a phone number or an email address, but she is unlikely to desire epistolary action using pen, paper and stamp! 

Maybe the list of operator codes ...

... could be merged with a simplified operator list, saving half a page.

Three whole pages are filled with some appropriate bus pictures ...

... and there are loads more smaller illustrations throughout the book. Fascinating. Surely these biggest could be reduced to provide extra space?

fbb struggles with small print these days (A R M D but currently stable) so wonders how others may react to the font size. 

Above is a poorly fbb-reproduced picture of the timetable for Arriva 24 and 25. It is only on an A5 page and fbb does need a magnifier to avoid guesswork!

By removing three full pages of pictures more space would be made for a larger type face.

The use of "then every hour", or similar, is not a carnal sin, although some of the Arriva services do suffer from the present day utter stupidity of variable running times, even during the middle of the day.

Use of "approx every 20 min" would not upset knowledgeable enthusiasts and a general printed warning would ensure the Mrs Miggins's could allow a little extra wiggle room when setting out for their stop.

And how come non Arriva operators can manage consistent running times?

More space saved! Bigger type face available!

The booklet is replete with maps but offers no complete cartography at any level. The double page spread is from the Bus Atlas UK web site ...

... but does not include town services. The Arriva map is excellent ...

... but eschews other operators. 

It clearly shows route OHS which is helpful, whatever it is; but the Park and Ride routes are relegated to small print ...

... with no indication of route. Probably that doesn't matter if the buses run non stop into town but a coloured line gives confidence to users even if it is tagged "non stop".

There is a selection of operator maps ...

... all of which, of course, appear on the main Bus Atlas network map. Does the book really need both?

One operator map defeats even fbb's magnifier!

Well, the line maps are OK but the text is, erm, how to say this tactfully, erm) useless.

As an enthusiast booklet, the inclusion of college day variants is of interest.

Whether they should be included in a book for the general public is always debatable. If so we would need college dates as well.

So fbb does wonder whether the booklet might be adopted by authority and operators in the Shrewsbury are if it were tweaked slightly to make it easier to read and thus easier to use?

Despite fbb's "suggestions" the booklet is a good positive effort to make public transport more accessible in Shrewsbury; and in this case 'accessible' means just what it says. People will always fail to 'access' the bus if its routes and timetables are well hidden in the bowels of the mess that is the Internet.

And they are VERY well hidden in Shrewsbury.

P.S. Can we have a numeric list of routes and their page numbers?

Whatever your level of interest, you should buy this book and enjoy!

 Delayed GREEN blog : Weds 7th Oct 

"oo" or "oh" : Whoh Knoos? (1)

 ShrOHsbury or ShrOOsbury?

The town has loads of spectacular buildings ...

... a superb river ...

... the world's biggest signal box (by volume) ...

... and the late Percy Thrower ...

... its former "Parks and Recreation" star!

It's main bus operator is Arriva, a poor replacement for Midland Red ...

... but there are now many others.

Once upon a time, you could obtain a bus timetable book ..

... but,  in recent years, information has been more diffuse and far less easy to find. Shropshire County provides it's enquirers with a full list of the county's bus services grouped, helpfully, by how they are financed.

Each bus service is listed in a huge blue panel which provides an email "contact", BUT NO TIMETABL! So Mrs Miggins of Meole Brace can plan her journey using 'Revenue Support Funded' buses only - just what a typical customer needs.

That is so very helpful, Shropshire: actually a very Salop-y information service all round. [Chortle, chortle!).

But all has now changed, thanks to the indefatigable Keith Shayshutt.

The authorship is shared with Gary Nolan ...

... one-time boss of First in Sheffield, then off to senior management posts in Stagecoach.

Before looking at this worthy publication, fbb must apologise to its progenitors. Your aged blogger was wrestling with his 'tablet' yesterday afternoon and the results were poor. Usually results are good ... but for some reason ...

fbb will try to do better with part 2!

The book is A5 size and a modest 24 unnumbered pages. It aims to include all 'normal' bus services that enter the town, but eschews school-only routes.

Town services are mainly Arriva but with a couple of exceptions.

Arriva does not hold everything longer distance, however. So here is route 96, the back way route to Telford ...

... from Select Services.

The direct route via the A5 is Arriva's X10.

A longer distance route, to Ludlow, is run by respected independent Minsterley Motors ...

... and they have been around for a long time.

Arriva has the contract for Shrewsbury's three Park and Ride services ...

... the town being one of the early pioneers of this mode of bus travel.

Meole Brace? That's where Mrs Miggins lives, see above!

There are a few intriguing but infrequent longer distance services available to tempt the more adventurous omnibologist. 

Such is route X48 ...

... an apparently unbalanced service with no journey all the way FROM Builth Wells to Shrewsbury. There is a possible change (outward) to the train at Craven Arms, or a wait from 1316 to 1631. The 2115 return journey runs all the way but, depending on the time of year, most of the attractive ride would be in the dark!

Celtic Travel would be your service provider.

The X48 was provided by Transport for Wales to offset reductions in the Heart of Wales railway service to Shrewsbury.  There strange timetable is because the buses are filling big gaps in the rail service.

There are other bus options on route 48 at the Welsh end. (Click on the timetable below for an enlargement)

The above has been a selection of what you will find in this informative slim volume.

Later fbb will look at the design of the book itself and the information available therein to support the inexperienced Shrewsbury bus user.

'Later' may be tomorrow but today is the fbbs' monthly Fellowship Meeting and spare time is a precious commodity.

"Sing Something Simple', BBC radio programme of old, might become "Blog Buses Basic" for Tuesday!

Sing Something Simple was a half-hour radio programme, which featured Cliff Adams and The Cliff Adams Singers, with Jack Emblow on accordion. The programme, which featured arrangements of popular easy-listening songs, ran for 42 years from 1959 until 2001, initially on the BBC Light Programme and later on BBC Radio 2, and earning itself the title of the longest-running continuous music programme in the world.

Ah, The Light Programme, those were the days!

Nostalgia ruleS O.K.

 Next Shrewsbury blog (or something else) : Tues 6 Oct