Saturday Variety (mini blog)

 Is It Or Isn't It!

fbb commented that the current Bristol network map had not been updated to include the former RATP A4 via Keynsham village. Then he checked another "current" network map, and ...

... the A4 was included. Both maps claimed currency, as far as the old boy can remember.

Was it yet another fbb blunder?

Or was it the well-known fact that First's web button pushers are very poor at removing old stuff?

Then fbb had mused about the column headings on their 39/X39 timetable.

Thanks to correspondent Gerald, the problem is solved.

The letters are Bristol Omnibus Company Ltd depot codes for MarlborougH Street (i.e. Bristol bus station, also a depot) and BatH. Odd; you would have thought that First's £4 million Artificial Insanity software could have come up with something more complicated and less comprehensible.

A technological failure, indeed!

And even one from Marlborough Street!

Peterville Castle Progress Continues

The 3mm scale cottage is no longer suspended in mid air ...

... and the ancillary buildings (staff cottages) ...

... and souvenir shop ...

... are somewhat improved. Distance, when viewed from a distance, has been added to the background hills via a little sprey of grey..

Whoops, fbb has mislaid the tower observation area roof.

Farewell HST, Welcome 222!

Of course these "high speed" trains are second hand. But then so are their replacements. fbb thinks the 222s in question will be ex East Midland Railway  ...

... as Cross Country is refurbishing its 222s for further service,

Scotrail tells what they will look like.

That Lorry (fbb forgot!)

Once upon a time you parked your OO scale vehicles on your layout as a simple visual enhancement to the railway scenery.

Then Triang came up with an OO scale slot car system called Minic Motorway ...

... not particularly realistic.

Faller offered no slot ...

... but still their vehicles followed a rigidly prescribed route round the scenery.

So, how about leaving the trains to circle a traditional oval, or shuttle back and forth electronically, while you drive your lorries, buses and cars using radio control?

So in the soft top is a motor ...

... a radio control receiver ...

... and a servo to do the steering.

The blue wires plug into a (USB???) charger.

Neat?

fbb has enough trouble controlling one two coach passenger train so who knows what mayhem he could initiate with moving road vehicles!

It's  All On Line No. 821

Above, another example of a UNESCO protected site.

Of course it is!

Puzzle Picture

Where are we?

It is unrecognisable today!

The old bus might be a clue! Some identification has been surgically removed!

And A Heartfelt (Bladderfelt?) Plea

As an elderly old crusty whose liquid disposal needs can be more urgent than they were twenty years ago ...

YES , PLEASE and again, PLEASE!

Oliver Coppard's train vision will now appear tomorrow.

 Next Sunday Variety blog : 22nd March 

The Future's Orange?

Oliver Coppard Has A Vision ... 

... but how realistic is it?

Currently we have seen artist's impressions of an orange bus ...

... we have seen one real bus ...

... which (don't tell) isn't even a new bus.

It is from Yorkshire Traction at Barnsley.

But there is just one new bus stop plus shelter.

It looks very pretty ...

... but is hardly visionary!

Thanks to Sheffield city council's policy of closing roads which people want to use and diverting buses to places where people DON'T want to go, stop RS3 is one of the least used stops in the city centre.

And, in a dynamic fbb exclusive, here is that very shelter ...

... c/w two vans and a lorry ...

... in the process of installation at Rockingham Street (RS3); RS1 and RS2 can be seen in their pre-shelter glory below!

Yet again, fbb brings you the exciting public transport news of the month!

Quite a lot of Olly's report is about improving train services - which is odd because the mayor has no authority (or money) to make any changes to the rail network.

fbb will take a quick look at Olly's Mayoral aspirations for the rail network in tomorrow's  blog.

He does, of course have responsibility for the trams. This is what he promises.

But he doesn't actually tell us exactly what the "bigger network" will be under his citrus vision.

Most South Yorkshire council taxpayers will be interested in his envisioned rutaceae revolution.

Here is what is to come.

And there's more!

Again, there are no details, not even one example, of what is planned. Nor does the report even hazard a guess as to how journeys will be magically made "quicker".

But what may impress is Olly's timeline.

As you enjoy the excitement, ask yourself what is actually new and, more pertinently, what actual difference will the weary passenger notice - apart from orange buses. 

That us what passengers are wondering in Manchester where the difference is yellow buses!

But here goes ...

From the passenger's  point of view the only novelty is the promise of a new website site. What is the betting it will be the current Travel South Yorkshire site (which is OK) with orange bits?

Nothing radical apart from two sorts of e-bikes (e-bike competition??) and some wayfaring, whatever that may mean. We are not told what bit of franchising will "roll out" in parallel with the new buses.

DSA - Doncaster Sheffield Airport. Something else that does not fall directly into the Mayoral ambit.

Anything really visionary, yet?

Is that an extra 573 buses making a total of 903? That extra 3 must be very significant.

Evidence elsewhere suggests that franchising is harder than the Mayoral mind might imagine. Perhaps that 2029 is the year when the franchising team leaps into headless chicken mode?

The vision is becoming more diffuse and mostly rail which will probably be a job for others to do. But Olly expects his new trams - somewhat evasive at sometime in a five year timespan.

In the unlikely event of his continuing existence, fbb will be in his nineties and may lack the enthusiasm and ability to show much interest.

But will Olly still be there? It doesn't take too much vision to suppose plans might be changes as we enter the 2040s!

fbb is uncertain what "high capacity public transport routes" actually means. Someone should ask Mr Coppard to elucidate. Also, what exactly were NPR Phase 1 and NPR Phase 2?

We should be told!

Yes, fbb is cynical; but he has seen it all before.

Remember the Sheffield Bus Partnership?

Remember Buses for Sheffield ...

Remember the dynamic livery?

It looked even worse on double decks!

Did the city's passengers notice any difference?

They will probably notice orange buses; but will they notice any real difference in their travel experience?

A bit of Olly's rail aspirations in tomorrow's blog.

  Next Variety blog : Saturday 21st March