Go Ahead Grabs All (2)

Tinner Service, Thinner Service!

25 years ago, First Western National operated an hourly service 18 between Penzance and Truro; also a two hourly 14 between St Ives and Truro. 

There were, of course, other services over sections of the two routes.

Roll on a few years and First are advertising a very attractive trunk timetable of 14s and 18s providing at least a fifteen minute frequency over the common section of route.

It was a long common section with the western end split shown in the map below.

Next we see the route between Hayle and Redruth ...

... and finally between Redruth and Truro.

Then, in a massive move over to route branding, we had the 18 renumbered as T1 ...

... with the 14 becoming, imaginatively, the T2.

The T2 above is just leaving the now abandoned clifftop Malakoff bus station at St Ives.

The livery included a stylised map ...

... and a jolly tinner complete with lethal weapon!

The T1/T2 timetable was delightfully simple...

... and fbb has been trying to excavate from his 'leedle grey cells' whether, at one stage, the T1 and T2 were both every 20 in the peak summer, every 10 on the common section. But if they were, your aged expositor can find no tangible evidence thereof.

But First Bus are not renowned for tinetabular stability. The company almost always specialised in its expertise at confusing the passengers.

So enter route T3!

The core from Truro to Penzance and St Ibes remains, but extensions northwards require an extra route number  (T3) for the St Ives leg. 

At this stage only the T2/T3 served Loggans.

Whatever the motivation for the extensions to Newquay or Snozzle (who knows the minds of First's route planners) the service soon reverted to the good old T1/T2 that we had all grown to love.

The map on the buses was not updated for the new extension!

The most recent development, now perhaps to be viewed as somewhat prophetic ...

... blrought a competitive GoAhead 20 minute frequency route 41 to cream business from the hard working tinner. Except that route branding was abandoned and the tinner was appearing anywheere and everywher.

Everything now serves Loggans but the T2/T3 have  further wiggles via Gwithian.

From February 15th, Go Ahead dons the tinner's hard hat and clutches his weapon! Actually it doesn't - Go Ahead becomes Go Backwards again and reverts to routes 14 and 18.

Route branding - what's that? We are all GoCorwall Bus now!

But that is not the company's  only leap into the past.

Through journeys to Penzance and St Ives become hourly - more like 25 years ago.

The above is not a genuine picture. It is, indeed at Penzance bus station but with infrastructure that is later than a flat fronted VR! From the look of the elderly male clientele, it is an enthusiasts tout!

And another bit of prophetic publicity.

Every journey? Well, it is now!

Tomorrow  we go to Falmouth.

  Next GoAhead blog : Friday 23rd Jan 

Go Ahead Grabs All (1)

Local-Bus Network Changes 

from 15th February

Go Cornwall Bus, as part of Transport for Cornwall, has worked closely with Cornwall Council to design a revised network that maintains strong accessibility for communities, major employment sites, education, health and key destinations across the county. While the current First Bus network will not be replicated like-for-like, we have ensured alternative or amended services will operate from 15th February with the pivotal priority to keep Cornwall connected.

Alongside the introduction of these new commercial services, a number of further changes on the network will be introduced on the 15th February, becoming the first main network change date for 2026, with a later review in the summer. The wider network changes are primarily to improve service performance, connectivity, reliability and punctuality and are based on customer and stakeholder feedback.

As outlined in our communication on 21st November, the revised network has been developed on the basis that the former First Bus network would not be replicated, with a strong focus on ensuring the long-term financial sustainability of all new and revised services.

Hmmmm?

So, over the next few blogs, fbb will present his loyal reader with a before and after report allowing (a) comparisons to be made and (b) considering whether the aims covered in the company info above were fulfilled.

Spoiler alert : they weren't!

We will take services area by area, beginning with some of the Penzance routes.

Lands End 

The above map shows a simple "lollipop" route with the assumption that one way round is 1, the other way is 1A. The current timetable does not show "circular" journeys, the passenger has to work it out.

The on-line 'active' route map shows a more complex picture ...

... with variants mainly at school times.

This is what GoAhead says about the 1 and 1A.

The new timetable looks much the same.

But what GoAhead has not written about, is that buses will now run via Paul replacing current service 5. Local users are worried about bigger buses using the narrow roads and a possible problem of bigger buses meeting on the narrow bit.

Many journeys will also take longer.

Madron, Lower Boscaswell

And yes, it is the same current map. For the time being fbb will ignore the 17E (for evening) journeys run by GoAhead. Currently the 17 runs across Penzabce to St Ives.

The 17 and 17A combine to provide a 30 minute headway between Heamoor, Penzance and St Ives. This is a long standing through route.

From February the link is to be broken. 

The Madron and Lower Boscaswell section becomes routes 4 and 4A,

There is a loop element in this timetable which becomes more apparent if we look at the reverse direction.

Route 4A follows the former 17 route to Newbridge and St Just, then, after a break, continues to Boscaswell, 55 minutes later. That is significantly longer than the current 17.

But passengers could take the 4 via Madron and Portherras Cross (the latter tagged on this map) ...

... and get to Boscaswell in 38 minutes, also longer than the 17.

It looks as if many journeys will take longer; even longer if you have to enjoy the delights of St Just bus shelter whilst 'waiting time'.

Which takes us, naturally, to St Ives, currently enjoying a bus every 30 minutes on 17/17A.

St Ives

See 17/17A timetable above. The current map is straightforward ...

... and, apart from a few schooltime wiggles in Penzance, the live map is also OK.

But take a look at the new Go Ahead 17.

More like Go Backwards 17 with a drastic reduction to hourly.

GoAhead does confirm this.

Not good news!

Mousehole

Readers will doubtless remember the fbbs trip to 'Mowzle' in September 2025, enjoying diddy minibuses right down onto the Harbourside.

The service currently runs every 20 minutes.

There were the obligatory school oddities, but the route is simple.

The M6 does provide a local service in Penzance itself. As far as fbb can tell, the route in the town is unchanged but with no 'M' on the blinds.

But the frequency is reduced to every 30!

But it gets worse. In order to reduce the frequency, GoAhead will use bigger buses which will not fit through the chicane that leads to the Harbourside.

So the terminus will be one stop short at The Old Coastguard Hotel ...

... not the best welcome to the picturesque harbour.

So a worse service than current in two ways.

But local knowledge suggests that drivers find a turn at the Old Coastguard ...

... too unsafe and make the turn two stops short of the harbour.

So the new 6 service is palpably worse than current M6.

We have looked at just three existing First Bus routes from Penzance, replaced by four GoAhead schedules. With the exception of journeys between Madron and Boscaswell, all are in some way inferior.

Penzance people are probably particularly peeved at the paucity of the replacement provision.

There will probably be pitchforks at dawn when the changes happen in February.

More services will be reviewed in tomorrow's blog.

  Next GoAhead blog : Thursday 22nd Jan 

Nostalgia ...

 ... Isn't Like It Used To Be

Back in the day, your Cornwall bus service would, with very few exceptions, be run by Western National. The company was under the overall management of The Transport Holding Company Ltd, formerly Thomas Tilling.

THC and the British Electric Traction (BET) group both became, effectively, state owned and were later formally united as The National Bus Company.

The NBC adopted a policy of local branding which begat "Cornish Fairways" ...

... soon to be eclipsed by a variety of privatisation paint schemes, a mixture of red, blue and cream.

The nicest was the "flags" version ...

... downgraded to something more boring when First Group bought the company.

Then along came pre-barbie ...

... followed by Barbie ...

... then Barbie Mark 2! 

First continued it's trend of adopting boring liveries in weak colours.

Competition hit when former First employees set up Truronian.

A highlight was the development of "The Helston Branch Line", route T34, building on nostalgia for a much loved but closed railway service.

Truronian's enthusiastic local management produced an effective and successful local brand which nibbled away at First's network.

Next came pink liveried Western Greyhound ...

... a bit insipid, but certainly "different".

Colours later became green and white ...

... then all over green with a tasteful orange line. The company was, by now, biting, not just at the heels of First, but devouring the whole business. There were also some powerful route developments and some very smart double deckers.

First Bus, long regarded as a 'basket case' by the industry, fought back by buying Truronian. The rumour in the pubs frequented by Britain's bus managers was that First had paid too much for Truronian "to keep Stagecoach out"!

Then the wheels began to fall off Western Greyhound. The end was sad and abrupt. The company was sold but the new owners gave up before they really started and First took over the bits.

First was back in almost total control of the county.

BUT ...

For reasons which are not clear, good things did not last. There was route branding ...

... and an explosive growth of open top buses.

The leisure services centred on The Eden Project ...

... we're complex but unsuccessful; and a similar lack of business eventually removed open toppers at Falmouth, Newquay and Exeter ...

... together with the closed top run over the moors from Exeter to Plymouth ...

... although shorter versions remained for a year or so.

Then came the decision to withdraw ALL open top services including the apparently successful ones!

It was the recent competitive attacks by GoAhead that seems to have thrust the knife into the ailing company and was the final straw that broke the First Camel's chassis.

Fortunately there has been little evidence of First's latest boring livery ...

... with only one such evident when the fbbs sojourned at Penzance in September last year. But what was palpably evident was that First had already given up. Buses were no longer in the correct branded livery whilst a selection of cast-offs from other group companies accompanied the mess.

So what will Go Ahead do with First's much depleted network?

Outline information is now available for the February changes.

  Next Kernow blog : Weds 21st Jan