Come Hull And High Water (1)

It would probably be fair to say that buses in Hull have offered a relatively stable service for many years.

Hull Corporation Transport was renowned for its unusual livery with swirly stripes, arguably unique amongst municipal operators. It was carried by trolleybuses ...

... and, to use Derby Corporation's enigmatic descriptor, oiler buses.

The style was modernised (boring-ised) in later years ...

... but model collectors will know that before the swirly bits, some vehicles had a much more traditional style with three stripes and plenty of liming, as was the proud style of many council owned transport undertakings.

Country buses have been (mostly) in the hands of East Yorkshire since 1926.

East Yorkshire Motor Services was originally made up of two companies, Lee & Beaulah, set up by Ernest John Lee ...

... and Hull & District Motor Services, set up by H.A. Harvey. In 1926, British Electric Traction (BET) bought the two companies, forming East Yorkshire Motor Services. BET, of couse, eventually became part of the National Bus Company.

Until 1972, the livery of East Yorkshire was dark blue and primrose.

Enthusiasts will immediately recognise the strange roof line, necessary to get buses through the North Bar at Beverley.

Even with the special roof, it was a very tight fit. Double decks no longer go that way, sadly.

The livery was then changed to blue and white, in the National Bus Company corporate layout. This proved to be short-lived, with the livery being replaced by National Bus Company poppy red.

In February 1987, East Yorkshire was sold in a management buyout.

Each operator has their own area of "greater" Hull, based, for Stagecoach, on the "city" area ...

... albeit extended into new housing development as here at Bransholme. Here is the above area in the 1930s ...

... and the same area today!

The Wawne Drain (upper left) serves a a point of reference. The "Drain" does not seem to drain very much these days, and, as we all know, a few hundred yards further east it becomes the tinkling limpid waters of the Foredyke Stream ...

... or maybe not!

Meanwhile, East Yorkshire have followed development of former villages as at Cottingham ...

... and Willerby.

Sorting the above lot out must be fun for a newcomer! fbb will not try.

And the list above does not include the 151 and 154.

Whatever angst may have beset the network in the past, the two current operators seem to exist with mutual respect

For the record, Stagecoach has a map exclusively of their own routes, whilst GoAhead East Yorkshire sensibly reproduces the excellent comprehensive map from a bus guide leaflet created by Hull City Council.

The Other thing that is really good about Hull is the Paragon Interchange. Here ALL greater Hull buses depart from a line of stands literally within the curtilage of Hull railway station.

We shall pay a visit tomorrow.

And The Puzzle Picture?

According to a twitterer it is a London Underground themed toilet in the Netherlands. But the tweet writer does not say where.

The note points out that the decoration includes "one of our departure boards" and originates from an operation called "UK Departure Boards". (web site here)

The company makes a range of ersatz working station departure displays for which the purchaser can choose station and format from a wide range of options.

The web site explains a little about the company.

Being a bit of a spoilsport and anxious to keep his lithe and muscular frame well covered, fbb would prefer to wear clothes when considering that they are "not a full time commercial operation".

 A Paragon of Virtue in Hull : Wednesday 5th August 

Weekend Oddments (1)

Out With The Old - In With The New

A sort of theme for today's snippets seems to be developing.

Abellio Anglia Arrivals

This Nationalised Railway introduces new trains on the route from London Liverpool Street to Norwich. The twitterer who posted these pictures pointed out that the last time the route got new trains was in 1958!

The second-hand old on the way out ...

... and the new on the way in. Very nice trains, but not "InterCity"!

Nationalised? Owned by the Netherlands nation.

And newly fettled Victoria sidings at Norwich whereat to park the new stock.

And in daylight.

Oh Mr Porter, Whatever Will I Do?
Out with the old, in with the new, expensively at Crewe.

One thing that our potty politically promoted railway system persistenty produces is lots and lots of new graphics and paint schemes - all financed by the fare paying public.

Here British Railways is revealed by the removal of Virgin ready to replace the sign with First Rail's "Avanti" styling.

Remembering the old?

Aha, blissful memories of those happy halcyon far-off days when public transport was co-ordinated in our big cities.

In Newcastle buses and metro were painted the same colours, carried the same logo ...

... didn't have a silly name ...

... and offered simple intermodal standard fares.

My word! We have progressed!

Observing The New Rearwards
TV cameras replacing rear view mirror on Abellio (State run again) in London.

Relishing The Old
A full refurbishment of a much loved old lady. Leicester's bus 154 has just been outshopped in all its beautifully restored glory; thanks, largely, to the skills and efforts of First Bus staff.

And here are the Great and the Good in celebratory mood.

Left to right we see:
Nigel Eggleton - boss of First Bus
Richard Worman - Leicester Heritage Transport Trust
Sir Peter Souslby - Leicester's City Mayor

This bus has been a remarkable survivor and full details of its history and multiple ownership can be found on the LTHT web site (here)

154 has some delightfully low-tech rear view mirrors!

The Old Replaces The New
After a very hesitant start with their electrics interfering with signalling systems, class 442 trains are back on the Portsmouth Line. They originally appeared in 1988.

As was common on the British Rail Southern Region, many electrical components – including traction motors and electrical control gear – were salvaged from the Class 432 units they replaced. 

The 442 units are unique among all of the various Mark 3 based multiple unit classes in that they use the full-length 23 metre version of the Mark 3 bodyshell with sealed, non-opening windows - hence they have a very close resemblance to the coaching stock used in both HST sets and loco-hauled expresses.

SouthWest Trains (Stagecoach) painted them in their splendidly bright livery ...

... followed by a less variegated sojourn at GoAhead's Gatwick Express.

Now back on the "South Western" they carry First's boring colours of dull blue and dull grey. But they are fabulous trains - even better than the 158/159 sets that serve the fbbs well at Axminster.

Because their construction made extensive use of modern materials they were dubbed "Plastic Pigs" by enthusiasts. The picture below (via Tweet) was captioned ...

... "Three Oinks - All Together"!

Opportunity Knocks!
Spotted this Tweet from Transdev's Harrogate and District a few days ago.

Pity they couldn't hack the Northern Trains web site!

The Blind Leading The Blind

Despite assurances from well up in the echelons of First Bus, the seven year old recruited to cope with blind setting technology for the Fulwood shuttle bus appears to have failed utterly and completely. First must have chosen the wrong seven year old. Or maybe someone just a bit too young?

In a further feat of superb customer service, temporary bus stops, providing alternatives in some locations whilst nearby stops were inaccessible, finally appeared on Thursday - the fourth day of the disruption. 

No rush chaps!

 Next Old/New blog : Sunday 8th March 

Talking of Double Dutch ...

... How About Dubbel Gelede?

It was fbb's flat mate, John (later his brother in law, now his brother-divorced but a good friend of 50 long years!), who, in the mid sixties, took a trip to Amsterdam. He spent much time enjoying the tram network and returned home with a book.

The title translates as "From Horse Tram ...

... to Double Articulated." A youthful not-yet-f bb was called in to assist with translation; often unsuccessfully.

Whilst Centraal Station is the transport centre of the City, Dam Square is undoubtedly the municipal and meet-and-greet centre. Trams are now more "gelede" than simply "dubbel" but they still traverse the square, although with less track and less routes than in horse tram days.

The reason  for this snippet, however is another phrase from the very expressive dutch language. Two periods of cut-backs are highlighted in the book; pre and post Word War Two. Writing about these, the author refers to the heady days of trams' running absolutely everywhere as ...

 voor de grote inkrimping 

This translates as "before the great contraction" or, maybe, "before the great cut-backs". Inkrimping was such a mellifluous word that it entered fbb's and John's daily vocabulary as a synonym for any bus network reorganisation that involved service reductions.

 Doncaster - de grote inkrimping? 

We all now know that the Sheffield Bus Partnership's revised network, launched so disastrously last November, was all about cutting costs and increasing profits (or maybe making some profits, at last!). The Rotherham Bus Partnership was ditto but less controversial.

So how is the Doncaster Inkrimping looking? There was "Consultation", tagged by some as "Consulting then Doing What We Want Anyway" ...

... which is well past. 

About 150 bus services will change in South Yorkshire over a couple of weekends in May. The double date is because Stagecoach Chesterfield's changes (in darkest dragon infested Derbyshire) ...

... happen on 8th May whilst the South Yorkshire revisions come a week later.

Of the 150 changes (admittedly that includes all "A" and "B" suffixed numbers) 54 are for Doncaster. The PTE was, as usual, woolly in its announcements.

Proposals to optimise Doncaster’s bus network will go to public consultation this week, as authorities look to progress the public transport aims proposed in Sheffield City Region’s (SCR) Devolution Deal. The proposed bus network will play a key role in developing local transport to better meet the needs of the growing economy and customers by providing a more coordinated, more efficient and better integrated network.

It all sounds very grand and noble but words like "optimise" and "more coordinated" mean very different things when applied to passengers or to bus operators. There is, naturally, no mention of any "inkrimping"!

Nevertheless, fbb will be investigating these changes over the next week or so (when his brain is sufficiently in gear to understand them) but for today, he takes a quick look at trunk route X78, Sheffield, Rotherham, Doncaster.

fbb wrote three blogs not long ago on this particular service:-

See "The Unchanging Changing X78" [1], [2] and [3].

Suffice it to say that today's route runs every ten minutes Monday to Saturday daytime and every 15 minutes on Sundays. Except when the services is increasing to that level in the early morning, and when it drops back for the quieter evenings, it is very easy to follow.

Ominously, the Partnership proposals were for the X78 to run every 15 minutes (a 33% service reduction!) but would be "co-ordinated" with services 221 and 222.

This is what will happen with Doncaster departures at 03, 10, 18, 25, 33, 40, 48 and 55 minutes past each hour. Arrivals are similar. Well done schedulers.

Apparently, this his would only leave the short and rural section between Old Road Conanby and Thrybergh (where Rotherham local routes join in)  with a noticeable reduction. Of course this always assumes that the passenger has bought a ticket valid for travel with both operators.

But what about the Rotherham to Sheffield Section via the busy and popular Meadowhell shopping complex? Would an every 15 minute frequency be adequate for the bustling crucible of retail excitement that is Meadowhell.

The clever planners at the First Bus depot in Rotherham have solved this problem. The new service runs every 15 minutes between Doncaster and Rotherham and every ten minutes between Rotherham, Meadowhall and Sheffield.

And they don't fit together, do they?

The new timetable seems very silly.

If you are intending to travel for Sheffield past Rotherham, you must learn to juggle with 20 minute gaps and 10 minute gaps; and, if you are unfortunate enough to choose the xx20 or xx50 departures from Sheffield, you can enjoy a delightful 9 minutes sitting in the joyous environment of Rotherham bus station ...

... waiting for a ten minute gap to become a 15 minute gap,

But there is something even sillier.

Every half an hour an extra journey, numbered 22m, runs between Meadowhell and Rotherham. Why? And Who? And Where?

We will be looking at the 22 story in a later blog, but (to keep it manageable for now) the 22m is currently used for buses between Barnsley and Rotherhan extended to Meadowhell.

The blurb on the front of the new X78 timetable (available only on line from the PTE) refers to the new 22m.

Or does it?

Changes will be made to the times of service X78 Doncaster to Rotherham, with journeys running every 15 minutes, journeys from Sheffield to Rotherham will continue to operate every 10 minutes.

The 22m will operate Rotherham to Meadowhall only. No change to route or times.

What you can glean, with care, is that both 22m routes are, indeed, the same; but they run via a little nibble variously known as Deepdale Road or sometimes South Street. 

It is about the fourth attempt anf ourth route number to provide this service which was once a Rotherham Corporation motor bus route (numbered 17) terminating at Deepdale Road,

There is a route description on the new 22m and X78 non-leaflet, plus a not very helpful map.

But surely it should have a separate timetable and route map; its only affinity with the X78 is that it runs from Rotherham to Meadowhall.

Thus we have the cunning plan from First Bus.

1. Introduce flash new buses on the X78

2. Reduce the frequency

3. Increase confusion and delays for through passengers

4. Baffle people by allowing the PTE to publish a daft timetable

And there's still First's own printed publicity to come. fbb can't wait for that!

Well done, folks, for de grote krankzinnig inkrimping.

 Next blog : Sunday 17th April