Web Sites, Used or Confused? [1]

The Search is on ...

In an fbb exclusive, our photographer has had access to the Police search for a missing bus route. Here the search teams comb scrubland near Carisbrooke Castle. So why this feverish investigative activity? Where has this lost route gone?

First, fbb was informed that a new service 36 would be starting from Newport Isle of Wight to the minuscule settlement of Gatcombe; nice church but not much else.

Then a usually reliable source reported that the 36, which did not appear in Southern Vectis' [SV] publicity, would not be starting after all. This, despite the fact the the timetable was published on Traveline and Transport Defunct.

The note 1, by the way, indicates that the bus runs on Monday, Wednesday and Friday only, although some earlier reports said that the service would run 5 days a week. Presumably the privileged passenger, (personal pal of some politician, perhaps?) now only wants to travel on three days?

Now the usually reliable source has back-tracked (unusually and unreliably) and informs fbb that the 36 WILL be operating but only until 21st October, when it will be withdrawn completely!

So, back to Southern Vectis trendy web site where, of course, this error will have been rectified. Won't it? The SV web site is contracted out to the Ray Stenning "Best Impressions" design organisation ...

 

... so, what do you think?

The inconclusive search was completed at 2000 on Monday 5th September, approx six hours after the last service 36 bus of the day was scheduled to leave Newport at 1410; perhaps, or even maybe?

The above is part of the summary of the September 4th changes, still no 36. And on the timetable pages, once again ...

... no service 36. So, does it run or doesn't it? Is there a service 36 or isn't there? Hence the frantic search as photographed above. Or, as part of a public transport conspiracy, is the idea not to tell anyone the route exists, then no-one will complain when it is withdrawn?

But fbb is made of sterner stuff and he has sent a vast team of colleagues (well, one, actually) out and about in Newport to obtain (hopefully) a picture of the ghostly, mysterious and possibly non-existent service 36. IF the search produces results, fbb will publish in a stop press blupdate.

And, another mystery. How often does the service 6 run?

Looks like ten trips a day, Monday to Saturday. So why do the lists of Island bus frequencies, the newly published summary lists on bus stops throughout the Island, say that there are only 5 buses a day on service 6? More missing journeys? Another search of the hinterland, this time of Ventnor?

Or is it that the other five trips are not actually SV journeys, but part of the Community bit of the "Partnership" and so don't appear on the SV database which generates these pages? Surely they wouldn't miss out HALF the service, would they? Not in a partnership?  Surely?

So the question remains ...

Does anyone who builds these web sites and manages the clicknology actually use what they create? Or is everything so subcontracted, so computer driven, and so buried deep in bits and bites that the useful truth is almost lost and gone for ever.

Web Sites, Used or Confused? Guess!

In the meantime, let's be a little bit positive. fbb is indebted to friend Alan for sending this picture ...

... of the very first journey, yesterday, of the new service 31 running local routes in Ventnor.  The revised 31 is supported financially by the Isle of Wight Council but, oddly, is not part of the super-duper new "big society" Community Bus Partnership. But there is no doubt that the 31 exists, unlike the questionable 36.

Next blog : Wednesday September 7th  

Not so Bad in Northampton?

?The cut-backs are cut back!

Early in 2011, Northamptonshire hit the national headlines by announcing that it would be withdrawing ALL bus subsidy COMPLETELY. Leaving aside the nicety that is it against the law to "subsidise" a bus service; legally the county is actually buying bus travel from the lowest bidder (spot the difference?); this decision would have denuded rural areas of their service and grossly inconvenienced those who did not drive their own little tin box.

fbb set this little exam on 4th June ... 

What is Northamptonshire doing with its bus tender (subsidy) budget? Cutting it completely. Partly Correct.

How is the County going to replace lost services. It isn't. Practicably Correct.

But what about communities where there are no buses, leaving people trapped in their own homes? What has the County said it will do? From September 5th, it says that it will create a new and revolutionary network. Possibly Correct.

What are the chances that this new network will be successful? None. Probably Correct.

4 out of 4. Well done! You clearly understand the Council's policies. Cynical, moi?

The new network is now in place and, shock horror, in many ways it IS better than previous efforts.

The silly situation back then, whereby buses between Northampton and Overstone etc. required an unreliable change of bus in Moulton, has been resolved. By running through buses from Northampton, like they used to be. What a brilliant and original idea!

 

Also in June, this appeared on the fbb blog ...

Bonus for the denizens of Deanshanger who GAIN an hourly service to Northampton; but that leaves Cosgrove etc. unserved. So the worthy and imaginative councillors of Northamptonshire create a service 90. It connects with the 89 in Potterspury a bit less than every two hours. It is run by Centrebus, so it's a dead cert that there are no through fares and as people don't like changing anyway, custom will be minimal. It will never survive the final NCC extermination programme in September.

But it HAS survived, is slightly improved and now has 90A journeys to Wicken which lost out last time.

Way back in January fbb joined the residents of South Northamptonshire in lamenting the loss of their through buses ...

If you live in Brackley and need to get to Northampton or to the local council offices in Towcester, then the journey is potentially more stressful. It is not unknown for the Oxford to Silverstone bus to run so late that it misses connections leaving the brave through passenger to wait at those splendid interchange facilities!

Will the good folk of South Northamptonshire get their through bus back? Watch out for Gloucester Old Spots flying over Brackley.

 

But the through service IS back, continuing to Bicester where connections are available with frequent buses into Oxford. A significant improvement all-round.

And, finally (for now?), in August, fbb lamented the poorly publicised demise of a bus service between Wellingborough Station and Town. 

But it's all change these days, as explained by the ever helpful Northamptonshire County, seen here on 1st August 2011. This is the bus stop outside the station:- "There are no buses from this stop". [Withdrawal of buses to Wellingborough Station.]

 

Yet again, from 5th September, the station link is back. 

How has this piece of public transport prestidigitation been achieved? Like the work of Penn and Teller or Derren Brown, it is all a bit of a mystery. Certainly, instead of removing ALL the £3 millon "subsidy", a little over £1 million remains. Certainly Stagecoach have adjusted some routes to make them more "commercial" and a large number of one-day-a-week routes have gone completely. In one area (around Daventry) dial-a-bus links are in place, run, unbelievably, from Lincoln.

 

Some nagging doubts DO remain, however.

What happens when Stagecoach discover that their "unsubsidised" new-look routes still don't pay?

What happens when phone operators in Lincoln give duff advice to the residents of Welford and Buckby Wharf?

What happens when the £1 million budget doesn't QUITE pay all the bills, or, even more likely, when the overall council cutbacks are found to be insufficient.

And, finally, if it was so relatively easy to make savings, why couldn't this have been done before?

Answers, on a postcard, to ....

On second thoughts, don't bother. It's politics and we shall never REALLY know.

Next blog : Tuesday September 6th  

Euston, we Have a Problem [3]

A Proper Propylaea.

This is an arch ...

... and this isn't ...

... and this is what the Propylaea at the Acropolis in Athens probably looked like. A Propylaea (in Greek) comes "pro" = before the "pylon" = gateway; so it's a sort of a gateway to a gateway.

"The Entrance to the London Passenger Station [note from fbb ; it wasn't called "Euston" yet!] opening immediately upon what will necessarily become the Grand Avenue for travelling between the Metropolis and the midland and northern parts of the Kingdom, the Directors thought that it should receive some architectural embellishment. They adopted accordingly a design of Mr. Hardwick's for a grand but simple portico, which they considered well adapted to the national character of the undertaking."

Which became known as the Euston Doric Arch, seen below after further expansion of the terminus.

Euston probably suffered from being the first London terminus, but others followed. Paddington 1838, Kings Cross 1852, St Pancras 1867 and Marylebone 1899. So the London and North Western terminus developed piecemeal and never achieved the architectural homogeneity of the others. But the Hardwicks, father and son, created something of the desired opulence for passenger facilities, even if things at platform level were scrappy and disjointed.

fbb well remembers his first visit to the Great Hall, then probably the most magnificent waiting room in Europe. You would only speak in hushed tones, respectful of the cathedral-like grandeur. Even in its tatty latter years, it was something special, something to be admired.

In the early years of the 20th century, long distance travellers would enjoy a four star dining experience, whilst the railway's directors could meet in a board room befitting the power and financial standing of the company.

Even a humble haircut was special!

After all the lavish pampering provided, albeit enjoyed only by the "superior" echelons of society, one could, just about, cope with the smoky platform ...

 

... as one made one's way to one's reserved compartment. And if there was no time for a full meal, the trolley would be well stocked with good things ...

... or one might take one's seat in the Dining Car. Top hole, old boy!

Certainly, things were VERY different from today's sweaty stampede down the ramp to join the rugby scrum and luggage heaving event that characterises the stress of joining a busy train at Euston in 2011. Relaxing, it ain't!

Sadly, the desire for profit overtook architectural considerations when the station hotel was built in 1881, blocking the view of the arch from Euston Road and destroying the open parkland "grand avenue" approach via Euston Square.

The decision to electrify the west coast main line, taken about 75 years later, was to result in total destruction of all that went before, both good and bad. Whilst most users could stomach the removal of Hardwick's piecemeal and clearly outdated station facilities, it was the doomed future of the Doric Arch that caused the highest levels of opprobrium.

As we shall see ...

Euston, we Have a Problem [2] (read again)
Euston, we Have a Problem [1] (read again)

Next blog : due Monday September 5th  

Big Buses, Little Billing, a Tree and fbb!

What's Happening?

This is a follow-up to "Northamptonshires Noteworthy News" (read again), If fbb still lived at No 72 ...

... how would his local bus service have changed?

Obviously the answer to that is tied up with politics. The political decision in the early 60s to double the size of Northampton meant that fbb's little village, Little Billing, with its little church, where fbb's mother is buried ...

... little council estate, where fbb lived when a "tiny" ...

... with just one little shop, currently closed and for sale ...

... was overpowered by the BIG extended town. In his youth, fbb had buses at the top of the road, every 30  minutes by United Counties, and the previously blogged York Brothers down at the church with an erratic but stable schedule.

Things have moved on, somewhat.

 

The buses at the top of Orchard Hill are still every 30 minutes, now Stagecoach, of course, but still between Northampton, Wellingborough and beyond. Once the 402 and 404, then the 292 and 294, they are now (from 5th September, Northamptonshire's map is about 6 months out of date) the X46 and X47.  Meanwhile down at the bottom of the hill, on Manorfield Road near the church, the 16 runs every 10 minutes, because, of course, it now serves various surrounding high density estates.

The York brothers would be astounded!  

For the record, the 17 is a "use it or lose it" route serving more of the two-car owning property and running hourly off-peak only; the 53 and 54 run to various industrial estates at works times.

But now a personal tale from fbb:-

When I was 6, and at Billing Primary School, I was required to "do a project" about a bird and a tree. The chosen tree was "the oak"; and I duly planted an acorn in the back garden of my aunt's house in Northampton. Much to everyone's amazement it grew into a healthy sapling. When Auntie moved I begged mum and dad to allow me to transplant the sapling to the house on Orchard Hill. They agreed and planted it near a spring in the back garden, hoping it would, considerately, die. It thrived and is still there today.

Subsequent owners of Nos 70, 72 and 74 flogged off a chunk of their back gardens on which is now built a cluster of five "bijou" bungalows, seen here under construction via a slightly out-of-date Google Map aerial view.

 

There is MY tree, now aged 60 years and very much a mature oak. Here a picture of a poor elderly tramp admiring the arborial excellence.

What is most emotive, almost tear-jerking, is the name of this little cul-de-sac. It is called ...

... and that really IS my "oak tree".

Sadly, no blue plaque marks the historic site! BUT, fbb and Mrs have collected a few acorns for their grandsons to plant and, possibly, extend the line of descent. It is unlikely that fbb will be around to see the results unless cryogenics become significantly more affordable.

So, buses every 10 minutes and an undocumented memorial tree. That is, as they say, "something else"!

Next blog : due Sunday September 4th  

First Northampton, Worst Northampton?

Any sign of the Fearnley Factor?

First Northampton operates a number of buses like this ...

... and a few like this ...

... but nothing that might, even in a dark and gloomy bus station, be called "new" or "up-to-date". The vehicles all look tired, even terminally weary; they contrast unhappily with the Stagecoach fleet which is largely route branded and has a "feel-good" aura. Although fbb did spot a couple of Uncle Brian's buses branded for Daventry town services trundling around on Northampton local routes. Bad house point.

The First enquiry office on the main floor of the elongated Black Hole of Northampton ...

... has long since been bolted and barred. There are leaflet racks on the closed office and at departure stands.

But on Wednesday (31st August) here was nothing available for services 2, 4, 4A and 23, the latter being an infrequent "works" service for which times are absolutely essential. Suggestion for local "management":- Invest in a photocopier and print out a batch for yourselves.

First cannot be blamed for the gloom and doom of the bus station; recently exacerbated by plastering adverts over many of the windows and covering up half the bus stand lighting panels with similarly useless blurb. Neither can First be held 100% responsible for the "un-real time" displays which have recently been upgraded and thus don't work properly. This was an example on Wednesday, past:-

  

Bus departures for the planet Zog?

First CAN, however, be blamed for printed and on-line timetables which give misleading information (and which ensure that Traveline and Transport Defunct do likewise). First 28, for example, shows just two journeys as starting from Sentinel Road. Dear Mr First: ALL your service 28 buses serve the Sentinel Road stop; these two just happen to start there first thing in the morning.

Then, on services 29 and 30, you cannot (apparently) go TO Kings Heath shops, you can only travel FROM this luxury retail experience (?).

This is what the return timetable shows ...

... but the outward times fail to admit to the shopping centre. So, Mr First, here is the stop for the shops on the outward route, so you CAN get there.

If you need help, it is just round the corner from Park Drive, in South Oval and almost opposite the shopping centre. Regular readers will be delighted to hear that it was from a shop in this very parade that a six year old pre-fbb bought his first Sherbert Dip. Scrummy.

Just in passing, it is worth noting that NONE of First's routes run in the later evening. Whilst revenue may be poor at those times there must, surely, be a down-side. If people can't get back home after an evening out, surely they will be forced to buy, and use, their own transport to go out. Then, having purchased the Ferrari...

 

... they will use it during the day. Dear First Bus, suggest you run a proper service, then people might be encouraged to travel more.

Any sign of the Fearnley Factor. As Paul Daniels might say, "not a lot!" 

And finally ...

A quick glance at the sides of a few passing First vehicles might be indicative of the uphill task that GRF has given himself. Every bus must, by law, carry the name and address of its owning company. According to various vehicles' "legal lettering", (First) Northampton Transport appears to be based at St James', Northampton OR Leicester OR, a real highlight, this:-

Northampton Transport 
Westway
Chelmsford
Essex
CM1 3AR 

Someone should tell the Borough Council that their town is now in Essex. Dear Mr First; don't you think that local management might just help your local image, as you run local buses, locally? There's a clue there, somewhere.

Next blog : due Saturday September 3rd
"Big Buses, Little Billing, a Tree and fbb" 

Northamptonshire's Noteworthy News

  Significant September Celebrations?   

Credit where Credit is Due!

fbb used to live here ...

... and for eight years travelled to school here ...

... Northampton Grammar School (Town and County). Eight years at secondary school? Best not to ask or fbb might delight in giving you the whole lengthy story. Anyway, travel to and from this esteemed establishment of academe was by York Brothers bus. In fbb's day that was a family run firm with one of the "brothers" being the conductor and the other driving from time to time. Sadly fbb only has a very poor quality slide from post educational years ...

... of a bus about to disgorge its load of passengers at Little Billing Church. Yorks buses and coaches were always smartly presented and each one was named after a navy warship. A youthful fbb enjoyed tasty Bedford OB "HMS Cumberland", his schoolday duplicate, and sought to sit near the door which he would slide with great enthusiasm  and aplomb. One man operation made this enjoyable chore necessary. Best picture is of a model (sadly not the OB) ...

... but you get the idea.

There is insufficient room in a brief blog to chart the history of Yorks route to Cogenhoe (pronounced Cook-No) but it was subsumed into service "improvements" as Northampton town expanded dramatically in the mid 60s; then became United Counties services 363 and 364, and finally reappeared, no longer via Little Billing, as the Y4 ...

 

... but a fleeting shadow of its former self. Here is a Yorks coach waiting its turn at Northampton bus station. In 1997, Yorks itself was taken over by Bowens, whose livery style has, sadly, replaced the two-tone blue.

 

So, what might one expect from the pre-announced major re-jig of services by the County, designed to save 70% ** of the transport budget? An ideal candidate for total extermination?

But not so. From Monday 5th September Roys Minibuses of Finedon (sort of near Wellingborough, if that helps) ...

 

... will operate route 43 ...

... offering an IMPROVED service, particularly to the villages of Bozeat and Wollaston!

Indeed, many of the changes incorporated in Northamptonshire's re-organisation scheme also offer some improvements and fbb will blog appropriately in due course.

So perhaps fbb and other commentators were a little hasty when they expressed alarm at the County's plan. Maybe things are not quite so bad as they originally seemed. Further investigation will be necessary.

But, at least for now, Credit where Credit is Due; albeit tinged with sadness for fbb as Yorks disappear from what remained of his local route!

** The original County proposals were to remove 100% of the bus subsidy budget. More of this apparent volte-face later.

  fbb visited Northampton yesterday 31st Aug  

                        More Odd-blogs to follow!                       

Next blog : due Friday September 2nd