Moving Marsh Barton [1]

fbb likes to think that his knowledge of the geography of mainland Britain is pretty good. Working for a number of years on the Great Britain Bus Timetable must teach you something. He has lived in Devon for just 10 months so is somewhat wary of opening cake-hole and filling it with a foot. But, once again, the odour of ratus ratus wafted over this story from the current edition of Rail magazine.

Topsham is to the east of the River Exe, south of Exeter.

South of the village are some fields and a vast swathe of estuarial mud. The railway line to Exmouth curves across the tributary (River Clyst) in the top right hand quadrant of the aerial view above. There's not much sign of a "large trading estate."

But, on the other side of the river, a little further north, there would appear to be lots of sheddy things, lots and lots and lots!

And, according to Google Maps, the ultimate authority on world and cosmic cartography, at least half of them are called Marsh Barton. So it appears that Rail's journalistic geographical knowledge is not of the best; doubtless yet another bonus of SATS tests and the national curriculum.

fbb cartography to the rescue!

Marsh Barton is Exeter's largest trading estate. There are over 500 businesses trading here including car dealerships, builders' merchants, tool and plant hire. Marsh Barton is about 1 mile south of the city centre with quick and easy access to the M5, A30 and the A38 Expressway via the Exeter Ring Road. The Matford Park and Ride bus service links the Marsh Barton Trading Estate to the city centre.

Once upon a time Exeter Corporation bus route A ran to Marsh Barton Road ...

... whilst its modern successor, still the "A", loops round more recent development at Alphington.

The trading estate was developed in recent history on low lying marsh land (there's a clue in the name!) bisected by the Alphin Brook (aka Nadder Brook). 

The railway line via Alphington (upper left, above) is one of the impractical alternatives suggested for avoiding Dawlish! The track bed has been obliterated by Sainsburys car park, but used to cross Alphington Road here; which is why rebuilding this route is a non starter.

The spine road of the southern (and newer) chunk of the estate appears to celebrate an ill-fitting felt hat ...

... but, in fact, takes is name from a German spa town.

Bad Homburg is the district capital of the Hochtaunuskreis, Hesse, Germany, on the southern slope of the Taunus, bordering among others Frankfurt am Main and Oberursel. The town's formal name is Bad Homburg vor der Höhe (translated as "Bad Homburg in front of the height") to distinguish it from other places of the same name. The town is best known for its medically used mineral waters and spa (hence the prefix Bad, "bath"), and for its casino.

Today, Bad Homburg is again one of the wealthiest towns in Germany, in part thanks to its vicinity near Frankfurt, as many of the directors and employees of the Frankfurt banks live in Bad Homburg.

Clearly an excellent match for Exeter as a twin town.

But we digress!

What happened on March 10th was a decision by a Council sub-committee to approve a go-ahead for the new station. Practicalities, financial and constructional, seem to be some way off, despite the optimism of the Rail report!

Tomorrow we look at Marsh Barton's proposed station within the context of Devon County Council's ambitious rail plans together with a review of today's bus services to the estate.

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Mysterious [+] Missing [-] Megabus [+] : a P.S.

Gordon Edwards of Travel Watch South West has kindly sent an "official" Megabus timetable for the Honiton Hub, source unknown. He also sent arrival times, but fbb did not have the commitment to type them up!

1020 Honiton

1040 Exeter Airport

1050 Cullompton

1110 Tiverton

1210 Barnstaple

1020 Honiton

1040 Exeter Airport

1135 Okehampton
1230 Bude

1140 Honiton

1200 Exeter Airport

1300 Okehampton

1355 Bude

1140 Honiton

1200 Exeter Airport

1235 Newton Abbot

1300 Torquay

1315 Paignton

1335 Totnes

1415 Plymouth

1520 Honiton

1549 Exeter Airport

1550 Cullompton

1610 Tiverton

1710 Barnstaple

1520 Honiton

1540 Exeter Airport

1625 Newton Abbot

1650 Torquay

1705 Paignton

1725 Totnes

1805 Plymouth

1930 Honiton

1950 Exeter Airport

2055 Launceston

2135 Bodmin

2215 St Austell

2250 Truro

2350 Penzance

1930 Honiton

1950 Exeter Airport

2025 Newton Abbot

2050 Torquay

2105 Paignton

2125 Totnes

2205 Plymouth

But even here there is possible confusion. Gordon heads his page as "Monday to Saturday" whereas the press release (etc.) offered a much reduced service on Saturday and Sunday. Of course, this confusion could be easily rectified by showing these tables on the Megabus web site.

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 Next bus/rail blog : Friday 28th March 

Mysterious [+] Missing [-] Megabus [+] : part 3

Being, effectively, "Isn't Technology Wonderful [4]"

   Correction : all Megabuses scheduled to call at Exeter Airport   

fbb has been investigating a clutch of new MegabusPlus services centered on Honiton and, possibly, designed as a temporary contribution to train travellers beset by the on-going woes of high seas, flooding and the consequent repairs. "Investigating" is the wrong word; "trying to investigate" is better.

See "Mysterious [+] Missing [-] Megabus [+] : part 1" (read again)
See "Mysterious [+] Missing [-] Megabus [+] : part 2" (read again)

Faced with an unfathomable web site and a useless Customer Service department, your chubby author has made his way to Honiton Station to watch the happenings. Only there haven't been any. Possible departures at 1015 and 1020 have failed to materialise and at 1045, fbb has returned to the lovely little station cafe to indulge in a late second breakfast / early lunch.

Fresh bread roll, bacon and sausage : £3.50 : delicious!

[https://www.facebook.com/TheOtterHalt].

The proprietrix did confirm, however, that Megabuses did exist, sometimes three at a time and always carrying no passengers. Look out, she ventured, for the little people carrier.

People Carrier, thinks fbb; that doesn't sound like an air conditioned double deck coach as promised in the Megabus press release. Maybe, thinks fbb, the caff lady has got it wrong. Anyway, the next possible Mega movements (according to a local enthusiast) were as follows:-

1130 arrival from Plymouth
1130 arrival from Penzance
1140 departure for Bude
1140 departure for Plymouth

Plenty to observe? But there were 45 minutes to enjoy breakfast/brunch/lunch and read the morning paper, so fbb returned to his seat at the bus stop, noting the lavish publicity for Megabus.

Yep, that's it. No times, no printed material in the racks in the waiting room; nothing else, except one small publicity sticker.

Bus travel all around the UK; but not, alas, from Honiton - so far. But wait! What is this that has crept in while fbb was buying his butterless butty?

Was this really a Megabus double deck coach shrunken in too hot a wash? There was a label in the windscreen ...

... lavish in its route information. The helpful lady driver informed fbb that she had come from Bodmin with one passenger. "It should have been three, but I had two no-shows", she said without emotion. As fbb finished his substantial snack, the parked Hamilton Gray coach roared into life ...

"Where are you going now?" asked el chubbo, to both. "I'm going home," replied People Carrier personage, "So am I," added big coach driver, "I'm not needed." And they both prepared to set off, empty and unloved. Their departure was impeded, however by the arrival of the 1128 service 52B to Sidmouth and Exeter, followed, hot on its rear end by another coach.

The third driver told me that he had come from "Torquay and lots of other places" and had carried zero passengers. He also explained that he was going back to Exeter.

The 52B departed at its alloted time leaving Hamilton Grey, Mid Devon Coaches and the anonymous minibus to skulk away still empty and still unloved at around 1140. Three vehicles, three drivers and just one incoming passenger. Not a particularly encouraging business plan, is it?

There is a spooky end to his sad and sorry tale. The day after this disappointing expedition, fbb and Mrs were scheduled to go via train and coach to Newton Abbot, there to meet up with a (very) senior bus company boss for tea and buns. At 1630 they boarded their return coach to Exeter and, lo and behold, it was the Mid Devon Coaches vehicle and its driver who had appeared (and disappeared), passenger-less, at Honiton.

arrival at Exeter : Saturday 22nd March

It's a small (coaching) world. This time, running for First Great Western, he carried 25 passengers.

What do we conclude from fbb's brief period of observation?

1. The Megabus web site is appalling

2. The Megabus customer service service is appalling

3. Megabus publicity for the Honiton Hub is appalling

4. Perhaps Stagecoach don't want passengers.

blog comment "held over" from Monday

5. Inconsistently, Megabus sometimes doesn't run at all

P.S. Is item 5 in fbb's conclusions list legal? A service from Honiton to Cullompton and Tiverton would need to be registered as a local bus and failure to operate it, empty or otherwise, would fall foul of the law. Is that why no journeys can be found for this leg? Is that why no bookable journeys exist to or from Honiton; every passenger is expected to arrive/depart by train.

Whilst several blog readers have jumped to the defence of Megabus, fbb feels that the whole Honiton project is a disaaaster darling. Whether that is intentional or simple incompetence is open to further debate!

It is in item 4 that we may have our explanation. First Bus has organised up to 200 coaches to cover flood disruption. National Express has doubled its capacity to the far west, so the company claims.

National Express is today (Tuesday, 11 February) pledging to meet any extra demand for its services in the South West as the rail disruption looks likely to remain for weeks to come. New express services will reach London in as little as four hours - quicker than the rail replacement alternatives.

The national coach operator is pledging to keep adding capacity and its standard fares in place for as long as necessary, ensuring everyone who wants to travel can still do so.

Since the disruption began last Wednesday (5 February):-
Plymouth to London: advance bookings have increased by 100%
Plymouth to Bristol: advance bookings have increased by 200%
The five new services provide 20,000 extra seats on
  Plymouth to London services between now and 23 March 2014

Presumably, Stagecoach has been under some political (or even Political, large "P") pressure to help with flood relief. "I know," says Mr Robert (formerly Bob) Montgomery, Stagecoach boss ...

... "we'll run some Megabuses ftom Honiton." "But," he thinks, under his breath (can you think under your breath?), "we won't try very hard, then we can withdraw them once things get back to normal."

Cynical, moi?

 Next bus blog : Thursday 27th March 

Mysterious [+] Missing [-] Megabus [+] : part 2

Being, effectively, "Isn't Technology Wonderful [3]"

fbb is trying to research timetables for new MegabusPlus services based on Honiton. Appaently, they don't exist.

It's good of Colin ...

... to send such a comprehensive and comprehensible reply!

But, following the guidance of the on-line unhelpline (above), your investigative author has, at last been able to ask the Megabus web site for timings for the journey(s) to Penzance.

All that is left is to add a spurious date of travel and answers will flow from the ether. Only they didn't.

The date boxes and the search button remained resolutely "greyed out" and nothing fbb did would persuade the site to give up any times for journeys to anywhere from Honiton. Maybe these are the ...

"some routes we do not provide for."

It's not looking good for Colin's advice. Then fbb had a idea. Such an event is rare enough to be newsworthy and this specific explosion of inventive intelligence suggested that, because this is Megabus "Plus" train, fbb needed to make a theoretical train journey. So try Axminster to Bude.

As you can see, fbb was able to add dates, click on "search" and make a note of the journeys available; so much more helpful than publishing a boring old-fashioned timetable. This is the 21st century, after all; we have all moved on ...

... but not to Bude! In fact, finding any journeys from or via Honiton proved almost impossible; but not quite. After numerous abortive clicks, this appeared.

And, joy of joys, your life-weary blog writer was offered a train to London (and several back) and the appropriate bus stops (see abve) to use.

Not Megabus; not MegabusPlus; not even MegabusGold but MegaTrain.

Then flushed with a palpable lack of success, fbb tried London to Cullompton. At last success; at last the revelation of at least one Megabus departure fom Honiton.

Except that it doesn't actually go to Cullompton, it dumps you at the filling station alongside the M5. Nice.

But, triumphantly speaking, that 1020 from Honiton is on the bus enthusiast's created list of departures and arrivals.

Thus the intrepid fbb sets off by motor car to Honiton Station to arrive at 1000; in good time to witness departures at  1015 and 1020. The 1015 timing looked a little unhelpful as the train arrives from London at 1015, so fbb wondered whether the connection would be made. Surely it would be, as train and mega bus are both run by Stagecoach? Hmmm?

So, ensconsed on a seat in the warming spring sun, and supping a delicious cup of coffee from the station caff, fbb waited for the ...

... double deck coaches to arrive and collect their passengers. 1015 came and went. 1020 came and went. 1030 came and went. 1045 came and went. Trains ...

... came and went.

Sparky's taxi came and waited ...

... a Stagecoach 52B passed through at 1028 ...

... and a driverless coach ...

... stood resting, silently, in the builders yard.

But of Megabuses, not a sign. Was it all some kind of ghastly dream? Surely not; the web site definitely, after several hours of prodding, gave us a journey to Cullompton and beyond.

Was fbb in the wrong place? Was there another stop; perhaps in the car park on the other side of the tracks?

Unlikely.

Where was the "Mysterious [+] Missing [-] Megabus [+]?" All will be revealed tomorrow.

Well, perhaps not all.

  Next and final (Mega) bus blog : Wednesday 26th March 

Mysterious [+] Missing [-] Megabus [+] : part 1

Being, effectively, "Isn't Technology Wonderful [2]"

Local news broke here in East Devon a few weeks ago. Megabus would be operating a series of routes based on Honiton Station. These would help passengers travelling to storm-ravaged Devon and Cornwall. The press release sounded impressive.

The integrated service will provide a seamless link between London and the West Country using a combination of South West Trains rail services and megabus.com coaches.

It will provide significant extra public transport capacity to keep communities in Devon and Cornwall connected while one of the main railway lines is closed following the collapse of the sea wall and damage to the track at Dawlish.

The new services will use a rail hub at Honiton providing onward coach connections to a number of destinations in the south-west.

From Honiton there will be four routes: Cullompton-Tiverton-Barnstaple; Newton Abbot- Torquay-Paignton-Totnes-Plymouth; Launceston-Bodmin-St.Austell-Truro-Penzance: and Okehampton - Bude.

The coach-rail services will operate Mondays to Fridays. On Saturdays and Sundays, there will be one departure in each direction on the Plymouth and Barnstaple routes only.
,,
A fleet of five double-decker coaches will be used for the operation, offering 4,000 seats a week. Prices will start from £1 (plus 50p booking fee) and most passengers will pay less than £28, with the network offering journeys of up to around 300 miles.

The services would, in fact, be branded as MegabusPlus, the plus being the concept of coach "plus" train. Now fbb did not take much notice of this news item as the local rag that carried the story implied that these routes were temporary, for the duration of the inundation complications.

That may well be the case, but there is no "T" word in the press release or on the Megabus web site, but there may be a hint.

megabusplus.com now operates services in the South West of England. This exciting new transport link to a number of destinations in the south west will help keep communities in Devon and Cornwall connected. Still from £1 + 50p booking! Book your seat now and keep Britain moving!

So fbb, belatedly, set out to investigate. Firstly, find out when these services operate, then go to Honiton and watch it all happen. Therein lies the first snag. In a recent article in the trade press, Professor Wenzit Goh, former Latvian transport minister and now secretary of NUTS (The National Union for Timetable Secrecy), has always enthused about Megabus and its derivatives. Timetables are well hidden in favour of on-line booking of specific journeys; so much easier opines Wenzit.

In fact there aren't any times published obviously on-line (Unsurprisingly, Traveline remains ignorant) ...

Traveline's list of services from (or via) Honiton

... so much so that fbb emailed Megabustomer Services and asked for details of routes and times from Honiton.

fbb replied the he did not know where he wanted to go; but that he wanted a timetable so he could see what opportunities there were from Honiton. Back came this helpful reply:-

fbb has no idea what that is supposed to mean; blog readers are invited to offer suggestions via the "comment" system. What it does mean in practice is that Megabus (plus Plus) timetables are simply a secret. There are NO timetables.

A local bus enthusiast had assembled some sort of departure list for services from Honiton; but he stressed that things may have changed.

There's nothing for it but to go on-line and do as the Megabus message mentioned.

But you can't choose a departure until you have entered "number of passengers". Try "1"?

Look! At last, all fbb has to do is to choose a destination; and there are plenty to choose from (Truro is just off the bottom of the list.) Technically, fbb's "screen shot" doofer makes the screen below vanish; so it's mobile phone camera for this one.

So fbb chose "Penzance".

We will see how things developed in tomorrow's mind-numbing and exciting episode.

Whilst waiting, a point for our readers to ponder. Is there any truth in the rumour that Dara O'Briain was the model for the inanely grinning Megabus man?

The "plus train" driver has a more subdued and mature expression!

Perhaps, like fbb,  he is not at all sure how many Megabuses will be plussed to his train at Honiton. The train must be packed, however, as he has swapped his usual 3 coach 159 for an eight-car HST.

 Next (Mega)bus blog : Tuesday 25th March