219 - It Is Fine! (3)

How To Confuse A Non-Dom! 

The colliery at Thurnscoe, an enterprise which changed a quiet rural village into a bustling industrial community, isn't called Thurnscoe Colliery. It is named after Hickleton a mile or more to the east.

This is probably because Thurnscoe was firmly penned in by railways and only spread east of the lines to provide housing for the colliers.

Called "Thurnscoe East" on the above map, it was where many of the 3000 colliery employees lived.

To the west of the railway, properties were somewhat superior with gardens and some greenery.

Much of the older housing stock has been replaced or modernised as seen here, before and after.

The 219 (and, not forgetting the 219A) serves both housing blocks ...

... but, oddly, the route doesn't use the traditional roads south to Goldthorpe (Shepherd Lane and Thurnscoe Bridge Lane) ...

... but goes "round the back" to use a new-ish Barrowfield Lane which borders Phoenix Park, developed from the slag heaps of Hickleton and Goldthorpe Collieries.

The road serves light industrial premises ...

... and trees!

Strange.

Next up are Barnburgh and a wiggle via Harlington ...

... also complete with colliery in the good old days. 

But from these villages, folk are more likely to use the 219 to get to Doncaster rather than the delights of Barnsley.

There are unlikely to be many takers for the 219 at posh High Melton ...

... and Sprotborough is, in theory, Doncaster commuter territory but mostly by car. Here the 219 meets up with the barely existent 49, once a "real" route by Yorkshire Traction ...

 ... then First Bus ...

... then Powells.

But, since January this year it is now nominal, although still on tender with Powells.

We will look at why the 49 still exists in minimalist form when we deal with the multiplicity of 219 "oddments".

Our Twittering friend from York Uni Business School ...

... is right when he says the 219 does lots of wiggles.

So how to solve the problem? Make the route more direct, and cut the diversions which tout for passengers out.

Touting for passengers? No, sir! Touting for passengers, in theory a no-go legally for a bus company, usually means "attempting to persuade passengers to travel with your company rather than a competitor". Stagecoach is NOT "touting" with route 219; it is attempting to serve as many passengers as possible and make a profit.

That is what a commercial bus company MUST do to survive!

So young Kev wants to make the router more direct - and here is his suggested route map.

He retains the big bulge at Darfield

Omits the Great Houghton "double run"

Omits the two estates at Thurnscoe

But retains the bulge at Harlington

Does this make sense?

Of course it doesn't!

We will investigate further tomorrow.

The fbb Quiz

The fbb monthly leaflet is distributed today and will be received received with boundless enthusiasm. Well some enjoy it. The quiz itself is purely secular but has a tenuous link to a Biblical message. 

Try it for yourself.

For the keen Biblical scholar (?) the references are from the book of Deuteronomy (Old Testament) Chapter 30.

 Next 219 Is Fine blog (the oddments) : Thurs 28 April 

219 - It Is Fine! (2)

How Is Anyone Meant to Fathom It?

Regular blog readers will have learned very quickly that PTE (Travel South Yorkshire) maps are largely a waste of space if you want to work out where the buses go. So fbb has created a simple, but hopefully understandable map of Stagecoach 219. Investigations begin with the daytime standard route, the one that most passengers will use.

We will return to the oddities in due course.

The first wiggle on the 219 comes at Darfield. In the 1930s it was a small village with assorted collieries nearby and just off the main road.

The relatively modern through road (A635) by-passed the village. Even further back the "by-pass" road simply did not exist, the lane that it replaced fizzled out at the gates to Middlewood Hall.

Which explains why today's main road at Darfield is not named Barnsley Road, but the original is!

The by-pass is now named Saltersgate Road and carries the X19 which runs direct (but serving all stops) between Barnsley and Doncaster. It used to be every 30 minutes but is now hourly.

Just spotted the bludner - too late to change. It should be Saltersbrook Road. Sorry, pardon!

Next is the aforementioned Barnsley Road along which runs the 218 and 218A eventually finding their merry way to Rotherham on a combined half hourly headway.

Finally we come to Upperwood Road ...

... a large 1960s (?) development wrapped round the southern edge of greater Darfield. This is served by our faithful friend the 219 and the enigmatic 219A. Darfield did have three "convenience stores" in close proximity ...

... but the garish Shayams (top right) is now closed and the post office transferred to Snape Hill Stores, top left. But for "big" shopping you would go to Barnsley or, maybe, to Stairfoot retail park about half way between the two.

Ideally you would expect at least a half hourly service but it seems unlikely that this will return for the foreseeable future. Hourly is all you get.

The 219 now turns north off the A635 to serve the small community of Middlecliffe ...

... older terraces plus 1930s council houses and a convenience store. Middlecliffe Lane ...

... leads to Little Houghton now served by a very occasional Stagecoach route 203.

This "nominal" service picks up lots of bits that had much better services when the communities were still thriving.

But the 219 continues to a more substantial ex-colliery settlement at Great Houghton.

Since for ever, the buses have done a double run to the extremities of the village where they have a sweet little turning rectangle.

It is worth noting that independent operator Larratt Pepper had its key bus route similar to the 219 - except via Barnsley Road at Darfield because Upperwood Road did not exist!

The company bought the above vehicle new and the back rows of seats were 3+2 - good for squeezing in as many passengers as possible but a bit too tight for the more ample forms of the "twenties".

As you can see, they carried good loads. A route variant ran via Little Houghton ...

... which was (and still is) near the end of a no through road. At the very end is a smart turning circle ...

... where the winding wheel marks the site of Houghton Main Colliery.

But back to Great Houghton, then and now ...

... at the junction of Rotherham Road and High Street where our 219 (and 219A, of course) bear slightly left for Thurnscoe - which will feature in tomorrow's blog. fbb cannot identify the bus.

Mr Tennent wants to make the 219 faster, to attract more passengers. How does he propose to do this, fbb wonders.

The diversion up to Thurnscoe takes 30 minutes on its own; to go by car from Goldthorpe to Darfield only takes 5-10 minutes! No one with their own transport is going to take this bus.

So how to solve the problem? Make the route more direct, and cut the diversions which tout for passengers.

Maybe our clever readers can spot the several flaws in his argument!

========================================

Mrs fbb came home from PEOC yesterday morning.

She will be on crutches for several weeks but, hooray,

she is glad to be back.

========================================

 Next 219 Is Fine blog : Wednesday 27th April 

219 - It Is Fine! (1)

Or Maybe Not?

Enter Twitterer Kevin Tennent.

This jolly chap is a lecturer in the University of York Business Studies department and he is co-author of a book ...

... which will tell you all about the organisation of the 1966 world cup; you know, the one wot we won against Germany, as in "They think it's all over. Well it is now!"

The book is not about the football itself and will set you back approx £120.

Anyway, young Kev has some views on buses (as you do) and has set them down in a series of twitters.

Twit No 1

To decarbonize UK transport and reduce reliance on oil, we need to get to a #publictransport network that is workable for a larger proportion of the population.  One simple and cheap way to do this would be to improve bus routes, making them more simple to use and direct.

Hmm? fbb is not sure that the answer is as easy as that.

Twit No 2

Many bus routes take a lot longer to get anywhere than by car, and are extremely complicated and confusing without clear information or mapping.  They are also quite infrequent, meaning potential users rarely see buses passing; obviously the best advert for a bus route!

Hmm again? If course bus routes will tend to take longer than a car journey because they do need to stop and pick up passengers now and then. Likewise they need to stop and let them get off. But, hey; route branding might help his latter point.

Twit No 3

Let's look at an example, the Stagecoach route 219 from Doncaster to Barnsley. It has many permutations and even doubles back on itself in places. How is anyone meant to fathom it?

Perhaps he has a point. Here is an extract from the map on the Travel South Yorkshire non-printed leaflet ...

... which seems designed (designed, really?) to be utterly bamboozling. The timetable is less than helpful ... 

... note, for example, Thurnscoe Merrill Road/Houghton Road AND Thurnscoe Houghton Road/Merrill Road. Also note three time points in Sprotborough which is hardly a massive metropolis. Then we have two Nanny Marr Roads in Darfield and Park Spring Road which, fbb knows, is nowhere near Grimethorpe.

Traveline doesn't help because it shows the 219 ...

... separated from the 219A ...

... although the difference is far from clear. After several abortive attempts and some periods of brain ache, fbb still cannot be certain what a 219A does that a 219 doesn't.

Maybe Stagecoach can help - after all they run the bus!

Hands up who can work out the difference between a 219 and a 219A?

What about maps? The map on the Stagecoach Barnsley site implies that only the 219A is the variation that runs via Great Houghton ...

... but the timetable says they all do! Then the map runs out!

The Stagecoach Doncaster map ...

... is not too helpful.

The PTE Barnsley map, which looks very much like the Stagecoach version, is equally wrong BUT ...

... it takes us a little further east and suggests that the 219A does its own little wiggle and terminates at Goldthorpe. The timetables (all versions) politely disagree, showing 219A buses continuing to Doncaster.

Just to illustrate the cartographic confusion even more, the 203 (WEEDY GREEN) uses part if the A635 Goldthorpe by-pass and turns RIGHT at the Fields End Roundabout ...

... where it meets up with various bits of the 219/219A (PINK); so readers can enjoy matching reality to the map. 

Confused VERY.com!

As Mr Tennent says in Twit No 3, "How is anyone meant to fathom it?".

It is not any easier if you go back in history. Below is a very old Yorkshire Traction map, over enlarged (sadly) of the contentious area.

Nope. Don't go there. 

But, fbb is known for his bravery and dogged determination in fathoming the unfathomable, so the old man will have to go and draw a map.

But that excitement will have to wait until tomorrow's blog.

And we will meet Larratt Pepper as well, seen here resting peacefully near Ryde Esplanade, Isle of Wight!

And there is more from Mr Tennent to come.

There may be a problem, however, with the blog delivery process. There is a possibility that Mrs fbb will be discharged from hospital later today (Monday). She has had a practice with crutches and managed quite well BUT struggled with getting from recumbent to upright. Teetering and tottering traumatically tends to tragedy and she will not be let out until she teeters much less.

But it is all going very well. Here is an extract from a note sent round to friends and prayer contacts.

Cookery Corner

fbb has had to learn a lot during Mrs fbb's indisposition and is likely to be on victualling duty for a while more as recovery continues. For number 3 son, who has arrived for a few days' stay, tonight's mean was one of the easiest.

Throw two large pork chops in a roasting tray, add chopped potatoes (not peeled), chunks of onion and ditto of carrot. Add a sprinkling of stuffing mix and a large cup of chicken stock. Bung it in the over for about 35 mins at 180 thingeys and hey presto - one yummy meal for two.

And somebody at church, yesterday, asked fbb whether he was OK with "Ready Meals" and tins of soup!

Only when absolutely necessary!

 Next 219 Is Fine blog : Tuesday 26th April