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suzyscottdotcomYesterday (Tuesday 26th August) I had a full day out around the revised parts of the Stagecoach network, and more. All journeys worked to plan, but with a few hiccups along the way.
Starting from Royston on the 0716 26 to Cambridge (Olympian 16021), got there in time for the 0840 X9 to Chatteris/Wisbech, Olympian 16216. I got in to find the driver was unable to find the code for Wisbech on the destination display, so momentarily showed “folk festival” instead, before changing to the previously established Chatteris X9.
Once we got to Chatteris, the bus in from Cambridge i.e. the one I got off, was on the opposite side of the road to how it had been since last April, i.e. the stop at the police station. The stop on the other side of the road was home to another Olympian on the X9, and a curiously blinded Mercedes Vario minibus, showing 824 Blank Yellow. It was interesting to note a large contingent of passengers and two Stagecoach inspectors, trying to explain where the X8, 332 and 337 had gone. Quite a few passengers were looking for a bus to Peterborough – this was just before 1000 – the next one was 1120, or the X9 could take them to March for the 33.
The Mercedes Vario minibus, X991 WAU, was actually on service… I got on board to check that this was the 35, and when I asked, the driver had to check his running board before confirming where he was actually going to. The 35 and 34 are inter-worked, and he confirmed that the number was changed at Manea.
Apparently, when he’d arrived (on Service 35), the inspector asked him (perhaps slightly tounge-in-cheek) “What are you doing with passengers, you’re supposed to be empty!” This particular 35 had started from Warboys and ran to Chatteris, before continuing to Manea (providing a new link) before then continuing as a 34 to March, replacing the 333 – and then doing part of the town service, replacing 356/357. So, we left, thundering almost empty over the roads, before arriving several minutes early on the outskirts of Manea, and our driver pulled up for a few minutes. I noticed the driver changing the number blind, but not the destination, which was left at Blank Yellow.
It wasn’t till we started picking up passengers that I noticed that the driver had a Wayfarer III ticket machine – previously, Long Sutton based drivers had newer Wayfarer TGX machines. Presumably, this is to bring them in line with Huntingdon, and the rest of the local group. Not quite sure if it is one module download with all the network routes on it, or not. The driver was unable to issue tickets to the first five concession pass holders who boarded… despite entering the details correctly, it just kept coming up with Error. When we got away from Manea, the problem seemed to clear. Don’t quite know why… apparently, one particular fare had jumped by 90p following the introduction of the “new” ticket machines, but that may have been an error in input.
So, we got to March Tesco, where there is building work, lots of traffic cones, and it is about a quarter of it’s usual size. Here’s the Vario on what should be the 34 to March. Now, note I mentioned before he’d changed the blind at Manea… from 824 to 821… (the only reason I can think of for this came to me later, but the scheduling system has the option to add destination display codes on the driver’s running board. Could it be that Manea 35 is obtained on Hanover displays by entering code 824, and March 34 is obtained by keying 821 - or was it just random?)
Anyway, went in for a quick nibble, before returning to the bus stop – still with very old 333 and 356/357 timetables - for the 33. Now, remember I said it was tight in the car park? Well, the 33 was intended to be Dart’s, and I thought it might be especially tight for them. It was of course, a good idea to bring the bus in here (the 33 is a combination of the 337 from March to Peterborough, with a slightly different route in Whittlesey to replace citi3, and then doing part of the March town service 356/357, the bits not covered by the 34). Only problem is… have a look for yourself…
… the driver of 33303 did very well in the circumstances!
As we travelled along the route, it appeared each driver had been given an envelope with leaflets for passengers, where these had been printed in time (quite a few were not). However, along this journey, many bus stop flags and panels still had information for the now-replaced 331, 337, citi3 etc. services. It was also notable the number of Long Sutton based vehicles (i.e. ex Cavalier Travel) with corrupt destination displays, only showing a splodge of dots across the centre of the panel.
One useful item of note is a credit-card sized folded summary card for the Whittlesey – Peterborough group 31/32/33, with this summary timetable also appearing in each of these three leaflets. We traversed some of the residential streets in Whittlesey, with passengers surprised when the bus arrived on the opposite side of the road to before!
After arriving in Peterborough, a brief passing photo snap of the one Trident working on the 16 to Huntingdon, which has been renumbered 46…
… and after a brief look at the coach park, returned for this snap of one of the new Enviro200 midibuses working new Service citi7 from Yaxley to Eye…
… and snapping this stray Dart on the citi1 towards Werrington, which had just overtaken a Trident doing a crew change, and left it to pick up a large waiting crowd!
… and now, for something completely different. The 42-year-old open top Bristol FLF 19952 was scheduled to be doing some work on the Nene Valley Traveller group of services this week, which cross from Peterborough into Cambridgeshire and then out to Northamptonshire. It was doing a loop with Service 24 (formerly X14) via Lynch Wood, Chesterton [not to be confused with the one in Cambridge!], Elton Hall, Warmington, to Oundle, and the 23 (formerly 13) via the more indirect route of Cotterstock, Tansor, Fortheringhay, Apethorpe, King’s Cliffe, Nassington, Yarwell, Wansford, Stibbington, Ailsworth and Castor, back to Peterborough.
Here is 19952 loading up at Peterborough bus station…
… yes, I went upstairs for the first bit of the run! This is the view over the Crescent Bridge…
… near the district hospital…
… roadworks on Nene Parkway…
… the River Nene…
… Nene Valley Railway station…
… Lynch Wood business park…
… PS coming the other way, on the 24…
… further upstream…
… into Oundle, and passing the Stagecoach garage…
… that narrow bit of road where we have to wait for traffic…
… and Oundle, Market Place, where we changed to do an “uphill” Service 23…
After all those pics, you’ll be glad to hear that I went downstairs for the trip home… as it was picking up and getting rather windy!
As an aside, an elderly couple got off the bus on the 23, and were struggling with bags. Later, I spotted something under their seat – a shoe. That’s right, ONE men’s shoe. Presumably it had fallen out, or something, but another interesting piece of lost property!
So, after this, I went to the bus depot at Lincoln Road, and was able to pick up some of the new leaflets (large queues around the Travelchoice office at the bus station!), but none of the revised citi routes had been reissued yet. Ironically, routes which had changed number but not the timetable, like the Nene Valley and 24A, had been reprinted in time. Never mind, back to town on a citi1, through the shops, grabbing a quick snack before going for my next bus.
At the bus station, I could see Service 14 is now Service 24A to Lynch Wood & Orton Southgate… it has a flicking destination display for this route, so this was the best I could get of the latter…
… whereas this 33, which was changing driver, had a rather interesting display briefly, before going away blinded March 33…
… now, as I was waiting for the 36 at 1545, I saw the bus go around, but it seemed to disappear for a few minutes, before making it around to the stance (PS type 20531, new to Glasgow). Interestingly, the driver had been told by the controller to miss out part of Broadway and follow a diversion route through Dogsthorpe, because the police had closed part of the road, following a suspect package in the vicinity of many government departments.
… So, we were a little late by the time we got to Eye, but had made up the time easily by Wisbech St Mary, where we perhaps had a bit much time to make it into Wisbech bus station. After a quick look around the town, I went back to the bus station for the 1715 to Ely X9. While there were many out of date timetable panels around, this one at the bus station was for the very long-gone Services 19/19A…
… the X9 was the same PS as I’d got in from Peterborough, 20531, but blinded for Cambridge.
The X9 is technically two separate services, by two different parts of Stagecoach. Buses through work the two (except on Sundays) and display the end point, but as drivers would appear to change at Chatteris, there is no need for tachographs, as it’s not a long route. Or something.
What was happening became clear – this was a Long Sutton based driver, who had been doing other stuff around Peterborough. She was going to get out at Chatteris, and another driver took us to Ely, then the bus went back to Ely depot. So, an Ely bus, with a Long Sutton driver, doing Peterborough area stuff, as well as more local… or was it… I don’t know! It’s getting more complex, that is for certain.
Got out at Ely, and spotted this stuck to the window of PS type 20851 on route to Littleport on the 9… even though it technically wasn’t…
… that bus also had a rack filled with 36 and Nene Valley timetable leaflets. Some of the 36 passengers were unhappy that those had not made their way (yet) to the bus station at Peterborough!
… So, I took Olympian 16213 back to Cambridge Drummer Street…
… before taking the last Blue Park & Ride (88) bus of the night to Trumpington P&R, 19295, where C picked me up around 2025-ish. Driving home via the takeaway, we got in after 2100, meaning I’d been out for well over 14 hours in total.
There were good points and bad points to this service change… just unfortunate that the lack of publicity meant many passengers were none the wiser! I had a good day, nonetheless!
You can see all of the pictures here.
Once we got to Chatteris, the bus in from Cambridge i.e. the one I got off, was on the opposite side of the road to how it had been since last April, i.e. the stop at the police station. The stop on the other side of the road was home to another Olympian on the X9, and a curiously blinded Mercedes Vario minibus, showing 824 Blank Yellow. It was interesting to note a large contingent of passengers and two Stagecoach inspectors, trying to explain where the X8, 332 and 337 had gone. Quite a few passengers were looking for a bus to Peterborough – this was just before 1000 – the next one was 1120, or the X9 could take them to March for the 33.
The Mercedes Vario minibus, X991 WAU, was actually on service… I got on board to check that this was the 35, and when I asked, the driver had to check his running board before confirming where he was actually going to. The 35 and 34 are inter-worked, and he confirmed that the number was changed at Manea.
Apparently, when he’d arrived (on Service 35), the inspector asked him (perhaps slightly tounge-in-cheek) “What are you doing with passengers, you’re supposed to be empty!” This particular 35 had started from Warboys and ran to Chatteris, before continuing to Manea (providing a new link) before then continuing as a 34 to March, replacing the 333 – and then doing part of the town service, replacing 356/357. So, we left, thundering almost empty over the roads, before arriving several minutes early on the outskirts of Manea, and our driver pulled up for a few minutes. I noticed the driver changing the number blind, but not the destination, which was left at Blank Yellow.
It wasn’t till we started picking up passengers that I noticed that the driver had a Wayfarer III ticket machine – previously, Long Sutton based drivers had newer Wayfarer TGX machines. Presumably, this is to bring them in line with Huntingdon, and the rest of the local group. Not quite sure if it is one module download with all the network routes on it, or not. The driver was unable to issue tickets to the first five concession pass holders who boarded… despite entering the details correctly, it just kept coming up with Error. When we got away from Manea, the problem seemed to clear. Don’t quite know why… apparently, one particular fare had jumped by 90p following the introduction of the “new” ticket machines, but that may have been an error in input.
So, we got to March Tesco, where there is building work, lots of traffic cones, and it is about a quarter of it’s usual size. Here’s the Vario on what should be the 34 to March. Now, note I mentioned before he’d changed the blind at Manea… from 824 to 821… (the only reason I can think of for this came to me later, but the scheduling system has the option to add destination display codes on the driver’s running board. Could it be that Manea 35 is obtained on Hanover displays by entering code 824, and March 34 is obtained by keying 821 - or was it just random?)
Anyway, went in for a quick nibble, before returning to the bus stop – still with very old 333 and 356/357 timetables - for the 33. Now, remember I said it was tight in the car park? Well, the 33 was intended to be Dart’s, and I thought it might be especially tight for them. It was of course, a good idea to bring the bus in here (the 33 is a combination of the 337 from March to Peterborough, with a slightly different route in Whittlesey to replace citi3, and then doing part of the March town service 356/357, the bits not covered by the 34). Only problem is… have a look for yourself…
… the driver of 33303 did very well in the circumstances!
As we travelled along the route, it appeared each driver had been given an envelope with leaflets for passengers, where these had been printed in time (quite a few were not). However, along this journey, many bus stop flags and panels still had information for the now-replaced 331, 337, citi3 etc. services. It was also notable the number of Long Sutton based vehicles (i.e. ex Cavalier Travel) with corrupt destination displays, only showing a splodge of dots across the centre of the panel.
One useful item of note is a credit-card sized folded summary card for the Whittlesey – Peterborough group 31/32/33, with this summary timetable also appearing in each of these three leaflets. We traversed some of the residential streets in Whittlesey, with passengers surprised when the bus arrived on the opposite side of the road to before!
After arriving in Peterborough, a brief passing photo snap of the one Trident working on the 16 to Huntingdon, which has been renumbered 46…
… and after a brief look at the coach park, returned for this snap of one of the new Enviro200 midibuses working new Service citi7 from Yaxley to Eye…
… and snapping this stray Dart on the citi1 towards Werrington, which had just overtaken a Trident doing a crew change, and left it to pick up a large waiting crowd!
… and now, for something completely different. The 42-year-old open top Bristol FLF 19952 was scheduled to be doing some work on the Nene Valley Traveller group of services this week, which cross from Peterborough into Cambridgeshire and then out to Northamptonshire. It was doing a loop with Service 24 (formerly X14) via Lynch Wood, Chesterton [not to be confused with the one in Cambridge!], Elton Hall, Warmington, to Oundle, and the 23 (formerly 13) via the more indirect route of Cotterstock, Tansor, Fortheringhay, Apethorpe, King’s Cliffe, Nassington, Yarwell, Wansford, Stibbington, Ailsworth and Castor, back to Peterborough.
Here is 19952 loading up at Peterborough bus station…
… yes, I went upstairs for the first bit of the run! This is the view over the Crescent Bridge…
… near the district hospital…
… roadworks on Nene Parkway…
… the River Nene…
… Nene Valley Railway station…
… Lynch Wood business park…
… PS coming the other way, on the 24…
… further upstream…
… into Oundle, and passing the Stagecoach garage…
… that narrow bit of road where we have to wait for traffic…
… and Oundle, Market Place, where we changed to do an “uphill” Service 23…
After all those pics, you’ll be glad to hear that I went downstairs for the trip home… as it was picking up and getting rather windy!
As an aside, an elderly couple got off the bus on the 23, and were struggling with bags. Later, I spotted something under their seat – a shoe. That’s right, ONE men’s shoe. Presumably it had fallen out, or something, but another interesting piece of lost property!
So, after this, I went to the bus depot at Lincoln Road, and was able to pick up some of the new leaflets (large queues around the Travelchoice office at the bus station!), but none of the revised citi routes had been reissued yet. Ironically, routes which had changed number but not the timetable, like the Nene Valley and 24A, had been reprinted in time. Never mind, back to town on a citi1, through the shops, grabbing a quick snack before going for my next bus.
At the bus station, I could see Service 14 is now Service 24A to Lynch Wood & Orton Southgate… it has a flicking destination display for this route, so this was the best I could get of the latter…
… whereas this 33, which was changing driver, had a rather interesting display briefly, before going away blinded March 33…
… now, as I was waiting for the 36 at 1545, I saw the bus go around, but it seemed to disappear for a few minutes, before making it around to the stance (PS type 20531, new to Glasgow). Interestingly, the driver had been told by the controller to miss out part of Broadway and follow a diversion route through Dogsthorpe, because the police had closed part of the road, following a suspect package in the vicinity of many government departments.
… So, we were a little late by the time we got to Eye, but had made up the time easily by Wisbech St Mary, where we perhaps had a bit much time to make it into Wisbech bus station. After a quick look around the town, I went back to the bus station for the 1715 to Ely X9. While there were many out of date timetable panels around, this one at the bus station was for the very long-gone Services 19/19A…
… the X9 was the same PS as I’d got in from Peterborough, 20531, but blinded for Cambridge.
The X9 is technically two separate services, by two different parts of Stagecoach. Buses through work the two (except on Sundays) and display the end point, but as drivers would appear to change at Chatteris, there is no need for tachographs, as it’s not a long route. Or something.
What was happening became clear – this was a Long Sutton based driver, who had been doing other stuff around Peterborough. She was going to get out at Chatteris, and another driver took us to Ely, then the bus went back to Ely depot. So, an Ely bus, with a Long Sutton driver, doing Peterborough area stuff, as well as more local… or was it… I don’t know! It’s getting more complex, that is for certain.
Got out at Ely, and spotted this stuck to the window of PS type 20851 on route to Littleport on the 9… even though it technically wasn’t…
… that bus also had a rack filled with 36 and Nene Valley timetable leaflets. Some of the 36 passengers were unhappy that those had not made their way (yet) to the bus station at Peterborough!
… So, I took Olympian 16213 back to Cambridge Drummer Street…
… before taking the last Blue Park & Ride (88) bus of the night to Trumpington P&R, 19295, where C picked me up around 2025-ish. Driving home via the takeaway, we got in after 2100, meaning I’d been out for well over 14 hours in total.
There were good points and bad points to this service change… just unfortunate that the lack of publicity meant many passengers were none the wiser! I had a good day, nonetheless!
You can see all of the pictures here.
