The first of many

I have spent most of the lat day or so watching and download video files for Zaks PSP which have been a combination of train videos, the Muppets and Harry Hill. Zaks favourite trains are the HSTs which I have to admit I mine too. While searching through You Tube I came across this film of the original HST prototype on its first run into Plymouth. Not brilliant quality - but who cares!

Coming Home

PCT 137 is returning to Plymouth from Darlington on April 4th/5th.

She is travelling via Keighley and Birmingham.

Bus and Coach preservation are doing a small article on her and it is hoped to get her picture outside of the old Metro-Cammell works on the way down South. There is talk of further publicity in the magazine for the group.(CPTG)

Photo left ©AECRegent via Flickr

Expect to see many more photos of 137 coming up - it will be great to see her back in Plymouth

To Hub or not?

Tamar Science Park is making a good effort to encourage people who work there to use the local buses rather than use their cars. With the completion of the new blocks they have a new ‘Travel Hub’ in the complex and have a new bus only route through the park. The Northern Connect services now go through the park on a one way loop to serve the new hub. Target Travel also now send their 52A service through the loop which is a new development as they never served the site before.

Citybus have been running their 46/47 into Tamar Science Park for a while now but still seem to be using the old route into and out of Research Way turning at the roundabout, not serving the bus only section or the travel hub. Presumably this will change sometime soon.
All well and good but as a regular traveller along these routes I have only once ever seen anyone get on or off a bus from this site. (Apart from the Medical School contract which is very busy.) To most passengers this detour is nothing more than a nuisance and wastes precious time on their journey. This is of course the classic dilemma for any bus company. The most useful bus service to TSP is Citybus 50 which runs every 15 mins and provides a bus into the City Centre. At the moment it does not call into TSP so most workers from there have to wait on the main road to catch their bus anyway. It could be argued that if the 50 and all the other routes actually served the TSP Travel Hub then it might encourage workers on the site to use it and result in more passengers for the bus companies. On the other hand, the bus companies must look at their data and see how few passengers use the facility as it stands at the moment and must wonder if its worth upsetting their existing passengers for so few users. The Derriford Hospital site is already a massive traffic block in the evening peak causing delays to the many services which serve the area so an extra minute or two added onto the route for little or no return cannot seem like a good option. Catch 22?

Flickr Sunday Best: Laira

©Loose Grip 99
”

OK, it's underexposed, the lighting posts are in the way and don't zoom in too closely................ but it is unmistakably a Class 52 Western! The drifting diesel fumes against the sunlight give it a bit of romance. Grabbed through the window of a passing Peak hauled train from Plymouth to Birmingham. You take what you can get.”

This is just one of nearly 3000 brilliant black and white photos by Loose Grip 99 from all across the country. Visit his Flickr Stream HERE.

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Sorry for the lack of updates over the last few days. I lost a close and well loved cousin during the week which was a real shock to us all. Blogging didn't seem that important for a while!

A step back in time

Over the past week or so I have noticed a couple of things which serve to remind you just how much things have changed over the last few years. Dennis Dart 46420 was out and about on the 7 service. Its been a long time since I saw a step entrance Dart on a Plymouth City service for First. I believe that since then the bus has been noted working on Totnes services.

Then on Monday evening whilst waiting at a very cold and wet Derriford Hospital bus stop at 6:30 in the evening a Mercedes Vario in TamarLink livery turned up on a 39 (I think) with a destination of “Western National”. Not seen that for a long time!

There was a time when almost all Western National buses seemed to display this rather than any proper destination but most of the Plymouth fleet now have the nice bright electronic displays that work so well in this awful weather that we are having at the moment.

Full Steam for Saltash

I have spent most of what little spare time I have had this evening searching for and downloading videos from YouTube for my son Zak to watch on his PSP. I must admit I actually enjoyed just spending time watching videos rather than any proper work! One that just had to be shared tonight from ‘Phoben' Brilliant!

Online

Just a quickie:
The new website for the Torbay Vintage Bus Running Day 6th September 2009 is now up and running

http://www.torbayvbrd.co.uk/

Flickr Sunday Best: Western National HDV626E

©pwgb

“Western National's first RE bus 2700 (now, of course, happily preserved) sunning itself at Taunton Bus Station during the summer of 1980. The 203 ran out to Wellington, though you wouldn't have guessed it from the blind.......”

More of his photos here

Although part of my normal Sunday routine is to post a great shot from Flickr there is a good reason for choosing 2700 today. Pop over to Terry Partridge’s Blog to catch the very latest, and very welcome news, on this bus.

Ugo by bus not the train

A couple of news items from the local press tonight:
CITY rail passengers will face disruption over the next couple of weeks as a £2million upgrade is carried on the tracks at Plymouth Station. This is Plymouth
Work on the track near Plymouth Station is part of a larger £10million works program on the Plymouth to Exeter section of track. Passengers are advised to check before starting their journeys as buses will be used on replacement services from time to time.

Also on This is Plymouth tonight we have 

ONE of Plymouth's biggest public transport operators, FirstGroup, has said it has achieved 'further good growth' in the period from October to December – but, despite this, shares in the firm fell by almost 19 per cent in the week.
The Greyhound division in the USA has had a difficult Christmas period and UK growth rates have been hit by the current economic climate but the UK Bus division is still performing well.
A spokesman also said the new network of 'ugobuses' in Plymouth have been a success. First's ugobus service – a re-branding of its former vehicles – is a bid to 'make bus travel in Plymouth as simple as possible'.

Bretonside gets the hump

©Terry Partridge
Thanks to Terry I can bring you this photograph of the latest “improvement” of Bretonside Bus Station.
Bretonside has improved quite a bit over the past year or so, although it is still far from ideal. The council know this and work is ongoing to try and sort out a replacement but I guess in the current climate a new bus station is a long way off.

This new ‘improvement’ though does surprise me. The big question that has to be asked here is simply “Why?”
Normally these bumps are traffic calming measures in that they help to slow the traffic down. If this was an open road then I could understand them being deployed here, however the entrance to the bus station is controlled by barriers so buses have to slow right down to enter anyway. This just seems to be an extra inconvenience for the bus companies and another irritant for passengers. At least from this photo it does not seem as severe as some bumps!

Cornwall: Good, Bad, and indifferent

GOOD

A CORNISH BUS company has scooped two of the most prestigious awards in the business.

This is Cornwall
When you get a headline like that you can have a good guess at who they are talking about. Yes - its Western Greyhound again!
Summercourt-based Western Greyhound won the titles of Independent Operator of The Year at the UK Bus Awards as well as Medium Operator of the Year at the RouteOne Operator Excellence Awards.

 

Mark Howarth paid tribute to the team effort across the operation, stating: "I am delighted that the hard work of all Western Greyhound staff had been given such extensive recognition by the industry.

BAD

Meanwhile…

A DAMNING report by the Audit Commission (AC) has downgraded Cornwall Fire and Rescue Authority's performance from a "fair" rating to "poor".

The findings of the AC's independent Comprehensive Performance Assessment (CPA) examine the management of Cornwall's fire service and not the work of firefighters. This is Cornwall

INDIFFERENT

Thanks to Terry Partridge I can bring you the new First livery scheme being applied to Truronians Private Hire fleet:

©Terry Partridge

I think the jury is still  out on this one!
Although, if I had hired a coach and ended up sitting on the back seats above the rear wheels I wouldn't be to thrilled about the view.

Urban Tick

plymouth365_24h_sun from urbanTick on Vimeo.
Plymouth city centre is a very specific area. It has a very distinct character arising from the strong postwar design by Patrick Abercrombie. It has a truly mono functional use, it is a shopping centre in the most literal sense of the word possible. There are no offices, no restaurants, no pubs or bars, no housing, just shops and on the first or second floors storage space for the shops. Link
This is a line lifted from UrbanTick which is a personal blog from someone undergoing a PhD at UCL. As part of his work he has tracked his movements across the City of Plymouth and mapped them. A few of these are captured in video over 24 hours of all movements over 365 days. This particular video shows the movements by hours of daylight (winter).
The whole project is fascinating, and quite detailed and complicated so you really need to pop over to his blog UrbanTick to have a good read to make more sense of it all. You can see the beginning of some very useful tools for transport planning developing here.

Flickr Sunday Best: Western National DMS

©AecRegent
With the centre doors removed, these two DMS buses were being prepared for Western National at their Laira depot in Plymouth.

Future event

Its a long way ahead but here is a date for your diary 6th September 2009

Hi all,
I am pleased to announce that we (the Devon & Dorset Group) can now announce that we have secured a date and site in Torquay for a Bus Rally and Vintage Bus Running Day.
The event will be on Sunday September 6^th at Shedden Hill Car Park which is adjacent to the White Footbridge on Torquay Sea Front.
So those of you that are vehicle owners we would love to see you and those that attend events we will be pleased if you would come along and support this event, anyone who lives local and would like to volunteer there services with help and assistance in the run up to and on the day then we would love to hear from you.
The website for the event will go live next week and I will post the link to that when live, on there you will find all the information you will need for the day as well as download an entry form, but PSV vehicles of all types will be welcomed especially those with a local connection to South Devon.
Any further information or enquiries in the meantime can be directed to myself at this email address exeterjames@gmail.com

Regards James
(on behalf of the DDG events organising team)


To add this to your own Google Calender...Clickk the button:

First Fares and Feet

Taking into account the rise in its operating costs, First Devon and Cornwall is revising some bus fares across the network effective as of 25 January 2009. [FDC Own web site]
"In the past year we have invested £2 million in new vehicles for Devon and Cornwall, and in the coming years need to replace a further 152 vehicles at a cost of more than £20 million to ensure that we are compliant with the Disability Discrimination Act (which demands all buses must be low floor, easily accessible by 2015)”

Also another story that appeared on This is plymouth this week:

A BUS company operating in Plymouth has taken a step towards a greener future - by transforming parts of its vehicles into trendy trainers.

Fabric from the seats of First's vehicles has been used to manufacture basketball-style sneakers, which got their first road test during a symbolic bus ride through the city.
These do look good - and are a great idea but at £70 are a bit out of reach for me at least!

Plymgo - First Impressions

 

 

 

 

 

 

I mentioned a while ago that there was a new service from the City Council called Plymgo which would be launched soon. Well there is now a ‘Beta’ version of the service up and running:PLYMGO BETA LINK

Please note: This is a beta site under development. New features are being added all the time and some existing features may not work as expected.

To be kept up to date with improvements, please register on www.plymgo.com

First impression are good! It looks well designed and friendly enough for people to give it a go.
Many of the links at the top of the page are not working yet (it is still in Beta after all)
Clicking on the Plymouth Map icon brings up a map of Plymouth - which is what you would expect. The really good news is that this is a Google Map and comes with all the features and usability that you expect from Google. A big improvement over the Check that bus site.

You then get several icons depending on your mode of travel. For each of these you get a very similar page which offers the latest related news items (not much there yet but it will grow!)

and events.

It a few cases it also points you to related web sites, such as the Trains page points you to First Great Western for timetables etc.

So lets try the route planner and see if I can get to Poole Park Road from Keswick Crescent…

simply select the location using name or postcode and the date and time you want to travel then click find your route.
You will get to confirm that the route finder is using the correct locations and then you get a screen of options. I assume that the cost, emissions and calories used sections will get added in due course. 

So lets look at option 1:

I must admit this is not one that I would have looked for, but then I don't like walking! 546 metres isn't that much of a walk so it looks promising if its not raining. Lets look at number 2:

Actually - lets not! Although the main screen offers me 5 options with either 2 or 3 changes and journey times varying from 51 minutes to 1 hour 7 minutes at the moment the journey details all read exactly the same. This seems to happen on all the routes I have checked but I am sure it will be fixed before it comes out of Beta!
Conclusion?
I have to admit that I am impressed so far. The site as it stands makes it clear that it is not the final product so the issues I raise above are only to be expected. It is however working well enough to demonstrate that it has great potential and its something that I will be keeping an eye on over the coming months. Well done to all involved.

I for one cant wait to see how it develops.
Now if they could just incorporate the awful check that bus site into this one using these maps…

First drop two more

Further explanation was given in an email which was passed to hospital staff:

Following the introduction of the National Concessionary fare scheme in April 2008 Plymouth City Council decided to change the way in which the operators were reimbursed. This led to a significant reduction in the amount that we get paid per customer. Overall, despite carrying more customers on some routes the revenue that we are receiving is less. Services 10, 17, 18 and 48 are these routes. Unfortunately, due to the areas they cover they are never going to carry enough customers to be commercially viable, they are always going to be marginal at best and require some revenue support from the City Council on the basis that they perform a social need. As a result of the reduction in revenue, coupled with increases in costs such as fuel, where the wholesale cost to First has increased by around 50% we could not continue to operate these services at a loss. We therefore entered discussions with the City Council over whether they will be able to offer more revenue support to these services in order for us to keep operating them. Unfortunately they were not able to supply any additional funding even from the concessionary fares pot which has been a contributing factor to this problem. As a result Service 10 will be operated by another bus company after 17th January with a revised timetable, full details can be obtained by from the City Council, and Service 17 between the City, Wingfield Road, Stoke, Keyham, Ham, Crownhill and Derriford Hospital will be withdrawn without a replacement being offered. The Council are obviously fully aware of this situation. We did offer a number of scenarios that would have maintained the socially necessary service but that would require additional funding and unfortunately the funding could not be found. The losses that we were making on these routes were substantial and we could not longer absorb these.
Service 10 has changed hands before…
First have used their Solos on this route:

And before that Citybus usually ran the service with step entrance Darts

It remains to be seen what Target Travel use when they take over. Their passengers will be hoping for the pink Solos - anything other than those Marshall things!

Non-999 ambulances may go private

 

Non-emergency ambulances in Cornwall and Devon may be operated by private companies in the future

BBC NEWS | England | Devon | Non-999 ambulances may go private

It seems that a decision will be made at the end of January that may see more private ambulances out on the roads of Plymouth to replace South Western AS on non emergency duties.
SWAST, which runs most of the non-emergency ambulances such as taking patients to hospital appointments, fears the 999 service will lose vital back-up in times of crisis.

The Head of Commissioning for NHS Cornwall gives assurances that operators will have to meet stringent standards - but that does not actually answer the question. Will these private contractors be expected to make their ambulances and staff available for emergencies if needed?  

Flickr Sunday Best: Western National Lodekka

©Perryolf via Flickr Blog This.

"This British double decker bus was seen at a scrapyard near Aarhus in Denmark in the early 1980's."
Helpfully Richie B has added some extra info: This bus is a Bristol "Lodekka". It was manufactured in Bristol, England in May 1956 by Bristol Commercial Vehicles Ltd. and fitted with that company's own power unit, as opposed to one of Leyland or Gardner origin. It's registration mark is UOD478 and it was one of 29 delivered to the Western National Omnibus Company in that year, receiving fleet number 1924. It has 60 seat rear-entrance bodywork by Eastern Coachworks of Lowestoft.
Perryolf has some fascinating photos on his Flickr account of older trucks in Denmark. Worth a visit!

The tgpresence

The past year has been very enjoyable but always there was the conflict between what was wanted and what was possible. There never was enough time. So in 2009 you will see changes that will release time seeing I cannot create any more!

Terry Partridge.

Being a bus enthusiast in Plymouth is made so much more interesting and entertaining when you have people like Terry Partridge around. His knowledge and his photo archive is amazing and his enthusiasm for his own fleet of buses, and helping others preserve theirs by sharing his knowledge he is well respected by enthusiasts and operators alike.

If you want to keep up with Terry then he has a great set of blogs on the go for 2009:
tgprojects - His jottings!

tgpreserved - Keep up with his fleet
tgphotos - photos  lots of them - on just about anything - but always interesting!
tgphotos - five a day - even more photos!

TGP Flickr account - nearly 14000 photos and counting!

 

The fact that he credits me with his introduction to blogging is a source of great pride!!

Bread van for sale

What better way to start the year than to get your hands on an ex Western National Mercedes 709D. L635VCV is for sale now on E-bay. LINK.
Bus List on the Web show L635VCV as MB 709D 669003-2N-017864, Plaxton 937MHV2123, B25F, 2/1994, Western National 635.
The bus had been with JSB Coaches, Newton Aycliffe by April 2004 alongside sister 634. It  certainly is not in original condition with the new Vario front end and different seat cloth.

A lady with a following

If you have a Flickr account and you view bus photos then you have almost certainly come across Clare Pendrous, or 'Lady Wulfrun' as she is known as she posts lots of excellent photos from all across the country with very detailed notes. The latest Plymouth photos include this scene which appears to be taken in scrap yard, or at least they seem to be ready to go to scrap?

She has many more here which are well worth a look. If you only follow one Flickr account then make it this one!

Of course the best way to follow any ones photos in Flickr is to use the subscribe button which is at the bottom of her main page here. That way you wont miss any of here photos. I dont - and I know there are many others out there!

A quiet start to the year

The 1st January is usually a fairly quiet day as most people recover from the night before. However, the start of a new year is as good a time to start any major new initiative so the date sees many key events over the years. Two of them which changed public transport in Plymouth (and everywhere else) are noted here, in my first post of 2009, and my return to regular posting after a well earned break over Christmas!

 

1st January 1948

 

	British Railways was born. British Railways (BR), which later traded as British Rail, ran most of the British railway system from the nationalisation of the 'Big Four' British railway companies in 1948 until privatisation in stages from 1994 to 1997. For Plymouth it meant the end of the Great Western Railway and The Southern Railway as two separate private railway companies. Bringing the lines in Plymouth under one common (state) ownership enabled lots of changes to be made over the coming years which probably wouldn't have happened otherwise, or at least not quite so soon.
1st January 1969
	Forty years ago today saw the birth of The National Bus Company. Locally that meant Western National, Southern National, and Devon General. were all under the same ownership. It wasn't long before Southern National merged under Western National and then later Devon General was taken over too, although the name was to continue.

There you have it. Two starts to two different years both to have major impacts on the way public transport was provided in and around Plymouth. Things have of course changed a lot since these dates and in some ways have come around full circle with both the buses and the trains being run by large private companies rather than the state. Even the name Great Western lives on under the First banner although the Western National name has disappeared under a much blander 'First' branding.

 

I have set myself the aim of covering more of the history of Plymothian Transit this year than I have managed so far which means actually sitting down and reading some of the books I have purchased over the last year! If you have any suggestions as to what you want to see covered, or any information you think might be interesting then you know where I am!