Twenty Two Times Three

There are so many timetables changing at the end of March and beginning of April that I am making an early start looking at the routes in more detail. We start with a notice on VOSA which caused some excitement to begin with.

Plymouth Citybus 22

• PH0000135/167 - PLYMOUTH CITYBUS LTD,
  MILEHOUSE, MILEHOUSE ROAD, PLYMOUTH, PL3 4AA
  Registration Accepted
  Starting Point: Plymouth, Milehous Bus Depot
  Finish Point: Langage, Ashleigh Way
  Via: St Budeaux, Crownhill
  Service Number: 22
  Service Type: Normal Stopping
  Effective Date: 01-APR-2015
  Other Details: Daily except Christmas Day, Boxind Day and New Years Day.

At first we were not sure if this was a direct replacement for Target Travel 53. It isnt!

Full Timetable PDF

New 7 day service, 1 journey each way a day from Milehouse to Langage via St Budeaux, Crownhill & Eggbuckland. Starts 1st April, funded by EE for its staff, but is open to all fare paying passengers.

 

Its been a while since Plymouth Citybus ran a 22 in Plymouth. The last one ran from 6th June 2010 till the 11th November 2012:

• PH0000135/99 - PLYMOUTH CITYBUS LTD,
  MILEHOUSE, MILEHOUSE ROAD, PLYMOUTH, PL3 4AA
  Registration Accepted
  Starting Point: Royal Parade Plymouth
  Finish Point: Plymton Sandy Road
  Via: Lipson, Mudge Way, Wolverwood, ST Mourice, Chaddlewood, Sandy Road
  Service Number: 22
  Service Type: Normal Stopping
  Effective Date: 06-JUN-2010
  Other Details

The previous incarnation of the 22 goes back a bit longer. It was around when all the services were registered by VOSA back in April 2002:

• PH0000135/4 PLYMOUTH CITYBUS LTD, MILEHOUSE PLYMOUTH, DEVON, PL34AA
  Operating between PLYMOUTH Royal Parade StopA9 and ROYAL PARADE
  given service number 22/22A

This one ran until the new one above took over in June 2010

• PH0000135/4 - PLYMOUTH CITYBUS LTD,
  MILEHOUSE, MILEHOUSE ROAD, PLYMOUTH, PL3 4AA
  Cancellation Accepted:
  Operating between PLYMOUTH Royal Parade and PLYMPTON Ridgeway
  given service number 22
  effective from 06-Jun-2010.

Of course there were 22s going back a lot further than that…

©Clive Brown (creative commons): November 1980
131 is of course still around and looking a lot better now than it did back then!

The News

• Railway Gazette FirstGroup has applied to the Office of Rail Regulation for track access rights which would enable it to launch an open access passenger service between London King’s Cross, Stevenage, Newcastle, Morpeth and Edinburgh from 2018

Recommended Reading

• The Circle of London Blog: Enviro 400 MMC, The Story So Far...
• Steves Bus and Train Page: An Ipswich Special
• Public Transport Experience: Stagecoach and the Lunatics? [2] Stagecoach Neatness : Stagecoach Nastiness?