It’s early April and the sun is shining over Mousehole, Cornwall, as an older couple trudge up the hill to their nearest bus stop before sinking into two of the plastic chairs that have been lined up on the side of the road. Until recently, buses would come right to the centre of the fishing village, the couple are soon explaining to a pair of Australian tourists also waiting for the bus. But when the bus route was taken over by the Go-Ahead transport group in February, the small, ice-cream-van-like buses that had been used by the previous bus company, First Bus, were swapped for full-size buses – some of them double deckers – that wouldn’t be safe to drive through Mousehole’s narrow streets. So the route, which has been taking passengers down to the harbour since the 1920s, was cut short, and now ends at the edge of the village.
This is the start of an interesting article in The Guardian today
Richard Stevens was interviewed for the article
The decision to change the Mousehole route, which also stops at the fishing port Newlyn, “was not done through ignorance”, says Stevens. He’s a former bus driver himself and the Mousehole route was one of the first he ever drove. But though he cares about keeping Cornwall accessible, the previous provider, First Bus, “landed themselves in a loss-making situation”, he says. Cornwall council subsidises approximately half of the bus services in the county, but the Mousehole route falls into the other half – the more well-used half that, pre-Covid at least, was deemed profitable enough to be run as a commercial service. “No bus company’s getting rich these days with current funding models, so while I am a stable company, I couldn’t afford to take on the kind of losses that they were incurring,” Stevens says.
Overall, I think the Guardian did a good job presenting a balanced view in its article about how challenging it is to sort things out without extra funding. Maybe Richard can find some buses that are small enough yet still carry enough passengers to make it viable, or perhaps someone on the council will have to bite the bullet and provide the necessary funding.
But yet he can afford to waste money in Plymouth?? 43A?
ReplyDeleteYes nothing more than trying to muscle Stagecoach 2 out on main corridor from St Budeaux to city centre
DeleteThe number 2 picks up enough passengers on the way to city centre
DeleteThat will never happen got to go through there to get to saltash
DeleteThere were Buses last Sunday 19th April to the Harbour at Mousehole courtesy of the annual Penzance Bus Day every 30 mins with traditional preserved vehicles. I volunteer Conduct / navigate Buses at this event Usually Lodekkas but this year was on a Mercedes 23 seater, enjoying the rural delights of Sancreed, St Buryan, and Relubbus with a more relaxing trip to Hayle in the middle. I have never conducted to Mousehole but those journeys are very popular for obvious reasons.
ReplyDeleteGlyn Calvert. TV&GWOT supporter and volunteer Conductor.
There were heavy loads on the Mousehole service all day, with many people being turned away. The hourly GoCornwall service was also pretty busy. Gio Cornwall have made an error reducing the Sunday service on the 6 to hourly (but not as bad as 17 Penzance - St Ives now being every two hours!).
DeleteThe only solution to the Mousehole Harbour problem would be for Cornwall Council to fund the restoration of the 20 minute frequency service and the provision of specialist buses, capable of accessing the narrow approach and restricted turn around space at the Harbour. Unfortunately a 2026 version of the Bristol LHS isn't available, that complies with current accessibility requirements. The minibuses used by First were too small and claustrophobic. The current arrangements really are the best that can be provided, whilst the service is commercially operated. First must have lost a fortune operating a specialist fleet of four minibuses on the Mousehole service, that were not suitable for use on other local routes. It should also be remembered that whenever First had two minibuses unavailable for use, they too used a larger vehicle, that had to miss out the Harbour stop.
ReplyDeleteI'd be surprised if First lost a fortune running the route. Loadings across the route are good throughout the year and Sprinters are a far more economical vehicle to run than a Solo. Granted PVR was one more than you would ideally want in the winter.
DeleteThe main problem was capacity in the summer, particularly if trying to board at Newlyn, which was also sometimes an issue with Solos at two buses an hour. However, Newlyn also had hourly services on the 1 and 5/5A. With the 6 now reduced to half-hourly, the 5/5A withdrawn altogether and the 1/1A often full at Newlyn the residents of Newlyn as well as Mousehole are now worse off than they were before.
Contrary to popular belief the Sprinters used by First were not custom-built. Ilesbus offers the extra length as a standard option to achieve an additional 3 seats.
The M6 operated by First was no means perfect, but it was the best possible solution in the circumstances. The current offer, which I know for a fact from talking to people locally is forcing some off public transport and into taxis or getting lifts from friends satisfies just about no one.
Good loadings does not, necessarily, equal good takings. Especially if loadings are largely ENCTS passengers...
DeleteWhat was the size of the Bristol LHs that were used for many years? It would be interesting to compare the length, width and (ideally) the wheelbase and overhang dimensions with what is available today.
ReplyDeleteAn LHS was 7.9m x 2.3m (with a 3.8m wheelbase) and could accommodate up to 35 seats (plus standing). A 16-seat Sprinter is 7.3m x 2.3m (with a 4.3m wheelbase) and seats 16 whilst the longer 20-seat I-City Sprinters & Mellor Stratas (only about 22 total capacity) are around 7.8m x 2.3m (with a 5.1m wheelbase). Highlights the issue with getting a vehicle with sufficient capacity & manoeuvrable enough to get round that narrow s-bend on the entrance to the quay.
DeleteSprinters may cost a little less in fuel due to their increased efficiency but for a larger operator the drivers are on the same wage and that is a huge chunk of the operating costs so the savings from a smaller bus are no where near proportional to the reduction in costs. Additionally they don't have the same design life so you have to budget on at least 1.5 Sprinters for the life of 1 E200MMC on an optimistic calculation and I don't think the up front cost difference is that high currently.
Thank you to Dwarfer for the dimensions of the LH. It really was a small bus with a good seating capacity but totally non-accessible by today's standards. I did wonder if the ADL Enviro 100EV would be suitable but at 8.5m long and 2.3m wide with a 4.5m wheelbase it is clearly bigger the LH. The Vectio C9 as used in Jersey is even bigger at 9.3m by 2.36m. The Karsan eJest would probably fit through Mousehole but with seating capacity of 12 would not meet the requirement of the rest of the route. I suspect that the current arrangements are the best that can be offered at a sensible price. The distance from Coastguards to the harbour is not huge though I accept it is steep. An answer might be to have a very small shuttle vehicle to the harbour for the less able but funding it would be a problem.
DeleteSurely the E200MMC smallest variants GCB has would fit. And I’m sure they wouldn’t care if it was packed or not considering they put them on the 12 sometimes from 11-2 and are some of the busiest times for that route.
ReplyDeleteLike they would get more profit and customer satisfaction if they just spared the 2 busses to that route all day to cover the half an hour gap between them.
GCB rly need to sort their strategy out if they want routes to be economically viable.
Smallest E200MMC is 8.9m x 2.47m with a 3.9m wheelbase - so wider and longer than the buses previously used though the wheelbase is comparable but that may not be enough and with a low-floor model there is the question of the curbs & stone walls which may catch a vehicle as we are talking about clearances of millimetres in some cases.. An E100EV is 8.5m x 2.35m with a wheelbase of 4.5m so again there are dimensional issues compared to vehicles that have previously served the Harbour.
DeleteI think they were so hell bent on ridding first from cornwall they taken on more then they can chew.
ReplyDeleteOn another note a streetdeck bev was seen on a38 this afternoon on tradeplates has 7058 arrived
Yeah sounds very familiar doesn't it?
DeleteBring back the Bristol SUS!
ReplyDeleteDo you reckon Go Cornwall will introduce a small fleet of open tops for the Lands End Coaster? Very profitable and also very popular in the summer
ReplyDeleteThe MD was asked about open tops on a recent interview on Radio Cornwall there are no plans to run them at the moment , he said he only owns one and that's for Plymouth !
ReplyDelete