Bus Cuts Coming...

Bus routes cuts are coming…

Plymouth City Council’s cabinet this week discussed proposals to address the £37.6 million budget gap caused by issues that are impacting local authorities across the country

Five loss-making bus routes across Plymouth will be axed. The worst performing services in terms of cost to the council per passenger journey are to be cut as a result of Plymouth City Council facing severe budget pressures.

Plymouth City Council’s cabinet this week discussed proposals to address the £37.6 million budget gap caused by issues that are impacting local authorities across the country. The report set out a range of proposals that would reduce costs by £26.2 million to help enable the council to fulfil its statutory duty to set a balanced budget.

Councillors were told that retaining all 14 of the ‘non-commercial’ routes within the city could cost up to £1m a year. Given the severe financial pressures the authority is under, the meeting on Thursday heard that this was simply not affordable and therefore tough decisions had to be made.

To be axed:

• 19 City Centre to Plympton Ridgeway via Merafield,
• 31 City Centre to Pennycross via Peverell & Beacon Park,
• 39 City Centre to Hartley Vale via Mannamead,
• 44A Holly Park & Ringmore Way, and
• 54 City Centre to Bovisand Beach via Plymstock & Jennycliff

Services saved:

• 2A Elburton – Sherford,
• 17 City Centre – Plymstock Broadway – Hooe,
• 18 City Centre – Plymstock Broadway – Elburton,
• 42 Seaton Neighbourhood section only,
• 52 Plympton – Coypool Park & Ride – FVLR – Derriford Hospital,
• 200 Coypool Park and Ride,
• 13 City Centre to Saltash Passage via Weston Mill,
• 14 City Centre to Derriford Estates via Devonport, Mutton Cove, Keyham & Derriford Hospital
• 27 City Centre to George Park and ride via Lower Compton, Efford, Eggbuckland & Mainstone

To help finance the bus services, a £1 charge for parking at the park and ride sites of Coypool, Milehouse, and the George will be consulted on. All income generated from this would be ringfenced to support the city’s bus network

Full article: https://www.plymouthherald.co.uk/news/plymouth-news/five-plymouths-worst-performing-bus-7808800

Library Copy

gr

the sun sets on the 46

The last 46 through Keswick Crescent.

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Dont blame me missus

ANGRY Plympton residents prevented a bus from leaving its stop in protest at the withdrawal of their local service. From this week Citybus has ended its number 20 service to Underwood and Merafield Road in Plympton. Local Conservative councillors John Lock and Terri Beer joined residents in their protest last Thursday, days before the service finally ended on April 3. “We have been negotiating with all concerned to arrive at a solution to this desperate situation,” Mrs Beer said.
Mr Lock said the protesters “marched into the road and held up the bus for a few minutes. The bus driver thought it was hilarious. He leaned out of his window and said, ‘Don’t blame me, missus’.”
Mr Lock said the council’s transport department was holding a meeting tomorrow at which the number 20 service would be discussed and a decision made on any possible subsidy for Citybus. Peter Oliver, the Citybus operations manager, defended the ending of the service. He said there had been very low passenger numbers, although these had picked up slightly since last June. And there had been high numbers of accidents because of the way people park in Merafield. “Many times our drivers couldn’t get into the road because of parked vehicles,” he said.
Recent concessionary fares cuts and high fuel prices had also affected the viability of the route.
Meanwhile, Labour councillors will present a special motion to next Monday’s meeting of the full city council, calling on the council to work with bus operators to restore services which have been withdrawn across the city.
A spokesman for Plymouth City Council, said: “Citybus have withdrawn these loss-making services because they do not have enough passengers to run commercially. We have been in contact with operators to discuss potential options for maintaining a service in the Merafield and Coxside areas but no decisions have been made. Our bus subsidy budget for the next financial year is already fully committed so we would need to identify alternative funding if we were to support any replacement services.”
This is Plymouth 7th April
As always I suggest you click on the link to ead the full story - and have a look at some of the comments if you want to be entertained...
I do wonder how long everything will be blamed on the council selling Citybus? I guess most people either dont realise, or more likely dont care that cuts to bus services are happening all across the country at the moment.

On a more positive note the first of the ex London double deckers have now arrived at Milehouse. More details to follow!

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X38 Cutback

There are quite a few changes to timetables coming up in April which I will be looking at in more detail over the coming week or so. Today we look at one of the more important links for Plymouth, Stagecoach Devon's X38:

First of all lets have a look at the timetable as it stands at the moment. Plymouth to Exeter as from May 2010

A nice easy to remember timetable with a bus pretty much every hour.
So lets see what we have from 11th April:

Wow!
Half the service with a bus every two hours. Its all a far cry from the days when there was just the one stop at Drumbridges Roundabout on the A38 apart from the main stops in the two Cities.
Remember when they thought the service needed these?


They didn't stay that long and the reduction to every 90 minutes bendy bus was soon put back to a standard coach every hour.
The one thing I have just noticed is that the day return fare advertised on the back of this bendy coach back in 2001 is £5.95
Ten years later and a Day Explorer ticket is still only £6.50 so only a 55 pence increase in ten years. (There was a time when Explorer tickets were not valid on the X38 as they were cheaper than a day return, but no such restriction seems to apply today.)
The next post looks at changes to the X80 from April and then later in the week I will show you how First is much better than Stagecoach in one aspect at least!

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Related Links

• Timetable X38 11 April 2011 Stagecoach
• Stagecoach X38 Plymothian Transit Extra
• Sunday Best Plymothian Transit June 2009
• X38 Bendy Years Plymothian Transit May 2009
• Stagecoach in South Brent Plymothian Transit October 2008

Elsewhere on the net

• Yesterday, surprisingly for the first time, I took a trip on FDC's 6 from Penzance to Mousehole. PTOTPA
• The recent radio silence has been in aid of a good cause: I've been building a bus museum. 270KTA
• Stagecoach is certainly receiving a bit of a battering in the media, of late. A public inquiry following an old historic wheel loss incident, a bus last week with suspension problems stopped by police and a bus carrying school pupils careering down an embankment Omnibuses

UGOing going gone…

From First the next batch of cutbacks...
Changes to South Devon services 4, 7, 11, 15 and 83/84/86 from 30 October 2010
Service 4 (City - Keyham) Following cuts in City Council funding for evening services all Service 4 journeys which leave the city centre after 1825 are being withdrawn from Monday 1st November.
Service 11 (City - Honicknowle Green) Regrettably service 11 is being withdrawn after Saturday 30th October, due to lower than expected passengers numbers.
Service 7 (City - Woolwell) & 83/84/86 (City - Tavistock) From Saturday 30th October ugobus service 7 will be withdrawn and replaced by revised services 84/86 which will serve Woolwell roughly every 30 minutes (Monday - Saturday) from Monday 1st November.
Service 15 (City - Estover/Mainstone) From Monday 1st November the routing for the service will be altered to serve the Marjon campus and on city bound journeys will travel via North Road East/Western Approach.
For revised service 4, 15 and 83/84/86 timetables please click on ‘Forthcoming timetables within the left hand ‘Timetables menu on this website. Revised timetable leaflets will be available from the First Travel Shop in Bretonside Bus Station from the middle of October. (Timetable for the 4 is not up as I type this)

So the Ugobus network is cut back even further. It used to be so different.
From the 2008 First Group Preliminary Results:
We launched a new network in Plymouth in April 2008. The changes are as a result of a year long exercise talking to customers, local stakeholders and user groups as well as an analysis of customer travel patterns across the city. The 'ugobus' branded network has started well and shows encouraging signs of growing passenger numbers.
And remember this from 2009:

"Since it was unveiled in April 2008 the Ugobus network has gone from strength to strength and the Honicknowle service, launched last autumn, has proved to be successful"

Marc Reddy - This is Plymouth



Still - on the plus side it will free up more buses that Marc can use in Southampton...

Ugo Woolwell? good luck with that then

The second part of yesterdays post will have to wait as news has now been confirmed of yet more cuts by FDC.
There have been several comments made over the past few days that the 7 and 11 were being cancelled. These have now appeared on VOSA

PH0004983/332 - FIRST DEVON & CORNWALL LTD, THE RIDE, CHELSON MEADOW, PLYMOUTH, PL9 7JT
Cancellation Accepted: Operating between Plymouth Royal Parade and Woolwell given service number 7 effective from 31-Oct-2010.

PH0004983/345 - FIRST DEVON & CORNWALL LTD, THE RIDE, CHELSON MEADOW, PLYMOUTH, PL9 7JT
Cancellation Accepted: Operating between Plymouth, City Centre and Plymouth, City Centre given service number 11 effective from 31-Oct-2010.


The 7 is not really a surprise as the 15 had probably taken a lot of the traffic from the City Centre - Derriford corridor. The 11 though is a surprise as it seems to have been doing fairly well and has been the longest lived of the competing services introduced by First.
Already staff at Derriford can foresee problems as Woolwell looks like it is being served by the Tavistock buses. Passengers for Woolwell can see problems with capacity at peak times as the Tavistock services can get very busy. Tavistock bound passengers have always objected to the longer journey if their bus diverts into Woolwell. This has been tried in the past and was never popular. I will wait and see what the new timetables look like!
The 7 still sees double deck operation including these nice Dennis Tridents.

You do get the sense that First have lost interest in Plymouth again. It was nice that First seemed to be putting some effort into Plymouth even if their motives were questionable. The Ugobus concept is a good one and Citybus have applied the same simplification principles to many of its own routes. I still catch the Ugobus 15 as it is a reliable service and generally does turn up on time, something which the Citybus 50 has always struggled with. This is in part due to a relaxed timetable on the 15 as the buses never seem in any hurry but always manage to keep to time. The Citybus 50 also has to pass along the Embankment which has major roadworks so its no wonder that they get delayed. The trouble is no one expects it to survive for long. Many people wonder if First will just sell up the whole of the Devon and Cornwall operation. I cant see them doing that myself, but if the alternative is for the network to wither and die a lingering death by more and more cuts, then I can only hope I am wrong.

We continue to invest in providing easy access buses throughout our network, with some additional easy access buses entering service during Autumn 2009. We are introducing some new bus services in Plymouth from 11 October 2009 and more details about these new services will be published on our website nearer the time.

FDC Home page today - tomorrow I will show you where many of those buses have gone...

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SE Bus Scene: Southampton - Hamble Route 16
Omnibuses: Directory Enquiries
Transport of delight: French Invasion

ugo-bust?

BUS routes in Southway and Ernesettle will be withdrawn due to dwindling customer numbers caused by unemployment, First Devon and Cornwall said.
What would Casper say about these changes? Ernesettle will soon be seeing the end of Caspers bus...

Marc Reddy, managing director of First Devon and Cornwall, said: "Over the past year, we've seen rising unemployment, and fewer people going out for shopping and leisure purposes. "These changes in the wider economy have had a knock-on effect on our business as fewer people have needed to travel. "Acknowledging these changes, we have adjusted our own networks to meet the current level of demand, reducing the frequency of some services where necessary, or taking some specific journeys out of the timetables where it is shown that very few people use them. "In two instances, we are withdrawing entire routes – this is because they have not performed in line with our initial expectations since their introduction last October.
"To help people plan their journeys, we will make new timetable information available approximately two weeks before the changes come into force."

Service 12 (City Centre – Chaddlewood via Marsh Mills and Plympton Ridgeway): The route of this service will change slightly from August 29. Buses will no longer stop in Mayflower Street from this date — instead, they will operate along the Viaduct and Royal Parade only. On Sundays, the frequency of buses will change slightly,(!) from one every half an hour to one every hour.

Service 15 (City Centre – Estover / Mainstone via Crownhill and Derriford): The Monday to Saturday timetable of this service will be changed slightly from August 29, with adjustments made to improve the overall punctuality and reliability of the buses on the route, said a spokesman for First. All journeys on a Sunday will be removed from the timetable.

The new timetables for the 15 and 12 are not posted on site yet so its not possible to see what they mean by 'changed slightly' for the 15, especially as the same phrase is used for the cutting of the Sunday service on the 12 from 30 mins to 60 mins frequency

This is Plymouth: Bus routes axed.

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A Transport of delight: Way Out map
Omnibuses: Green investment in Oxford Applause
TGP Dads Daily: What - no cream?

U dont go there anymore

First have now revealed the timetable changes due at the end of this month:
Changes to services in Plymouth from 28/29th August 2010
ugobus service 12 (City - Chaddlewood)
A new service 12 timetable will be in operation from Sunday 29 August operating up to every 12 minutes from Monday to Saturday and hourly on Sundays and Public Holidays.
The City Centre routing of service 12 will also be altered slightly. From Exeter Street and St Andrews Cross instead of serving Charles Street, Mayflower Street and Western Approach, service 12 will continue along the Viaduct down Royal Parade, around Derrys Cross roundabout and back up Royal Parade (to stop A11).
Service 15 (City - Estover/Mainstone)
Unfortunately due to a lower demand than we had hoped from (and including) Sunday 29th August Sunday Public Holiday journeys will be withdrawn. From Monday to Saturday service 15 will continue to operate a 20 minute frequency between the City, Mutley, Crownhill, Derriford Hospital, Estover and Mainstone.
Service 13 (City - Ernesettle)
Service 13 will cease operation after its last journey on Saturday 28 August 2010. Wed like to thank those who supported and used service 13 and apologise for any inconvenience caused.
Service 17 (City - Southway)
Service 17 will cease operation after its last journey on Saturday 28 August 2010. Wed like to thank those who supported and used service 17 and apologise for any inconvenience caused.
Source page

It does mention that the new timetables are available - but they were not there when I looked earlier.

You can see more detail on these changes and the past history of these routes on my Plymothian Transit Extra pages:
Route 12
Route 13
Route 15
Route 17

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PTOTPA: Olympian Allocations
Transport of Delight: Idiots caught on cameraSlippery Slope
Omnibuses: Reading between the lines

More cut backs for Citybus

The next batch of timetables changes for Plymouth Citybus are now available on line and dont make happy reading.
Citybus have been slowly cutting back their Saltash presence. These changes cut back even more.

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The changes:

Service 26

This service is to be withdrawn from Saltash (for alternative services to Saltash please see the new Service 43A) and will operate in Barne Barton instead. The service will operate between the City and Barne Barton via Devonport every 10 minutes during the day from Monday to Saturday. Monday to Saturday evening services and Sundays / Bank Holidays daytime services will operate every 30 minutes. The service will start in Barne Barton operating as per the route of the current Service 43A. On reaching St Budeaux Square the service will then operate to the city centre as per the current Service 26 route. This change will see Plymouth Citybus significantly increase its level of service to Barne Barton from every 30 minutes Monday to Saturday during the day to every 10 minutes Monday to Saturday as well as every 30 minutes on Sundays and during the evenings from Monday to Saturday.
Service 28/A/B

Following the withdrawal of support funding the 06:45 Service 28B from the city centre to Derriford Hospital is to be withdrawn. The 08:15 Service 28B that operated to Crownhill will instead operate to Derriford Hospital as a Service 28A. The 08:15 Service 28B that operated to Derriford Hospital will instead operate as a Service 28 to Derriford Hospital.
Service 29

This service will operate every 30 minutes departing from the City Centre as per current times. However, the service has been facing increasing pressure in recent years especially in and around Transit Way and as a result struggles to maintain time especially during busy times. In order to improve reliability services to Derriford Hospital will no longer operate to Crownhill Village instead they will operate direct onto Tavistock Road via Budshead Way. To reflect the increased traffic flows especially around Transit Way inbound services will have an additional 5 minutes journey time and are being scheduled to arrive 5 minutes later than current times. It is hoped that the planned improvement works in Transit Way along with the success of the new bus priority in and around Derriford Hospital will see outbound services return to Crownhill Village in the not too distant future.
Service 43

This service is to operate every 10 minutes for most of the day from Monday to Saturday, every 30 minutes evenings and every 20 minutes during the day on Sundays and Bank Holidays. There is no change in route but the service is being retimed to improve reliability with services being adjusted in frequency to provide services every 10 minutes for most of the day with timings adjusted to create a bus every 5 minutes between St Budeaux and the City Centre for most of the day Monday to Saturday and in excess of every 20 minutes Sundays and Bank Holidays.
Service 43A

This service is being withdrawn from Barne Barton and will instead operate to Pillmere, Saltash (for alternative services to Barne Barton please see the new Service 26). The service will operate every 30 minutes from Monday to Saturday between Pilmere, Saltash and the City Centre via Latchbrook, Callington Road, Saltash Fore Street, St Budeaux and Milehouse. This change does see the frequency of Plymouth Citybus services into Saltash reduced from every 20 to every 30 minutes however by operating via Milehouse it represents significant journey time improvements. Sunday and Bank Holiday Services are to be withdrawn from Saltash.
Service 43B

This service will operate every 30 minutes as per the current timetable with the only real change being that services from Holly Park to the City Centre will be scheduled to arrive 5 minutes later than the current times. Services 43, 43A, 43B and the Service 29 are being scheduled to provide services every 5 minutes between St Budeaux and the City Centre for most of the day from Monday to Saturday and in excess of every 20 minutes on Sundays and Bank Holidays.
Service 45

This service will operate between the City Centre and Cattedown every 30 minutes for most of the day with returning Cattedown services operating via Mayflower Street to the city centre. The Devonport section of this service is to be withdrawn (for alternative services to Devonport please see new Service 46 and 47).
Service 46

This service will operate every 30 minutes for most of the day from Monday to Saturday operating from the city centre to Stoke Village via Molesworth Road to Albert Road then as per the current Service 46 to Kings Tamerton via Fleetmoor Road. The service will then operate as per the current route of the Service 46 to the city centre with the exception being that the service will no longer service the Tamar Science Park. Services 46A, 146, 246 will either be replaced by the Service 46 or be withdrawn. Evening Service 46 will be withdrawn with Service 46A to West Park replaced with a Service 26B.
Service 47

This service will operate every 30 minutes for most of the day from Monday to Saturday from the city centre to Compton via Mutley Plain then Leigham, Estover and Derriford Hospital. The service will then operate as per the current Service 47 to Kings Tamerton before operating via Saltash Road, Stoke Village and Molesworth Road to the city centre. Services 47A, 47D, 147, 247 will either be replaced by the Service 47 or be withdrawn. Evening Service 47 will be withdrawn with the Service 47A from West Park being replaced with a Service 26B.

Service 50

This service has been facing increasing pressure and as a result struggles to maintain time especially during busy times. Therefore to improve the overall reliability of the service it is to be withdrawn from Keswick Crescent (for alternative services to Keswick Crescent please see the new service 46 and 47). The successful delivery of the Gydnia Way road improvement scheme together with improved residential parking may see the service return in the not too distant future.

According to the blurb...
The review took into account customer feedback from our customer consultation exercise which took place in February 2010, market trends and the extensive changes in road traffic levels in recent years.

I also get the feeling that they were also looking at the current First Ugobus timetables as some of these changes (and the recent Plympton changes) do seem to copy the Ugobus services and increase competition with First. The loss of the 50 into Keswick Crescent will also upset a lot of people as it gives a lot of passengers a long walk up a steep hill. I am sure its no coincidence that First Ugobus 15 also cuts across the top of Keswick Crescent. Its a shame that First fares are so much higher than Citybus as I am sure they would otherwise provide much stronger competition for passengers.
I will be taking a closer look at some of these routes later in the month, when hopefully I will be able to update my maps as this is proving impossible on my current PC.

In the mean time it will be interesting to see how passengers react to these changes!
Full timetable notice (PDF)
or preview on Google Docs

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PTOTPA: JHU bows out
Highton-Ridley: New work
Uncle Terry: 130 Hide n seek
Omnibuses: 10 points for transport
TGP Bus and Coach: Roselyn Coaches Running Day

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Saltash to loose out?

Saltash to loose its 152 service?.

I was intrigued to see a 'tweet' that suggested that Saltash was to loose its direct bus service to Derriford Hospital. Saltash may lose the only direct bus service to Derriford Hospital. Saltash Town Council has confirmed that the 152 bus may be scrapped in the near future but this is not definite. An alternative is being put forward to have a bus route that goes around the Plymouth city centre before ending up at Derriford Hospital. This will lengthen the time that the bus takes to get to the hospital. The worry of the loss of the 152 bus route highlights the insecurity and confusion that the sale of CityBus has caused to the changes in the normal bus routes. Saltash People The article links to Saltash Council although there is nothing on their web site about any such change to the 152. There have not been any route registration changes made by Plymouth Citybus yet so I guess its still up in the air rather than a firm plan. The 152 does seem to be a popular service, at least at morning and evening peak times, with a standing load on a Dart not uncommon as it leaves Derriford at 'home time'. I am also a little confused by the suggestion that an alternative route that goes around Plymouth City Centre before ending up at Derriford Hospital. There are already plenty of buses going from Saltash to the City Centre, and the City Centre - Derriford route is also pretty well served as it is so I cant see the need for a new route? The final line is a classic especially as there have till now been no changes to any routes what so ever by Plymouth Citybus, and marginal routes such as the 152 would have been no more guaranteed by a council owned Citybus than a Go-Ahead owned Citybus. Indeed the last set of route reductions in Plymouth were actually completely down to Plymouth City Council itself!

Further Reading TGP - Rivers of Ice Omnibuses: Something for the Authorities to Consider Omnibuses: Optare Rumours PTOTPA - Blast from the past Plymouth Local History - St Budeaux Carnival - a reminder of summer! First on Twitter 12 Jan 2010 07:28 PLYMOUTH: Services PR1,PR2, 1/1A, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 11,12,13,15 & 17 are operating as normal. Service X80/180 between Plymouth&Torquay operating as normal but only serving Blackpost Ln in both directions in Ivybridge 07:33 PLYMOUTH/TAVISTOCK: Service 83/84/86 between Plymouth&Tavistock operating as normal but subject to delays due to roadworks at Derriford 10:49 JANUARY SALE! Don't forget you can save upto £75 off select First 3Month & 6Month tickets in Devon&Cornwall www.firstgroup.com/etickets 11:01 X80/180 SERVICE DISRUPTION: Accident on A38 between Lee Mill & Ivybridge. Police & Fire Brigade suspect road will be closed all day. Service X80/180 will therefore be diverted via Old Cornwood Rd, past back of Tesco, Cadleigh then through to Lee Mill before continuing normal route. Delays expected. Updates to follow when further information comes through. 11:14 First Devon & Cornwall are now on Facebook too! Check out www.facebook.com/pages/First-in-Devon-Cornwall/227915738339?v=wall 11:55 A38 ACCIDENT UPDATE. Unfortunately service 180 has been suspended until further notice as the traffic has been at a complete standstill for the last 50 minutes. Traffic is tailed back to Marsh Mills and in the opposite direction back past Wrangaton. We apologise for any inconvenience caused due to circumstances beyond. 12:46 A38 ACCIDENT UPDATE: The A38 has reopened. The 12:40 serv 180 journey from Plym Bus Station & 1328 journey from Ivybridge Cole La will serve the normal service 180 route, although please be aware some delays to journeys for the time being are likely while traffic backlog cleared. All X80 journeys departing from Torquay & Plymouth will now be instructed to follow normal route. 13:00 SERVICE X80: journeys from Plymouth & Torquay will now serve normal route, although may still be subject to delays due to A38traffic backlog 14:21 TAVISTOCK: although snowing in Tavistock services 87,89 &83/84/86 still running as roads are clear of ice (for now!) Will update if changes 18:57 It's snowing again! Plymouth & South Devon: Due to an accident on Tavistock Road there are likely to be severe delays and disruptions to services PR1, 7, 15, 17, 83, 84 & 86 (there is also a lot of snow slush on roads) As of 1830 Manadon Roundabout and Tavistock Road was gridlocked. Service 7 is also unable to serve Marjons and also cannot serve Pick pie Drive operating as far as the Tesco Roundabout. Will update as conditions deteriorate/improve. Although all other services are still operating in Plymouth there may be some slight delays where drivers execute caution as road conditions deteriorate due to snow in some areas. There are also likely to be severe delays on the X80 as we've just had reports there is a tree on the road at Rattery Mill on Totnes Road. The service is also not able to serve South Brent and Twigley Cross due to road conditions. In Torbay due to heavy seawater on road along Torquay seafront the X80/X81 will be diverted via Preston before/after serving The Strand/Torbay Hotel. In South Devon service 76 is still operating but no longer able to operate via Ashton and St Dominic due to snow. 19:06 NORTH DEVON SERVICE DISRUPTION The X9 is stuck in snow in Okehampton . Police are attending the scene. Therefore no further X9 journeys can operate today. We apologise for any inconvenience caused. Citybus on Twitter / Facebook 12 Jan 2010 06:03 Good Morning. ALL SERVICES, SCHOOL BUSES, GRAMMAR SCHOOL, AND COLLEGE BUSES, WILL OPERATE NORMAL ROUTES however based on driver reports from yesterday afternoon we still cannot serve St Dominick, Milton Combe, the Leg of Mutton, Wotter Village, and St George's Road Saltash. 09:35 St George's Road in Saltash is now open and the 152 service has reverted to the full route. 10:19 We have restored the service 31 to its full route. At the moment there are no diversions or restrictions for any PCB stage carriage services in the City. Restrictions still apply in Wotter for the 58 and 59 and at Milton Combe, and St Dominick for the school buses. 16:59 Due to the weather and the traffic problems at Derriford Hospital there is significant delays to all buses operating in the City. We are doing what we can to get you home but your bus may be subject to long delays. All city routes are running with care but are subject to long delays and hold ups as described. 18:03 It is chaotic in the City and beyond due to the weather and the traffic disruption at Derriford Hospital. Our staff are doing what they can to get you home. There will be major disruption, delays, and possibly buses missing from our evening services and we suggest that if you do not need to go out you stay indoors in the warm and dry. We apologise but these events are completely beyond our control. 21:17 Visit the NOTES tab for details of services for Wednesday All bus services in Plymouth will operate as normal Because students are taking exams we decided to operate all school buses but some will only serve the main road We would rather do this than have a bus stuck with students trying to get in for their exams Sorry but there will be no service on 58 or 59 until we can check the route later in the morning.

Keeping Casper Happy at least

"I don't know what the attraction is but he loves big vehicles like lorries and buses”

A news story involving First Devon and Cornwall goes national with even The Sun getting into the act: The BBC puts it: A cat has become such a well-known user of a Devon bus service that its drivers know where to let him off. Casper has been queuing with other passengers to get the number three service from his home in Plymouth for months, bus company First said. It added that he often sat in the queue and then quietly padded on board and curled up on a seat for the ride. Casper's owner Susan Finden, 55, who picked him from a rescue home in 2002, said he had always been a free spirit. Mrs Finden said she named her pet after Casper the Friendly Ghost, as he has a habit of wandering off. A spokesman for First said that drivers had been bussing Casper around for months, but Mrs Finden said she had only just found out about his use of public transport. The care worker said: "He'd always go off and have a wander. "Once I had to walk a mile-and-a-half with a cat basket to bring him back from a car park. "He does love people, and I don't know what the attraction is but he loves big vehicles like lorries and buses." A notice has been put up by First in the bus drivers' rest room in Plymouth bus station asking them to look after the rogue passenger if they spot him sneaking on board. On more usual news First has started to announce some changes to its services in August:   The Timetable for Ugobus service 7 has been revised in the afternoon between Derriford Hospital and Woolwell in order to allow additional time as a result of congestion problems around the hospital. Most journeys will now operate up to 5 minutes later from approximately 1600. Due to low customer usage the departures from the City Centre to Woolwell at 1805 and 1825 will be withdrawn. 2nd August LINK Service 17 is being withdrawn from 30th August  Following a review of passenger numbers and the cost of operation exceeding the return in revenue it is with regret that this service is no longer commercially viable LINK Slight changes to service 48 occur at the same time The 30th August also sees changes to the Ugobus network: Service 2 The Monday to Saturday daytime frequency will be changed to operate every 10 minutes during the peak periods and every 12 minutes off peak. Certain evening journeys operating Monday to Saturday and certain late afternoon Sunday journeys have also been withdrawn. LINK Service 6 the 6 is being re-routed onto The Viaduct to avoid Drakes Circus: This change has been implemented in order to improve the reliability and punctuality of the service by avoiding the congestion at the entrance to the Drakes Circus car park. LINK Service 5   The Monday to Saturday daytime frequency will be changed to operate every 30 minutes during the peak periods. Off peak journeys will remain at a 15 minute frequency. LINK Service 11 Following the successful launch of Ugobus service 11 between Plymouth and Honicknowle, some amendments to the evening journeys will come into effect from Sunday 30 August. LINK I guess the 2 being reduced from 10 mins to 12 mins intervals off peak isn't that big a deal but the evening service down to hourly from half hourly is a big change that will further annoy Plymstock residents who have seen big reductions in their evening and weekend services this year. Service 6 seems an odd change as it comes a good few months after Citybus have re-rerouted most of its buses back through the Drakes Circus stops after road improvements seem to have reduced the delays. First having made a point at the time that their services were not being moved off Mayflower Street unlike Citybus! Service 5 is the odd one. I assumed that the news release had got it the wrong way round but the timetables do confirm the odd news that the service is running twice as much off peak as it is during the peak. Surely its normally the other way round? Service 11 is another big cutback. “Some amendments to evening journeys” translates to the evening service is withdrawn after the last bus departing 18:35. There were rumours that the 11 was being cut back in the evenings so the company could improve its evening services in Plymstock, its traditional operating territory. There may be more changes yet to be published but I don't see any signs of increased evening service for Plymstock so far. With cut backs in Cornwall also due to happen in September with a lot of work believed to be passing to Western Greyhound, and strong rumours of depot closures for First these are not happy times for the company or its customers. A few years back Western Greyhound was just a small independent operator running a smart fleet of Mercedes minis. Its now rapidly turning into the main operator in Cornwall with a growing fleet of smart low floor Solos and even a few low floor double deckers. As I have often pointed out, the appearance of the First Fleet these days is extremely smart. Its just getting a lot harder to actually see one. I guess at least Casper can still keep catching his number 3 - that seems to escape the cut backs this time around! Omnibuses has a nice post which looks at the current economic conditions and how they impact on bus operators. LINK HERE

Target Derriford

Today was the start of the new Plymouth City Council supported services. I did manage to pop up to Derriford to try and get a few photos but the weather was against me although I did manage to get a couple of Target Travel routes on camera:

One of the awful Marshall buses was on the 14.

Much better was this Solo lettered up for the Park and Ride service 60. I didn't notice any passengers on either run, although at this time of the morning most traffic would be heading towards Derriford so I wouldn't have seen them. Apparently the Scottish Optare Solo's have yet to be collected so are not in service yet.

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• Targeting Derriford (plymothiantransit.com)
• Cutbacks: 60 (plymothiantransit.com)
• July Five (plymothiantransit.com)
• Justified and explained? (plymothiantransit.com)

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Justified and explained?

" The decision to remove any bus subsidy is always a difficult one but we cannot justify the cost of running buses with only a handful of passengers ” ©Robert Burn Plymothian Transit now on Facebook - feel free to comment there on any posting!

Council Justification: "Subsidies play an important role in providing access to local services and helping local residents travel around the city. However, we have a responsibility to Council taxpayers to balance cost against demand and ensure that routes with low passenger numbers are only supported where there is a genuine community need and the costs are not excessive. Services across the Council are having to make significant financial savings because of the economic downturn and we also expect a shortfall in funding for the national concessionary fares scheme of up to £1 million this year, which will further add to the financial pressures on our transport service. This makes it especially important to target our resources where they are most needed.” Councillor Kevin Wigens, Cabinet Member for Transport The key changes are as follows: Plymouth Citybus will take on four services on a commercial basis, meaning they will no longer require subsidy support from the Council. These are evening services on the 20, 23/24 and 25 and Sunday daytime services on the 42. Target Travel will increase their presence on the subsidised network, running nine of the 20 services. First will now operate just one subsidised service – the number 4. Service 17, a commercial service withdrawn by First Devon and Cornwall in January, will be reinstated as service 14 as part of the new subsidised network. It will be operated by Target Travel. There will be two more taxibus services, operated through Target Travel "The decision to remove any bus subsidy is always a difficult one but we cannot justify the cost of running buses with only a handful of passengers. We are confident that by working with local operators to make changes to the network as a whole we are getting much better value for taxpayers’ money. I have been surprised at how muted opposition has been to some of these changes, but I guess some of this may be due to people focusing on the ongoing debate about the future ownership of Plymouth Citybus. I will be returning to this subject in the week so for now I will focus on the cutbacks that have been detailed on this blog over the past week or so. The main story I have picked up against these cutbacks comes from Glenholt. Long time readers of this blog will know they have form: 27 December 2005 14 January 2006 05 October 2006 ANGRY residents said they are prepared to picket outside the Council House in protest against their "lifeline" bus service being scrapped. More than 50 people gathered at Glenholt Park to voice their disgust that the no 57 is being replaced by an "inadequate" Taxibus service with much smaller vehicles. Glenholt Park Association secretary, said: "This bus service is a lifeline and the taxis are not going to be big enough to replace it. It could come to us getting out the placards again. If it comes to it, we will be outside the Council House." Elma Baddeley, aged 61, a Glenholt Park resident, said her 20-strong women's group rely on the bus service for regular day trips. She added: "It's our independence they are taking away. We get the bus everywhere and we are not going to fit in a taxi. Some people have given up their cars because the bus service has been so good." This is Plymouth At least one of the comments on the story note the link between the free bus passes and the service cutbacks. As can be seen from the 27 December 2005 posting, this area has been extremely difficult to serve and all previous attempts to improve the service have soon floundered and been cut back. The 57 Clover leaf did seem like a good opportunity but even that has not lasted long.   Informed?   Over the past week or so I have been spending a lot of time looking at the information put out by the council and the operators which has been an interesting exercise in itself. Plymouth City Council have a few documents available on their subsidised bus services page: The full Guide to subsidised services is a useful document which gives the run down on the services paid for by the council. This is a useful guide but it could be so much better and more useful. It only gives the timetables for the supported routes. I know that is what it is supposed to be, but for the routes with at least partial commercial operation it means you only get half the details. It would be so much more useful if the full timetable could be included with the supported sections clearly highlighted. This is especially the case when two operators share the route, like service 6. If tickets etc are all interchangeable as promised on these supported routes then as far as most passengers are concerned they probably couldn't really care who operates the bus. In which case why have to look to a separate timetable booklet just for the last few journeys of the day? Apart from that the timetable guide is at least nice and clear and follows the same design as the recent timetable book so hopefully when they reprint that one then some sense will prevail and timetables will be joined up again. So what about the operators themselves? First have a straightforward announcement on their site:   Following a recent tendering exercise by Plymouth City Council, the services/ journeys below will be operated by the following Bus Operators from 5th July: Target Travel (Tel: 01752 242000) Service 6 Plymouth - Holmwood Avenue Monday to Saturday evening journeys only Service 18 Plymouth - Elburton Service 39 / 39A Plymouth to Crownhill Please note that return tickets, day tickets and season tickets issued by First are valid on the above services. Plymouth City Bus (Tel: 0 845 077 2223) Service 13 Plymouth - Saltash Passage - Saturdays only. The following tendered services have not been awarded by Plymouth City Council and therefore will no longer operate: Service 4 Plymouth - Keyham - Sunday & Bank Holiday evenings Service 6 Plymouth - Holmwood Avenue Sunday & Bank Holiday evenings Service 44B/C Plymouth - Whitleigh Passengers wanting more information on these tendered services should contact the relevant Bus Operator (telephone numbers as above) or contact Plymouth City Council on 01752 668000.   Unusually for First, new timetables for their remaining route (6) are not yet available. Citybus have as usual these days put out a notice on all their buses and available on the net explaining in full what is changing and why it is changing. From 5 July 2009 Plymouth City Council has made some significant changes to subsidised bus services. As a result PCB has decided to take over four routes commercially, some routes will be removed, and some routes currently operated by PCB will be operated by Target Travel, and in some instances services operated by ourselves and Target Travel will offer a reduced service. On the changes they have made of their own they have taken care to detail the changes on the individual timetable page, along with a brief explanation of why they have made the changes. Like this explanation on their new 20 timetable: We are confident that the changes to the service 20 will see increased passenger use. It won’t be enough to cover the loss of funding for the Service 20A hence the changes being made, and the loss of services to Steer Park. Plymouth Citybus does operate Service 21 & 51 to Steer Park So what about Target Travel and Taxifast? Well Target have long been very poor indeed on their web site with old timetables which were at least two years out of date. I have just been on their site to see if anything has changed and have been met with a notice to say the web site is being updated! Watch this space! They are available on the Traveline service but that isnt the easiest service to use and wont give you a full timetable for a whole day. At least I dont think it will. I am not so sure about Taxifast. All I get is an intro show which seems to take forever to load, and when I skip it, it just sits there. That might be my pc, but there never used to be anything there anyway. Taxibus? “We get the bus everywhere and we are not going to fit in a taxi”   Angry Glenholt resident sums up the biggest issue with replacing buses with taxis. I actually enjoy catching the 224 Taxibus and get on well with all the regular drivers who are very friendly and offer a good service. I have only had to share a taxis one one or two occasions. This is partly because most of the journey I take is also covered by Citybus who are cheaper and more frequent. I can use my travel pass so the fare is not an issue. There are a few locals who will catch whatever comes first but most will just wait for the Citybus or Target bus so overcrowding is not an issue. On some of these new routes I can see bigger problems. The little old ladies popping down to Derriford Hospital Canteen for lunch (it happens!) might find the taxi is full. The new 226 service provides a new link between Austin Farm and Asda which is a very popular store. Many of them can catch the 47 but it goes the long way round. A quick 5 min ride in a taxi bus seems like a great idea. as long as no more people get the same idea at the same time! Plymouth is very much a leader when it comes to using Taxibuses to supplement local buses. They have a place and can be a great way to help provide new links that otherwise would not happen. Whether they are so good at replacing normal buses in order to cut costs remains to be seen. I guess it comes down to what happens if the service gets too popular - will it be increased in frequency or be given larger vehicles? As always your thoughts are welcome!

July Five

"there are areas of Plymouth who will see quite a reduction in service ”

D Day The 5th July 2009 sees quite a few changes to the bus network in Plymouth. Although much of the network remains pretty much the same, there are areas of Plymouth who will see quite a reduction in service with many connections lost, or at least requiring a change of buses. This post serves as a recap of the changes detailed in full over the past week (follow the More… link to the detailed post)  along with other changes announced for the same date. 4 City Centre - Keyham Remains much the same but looses evening service on Sundays. More First 6 City Centre - Goosewell Day time service remains as before with First. Evenings it switches to Target Travel and reduced to hourly. More First / Target 7D City Centre - Radford Park Route transfers to Target Travel from Citybus. Looses last two evening runs. Mon - Sat only. More Target 10 City Centre - Derriford Hospital Reduced to just 4 morning peak and 3 afternoon peak runs. In between these times Taxibus 226 covers some sections. More Target 12 12A Plympton Town Service New commercial service by Citybus Monday to Saturdays to fill in some of the gaps left by service 19 which is now run peak time only by Target Travel. More Citybus 13 City Centre - Saltash Passage Remains Saturday only but now operated by Plymouth Citybus. More Citybus 14 City Centre - Derriford Hospital New route Monday to Saturdays by Target Travel. Designed to replace sections of 17, 26A and 39. More Target 16 16B City Centre - Kings Tamerton City Centre - Kings Tamerton - Holly Park Minor timetable change to 16 due to local road conditions. New timetable (pdf) Citybus 18 City Centre - Elburton Service transfers to Target Travel. Minor timetable changes (Starts later and ends earlier!) More Target 19 City Centre - Steer Park Main day time service withdrawn (replaced in part by Citybus 12/ 12A) Just morning and afternoon peak runs Monday to Friday only More Target 20 Railway Station - City Centre - Plympton There are changes in the route and timetable. Most buses now extend to the Railway Station. Evening service on 20 now provided commercially by Citybus to replace the 20A which is withdrawn. More  new Timetable (pdf) Citybus 21 X21 51 City Centre - Plympton One additional journey on the X21 Monday - Friday. All X21s now withdrawn from Greenwood Park Road. Timetable pdf Citybus 22 City Centre - Plympton Minor timetable changes. Timetable pdf Citybus 23 24 City Centre - Mount Gould Due to strong growth the evening services are now operated without support from the council. There are concerns about parking along the route and First tickets are no longer accepted. Citybus 25 City Centre- Barbican - West Hoe One of the few services to see an increase in service! Daytime route up to 3 an hour. Concerns remain about parking. Service will be with step entrance buses to start with but they hope to allocate low floor buses as soon as they are able. Timetable Citybus 26A City Centre - Devonport - West Park Service withdrawn. Part replaced by Target Travel 14 Citybus 29 City Centre - St Budeaux - Derriford Hospital Minor timetable changes Timetable Citybus 34 City Centre - Stonehouse - Stoke - Derriford Hospital Evening services retimed. Timetable Citybus 39 39A City Centre - Hartley Vale - Manadon Park - Crownhill Service 39 sees quite a few changes. The old service has been split up with the Derriford and Looseleigh section now covered by the 14 and the Southway section covered by Taxibus 227. The remaining route is now spilt into 39 and 39A routes each run hourly Monday to Fridays. On Saturdays just the 39 runs although here are a couple of extra runs late afternoon. More Target 42 42A City Centre - Tamerton Foliot Evening service withdrawn. Buses also withdrawn from Plymouth International Business Park. A couple extra peak time runs added to the timetable. Timetable Citybus 43 City Centre - St Budeaux - Ernesettle Minor timetable changes to a few journeys. Timetable Citybus 44B 44C City Centre - Transit Way SERVICE WITHDRAWN. Covered in part by 39 and 226 Target 57 Widewell - Southway - Glenholt - Belliver SERVICE WITHDRAWN. Covered in part by 227 Target 60 60A Derriford Hospital - The George - Broadley Park New commercial service (?) by Target Travel. Provides a Park and Ride link for Derriford Hospital More Target 224 X56 Crownhill - Derriford - Estover - The George Peak time journeys run by Target Travel as X56 are withdrawn and replaced by normal 224 Taxibuses. Taxifast 225 X57 Replaced by new Target Travel 60 60A services Taxifast 226 Estover - Whitleigh New Monday to Friday off peak Taxibus service. Part replaces 10 and 44B. More Taxifast 227 Southway - Belliver New Monday - Friday off peak Taxibus service. Part replaces 39 and 57. More Taxifast Tomorrow I will add a few more thoughts of my own, along with some note on how the operators are presenting the changes.