Dartmoor services etc

A large number of notices have come through this last week mostly for the 20th April changes, although a few are from May – albeit they are all late notices!

• Oakleys - +the new Dartmoor services have finally come through
• Country Bus  171 172 Dartmoor seasonal services start. New timetable for the 15 in Brixham
• St Ives Bus – New timetable for one of their car park shuttles.
• Stagecoach: two Exeter City services changed back in April
• Dartline: Coly school services with new timetables, also back in April.

I feel there a few more April changes still to come through but we should start to see more of the May changes due next week.  More on this to follow this week

Licence	Route	Start Point	End Point	Effective	Notes	Operator
PH1053866.019	10	St Ives, Trenwith Car Park Lay-By	St Ives, Trenwith Car Park Lay-By	12-May-2025	timetable change (no timetable on Traveline)	ST. IVES BUS CO. LTD
PH1017984.135	15	BANK LANE, BRIXHAM	BANK LANE, BRIXHAM	12-May-2025	Timetable variation	ALANSWAY COACHES LTD
PH1091418.012	55	Yelverton Roundabout Bus Stop, Yeverton	Tavistock Bus Station, Plymouth Road, Tavistock	22-Apr-2025	NEW REG monday to Saturday Oakleys Coaches will be taking over the Devon County Council contract for this service from Plymouth Citybus. Revised timetable with more journey opportunities Mondays to Saturdays funded by BSIP.	PAUL SIMON OAKLEY
PH1091418.011	56	Yelverton Roundabout Bus Stop, Yeverton	Yelverton Roundabout Bus Stop, Yelverton	22-Apr-2025	NEW REG monday to Saturday Oakleys Coaches will be taking over the Devon County Council contract for this service from Plymouth Citybus. Revised timetable with more journey opportunities Mondays to Saturdays funded by BSIP.	PAUL SIMON OAKLEY
PH1091418.013	98	Tavistock Bus Station, Tavistock	Yelverton Roundabout Bus Stop, Yelverton	22-Apr-2025	NEW REG monday to Saturday Oakleys Coaches will be taking over the Devon County Council contract for this service from Plymouth Citybus. Revised timetable with more journey opportunities Mondays to Saturdays funded by BSIP.	PAUL SIMON OAKLEY
PH1017984.142	171	Newton Abbot	Tavistock	05-May-2025	Service restarts for summer season with revised timetable	ALANSWAY COACHES LTD
PH1017984.141	172	Tavistock	Newton Abbot	05-May-2025	Service restarts for summer season	ALANSWAY COACHES LTD
PH1020951.044	A	Alphington, Smithfield Road	Exeter Bus Station	20-Apr-2025	Sunday and Public Holiday frequency will be doubled from every 60 minutes to every 30 minutes during the main part of the day, providing twice as many journey opportunities. Daily evening journeys after approximately 1930 will be extended beyond Exeter Bus Station to Pennsylvania to cover the Service K route and ensure that Pennsylvania continues to benefit from an evening bus service following changes to Service P.	STAGECOACH DEVON LTD
PH0005305.092	Coly 3	Polsloe, St Marks Church	Colyton Grammar School	22-Apr-2025	Variation route and timetable	DEALTOP LIMITED
PH0005305.091	Coly 4	Aylesbeare, Nineoaks bus stop	Colyford, The Elms Bus stop	22-Apr-2025	Variation to route and timetable	DEALTOP LIMITED
PH1020951.434	K	Cowley Bridge	Pennsylvania	20-Apr-2025	The Monday to Friday off-peak frequency between approximately 1015 and 1500 will be doubled from every 60 minutes to every 30 minutes, providing an additional journey opportunity each hour. A new Sunday and Public Holiday timetable will be introduced, with buses operating every 60 minutes between approximately 0900 and 1800. Buses will operate between Pennsylvania and the City Centre, before continuing to and terminating at Exeter St Davids and therefore not serving Cowley Bridge. During the evening (daily) Pennsylvania will be served by the extension of Service A journeys to and from Exeter Bus Station, ensuring Pennsylvania continues to benefit from an evening bus service.  Due to these Sunday and Public Holiday and evening changes, Service P will no longer serve Pennsylvania at these times.	STAGECOACH DEVON LTD

As usual click through to get more details, Most of these have timetables etc available on their route pages.

Oakleys

Thanks to Mark Bailey for this:

Today Oakleys took over Devon CC contracted services 55, 56 and 98 from Plymouth Citybus.

Services were being worked by two Wright Streetlite WF acquired from Dartline - MX12 DZA and MX62 ANR - and both smartly repainted in Oakley's light grey livery and with full working destination indicators.  I've attached a shot of each in Yelverton.

Timekeeping though was very poor, 7-8 minutes late on average, and parts of the 55 route were missed out, whether because the driver wasn't familiar with the route or to claw back time I'm not sure.  Returning on the 55 from Milton Combe and Buckland Monachorum, the driver took a short cut to Yelverton, missing out Yelverton Rock (where I was patiently waiting) and the golf club.  And later, returning on the 55 from Tavistock, it didn't serve Walkhampton (where I was again) or Dousland as timetabled.  Not a great start, and let's hope things improve or they will be in trouble with the Traffic Commissioner.

© Mark Bailey – with thanks.

Oakleys themselves have acknowledged a few teething troubles:

We may have some teething issues, but we will do our best to serve the local community. It was good to see some familiar faces again. These buses are temporary buses operating the services until our brand new Mercedes Sprinters are delivered.

Hopefully things will settle down pretty quickly

A correction to yesterdays post it seems that only ONE of the new Streetdeck electrics has actually arrived so far at Milehouse. Thanks to all who have confirmed this. It looks like they will be numbered 77001 upwards. The first one at Milehouse is BN25DCZ which is 77002. It remains to be seen if they keep the BN25 registrations or get more local WA plates. 

Changes

A few more notices published over the last week:

Dealtop Ltd Dartline

Match day services for Exeter Chief games coming to an end?

Licence	Route	Start Point	End Point	Effective	Notes
PH0005305.032	78	Exeter, St Davids Railway Station	Sandy Park, Exeter Chiefs Rugby Club	22-Dec-2023	Cancel

First South West First Kernow

Another late notice for the seasonal cancellation

Licence	Route	Start Point	End Point	Effective	Notes
PH0004983.518	Atlantic Coaster	Newquay Bus Station	Padstow Old Station Car Park	01-Oct-2023	cancellation end of season

Paul Simon Oakley

This was a Tuesday only service which seems to have come to an abrupt end?

Licence	Route	Start Point	End Point	Effective	Notes
PH1091418.010	875	Bigbury on Sea, Marine Drive	Lee Mill, Tesco	14-Nov-2023	Cancel

Plymouth Citybus Ltd

This appeared as a late notice extra service which started this week.

Licence	Route	Start Point	End Point	Effective	Notes
PH0000135.345	7	Sennen Cove	Gurnards Head	13-Nov-2023	New Service - Monday to Friday. From the 13th of November 2023, we will be running a new route, from Sennen Cove to Gurnards Head, via St Just. The route will operate Monday to Friday, excluding bank holidays.

Coming up this week

First South West Buses of Somerset

The popular award winning Exmoor Coaster comes to seasonal end next weekend along A couple of small improvements to the X22

Licence	Route	Start Point	End Point	Effective	Notes
PH0004983.486	22 22A X22	Taunton, Castle Way	Rockwell Green/ Tonedale/ Tiverton	27-Nov-2023	Minor changes to timetable A new timetable will be introduced to allow additional journey time to improve punctually. Some changes to early morning departures on Monday to Friday to allow earlier arrivals in Wellington from Taunton.
PH0004983.607	Exmoor Coaster	Watchet	Lynmouth, Lyndale Car Park	27-Nov-2023	Cancelled. Services will stop running for the winter from Sunday 26 November. The service will return in early 2024.
PH0004983.620	Exmoor Coaster	Ilfracombe Harbour, Ropery Road	Lynmouth, Lyndale Coach Park	27-Nov-2023	Cancelled. Services will stop running for the winter from Sunday 26 November. The service will return in early 2024.

Its back again for another Christmas..

Our #PlymouthCityBus team are enjoying their first outing in the #SantaBus for 2023! We're on the Barbican today for the Christmas Lights Switch On, doing our best to keep warm and dry. Drop in for a chat or a picture with the bus, and enjoy the evening! pic.twitter.com/VVBfb9FcfW

— Plymouth Citybus (@plymouthbus) November 18, 2023

Some of you may be interested…

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— Platform 5 Publishing (@Platform5Rail) November 14, 2023

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Bigbury Bus Blues

Back in January Tally Ho! Coaches announced they were giving up a few of their services due to lack of drivers:

Devon County Council have been responding to the news that Tally Ho are giving up four bus routes as a result of their inability to find enough drivers.

The routes are SH160 is the Kingsbridge town service and the SH162 runs between Kingsbridge, Loddiswell, Thurlestone and Hope Cove, the SH612 Mothecombe to Lee Mill Tesco (Tuesdays only) and the SH875 Bigbury to Plymouth bus station (Fridays only). A spokesperson for Devon County Council told us: “We can confirm that Tally Ho has handed back two contracts for four subsidised bus services (services which they currently support financially) with effect from March 31 2023. https://www.kingsbridge-today.co.uk/news/possible-timetable-changes-to-bus-routes-affected-by-non-renewal-of-contracts-589032

This was then followed up by the BBC a few days ago…

Users of a discontinued bus service between a village and a city have criticised it being shelved.

The weekly 875 from Bigbury on Sea to Plymouth was operated by Tally Ho for Devon County Council until Friday, but the company has handed back the contract, blaming a lack of drivers. Former passengers said the 20-mile (35km) link had been lifeline. The council said it had not been able to find another operator, but had put in place some alternatives.

Tally Ho said it had "advertised extensively" for drivers for a year but it had "not been able to solve the problem". It said: "In recent months, the pressures have become intolerable and we simply cannot continue. There is no other reason for our decision." Devon County Council said it had not been able to find another operator, but alternatives were in place, including a taxi scheme to the town of Modbury, where passengers could travel on to Plymouth.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-devon-65147529

Tally Ho! Coaches Ltd

Licence	Route	Start Point	End Point	Effective	Notes
PH1081198.003	875	Bigbury On Sea	Plymouth Royal Parade	31-Mar-2023	cancelled. Replaced by Oakleys Coaches from 7th April 2023

The replacement service is registered from tomorrow 7th April although as it runs Tuesdays only it will be next week.

Paul Simon Oakley

Licence	Route	Start Point	End Point	Effective	Notes
PH1091418.010	875	Bigbury on Sea, Marine Drive	Lee Mill, Tesco	07-Apr-2023	Tuesdays only, one journey in each direction

The lack of drivers seems to be a bigger threat to rural bus services than actual funding at the moment.

Today we have a few more service changes registered:

Taw & Torridge Coaches Ltd

• A small change for 658 which sees the return journey running 40 minutes later on Tuesdays.

Licence	Route	Start Point	End Point	Effective	Notes
PH0004727.011	658	West Buckland, Opposite Village Hall	Barnstaple Bus Station	18-Apr-2023	Timetable variation

A2B Newquay Travel Ltd

• This was a flexible 24 hours 7 days a week service registered back in 2011, with no changes since. I suspect this may be a tidy up exercise unless it really has been running all this time?

Licence	Route	Start Point	End Point	Effective	Notes
PH1088109.002	A2B Flexibus	Newquay	St Austell	06-Apr-2023	Cancellation

Stagecoach Devon Ltd

• Another cancelled service, this time an annual event registration for Devon County Show which was first registered back in 2011

Licence	Route	Start Point	End Point	Effective	Notes
PH1020951.170	59	Exmouth Bus Station	Westpoint	18-May-2023	Cancellation (was a annual event registration for Devon County Show only)

Feel free to click through for more details, although only the 657 has anything of any interest to see!

Have a Happy Easter everyone.

Next posting hopefully on Saturday