Two for Today: First Ones

Two Volvos on the 1s for First. One nice

one less so

66883 was seen 28th February 2010 whilst just two years later 48265 was probably more the norm, April 2012 Both on Royal Parade.

Ugoing going…

Danielle shopper goes to Drakes Circus 42784:
Not any more she dont
42784 8 February 2010:
Another Dart looses Ugo branding. It does seem to be a dying breed these days...

Related Links

• Diversions for 25 with map Plymouth Citybus

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Elsewhere on the net

• This week, Silverdale Coaches of North Lanarkshire, Scotland, withdrew from the Scottish free travel scheme because it alleges that the Scottish government owes it £20,000 Omnibuses
• Where in the UK could you share the road with a steam hauled train? Until the 60s, at Weymouth, where a line ran through the streets to Weymouth Harbour taking freight and passengers to and from the Channel Island shipping services. Public Transport Experience
• The BusWorks has won a contract with North Devon Plus to convert two double deck Volvo Olympian buses into 'Surf & Cycle' carriers for a new bus service in the county. Busworks Blog

Ugo on time?

Is been just over one week since the new timetable was introduced on the 15 in an effort to improve punctuality. As a result we have lost the nice easy to remember twenty minute timetable with all buses running the same route all day.
Apart from the odd timings in the morning and evenings the biggest change is that one bus an hour misses out Mainstone. It is timetabled to sit at Asda for 6 minutes instead. This is built in so that each bus has a chance to catch up if its running behind. Of course this only works if the bus is only running 6 minutes late!
The downside of this is that the Asda bus stops can get very congested. Any more than two buses at the stop at the same time causes problems. It seems to combat this buses are waiting time at the stop before they turn into Asda if possible. 42947 is seen below on the 22nd. It sat there for five minutes while the driver had a fag break. I was waiting for this bus to go enter the Asda loop and then come back and take me into town. At least I knew it was on its way. Its only possible to take the break here if there are no passengers actually wanting Asda. If thats the case then I guess they just wait time there and hopefully dont get in the way too much. Of course in April the 46/47 gets cut so thats less buses likely to turn up at the same time.

The other slight change is that now buses from Mainstone come into Asda from the bottom rather than from Dover Road around the back. This does mean that I get a bit of advance notice that the bus is coming at my stop, the one after Asda.
The big question though has to be, has it helped with time keeping? My initial experiences seem to suggest no it hasnt. My morning bus to work is now due at 07:52 instead of the 08:01 I have been catching and that was dead on time yesterday, in fact it had to wait at Marjon for a few mins so it wasnt early at Derriford. Trying to catch a bus into town after 4pm my bus was almost 15 mins late from Derriford. The next 15 was only five minutes behind by the time I reached North Hill. On the same day I took the above photo I had to wait over 40 mins for a bus from town. It appeared on the Real Time Display as running 12 mins late and then slowly counted down (and up!) until it got down to 'due' and then disappeard from the screen. The next 15 was then showing as being due in 10 minutes and did eventually appear 20 minutes later. Interestingly shortly before arriving at Estover a Trident double decker was coming back the other way, which should have been the bus I was waiting for in the first place which suggests it turned short somewhere along the way as it certainly didnt come my way.
Of course I may have just been unlucky with these journeys so I will give it time before coming to a full verdict on the timetable.

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Related Links

• Ugobus 15 Plymothian Transit Extra
• Death of Ugobus concept Plymothian Transit January 2011
• Ugo the long way round Plymothian Transit October 2010

Elsewhere on the net

• Recent changes have seen Excels back on their familiar service 7, but also stretching their legs onto other routes and they now appear across virtually the entire 'big bus' network Fylde Bus Blog
• Here we see Western Greyhound's Volvo Olympian S455 ATV on the lengthy 510, from Newquay to Exeter PTOTPA
• Today, three of the south's key Go South Coast services are changing. I hope to photograph all of these changes in the next two weeks. Southern England Bus Scene
• Veolia is the other constituent of the forthcoming Transdev/Veolia combine. Veolia first entered the UK under the maligned Connex name … and departed swiftly Omnibuses
• Today is the first day in earnest of Wilts & Dorset’s new X5, the latest of its so-called “cross country” routes established as a sub-brand in November 2011. Not that the X5’s actually new, it’s just nicely repackaged. Dorset Bus Blog

Ugo Combe Martin!

©Terry Partridge

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Related Links

• Death of Ugobus Concept? Plymothian Transit January 2011
• Ugo Southampton Plymothian Transit November 2010
• I Go somewhere else Plymothian Transit September 2010

Elsewhere on the net

• Highlands 1994 Transport Illustrated
• Excel returns and Rare Route for Vintage Olympian Fylde Bus Blog
• Paternity Leave Omnibuses

The death of the ugobus concept

First have now put the new timetable for the Ugobus 15 from the 20 February. Oh dear - what a mess.
I guess the headline change is that only two buses an hour go into Mainstone. The third bus seems to sit at Asda for the 6 minutes it would have been running around the Mainstone loop. I can see this is going to be a real nuisance to everyone who catches the bus from this busy bus stop. It gets really crowded there at the best of times without buses sitting there doing nothing. The only benefit I can see from this change is that it might help buses get back to timetable as this service has been very unreliable recently especially in the evening peak mainly due to the Marjon run and Derriford.
The other big change seems to cut right across the whole idea of the Ugobus network. A straightforward easy to remember timetable with buses sticking to the same route. Even without having to remember that one bus doesn't go into Mainstone the new timetable is impossible to remember now apart from the times between 10:00 and 15:00 when they do keep to a twenty minute clock face timetable.
At the moment I know that I have a bus from Asda at 7:41 8:01 8:21 - easy to remember. I will now have buses at 07:31 07:52 08:12 08:35! I guess I will have to try and get the 07:52 although I might as well get the Citybus 50 and walk from Derriford as the 15 takes so long to reach Derriford roundabout as it still goes up into Marjon.

The saddest part of all this is the loss of the easy to remember timetable which surely was the whole point of Ugobus. Have they given up on the whole concept? For a view on the history of this service pop along to my Plymothian Transit Extra page for the route where you can see the introduction of a new service 15 from the 11 October 2009 with 4 buses an hour Monday to Saturday and two buses an hour on Sundays. By February 21st 2010 it was down to a twenty minute frequency and then August 2010 saw the loss of the Sunday service. October 2010 saw the route run into Marjon as the 7 was culled. This brought double deckers onto the route which was a bonus but the reliability has been poor. Plymothian Transit Extra

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Related Links

• Ugobus 15 Page Plymothian Transit Extra
• New timetable 15 from 20 Feb 2011 First Devon & Cornwall
• Ugo Southampton Plymothian Transit November 2010
• Ugo the long way round Plymothian Transit October 2010
• Ugoing going gone Plymothian Transit September 2010
• I go somewhere else soon Plymothian Transit September 2010
• U dont go there anymore Plymothian Transit August 2010
• Ugoing going gone Plymothian Transit September 2010
• U go free for a week Plymothian Transit July 2010
• Catch 22s Omnibuses October 2009

Ugo the long way round

One of the few new Ugobus services that seems to be doing ok is the 15 as it offers something different to the other services in the area. It has also generally been pretty reliable (apart from the evening peak through Derriford which messes all the buses up) especially when compared with the 50. I do however fear all that is about to change...
At the end of October First pull their 7 off. More on this later. One consequence of this is that the 15 will be routed through Marjon in its place. This means that the Mainstone - City runs will now go up past Derriford then come back though Marjon and then down into Derriford. The City - Mainstone run probably wont make much difference. Looking at the new timetable the normal day time service has been given one extra minute journey time!
I see the City bound journeys go via North Road East which apparently save two minutes but I cant help but feel everything is going to be a lot tighter on this route now. Certainly the Derriford peak will now cause even more problems for this route if the buses have to go up to Marjon and then back into Derriford.

This was of course tried by Citybus a few years back with the 46/47. Didn't work well then either.

A reminder of the nice buses we used to have!

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First's Club 55 offer permits travel on all First TOCs except Scotrail, but Arriva Trains Wales is included. A Transport of Delight

Either Trent Barton was exaggerating its problems or quality at Ashok Optare has improved significantly. For, yesterday, Optare announced an £8.1mil three-year vehicle order from none other than Trent Barton Omnibuses

so what better way to inform fellow hobbyist photographers about the manner in which Fotopic has conducted itself, than to post a warning here. A Transport of Delight

Facebook: Dennis Dart "we've got some London buses here at the depot waiting to be tidied up. Pippi and I have made friends with one of them called Bashed-Up Brian. He's a good laugh"

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 Free for a week

First may be pulling back on its Ugobus network but it still hasn't given up the fight against Citybus on the Saltash / St Budeaux corridor:

Just go to the CLICK HERE and download the PDF and fill in the form and post it to First (they even pay the postage!) and in return you will get a voucher for one weeks free travel on the 1 and 1A and the 3. Cant be bad!

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PTOTPA: A Long way from home
Bus World Photography: Plymouth - journeys end

Uncle Terry: Leaning Tower of Terry
TGP Public: London Sights
Omnibuses: A Wise old hand once said...

Twitter / Facebook

Plymouth Citybus Due to a road closure on Saltash Road all bus services are diverted via Royal Navy Avenue and Admiralty Street. There are two sets of temporary traffic lights controlling the diversion and several bus stops cannot be served whilst the diversion is in place Allow extra time for your journey as you may need to walk further than you expect. We apologise for any inconvenience caused by this major road closure

From www.facebook.com (share this quote)

Reminder new timetables for some Ugo services

Ugoing anywhere tomorrow?

As Fisrt reminded passengers on their Facebook page yesterday: Don't forget there's new timetables from tomorrow in Plymouth (ugo 7,11,15 & 17) and Cornwall (88/88B & 25/27) today saw new timetables in operation for some of their Ugo bus services in Plymouth. Most passengers wont notice any difference today but they might on Monday when the services are cut back slightly. My own departures on the 15 are now slightly less useful to me in that they now arrive at exactly the same time as my Northern Connect Taxibus service rather than provide a handy stop gap ten minutes later for when I miss it. Not a big deal really. Of course the cuts have not gone un-noticed by the competition: BOSSES at Citybus have promised not to cut back the frequency of services on four routes where rivals First are planning fewer buses from tomorrow. Citybus competes with First on the four routes between the city centre and Crownhill, Southway, Estover, Peverell and Honicknowle. First says that two services will have reduced frequency "to better match resources to current demand", and because of increased traffic congestion. These are: Service 11 to Honicknowle: Monday to Saturday buses will run every 20 minutes rather than 15. Service 17, Southway via Mutley and Crownhill: Monday to Saturday service will be every 15 minutes rather than every 12. Two other services will run with reduced frequency because of road works in Derriford. These are: Service 7 to Derriford Hospital and Woolwell: Buses on Monday to Saturday will run every 30 minutes rather than 20. Service 15, Mainstone and Estover via Mutley and Derriford: Buses will run every 20 minutes Monday to Saturday daytime (rather than every 15 minutes). Buses on Sundays are unaffected on all these services. This is Plymouth This last line is actually wrong- Service 17 is affected on Sundays as it is cut back to every hour. I guess the other question that has to be asked is - will the 7 and 15 revert to previous timetables when the road works finish? (that could be quite some time though!)

Further Reading Uncle Terry - New carpet? Transport Illustrated - Chester Omnibuses - Record Breakers PTOTPA - Trip to Weymouth TGP - Wobbly Eyes Omnibuses - Bye Bye Ethel PTOTPA - Citybus Promotions Omnibuses - No FT - No Comment First on Twitter / Facebook Fri 19 Feb Snow and hail showers in the North Devon area is making road conditions poor. Most services are affected but are running subject to delays. However service 303 won't be able to serve the villages of West Down, Heanton Punchardon & Ashford today. We apologise for any inconvenience caused due to circumstances beyond our control. New Lost Property Telephone Number: For enquiries please call 0845 600 1420 (Mon - Fri 1000 - 1600) or email firstdevonandcornwall@firstgroup.com Don't forget there's new timetables from tomorrow in Plymouth (ugo 7,11,15 & 17) and Cornwall (88/88B & 25/27) Citybus on Twitter / Facebook Fri 19 Feb Here's an offer for you - DANCING ON ICE at the O2 ARENA London 17th to 18th April. Includes one night's bed and breakfast plus ticket to the Saturday evening performance and coach travel For more details, or to book please contact CityCoach on 01752264266

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• Ugo slightly less often (plymothiantransit.com)

Ugo slightly less often

New timetables for Ugo7,11,15 and 17 from 21 Feb 2010

I have been keeping an eye out for details of the new timetables for a few First Ugobus routes which are changing later this month. I knew they were being cut back slightly but now the timetables are out and available via the First Web Site: From Sunday 21st February the following changes will be in place: Ugobus 7: Plymouth City Centre - Crownhill - Derriford Hospital - Marjons - Woolwell. As a result of increasing congestion problems in the Derriford Hospital area it has been necessary to revise the timetable for Service 7. Unfortunately, in order to add additional time to the route has meant that the frequency of the service will now be every 30 minutes. The Sunday timetable is unchanged. Ugobus 11: Plymouth City Centre - Mutley - Peverell - St Pancras Avenue - Honicknowle Green. In order to better match customer demand against resources we have modified the Monday - Saturday timetable for Service 11 to operate every 20 minutes. The Sunday timetable is unchanged. Ugobus 15: Plymouth City Centre - Crownhill - Derriford Hospital - Estover - Asda - Mainstone. As a result of increasing congestion problems in the Derriford Hospital area it has been necessary to revise the timetable for Service 15. Unfortunately, in order to add additional time to the route has meant that the frequency of the Monday - Saturday service will now be every 20 minutes. The Sunday timetable is unchanged. Ugobus 17: Plymouth City Centre - Mutley - Crownhill - Southway. In order to better match customer demand against resources we have modified the Monday to Saturday timetable for Service 17 to operate every 15 minutes. The Sunday timetable will now operate every 60 minutes. For revised timetables visit the First Travel Shop in Bretonside Bus Station (available from w/c 8th February) or click on the links below: new ugobus 17 timetable (opens in new window) new ugobus 7 timetable (opens in new window) new ugobus 11 timetable (opens in new window) new ugobus 15 timetable (opens in new window)

First on Twitter / Facebook 4 Feb 2010 10:51 In conjunction with Plymouth City Council to encourage more Tavistock residents to use the Park and Ride bus service into Plymouth we're holding an event at Bedford Square in Tavistock, 9am - 4pm, Saturday 6th February. You'll have a chance to see one of the luxury George P&R buses and pick up some great Park & Ride freebies. For more info click on this link 14:02 PLYMOUTH: New timetables for ugobus 7 (Woolwell), 11 (Honicknowle),15(Estover/Mainstone) & 17 (Southway) from 21st Feb 18:07 Congratulations to our Yearly Superstar Ron Fomes who has made the final of the national First Superstars competition Citybus on Twitter / Facebook 4 Feb 2010 its all a bit quiet at the moment…

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'.

Gasp!

To be a successful wild life photographer takes a lot of skill and determination. There is also a large element of luck, being in the right place at the right time to get that elusive shot that no one else has managed. It requires patience, sometimes waiting at the same spot for hours if not days on end because you heard that your 'target' was seen in the area at this time before, so if you wait long enough you will get the shot you want. Becoming a successful bus photographer is no different. I am not talking about just sitting by the road and catching anything which just happens to pass by. I'm talking about tracking your prey, monitoring its movements, studying its behaviour so that you can anticipate its next move,so that ultimately you can be one stop ahead of it and get that elusive shot of the bus in its natural environment behaving exactly as it does in the wild. For that perfect shot that captures the essence of the bus itself.

To be a serious wild life photographer you have to learn not to get too involved. Sometimes you will get too attached to your subject and then when nature intervenes and predators come hunting you want to intervene and save your subject. of course you are a professional and you don't. Your aim is to capture wildlife in its true state - wild. For in that perfect shot, you, the photographer do not exist. If the subject is aware of your presence then even if you get a half decent photograph it just wont be 'true'. The picture will be soiled by the outside world, in this case, you. A truly serious wildlife photographer would not allow this to happen.  This is how it should be. As I said before, bus photography is no different.

So it is with a heavy heart that I give you this prime example of bus photographers 'soiling' their subject. They have committed the cardinal sin of interference with the subject in such a brazen upfront way, that an audible gasp can be heard from other bus photographers when they first come across it. Indeed, I myself gave out such a gasp this afternoon when I came across the subject in question. I quote:

Gasp!

See what I mean - I really did say that - its in quotes so it must be true.

Back in my day young bus photographers would never have done this. I am so jealous!

 

Well done to my young friends Louis and Tommy - Bus Fans from Plymstock!

Trying to get out of Derriford

It was a miserable damp morning and I had just got off the bus (the second red Dart in the background) and walked across to the main bus stop ready to catch the next one out to my place of work. It soon became apparent that the FDC Dart in the front the the queue wasnt going anywhere.

If you are going to breakdown this is the place to do it!

The queue of traffic by now reaching back to the main road. Actually just after I took this photo the driver did manage to start the bus and bring it into the bus stop. The driver was telling 'control' that this was the second time it had stopped like this. Control then obviously told him to try to continue up to The George. It all seemed to be going well as the driver pulled out into traffic and started to pass the Citybus Dart at the top bus stop - he only got this far...

and stopped again. He was back on the phone to 'Control' when I pointed out to him the fluid that was pouring out the back of the bus.

There was just about room for buses to get passed if they mounted the pavement but it was tight. My own Taxibus was caught up in the queue behind this bus so I managed to get my ride to work just after I took this photo.

Luckily for Diana and Daniel 'they go' visiting Derriford and FDC did get them to Derriford Hospital. Lets hope they were not in a hurry to get home!

Ugo is Go!

Today is U-day for First Devon and Cornwall as the new Ugobus network starts in Plymouth. This Dart has been spending most of the week sat in the City Centre giving out leaflets for the new services. It also gives us the first glimpse of the new livery - basically a big green blob.

Not exactly an eye-catcher is it? Having said that is is probably easier and better than the various 'lines' that have been tried in the past and quietly dropped over the last few years. This livery should be appearing on most of the buses used on the network although a trip into town today on the 1A was on a standard livery Solo. Various other Darts and Volvos were out and about on the new network but none were displaying the blobs. I assume that the main fleet were receiving theirs back at the depot and will appearing out and about on Monday?

But what about the publicity?

The main leaflets are very well designed to be nice and clean and simple to understand. A lot of thought has clearly been given in this area.

The maps in particular are well designed and easy to read.

This is carried over to the timetable booklet...

The timetables are very clear and easy to read. It does show just how simplified and clean the new timetables are. There are very few 'notes' and deviations to the basic services which should help passengers remember the bus times for their routes.

The only criticism I would have is that the leaflets I have seen so far have timetables in one booklet and maps in another. With very little in the way of route details in the timetable booklet other than the main stopping points, it is difficult to work out exactly where the buses go. If these maps and timetables could be combined then it would work a lot better.

It may be that there are leaflets that already do this for individual routes but I have yet to see any of these anywhere.

It will be interesting to see what the reaction to the new services is in the local press during this coming week. I for one welcome the initiative that has been taken here to try something different than the usual cutbacks. They have show imagination and have clearly tried hard to set up a network that is easy to work out. Good luck to them!