Stagecoach Sherford

Someone at Stagecoach likes Sherford!

The vast new Sherford ‘town’ is slowly getting better connected by bus, but things really seem to ramp up from April.

Stagecoach have re-routed both the X38 and the Gold service through Sherford from 2nd April.

• GOLD  2nd April 2023 Timetable
• X38 2nd April 2023 Timetable

This is quite a difference to the current route out of Plymouth via March Mills and Plympton (X38 shown below Gold goes through Plympton itself joining the A38 at Deep Lane

the new route now heads off over Laira Bridge, and goes through Sherford joining the A38 at Deep Lane as shown below.

Of course the new routes no longer serve Plympton. I do wonder if Sherford will attract more passengers than Plympton currently does. It seems brave to move both services through Sherford but time will tell!

As if this wasnt enough there is another service change from Stagecoach on the same weekend which is even more intriguing:

The new variant 1A stands out, as does the new terminus “Plymouth / Sherford”

Quite how the current service will be extended to serve Sherford remains to be seen as timetables have yet to appear. I can understand there would be a demand for a Sherford direct link to Derriford Hospital.

Full details will appear over the coming days hopefully.

What do people think? Is this a brave move by Stagecoach into a developing area? (Maybe its partially funded by the developers of Sherford which would help! ) Will you be disadvantaged by the new routes not serving Plympton. Its certainly less convenient for me as on the rare occasion I catch the Gold it would be from Marsh Mills as it saves me going all the way into town. My trips are so rare it wont make much difference to Stagecoach though!

Photos like this one wont be available for much longer.. Stagecoach 15962 heading into town through Marsh Mills

Getting to Exeter: Willowbrook style

After the X38 featuring last week this week will see a bit of a mini theme of "Getting to Exeter":
©Retrobus
Resting Between Services at Plymouth Bretonside Bus Station on 22nd July 1982 is Willowbrook bodied Leyland Leopard 3536 FDV827V which has been Branded for the X38 Service
©AECRegent: Awaiting its next trip to Exeter, this colourful Western National coach is seen in Bretonside bus station in Plymouth in July 1986

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Related Links

• AECRegent photostream Flickr
• Retrobus photostream Flickr

Elsewhere on the net

• In order to give my eyes a bit of a rest, after pulling an all-nighter trying to get a database to give the results I wanted, I took a stroll along the seafront this morning to blow away the cobwebs Forbesy's Transport Ramblings(NEW BLOG!)
• I visited Poole today - the first time since last June - and managed to capture nearly 200 photos and lots of buses on camera. The weather has been glorious Southern England Bus Scene
• In today’s bus industry, if you’re not driving a bus, you’re driving a computer. Software tools enable business management in ways unheard of 30 or even 20 years ago. Omnibuses
• Stagecoach announced last week that it is to join the ranks of the others in the bus industry's 'big five' by fitting equipment to the dashboard of each of its non-London buses, advice to drivers on how fuel-efficiently they're driving. Transport Illustrated

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

X38 - the bendy years

"the original Stagecoach stripes (remember them!) ” Others... Omnibuses2.0 Feeders TGP: Scrap or spares? Thanks for all the messages over the past few days - its really appreciated

Out… In… Two photos of the X38 Bendy Years when the route was operated by these articulated coaches. We see P563MSX leaving Plymouth in the original Stagecoach stripes (remember them!) and the sister coach P564MSX arriving at Bretonside in then brand new Stagecoach swirly livery. Over the years I can remember the X38 has been in the hands of Leyland Leopards with smart Plaxton and then ugly Willowbrook bodies, Mercedes Bread vans, Volvo Plaxtons, Volvo Plaxton Bendy bus, and now Dennis Tridents of Enviros are the norm. At one stage they actually brought in few ‘Mega Deckers’ ex Honk Kong Olympians. It really has had the full range of vehicle types and sizes!

Stagecoach in South Brent

Stagecoach Devon have a nice little notice on their web site giving details that the route and timetable on the X38 will change from the 13th October 2008. The announcement is actually under the "Tickets and Offers" heading rather than the "Service Information" heading which could cause confusion. It would also have been useful if there was a link to the new timetable page in this box to save people having to hunt it down.

The good news is that the hourly timetable is maintained while the bad news is that the bus is going through South Brent. Now I have nothing against South Brent and I guess that if you want to go to South Brent then this new diversion is good news for you. However, if like the vast majority of passengers you just want to get to Exeter direct from Plymouth then it does add over 10 minutes to the journey taking it to over an hour and a half. The other change, not highlighted in the publicity, is that the service no longer serves the Warner Village which seems to save 2 minutes from the timetable!

Most journeys are now provided by Enviros although Tridents still appear quite often. Indeed from what I have heard, the Tridents are a bit faster and more suited to the route. Its a shame that they are bus seated and not coach seated as its a long time to be sitting on a bus seat. The older Volvo coaches may have been dull and had the arrogance of insisting that passengers had to climb a few steps to reach their seats, but they were very comfortable once you were onboard.

Going to Exeter

©TGPhotos

The X38 Plymouth to Exeter service has seen a few types come and go over the years. These Willowbrook coaches were the norm for a few years in dedicated liveries. I always thought they were ugly, especially compared to the Plaxton coaches that were being delivered at the same time. I never really thought they were that comfortable either but they did last on the route for quite a few years.

However bad they were they were a lot better than anything the Transit Holdings period brought. Plymouth to Exeter never suited minibuses at all. The Stagecoach era couldnt come quick enough and one of the first things they did was to put brand new coaches on the service.

Amazingly these coaches have ruled this route for eleven years now. Tridents do appear at busy times but apart from that they are still standard fare for the X38. The plan to introduce ex Megabus Olympians sadly never came to anything due to route clearance issues through Ashburton.

Will 2008 finally see these long serving coaches off? Stagecoach are placing new coaches into service elsewhere in the country on similar routes - especially in Scotland. However Stagecoach were cutting back services in the second half of last year including the X38 so new coaches for this service might not be on the menu just yet?

A day out on Stagecoach

This past few days I have been home with my son Zak whilst my wife is away camping for the long weekend. Last year I took him to Seaton on a really long day out, this year he wanted to go to Paignton - and maybe Exeter as well.

Mid morning we are waiting at Bretonside and we have a real choice of transport.

The X80 was a smart East Lancs 55 reg Trident, next to it was the Stagecoach Trident X45 and then came the X38, which was one of the trusty Volvo Interurban Plaxton coaches which have served this route for years. We decided to go to Exeter first so we paid our £6 for the Explorer and made our way to the back seats.

The last time I caught one of these the air vent wasnt working and it was incredibly hot. On this coach the vent was working really well, so much that Zak asked me to turn mine off. He was happy once I had pointed it away from him. These are comfortable coaches - but dull and dark inside. One problem Zak has with these is that he can only just see out of the window so wasnt overly happy on this coach.

The journey was nice and smooth and no delays so it did go quite quicky so soon we were in Exeter. I have never worked out where the nearest cash machine to the bus station is so we headed down into the City Centre to get some money - and while we were there we lunched in Burger King. There does seem a lot on construction going on in Exeter at the moment but the buses seemed to be moving easily enough.

Back to the bus station and Zak was happy to see a Trident come in for the X46. I was dissapointed not to get one of the Megabus Olympians. Zak was even happier when he got his front seat! At least we got the nearside seat as the offside above the driver has extremely limited leg room on these buses. I have never really liked Alexander bodies with all their blue plastic which reminds me of a 1970s bathroom suite. These buses do give a good ride, have good speed and provided a good journey to Torquay. Sadly the days of front opening windows seems to have gone for good. Not too bad while the bus was at speed but boiling while sat in traffic - something the Torquay bound buses do a lot.

Stop for an ice cream in Torquay and the choice of buses to get to Paignton. Sadly Zak insisted on a 12 as he didnt want to go on an open topper. The X80 open toppers were doing reasonable business on this lovely hot day, but the one Stagecoach open topper I saw was full upstairs so they dont seem to be loosing much business. We did finally get to see a Megabus Olympian on the X46 going back to Exeter.

Another Trident soon turned up on the 12 and a slow run to Paignton in heavy traffic. Paignton Bus Station seemed to full of Tridents - almost all of them on variations of the 12! Zak asked why all the buses were number 12's. I didnt notice the world famous number 12 driver while I was there, although he was working.

After a trip around the train stations for Zak and a long walk to try and find toilets (not easy) we made our way back to the bus station. the 16:40 X45 back home. Standard Trident only this time we couldnt get the front seat. Zak was not happy. Even worse was that on this journey we were blessed with the family from hell. foul mouthed couple with 5 kids - all equally foul mouthed and loud. It seemed a very long time before we reached Marsh Mills where we could get off for a spot of peace and quiet. I am a commited bus passenger and dont like travelling by car unless I have to. Journies like this one made me wish I could have driven.

After a spot of shopping at Sainsburys we found we had a fifty minute wait for a Citybus 50. Zak was brilliant for this long wait so we played several car counting games - the time soon passed. Sadly the Citybus journey home was just as bad as we have five very drunk lads behind us - even more foul mouthed than the other lot. Apparently they had already been kicked off one bus. I am amazed they were allowed on this one. I think they were pretty suprised too.

All in all it was a good day out for Zak - he enjoyed it a lot more than I did! I think he was oblivious to all the bad language going on as he just loves travelling on buses. I know its not the bus companies fault but you can see why people prefer their cars. £6 for a day out like this was good value and the fast direct service on the X45 should make this a good alternative to the car.

I must admit that I am a 'Western National' man at heart and would have preferred to go on the X80 - if it wasnt for the fact that the Explorer for £6 does open up the rest of Devon on Stagecoach. Sadly with First once you get to Torbay you can really only catch the same bus back again. With the new X45 opening up the chance to use the Explorer ticket from Plymouth to Paington it does open up a lot more options for travel. by paying a little extra * you can also use it on Western Greyhound so trips into Cornwall open up too. Sadly the options for using the First equivilent day ticket are rather more limited.

Stagecoach do seem to be coming out on top of this current skirmish, the X45 is more direct and quicker from Plymouth to Paignton and this is being noticed by passengers at Bretonside when deciding which to catch. It may be a bit of a pain having to change buses at Paignton for Torquay - but they are so frequent its not really a problem. Both the X45 and the X80 seemed to be carrying reasonable loads between Plymouth and Paignton but in previous years the X80 was often carrying full loads and occasionally had to be duplicated.

A quick note to end - This is my 700th post to Plymothian Transit! Thanks to all regular visitors as I notice I have just passed the 29,000 visit too.

* I can now clarify that the basic £6 Explorer includes travel on Western Greyhound so its an even better bargain than I gave credit for! The extra Explorer Plus Ticket at £7.25 is for use on Plymouth Citybus services as well as Stagecoach and Western Greyhound.

Incoming

Just a quickie tonight but a 'new' arrival in Exeter is of some interest. The bus in question is Stagecoach 13601 BIW4977 a Leyland Olympian 'Megabus' which was previously a Hong Kong bus.
Its of interest because these buses are due to operate on the X38 Plymouth - Exeter service. Not sure when, as I expected they will be refurbished and repainted first but they will make the X38 a lot more visible again.
There are a couple of great photos on Chris Martin's Megabus Fotopic page.
Here, Here and here.
Just as I am typing this a message comes through from the driver who brought them down to Exeter
"what a delight to drive down the M4 and M5 - one hell of a beast"
I for one cant wait!

X38 going Mega

Surprise news from Stagecoach Devon is that three ex Megabus Olympians are due shortly for use on the X38 Plymouth to Exeter service!

The buses expected shortly comprise of
13621 H724KDY Photo
13622 H725KDY Photo
13623 H494LNA Photo

If these buses do turn up and are used on the X38 it would certainly raise the profile of the service as I would expect them to be suitable liveried and well presented as the rest of the SCD fleet. It will certainly be interesting riding on them through Ashburton!

X38 Service

The X38 is the main service between Exeter and Plymouth and is almost non stop between the two Cities. When the old Western National was split back in 1983 to form Devon General, Western National, North Devon (Red Bus) and Southern National the two main connecting routes bewteen Western National and Devon General were split with DG getting the X38 and WN keeping the X80 linking Plymouth to Torbay.
It was generally run using specially liveried coaches until the 'Harry Blundred' years at Devon General when it was run using bread vans which were not suitable for a long route.
Just about the first thing Stagecoach did when taking over was to buy a fleet of new Interurban coaches for their express routes P801-6XTA - which are still the regular performers on the route today. There was also a brief period when we had articulated Volvo Plaxton coaches - but these soon departed to Scotland.
The good thing with the modern fleet of low floor DDs that Stagecoach run now is that they do appear on other routes and the X38 often benefits from their large capacity. Saturday saw 18118 WA04FOD in livery for Culme Valley Connect services operating the service. Not a brilliant photo but it was poor light and the bus was moving at speed!
These are ideal buses for the route although I doubt that loadings are sufficient to warrant double deckers all day.

Stagecoach X38

I know this picture is taken in Exeter but it is of a coach on its way to Plymouth.
This batch of Volvo coaches P801-6XTA have been regulars on this service since they were new and are both quiet and comfortable buses. This service has settled down to an hourly one with coaches used. It used to be every 30 mins with Mercedes Minibuses at one stage! For a while we had a 90 minute services using two articulated coaches which were great to look at but not ideal for this route. I think they came off back in 2003. Back then the fare was £6 day return whereas now with the Explorer ticket its only £5 which is a bargain.
didbygraham