Hi there,
Just been reading your post of 30/4 & here are a few observations made in the K Lynn area Tues 1/5.
Firstly
I'm sure you are aware that there have been some pretty hefty frequency
cuts generally so the area seems a fair bit quieter bus wise.
I've
only seen two Go To Town ( West Norfolk Community Transport) buses. Both on service 3 & I would
think "on loan" as one in various shades of green & the other in
plain white. No sign of the new buses talked of. Could not see
destination details on green bus & white bus appeared to have paper
route number & destination in windscreen. Go To Town have also
apologised on their site for difficulties on the first day & hoping
for a smoother day today.
And here is David's report on WNCT and the vehicles they are using, with his pictures.
New vehicles are apparently on order for WNCT - Streetlites I've been told. At the moment a variety of hired in vehicles and ex-demonstrators are working the routes along with two 18-registered Mercs with Mellor Strata bodywork. Amongst the other vehicles are a silver ex-demonstrator wheel-forward Streetlite SK65 PWV, a white door-forward Streetlite DRZ 9713 also ex-demonstrator, two ex-Cumfybus Solo SRs (YJ16 DZO/P) and a standard Solo in dark blue livery new to A1A Travel of Birkenhead but has been with Wheelers of North Baddesley (YN53 SVZ) plus at least one Merc/Mellor Strata demonstrator.
Back to Graham...
And here is David's report on WNCT and the vehicles they are using, with his pictures.
New vehicles are apparently on order for WNCT - Streetlites I've been told. At the moment a variety of hired in vehicles and ex-demonstrators are working the routes along with two 18-registered Mercs with Mellor Strata bodywork. Amongst the other vehicles are a silver ex-demonstrator wheel-forward Streetlite SK65 PWV, a white door-forward Streetlite DRZ 9713 also ex-demonstrator, two ex-Cumfybus Solo SRs (YJ16 DZO/P) and a standard Solo in dark blue livery new to A1A Travel of Birkenhead but has been with Wheelers of North Baddesley (YN53 SVZ) plus at least one Merc/Mellor Strata demonstrator.
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| (c) David Bell |
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| (c) David Bell |
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| (c) David Bell |
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| (c) David Bell |
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| (c) David Bell |
Lynx,
from my observations, seem to be making a better fist of things with
several of their smart red tempos viewed on several of their new
services, indeed two mid morning services coming in from Hunstanton on 34
& 35 appeared to have standing passengers. Of course this corridor
had seven buses per hour up till last week, Lynx have only increased
their frequency from three to four per hour to replace the Stagecoach
four per hour. Perhaps over provision has become under provision &
its not even summer yet!! A rather garish pink & purple double
decker was viewed at a distance on Lynx's only town route no 42 to
Fairstead.
Buses of
varying shades have been spotted in the Lynx depot on the run up to the
new services & it is to be hoped that all will soon receive the
smart red livery that Lynx are known for, indeed back in 2015 locals
commented on how smart & clean their buses were given that they are
all second hand. Their smart appearance has continued.
Here s David's review of Lynx operations...
Lynx had an all-red fleet out on Sunday. Today they had several deckers operating on stage services (they are normally confined to schools) and several of the ex-Lancashire United Tempos are running in yellow/blue livery although two have already been repainted. Lynx apparently took on 19 new drivers in one week and in addition to the Hunstanton services are operating the Fairstead Circular (formerly Stagecoach route 1), the Coastliner (service 36) as far as Wells (Sanders are operating the Wells-Cromer section), the 46 to Wisbech and the 49 to Fakenham (formerly the X8) First are of course running what was the X29 through to Norwich from Fakenham. Julian Patterson told me they now have no fewer than 27 Optare Tempos in the fleet! This is in addition to the Smithdon High School services which they took over from Stagecoach in October 2017 and other lightly-trafficked ex Stagecoach routes such as the 37 to Southery; the 38 to Fair Green and Middleton and the 48 to Grimston and Gayton.
It is worth noting that Lynx now have the largest fleet of Optare Tempos in the world. Back to Graham to sum up.
Here s David's review of Lynx operations...
Lynx had an all-red fleet out on Sunday. Today they had several deckers operating on stage services (they are normally confined to schools) and several of the ex-Lancashire United Tempos are running in yellow/blue livery although two have already been repainted. Lynx apparently took on 19 new drivers in one week and in addition to the Hunstanton services are operating the Fairstead Circular (formerly Stagecoach route 1), the Coastliner (service 36) as far as Wells (Sanders are operating the Wells-Cromer section), the 46 to Wisbech and the 49 to Fakenham (formerly the X8) First are of course running what was the X29 through to Norwich from Fakenham. Julian Patterson told me they now have no fewer than 27 Optare Tempos in the fleet! This is in addition to the Smithdon High School services which they took over from Stagecoach in October 2017 and other lightly-trafficked ex Stagecoach routes such as the 37 to Southery; the 38 to Fair Green and Middleton and the 48 to Grimston and Gayton.
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| (c) David Bell |
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| (c) David Bell |
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| (c) David Bell |
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| (c) David Bell |
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| (c) David Bell |
Although it seems that all of the Stagecoach Norfolk services have been covered, frequencies have suffered.
Kings Lynn to Hunstanton corridor 34 35 & 36. 7 per hour to 4.
Kings Lynn town services 2 3 4 5 Loss of late evening Fri/Sat journeys
Kings Lynn town service 6 cut from 20 to 30 min frequency
Kings Lynn town service 42 formerly ser 1 cut from 12 to 20 min frequency.
Kings Lynn to Fakenham 49 formerly x29 hourly to 2hourly.
Kings Lynn to Spalding still Stagecoach 505. 20 to 30 min frequency.
The
loss of some of these services is surprising as some were listed by NCC
as being subsidised & as the cuts to bus subsidies were overturned
their removal is a bit surprising.
Websites.
Go To Town ( wnct ) poor but they are promising a revamp soon. Wait & see!!
Norfolk
C C. Abysmal just directs you to operators sites or traveline, no
county wide route map or service list. That would be a start. One gets
the feeling that there is very little concern for public transport
despite the fact they tell you that they have worked VERY HARD to
provide services following Stagecoach withdrawal, they just don't want
anyone to know about them!!!!
Stagecoach.
Just the same old hard to get your head around site. Is it me or do
they really expect folk, who may be tourists, to know the service no
they want.
Lynx, I've
saved the best till last. Very well laid out & professional for such
a small company. Times & fares v easy to find & even a network
map. Perhaps I'm biased as I live on a lynx route, but I dont think so.
Also well maintained roadside info & map.
Once again huge thanks to Graham and David. I'm going to have to get out there myself soon.
ADDENDUM: I have been contacted by Graham Smith of Lynx, to point out that he is NOT the Graham Smith whose report I have used in the above post. I hope this avoids any confusion and that those claiming bias can accept there are two Graham Smiths - one a top enthusiast, and the other a shareholder at Lynx. Cheers!
Once again huge thanks to Graham and David. I'm going to have to get out there myself soon.
ADDENDUM: I have been contacted by Graham Smith of Lynx, to point out that he is NOT the Graham Smith whose report I have used in the above post. I hope this avoids any confusion and that those claiming bias can accept there are two Graham Smiths - one a top enthusiast, and the other a shareholder at Lynx. Cheers!
You do realise that Graham Smith and his brother (David Smith) worked at Konectbus, and when Julian Patterson moved to Lynx, Graham went as well and is a shareholder in the company?
ReplyDeleteI didn't know that, but fail to see what relevance it has. Good luck to him!
ReplyDeleteJust the quotes:
Delete"Lynx, from my observations, seem to be making a better fist of things with several of their smart red tempos.."
" it is to be hoped that all will soon receive the smart red livery that Lynx are known for, indeed back in 2015 locals commented on how smart & clean their buses were given that they are all second hand. Their smart appearance has continued"
Website "Lynx, I've saved the best till last. Very well laid out & professional for such a small company. Times & fares v easy to find & even a network map. Perhaps I'm biased as I live on a lynx route, but I dont think so" whilst the others are labled as poor and abysmal.
Seems very biased.
Unsure what relevance it has? If you slated konectbus and as a shareholder, I came on stating how professional the outfit was, would you be happy to make a post with only my own observations without any other input?
DeleteDon't know about biased, it seems fairly accurate. Nice to see a company expanding rather than cutting which is all Konect seem to be doing. I also had David Bell's report so it wasn't solely Graham's input.
Deletetwat, get off your lazy ass and get photos yourself instead of getting others to do it
ReplyDeleteSorry - the only recent photos I've got are of Class 37's which you complain about! Have you any pics you'd like to send me as I'd be delighted to give you credit for them!
DeleteYou left the gate at the Idiot farm open again Steve.
ReplyDeleteRide Web Site
ReplyDeleteSite is still very poor with little information. It lists a number of places it claims are served but when you attempt to book a trip it says no. It is very inflexible and seems to typically offer two or three trips a day to a limit and random number of destinations on that day
With such a basic and inflexible system and a poor web site I cannot see it working. It needs to offer a proper alternative to a bus service and it simply fails to do that
Victoria station set for its biggest-ever overhaul
ReplyDeleteIt seems to be more about building more office space. The basic plan appears to be to build above Victoria station and the bus station. Seem to be no plans to improved the inadequate Victoria Coach Station
Victoria Coach Station will close eventually. Already coach operators are looking at outer London Termini instead of venturing into tye mainly gridlocked centre.
DeleteMegabus are already doing it between Norwich and Stratford, and others are expected to follow suit. Expect places like the O2, Wembley and other locations with plenty of space for coaches and good Underground links into Central London. However for this to work the coach ticket needs to include the transfer into Central London or the main lure of coach travel - ie the cheapness will be negated.
If people have to drag themselves across London with suitcases to various different locations it will simply not work. You need to have a hub. Without that people will just give up on coaches at least where it involves a change. If you take you example getting from Stratford to Victoria is a nightmare
DeletePreaching to the converted mate - read https://busandtrain.blogspot.co.uk/2018/02/megabus-drop-megabomb-on-east-anglia.html However I do repeat there is no central rail hub in London either, but the transfer between termini on the underground is free.
DeleteTrue but that deficiency is starting to be addressed with Crossrail & Thameslink but still a long way to go
DeleteHere's the irony - Victoria Coach Station will probably have to close because of Crossrail 2!!
DeleteI have never understood why a link between the WCML and Heathrow has never been made. It would be simple and low cost to do as a line already exists in the Willesden Junction and Old Oak Common area. It would probably need upgrading but it is only a short length of track, Running a shuttle Service between Watford Junction and Heathrow would be simple to do
DeleteHeddingham to make cuts to its Clacton services from July
ReplyDeleteMore bad news
https://www.hedingham.co.uk/news/changes-hedin/
Although Hedingham have made some changes/ cutbacks, part of Chambers' main route is being doubled in frequency so it's not all gloom and doom. I'm told that Jeremy Cooper has taken the trouble to talk with drivers first and get their views on where routes needed to be changed before making alterations.
ReplyDeleteWhich main route? I was looking at the 753 and their "up to every half hour" claim means one extra morning peak journey. It's still a basic hourly service other than that.
DeleteThat would be because it's the 754 (Colchester - Sudbury) that is having its frequency doubled, not the 753 (Sudbury - Bury). The change in frequency is only between school times, and definitely amounts to more than one extra journey! One 754 an hour will run through to Bury as a 753 (and vice versa), as happens now.
DeleteAnyone who says that planning a bus trip, as an industry professional or otherwise, is either kidding themselves or not very adventurous. All such day trips are fraught with compromises and limitation which can make reaching specific points or doing things impossible and those limitations will be different for each person and vary over time (how early do I want to start? how late do I want to stay out? what else have I got on? how do I feel? how long do I want to hang around in places? what else do I want to do?). I am a bus industry professional (a scheduler as it happens, so I should be the most capable) and I regularly come up against trips that seem simple on paper at the concept stage but the moment you try and plan it then the connections don't work or you just run out of time and end up stuck at a point as you miss the last bus.
ReplyDeleteI couldn't agree more, dwarfer1979. I'm a schedule compiler as well, and I find that day trips, unless on reasonably frequent services, can be very difficult to conclude (try the remaining Dorset X.. network . . . very low frequency and connections that are either 5 minutes or 65 minutes, and I don't trust 5 minute connections any more when the next bus is 2 hours later!).
DeleteThe lack of printed timetables (enabling a quick re-plan en-route) doesn't help anyway, but that's for another blogger to talk about!!