Seen at Salisbury, this 5 to Pewsey shows connections for Swindon. The destinations on the new X5 at Salisbury now read “Pewsey & Swindon”. Note Avebury scrolling across the screne above is no longer served
Between January 2008 and last operation on Saturday 26 February 2011, the 5 was chopped in two, as Salisbury-Pewsey (5/6) and Pewsey-Swindon (95/6). The destination display advertised connections beyond Pewsey but the third-of-A4 fold-out paper timetable was woeful at letting people know the services worked through. “For connecting buses between Pewsey & Salisbury see route 5 & 6 on the other side [of the leaflet]” didn’t really do it. And, web-based timetables treated the 5/6 & 95/6 as well and truly separate.
All is now remedied. The new timetable is far better laid out, more straightforward, has fewer variations… and, importantly, makes play of the connection. Says the X5 timetable, “Connecting service, but the same bus is used, so you can stay on the bus and buy through tickets”. Full marks for being clear and unambiguous.
Compare old 5/6/95/6 (top) and new X5 style timetables
Unlike most if not all EU hours-busting services elsewhere (unless you know differently), W&D has chosen to use the same route number. This removes much ambiguity. So, we have in prospect the possibility of growth on the X5. After all, rail isn’t much of an alternative between Salisbury & Swindon. You can travel via Bath or Basingstoke but both are circuitous and they take the same time as the through bus.
At the time of this photo, Go South Coast had painted all its bus stops blue ahead of the arrival of Bluestar 6 but had retained W&D 56/56A displays. Note the Star(t) Date
And who knows where this might take W&D. Might there be more cross country branding? The 56/56A might’ve been an ideal candidate but its merger as Bluestar 6 into the Southampton-Totton corridor giving a combined six Bluestar buses per hour is the higher imperative.
What of the 183/4? Might these find their way into the cross country fold? May we again see better through workings advertised between Salisbury & Weymouth? These lasted longer but have now been chopped at Blandford Forum, Dorset, to satisfy domestic hours regs. The answer lies perhaps in the infrequent timetable and the indirect route of the 183/4. That’s probably a “no”, then. And, of course, who knows where any future scrutiny of rural services will take the 183/4.
Seen in 2009 at Salisbury departing for Weymouth, the Salisbury-Weymouth through service hung on after other longer routes were chopped or withdrawn
14 comments:
Another use of "X" routes where the route actually isn't limted stop...
Agreed...but it could used to promote the services as X-country by the marketing bods perhaps ?
'Says the X5 timetable, “Connecting service, but the same bus is used, so you can stay on the bus and buy through tickets”. Full marks for being clear and unambiguous.'
I suspect that for the average passenger, who has no knowledge or interest in the intricacies of bus operation (and the associated legislation), that statement will not appear clear and unambiguous. If it is the same bus, with the same route number, I guess they will ask what 'connecting service' means in that context. It also rather muddies the water as far as genuine 'connecting' services are concerned - i.e. where the bus and/or service number are different.
The legislation is absurd - bus driving is undoubtedly stressful, and it is right and proper that the hours should be controlled, but I don't believe that the distance between the terminal points makes a difference to the degree of stress. Indeed, longer cross country type routes might actually be less stressful in certain circumstances. If the route is long, then driver changeovers can be arranged en route - as is perfectly normal on many services. Why then is it necessary to confuse the public with essentially irrelevant (to them) information - or is the legislation even more absurd than I first thought?
Or how about just installing tachos? If the rest of the EU can install such basics as tachos and double glazing it is hugely embarrassing if the UK can't.
The trouble with the legislation is that is complicates things for the passenger when it doesn't need to. The legislation should just control what the driver is able to do and where/how far he goes but all to often it seems to affect what the *bus* itself does. Surely that's irrelevant? The bus can work all day without a break, so what does it matter if it works through from Salisbury to Swindon, or from Brighton to Southsea? And why shouldn't the passenger stay on board? Stagecoach's 700 is back to how it always was i.e. buses leaving Brighton displaying Southsea rather than 'Worthing for connections' etc. It may be registered in sections and have frequent driver changes but neither of those need to affect what the passenger gets i.e. a bus going from Brighton to Southsea or from Bognor to Havant etc.
Re: Anon at 07:43
Does "X" indicate limited stop? Who says? I accept some are but others are/have been used to indicate the 'direct' or 'faster' service rather than the more meandering services e.g. X78 Sheffield - Doncaster or the plethera of services First and Western National had between Newquay and Truro, where the direct service was X89 or X90 - it wasn't limited stop but was 45 minutes whereas the various other services took maybe 90 minutes.
I agree with anon at 1047. "X" doesn't necessarily mean limited stop, to the average passenger.
It's just a bit different, and stands out more with the changes than using the old 5 number would.
They should have a look at the way western greyhound present their timetables.
There's a counterexample - Virgin Trains now no longer sponsor the MK-Luton Airport service, but this has been renumbered from VT99 to plain 99, not X99 as would seem to make sense. And there already *is* a 99 in MK, so all the more stupid.
I think my understanding of the X is that it means express, but it has another use for long-distance services. If you have Town A and Town B, both can have a route 4. If you use X for inter-urban, they they don't have to worry about number clashes.
"Unlike most if not all EU hours-busting services elsewhere (unless you know differently), W&D has chosen to use the same route number."
Stagecoach NW X61 runs as Blackpool-Chorley and Chorley-Manchester under the same number. This is reportedly because Chorley is the crew relief point so a driver does not work end to end.
SNW has also revised the X2 to run as 2X Preston-Southport and X2 Southport-Liverpool. Driver relief point is Preston and drivers therefore work P-S, S-L, L-S, S-P on the same bus which is reportedly why the number changes.
I'm not sure what the basis for this is though.
Paul
Neil said...
"I think my understanding of the X is that it means express, but it has another use for long-distance services."
That does seem to be a fairly widespread understanding and use, but it is (or has been) sometimes used for other situations - such as short workings - for example, in Manchester in earlier days (although I believe it was a suffix there).
The X5 is quicker than the 5 was.
I think the basis is that enough has to be different - it has to be a different number, or a different driver, or a different bus.
TBH I don't understand the purpose behind the rules. In my mind, either tachos are needed for scheduled services or they aren't. Similarly, either drivers need only UK length breaks or EU length ones. The arbitrary split seems silly.
A couple of failings from the first weekday.
Some of the bus stops on the X5 didn't have the flags up in time, which - with all the route changes - led to some confusion over what were bus stops and what weren't.
At least three red Wilts buses were on the Bluestar 6 too, not only diluting the whole Bluestar is coming thing and causing confusion, but with the interworking with Bluestar routes 10 and 11 saw Wilts & Dorset buses appear on existing Bluestar routes, which the passengers wouldn't have been expecting!
Other than that though, I don't think there's been any big issues.
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