Just thought I'd report back on my trip to Bristol today.
Arrived at Newport bus station and realised the X7 now departs from the Kingsway, just in front of the Riverfront Theatre. 32685 (WX 56 HKA) did the honours of the 1015 Newport to Bristol service, which left with about six people on board (I expected it to be a lot busier than this).
From my last experience of this route, when it was the 14/X14 ran by Stagecoach, it seemed to take FOREVER, faffing around through Magor and Chepstow etc, but now it goes straight on the M4 from Newport to Chepstow, does a brief tour of Chepstow before going on the Old Severn Crossing on the M48, before going to Cribbs Causeway and straight into Bristol via the M32. I decided to get off at Cribbs Causeway, where we arrived at 1110, and was going to get the 1141 X5 to Weston-super-Mare, on one of the Enviro 400s. However, much to my absolute dismay, this particular journey was in the hands of Volvo B7RLE 69459 (WX 59 BZN), which is usually a resident on the W1. Knowing my luck, the 1241, 1341 and every other X5 were probably Enviro 400s! I refused to travel on one for an hour and forty-five minutes, as that's too much even for me, and I haven't got a problem with them.
The journey on 32685 went quickly to Chepstow, where HUNDREDS got on! It really is popular. The town centre is also incredibly narrow and hilly at some points too!
Instead, I decided to get to Bristol and get the X1 instead. In order to not waste too much time, I opted to get the quickest bus from Cribbs Causeway to the bus station. I had just alighted off the most obvious service (the X7), so that was out of the question. The second option was the 309, but I couldn't see it anywhere. The third quickest service, which happens to be the quickest local stopping service, to me is actually the 75, as it just goes through Filton and down Gloucester Road, unlike the 76 which fluffs all around Henbury and Southmead first. I immediately opted out the 1, 2, 40 and 73 from my list, as they do a little tour as well.
So the 75 it was, and 37601 (WX 58 JXK) had the honours of working the 1144 departure to Hengrove, and it arrived five minutes early at both Gipsy Patch Lane and Muller Road. There were THREE people on the top deck throughout the whole journey into the centre.
Unfortunately, by this point, my battery was very low, so it was going to be very tricky to continue onwards unless I found somewhere to charge my phone. I got off at The Haymarket and went to Starbucks for lunch to charge up my phone, and was going to catch the 1400 or 1420 X1 service.
However, much to my absolute horror (the second shock of today; 69459 being the first), I found out that the last X7 direct to Newport was at 1545!! How pathetic is that? Considering the next service, at 1715, terminates in Magor?! Surely it wouldn't hurt to let that (or even the 1800, which currently terminates at Chepstow) run to Newport?!
I had a look to see if there were any other buses from Chepstow to Newport, with Stagecoach's X74 and Newport Transport's 73 service, but they all finish early too, so the only other option I would have had would have been to pay for a single on the train home, from either Bristol or Weston, but that's just wasting more money really.
Sadly, I had to completely scrap my trip to Weston, which really irritated me as 33829 worked the 1520 X1 departure from Bristol, looking absolutely WONDERFUL!
In the end I did a spot of retail therapy in Bristol and got the 1545 back home, which was in the hands of 32684 (WX 56 HJZ). Again, only three people were upstairs, with a few more downstairs.
The X14 used to go straight up Park Row and Whiteladies Road, before heading up through Westbury-on-Trym to Cribbs Causeway (in a similar fashion to the current 1 service now). However, it now goes straight up the M32, which make a LOT more sense! At Cribbs Causeway, with a departure time of 1615, it was again HEAVING! So it seems that the busiest section of the route, by far, is between Chepstow and Cribbs Causeway, as everyone also alighted at Chepstow and it was dead to Newport again!
We arrived into Newport a little bit behind schedule of 1705 (was about 1715), and I then had two more journeys to make home to Cardiff: one on the X30 and another on a local bus in Cardiff. I saw TWO Newport Bus Enviro 400s (400 and 404) on the X30 this morning, so I really thought I had my chances of one going home, but no, just the typical Scania OmniCity instead! I was very disappointed as I hadn't had a ride on a single Enviro 400! Even more annoyingly, the 1710 service 30 departure to Cardiff (Cardiff Bus operated), was 471, a double decker! Oh well.
By this point, time was ticking so I decided to get the train back to Cardiff, and I caught the 1752 to Maesteg, which was in the hands of 158821.
All in all a great day out, despite the lack of battery and 69459 somehow wandering off from the W1 onto the X5.
My next plan is as follows:
0915 Newport to Bristol 1035 (X7)
1200 Bristol to Weston 1256 (X1)
1345 Weston to Cribbs 1526 (X5)
1615 Cribbs to Newport 1705 (X7)
Then, I'd like to cover some journeys in Bath, such as the X39, 178, 184, 231, 376, 379 (although I haven't been to Bath before so I wouldn't have a clue where I was going), and also some of the north-eastern services, such as the 81, 82, X46, X47 and X49.
The majority of the Bristol city services have been done, although I'm still lacking slightly on the east and south of the city (the 6, 7, 24, 36, 42, 43, 48, 49, 50, 51, 75, 76 and the 90 come to mind!)
Some interesting observations from today include 47438, 69454 and 69456 on the 75/76, 37003 on the X46 and a rather shabby looking 66100 on the 376, working the 1525 Bristol to Street.
Still no deckers on the 70 though sadly. I give up now. Just going to cherish the X1 and the X5 for now!
