A solution to the biggest problem Beeching caused?

[fandroid]

The bus connecting Axminster with Dorchester via Lyme Regis and Bridport is a long-standing one, originally supported by Dorset CC, but now a commercial operation (I think). As far as Lyme Regis is concerned it has to be an improvement on the rail branch. The buses serve almost the whole of the town, whereas the station was high up at the top and it would have been a seriously long walk with bags to the town centre and the eastern fringes. When I used to visit, there was even a Boxing Day service, not something that rail manages these days!
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There was a conspiracy to stop using rail and to go over to roads. The membership was just about all of the British public. My dad was one of them. Even now, the overwhelming majority of longer journeys are undertaken by road. The motorways just had to be built - to accommodate the rapidly increasing numbers of cars. They freed up a vast number of people to travel all over the country and into Europe. Us railway geeks are a very specialised minority. Most people are very happy with their cars.

 

[yorksrob]

There was a conspiracy to stop using rail and to go over to roads. The membership was just about all of the British public. My dad was one of them. Even now, the overwhelming majority of longer journeys are undertaken by road. The motorways just had to be built - to accommodate the rapidly increasing numbers of cars. They freed up a vast number of people to travel all over the country and into Europe. Us railway geeks are a very specialised minority. Most people are very happy with their cars.

When the road lobby say what a high proportion of journeys are done by car, their figures are usually bolstered by the large number of local trips near to home. For longer traffic flows, particularly where there is a good rail alternative (for example, InterCity journeys) rail forms a much higher proportion of the journeys than nationally as a whole.

That said, the period between the 1960s and 1980's was ridiculously motor-centric and resulted in (amongst other things) the disfigurement of many of our towns and cities with hideous ring roads and motorways.

 

[HowardGWR]

The bus connecting Axminster with Dorchester via Lyme Regis and Bridport is a long-standing one, originally supported by Dorset CC, but now a commercial operation (I think).

The original coastal bus (31) was a two hourly and less than that service using really clapped out old stock. John Prescott made available the 3 year Rural Bus Grant, which Dorset CC decided to use the majority of it to provide an hourly service between Weymouth, Dorchester, Bridport, Lyme and Axminster, including all the stations, thus closing the 'gap' for which in the 1850s several rival rail schemes had been devised but never implemented, a legacy of the 'gauge war'. It was thus a cheat really, as it was an inter-urban service and I don't think that was what the national government really had in mind. So the taxpayer paid for the update, not the local taxpayer.

The service is thus neither fish nor fowl, as the detours off the A35 to some villages and Lyme Regis spoiled its ability to be a station connector, but saw good use, especially with the large pensioner population of the area making use of Gordon Brown's free bus passes that came later on.

As a result of this, the service became commercially profitable and what Dorset CC did with the money at that time remains uncertain. I am not sure if the Rural Bus Grant is still awarded to councils, as it was a 'three years at a time' grant.

At the moment the bus service has sensibly been cut back from Weymouth to Dorchester South (there is a frequent local service). It arrives at Axminster station at 5 to the hour and that gives very little time to catch the 3 mins past to Exeter or a bit more for the 6 mins past to London. (Trains cross at AXM). In fact it is so dodgy that one would be foolish to rely on it, although some without car have to, of course. This backs up what the earlier poster wrote about the post Beeching TUCC replacement bus services. Now, for commercial reasons, First is cutting back evening services, so without some hefty political intervention, the Prescott initiative will perhaps revert to the dreadful service that applied in the 1990s.

Hope that was informative.

 

[21C101]

The original coastal bus (31) was a two hourly and less than that service using really clapped out old stock. John Prescott made available the 3 year Rural Bus Grant, which Dorset CC decided to use the majority of it to provide an hourly service between Weymouth, Dorchester, Bridport, Lyme and Axminster, including all the stations, thus closing the 'gap' for which in the 1850s several rival rail schemes had been devised but never implemented, a legacy of the 'gauge war'. It was thus a cheat really, as it was an inter-urban service and I don't think that was what the national government really had in mind. So the taxpayer paid for the update, not the local taxpayer.

The service is thus neither fish nor fowl, as the detours off the A35 to some villages and Lyme Regis spoiled its ability to be a station connector, but saw good use, especially with the large pensioner population of the area making use of Gordon Brown's free bus passes that came later on.

As a result of this, the service became commercially profitable and what Dorset CC did with the money at that time remains uncertain. I am not sure if the Rural Bus Grant is still awarded to councils, as it was a 'three years at a time' grant.

At the moment the bus service has sensibly been cut back from Weymouth to Dorchester South (there is a frequent local service). It arrives at Axminster station at 5 to the hour and that gives very little time to catch the 3 mins past to Exeter or a bit more for the 6 mins past to London. (Trains cross at AXM). In fact it is so dodgy that one would be foolish to rely on it, although some without car have to, of course. This backs up what the earlier poster wrote about the post Beeching TUCC replacement bus services. Now, for commercial reasons, First is cutting back evening services, so without some hefty political intervention, the Prescott initiative will perhaps revert to the dreadful service that applied in the 1990s.

Hope that was informative.

To be fair Dorset do publicise their bus services quite well with timetables and county maps on the council website. Devon are even better. Somerset on the other hand don't seem to be interested. Difficult to call their offering any more than crap. just a page telling you to look it up on traveline. They seem to be the most aggressive cutters too.

I think the increase in service to Hourly west of Salisbury has made bus connections viable. No one wants to risk a two hour wait if the bus is late.

The Axminster connections are quite generous compared with the two minute connection you get on the 30 from/to Chard. But since they don't hold connections on the railways either anymore, you are not at a disadvantage.

 

[21C101]

I've produced an .pdf timetable to illustrate what I was saying in the above thread.

"Waterloo to Shaftesbury, Wincanton, Yeovil, Chard, Lyme Regis, Bridport, Seaton, Ottery Sidmouth Exmouth and Exeter."

The timetable shows the full Mon - Sat, Waterloo - Exeter timetable (except trains going no further west than Salisbury), with bus connections from the appropriate stations to the above towns.

What is immediately apparent is how many of the bus connections are really useful and little slower than the old branch lines were, but much more frequent. If only the TOCs were would work with the bus companies to produce integrated timetables like this (and possibly integrated tickets as well), then I'm sure both bus and rail would gain many extra passengers who at the moment would look where they are going to, look at the rail map and drive.

The only real noticable decline is that there are far few evening buses than there were evening trains on the old branches.

Based on actual bus and rail timetables, errors and omissions excepted correct as of 31st December 2014.

 

[Bevan Price]

Marples, Beeching & co. had no real interest in rail replacement bus services. They just wanted to close the lines. It was the closure procedure that specified that some rail lines could only be closed if a replacement bus service was provided. And services were only provided where it could be demonstrated that the lack of a public transport service would cause "hardship" for a significant number of people.

 

[Andrewlong]

A very interesting thread...

A few years back, First in West Yorkshire unveiled the 'Holmfirth Connection' Which involved diverting several of their Holmfirth to Huddersfield routes to serve Huddersfield station, with through-ticketing - restoring in part a link which was ended by the wicked doctor. Several vehicles were given branding promoting the link, however these were step-entrance Olympians, so hardly the pride of the fleet!

I'm not sure how popular the through-ticketing was, but I can only assume it wasn't a runaway success as about 18 months ago the buses stopped serving the railway station. For a bus link to be a success it really needs a lot of work and investment. For how to do it right, see St. Andrews and Minehead. For how to get it wrong see practically every other attempt!

I think you will find Holmfirth branch line closed to passengers in 1959. For Meltham branch it was 1949 and the Kirkburton branch way back in 1930. Huddersfield had a very good bus network when I lived there in the early 1980s which was well used and I suspect those who ran the railways didn't see the point in providing trains which weren't being used! So let's not blame it all on Beeching - it had started before then!
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When the road lobby say what a high proportion of journeys are done by car, their figures are usually bolstered by the large number of local trips near to home. For longer traffic flows, particularly where there is a good rail alternative (for example, InterCity journeys) rail forms a much higher proportion of the journeys than nationally as a whole.

That said, the period between the 1960s and 1980's was ridiculously motor-centric and resulted in (amongst other things) the disfigurement of many of our towns and cities with hideous ring roads and motorways.

I would include orbital motorways like the M25 which had a major impact on use of cars. Railways can't compete against someone who wants to drive from say Reading to Cambridge. I have often thought of how useful a railway 'M25' would be with stations connecting to main lines coming out of London to save travelling into London.

 

[edwin_m]

I would include orbital motorways like the M25 which had a major impact on use of cars. Railways can't compete against someone who wants to drive from say Reading to Cambridge. I have often thought of how useful a railway 'M25' would be with stations connecting to main lines coming out of London to save travelling into London.

East West Rail intends to do just that eventually, and while driving may be quicker at quiet times it probably won't anytime there is a stoppage on the motorways.