Large gaps between Bus Stops (Stagecoach Cambridgeshire)

[Deerfold]

I've a trip with work in a couple of weeks and was looking up how easy it would be to get there by public transport.

It initially looked to be fairly easy (except that the bus route after getting a train to Ely - Stagecoach's 12 is to be withdrawn before I need it). However, it seems to be in a gap of over 3 miles with no bus stops, South of the village of Fordham.

Are there many bus routes that have gaps with no stops like this where there are businesses and houses on the route? Does anyone know why it was like this on this route. I understand on Motorways and where there's no habitation or businesses, but this one seems odd - if few people would use it, it's not harming the timekeeping and might contribute to the use of the route.

 

[asb]

My guess is that it is hail and ride along that section, as rural sections have usually been in the past.

 

[Dai Corner]

In my experience there are lots of rural routes like that. Also stops in the middle of nowhere which are probably never used except perhaps by schoolchildren?

I'm not aware of any that are officially hail and ride but perhaps regular passengers had unofficial arrangements? Most people will drive, of course.

 

[Deerfold]

My guess is that it is hail and ride along that section, as rural sections have usually been in the past.

If it is, they're badly defined for travel planners and not mentioned in the Stagecoach timetable.

 

[asb]

How can you define hail and ride in a travel planner? I have seen examples of "stops" being shown on Google, so presumably in NaPTAN, that don't have any physical presence, which are very disconcerting.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 14 Oct 2022 ==

Also, rural hail and ride used to be a catch all sentence at the beginning of timetable books.

 

[Megafuss]

How can you define hail and ride in a travel planner? I have seen examples of "stops" being shown on Google, so presumably in NaPTAN, that don't have any physical presence, which are very disconcerting.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 14 Oct 2022 ==

Also, rural hail and ride used to be a catch all sentence at the beginning of timetable books.

The local authority would need to create a naptan code for a stop location in order for it to be picked up in journey planners.

The operator also must inform the traffic commissioner of any sections of route which are hail and ride on the registration.

So it may well be the 12 has zero stops between Fordham and Newmarket, even on a hail and ride basis

 

[Deerfold]

How can you define hail and ride in a travel planner? I have seen examples of "stops" being shown on Google, so presumably in NaPTAN, that don't have any physical presence, which are very disconcerting.

I used to live between two roads - the main road had fixed stops, the other didn't. But the timetable from the operator made it clear which sections were hail and ride (I used to ask the driver to stop by a bench which had a path next to it). The Stagecoach timetable for the 12 (at least online) makes no mention of hail and ride. If they want people to catch it to or from these areas, that seems an important thing to mention.

I did wonder if the travel planner was right - that's why I checked the operator's timetable.

Also, rural hail and ride used to be a catch all sentence at the beginning of timetable books.

In some places, maybe. In the ones I used to have, each timetable made it clear which sections were hail and ride.

 

[markymark2000]

How can you define hail and ride in a travel planner? I have seen examples of "stops" being shown on Google, so presumably in NaPTAN, that don't have any physical presence, which are very disconcerting.

Sadly, until journey planners start picking up Hail and Ride properly, you won't ever see it. I think that is a technological advancement that is needed to show where Hail and Ride exists as it is rather offputting to have a bus stop on maps and you then go to that point to catch the bus and no bus stop signs there. Given the amount of wrong bus stops on the naptan database, there is as good chance that it's not a bus stop (and the bus won't stop) as it is that it's a hail and ride section.

With technology how it is, I see no reason why we can't do visual hail and ride now on journey planners. Show which areas of a route are hail and ride on journey planners.

In some places, maybe. In the ones I used to have, each timetable made it clear which sections were hail and ride.

I've seen a number of timetables which literally state 'where there are no bus stops, this route is hail and ride' which is not useful to anyone who isn't 'in the know'. Also with most websites now, the timetables are more interactive and miss out the details such as hail and ride. This tends to only be on properly created PDF timetables (not the auto generated ones) or printed material.