Mulleys Motorways

[Deerfold]

Is anyone familiar with this company?

I've a trip to Conyers Green coming up and was thinking of catching their M40 from Bury St Edmunds.

However, they seem not to be participating in the national fare capping scheme, and looking at their website, there's no clue as to what routes they run, never mind timetables and fares.

Is there any fare information for this route anywhere?

 

[citybus2500]

Is anyone familiar with this company?

I've a trip to Conyers Green coming up and was thinking of catching their M40 from Bury St Edmunds.

However, they seem not to be participating in the national fare capping scheme, and looking at their website, there's no clue as to what routes they run, never mind timetables and fares.

Is there any fare information for this route anywhere?

I paid £3.70 in July 2024 for a journey from Mildenhall to Bury, so that hopefully gives you and idea of the scale. Contactless accepted.

 

[Man of Kent]

Fares info is available at https://bustimes.org/fares/datasets/1316, but how accurate it is, is another matter.

 

[Deerfold]

Thanks.

The bus didn't track and was late, so disappeared from the screens. Information at the Bus Station doesn't have the route.
We were charged £4 single each, but the bus was on diversion (with no information about this available anywhere I could find), so we were dropped a mile from the stop we wanted, with a walk along a road with no pavement for most of the walk.
There were around 16 people on the bus. We were the only ones who paid.
The bus displayed "Funded by UK Government" prominently on it (as does the timetable on bustimes.com, making it more surprising it's not part of the capping scheme).
We had no idea where the diverted bus would stop on the way back and got a lift.

 

[pjnathanail]

M40 is funded using Bus Service Improvement Plan (BSIP) money hence the signage on the bus.

Rightly or wrongly participation in the National Bus Fare Cap is not a requirement of accessing BSIP monies.

 

[Deerfold]

M40 is funded using Bus Service Improvement Plan (BSIP) money hence the signage on the bus.

Rightly or wrongly participation in the National Bus Fare Cap is not a requirement of accessing BSIP monies.

There's a few routes near me with improvements me funded by BSIP, but I've not seen similar signage.

 

[buslad1988]

There's a few routes near me with improvements me funded by BSIP, but I've not seen similar signage.

Suffolk (and Norfolk) certainly do ensure any journeys/services propped up by UK Govt BSIP money are clearly marked in timetables atleast (having a sign in the bus is a rare though).

Check out suffolkonboard.com timetables page - routes like Ipswich Buses 5 and 8B as examples.

Likewise many electric buses purchased through zebra funding having ‘funded by UK Govt’ labelled on them.

Mulleys have always been a bit of a non standard operator and behind the times. They have a tidy fleet but just look at the Bury St Edmunds town network - it’s a mish mash of routes, with big circulars etc. Stephensons breeze 1 is now just down to a single off peak weekday service also.

I may be wrong however isn’t there a rule somewhere regarding the use of capital letters in destination displays? If so, someone needs a word with Mulleys!

 

[markymark2000]

but just look at the Bury St Edmunds town network - it’s a mish mash of routes

It's absolutely shocking. And sadly seems like they have no ambition to simplify it and make it more attractive to new users.

I may be wrong however isn’t there a rule somewhere regarding the use of capital letters in destination displays? If so, someone needs a word with Mulleys!

The Public Service Vehicles Accessibility Regulations 2000
Schedule 2, paragraph 8

(5) Destination information shall not be written in capital letters only.

The Public Service Vehicles Accessibility Regulations 2000

These Regulations apply to single-deck and double-deck buses and to single-deck and double-deck coaches with a capacity of more than twenty-two passengers which are used to provide local and scheduled services (“regulated public service vehicles”). The Regulations, which are enacted under the...

www.legislation.gov.uk

 

[buslad1988]

It's absolutely shocking. And sadly seems like they have no ambition to simplify it and make it more attractive to new users.

I have long thought that since the exit of First Eastern Counties and Stephensons whittling down their town network to essentially nothing - wasn’t it Mulleys who started competing with Stephensons in the first place?

For a prosperous town the size of Bury St Edmunds it is a sad state of affairs, and Suffolk County Council should be embarrassed - when not far down the road you have Coach Services with their recently relaunched ‘Thetford Rangers’ town routes.

Mulleys don’t appear to have any drive or ambition to move the town network forward and attract numbers, it’s simply there for necessity. Even when it was under Eastern Counties with breadvans, at the dawn of low floor operation First simplified the network to three routes and invested in Dart MPD’s under the ‘Bury Shuttles’ brand.

It’s a shame Stagecoach are where they are now with East or it would have been a good bolt on to Cambridge/Newmarket expanding in Bury St Edmunds.

Mulleys mean well, and I’m all for independents having a go - but they literally have a whole town sewn up to themselves but it’s wasted. They could unlock so much potential if they gave it a re-think, and had some decent marketing and publicity material. It’s things like this BSIP money should be used on to attract new users - not token gestures for rural routes.

Atleast in terms of fleet, Mulleys appear to be moving towards the more suited Streetlites for the town work, running heavy Scania’s around near empty all day must hit profit margins.

 

[markymark2000]

Mulleys mean well, and I’m all for independents having a go - but they literally have a whole town sewn up to themselves but it’s wasted. They could unlock so much potential if they gave it a re-think, and had some decent marketing and publicity material.

Says a lot when they don't even acknowledge the existence of the local bus network on their website.

 

[buslad1988]

Says a lot when they don't even acknowledge the existence of the local bus network on their website.

That’s interesting. It’s like the coach operation is their core interest with buses on the side.

After doing some research I’ve also discovered Mulleys did actually apply for BSIP money; however it wasn’t for improvements - simply to maintain and keep the service levels as they are. Which suggests they are struggling. The application was asking for over £150k. Unsuccessful I might add.

Now Transport Made Simple have swallowed up Konect Bus and already have Simonds I can see them trying their hand at the town network.

 

[markymark2000]

Which suggests they are struggling

Not necessarily. Why plod on any make alright money when you can have a £150k windfall for doing sweet sod all extra. Might as well throw in a cheeky bid and if you win, great. If not, you've lost nothing.

That’s interesting. It’s like the coach operation is their core interest with buses on the side.

They don't even promote that very well. I wonder if they are liked by the locals and that is why no one has ousted them yet? Doesn't matter what your online presence is, as long as enough locals like and use you over other operators.

 

[Deerfold]

Not necessarily. Why plod on any make alright money when you can have a £150k windfall for doing sweet sod all extra. Might as well throw in a cheeky bid and if you win, great. If not, you've lost nothing.


They don't even promote that very well. I wonder if they are liked by the locals and that is why no one has ousted them yet? Doesn't matter what your online presence is, as long as enough locals like and use you over other operators.

The service I got was reasonably well patronised, but if they don't find any younger passengers, it might not be for long.
Apparently the M40 was withdrawn then re-funded. Unfortunately the bus station signage seems to have been done when it didn't exist, so it's not mentioned (except when it appears on the electronic sign, advertised as going to Bury St Edmunds with no intermediate points mentioned).

 

[Wawanesa]

I agree that Mulleys don't market their bus services. Beestons of Hadleigh (owned by the brother of the owner of Mulleys) are much the same. I wonder whether one of the reasons for the success of The Delaine of Bourne is that they dropped coaching around thirty years ago so that all management time is focused on the bus services.

 

[_sSamuel]

I find this article from the BBC in 2024 of particular interest, which summarises the scrutiny committee of West Suffolk Council:

• Mr Munson stated he believed "very little" had been done in the borough to help bus providers.
• "Unlike Ipswich, Bury St Edmunds has no bus lanes, no priority areas, dirty unkept bus shelters, a bus station with no staff or information desk and a filthy row of bus shelters," he said in his statement.
  
  
  

  Bury St Edmunds bus station is an 'embarrassing welcome'

  The owner of a bus firm believes more can be done to improve the Bury St Edmund's bus infrastructure.

  www.bbc.co.uk

For context, 'Mr. Munson' is the owner of Mulleys Motorways.

In my opinion, the whole attitude of Suffolk County Council towards bus services in the county has been dire for some years now, and it is a shame to see nearby Norfolk getting things so right (such as its excellent use of BSIP funding) whilst SCC sontinues to let the local bus network be a shadow of its former self. Whilst the M40 provides a more frequent services to local areas, is it really needed? Great Barton already receives services from Simonds (TMS) on their 70 & 73 services, and Greater Anglia provides an hourly service to Bury St. Edmunds (7 days a week may I add, and rather reliable too!), which in my eyes is a strong service for these smaller populations.

I agree with the statement about Bury St. Edmunds lacking bus priority provision, but it could be argued that the council has little incentive to introduce such infrastructure when bus services around the town are so infrequent (and near-inexistent on Sundays). It shocks me that a town with such a big college at W.S.C and the new university course offerings there has such infrequent services, where as Ipswich has frequent routes service its similar One Sixth Form, with First's 800 and Ipswich Buses' 13 providing frequent links and both operators offering student ticketing schemes, to attract the lucrative student market.

Admittedly, it is a big risk for an operater like Mulleys to invest in a town like Bury, but look at other nearby operators... Other local independent operator Coach Services has a modern-fleet, with Enviro 400MMCs serving their 84 & 86 routes, brand new buses around Thetford and their success at competing against First on their 'Breckland Beeline' bus service, and need I mention Lynx over in King's Lynn? It just goes to show that with some investment and strong marketing, success can be seen in these car-centric locations, where it seems as if bus services are primarily there for pensioners, and the local councils have an overly laissez-faire approach to public transport!

 

[buslad1988]

Interesting _sSamuel and some valid points! Guess Mulleys lack the clout and expenditure of a major/national operator. The network totally needs re-drawn and some tough decisions made to consolidate to core roads with increased frequencies, rather than trying to drop everyone at their front door! Maybe if they did this the county council would then want to spend more on bus priority and improvements.

In general Bury St Edmunds has been cut off to the biggest part of Suffolk (Ipswich) since a direct service between the two was removed; it’s actually easier to get to Colchester and Cambridge. Arguably West Suffolk in general gravitates more towards Cambridgeshire.

 

[markymark2000]

Beestons of Hadleigh (owned by the brother of the owner of Mulleys) are much the same.

That nugget of information is really useful and now you've pointed it out, I can see the similarities.

I agree with the statement about Bury St. Edmunds lacking bus priority provision, but it could be argued that the council has little incentive to introduce such infrastructure when bus services around the town are so infrequent (and near-inexistent on Sundays).

Chicken and egg. I think the actual answer is that they are both as bad as each other at times. The thing working in Mulleys favour though on the town stuff, is that Suffolk is quite good at information provision. The Suffolk OnBoard site is jam packed with information and they seem to be alright at maintaining bus stop information (at least at main stops, can't comment on minor ones). If Mulleys was doing all of this in a different area with a local authority who doesn't have such information online, they would struggle a lot more

It shocks me that a town with such a big college at W.S.C and the new university course offerings there has such infrequent services, where as Ipswich has frequent routes service its similar One Sixth Form, with First's 800 and Ipswich Buses' 13 providing frequent links and both operators offering student ticketing schemes, to attract the lucrative student market.

I think you have to consider that WSC for the main campus is 15 minutes walk into the town. Suffolk One is on the outskirts of Ipswich and would take an hour to get into the town and access the wider bus network.
You've also got to consider that Eastern Education Group (who run both WSC and Suffolk One) seem to prefer operating their own college bus networks to get students in, rather than using the core bus network so the numbers of students using the core bus networks will be reduced. In WSCs case, there are 8 college buses each day, and based on them each being a normal 50 seater coach, that's 400 students per day that are travelling to that college, just on the colleges own network.

As far as ticketing options, Ipswich has a university which tends to make a big difference in whether student tickets are offered.

The network totally needs re-drawn and some tough decisions made to consolidate to core roads with increased frequencies, rather than trying to drop everyone at their front door!

For a small operator, that is a heck of a risk. Upsetting the existing people who do use your services, purely in the hope that you can attract new passengers.

 

[Deerfold]

Interesting _sSamuel and some valid points! Guess Mulleys lack the clout and expenditure of a major/national operator. The network totally needs re-drawn and some tough decisions made to consolidate to core roads with increased frequencies, rather than trying to drop everyone at their front door! Maybe if they did this the county council would then want to spend more on bus priority and improvements.

In general Bury St Edmunds has been cut off to the biggest part of Suffolk (Ipswich) since a direct service between the two was removed; it’s actually easier to get to Colchester and Cambridge. Arguably West Suffolk in general gravitates more towards Cambridgeshire.

Last but one time I visited the area the buses serving the village took 6 different route variations, so the M40 seems to have been tidied up a little as they now all go the same way (except for early morning buses only going inbound and the 1015 missing part of the route, so the 1215 is the first service to some stops.

The Suffolk OnBoard site is jam packed with information and they seem to be alright at maintaining bus stop information (at least at main stops, can't comment on minor ones).

Apart from at the bus station, apparently, with the M40 not appearing anywhere there since it started 8 months ago.

 

[markymark2000]

Apart from at the bus station, apparently, with the M40 not appearing anywhere there since it started 8 months ago.

Ahh ok. Just main stops then that Suffolk seem to be alright at sorting.

Least they have online stuff too (while not a replacement for at stop timetables, it's better than the radio silence from Mulleys