Odd Notes In Bus Timetables (Current and/or Historic)

[tbtc]

The first half dozen Saturday morning journeys on First's service 66a in York (https://www.firstgroup.com/york/pla...ce=66A&routeid=22080181&operator=29&print=pdf) have the code FLPR on the timetable.

FLPR stands for "Operates via Field Lane when Lakeside Way is closed for the Park Run"

(the route of the ParkRun course - https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewe...&ll=53.9483200700931,-1.0253549999999905&z=17 - can be seen on the right hand side of the FirstGroup map https://www.firstgroup.com/uploads/maps/First York Network Map effective 23.09.18.pdf where the blue/pink/green lines run around the University)

That seems a fairly quirky note to have in a timetable, but what better ones are there (or were there)?

Additional journeys on summer Sundays are common in areas like the Peak District. Lots of routes have journeys that depend on it being a school day/ school holiday. Some services (e.g. around Newcastle and Liverpool) run specifically when football matches are on. Some Stagecoach services in Fife have additional journeys from Edinburgh during the Edinburgh Festival. All of these seem quite normal - but how weird and wonderful can we find?

The 477 (Berwick - Holy Island) looks like a surprisingly frequent route (seven journeys a day?) until you realise that there are only two journeys a day and the particular departure times depend on the low tide over to Lindisfarne - https://www.bordersbuses.co.uk/images/timetables-2018/477_online_2018.pdf << well worth checking the timetable properly before you travel!

I recall a Stagecoach service in Perth back in the '90s (the 70?) that ran on "Bull Market Sale Days Only" (or at least some of the journeys only ran on such occasions) - given what an agricultural headquarters Perth is, it's not surprising that such events may warrant additional capacity.

(for arguments sake, let's say we are talking about published timetables for services open to all members of the public - ignoring unpublished duplicates or services not available to everybody)

 

[Busaholic]

Apologies in advance, and some won't get it, but I wonder what ran on Bear Market Sale Days?

I'll try to get a look at some old timetables (got hundreds, but mostly inaccessible now) and seek out the quirky entries.

 

[TAS]

Stephensons of Essex service 14 has two journeys to Foulness which carry the note 'MOD', meaning 'MOD Permit Required for boarding/alighting in Foulness'.

 

[tbtc]

Apologies in advance, and some won't get it, but I wonder what ran on Bear Market Sale Days?

Very good

Stephensons of Essex service 14 has two journeys to Foulness which carry the note 'MOD', meaning 'MOD Permit Required for boarding/alighting in Foulness'.

That's brilliant - I know that British Steel (Redcar) and IBM (Inverclyde) stations had restrictions for who was able to alight but I've never heard of that on a bus timetable!

 

[alex397]

Ensignbus X1 and X10 with 'Boxing Day Only'. Can't be many bus services which run only on this day.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

That's brilliant - I know that British Steel (Redcar) and IBM (Inverclyde) stations had restrictions for who was able to alight but I've never heard of that on a bus timetable!

Digressing slightly from notes in timetables (as it wasn’t mentioned) but there were a couple of services that entered military bases where passengers could not exit without the correct ID - United AS 53/170 at RAF Leeming and W&D 184/5 at Blandford Camp. In terms of the latter, not certain if it was later truncated to the main entrance?

 

[carlberry]

Digressing slightly from notes in timetables (as it wasn’t mentioned) but there were a couple of services that entered military bases where passengers could not exit without the correct ID - United AS 53/170 at RAF Leeming and W&D 184/5 at Blandford Camp. In terms of the latter, not certain if it was later truncated to the main entrance?

Again, I don't remember it being in timetables at the time, however in the early 1980s on one of the Dorset/Wiltshire bases an armed sentry had to get onto the bus and stay on it as it went around a roundabout then got off after the bus had cleared the gates on the way out.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

Again, I don't remember it being in timetables at the time, however in the early 1980s on one of the Dorset/Wiltshire bases an armed sentry had to get onto the bus and stay on it as it went around a roundabout then got off after the bus had cleared the gates on the way out.

That was the same at both those bases!

 

[Man of Kent]

Again, I don't remember it being in timetables at the time, however in the early 1980s on one of the Dorset/Wiltshire bases an armed sentry had to get onto the bus and stay on it as it went around a roundabout then got off after the bus had cleared the gates on the way out.

Didn't something similar used to happen somewhere in your neck of the woods - possibly RAF Locking near Weston? I have a definite memory of being on a Badgerline RE that went through this kind of procedure.

 

[Busaholic]

Digressing slightly from notes in timetables (as it wasn’t mentioned) but there were a couple of services that entered military bases where passengers could not exit without the correct ID - United AS 53/170 at RAF Leeming and W&D 184/5 at Blandford Camp. In terms of the latter, not certain if it was later truncated to the main entrance?

Even occurred in old London Transport country area - route 431b from Sevenoaks to Fort Halstead, a 'top secret defence establishment' by all accounts. I do remember seeing a timetable for the route way back, and it made no mention of not being an entirely public route, but you had to have a pass to get in and be accompanied by two members of staff, unless you worked there. As a child, and not living a million miles away, I was told it was where fireworks were made, which I suppose is a version of the truth!!

 

[MedwayValiant]

On the other hand, one of the Hitchin to Bedford routes - I think it was the one that was numbered 181 in my youth, and subsequently renumbered as Mars, 71, and from next week 9B - used to go through RAF Chicksands. There were bus stops outside the main gate at both ends, but no one was allowed on or off inside the camp.

A guard would salute the bus as it arrived at the gate, but he didn't board and the bus was allowed to make its own way through the camp. Whether the non-boarding was an admission that the base didn't really do very much by then I don't know, but it was the first time i ever saw a baseball diamond!

 

[Busaholic]

Tavistock Country Bus operates route 112 on the fifth Saturday of each month from April to September from Tavistock to Dawlish, one journey each way. That's a maximum of three journeys per annum in each direction. It's a proper registered bus service, accepting the usual free passes.

 

[PeterC]

Tavistock Country Bus operates route 112 on the fifth Saturday of each month from April to September from Tavistock to Dawlish, one journey each way. That's a maximum of three journeys per annum in each direction. It's a proper registered bus service, accepting the usual free passes.

There are a few instances of this across the country.

 

[quarella]

Didn't something similar used to happen somewhere in your neck of the woods - possibly RAF Locking near Weston? I have a definite memory of being on a Badgerline RE that went through this kind of procedure.

If I recall correctly it depended on the level of BIKINI alert as to whether the bus was accompanied, or even stopped at the gatehouse.
My 1983 timetable has a note for the 129 Weston-super-Mare to R.A.F Station, Locking of "Service subject to alteration in accordance with the requirements of R.A.F. Locking".

 

[Busaholic]

If I recall correctly it depended on the level of BIKINI alert as to whether the bus was accompanied, or even stopped at the gatehouse.
My 1983 timetable has a note for the 129 Weston-super-Mare to R.A.F Station, Locking of "Service subject to alteration in accordance with the requirements of R.A.F. Locking".

What's Pamela Anderson got to do with it?

 

[johnnychips]

Looking at my Crosville timetable for 1976, the M96 only operated from Nebo to Llanrwst on ‘Market and Fair Day’. It explained that market day was Tuesday except the first Tuesday in each month, and fair day was the Wednesday following the first Tuesday in each month. Would any kind people explain what the difference between a market and fair day was/is?

 

[6Gman]

Looking at my Crosville timetable for 1976, the M96 only operated from Nebo to Llanrwst on ‘Market and Fair Day’. It explained that market day was Tuesday except the first Tuesday in each month, and fair day was the Wednesday following the first Tuesday in each month. Would any kind people explain what the difference between a market and fair day was/is?

The Fair Day was a bigger event. I was going to mention Llanrwst because a number of its services operated on a similar basis. Must have made the allocation of vehicles tricky!

I think it was linked to sales at the local cattle market. There was a weekly (Tuesday) sale of lambs for slaughter; once a month there was a larger sale which included store cattle, dairy cattle etc. Why this was held on a Wednesday rather than Tuesday I've no idea. Perhaps to do with sale days elsewhere?

I believe Llanrwst now just has a Tuesday market. Every Tuesday!

 

[PeterC]

Looking at my Crosville timetable for 1976, the M96 only operated from Nebo to Llanrwst on ‘Market and Fair Day’. It explained that market day was Tuesday except the first Tuesday in each month, and fair day was the Wednesday following the first Tuesday in each month. Would any kind people explain what the difference between a market and fair day was/is?

I remember seeing that in the Crossville timetable that I used to have for the early 70s. I had been trying to remember which town it was.

 

[johnnychips]

I think other Welsh towns had ‘Fair Days’ too but I’m intrigued why it was different to a Market day. Can’t imagine it was Walzers and hook-a-duck stalls every month, which is what I would have associated fairs with in the 70s.

Edit: just seen reply two above that it might have been associated with cattle sales.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

I think other Welsh towns had ‘Fair Days’ too but I’m intrigued why it was different to a Market day. Can’t imagine it was Walzers and hook-a-duck stalls every month, which is what I would have associated fairs with in the 70s.

Edit: just seen reply two above that it might have been associated with cattle sales.

The Welsh fairs are really something like an agricultural show - more to do with the showing of animals (rather than sales), judging and prizes, cheese tent, growing vegetables etc.

Market days will be a traditional market and on the same day, the auction mart will also be open for animal sales.

 

[alex397]

The Dover-Hastings Wave route operated by Stagecoach previously had the 'does not serve Camber on Sunny Summer Sundays', or something along those lines, just a few years ago.

Camber gets incredibly busy in the summer, for the large sandy beach. I know people who live there, who say it has taken them over an hour just to get out the village in their car. The buses were severely affected aswell, so on sunny Summer Sundays they diverted further inland to avoid it. It was registered to do this. I can't think of any examples of registered bus routes that have done this.
For some reason, Stagecoach no longer do this for the Wave.

I shall have to dig out my timetable for it, I think it dates back to 2014.

 

[SeveerYeliab]

The Dover-Hastings Wave route operated by Stagecoach previously had the 'does not serve Camber on Sunny Summer Sundays', or something along those lines, just a few years ago.

Camber gets incredibly busy in the summer, for the large sandy beach. I know people who live there, who say it has taken them over an hour just to get out the village in their car. The buses were severely affected aswell, so on sunny Summer Sundays they diverted further inland to avoid it. It was registered to do this. I can't think of any examples of registered bus routes that have done this.
For some reason, Stagecoach no longer do this for the Wave.

I shall have to dig out my timetable for it, I think it dates back to 2014.

I’m sure that the 102 did that this summer just under a diversion.
I know that the camber to rye section really struggled during the peak season with most buses being full because of holiday makers from Pontins.