Revitalising First bus networks (a semi-fantasy thread)

[Ivo]

Everyone knows that First are not doing as well as they could be at present. Over-aggressive expansion, poor relationships and financial mismanagement are all cited as reasons for this, but there is another reason which I am sure that anyone in the South Hampshire metropolitan area could tell you - poor route provision, i.e. a poorly managed network of bus services.

Some time ago, I provided a version of what I would like to suggest First do in Bath (see attachment and explanation here; note that the 2 idea is doomed because the 2 itself is being withdrawn in a few weeks). Using it as a guideline and/or as inspiration, what would you do to the operation in your local area to revitalise the FirstBus operation? If you have an idea for how something could be improved, this is a means to show everyone your great/ambitious/stupid (delete as appropriate) idea, and the rest of us can evaluate the route(s) in question.

There is obviously an element of fantasy to this, but please ensure your suggestions are realistic (so no ordering Geminis for routes that carry 250 people a day, for instance). Schemes must be sufficiently efficient to be viable in any given depot's hour of need!

I will be providing an idea for somewhere, possibly Basildon, in the near future. For now though, the floor is open! And if you want to try it for a different operator, by all means do, but please ensure that you make the idea plainly obvious that it is not First-related.

 

[martinsh]

Well I live in Crewe and work in Stafford, and First have only one route in each place, but here goes

1. Crewe
a) make route 20 a regular interval service instead of 20/40 min gaps. Either every 30 mins, or every 20 mins if they want to add an extra bus. Make sure that it is used by fuill sized vehicles and not Solos
b) add express route (X20 ?) Crewe - Hanley via A500. I reckon could be done in 40 mins easily, compared with over an hour by the 20. Would be quicker than going by train to Stoke and then bus as well.

2. Stafford - generally the 101 is OK in Stafford itself (if unreliable). Would benefit from more layover time.
a) introduce short works from Stafford to borough boundary, making it every 10 mins and more frequent than Arriva. Reduce fares to what they used to be before they decide to enter a cartel with Arriva and increased them by 50% about 3 years ago !
b) farther north stop wasting 5-10 mins going round an industrial estate in Stone where no-one gets on or off. Would be nice if some journeys went direct frrom Trentham to Stoke / Hanley and not via Newcastle. Ideally split into 2 services, but currently is every 20 mins so that would need an increased PVR

 

[Tomonthetrain]

Its best to start off with a blank piece of paper for Wyvern.

Taking into account the proposed selling off of Redditch and Kidderminster, the remaining part of the area needs to smart up especially with Rotala competing against them.

 

[VTPreston_Tez]

Dorset: Re-instate the 45 and give it a half-hourly service Burton Bradstock-Bridport Hospital. FG wrecked the service and I presume they felt the heat during the Olympics to ferry people from the hotels to the nearby towns.

 

[Pyromaniac]

Dorset: Re-instate the 45 and give it a half-hourly service Burton Bradstock-Bridport Hospital. FG wrecked the service and I presume they felt the heat during the Olympics to ferry people from the hotels to the nearby towns.

The 45 was a DCC contract which was awarded to another operator and went awry from there. First could've stopped this by registering the service commercially but would've lost money, hence it being a contract .

As for Basildon as Ivo mentioned; I think First dropping the 1/1A routes has left the most glaring gap in the local network. Barring that I'd love to see the 551 extended to Romford again and the 200 back to Lakeside . The 200 cut back to improve the higher profile 100 which runs Basildon to Lakeside anyway.

 

[Swirlz]

i sometimes get the First number 1 (or 2 now) from Birkenhead to Cheshire Oaks but most of the buses are falling to bits. i live near the depot and it looks like some sort of scrap yard at night!

wish they'd get some new buses, preferably double deck so not stood up for 45mins!

....or let Arriva take over. newer buses, just a bit small AND NO STUDENT FARES!!

 

[martinsh]

Come on Ivo - put your money where your mouth is !!

 

[VTPreston_Tez]

The 45 was a DCC contract which was awarded to another operator and went awry from there. First could've stopped this by registering the service commercially but would've lost money, hence it being a contract .

Well, I never knew that!
OT but still on FG Buses: Here's one for the forum. Ever since Stagecoach and Preston Bus had their ordeal there have been many gaps for bus operators to operate new services and reap in a fair amount of money. Always have wanted First to fill these gaps in.

 

[krisk]

Manchester - hand all operations over to Stagecoach as first buses seem unable to arrange an alcohol - consuming party in a place that produces beer.

 

[Ivo]

Come on Ivo - put your money where your mouth is !!

Ha ha ha, very abrupt. I'll be on the case later tonight or failing that tomorrow.

Manchester - hand all operations over to Stagecoach as first buses seem unable to arrange an alcohol - consuming party in a place that produces beer.

*cough* OFT *cough*

 

[Ivo]

My masterplan for Basildon then (note that services listed in italic type are not currently operated by First, if at all):

1 (Mini; Est. PVR 4)
Entire route every 30 minutes.

2 (Decker; Est. PVR 16)
Service operates every 15 minutes between Southend [Shoeburyness to be exact] and Basildon and every 30 minutes between Basildon and Lakeside. Services 2, 100 and 200 provide a bus to Lakeside from Basildon every 10 minutes.

5 (Saloon; Est. PVR 8)
Every 10 minutes between Pitsea and Basildon. Services 25 and 25B combine with Service 5 to provide 5 frequency along Whitmore Way; remaining two journeys are formed by additional Service 5 journeys between Felmore and Basildon Hospital on a 30 frequency.

8.8A (Saloon; Est. PVR 7)
Every 20 minutes along each route variation, giving a 10 frequency along shared sections. Through journeys possible at both ends of the route.

15 (Saloon; Est. PVR 6)
Entire rout every 30 minutes.

21 (Midi; Est. PVR 2)
Every 30 minutes along entire route. Consideration to be given to merging Service 21 with Service 101 in the long run.

22 (Saloon; Est. PVR 6)
Entire route every 20 minutes.

25.25B (Decker; Est. PVR 6)
Every 30 minutes on both routes. Services combined with Service 5 to provide 5 frequency along Whitmore Way.

100 (Decker; Est. PVR 10)
Every 15 minutes Chelmsford to Basildon Hospital and every 30 minutes Basildon Hospital to Lakeside. Service combines with Services 2 and 200 to provide a departure to Lakeside from Basildon every 10 minutes.

101 (Mini; Est. PVR 3)
Entire route every 30 minutes. Consideration to be given to through service to North Benfleet via 21 route.

102 (Midi; Est. PVR 2)
Service operates entire route during peak periods only.

151 (Midi; Est. PVR 4)
Entire route every 30 minutes.

200 (Midi; Est. PVR 4)
Entire route every 30 minutes. Combines with Services 2 and 100 to provide six buses an hour between Basildon and Lakeside (every 10 minutes from Basildon).

237 (Midi; Est. PVR 2)
Entire route every 60 minutes.

256 (Mini; Est. PVR 1)
Entire route every 90 minutes.

374 (Midi; Est. PVR 2)
Entire route every 60 minutes.

On the map, red numbers are terminating services and blue services are calling services. Black numbers are standard operation.

I've done something like this for Southend too. I shall post that at a later stage.

 

[Tomonthetrain]

Ha ha ha, very abrupt. I'll be on the case later tonight or failing that tomorrow.



*cough* OFT *cough*

Flog it to national express then?

 

[Ivo]

My plan for Southend...

Before we start, there is one problem. According to the Basildon details, Service 2 is operated by First, as is the case in real life. However, my Service 2 runs through to Shoeburyness, which according to a Gentlemen's Agreement is no-go-land for First. A solution would be to have Services 1, 2 and 3 running a special Quality Bus Corridor livery, and having Arriva run the 2 east of Southend and have joint operation between Southend and Hadleigh, but that's just awkward. So for the purposes of this, Service 2 is not covered.

Anyhow, using the same coding as previously:

3 (Decker; Est. PVR 12)
Entire route every 15 minutes. Combines with external Services 1 and 2 to provide a 5 frequency along London Road.

15.16 (Saloon; Est. PVR 6, plus 2 for 16)
Service 15 operates every 30 minutes with additional journeys between Southend and Eastwood during peak periods. Service 16 runs during peak periods only with most services running between Southend and Canvey and others running between Rayleigh and Canvey.

20.20A (20 Decker; 20A Saloon; Est. PVR 11)
Service 20 operates entire route every 15 minutes. Service 20A runs every 30 minutes between Southend and Eastwood Rise, with additional peak journeys continuing to Hullbridge (without serving the Eastwood Rise loop).

21.21A (21 Decker; 21A Saloon; Est. PVR 9)
Services 21 and 21A each run every 30 minutes between Southend and Hadleigh, giving a combined frequency of every 15 minutes. All Service 21 journeys continue to Canvey; 21A journeys continue to Canvey during peak periods only. Section of route between Southchurch and Southend is served off-peak Monday to Saturday only.

22 (Saloon; Est. PVR 6)
Entire route every 20 minutes. Service operates via the Winged Horse and a new alignment along Church Road between Pitsea and Basildon.

24.24A (Midi; Est. 4 PVR)
Each service operates entire route every 20 minutes, providing six buses an hour along common stretches of route. Consideration to be given to Service 24A being diverted to Garon Park in the long run should the Newington Avenue loop remain manageable with only three buses per hour.

25.25A (25 Decker; 25A Saloon; 10 Est. PVR)
Each service operates entire route every 30 minutes, giving a bus every 15 minutes between Southend and Wickford. Existing Service 25A to be withdrawn.

26.26A (Midi; Est. PVR 4)
Each service operates entire route once an hour. Services combine to provide one bus every 30 minutes across majority of the route. Consideration to be given to removing Thorney Bay and Denham Road from the route in favour of loop operation on Services 27/27A.

27.27A (Midi; Est. PVR 4)
Each service operates entire route once an hour, providing a 30 frequency between Leigh and Canvey. In tandem with Services 26/26A, consideration to be given to operating via Thorney Bay and/or Denham Road as a loop service (either with one Service running each route and then a change of number at Knightswick, or alternatively revising numbers to 27A/27C and running clockwise and anti-clockwise), with services running full loop around Knightswick.

30 (Saloon; Est. PVR 3)
Entire route every 60 minutes.

X30 (Coach; Est. PVR 4 shared with N30)
Entire route every 60 minutes. Services operates limited-stop pattern as at present. Overnight service operates full route every 24 hours, albeit with N30 number between Southend and Rayleigh (see below).

~~~ Night Buses ~~~

N3 (Decker; Est. PVR 2)
Entire route every 30 minutes. Follows Service 3 for most of its journey, but does not serve Kiln Road (instead operating 21 route through Thundersley) or section of route east of central Southend. Combines with external N2 to provide 30 frequency along London Road.

N30 (Coach; Est. PVR 4 shared with X30)
As X30 above; entire route every 30 minutes overnight. Service follows 20 route between Southend and Eastwood and then runs via Rayleigh Road; service changes number at Rayleigh Station but continues as one journey. Service to run as close to every 30 minutes as possible in tandem with N7 between Southend and Prittlewell. Service provides Hospital, Eastwood, Rayleigh, Chelmsford and Stansted Airport with overnight service.

Note that thin lines on the map are routes planned to be served by other operators (mostly but not exclusively Arriva), and that Services N3 and N30 are not shown (because it didn't occur to me until it was too late ). And before anyone asks, the afore-mentioned N2 and N7 are the only other Night Routes.

 

[ivanhoe]

When a company sweats it's assets on a scale that First have done then my only fantasy is to see them become 100% a train operating company. That is where their heart is although the cash is in buses!

 

[Pyromaniac]

Nice work Ivo, always interesting seeing what others think of in my local area too.

Whats the route that runs down Thorpe Bay Broadway though?

Also I'm not sure if you have routed the (real life) 18 by Rochford Station but it operates the other way with the loop starting/finishing at Hawkwell. Or maybe this is part of your fantasy plans

 

[Ivo]

Sod the real 18; I consider that route copyright! I came up with a route like that (numbered 8A at first) long before they did, and as such I didn't even consider their 18 when planning my 18. The two routes having the same number is just an unfortunate, but potentially useful, coincidence. As for Thorpe Bay Broadway, this is my plan for a route 12. I would have liked First to run it, but it infringes ever-so-slightly on the Gentlemen's Agreement malarkey and would necessitate a change of terminus for them to be able to run it (Thorpe Bay Corner I expect). It is a lesser route that aims to provide services to local areas that otherwise may lose their service.

I'll send you the full map by e-mail as promised previously

 

[Pyromaniac]

Haha fair enough, I look forward to seeing it!

I may have to create my own full plans for Southend/Basildon/Lakeside areas and compare with you in future .