Useless Bus Services.

[Bletchleyite]

Actually, thinking on, there are some relatively low-used subsidised routes in MK (for some reason MK Council has continued with this when others have mostly stopped). You rarely see the 24/25 (a big outer circle of the whole of MK running once an hour, basically) with more than one or two people on it if that, it'd be cheaper to have some sort of subsidised taxi-at-the-bus-fare scheme.

It's not useless, though, it does for instance connect people with their nearest large supermarket, which Arriva's commercial services don't round here. It's just low-used.

 

[Ostrich]

The least frequent bus of all is the 112 from Tavistock to Dawlish, running over Dartmoor. This route runs on summer Saturdays (from April to September) - but only on the fifth Saturday of the month! That means most years there are only two services in each direction, with three services in a minority of years (the last year to have three runs was 2017, the next will be 2023). I imagine the rather gimmicky frequency draws quite a lot of passengers in!

That reminds me that thirty-odd years ago, there was a bus which ran from an outlying hamlet into Crewkerne, Somerset and back, and was officially timetabled to operate "every other Tuesday". Yes, but which Tuesday was every other Tuesday? That wasn't made clear .....

 

[Bletchleyite]

That reminds me that thirty-odd years ago, there was a bus which ran from an outlying hamlet into Crewkerne, Somerset and back, and was officially timetabled to operate "every other Tuesday". Yes, but which Tuesday was every other Tuesday? That wasn't made clear .....

If you need to know you probably do! This sort of service is often operated by a local community transport organisation.

 

[MotCO]

I suspect it'll be pretty hard to find useless bus services, as a useless bus service doesn't make a profit (or fulfil a social need, if subsidised) and thus doesn't last very long - it's a very different market to rail.

I'm sure if you look harder enough in Cornwall you'll find some now

 

[Whisky Papa]

Planning gain[1] for the named "business park", almost certainly. Very common indeed.

[1] For those not familiar with the term, it's granting of planning permission conditional on the funding of the startup costs (typically 3-5 years) of a public transport connection for those working or living there. It's done pretty universally in MK and has resulted in some slightly odd bus routes - not useless but certainly unremunerative - that just disappear after those 3-5 years.

That would make a lot of sense - thanks.

 

[Pat1105]

Discount Travel Solutions/RK Travel run in competition with NX on the outer circle. They run infrequently and at odd times.

 

[duncanp]

The 25 in Birmingham could be a candidate.

It runs from the city centre to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital via Ladywood, Edgbaston and Harborne.

There are only 5 buses per day, runninghourly between 09:40 and 14:40, and you certainly won't have problems with social distancing, because hardly anyone uses it. There are plenty of other options to get from the city centre to the hospital, and you certainly wouldn't want to rely on it if you had a medical appointment.

 

[Geordie driver]

I have mentioned on here before, we used to do a secured service run between Newcastle General Hospital and the RVI, every half hour I think and intended for staff to travel between the 2, as far as I am aware no one ever travelled on it, this ran for at least a year.

The first Sunday of deregulation I was on a Newcastle/ Blyth service 43, same as the old 405. This was being run as a commercial service but for some reason there was a shorter secured service 43 from the same depot that ran at the same time but stopped at the county boundary then waited and travelled back at the same times as the Blyth bus. I think that went on for a year.

At the time Sundays were very different to now, virtually all shops were shut, virtually no traffic, you took a few people to the pub and even fewer to church.

You just had to trundle round together and wait time at every timing point.

Much less of this now as there is not the money to waste.

 

[Markdvdman]

The X75 now run by Stagecoach Merthyr to Swansea (currently not running due to Covid-19) is mostly useless. Runs 3 times a day and first trip leaves Merthyr just before 9am so no hope for workers! No Sunday journey either.

Not well used I suspect due to the times - it used to be far better in the early 90s when they ran it!

 

[mmh]

I suspect it'll be pretty hard to find useless bus services, as a useless bus service doesn't make a profit (or fulfil a social need, if subsidised) and thus doesn't last very long - it's a very different market to rail.

I'll suggest the A55 Bangor to Colwyn Bay. Single morning and evening service timed to arrive at the Welsh Government office in Llandudno Junction at clocking on/off time, it even enters the complex to save the two minute walk from the street. Follows the route of the X5 from Bangor to Conwy, i.e. spends no more time on the A55 road than the normal service.

It has next to no passengers beyond Conwy. To reinforce who the intended passengers are it's even timetabled to terminate at the county council offices in Colwyn Bay, the only bus that is. It doesn't though, it carries on "unofficially" to the next stop in the town centre where you'd expect it to.

 

[mmh]

The 25 in Birmingham could be a candidate.

It runs from the city centre to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital via Ladywood, Edgbaston and Harborne.

There are only 5 buses per day, runninghourly between 09:40 and 14:40, and you certainly won't have problems with social distancing, because hardly anyone uses it. There are plenty of other options to get from the city centre to the hospital, and you certainly wouldn't want to rely on it if you had a medical appointment.

It's not strictly useless though if it provides a journey opportunity used by even a low number of people which isn't provided by another service.

 

[richw]

It seems to run every Saturday (at least for most of the year), rotating between Exeter, Falmouth, Barnstaple, and Torquay for the other four Saturdays. Each of those monthly routes has its own service number though!

It’s basically a service providing a rotation of day trips, rotating through 5 day out destination towns.
It’s no different to a tour coach providing day outings to a different place in rotation, but on a service bus regulation instead of coach tour

 

[Pat1105]

I find the Arriva Shrewsbury 2 quite useless. It’s only 9 minutes end to end and doesn’t really serve anywhere that isn’t a short walk away from the 24 & 25 routes.

 

[Statto]

129 Liscard-Frankby Cemetery, operates on Sundays only with one journey each way with around a 30 minute layover at Frankby Cemetery, it passes my home & i never see anyone on it, although it involves changing buses there are other more frequent services operating between the 2 destinations.

 

[Dave The Bus]

Do Stagecoach in Chorley still do the twice weekly market day service 327 from Wrightington to Chorley?

Used to do one trip into Chorley in a morning and back in an afternoon... just on a Tuesday and Friday... it was run by a bus coming off a school service in a morning and then back out again in the afternoon before it did the afternoon school service

Ooo... may as well add the VH1 and VH2 services ran by Diamond Bus NW in Boothstown and Walkden... The latter used to be operated with a converted Merc Sprinter van... and that was still to large for the number of passengers using it

 

[PG]

Years ago on the Council funded Sherwood Arrow in Notts the last bus from Retford terminated in Tuxford and returned back to Retford at 22.22hrs. At 22.26hrs the through bus from Nottingham arrived at Tuxford en route to Retford. 2 journeys in 4 minutes covering the full route at that time of night in a very rural part of Nottinghamshire! Why the 22.22 wasn't sent direct back to Retford (in 13 minutes rather than the 30 minute full route) I never understood.....

Depending just how many years ago this was, i.e. before companies could accurately track their buses, I imagine the Tuxford terminator ran a few minutes late to arrive just after the through service. Then the driver high-tailed it 'dead' to the depot as no passengers would suffer any inconvenience... and the driver got a few extra minutes to cash in.

 

[bussnapperwm]

The 25 in Birmingham could be a candidate.

It runs from the city centre to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital via Ladywood, Edgbaston and Harborne.

There are only 5 buses per day, runninghourly between 09:40 and 14:40, and you certainly won't have problems with social distancing, because hardly anyone uses it. There are plenty of other options to get from the city centre to the hospital, and you certainly wouldn't want to rely on it if you had a medical appointment.

It has a point though. It stems from the 10H service which was an igo service which replaced parts of the 8A/C service around Monument Lane and also provides a reason for a decker to be able to be on the X20/1/2 peaks.

 

[WM Bus]

It has a point though. It stems from the 10H service which was an igo service which replaced parts of the 8A/C service around Monument Lane and also provides a reason for a decker to be able to be on the X20/1/2 peaks.

The only reason a decker is used is because it goes onto the X20/X21/X22 afterwards in normal times. It runs out of service to Woodgate after terminating at the QE to commence an X22 to the City Centre.

The 25 never would need a decker, so I don't see how it provides a reason for a decker to be able to be on the X20/X21/X22 peaks. And presumably the decker wouldn't be used if it didn't go onto the X20/X21/X22 afterwards, since its the X20/X21/X22 that require deckers. Many times when I used the X20/X21/X22, the deckers used to have full standing loads after picking up from the University North Gate stop in the PM peak.

Infact before the 10H went onto the X20/X21/X22 afterwards, the 10H was always operated by single decker B7RLE.

It does connect Monument Road in Ladywood to the QE and City Centre. But then again the Hagley Road services and 80 also operate at either ends of that road (Its only a relatively short road) frequently, so most would walk to one of those services I think when going to the City Centre. They are high frequency and operate all day.
And I agree hardly anyone uses the 25 (or previously the 10H) from what i've seen.

Discount Travel Solutions/RK Travel run in competition with NX on the outer circle. They run infrequently and at odd times.

Not a pointless service though, the Outer Circle is a very heavily used key route, most use NX.
DTS/RK Travel do carry passengers though. Largely passengers who are paying for single tickets/N Bus and get on the first bus that comes, no matter who the operator is, or concessionary pass holders. And where delays they pick up people who pay 50p to get on with NX passes, and delays are not uncommon on the Outer Circle.

Currently their service is suspened due to COVID - 19. And only NX are running it, so I wander if/when they'll come back.

 

[splashoutradio]

In Walkden, Greater Manchester, routes VH1 & VH2 were created as result of planning permission requirements for a new build estate. I can't comment on the VH1, but the VH2 runs every 15 mins and is known locally as the ghost bus, as even pre-covid, it does an excellent job of transporting fresh air.

VH2 | Diamond Bus

www.diamondbuses.com

 

[James101]

Warrington’s temporary COVID timetable for the CAT9 is a bit odd for the village of Lowstock Garlam, usually served every 2 hours.

The CAT9A variant has been dropped with all journeys now running through Lowstock, a rare case of a place getting a better service under a COVID timetable. They’ve also added in some extra short journeys between Lowstock and Northwich, presumably for something for the bus on the 48 tender to do in down time. These extras always run within 10-15 minutes of the long journeys, seeming a bit useless for a route used to a 2-hourly frequency.

 

[martinsh]

Warrington’s temporary COVID timetable for the CAT9 is a bit odd for the village of Lowstock Garlam, usually served every 2 hours.

The CAT9A variant has been dropped with all journeys now running through Lowstock, a rare case of a place getting a better service under a COVID timetable. They’ve also added in some extra short journeys between Lowstock and Northwich, presumably for something for the bus on the 48 tender to do in down time. These extras always run within 10-15 minutes of the long journeys, seeming a bit useless for a route used to a 2-hourly frequency.

I assume you mean Lostock Gralam ?

 

[James101]

I assume you mean Lostock Gralam ?

Indeed I do. Considering I’ve worked a few miles down the road for years and must have seen it on signs countless times it’s evidently never sunk in.

 

[Dawsobanter]

I literally made an account just to post this but...

Near Maidstone there's a bus numbered 123 from Nu-venture buses that runs once a day in one direction serving 5 stops in 5 minutes from West Malling rail station into King's Hill, it's at 09:17 as well!! What is the point of this bus!!!!
I believe it still running even during covid according to traveline website.

Have a look:

http://www.nu-venture.co.uk/123_010919.pdf

 

[kez19]

For me its not a useless service as such but the Stagecoach Strathtay 22 service has to be the oddest service to still run - Dundee-Kirriemuir route, it runs via Longhaugh Road and I believe its only on at certain times of the day (same with Xplore 139 -- timetable maybe outdated but it shows both services)

https://www.angus.gov.uk/sites/angus-cms/files/2017-06/139_June_2017.pdf -- just to point out this timetable is the closest I could use at the moment as Stagecoach have tempoarily withdrawn the 22 due to COVID-19 but the timetable gives an idea of the service.

 

[NorthOxonian]

The CAT9A variant has been dropped with all journeys now running through Lowstock, a rare case of a place getting a better service under a COVID timetable. They’ve also added in some extra short journeys between Lowstock and Northwich, presumably for something for the bus on the 48 tender to do in down time. These extras always run within 10-15 minutes of the long journeys, seeming a bit useless for a route used to a 2-hourly frequency.

The village of Slaley in Northumberland saw a similar scenario. The 689 service usually runs once every day between Consett and Hexham via Slaley, but four times a day on weekends.* The emergency service was based on Sundays and so the village saw an increase in bus service on weekdays.

* The 689 could well be classed as a "useless service" - with very few passengers and most of those taking the route being concessionary pass holders on a day out. Very few board at intermediate stops.

 

[Zakforbes4]

I literally made an account just to post this but...

Near Maidstone there's a bus numbered 123 from Nu-venture buses that runs once a day in one direction serving 5 stops in 5 minutes from West Malling rail station into King's Hill, it's at 09:17 as well!! What is the point of this bus!!!!
I believe it still running even during covid according to traveline website.

Have a look:

http://www.nu-venture.co.uk/123_010919.pdf

I’m glad my thread interested you and thanks everyone for keeping this active