15 May 2006
Stagecoach across the Moors
This weekend has just seen the annual Ten Tors race in which hundreds of youngsters make their way across the beautiful but wild terrain of Dartmoor. Later this month we see Stagecoach Devon take over the 82 service from Plymouth to Exeter across the moors. This really is a fantastic route and needs to be a double decker to do it justice. With SCD taking over at the end of this month there is scope for some very nice buses to be used - maybe low floor Tridents could just make it? At the very least they have a decent fleet of Olympians which are very comfortable and put most of the outgoing FDC fleet to shame. That's not to say that FDC dont have any smart DDs - they do - but Exeter has them in quantity!
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Good to see that Stagecoach are running the Transmoor service but be warned that in the new South Hams timetable booklet (available from Bretonside if you ask them nicely) the last bus back from Exeter on Sundays and Bank Holidays is shown as the 1450. In fact, the last bus is the 1650 from Exeter as the on line timetable of Stagecoach shows.
ReplyDeleteWell, I'm not sure of the state of the Stagecoach fleet at the moment, but I agree that some of the SCD Olympians could be put to good use here. I've seen them on a few occasions on the X38 and on the 12/A when passing through Newton Abbot, and they do put the majority of Plymouth's fleet (both CityBus and FDC) to shame.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand though, Plymouth is a City that doesn't need to rely on double-deckers much. The general consensus is one of smaller busses on a more regular occurrance, the only need for double-deckers coming on routes that don't have as regular services (the various 80 and 81 services and the school runs, for example).
Haven't actually been on the route myself since I tend to use the train for trips to Exeter and further out of the Westcountry, but if SCD can advertise the service a lot better than FDC ever did, then I could see that route becoming more popular than it did under FDC.
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On another note, any more news on the P&R changeover at the end of the month? I'm on the 25A route, and getting information from the drivers is like getting blood out of a stone at the moment. All I know is that there's going to be a possible renumbering to the 20 (current service 20 becomes new service 25), and that they're *hoping* to stick to 20 minute services. Other than that, we're in the dark.
I am still waiting to hear any news on the forthcoming changes to Citybus routes in Plymouth at the end of the month. We have heard a few rumours about the 52 Derriford - Plympton - the drivers dont know anymore than we do at the moment.
ReplyDeleteHave to disagree about the need for double deckers though. If the services were a lot more frequent then single deckers are ok - but its not unusual for full standing loads on the Darts on many of the services. Passengers do still like to get a seat!