Stagecoach Devon have a nice little notice on their web site giving details that the route and timetable on the X38 will change from the 13th October 2008. The announcement is actually under the "Tickets and Offers" heading rather than the "Service Information" heading which could cause confusion. It would also have been useful if there was a link to the new timetable page in this box to save people having to hunt it down.
The good news is that the hourly timetable is maintained while the bad news is that the bus is going through South Brent. Now I have nothing against South Brent and I guess that if you want to go to South Brent then this new diversion is good news for you. However, if like the vast majority of passengers you just want to get to Exeter direct from Plymouth then it does add over 10 minutes to the journey taking it to over an hour and a half. The other change, not highlighted in the publicity, is that the service no longer serves the Warner Village which seems to save 2 minutes from the timetable!
Most journeys are now provided by Enviros although Tridents still appear quite often. Indeed from what I have heard, the Tridents are a bit faster and more suited to the route. Its a shame that they are bus seated and not coach seated as its a long time to be sitting on a bus seat. The older Volvo coaches may have been dull and had the arrogance of insisting that passengers had to climb a few steps to reach their seats, but they were very comfortable once you were onboard.
Get over yourself - there are plenty of ways to get to Warner Village from central Plymouth and until this timetabling change NO buses serving Exeter from South Brent. South Brent is a hub for many surrounding samller villages, the X38 service means that we can now get to our schools, colleges, places of work, hospitals etc in Exeter - as we once could on the 39 route. 10 minutes will not inconvenience you much but will certainly assist the villages!
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