Taking (Plym)stock

With several changes over the coming months Plymstock services are under the spotlight today. The current Plymstock route for Plymouth Citybus is the 5 5A which provides a basic 10 minute daily service from town alternating directions around the Plymstock loop. Evenings and Sundays are provided with a bus every 30 mins.

First Devon & Cornwall have several routes at the moment covering a larger area of Plymstock as shown below:

The main route is the 2 (yellow above) which operates a basic day time service every 12 minutes (10 mins at peak times). Evenings the service dips down to hourly. Sundays sees a half hourly service in the day time with an hourly Sunday evening service.

Next we have the 6 Dark blue above which shares a small section with the 2 but also serves Oreston and then into Elburton and Staddiscombe on a 20 minute frequency with the last bus back into town just after 9pm. A half hourly Sunday day time service is also provided. As can be seen there is a substantial overlap with the Plymouth Citybus 5 5A!

We then have the 7 (brown above – although most of it is hidden!) This comes up through Plymstock to Broadway, Dunstone View then down to Elburton and return in a one way loop. A basic half hour day time service with a Sunday bus every hour. No evenings.

Also shown above is the 48 in light blue with a few journeys pretty much covered by the 7 then splitting off  up through Wembury Road to Wembury. We also have the 93 with a bus every hour (black above) through Pomphlett Road and Stanborough Road on its way to Kingsbridge.

So what happens next?

27th October sees some drastic changes by First:

Service 2 (City Centre - Mount Batten): The frequency of buses on this route is being improved from the end of October. From this date buses will run every 10 minutes Monday - Saturday (compared to every 12 minutes at present) meaning customers will have more opportunities to travel. In addition to this the route that Service 2 buses take is being amended slightly. From the end of October buses between Plymstock Broadway and Pomphlett Roundabout will follow alternate routes every other journey, with one travelling via Pomphlett Gardens and the next travelling via Oreston. These changes mean that despite the loss of the old Service 6 (see details below), people travelling to and from Oreston will still have access to a bus every 20 minutes during the day Monday - Saturday. Similarly they will also regain an evening service from the end of October. Additionally, most journeys on Service 2 will continue from Royal Parade as Service 3, thus providing links from Plymstock to Devonport and St Budeaux

The 2 is shown below in yellow with the additional section through Oreston shown.

OLD Service 6 (City Centre - Staddiscombe): The existing Service 6 bus route is being withdrawn but a new Service 6 is being created at the same time (see details below). People who used the old service 6 will find that part of the previous route - that which runs between the city centre and Plymstock Broadway - will be covered by the revised Service 2 (see details above). People wishing to travel further into Staddiscombe will find that alternative services do exist.
Service 7 (City Centre - Elburton): We regret that this route - which has under performed for a number of years - is being withdrawn from the end of October. People wishing to travel to and from Elburton, Plymstock and the City Centre will however still be able to use our improved Service 93 (Plymouth - Dartmouth) to make local journeys.

Service 93 (Plymouth - Kingsbridge - Dartmouth): The timetable of this service is being amended to provide some additional short journeys running between Elburton (Elburton School) and the City Centre, to provide a bus every half hour This change is being made to compensate for the loss of Service 7 journeys. The longer journeys between Plymouth and Dartmouth are unaffected and remain as they are. From the end of October Service 93 buses will depart from Royal Parade (Stop A8), sharing the stop with Service 2 - which means that buses travelling the same direction will leave from the same place.

The 93 remains in black above with a bus every half hour.

It has to be said that this is quite a reduction in service for some areas of Plymstock although Citybus do have much of this covered. Speaking of which…

3rd November we see a new route:

Service 14 which is to operate hourly Monday to Saturday between Plympton, Plymstock, City Centre, Devonport, Ham, Derriford Hospital and Tamar Science Park. This new service is brought to you thanks to funding from Plymouth City Council.

The new hourly 14 shown above in orange adds few extra sections of route to the current coverage provided by the 5 5A (red).

But the changes are not over yet as we recently had a big announcement by Citybus regarding the 5 5A:

The new route, which will be named the 5 and 5A will run up to every 10 minutes between Plymstock Fire Station and Saltash Oaklands Drive, via the City Centre.

Saltash will not only benefit from increased Monday to Saturday daytime frequency but also an up to every 30 minutes service Monday to Saturday evenings and Sundays. At Oaklands Drive the 5 will operate clockwise around Latchbrook, with the 5A running anti clockwise around the same route, so every bus stop will be served.

In Plymstock both services will run a new route direct via Pomphlett Road to the fire station where the 5 will now operate via Dolphin Court and Stanborough continuing on its current route to Elburton and Staddiscombe. The the 5A will operate via Goosewell Road and continue to Holmwood and Staddiscombe on its current route.

So the map below shows the Citybus network from the 1st December when the 5 5A is rerouted as shown in red with the 14 shown in orange still..

We now see that the 14 route through Plymstock now duplicates much of the new 5 5A with several areas no longer served by Citybus including Billacombe Road which is now devoid of any service. Oreston sees a general reduction in  service from First and looses Citybus.

I can see that the new 5 5A makes sense to Citybus as there are a lot more passengers to be had going through Pomphlett Road but a fair few passengers will be upset. Perhaps the 14 could be re-routed to provide at least some cover?

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