Although I will be covering all of these in more detail in an upcoming Devon / Cornwall Transit post, I give you the full list of service changes by Plymouth Citybus on the 4th September:
Large Changes
- 10 – After the introduction of a the new service 5 between Saltash and the City Centre via Devonport, service 10 will be withdrawn due to low passenger numbers.
- 11 – Reduced back to an hourly frequency from every 30 minutes. Although we have seen good growth since increasing the frequency to every 30 minutes, there was not enough growth to make it sustainable.
- 12 – Reduced back to an hourly frequency from every 30 minutes. Although we have seen good growth since increasing the frequency to every 30 minutes, there was not enough growth to make it sustainable. Service 12 will run between Plymouth & Launceston via Stoke Climsland.
- 12A – Will run from Plymouth and will follow the existing 78/78A route but will provide passengers in Downgate, Callington and St Dominic direct trips into Plymouth.
- 43 – This will replace the current service 50 section between City Centre to Ernesettle only. This has been done so that we can increase the frequency in the Ernesettle area. Newer buses will be arriving for this route soon.
- 50/50A – Derriford – Estover - City Centre remains the same, but now links with the current 51/51A giving Crownhill a link to Asda at Estover. Giving a new Derriford to Derriford / Holly Park Yellowflash service 50.
- 71A –Withdrawn as a summer service only.
The return of the 43 to Ernesettle will be welcomed by many I am sure.
Smaller Changes
- 5/5A – To add one additional evening journey Plymstock to City Centre in both directions due to passenger demand
- 11A –Liskeard to Padstow service. This will still be an hourly service with minor amendments to the timetable. This will link with service 11 in Liskeard to provide through journeys from Plymouth to Padstow.
- 12B – Launceston to Bude will continue to run the existing timetable and route but the timetable will see some minor amendments. This will link with service 12 in Launceston to provide through journeys from Plymouth to Bude.
- 16 / 33 – Will now serve Mayflower Street and Western Approach. Will drop off on Derrys Cross Roundabout before heading to stop A5 this has been done to congestion at Drakes Circus.
- 21/21A – Minor timetable amendments to evening trips to provide better point to point running times.
- 27/27A/27B – Revised evening trips due to interworking service issues, with newer buses arriving soon for this route.
- 32– Inbound services from Stoke will now serve Western Approach rather than Drakes Circus due to congestion, dropping off on Derry Cross Roundabout before serving stop A3 to head back to Torpoint. Outbound journeys departing Royal Parade will follow the existing route via Drakes Circus.
- 34/34A- Revised evening Journeys to serve Torpoint Ferry and Royal William Yard, replacing the current 34B. Revised morning running times to improve connections with Torpoint Services at Pottery Quay.
- 35/35A – Last trip Monday – Saturday extended from Ham Green to Milehouse due to passenger demand.
- 40/41 – Reduced frequency to every 15 minutes due to reduced passenger numbers on the corridor, now using the Blueflash services.
- 44 –To improve reliability the service will now serve Whitleigh Green, before doing a clockwise loop of Taunton Avenue and then back to serve Whitleigh Green before returning into the City.
- 45/46 – 45 will now be Plymouth to Tavistock and the 46 will be Tavistock to Okehampton. The services will link, providing a service between Tavistock and Okehampton. There will be no timetable changes as a result.
- 70/70A/70B – Will now serve Western Approach once it has departed the Railway Station. It will then drop off at Derrys Cross Roundabout and then serve stop A3 as normal before heading to Torpoint.
- 72 – Introduction of the winter timetable and the withdrawal of the Sunday service. To get to Looe from Plymouth on a Sunday please use service 11 to Liskeard then service 73 to Looe.
- 73/73A – 73 extended to Liskeard Morrisons and Liskeard Hospital at the request of passengers. 73A introduced to provide of a morning and afternoon school time journey via Widegates and Looe School.
- 74 – Additional journey in both directions, including a journey in both directions direct into Plymouth.
- 78/78A – Renumbered 12A, adding direct links into Plymouth.
- 81/82/83 – New Monday to Saturday service. This will provide early morning and late night journeys throughout the City. These have been created to transport shift workers in the City, including Citybus staff.
- 84/85 – New Sunday Service This will provide early morning and late night journeys throughout the City. These have been created to transport shift workers in the City, including Citybus staff.
The Plymouth - Tavistock section of the 46 gets renumbered 45, otherwsie the route is unchanged.
All of this is in a handy Hot Topic leaflet downloadable PDF from Plymouth Citybus HERE
Oh great, now I have to wait even longer for a bus to get home to Southway after my 12 hour shift! 40/41 are always busy when I catch them, how can they say they've reduced in passenger numbers?!
ReplyDeletei dont understand the 40/41, i live right at the start of the 40/41 route in southway (where the route from town ends and restarts for town) and alot more people use the 40 into town then the 42a, just yesterday the 42a had 7 people on it to derriford while the 40 had 10 at the start of the route and the 41 had 12 at the start of its route, i can see both 42As and the 40/41 from my house and use the 41 alot, and its way more people on them and not 42a and the 42a is once an hour! so that timetable change is very silly as more passengers (as i asked them) go to derriford on the 42a not all the way into town..
ReplyDeletethey will prob change it back next update
Citybus seem to be implying that passenger numbers have dropped on the Plymouth - Crownhill part of the 40/41 from the way I read it, where they are needed to prop up the Southway part and make route sustainable. The fact people here are using Blue Flash instead is rubbish, Citybus customers on this route get the first bus that comes along red or blue. I live on Mannamead Road and can tell you that the reason passenger numbers have dropped here is because people switched to using the First 15/86 as it was nearly half the price to town. Before First price cut their buses never stopped to pick up between Crownhill and Mutley, afterwards the journey took 6 or 7 mins longer due to stopping and picking uo fare paying passengers at all intermediate stops. Stagecoach have since increased the return fare by 30p but Citybus fare from where I am has gone up 70p (without any notice I may add) so Stagecoach have maintained customers here despite only 1 bus every 30 mins. Hopefully they can increase frequency on this corridor soon, although this would give Citybus even bigger headaches. I don't think this cut has got anything to do with Southway itself IMO
DeleteSlightly changing subject but 251 out in service in the swoop livery
ReplyDeleteI can see 40/41 being changed to one route one way around Soythway every 15/20 mins. A bit like the old First 17.
ReplyDeleteI hope not! It's convenient for me to get the 41 as I live off Dunnett Road, otherwise I'd have to wait for the 40 to do a circular around Southway before getting home!
Deleteif the 40/41 goes to one route one way round it will be chanced back, my nan gets the 40 as its 40 as its a shorter route from her house and if it changes to being the 41 only she would moan, lots of people would moan, and ill get the car into town as it will make my trip into town like 10min longer, if it changes to just the 40 then it will be no difference outer than a 10min longer trip home but will be more busy from when i get on, we will have to wait and see what happens, like i bet people wont like the time change at all (older people mainly)
Deletealso to note i have ASD, the 40/41 is already to busy for me to cope with and having a longer waiting time means more people on the same bus while the 42a stays empty to derriford
Newer buses for the 43 I assume are the eco-ones due from East Angelia. The newer buses for the 27/27a sounds good, is this the citarios off the 51/51a?
ReplyDeleteDoes that mean that the 43 is going to become Gas Flash? Sounds incendiary.
DeleteA couple of routes have 'newer buses coming'. Is that cascading from routes which are due for brand new (as opposed to newer) vehicles or is Pink Flash (Brown Flash, Purple Flash, Puce Flash) on its way?
ReplyDeleteWhereas First were quite unable to keep route-branded buses on the correct route on at least three distinct route-branding schemes, Citybus do seem able to keep the Flash buses where they belong. Non-branded vehicles do from time to time appear on the Flash routes, but have Flash-branded buses appeared on other services?
Yep. Blue Flash does late Southways every day, green flash i've seen on an evening Efford on Sunday,s, one blue flash starts out on a 27b/28b etc.
DeleteI had a red flash back from Polperro a couple of weeks ago!
DeleteBlue Flash regularly appear on 40/41 in the evening but generally I think they stick to their own turf!
DeleteDid happen to notice a Red Flash on Rame routes the other day!
Some Flash branded buses are actually scheduled to work on other routes. An example is the 19.08 51 service from Derriford on a Saturday which uses a Yellow Flash vehicle. Incidentally, ex Brighton Dart 53 is now in the body shop being repanelled.
ReplyDeleteGo Cornwall buses seem to be used a lot on City services though
ReplyDeleteYes blue flash and green often on 41 o see
ReplyDeletethe school buses in southway 101 and 102 has redflash alot, while just last week a redflash was on the 40 and a green e200 was "out of service" on the 42a, normally the flash buses get used as back ups when there is a problem the that redflash that was on the 40 took over 88 that broke down..
DeleteBlue Flash is scheduled on 41s every evening in the week. Green does an evening 8 and 42B on Sunday. I saw a Blue on a 32 in from the Ferry on Sunday morning last week.
ReplyDeleteAnon 11/08/16 07:23 I agree that is how I read it too, and I have to say I do think some loyal Citybus customers have switched since the fares were dropped 18 months ago by First here and Stagecoach kept low fares on this corridor.
ReplyDeleteSaltash I feel is the same, Green Flash is not so popular that the 10 has suddenly become unviable either, the truth is Saltash should read ' following constant service changes and fares increases in the area, our passengers have decided that they would rather use the more consistent Stagecoach service which is more frequent, direct and cheaper than ours, we have effectively killed ourselves off here and Green Flash will be gone from Saltash soon too'
Re 11/12 cutback perhaps they could say ' we launched these routes at an unsustainable frequency to kill off First, now First have gone you can pay our high fares and the old 1 hour frequency is restored'
Just a thought!
The 11/12 hour hourly service started after first pulled out and stagecoach couldn't be bothered. Don't forget citybus didn't launch these routes against first they purchased the liskeard western greyhound operation, and for eg on the 12 were and still are offering a far superior service to anything they've ever had before
DeleteIt is not quite the reduction it seems as, during the day, the 12A will provide an extra bus every other hour into Plymouth from Callington - not ideal, but at least the buses leave Callington with a 60-, then a 30-minute gap. St Dominick does get its bus service back - but the times still don't allow for someone working in Plymouth. It is worth remembering that, before Western Greyhound came on the scene, the whole service, including late into the evening, went through St. Dominick.
DeleteIt is a pity the opportunity has been missed to bring back the 76 number.
Disappointed to see the revised timetables for the 11A. I wish there was more concideration when scheduling services that link to railway stations they actually check how well the service links with train services. As of sept 4th many bus services leave a few mins before main commuter trains arrive at bodmin parkway (especially evening trains). No doubt there will be comments by Citybus that passenger numbers have dropped (nothing more frustrating than seeing a bus drive out just as your train arrives).
ReplyDeleteYou know the trains also run a timetable. Could they possibly make a change to fit around the buses. Don't give me the train travels further so it's harder for them to change I have herd it before. You look at the inconsistent train arrivals into Bodmin. How are you supposed to schedule a clock face timetable around that?
DeleteThe trains are very often late (I'm a bus driver) so maybe they've given up and trying to connect or are there any gwr timetable changes coming up? Or maybe it's due to the 9 month diversion around Bodmin from september
DeleteThe published timetables on the website show the current route (can be seen from the order of stops, timings and includes bodmin Morrison's which cannot be accesse throughout the building work)., As for the time connections with trains the point is that connection times are very tight even if the train is on time (a reschedule of 5 to 10 mins aids this situation significantly).I wasn't asking that services wait for trains with significant delays, just more allowance for on time connections (new timetables sees two services that leave less than 5 mins before a train arrival which previously could be caught).
DeleteJust checked what the person who raised concerns with the revised 11a bus timetable and connections with trains (liskeard to padstow bound) and he/she is absolutely right. Disregard comments about late trains. Even if both bus and train services are on time, passengers will either miss a connection by around 5mins or just have a few mins to get to the stop.
DeleteAnother mess up by city bus number 11 and 12 gone too an hour each and the 5 every twenty minutes which goes through Devonport the mystery tour way into town what a complete mess for Saltash will be using stagecoach from now on goes into directly and quickly at least Saltash has stage coach
ReplyDeleteAnother mess up by city bus number 11 and 12 gone too an hour each and the 5 every twenty minutes which goes through Devonport the mystery tour way into town what a complete mess for Saltash will be using stagecoach from now on goes into directly and quickly at least Saltash has stage coach
ReplyDeleteWhat a complete mess another change to services and hardly any citybus services in Saltash except the 5 every 20 minutes and takes the mystery tour into town takes ages and the 11 is every hour and the 12 every hour at least Saltash has stage coach at least they don't keep changing the timetable s every 2-3 months at least I know the times of stagecoach going to catch them from now on at least I don't have to keep learning the timetables
ReplyDeleteMatt, this was always going to happen. At the first opportunity post First, CityBus would decimate the services. They stood up and told the residents of Saltash this is what would happen in the meeting they had when first announcing the services They have the rude nickname for a reason.
ReplyDeleteRunning buses to Liskeard (11) and Callington (12) every 30 minutes was never profitable. Despite them claiming otherwise, particularly on the 12. Why do people think First never even contemplated the idea when they ran the services. Hourly are only just going to break even. Sadly StageCoaches desired profit margin will stop them even wanting to compete on these routes.
Although personally the changes to the 12 with the inclusion of St Dom are better for family reasons.
Thank god for Stagecoach. I am lucky enough to live in one of few areas of Plymouth served by Stagecoach. Their service is far superior in every way, no contest. People of Saltash you are very lucky I am sure Torpoint for eg would agree!
DeleteBring back First please. Great services cheap prices and friendly drivers . just what we needed really?
Delete"Bring back First, please'. I believe most of the First drivers moved to either Stagecoach or Citybus; it would be interesting, if any of them read this, to hear which of the three companies is the best to work for. One driver I knew years back was glad to have moved from First to Citybus - but that was when Citybus was owned by the City Council, not Go Ahead.
DeleteI find it quite comical! PCB forever changing things, routes, timetables etc. Stagecoach must just sit back and watch them laughing!
ReplyDeleteIf a bus company is being run well in the first place multiple route changes and timetable updates would not be required, except a small tinkering here and there.
Passengers have got fed up with citybus and their non stop changes (even visible to see this on comments on this post) it's times like these where a rival company with a better reputation will bite. If you have the customers today and don't treat them right, don't expect to have them tomorrow, business is business.... right Stagecoach?
Aline coaches off torpoint are buy a 2nd low floor min dart bus reg is 2005 .may be for a new route .or spare bus for routes allready there got
ReplyDeletewe are very happy in torpoint with service citybus provide, stagecoach have snubbed us!
ReplyDeleteWish we could say the same in Plympton
ReplyDeleteThe problem is, and I can say this from experience, if one of the city's smaller operators for example Target or Jackett's tried to muscle in to one of these areas, even with moderate age buses, friendlier staff, cheaper prices, they would still most likely fail.
ReplyDelete70% of all bus passengers are creatures of habit, they have always caught the 43 therefore they will still get the 43, even though the new Z buses service 53 is cheaper.
Also it must be said that any operator who wanted to have a go on any of these services would have to commit huge resources from the start, its not a attractive proposition for a small company.
Lets take the City to Derriford for example, its an hour round trip with no traffic, therefore for 10 minute service requires 6 buses with no traffic, and we all know what that corridor is like for traffic so you are really talking a PVR of 8 buses.
Yes very true, there is no way a target could take on city bus on any route. The only company that can is Stagecoach. Who knows what their intentions in the future may be?
DeleteI see the new timetables have been posted on the stops at Coleman drive for the 5/5a but no mention off the 81/85 which starts the same day, it appears that city bus don't want people to know about or use these services because if they are not advertised on the stops they use how are the people with out internet access to know about the services
ReplyDelete