7 December 2015 - Faresaver X34 and 60 Service Changes

[whole diary]

[Lee]

From the Faresaver website - http://www.faresaver.co.uk/newsitem.php?i=9462647 :

Nov 2015 - 7th December - X34 & 60 service changes
Details of changes to the X34 and 60 service can now be downloaded from the timetables section.

The X34 has an additional trip departing Frome at 0736 arriving in Trowbridge for 0806, Melksham 0830 and Chippenham 0856. St Thomas Road, Trowbridge is moving from the X34 onto the 60, Trowbridge Town Service. The service will no longer call at Frome Medical Centre, for trips between Frome Market Place and the Medical Centre our 267 service can be used. Certain trips will not be serving Notton village - this is to allow us to be able to use vehicles with larger capacity at certain times of the day.

60 service times are changing throughout the day. In addition the 1450 trip departing Trowbridge Town Hall will call at John O Gaunt School at 1515 and service via Fore Street to Horse Road and Hilperton.

Yet again, Faresaver put their operational requirements above the needs of passengers, and put yet another boot into North and West Wiltshire^s ever-disintegrating bus network. Incredibly, the only positive change, the new 0736 service from Frome passes up a golden opportunity to satisfy the constant calls for a direct peak time arrival into Chippenham from the growing new housing estates of North Trowbridge centred on Leap Gate.

Yet more proof, if any were needed, that Bus Quality Contracts cant come soon enough to this part of the world.

New Service X34 Timetable link - http://www.faresaver.co.uk/timetables/565c2eb1e58f6.pdf

New Service 60 Timetable link - http://www.faresaver.co.uk/timetables/565c3792f359f.pdf

[grahame]

* St. Thomas's Road out of x34 and into town service 60 (makes x34 journies 3 minutes faster, but removed direct buses from St Thomas's Road to Chippenham and to Frome).

* Alternate buses to / from Chippenham no longer call at Notton. This is because Faresaver will be using doubledeckers for some of the journeys to relieve overcrowding, and the route though the village at Notton isn't suitable due to trees for such vehicles.

* The new 07:36 service from Frome to Chippenham is also designed to relieve overcrowding.

I'm not well placed to comment on Frome / medical centre services.  The information Lee quotes refers to the 267 - that's the Faresaver 267 and not the First 267. It's my understanding that one of these will be renumbered soon to help differentaiate bewteen the operators to help people get on the right bus.  My own view is tht it might be better to have a sysme under which tickets issues on any bus 267 was valid on any other 267, no matter who runs it, rather than by renumbering one of the operator's services.

The switch from single to doubledeckers on x34 indicates an excellent traffic, and a service that's likely to have a rather better profit margin than a single deck service - I can't imagine that doubling the height of a bus and near-doubleing the seats would also double the operation costs.  Taking a socially responsible approach, these better economics should ensure an improved profit for the opeator, and also the provision / improvement of connecting and extended hours services.

Looking at this "socially responsible" suggestion ... the vehicle arriving into Chippenham at around 18:08 (and that will be the end of the driver's shift) and also the Faresaver working methods of having driver with vehicle and not taxi-ing / driving them around) to go back to depot, fresh driver take over and running services from Chippenham (Bus Station) at 18:35, 20:35 and 22:25 via the railway station, Lacock, Melksham, Semington, Leap Gate, Horse Road to Trowbridge Town Hall, returning from there at 19:35, 21:35 and 23:15 via Trinity Church (for Trowbridge Station), Horse Road, Leap Gate, Semington, Melksham, and Lacock to Chippenham Bus Station.  The final leg of the last service from Lacock could be "if required" allowing the vehicle to get back direct to depot if empty, yet providing the tourist business and pubs of Lacock with a late way home for revellers staying in Chippenham which they lost in August.