Bus Frequency

Post by tim...
Went shopping on the bus today
and frequencies are definitely down from the last time I reported on this
all the 10 minute frequency busses past my house are now every 15 minutes
I'm sure it wasn't like that 2-3 weeks ago

Yes, I've just checked the on-line timetable for my local bus, and the
normally 12-15 mins service is now a 20 min service. Not that many people
are using them.

Roland Perry

2020-05-13 17:50:08 UTC

Yes, I've just checked the on-line timetable for my local bus, and the
normally 12-15 mins service is now a 20 min service. Not that many people
are using them.

Mine is stubbornly sticking to one every two hours.

--
Roland Perry

tim...

2020-05-14 08:49:37 UTC

Yes, I've just checked the on-line timetable for my local bus, and the
normally 12-15 mins service is now a 20 min service. Not that many people
are using them.

Mine is stubbornly sticking to one every two hours.

well that's what you get for living in rural utopia

It's why I moved back (to urbanisation)

tim

Trolleybus

2020-05-14 09:34:23 UTC

Yes, I've just checked the on-line timetable for my local bus, and the
normally 12-15 mins service is now a 20 min service. Not that many people
are using them.

Mine is stubbornly sticking to one every two hours.

Is it a council-supported service? Ours is, and ancient buses carrying
fresh air are still passing every hour in each direction, carrying
nobody at all between small villages, local towns and Stansted
Airport.

The nearby commercial operator has reduced its service from three
slight variants of a route collectively running every ten minutes to
just one bus per hour.

Roland Perry

2020-05-14 09:57:32 UTC

Yes, I've just checked the on-line timetable for my local bus, and the
normally 12-15 mins service is now a 20 min service. Not that many people
are using them.

Mine is stubbornly sticking to one every two hours.

Is it a council-supported service?

No, a regular Stagecoach commercial service, and runs 7am-8pm, so it's
viable for commuting if one has to.

Post by Trolleybus
Ours is, and ancient buses

We tend to get hand-me-downs from the infamous guided bus, so quite high
spec and rarely more than ten years old.

Post by Trolleybus
carrying fresh air are still passing every hour in each direction,
nobody carrying at all between small villages, local towns and Stansted
Airport.
The nearby commercial operator has reduced its service from three
slight variants of a route collectively running every ten minutes to
just one bus per hour.

--
Roland Perry

tim...

2020-05-14 17:56:02 UTC

Yes, I've just checked the on-line timetable for my local bus, and the
normally 12-15 mins service is now a 20 min service. Not that many people
are using them.

Mine is stubbornly sticking to one every two hours.

Is it a council-supported service?

No, a regular Stagecoach commercial service, and runs 7am-8pm, so it's
viable for commuting if one has to.

once every 2 hours doesn't sound viable for commuting

you either have to arrive at 7:30 or 9:30, or whatever

Post by Trolleybus
Ours is, and ancient buses

We tend to get hand-me-downs from the infamous guided bus, so quite high
spec and rarely more than ten years old.

Post by Trolleybus
carrying fresh air are still passing every hour in each direction, nobody
carrying at all between small villages, local towns and Stansted Airport.
The nearby commercial operator has reduced its service from three
slight variants of a route collectively running every ten minutes to
just one bus per hour.

--
Roland Perry

Roland Perry

2020-05-14 19:27:26 UTC

Post by Roland Perry
Mine is stubbornly sticking to one every two hours.

Is it a council-supported service?

No, a regular Stagecoach commercial service, and runs 7am-8pm, so
it's viable for commuting if one has to.

once every 2 hours doesn't sound viable for commuting
you either have to arrive at 7:30 or 9:30, or whatever

Someone needs to tell those promoting the Soham station reopening (it's
a 0.5tph line).

However it depends what time of day the buses are; if there was one that
happened to drop off near work at 8.45 and pick up to go home at say
5.30, it wouldn't be too bad.

--
Roland Perry

tim...

2020-05-14 19:41:45 UTC

Post by Roland Perry
Mine is stubbornly sticking to one every two hours.

Is it a council-supported service?

No, a regular Stagecoach commercial service, and runs 7am-8pm, so it's
viable for commuting if one has to.

once every 2 hours doesn't sound viable for commuting
you either have to arrive at 7:30 or 9:30, or whatever

Someone needs to tell those promoting the Soham station reopening (it's a
0.5tph line).

but it's not exactly on a direct line to anywhere most people will want to
travel for work

surely it's more a leisure/shopping travel station?

tim

Roland Perry

2020-05-15 05:24:45 UTC

Post by Roland Perry
Mine is stubbornly sticking to one every two hours.

Is it a council-supported service?

No, a regular Stagecoach commercial service, and runs 7am-8pm, so
it's viable for commuting if one has to.

once every 2 hours doesn't sound viable for commuting
you either have to arrive at 7:30 or 9:30, or whatever

Someone needs to tell those promoting the Soham station reopening
(it's a 0.5tph line).

but it's not exactly on a direct line to anywhere most people will want
to travel for work
surely it's more a leisure/shopping travel station?

It's being mainly promoted as a way of people from Soham being able to
easier commute to work. Implied Cambridge/Newmarket, although the main
promoter lives in Soham and works in Ely.

For leisure/shopping, the hourly bus (Cambridge, Newmarket, Soham, Ely)
is probably better.

I can't work out how they expect people to get to Cambridge, is either a
change of trains at Ely, or at Kennett (east of Newmarket)? Of course,
you have to double-back at the latter to get to Newmarket at all.

The change at Ely qualifies for you earlier scepticism about
granularlity, with the morning trains arriving from Soham direction at
either 7am (too early) or 9am (too late).

Anyway, they've got the funds now to do a proper feasibility study, so
we'll see what that says.

--
Roland Perry

tim...

2020-05-15 13:49:09 UTC

Post by Roland Perry
Mine is stubbornly sticking to one every two hours.

Is it a council-supported service?

No, a regular Stagecoach commercial service, and runs 7am-8pm, so it's
viable for commuting if one has to.

once every 2 hours doesn't sound viable for commuting
you either have to arrive at 7:30 or 9:30, or whatever

Someone needs to tell those promoting the Soham station reopening (it's
a 0.5tph line).

but it's not exactly on a direct line to anywhere most people will want to
travel for work
surely it's more a leisure/shopping travel station?

It's being mainly promoted as a way of people from Soham being able to
easier commute to work. Implied Cambridge/Newmarket, although the main
promoter lives in Soham and works in Ely.
For leisure/shopping, the hourly bus (Cambridge, Newmarket, Soham, Ely) is
probably better.
I can't work out how they expect people to get to Cambridge, is either a
change of trains at Ely, or at Kennett (east of Newmarket)? Of course, you
have to double-back at the latter to get to Newmarket at all.
The change at Ely qualifies for you earlier scepticism about granularlity,
with the morning trains arriving from Soham direction at either 7am (too
early) or 9am (too late).
Anyway, they've got the funds now to do a proper feasibility study, so
we'll see what that says.

once they get the station open they can campaign for the Fordham curve (I
think it is called) to reopen :-)

Roland Perry

2020-05-15 15:39:13 UTC

Post by Roland Perry
Someone needs to tell those promoting the Soham station reopening
(it's a 0.5tph line).

but it's not exactly on a direct line to anywhere most people will
want to travel for work
surely it's more a leisure/shopping travel station?

It's being mainly promoted as a way of people from Soham being able
to easier commute to work. Implied Cambridge/Newmarket, although the
main promoter lives in Soham and works in Ely.
For leisure/shopping, the hourly bus (Cambridge, Newmarket, Soham,
Ely) is probably better.
I can't work out how they expect people to get to Cambridge, is
either a change of trains at Ely, or at Kennett (east of Newmarket)?
Of course, you have to double-back at the latter to get to Newmarket
at all.
The change at Ely qualifies for you earlier scepticism about
granularlity, with the morning trains arriving from Soham direction
at either 7am (too early) or 9am (too late).
Anyway, they've got the funds now to do a proper feasibility study,
so we'll see what that says.

once they get the station open they can campaign for the Fordham curve
(I think it is called) to reopen :-)

But that's not going to help if the line *through* Soham is limited to
0.5 passenger train paths an hour.

Unless you want to swing the Peterborough-Ipswich service to being
Peterborough-[Ely]-Cambridge and make all the Ipswich bound pax change
at Newmarket.

That's also assuming the single line from Newmarket to Cambridge could
accommodate the doubling of the trains.

--
Roland Perry

tim...

2020-05-15 18:47:38 UTC

Post by Roland Perry
Someone needs to tell those promoting the Soham station reopening
(it's a 0.5tph line).

but it's not exactly on a direct line to anywhere most people will want
to travel for work
surely it's more a leisure/shopping travel station?

It's being mainly promoted as a way of people from Soham being able to
easier commute to work. Implied Cambridge/Newmarket, although the main
promoter lives in Soham and works in Ely.
For leisure/shopping, the hourly bus (Cambridge, Newmarket, Soham, Ely)
is probably better.
I can't work out how they expect people to get to Cambridge, is either a
change of trains at Ely, or at Kennett (east of Newmarket)? Of course,
you have to double-back at the latter to get to Newmarket at all.
The change at Ely qualifies for you earlier scepticism about
granularlity, with the morning trains arriving from Soham direction at
either 7am (too early) or 9am (too late).
Anyway, they've got the funds now to do a proper feasibility study, so
we'll see what that says.

once they get the station open they can campaign for the Fordham curve (I
think it is called) to reopen :-)

But that's not going to help if the line *through* Soham is limited to 0.5
passenger train paths an hour.

how can a line a couple of miles long be so limited?

Unless you want to swing the Peterborough-Ipswich service to being
Peterborough-[Ely]-Cambridge and make all the Ipswich bound pax change at
Newmarket.

run a new service Ely, Soham to Cambridge in the odd hours

Yes I know it's not going to be economical, but that doesn't stop a campaign
happening

That's also assuming the single line from Newmarket to Cambridge could
accommodate the doubling of the trains.

There is (was) a passing place at Dullingham

tim

Roland Perry

2020-05-15 19:03:29 UTC

Post by tim...
once they get the station open they can campaign for the Fordham
curve (I think it is called) to reopen :-)

But that's not going to help if the line *through* Soham is limited
to 0.5 passenger train paths an hour.

how can a line a couple of miles long be so limited?

It's full up with container trains.

Post by Roland Perry
Unless you want to swing the Peterborough-Ipswich service to being
Peterborough-[Ely]-Cambridge and make all the Ipswich bound pax change
at Newmarket.

run a new service Ely, Soham to Cambridge in the odd hours

No paths, and maybe no spare units.

--
Roland Perry

Graham Harrison

2020-05-14 17:02:31 UTC

On Thu, 14 May 2020 10:34:23 +0100, Trolleybus