MidlandRed.net

I went into Crowngate on the Diamond 303 from the New Inn at 09-14 and the bus picked up four passengers which means that those who used the now defunct Saturdau 37 service are still travelling into town. The next 303 which I caught back out of town brought a good load into Crowngate including some faces from the Bevere area and it picked up a reasonable load back out to Kidderminster. I waited to photograph the 11-14 bus from the New Inn and it picked up five locals. It also appeared to have a very good number of passengers from Kidderminster/Ombersley areas coming into Worcester on a full sized bus. Hope it is enough to retain the hourly Saturday service! Whilst in Crowngate for an hour I photographed some of the Saturday workings as below, my apologies that some pictures have dodgy exposure, but the sun wasn't in the most co-opertive position early in the morning with glare off white buildings playing havoc with camera sensor. Note the stick on poppy on spare bus 64035, I noted other buses so fitted. Does that '5 for £5' on the rear of Nimrod Citaro 64044 apply to the 35 route only, if so, why did First not do the same on the ailing services prior to decimating them? The following independent operators seemed to be capacity loads into the city!

I was in Crowngate today when I met my son on his lunch break... shame I missed you.

AdamH wrote: ↑

18:20 Saturday 19th October 2019

I was in Crowngate today when I met my son on his lunch break... shame I missed you.

Ships that pass in the night!

It was a last minute decision to travel into Crowngate; the main intention was to see if the locals were actually using the Diamond 303 because I requested a full-sized bus for Saturdays on the Diamond website back in September when First announced withdrawal of all Saturday 37 buses and received a favourable response from Rotala Diamond CEO Simon Dunn who is as good as his word as you see from the above photo. One of their E200s would have been heaving with many standing on the incoming 10-14 and 11-14 workings from the New Inn into the city.

Nice photos as always Tim! I used the 303 a couple of times last week and loadings were good over the entire length of the route. Good mix of full fares and pass holders.

I was just walking back from the shop this morning and there were 4 people waiting at the Canterbury Road bus stop for a 38 into town. I mentioned that they would be waiting until tomorrow

Adam V wrote: ↑

11:50 Sunday 20th October 2019

Nice photos as always Tim! I used the 303 a couple of times last week and loadings were good over the entire length of the route. Good mix of full fares and pass holders.

I was just walking back from the shop this morning and there were 4 people waiting at the Canterbury Road bus stop for a 38 into town. I mentioned that they would be waiting until tomorrow

I share your sadness and add in frustration at the shrinking Worcester bus network, there is something intrinsically wrong that patients in hospital are starved of company at visiting time on Sunday through lack of the 38 service. It means those without cars having to plead with relatives or neighbours with cars to take them, or use a very expensive taxi trip in each direction. Our bankrupt County Council (£17 million in the red) won't, or cannot, subsidise public transport through lack of funds so the situation is only going to get worse into 2020.

Providing a service seems well down the list of priorities with First Bus, money and profit is their god. That said I sat on the wall in Ombersley Road yesterday morning for half an hour waiting to see and photograph the 11-14 Diamond 303 bus and witnessed a constant stream of cars travelling in both directions. Just what were they all doing, coming from and going to? So many hundred cars an hour here and everywhere else in the world isn't only killing public transport it is endangering our planet as well!

After my visit to Crowngate I needed to go to the Industrial Estate near Shrub Hill on the Tolladine Road. I enquired with the Bus Station Supervisor and soon realised it would be quicker to walk, so I did. During my walk I followed the long established bus route through Lowesmoor and up Tolladine Road, and I didn't see a single bus on that route in either direction.

Not much of a problem as the weather was nice and I enjoy walking, but I certainly wouldn't have been impressed if it were raining or the package I was collecting had been heavy. I guess I'll be taking the car next time as there is no public transport alternative.

Here's a comparison of Worcester and Gloucester Sunday services courtesy of bustimes.org
I was shocked at the difference! Obviously stagecoach knows if you put enough buses on people will use them

marck wrote: ↑

14:12 Monday 21st October 2019

Here's a comparison of Worcester and Gloucester Sunday services courtesy of bustimes.org
I was shocked at the difference! Obviously stagecoach knows if you put enough buses on people will use them

Yes, all of the major routes in Gloucester run 7-days a week, although there is some frequency reduction on Sundays. For example, during the week there are 14 buses per hour* between Gloucester City Centre and Cheltenham Town Centre (over 4 routes), while on Sundays there are only 8 buses per hour over those same 4 routes.

*Frequency of 97/8 route will soon go from 2 per hour to 4 per hour, making a total of 16 per hour between Gloucester and Cheltenham.