On 10/02/2019 15:03, Roland Perry wrote:
In message , at
13:51:40 on Sun, 10 Feb 2019, Arthur Figgis
remarked:
On 10/02/2019 13:30, Roland Perry wrote:
In message , at
13:12:32 on Sun, 10 Feb 2019, Arthur Figgis
remarked:
Waiting at a bus stop yesterday, I noticed the times for a
few-days-a-year return bus service from Kingston to Eastbourne.

Why does this exist?

Does anyone actually spend 3h 5min on a bus to Eastbourne,
ratherÂ* thanÂ* take a train?
Â*Easily beaten by the 3hrs 50mins for the Oxford-Cambridge bus.

These days aren't those posh vehicles with according to Stagecoach
"the luxury of leather reclining seats, air conditioning and free
Wi-Fi" (and tiolets), rather than ordinary red double-deckers like
this https://www.flickr.com/photos/drakes...hs/35717850435

Yes, it's cheap, 10 quid return compared to train fares from
GBP8.50Â* single... but you would spend more of the day on the
bus than inÂ* Eastbourne. It looks like coffin-dodger passes are
not valid(?).
Â*The X5 (above) offers an unspecified discount for card-holders
beforeÂ* 9:30 which implies they are valid after 9:30.

"Special £7 Return on 774 only for Freedom Pass Holders.No other
concessions available."
Â*What's 774?

Dorking to Tunbridge Wells or Bluewater, it seems. GoAhead seem to
have a handful of these odd infrequent return services.
Â*I was wondering how 774 applied to the X5.

I was wondering how the X5 applied to transport in (or from) London...

It's a well-known example of a bus service with longer end-to-end times
than the OP's. Or do you think residents of Kingston are more fidgety
than those in Oxford or Cambridge?

I can see the need for a frequent, direct link between a major centre of
education, science, technology etc, south Midlands-ish towns not linked
by rail, and a place where marmalade comes from, but it is less obvious
where there would be a bus from a fairly generic suburb to a suburb
no-one has heard of to a place with fast trains to a random seaside town.

Some years ago I found a London bus route which had a "parliamentary"
style service which had apparently linked an old people's residential
area with a supermarket, which had since been eclipsed by changing
retail patterns but did have a non-obvious reason to be there.

--
Arthur Figgis Surrey, UK

On Sun, 10 Feb 2019 11:22:52 +0000
Arthur Figgis wrote:
Waiting at a bus stop yesterday, I noticed the times for a
few-days-a-year return bus service from Kingston to Eastbourne.

Why does this exist?

OAPs day out to the seaside?

On Sun, 10 Feb 2019 12:30:29 +0000
Arthur Figgis wrote:
On 10/02/2019 11:45, Roland Perry wrote:
In message , at
11:22:52 on Sun, 10 Feb 2019, Arthur Figgis
remarked:
Waiting at a bus stop yesterday, I noticed the times for a
few-days-a-year return bus service from Kingston to Eastbourne.

Why does this exist?

Does anyone actually spend 3h 5min on a bus to Eastbourne, rather than
take a train?

Easily beaten by the 3hrs 50mins for the Oxford-Cambridge bus.

These days aren't those posh vehicles with according to Stagecoach "the
luxury of leather reclining seats, air conditioning and free Wi-Fi" (and

Luxury is always a relative term when applied to buses. It'll still be cramped,
bouncy and slow with a toilet that will probably stink the bus out about an
hour into the journey.

In message , at
16:06:20 on Sun, 10 Feb 2019, Arthur Figgis
remarked:
On 10/02/2019 15:03, Roland Perry wrote:
In message , at
13:51:40 on Sun, 10 Feb 2019, Arthur Figgis
remarked:
On 10/02/2019 13:30, Roland Perry wrote:
In message , at
13:12:32 on Sun, 10 Feb 2019, Arthur Figgis
remarked:
Waiting at a bus stop yesterday, I noticed the times for a
few-days-a-year return bus service from Kingston to Eastbourne.

Why does this exist?

Does anyone actually spend 3h 5min on a bus to Eastbourne,
rather* than* take a train?
*Easily beaten by the 3hrs 50mins for the Oxford-Cambridge bus.

These days aren't those posh vehicles with according to
Stagecoach "the luxury of leather reclining seats, air
conditioning and free Wi-Fi" (and tiolets), rather than ordinary
red double-deckers like this
https://www.flickr.com/photos/drakes...hs/35717850435

Yes, it's cheap, 10 quid return compared to train fares from
GBP8.50* single... but you would spend more of the day on the
bus than in* Eastbourne. It looks like coffin-dodger passes are not valid(?).
*The X5 (above) offers an unspecified discount for card-holders
before* 9:30 which implies they are valid after 9:30.

"Special £7 Return on 774 only for Freedom Pass Holders.No other
concessions available."
*What's 774?

Dorking to Tunbridge Wells or Bluewater, it seems. GoAhead seem to
have a handful of these odd infrequent return services.
*I was wondering how 774 applied to the X5.

I was wondering how the X5 applied to transport in (or from) London...
It's a well-known example of a bus service with longer end-to-end
times than the OP's. Or do you think residents of Kingston are more
fidgety than those in Oxford or Cambridge?

I can see the need for a frequent, direct link between a major centre
of education, science, technology etc, south Midlands-ish towns not
linked by rail, and a place where marmalade comes from,

The perceived need is somewhat diluted by the ~4hr each way timing.

--
Roland Perry

In article ,
Roland Perry wrote:
Easily beaten by the 3hrs 50mins for the Oxford-Cambridge bus.

How many people take it end to end? The few times I took it most
people got on or off in Bedford and Milton Keynes.

--
Regards,
John Levine, , Primary Perpetrator of "The Internet for Dummies",
Please consider the environment before reading this e-mail. https://jl.ly

In message , at 17:37:01 on Sun, 10 Feb 2019,
John Levine remarked:
In article ,
Roland Perry wrote:

Easily beaten by the 3hrs 50mins for the Oxford-Cambridge bus.

How many people take it end to end?

Enough to perhaps convince some gullible people that a rail replacement
for the bus is a good idea?

The few times I took it most people got on or off in Bedford and Milton
Keynes.

The service is in fact a Cambridge-Bedford, and Bedford-Oxford
service[1] glued together with some marketing spin. Much like the East-
West rail route they are trying to resurrect.

[1] See the timetable outside the core hours:

https://tiscon-maps-stagecoachbus.s3...bles/East/BEDF
ORD/BE%20-%20X5%20-%20DEC%202018.pdf
--
Roland Perry

In article ,
Roland Perry wrote:
How many people take it end to end?

Enough to perhaps convince some gullible people that a rail replacement
for the bus is a good idea?

Sheesh, what a cheap shot. We hardly need tell you that the train
trip via London is an hour faster, albeit a lot more expensive.

The service is in fact a Cambridge-Bedford, and Bedford-Oxford
service[1] glued together with some marketing spin. Much like the East-
West rail route they are trying to resurrect.

[1] See the timetable outside the core hours:

There is a 10 minute layover in Bedford but it's the same bus.



--
Regards,
John Levine, , Primary Perpetrator of "The Internet for Dummies",
Please consider the environment before reading this e-mail. https://jl.ly

On 10/02/2019 16:06, Arthur Figgis wrote:
On 10/02/2019 15:03, Roland Perry wrote:
In message , at
13:51:40 on Sun, 10 Feb 2019, Arthur Figgis
remarked:
On 10/02/2019 13:30, Roland Perry wrote:
In message , at
13:12:32 on Sun, 10 Feb 2019, Arthur Figgis
remarked:
Waiting at a bus stop yesterday, I noticed the times for a
few-days-a-year return bus service from Kingston to Eastbourne.

Why does this exist?

Does anyone actually spend 3h 5min on a bus to Eastbourne,
ratherÂ* thanÂ* take a train?
Â*Easily beaten by the 3hrs 50mins for the Oxford-Cambridge bus.

These days aren't those posh vehicles with according to
Stagecoach "the luxury of leather reclining seats, air
conditioning and free Wi-Fi" (and tiolets), rather than ordinary
red double-deckers like this
https://www.flickr.com/photos/drakes...hs/35717850435

Yes, it's cheap, 10 quid return compared to train fares from
GBP8.50Â* single... but you would spend more of the day on the
bus than inÂ* Eastbourne. It looks like coffin-dodger passes are
not valid(?).
Â*The X5 (above) offers an unspecified discount for card-holders
beforeÂ* 9:30 which implies they are valid after 9:30.

"Special £7 Return on 774 only for Freedom Pass Holders.No other
concessions available."
Â*What's 774?

Dorking to Tunbridge Wells or Bluewater, it seems. GoAhead seem to
have a handful of these odd infrequent return services.
Â*I was wondering how 774 applied to the X5.

I was wondering how the X5 applied to transport in (or from) London...

It's a well-known example of a bus service with longer end-to-end
times than the OP's. Or do you think residents of Kingston are more
fidgety than those in Oxford or Cambridge?

I can see the need for a frequent, direct link between a major centre of
education, science, technology etc, south Midlands-ish towns not linked
by rail, and a place where marmalade comes from, but it is less obvious
where there would be a bus from a fairly generic suburb to a suburb
no-one has heard of to a place with fast trains to a random seaside town.


It's not a question of "need".

You may find it hard to believe but some people enjoy sitting on a bus
and looking at what's passing by outside the window; then spending a few
hours at the seaside (or wherever); then sitting on the bus on the way
back looking out the windows again (or if it's dark talking about what
they've seen and done). And they'd rather do that - very cheaply - than
spend more money on a faster route by means of a series of journeys by
rail. There may not be very many such people these days. But it
doesn't take very many to make a service which runs so rarely
potentially profitable, especially if Go Ahead are making use of assets
which would otherwise not be in use.


--
Robin
reply-to address is (intended to be) valid

Arthur Figgis wrote:
Waiting at a bus stop yesterday, I noticed the times for a
few-days-a-year return bus service from Kingston to Eastbourne.

Why does this exist?

It's a Go Ahead initiative:
https://www.goaheadlondon.com/events...great-days-out

Theo

On Sun, Feb 10, 2019 at 11:22:52AM +0000, Arthur Figgis wrote:
Waiting at a bus stop yesterday, I noticed the times for a
few-days-a-year return bus service from Kingston to Eastbourne.
Why does this exist?

Because if you've already ****ed up your life enough that you want to go
to Eastbourne, then going by bus instead of train really isn't any worse.

The real reason is no doubt that it actually serves Kingston to Somewhere
In Between, and Somewhere In Between to Eastbourne, a bit like how the
50 bus goes from Stockwell to Croydon but hardly any *passengers* go from
Stockwell to Croydon.

--
David Cantrell | Enforcer, South London Linguistic Massive

Graecum est; non legitur