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In article , (Roland
Perry) wrote:

In message , at
17:02:16 on Sat, 2 Apr 2011, remarked:

But why would any bus journey variant only run on the fifth Tuesday of
a month? Seems utterly perverse.

Could be the remains of a service which ran every 1st, 3rd and 5th
Tuesday (the one on the 3rd is still extant, albeit a different
route).

That barely rates as not perverse, frankly. What sort of vehicle
utilisation would support such a service pattern, for example?

--
Colin Rosenstiel

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In message , at
09:07:55 on Sun, 3 Apr 2011, Neil Williams
remarked:
But why would any bus journey variant only run on the fifth Tuesday
of a month? Seems utterly perverse.

It's a local volunteer-run community minibus

So maybe it did run last week, but the journalist failed to recognise it
(if he was looking for a conventional bus).

That's happened to me a few times (generally overseas) where a shuttle
(or transfer) "bus" has been difficult to spot unless you know what you
are looking for.

"Whitbread Wanderbus" (no current connection with a brewery that I know
of!)

It seems to be named after the Samuel Whitbread Community College, in
Shefford.
--
Roland Perry

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"Roland Perry" wrote in message

In message , at
09:07:55 on Sun, 3 Apr 2011, Neil Williams
remarked:
But why would any bus journey variant only run on the fifth Tuesday
of a month? Seems utterly perverse.

It's a local volunteer-run community minibus

So maybe it did run last week, but the journalist failed to recognise
it (if he was looking for a conventional bus).

That's happened to me a few times (generally overseas) where a shuttle
(or transfer) "bus" has been difficult to spot unless you know what
you are looking for.

I think Simon Calder is pretty savvy, and wouldn't have missed it if it
did run. The fact that he knew about it at all suggests he also knew
what to look for. And as he was ready with his bike, I also suspect he
knew it wouldn't turn up. Given how seldom it's supposed to run, I
wonder if it actually runs at all. Who else would notice if it didn't?

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In message , at 09:27:20
on Sun, 3 Apr 2011, remarked:

What sort of vehicle
utilisation would support such a service pattern, for example?

Here's the full timetable:

http://www.sheffordtown.co.uk/wanderbus-tt.html

The 5th Tuesday route says "bookings advisable", and the return trip is
by request. Maybe we shouldn't expect it to be leaving MK at the stated
time, if there have been no bookings.

Thursdays seem to be the highlight! It's also the first time I've seen
public transport timetable where Monday services are bumped to Wednesday
in the event of a Bank Holiday.
--
Roland Perry

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In message , at 15:52:30 on
Sun, 3 Apr 2011, Recliner remarked:

I think Simon Calder is pretty savvy, and wouldn't have missed it if it
did run. The fact that he knew about it at all suggests he also knew
what to look for. And as he was ready with his bike, I also suspect he
knew it wouldn't turn up. Given how seldom it's supposed to run, I
wonder if it actually runs at all. Who else would notice if it didn't?

I'm going with the theory that he failed to book (for what's the return
trip of the bus). I suppose he'd need his bike to get back to Milton
Keynes, although he may not have intended to take the bus very far.

As it's one of several services run by the minibus, many of them only
once a month (but it goes somewhere virtually every weekday), I can't
see why that particular one would be missed out, unless perhaps they had
no bookings for the outbound leg either.
--
Roland Perry

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On Sun, 3 Apr 2011 15:52:30 +0100, "Recliner"
wrote:
I wonder if it actually runs at all. Who else would notice if it
didn't?

I wonder if, as its purpose is to take villagers to/from MK or
Stevenage (depending on the date), if it perhaps does not run all the
way to MK/Stevenage, and thus does not operate the return journey (as
all points seem to be on request), if there are no passengers from
the villagers on the outward journey.

Could do with saying so in the timetable if this is the case of
course!

Neil

--
Neil Williams, Milton Keynes, UK

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On Sun, 3 Apr 2011 16:14:07 +0100, Roland Perry
wrote:
no bookings for the outbound leg either.

It isn't meant to be DRT on the outward - but see my other post...

Neil

--
Neil Williams, Milton Keynes, UK

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On Sun, 03 Apr 2011 09:27:20 -0500,
wrote:
That barely rates as not perverse, frankly. What sort of vehicle
utilisation would support such a service pattern, for example?

An elderly person's day out type community minibus service,
registered and run in that manner so it can claim BSOG. Which I
believe is exactly what it is.

Neil

--
Neil Williams, Milton Keynes, UK

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As I was wandering around the Clapham Junction / Imperial Wharf / Crystal
Palace area on Monday afternoon, and the time was right, I decided to take
a trip on the parly train. Although I lived near Stewarts Road for a few
years many years ago, I don't think I'd ever got a train from Wandsworth
Road.

Despite there being three other people on the platform, I managed to get a
seat on the empty four car unit when it arrived! I'd intended getting off
at Imperial Wharf, but then found it was fast to Olympia. After sitting
outside Olympia for 4-5 minutes, the train terminated in the SB platform,
where it became a stopper to Clapham Junction. It then formed the 16:34
back to Clapham Junction where it then went back to Olympia, so I don't
know if this train just comes out of depot to do a PM peak shuttle service.


Fares
I couldn't buy a ticket at Wandsworth Road, and I don't need to buy
tickets for the Overground, but I've just looked and seen that the single
fare between Wandsworth Road and Olympia is £1.80, yet the single fare
between Clapham Junction and Olympia (NR and Overground trains) is £4.
That's a lot of money for what can be as little as 7 minutes for the
journey time!

Roger

*From:* "Paul Scott"
*Date:* Sat, 2 Apr 2011 18:21:03 +0100

"Recliner" wrote in message
...
Simon Calder covered the M-F one-way ghost train from Olympia to
Wandsworth Road (1:20 into the video, if you want to skip the
even rarer MK bus service).
www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-12945892

AIUI, he's wrong to lay the blame at 'the train companies'. It was
a DfT decision not to run a service over the various bits of route
in question - therefore it is clearly down to them to apply for
closure. Once ELL phase 2 opens the length requiring closure will
shrink anyway, so that's possibly why they are waiting...

Also, isn't the service two way at the moment between Kensington
Olympia (not Shepherds Bush) and Wandsworth Rd?

1004 - 1020 s/b and 1612 - 1629 n/b

So was this a BBC archive piece, or recent?

Paul S

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wrote in message
...

Despite there being three other people on the platform, I managed to get a
seat on the empty four car unit when it arrived! I'd intended getting off
at Imperial Wharf, but then found it was fast to Olympia. After sitting
outside Olympia for 4-5 minutes, the train terminated in the SB platform,
where it became a stopper to Clapham Junction. It then formed the 16:34
back to Clapham Junction where it then went back to Olympia, so I don't
know if this train just comes out of depot to do a PM peak shuttle
service.

It is the same 455 diagram that does the morning peak 'short workings' on
the south of the WLL, finishing with the down service to Wandsworth Rd. It
has a break at Selhurst depot over the mid-day period, so the implication is
that it would run empty to Selhurst anyway if the parly wasn't required. I
guess as SN are DOO in the metro area the extra costs of running in
passenger servcie are fairly trivial.

Paul S