|
Post by ianigsy on Mar 12, 2018 18:46:40 GMT 1
I have a feeling I caught the last run of the Black Prince X35 from Leeds not long after I moved to Otley in 1997. Quite a pleasant journey once you got to Alwoodley but I'm fairly sure it was just me and the driver.
|
|
|
Post by ianigsy on Mar 12, 2018 18:41:46 GMT 1
One thing that map does show, is that they should extend the 465 to Hebden Bridge. They would get more leisure travellers going to Hebden Bridge as well. To make more connections, It’s a shame the 62 to Harrogate didn’t take off, nor the bus from Harrogate to York, or that they lost the 280/X80 to Preston Bus I did hear one account of the 62/X52 battle which suggested that senior pass holders tended to use the X52 because it ran slightly earlier but paying passengers preferred the 62 because a K-Day at the time was about a third less than a return on the X52. The 62 to Harrogate was badly served at Otley bus station because there was usually a 965 on the stand so it often had to pick up and drop off from the traffic island- I certainly missed it once that way and made a habit of picking it up at Cross Green.
|
|
|
Post by ianigsy on Feb 1, 2018 20:20:31 GMT 1
I'd say more speculation. After all First have neglected pool for far too long and i'm sure they have the data now to prove how popular the X85 is proving with the residents FINALLY having a direct link and none of this change at top of pool bank/otley bus station bull sh1t. The last X85 now runs an hour earlier and the previous last journey now runs as an X84. As a daily X84 commuter, I'd say that the new timetable isn't particularly good news. Nothing from Otley to Leeds between the X85 at 7.35 and the X84 at 7.58 (so I need to leave home at 7.25 to be in work comfortably for 9), which is a problem carried over from when the X85 was reintroduced. The evening peak timetable has departures from Leeds at 1700, 1725 (X85), 1750 and 1815 and the services are slowed down so the 1700 doesn't leave Bramhope until 1753 (my arrival times in Otley over the last few days have been 1753, 1759 and 1758). It'd be interesting to know what First are basing their timings on, as by my reckoning since the X85 was reintroduced there were three or four weeks of extra heavy traffic on Otley Road due to the closure of Weetwood Lane and then more or less straight into Christmas holidays. There can only have been about six weeks of "normal" traffic.
|
|
|
Post by ianigsy on Sept 29, 2016 23:17:39 GMT 1
OK ... seems a bit of an odd way of doing things though, when the 965 timetable is perfect for a self-contained service, and the X84 looks to have enough turn-around time for the inbound and outbound Otley shorts to use the same bus. Or is the intention to provide through services for passengers travelling to Weston and the hospital? The 965 generally works on a standalone basis. The bus swaps twice in the afternoon and runs onto or off the X84. It uses a DD as a full length single can't turn in the Hospital and a midi would be too small for the X84 runs. I understand it has previously been interworked either with X84 or maybe 33A, but it risks importing delays from one route to the other, which would probably lead to too many cancelled trips on the 965. My normal bus home (1615 X84 from Leeds) is probably one of the most reliable journeys on the route, because it becomes a 965 on arrival in Otley and spends a couple of hours on the 965 in the early evenings. A friend who lives up near Wharfedale Hospital has spoken of journeys regularly being missed around the time that the drivers and buses are due to change over- road congestion over the bridge in Otley is a known issue and getting worse.
|
|
|
Post by ianigsy on Sept 4, 2016 13:40:56 GMT 1
I'm just wondering whether the timetable change on the 62 (after only about six weeks or so) is also connected with Transdev taking over the Otley and Ilkley locals- perhaps using some 62 journeys to get buses into place? It's a bit disruptive to regular travellers' routines otherwise.
I've used the 962 a few times when I've been at Ilkley and there wasn't an X84 due, but not in the last few years since I dispensed with my MetroCard on cost grounds. I have to admit that I tend to prefer Transdev on a number of grounds- ironically (given the name) the connectivity which allows me to buy a K-Day in Otley and go walking in Hebden Bridge for £4 or a Daytripper which can take me to Manchester for £9, plus the same K-Day is 20% cheaper than Connexions' £5 Otley-Harrogate return. Paying passengers almost certainly make their decisions based on factors like these rather than where an operator is headquartered.
|
|
|
Post by ianigsy on Sept 4, 2016 13:16:21 GMT 1
Is it my imagination or has that 62 timetable changed in the last few weeks? One of the "minor alterations" I noticed was that whereas in the original timetable (paper copy at my side) the 0550 from Keighley ran through to Harrogate, it's replaced by an 0555 terminating at Ilkley. I'm sure I've seen a version of the timetable which had it turning back at Otley and returning to Keighley at 0700 or thereabouts- to the extent that talking to a friend yesterday who lives in Burley and works at Ingrow that he'd have a direct bus to Keighley in the mornings! I noticed it because it was the service I used between Otley and Pannal while First Leeds were on strike. The return journey also neatly filled a gap in the X84 timetable between Otley and Ilkley, which isn't particularly convenient for anybody in Otley or Burley working in Ilkley town centre- the X84 will get you there at 0812 or 0905, but the 762 offered an 0825 arrival which would be a bit better for anybody with a 9am start.
|
|
|
Post by ianigsy on Jul 22, 2016 20:10:39 GMT 1
Although this comes as a relief, this just makes my point about blowing hot and cold.
As a daily commuter from Otley to Leeds, I generally buy a monthly First ticket for West and North Yorkshire- I use the X84, so it's convenient to be able to go to Ilkley and Skipton at the weekends, and a K-Day is cheap enough for anything else I want to do based on the 762 such as going to Haworth or Hebden Bridge. Since coming back from holiday a week ago, I bought a weekly Leeds only ticket on Sunday as it was as much as I could afford until I was paid on Wednesday, and I was all set to buy either a weekly Transdev Gold 7 or a monthly 1-3 MetroCard this weekend. Presumably it's now another minimum of a week before Unite could strike again, so I'll probably buy another Leeds weekly on Monday- there's no way I'm committing to anything longer until somebody finally sorts this all out!
|
|
|
Post by ianigsy on Jul 20, 2016 21:16:26 GMT 1
I'm a Unite member in an office job and the local branch newsletter was in our canteen today with some comments on the suspensions angle of the dispute.
Not quite sure what Unite's strategy is here, if there is one- they seem to be blowing hot and cold a lot of the time. I can't help feeling, however, that going out indefinitely invites First to say that they won't negotiate further until the drivers are back at work, and at Group level they may well be encouraged to make the drivers sweat in an attempt to break the union.
I also suspect that given the recent drop in the value of the pound, at some point in the next few months when their hedging agreements run out, First may be looking to increase fares to cover fuel costs, in which case one way of moderating those increases would be to trim the network and cut frequencies- so less work in the future when the drivers do eventually go back to work.
|
|
|
Post by ianigsy on Jun 20, 2016 21:47:13 GMT 1
I'd agree that there seemed to be more running today than last week- in the 20 minutes or so that I was waiting for a 36 in New Briggate, two 7s came past and two 13As. Not sure about the 2s and 3s I saw heading southbound back into Leeds with New Briggate as a destination-if they were terminating in the city centre wouldn't it have been at Vicar Lane or the Corn Exchange?
Think there might have been an, extra or two on the 36 as well- I picked up the 1605 36 at New Briggate (a Harrogate Bus Company branded double decker), got off in Harrogate town centre and in the time it took me to have a look in Betty's window another one had turned up bound for Ripon, this time one of the new buses.
|
|
|
Post by ianigsy on Jun 16, 2016 18:07:30 GMT 1
35204 was my ride home on the X84 this evening (1615 Leeds-Otley); first of the new buses I've seen on the X84 and this is also the diagram which becomes the evening 965.
|
|
|
Post by ianigsy on Jun 11, 2016 17:45:00 GMT 1
The termtime morning extensions of the X84 show as "Prince Henry's School" and "Skipton College" - the latter is actually Craven College but it's presumably a hamfisted attempt to tell you that it's a Skipton journey extended to the college campus.
|
|
|
Post by ianigsy on Jun 10, 2016 21:20:52 GMT 1
The trouble with striking for money is that you rarely get back what you lose for the day you go on strike to begin with and the longer the dispute goes on, the further behind you fall. If the drivers think they can get more than 3% by striking then good luck to them but nobody else is getting that these days- I know a local authority worker who has to support his partner as well, who walks to work and considers himself lucky to get an inflationary pay rise.
As regards the pay differential between Leeds and Halifax, it does seem strange because you would expect the Leeds job market to be more competitive and therefore more highly paid. Add the city's place on the motorway network and you would expect there to be driving jobs going all the time and an incentive for First to try to retain staff. Do First have to incentivise drivers from other parts of the operation to relocate to Halifax, I wonder? As a town it lacks the amenities and attractions of Leeds, Bradford or Huddersfield.
On the other hand, if Halifax is a smaller depot with a lot of long serving staff (in part due to fewer opportunities for alternative employment) and the Leeds depots have a higher turnover then the average pay packet at Halifax may be higher simply because the average driver has been there longer and has more years under their belt than the average Leeds driver.
Personally I'm looking at doing my normal Otley-Leeds commute via the 762 to Pannal and picking the 36 up there- as far as I can see, on a £9 Daytripper it comes out cheaper than two singles on the 967 to Menston and the train.
|
|
|
Post by ianigsy on Nov 11, 2014 21:27:07 GMT 1
I can see First's point. If drivers are going to have to referee situations like this (which could easily end with police having to be called) then the lawyers need to clarify exactly what's expected of them (e.g. whether individual drivers would be open to prosecution). It'll also be interesting to see how the drivers' union advises their members to apply the law.
There's a woman who boards my X84 of an evening with a twin pushchair which probably wouldn't fold down- and if it did, she'd have to find seats for herself and two toddlers on an evening peak service. Presumably the data from disabled pass usage is there to help establish where wheelchair capacity is most needed, but it does raise questions as to whether operators are providing the right capacity in the right place at the right time.
|
|
|
Post by ianigsy on Sept 6, 2014 19:10:16 GMT 1
A lot of the things in that article have been on Merseytravel's wish list for years- Town Meadow (on the West Kirby line) was first put forward in the 1980s and has always been dependent on property development in the area. The Merseyrail system is good- in fact for the 1970s positively visionary- but suffers from a lack of capacity in the Liverpool city centre stations in particular, such that any open-air event in the city needs station closures and crowd management measures.
|
|
|
Post by ianigsy on Sept 6, 2014 19:01:21 GMT 1
I wonder how much thought has been given to the loss of capacity caused by taking 150-odd units out of service for refurb over a period of years.
The other issue which the Porterbrook brochure shows but doesn't mention is the double step up into the saloon; there's a picture showing a wheelchair entering with the floor of the saloon flush with the bottom of the doors, but it doesn't say what they're planning to do in order to achieve that.
The root of the problem seems to be that nobody has a proper timescale for the Lancashire electrification to be completed and for the 319s to be cascaded in. Add to that Trans-Pennine electrification, more possible Metrolink conversions in the Manchester area and there are a lot of variables.
|
|
|
Post by ianigsy on Sept 6, 2014 18:47:52 GMT 1
I do wonder whether a carrot has been offered along the lines of "raise £x more during the franchise extension and we'll look at new trains in a year or two".
Glancing at Barry Doe's column in Rail the other day, I could see his point- the PTAs in general have been spending money on encouraging people to use public transport by keeping fares down, rather than using some of that money to pay for rolling stock to ensure that the capacity is there as well. Northern know perfectly well that putting their own money into hiring loco-hauled stock won't generate any additional return- it'll only soak up the existing demand. The irony is that somebody travelling on a 1-5 MetroCard and paying £145 for the privilege is still paying less per day than a Day Rover (even if they only use it to travel Monday-Friday) for a ticket with no time restrictions.
|
|
|
Post by ianigsy on Aug 16, 2014 22:38:38 GMT 1
A good thing about free travel for OAPs is that many car users have used the buses for the first time and found them excellent. A charge for a card might prevent this. A better idea would be to make the rail+bus card free. This would certainly boost rail travel and bring in a lot of extra fares which would help the government coffers and reduce congestion. But this would set the start date for free bus travel back at 60 which the government would not do. But bus companies could allow a 50% fare reduction for rail card holders, UK wide, and this would be sensible for bus companies. As the age qualification for free bus travel is going up by 6 months per year in England, the problem, will solve itself, but we might have lost all our rural buses by then! I often clear litter from buses I am on to 'pay' for my free travel. Bus companies could try get OAPs to speak up for buses more, in the press and to their paying friends A fringe benefit of the ENCTS has probably been taking some older motorists and vehicles off the road; I know of at least two ex-drivers (both now sadly deceased) who were both driving over 75 and eventually persuaded to give their cars up after minor accidents or near misses. The nature of the aging process means that you're often the last person to notice your reactions going- and drivers on a pension will be less likely to upgrade regularly than somebody on a salary.
|
|
|
Post by ianigsy on Aug 16, 2014 22:25:22 GMT 1
As an A660 commuter for some 16 years now I'm broadly positive but can't help feeling that there's a sense of doing anything being better than doing nothing. The trouble is that during the time that Supertram and now NGT have been on the drawing board, traffic volumes have been going up and the actual works will cause a significant amount of disruption over a long period of time. You only have to look at somewhere like Pool in Wharfedale, which has doubled in size in the last decade or so with new executive homes, but no longer has a through public transport connection to Leeds- so how are they all getting to work?
I get the impression that Metro are being led on by whatever funding happens to be dangled in front of them by central government- perhaps they have a surplus of project managers who need keeping in work- and that the structure of the PTE works against a big expensive Leeds-only project. When Manchester started with Metrolink, they had the railway alignments and from the start the trams were going out into the neighbouring authorities in Altrincham and Bury, so you had several council supporting and benefiting, not just the one. I've been impressed by transport in places like Nottingham and Wrexham, comparable in size with the likes of Bradford or Huddersfield, where you have one local authority involved and either taking a proactive role or ensuring a level playing field between independents and the big operators.
|
|
|
Post by ianigsy on Aug 16, 2014 22:00:44 GMT 1
A fringe benefit for Northern will be that there's a raft of services in the 1830-1845 period which should see an upswing in usage- 1832 Ilkley, 1832 Sheffield via Castleford, 1835 Huddersfield via Halifax, 1837 Bradford FS, 1840 Selby.
I wonder whether any Airedale and Harrogate line users will be tempted to buy singles to Shipley and Burley Park so that they can use the 1826 Skipton and 1829 York.
|
|
|
Post by ianigsy on Aug 15, 2014 18:58:03 GMT 1
Disappointing, but I grew up with similar restrictions on Merseyside's Saveaways. Presumably this means the PAYG MCard (when it comes) won't be able to function like an Oyster card, because there isn't an equivalent all day ticket to cap your spending against.
The potential for confusion is rife- there must be hundreds of scratch-off day rovers out there with reference to only a morning peak, and it could be interesting if Northern enforce their new conditions against what's actually written in black and white on the back of the ticket. It'll probably lead more concessionary pass users back onto buses (on the grounds that a lot of older folk tend to be wary of anything with too many terms and conditions for fear of falling foul of one or the other)- but then the object of the exercise is to kick leisure travellers off peak trains.
Essentially it's an admission that all parties involved have failed to manage supply to meet demand.
|
|
|
Post by ianigsy on Jun 6, 2014 23:38:34 GMT 1
As an ex-Ilkley line commuter, I can't help thinking that pathing on the Leeds-Apperley Junction section is going to be a nightmare, particularly in the peaks when there are already some very tight headways. The 1732 from Leeds was particularly vulnerable to conflicting movements (usually the incoming unit to form the 1735 Bradford and any delay to the 1729 Harrogate) which made for some lively connections with the 967 at Menston.
|
|
|
Post by ianigsy on Jun 6, 2014 23:34:05 GMT 1
Having grown up over there, I've thought about this myself quite often over the last few years, especially on the Wharfedale and Airedale electrified lines. Essentially, while Leeds was busy cramming all its services into one station, Liverpool took the opportunity to drive a line under the city centre linking the ex-L&Y lines into Exchange with the existing underground station at Central Low Level (ex-Mersey Railway) and emerging on the ex-Cheshire Lines route out to Garston and eventually Hunts Cross. The Mersey Railway route was diverted into a terminal loop linking the cross-city route with the main line terminus at Lime Street.
I think the short answer is that at the critical stage, Liverpool planned for growth and Leeds for decline- Merseyrail frequencies have never been less than 20 minutes and fares are kept below a comparable distance and frequency for West Yorkshire, and I think Metro would probably rather see two-car DMUs calling at new stations than put anything more into high-frequency services out of Leeds.
|
|
|
Post by ianigsy on Apr 27, 2014 23:42:54 GMT 1
I've only ever used Pennine once, for a Skipton-Malham day return one Saturday which, by the looks of things, I couldn't now make. At the time I seem to remember thinking that there was more or less a different timetable for each day of the week once you take schooldays and market days into account.
So it looks like a relic of a bygone age, unfortunately. A victim of changing times- I'd guess that in the past Pennine drew most of their business from housewives and youngsters who now all drive or get lifts, and the Dales tourist traffic isn't enough to justify a year-round business.
|
|
|
Post by ianigsy on Apr 7, 2014 19:21:35 GMT 1
I don't know if your timetable has trains in as well, but the opposite applies there, I think what is now Transpennine Express was only hourly at that point. I have a 1972 London Midland Region timetable book which I bought from the VCT at Ingrow on my last visit (covers the period when I was born)- the first fast arrival from Manchester into Leeds on a weekday is 0950 (and that ran as a semi-fast between Liverpool and Manchester) with a subsequent frequency of hourly trains with an occasional 70 minute gap and journey times of around 70-75 minutes. I'm guessing that with timings like that we were still in the days of Class 40s and Trans-Pennine DMUs; some of the DMU services through from Hull to Liverpool become locals west of Manchester. One curiosity on the S&C is that the last northbound departure from Leeds (1336 Thames-Clyde Express to Glasgow) arrived into Carlisle nearly two hours before the last southbound (1745).
|
|
|
Post by ianigsy on Mar 16, 2014 22:38:58 GMT 1
The Lancashire electrification also offers the potential for Manchester-Blackpool to go all electric (possibly also under one operator rather than the current odd Northern/TPE split), which would free up more 185s, as would giving Northern back the Windermere branch.
|
|