Brixham to Paignton

[STEVIEBOY1]

Good morning, all being well I shall have about 4 hours to spare in a couple of Saturdays time in Paignton and was thinking about going onto Brixham, I think it is bus 12 and quite a regular service too. Does anyone know if those are single or Double Deckers? Tks.

 

[iantherev]

Double deckers - mainly Scania/Enviro 400 MMCs but older Enviros and the occasional Trident/ALX400 can appear.

 

[83G/84D]

When I went down that way late last year it was almost exclusively Scania/ E400MMC with "Hop12" branding except one working that was a Dart.

 

[Wirewiper]

Bus 12 is every ten minutes (scheduled, anyway!) during Monday-Saturday daytimes. They have a few minutes catch-up time at Paignton Bus Station so you often see one in and loading up.

If you wanted to add a bit of variety you could take the hourly 120 service to Kingswear (30 minutes past each hour from Paignton Bus Station and almost invariably a Trident/ALX400), then the half-hourly 18/18a to Brixham which is operated by Optare Solos - the narrow streets between Hillhead and Brixham can sometimes be a bit hair-raising! The bus terminus at Kingswear was purpose-built in the 1960s - at considerable expense - to allow one-man (sic) operation; before that buses had to reverse at Kingswear Station, an awkward manoeuvre which required a conductor on board to supervise. The terminus, supported on concrete stilts, juts out of the hillside and its shape quickly led to it being nicknamed "The Banjo" - the name stuck and is now used officially.

 

[STEVIEBOY1]

Thank you for these tips, all very useful I don't think I will have time to get to Kingswear as well. Interesting about the "Banjo" bus terminus there.
I may get the ferry from Brixham to Torquay and bus 12 again back to Paignton. I will have to try to work out if it is cheaper to get 2 single bus tickets, Paignton/Brixham and Torquay/Paignton, or if they do a rover type ticket. I'll also compare bus V train fares from Torquay to Paignton, although I think the railway station in Torquay is less convenient to the ferry arrival point than the bus stop and there are probably more buses per hour on a Saturday than trains, however the rail journey is faster than the bus.

 

[Drive By Photo]

Stevieboy, if you do get the ferry to Torquay, you can ride the yellow open top bus from Torquay Harbour back to Paignton, Route no. 122, runs every 20 minutes between 9am and 6pm.
It's about a 20 minute walk from the harbour to Torquay railway station.
You can get a Torbay Day rider bus ticket, it was £5 last time I looked.

 

[iantherev]

Both the 12 and the 122 pass Torquay station en route from the Harbour to Paignton.

 

[STEVIEBOY1]

Stevieboy, if you do get the ferry to Torquay, you can ride the yellow open top bus from Torquay Harbour back to Paignton, Route no. 122, runs every 20 minutes between 9am and 6pm.
It's about a 20 minute walk from the harbour to Torquay railway station.
You can get a Torbay Day rider bus ticket, it was £5 last time I looked.

Thank you, would the £ 5.00 day rider ticket be valid on that bus 122 as well as the 12?

 

[Wirewiper]

Yes, Torbay Dayrider is valid on all Stagecoach buses in Torbay, including the 122.

For the record, it is also valid to Dawlish Warren (22), Newton Abbot (12/13), Totnes (Gold) and Kingswear (18/18A/120); and also on the 2 between Dawlish and Newton Abbot and the X64 between Newton Abbot and Dartmouth. Cost is £5 adult, £3.50 child, £10 group (up to 5 people travelling together, any ages).

 

[STEVIEBOY1]

Thank you all. I had a great day our yesterday. Came to Paignton on the Hastings Diesels special charter train, has great running on that. We arrived a bit early and got a quick connection to the bus to Brixham using the £ 5.00 day ticket. Brixham was very busy, there was trawler race! there. Then I took the ferry to Torquay, only £ 2.00 single, (£3.00) return and then, when I found the bus stop, which was a bit hidden, got the 12 back to Paignton.

 

[Drive By Photo]

Glad you had a good day. Still should have caught the open top 122 service back to Paignton!! ☺

 

[STEVIEBOY1]

Glad you had a good day. Still should have caught the open top 122 service back to Paignton!! ☺

Yes it was a good day. I would have waited for the 122 open top, but I was mindful of my connections back at Paignton and also, at the time that was was travelling on Saturday afternoon, there was some quite heavy rain. Will remember it for a future visit though.

 

[richw]

Yes, Torbay Dayrider is valid on all Stagecoach buses in Torbay, including the 122.

For the record, it is also valid to Dawlish Warren (22), Newton Abbot (12/13), Totnes (Gold) and Kingswear (18/18A/120); and also on the 2 between Dawlish and Newton Abbot and the X64 between Newton Abbot and Dartmouth. Cost is £5 adult, £3.50 child, £10 group (up to 5 people travelling together, any ages).

It’s also valid on the hourly rail river link service to Totnes. They have 2 open top buses if it’s dry.

The 12 was entirely 67 plate E400mmc yesterday when I spent time photographing in Paignton

 

[Wirewiper]

The 12 was entirely 67 plate E400mmc yesterday when I spent time photographing in Paignton

It usually is, as there are twelve buses in the dedicated red livery, plus another five in standard Stagecoach colours. Since the buses entered service en-masse last November it is rare (although not unknown) for anything else to venture on to the route.

The 22 is better for variety as it seems to yield a couple of 67-plate MMCs and a Trident most days, in addition to the usual green-liveried 62-plate Scania/E400s.