During the last season this ran as a loop service in both directions as the 300 there was an outcry when guest house owners on the stretch between Land's End and St Ives realised that previous years' OAP free travel had been withdrawn, as FK had been told they'd not be recompensed by Cornwall Council any longer for any journey on that route. The news had been the front page splash of the local weekly paper, the
Cornishman, and on the basis of the reasons given by the council for the decision I decided to try to get it overturned with the aid of the reporter (yes, they still had one then
)whose office was happily a couple of hundred yards from where I lived. Unfortunately, because First had already produced all the leaflets and other advertising citing the banning of OAP passes, it was too late to effect any change for that season, even if the council had conceded their error in banning what had previously been okay. That was the last year the circular route ran. The following summer, the current arrangements of three separate route was introduced, but with the Land's End to St Ives north coast run worked by a 'Heritage vehicle', namely a Bristol Lodekka, with a £5single fare for all, including pensioners. On the other hand, all journeys on the other two open top routes reverted to full pass acceptance without any word from the council as to the u-turn: interesting, as they had claimed in an e-mail I still have that it would be 'illegal' to reimburse FK! The heritage bus thing was just a ploy by the council, I believe, to save face, more than a genuine desire by First to provide this service, which grew increasingly unreliable over the summer, but I admit I've no evidence to support this. A summer later, Heritage service succeeded by open top service in line with the other two routes, down to pass acceptance. Any future attempt to cull passes will meet resistance from this quarter unless CC provide more cogent and accurate excuses than before.
On the matter of the A2's use of St Erth Stn forecourt, unless it's changed in the last fortnight, yep, in fact last time I was there timetabling saw three FK buses together plus the 'ghost' shuttle bus, on which I've only ever once seen a passenger.