Trivia: Britain's Strangest Bus Routes

[CBlue]

Interesting, I wasn't aware of those other services also accepting foreign currency!

 

[-Colly405-]

Didn't First WoE do something similar between Hengrove Depot and Temple Meads at one time?

Yes, for about a year - depot journeys between Temple Meads and Hengrove Depot ran in service as extensions of the 8 or 9. But that was after they ran as a separate route, which was either the 52 or 53, depending on whether they were running from an 8 or a 9, based, I think, on which stop they used at Temple Meads.

 

[markymark2000]

First WoE still have routes but they start and end at the depot rather than around the corner at the South Bristol Community Hospital.
Routes include the 75, 76, 90, 91, 92 and 96.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

First WoE still have routes but they start and end at the depot rather than around the corner at the South Bristol Community Hospital.
Routes include the 75, 76, 90, 91, 92 and 96.

Those routes always did run to and from the depot/Hengrove Park.

The 53 and 54 were purely placement journeys to get the 8/9 and 70/71 buses respectively to/from Temple Meads Station and Hengrove Depot.

 

[Smethwickian]

Stagecoach used to operate a coach service, X10 if I recall the number correctly from Cambridge to the USAF bases at Mildenhall and Lakenheath. You could pay your fare in US dollars, perhaps unique for a bus service in this country?

NatEx W Mids service X1 to/from Birmingham Airport will sell you a Daysaver for 5 Euros, according to the operator's website at https://nxbus.co.uk/west-midlands/i...ons-to-birmingham-coventry-solihull-erdington.

 

[-Colly405-]

Whilst we are on First WoE, the other route that is "odd" is the 24A, created when the 24 was converted to deckers, which can't fit through the low bridge approaching the Ashton Vale estate and terminus, so they terminate the 24 at Ashton Gate instead, and run the single-vehicle 24A solo/streetlite from there to Ashton Vale every 15 minutes.
Except evenings and Sundays when the 24 *does* run to Ashton Vale, via a circuitous route from Ashton Gate, avoiding the low bridge.

The 53 and 54 were purely placement journeys to get the 8/9 and 70/71 buses respectively to/from Temple Meads Station and Hengrove Depot.

Well I got the theory right about the stops at Temple Meads, just I renumbered the 54 as the 52, and I forgot 70/71!!!

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

Whilst we are on First WoE, the other route that is "odd" is the 24A, created when the 24 was converted to deckers, which can't fit through the low bridge approaching the Ashton Vale estate and terminus, so they terminate the 24 at Ashton Gate instead, and run the single-vehicle 24A solo/streetlite from there to Ashton Vale every 15 minutes.
Except evenings and Sundays when the 24 *does* run to Ashton Vale, via a circuitous route from Ashton Gate, avoiding the low bridge.


Well I got the theory right about the stops at Temple Meads, just I renumbered the 54 as the 52, and I forgot 70/71!!!

Photographic proof https://www.flickr.com/photos/77751183@N07/27048481436/in/photolist-R1WfCn-Hdbxbd-S58oUu



Another oddity was around in Wiltshire for years. Badgerline/First ran the service from Bath to Devizes running through Market Lavington and Easterton as the 271-3 from their Devizes (and later Melksham) outstation. However, each morning was a single circular journey that ran from Devizes to Urchfont (the 271-3 didn't), then Easterton and Market Lavington back to Devizes. It was numbered 270 and operated by Wilts and Dorset.

 

[markymark2000]

Those routes always did run to and from the depot/Hengrove Park.

The 53 and 54 were purely placement journeys to get the 8/9 and 70/71 buses respectively to/from Temple Meads Station and Hengrove Depot.

Maybe they did but they are still strange routes terminating at the depot rather than at a normal terminus. Not many routes regularly terminate at the depot.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

Maybe they did but they are still strange routes terminating at the depot rather than at a normal terminus. Not many routes regularly terminate at the depot.

The key difference is that routes like the 75/76 etc run through to Hengrove Park; Hengrove Depot is only a short distance away and services have run through there for quite a number of years.

The 53 and 54 were routes specifically registered to run from the depot into Temple Meads; even stranger is that they were exactly the same route but had different numbers based purely on the type of vehicle running (e.g. 53 was Streetlite as they ran the 8 and 9, yet the 54 was Streetdeck as they ran the 70/71) purely based on the stand at which they have to serve at Temple Meads. Bristol also had the 35A that ran from Lawrence Hill depot to Willsbridge meaning that Bridgeyate (only otherwise served by the two hourly 35) would suddenly get a number of early morning or late evening placement journeys.

Naturally, there were many depots that were co-located with bus stations. However, there were countless instances of depots acting a terminus points. London has quite a few such as Harrow Weald. Others that I remember were in Teesside as all journeys to Loftus would run through the town and to the United/Tees/Arriva depot on the southern edge of the town, or at Elloughton near Hull where buses that would probably terminate in Brough run through to the EY depot.

 

[Whisky Papa]

If I may go back (again) to Trafford and Manchester in GMT days, late evening buses coming in from the Chester Road direction ran back in service to Princess Road garage in Moss Side after passing Old Trafford, rather than continuing into the city centre. As last buses left the city at 2300, any inward journeys that would arrive after about 2255 would have had no further work to do. There was usually at least one service on each main road that did continue into the city centre after this time - some of these were actually operated by all-night crews even though they were day services.
In some ways the most extreme examples were on the routes from Wythenshawe into Manchester, which were worked by the former Northenden garage at Sharston quite near the outer end of the route. As a result, any buses leaving Wythenshawe from only just after 2200 terminated at Northenden, leading to a number of late duties with finishing times around 2230, most unusual compared with other garages. There was a 2300 departure into Manchester on the 100, one of those worked by a Princess Road all-night crew.

 

[ANDREW_D_WEBB]

Interesting, I wasn't aware of those other services also accepting foreign currency!

Southern Vectis used to accept Euros, not sure if they still do.

 

[Statto]

Interesting, I wasn't aware of those other services also accepting foreign currency!

I'm sure Arriva used to accept Euros on the 500 Liverpool Airport-Liverpool city centre express before the 500 merged with the 82A don't know if that's still the case.

 

[delt1c]

The 250 in Essex when operated by LT from Loughton Garage in the 80's had an unusual route. Monday to Friday you could get a bus to South Woodford but not back. It had a complicated scheduling and changed route number at South Woodford

 

[Dai Corner]

The short-lived New Adventure Five ran from Ringland on the eastern edge of Newport to St Mellon's on the eastern edge of Cardiff rather than city centre to city centre as might be expected.

 

[aliceh]

For a short period of time a few years ago, Yellow Buses' 111 had a schoolday journey that ran via Moors Close in Hurn and required the bus to do a three-point turn before continuing its journey. That might not be unique, but I'd be surprised if any other routes featured a three-point turn and a 60mph dual carriageway between one stop and the next.

Also a unique one is Southern Vectis' Needles Breezer, heading up a single track road a few feet from a sheer cliff face towards the Needles Old Battery. Equally terrifying and stunning.

 

[Belperpete]

there were many depots that were co-located with bus stations. However, there were countless instances of depots acting a terminus points. London has quite a few such as Harrow Weald. Others that I remember were in Teesside as all journeys to Loftus would run through the town and to the United/Tees/Arriva depot on the southern edge of the town, or at Elloughton near Hull where buses that would probably terminate in Brough run through to the EY depot.

I recall some Derby City Transport services running up Ascot Drive and terminating at their depot there. Quite convenient for me, as I worked next door. Most drivers would let me off inside the depot, but some would stop before the depot gates, or on the road immediately outside (I don't recall there being an official stop there). The public were allowed (limited) access into the depot, as they did public MOTs.

 

[cnjb8]

Some Rainbow One buses at night terminate at Langley Mill for the TrentBarton depot.

 

[Statto]

St Helens routes 23/24 Clinkham Wood-Sutton Manor Circular were quite strange routes in they had different start/terminus in Clinkham Wood, 23 went from Dalehead Place terminated at Kendal Drive, 24 reverse, looking on google earth looks like both terminuses are about a 5-10 minute walk from each other.

 

[Simon75]

There is also a similar link

Dead Miles/Running empty to garage

I know some companies have positioning journeys ie FirstPotteries from Adderley Green to Hanley, but why don't they do them all the the time. I see a lot on Keelings road, which run empty but the could do journeys from ie 99 terminates at Chell Heath , could pick up or drop passengers towards...

www.railforums.co.uk

 

[Geordie driver]

Going back a bit, services that ran from Morpeth to Newcastle via Stannington and the A1, the right turn for Stannington was an extended slip way on the off side of a dual carriageway. If there was traffic already in the slip way queuing the bus on occasion had to stop on the outside lane of the A1.

It's not like that now.

Not sure if that counts as strange, but it was dangerous.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

Going back a bit, services that ran from Morpeth to Newcastle via Stannington and the A1, the right turn for Stannington was an extended slip way on the off side of a dual carriageway. If there was traffic already in the slip way queuing the bus on occasion had to stop on the outside lane of the A1.

It's not like that now.

Not sure if that counts as strange, but it was dangerous.

A strange route borne out of danger was between Richmond and Northallerton via Catterick Village.

It ran via the A1 south of Catterick for a stretch before diverting off to serve various villages. On its return, it had to cross the A1 in a dip with traffic approaching at speed.

It was eventually rerouted to run via Leeming Bar but not stopping and only on the return leg, so 10 mins longer in one direction.

I’m sure there are plenty of similar examples

 

[neilmc]

Circle routes excepted, have any areas had a route that would show a different number when on a return journey over the same route, for example a couple of routes in Wirral had this scenario, because of a double run, in the mid 80s, the PTE extended the 42 Mill Park-Overchurch Road to Woodside via Moreton replacing the 21/22, but because of a double run down Park Road North & Laird Street, buses were numbered 42 one way & 43 the other, a few years later, Merseybus, introduced a 7/7A Woodside-New Brighton, with buses on the return journey showing 8/8A/8E again because of a double run on Hoylake Road

In Leeds in the 1970s, the Middleton-Moortown set of routes 10/12/18 and 19 were interworked. Thus a service 10 from Middleton Thorpe Lane to Moortown via Shadwell Lane would return as a 19 over the route beyond Roundhay, and would become an 18 at Middleton Arms. This meant that if you lived at Thorpe Lane and caught a service 10 all the way through to, say, Shadwell Lane, you couldn't get back home on a single bus, at least until the evening when the service 18/19 had stopped and all buses from Middleton via Roundhay were service 10. I suspect that the number of passengers who found this to be an issue would have been miniscule as very few people did such long journeys between the route extremities and the service 10 extension to Moortown via the back roads was usually a nice restful sit down for the conductor with next to no custom.

 

[scotrail158713]

I’m sure there are plenty of similar example

Stagecoach’s X4/X5 service westbound between Penrith and Keswick has a couple of dangerous junctions like that

 

[markymark2000]

St Helens routes 23/24 Clinkham Wood-Sutton Manor Circular were quite strange routes in they had different start/terminus in Clinkham Wood, 23 went from Dalehead Place terminated at Kendal Drive, 24 reverse, looking on google earth looks like both terminuses are about a 5-10 minute walk from each other.

Still is like that but now it's the 32 and 32A. It's to get most of the estate covered without having to loop services around Kendal Drive and then up to Dalehead Place.
In the evening, both the 32 and 32A serve Kendal Drive then run to Dalehead place before switching numbers and returning to St Helens (no service from Kenal Drive direct to St Helens, they have to travel on the northbound trip and remain on the bus).

 

[Statto]

A strange route borne out of danger was between Richmond and Northallerton via Catterick Village.

It ran via the A1 south of Catterick for a stretch before diverting off to serve various villages. On its return, it had to cross the A1 in a dip with traffic approaching at speed.

It was eventually rerouted to run via Leeming Bar but not stopping and only on the return leg, so 10 mins longer in one direction.

I’m sure there are plenty of similar examples

997 Birmingham-Walsall through journeys, is like this because of Queslett Road East in Pheasey is a dual carriageway with no right turn into Doe Bank Lane, southbound 997s go straight down Queslett Road East then Collingwood Drive, northbound 997s go via Hillingford Avenue, Frampton Way & Doe Bank Lane to Queslett Road East, the short terminating 997Es fill in for the southbound 997s in Pheasey.

Also in Liverpool, because right turns are blocked by the dual carriageway on Queens Drive in Childwall, 174 Belle Vale-Penny Lane has to operate a one way route between Woolton Road/Heathfield Road & Childwall Fiveways to get around this

 

[Slower Travel]

On the face of it, the X6 between Poole and Bournemouth is an odd one. The 5 or 6 miles between them gets stretched out to 30 miles gallop through Dorset, reaching as far as Verwood before heading back for the coast.

My assumption is that it used to be two different routes which merged (Poole-Verwood, Bournemouth-Verwood). Image below is a rough guesstimate, btw.

 

[PeterC]

London Transport route 174 was operated from North Street Romford but didn't pass the garage. Buses returning to the depot ran in service although I don't know if they ever actually carried passengers from the Golden Lion (or later the St Edwards Way roundabout) for the 2 or 3 stops to the garage. Now of course buses run "out of service" from the terminii.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

Another oddity was this one from the early 1990s https://www.flickr.com/photos/jncar...2-87vFL6-28y3NH7-VhtaKc-87vFHx-87vFEZ-287enNE

I forget exactly what it did but it was a service that linked a number of hospitals around Ashington, and involved pulling a converted horsebox around; assume it was for moving goods/consumables between from Wansbeck Hospital to other sites? It ran every day including Christmas Day and Boxing Day - the only bus services on those days in the entire North East.

Parcel traffic has been part of bus services in the past, even if it was just bundles of the evening papers. The Border Courier had built in goods compartments on various vehicles (like Metroriders) and there have been other vehicles with luggage trailers, but I can't recall anything else quite like that.

 

[Geordie driver]

Another oddity was this one from the early 1990s https://www.flickr.com/photos/jncar...2-87vFL6-28y3NH7-VhtaKc-87vFHx-87vFEZ-287enNE

I forget exactly what it did but it was a service that linked a number of hospitals around Ashington, and involved pulling a converted horsebox around; assume it was for moving goods/consumables between from Wansbeck Hospital to other sites? It ran every day including Christmas Day and Boxing Day - the only bus services on those days in the entire North East.

Parcel traffic has been part of bus services in the past, even if it was just bundles of the evening papers. The Border Courier had built in goods compartments on various vehicles (like Metroriders) and there have been other vehicles with luggage trailers, but I can't recall anything else quite like that.

You are right about transporting goods between hospitals, this was being discussed recently on a FB group I am a member of, apparently there were 4 of these fitted with tow bars.

Also parcels, the Haymarket in Newcastle had a full time member of staff just for this, I don't know if other depots did?

 

[aliceh]

On the face of it, the X6 between Poole and Bournemouth is an odd one. The 5 or 6 miles between them gets stretched out to 30 miles gallop through Dorset, reaching as far as Verwood before heading back for the coast.

My assumption is that it used to be two different routes which merged (Poole-Verwood, Bournemouth-Verwood). Image below is a rough guesstimate, btw.

View attachment 78050

It was and it wasn't! Before the X6, there was the 36 Bournemouth to Verwood and 37 Poole to Verwood, but before those they had the X36 doing the same circuitous route as now.