Has anyone mentioned Arriva Yorkshire's Wakefield to Keswick yet? It ran during summer 2002 using W-reg
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Has anyone mentioned Arriva Yorkshire's Wakefield to Keswick yet? It ran during summer 2002 using W-reg Volvo B10BLE's.
Yes. You
A feature in the Buses magazine (Issue 667) commemorating Derek Giles's life mentioned the X1, although it left me with the impression that is was a coach route. Unfortunately it did not specify whether pre-booking was required.
The later incarnations of the X1 etc, which from my end went as far as Heathrow but could terminate pretty much anywhere in the centre of London, were always stage-based, and on Christmas Day it provided a 1bpd local service along London Road. I believe this practice ceased after the 1998 holiday season, but I may be. What happened in 1998? Oh yes... Arriva were formed :roll: In later years there was competition from Thamesway (the Southend/Basildon operation of Eastern National), courtesy of their City Saver routes; between the two, they were like a poor man's version of the modern Oxford Tube. Part of the routes' problem was that much of their income was based on the Misery Line; when it was working well, as was usually true off-peak, passenger numbers plummeted. At one stage the X1 ran up to every 5 minutes - off-peak, they ran only every hour.
When the LTS got its act together, the two operations combined into one, as a Green Line concern (mainly 721), and operated either once or twice an hour (I forget exactly), initially as a joint run between what were by now Arriva and First. Before too long however First pulled out, leaving only Arrive running the service, and in time they sold to Southend's third bus company, local independent Stephenson's of Essex, who would then pull the plug as well (see below for an interesting fact about the SE X1), citing lost fares - partly because ENCTS passes were valid as far west as Dagenham, and SE only received 50% of the applicable fare for each Pass...
Whilst the route was running under Arriva Green Line, the usual Arriva Southend mess ups were common-place. One early-ish morning 7B journey, which left Thorpe Bay at roughly 0730 for Hockley, could use absolutely anything (it *should* have been a Trident). Sometimes, it would be a Mercedes Vario, but one time it was a Green Line coach (I don't know what exactly though)! Anyone who knows Southend will know it is difficult to turn on to Lifstan Way from Southchurch Boulevard, so imagine doing it in a coach
Meanwhile, in the late afternoon, one 722 journey caught the eye every day. It terminated at Embankment, and was seemingly the only journey all day that was guaranteed to be a Trident! To this day I don't know why...
Anyhow, to summarise, it was officially a coach route; having said that, I do not believe it was ever a pre-booked service, although season tickets were certainly available. But once the LTS was running properly, the service could not compete and died a slow and painful death.
SE X1 Fact: The last standard day of X1 running in Southend (some trials have been run no further east than Stanford-le-Hope though; the most recent ended in May 2009) was July 11th 2008. However, the most recent X1-esque service was actually on January 1st 2012, as part of the annual heritage operation SE run. This year, feeder services ran - including one that ran from Aldgate!
