[Trivia] Peak Extensions In/Beyond City Centres

[tbtc]

Modern bus routes are often simple, predictable, intended to be something people can rely on without a timetable

Thirty years ago, things were different, chaotic, much more variety

Often corridors had “express” services at rush hour, something which has become a rarity outside of a few exceptions (e.g. Edinburgh)

Such routes have generally been incorporated into the main service so that there’s no faster option at rush hour

But something rare than these were the rush hour routes that penetrated the city centre better (or differently) to the regular daytime route, or those which extended beyond the city centre to serve somewhere that the daytime routes didn’t

(I’ve said “city centre”, I’m happy to take examples of this in towns too, it’s just that towns were less likely to have rush hour expresses or to have centres big enough to justify alternative routes inside)

Examples I can think of:

Stagecoach expresses from Ayr/ Kilmarnock/ Cumbernauld run beyond central Glasgow to Kelvingrove/ Byres Road/ Hillhead to serve the main University area

One Stagecoach service (X52) from Fife into Edinburgh extended beyond Princes Street to serve the University rather than the bus station. From memory, there were more services that did this in the past

Perth has a few services extended to the big Aviva offices on the edge of the city at rush hour (16, 58a etc) as well as one morning 36 extending beyond the city centre to the High School

Back in Kelvin Scottish days, the Cumbernauld expresses (X40, X50) into Glasgow extended beyond Buchanan bus station on the edge of the city centre to serve the financial area around Bothwell Street

In mid nineties Sheffield, one of the expresses from Killamarsh area via the Parkway into the city centre was extended via the main University area to the Hallamshire Hospital

I’m not talking about rush hour routes that extended further at the “suburban”/“country” end as there’d be far too many examples of those around the country

So the Lothian Buses X31 doesn’t count because, although it serves additional stops at the “country” end (extending beyond the regular Hopefield terminus of the 31 to serve Rosewell), the X31 route in the city centre is the same as the 31 (Princes Street, Haymarket)

However the Lothian Buses X33 does count - not because it extends beyond Danderhall to serve Dalkeith/ Mayfield/ Newtongrange at the “country” end, but because the city centre route sees it serve Lothian Road and Fountainbridge (rather than the daytime 33s which serve Haymarket instead)

Historical/ current examples welcome, but it needs to serve some different stops to the “regular” route, not just skipping some of the stops (a journey running non-stop through the inner city to serve the same terminus as the regular journeys doesn’t count, it needs to have at least one different stop)

Examples can be extended journeys using the regular service number (e.g. the extended Ayr - Glasgow services to serve the University use the same X77 number as the regular journeys) or a separate number for an express service (e.g. the X52 from Fife to Edinburgh University is a separate number to the regular X55 that terminated in central Edinburgh)

Extensions beyond the city centre to schools/ colleges/ universities welcome (as above) but these must be open to the general public rather than requiring school passes to be shown etc. I appreciate that there may be some borderline examples, but the routes I’ve mentioned above are all ones where a regular commuter could use them into the city centre regardless of the fact that they extend beyond it to then serve a school/ college/ university

 

[341o2]

I remember London Transport running a Summer service to Chessington Zoo, Virginia Water, and Windsor.
Last two removed. as these are/were regular routes.

 

[higthomas]

I think one that would fit your criteria is the Cambridge C busway route. It's pretty much an extension of the B through town to Long Road Sixth form College and Addenbrookes.

 

[Magdalia]

I think one that would fit your criteria is the Cambridge C busway route. It's pretty much an extension of the B through town to Long Road Sixth form College and Addenbrookes.

The heavily used Haverhill route 13 still has peak time X13 express services.

 

[Tetchytyke]

There are quite a few in Durham which extend beyond the city centre to serve the hospital and Framwellgate Moor- for the college- at peak times.

 

[Andyh82]

Transdev service 36 & in the past the 770 and Coastliner used to divert via the ‘business’ part of Leeds City Centre on some journeys in the peak, rather than running straight to the bus station.

This has recently been discontinued in the post COVID world

 

[318266]

Did the First Glasgow X1 not used to go to Charing Cross in the peak hours?

 

[Fleetmaster]

Express routes serving a different city centre route to their slower counterpart and actually stopping on it (rather than just a quicker transit) is certainly a new one on me.

I certainly think things are still plenty chaotic though. It's surely still very common for some peak time turns worked as part of the same nominal route number to not just extend but be more than double the length or more than the ordinary daytime service, with the extra bit an extension beyond the central terminus rather than at the suburban end.

Obviously these routes typically exist to serve scholars or shift workers, with the school or work site being at the end of the extension, but are otherwise fully accessible ordinary stage services with the regular vehicles.

It's got to be absolutely baffling to the uninitiated, seeing a number N bus apparently in service, with the same usual vehicle of the same usual company, stopping as normal as you like at stops which are actually several miles from its regular route. The literal other side of town. And of course it makes for interesting reading in timetables, printed or digital.

It even takes me a second to figure out what's going on if I see one that I know in the wild.

I want to live in a world where these oddities are given a different route number. It should be a legal requirement even.

 

[Lewisham2221]

Proctors Coaches/D&G Bus service 16 Leek - Hanley (Stoke-on-Trent city centre) used to have an AM peak journey which extended to Stoke-on-Trent railway station.

Bakerbus (Bakers Coaches of Biddulph) service 94 Biddulph - Newcastle-under-Lyme used to have an AM peak journey which extended to Hanley.

Neither of these extentions had a corresponding PM peak working, nor do they exist any more. The latter was more of an additional peak time journey, on top of the normal frequency, using a bus which then operated services from Hanley for the rest of the day. The extention was essentially a positioning trip operated in service rather than dead.

Not quite sure if the next two qualify...

Scragg's/Blue Buses service 30 Hanley - Newcastle-under-Lyme used to have the first 2 AM peak journeys start in Werrington village and the last 2 PM peak journeys finish there, operating between Werrington and Hanley via the same route as their service 32. They later merged the two services into service 31 with most journeys running all the way through.

First Potteries service 32 Hanley - Uttoxeter used to have an extention in Uttoxeter where one AM and one PM journey served an estate on the far side of the town. This primarily seemed to be to pick up/drop off a small number of school/sixth form students who attended one of the schools on the "main" route.

 

[markymark2000]

The other one would be the Stagecoach 113/114. 113 is a morning peak variation of the Middleton to Manchester 112 but instead runs from Shudehill to Lever Street via Victoria Station, Deansgate and the Town Hall. For some reason though, the evening peak extension is on route 114 which starts from the Town Hall then goes to Lever Street (So people on the 112 route can get to other parts of the city in the morning but can't get home and people on the 114 can get better city centre links in the afternoon than the morning).

Would the Stagecoach Manchester 191 count? It is a peak time variation to the 192 which serves Oxford Road for the Royal Infirmary and until the recent Manchester City Council decided to close off more of the city streets, it used to serve the Town Hall, now it terminates at Chorlton Street so kind of serving different areas of the city.



Liverpool has a good few routes where the AM peak buses extend from Queens Square Bus Station to Lord Street in the city. Previously this was standard route for many of the services but due to the 'connectivity scheme' (which actually cut back most routes in the city in a bid to push more people into cars), these are now morning peak extensions only. At one point, before the Lime Street closure as well, there were peak extensions to a number of South Liverpool routes (such as 82D and 86D) to serve the north part of the city such as the business discrict.
Liverpool 54A takes a different route through the city in the morning peak so that it serves the business district.

 

[northwichcat]

Bakerbus (Bakers Coaches of Biddulph) service 94 Biddulph - Newcastle-under-Lyme used to have an AM peak journey which extended to Hanley.

Bakerbus had the 27 Macclesfield to Knutsford contract at one point. The peak time services were 27A and ran via AstraZeneca. As the buses came from a depot in Biddulph, the morning Knutsford bound 27As ran Biddulph-Congleton-Macclesfield-AstraZeneca-Chelford-Knutsford. The reverse in the evening. During the day the standard 27 ran Macclesfield-Chelford-Knutsford. That meant, within Macclesfield, roads like Park Lane saw a peak time 27A service.

There's numerous examples (past and present) of Northwich buses extending beyond the town centre at peak times to serve one of the schools or colleges. Until a few weeks ago that meant rare sights of D&G Bus and Warrington's Own Buses vehicles on London Road.

 

[Spsf3232]

I used to enjoy doing the X25 Cumbernauld to University journeys especially the ones that would only do one journey or go onto Citylink as you would end up with some odd allocations. Strangest one I've managed was a Vanhool which I took out still with trailer attached!

 

[Lewisham2221]

Also sure I remember seeing notes in the timetable for the D&G 118 Hanley-Buxton and Arriva Midlands 64 Hanley/Market Drayton-Shrewsbury for peak time extensions to colleges in Buxton and Shrewsbury. I don't recall if either had a PM working, or if they were AM only.

 

[Flange Squeal]

Stagecoach South's route 5 between Aldershot and Farnham usually does a terminating loop around Farnham town centre, consisting of East Street, South Street, Union Road, Downing Street and The Borough. But the first three weekday morning journeys towards Farnham (first one on weekends) instead continue across town along South Street to terminate at Farnham railway station. Then in the evening, journeys after around 1815 start at Farnham railway station and run north along South Street into the town centre and then normal route towards Aldershot. This extension is only around quarter of a mile in length though. In the below picture, yellow is the normal route of the 5, with red denoting the cross-town extension.

 

[Tayway]

Might be clutching at straws a bit, but the 917 Citylink from Portree to Inverness starts at Raigmore Hospital on one journey at what could be argued is peak time (17:15) – but then again there are only two journeys each way in total per day, and the return arrives at Raigmore around midday!

 

[Flange Squeal]

Another few (short!) ones:

Stagecoach South 11 (Farnborough to Paddock Hill) - on weekdays the first two morning journeys towards Farnborough and last two heading away perform a double run between Farnborough town centre and Mytchett to additionally serve Farnborough railway station to drop off/pick up commuters.

Stagecoach South 53/63 (Guildford to Ewhurst/Horsham) - weekday morning and evening peak journeys on the 63 continue beyond Horsham bus station to/from the railway station. Also on weekday mornings, the first two journeys towards Guildford perform a slight diversion in the town centre to additionally serve Guildford railway station before the bus station.

Stagecoach South YoYo (Farnborough to Prospect Estate) - weekday morning and Mon-Sat evening journeys perform a slightly different route around Farnborough town centre to additionally serve the railway station for commuters.

 

[bussnapperwm]

Travel West Midlands used to have a service 257A which was an extension to the main 257 route from Stourbridge to serve Stourbridge Junction car park during the peaks, same with a 293A, which was an extension to the 293 route, again running to Stourbridge Junction from Stourbridge in the peaks only. Both were discontinued in 2001.