Variable-route bus diagrams

[nw1]

Just thought I'd ask a question related to my perception (rather than detailed analysis) of how bus service patterns appear to have changed in recent (last 10-15) years.

In the 80s and 90s, so I'm talking late-NBC and early privatisation here, it seemed to be very common for bus diagrams (diagrams for a given vehicle, rather than driver) to operate over a wide range of routes during the day. To give a few examples of bus stations where it was very common for a given route in to work a completely different route, and in an unpredictable way:

- Guildford bus station, Alder Valley from 1984 to at least 1989. This applied both pre- and post-deregulation; diagrams seemed to be very unpredictable.
- Bath bus station, Badgerline, 1993/94. Again, generally unpredictable diagrams on most routes, aside from most of the city services. Even those varied in the peak, perhaps driven by the need to use full-size buses on the 18 (University) when minibuses sufficed during the day - which led to knock-on effects on other routes.
- Winchester bus station under Stagecoach, summer 1993. Even on a Saturday (when in my experience, public transport diagrams are more predictable than weekdays, due to the lack of such well defined peaks) the diagramming of vehicles was highly unpredictable.
- Salisbury bus station, Wilts and Dorset, 1993. Highly unpredictable diagramming.
- Stagecoach (Hants and Surrey) Guildford 1993 remained rather unpredictable, aside from those 260 services to and from Bognor run by Coastline (ex-Southdown).
- by 2000, Stagecoach (Hants and Surrey) adopted an in-out diagramming policy in Guildford (the bus in would form the next bus out, so all 70s in would form the next 71 out for example) but Aldershot still seemed to be unpredictable, helped by being the location of the depot.

A lot of these, I suspect, were driven by the need to deploy double-deckers on busy school and work peak services, which necessitated swapping between routes.

Having said that, Southdown (Chichester) in the same era was entirely predictable, as very little terminated at the bus station. Many services were cross-city or terminated by the cathedral.

More recently, probably driven by cuts in rural and more esoteric bus routes since 2005-2010, it seems that these kinds of unpredictable diagrams have become much rarer. While I haven't spent several hours at a bus station for many years it does appear that, from the shorter periods I have been at bus stations, diagrams are much more predictable with vehicles staying on the same route or maybe alternating between two.

Even still, I would have thought that there would still be need for swapping vehicles between routes to ensure double-deckers cover specific busy school or work journeys.

So, I'm wondering if any companies or depots do still run 'variable route' bus diagrams of the kind that abounded in the 80s and 90s (and presumably before that, too)?

 

[SeveerYeliab]

Stagecoach south east have some of these. Especially at Folkestone depot. Buses on the main routes 16 and 102 seem to stay on that route all day, as well as town routes but all the others are interwork with each other. Some of Herne Bay depot duties do cover a considerable amount of routes as well.


This means that the allocation is all over the place. I would suggest having a look on bustimes at various buses from various depots, as you can kind of see the duties and how they vary.

 

[nw1]

Stagecoach south east have some of these. Especially at Folkestone depot. Buses on the main routes 16 and 102 seem to stay on that route all day, as well as town routes but all the others are interwork with each other. Some of Herne Bay depot duties do cover a considerable amount of routes as well.


This means that the allocation is all over the place. I would suggest having a look on bustimes at various buses from various depots, as you can kind of see the duties and how they vary.

Thanks for that, never knew that existed.

A quick look at some journeys which I was once very familiar with the diagramming suggests some unpredictability still exists e.g. this working appears to cover all of the 46, 70, 71 and 72 routes out of Guildford:

36836 - GX62 BHZ

ADL Enviro200

bustimes.org

If 'predictable' diagrams were the order of the day, one would expect the 70/71 and 46/72 pairs to be self-contained.

Incidentally the same vehicle has done the same diagram all week, apparently.

The 65 to Alton, which always used to be self-contained at that end when it was the 64, also seems to interwork with the above group of routes to some extent, seems the opening of a Stagecoach depot at Guildford (which was never there until quite recently) has made the diagrams in the area more 'interesting' than previously.

 

[Statto]

Arriva Birkenhead has the most variable diagrams, although hybrids are mostly allocated to routes 407/432/433/437/464/471/472 & because of low bridges mostly Pulsars to 487 you can still see any bus on any route, hybrids can often appear on any non cross river route, & can see any single decker on any route, & any non hybrid decker can be allocated to any route apart from 487

 

[43055]

Just thought I'd ask a question related to my perception (rather than detailed analysis) of how bus service patterns appear to have changed in recent (last 10-15) years.

In the 80s and 90s, so I'm talking late-NBC and early privatisation here, it seemed to be very common for bus diagrams (diagrams for a given vehicle, rather than driver) to operate over a wide range of routes during the day. To give a few examples of bus stations where it was very common for a given route in to work a completely different route, and in an unpredictable way:

- Guildford bus station, Alder Valley from 1984 to at least 1989. This applied both pre- and post-deregulation; diagrams seemed to be very unpredictable.
- Bath bus station, Badgerline, 1993/94. Again, generally unpredictable diagrams on most routes, aside from most of the city services. Even those varied in the peak, perhaps driven by the need to use full-size buses on the 18 (University) when minibuses sufficed during the day - which led to knock-on effects on other routes.
- Winchester bus station under Stagecoach, summer 1993. Even on a Saturday (when in my experience, public transport diagrams are more predictable than weekdays, due to the lack of such well defined peaks) the diagramming of vehicles was highly unpredictable.
- Salisbury bus station, Wilts and Dorset, 1993. Highly unpredictable diagramming.
- Stagecoach (Hants and Surrey) Guildford 1993 remained rather unpredictable, aside from those 260 services to and from Bognor run by Coastline (ex-Southdown).
- by 2000, Stagecoach (Hants and Surrey) adopted an in-out diagramming policy in Guildford (the bus in would form the next bus out, so all 70s in would form the next 71 out for example) but Aldershot still seemed to be unpredictable, helped by being the location of the depot.

A lot of these, I suspect, were driven by the need to deploy double-deckers on busy school and work peak services, which necessitated swapping between routes.

Having said that, Southdown (Chichester) in the same era was entirely predictable, as very little terminated at the bus station. Many services were cross-city or terminated by the cathedral.

More recently, probably driven by cuts in rural and more esoteric bus routes since 2005-2010, it seems that these kinds of unpredictable diagrams have become much rarer. While I haven't spent several hours at a bus station for many years it does appear that, from the shorter periods I have been at bus stations, diagrams are much more predictable with vehicles staying on the same route or maybe alternating between two.

Even still, I would have thought that there would still be need for swapping vehicles between routes to ensure double-deckers cover specific busy school or work journeys.

So, I'm wondering if any companies or depots do still run 'variable route' bus diagrams of the kind that abounded in the 80s and 90s (and presumably before that, too)?

Midland Classic have quite variable vehicle diagrams. The 8, 9 and X12 are mostly standalone being branded or cross town but most other routes interwork in some form as most of the double decks are used on school runs in the morning and afternoon and certain peak journeys.

Fleet list – Midland Classic – bustimes.org

 

[JonathanH]

- Bath bus station, Badgerline, 1993/94. Again, generally unpredictable diagrams on most routes, aside from most of the city services. Even those varied in the peak, perhaps driven by the need to use full-size buses on the 18 (University) when minibuses sufficed during the day - which led to knock-on effects on other routes.

I was at Bath University in the late 1990s and had a room overlooking the bus bay in the 1995/96 year, later travelling on the Badgerline buses in the January-March 1997 term before Streamline were bought out. The bus diagrams in that time were amazing in how they made best use of the available resources. By then, they essentially used three Darts on the 18 during the day on a cycle every ten minutes, but called in buses off all sorts of other routes to provide the peak extras, even with one of the university buses going onto a school working - not unpredictable, it was all planned, but somewhat complex.

For example, the 228 route from Colerne which had a dedicated bus in that timetable, had an 18 trip at 0840 from the station between the first inward 228 working to Bath and services later in the day. The 1715 and 1745 departures from the University were a VR that went on to work the 1800 337 service to Keynsham, the 1755 service did a 3 to Foxhill and then an evening service to Trowbridge. I seem to recall that there was another university trip that then did a peak working on the 179 to Paulton.

The 337 was certainly also a route that just got whatever was available to fill in between other workings.

Later, with dedicated vehicles, it wasn't anywhere near as interesting. As you note, it does seem to be about trying to get elderly double deckers out onto services where the capacity is needed without having them out all day.

 

[PeterC]

In Bucks Red Rose services 71, 73, 77 and 78 are interworked on weekdays. On Saturdays it is 71, 73, 77, 149, 194 and 177.

 

[nw1]

I was at Bath University in the late 1990s and had a room overlooking the bus bay in the 1995/96 year, later travelling on the Badgerline buses in the January-March 1997 term before Streamline were bought out. The bus diagrams in that time were amazing in how they made best use of the available resources. By then, they essentially used three Darts on the 18 during the day on a cycle every ten minutes, but called in buses off all sorts of other routes to provide the peak extras, even with one of the university buses going onto a school working - not unpredictable, it was all planned, but somewhat complex.

For example, the 228 route from Colerne which had a dedicated bus in that timetable, had an 18 trip at 0840 from the station between the first inward 228 working to Bath and services later in the day. The 1715 and 1745 departures from the University were a VR that went on to work the 1800 337 service to Keynsham, the 1755 service did a 3 to Foxhill and then an evening service to Trowbridge. I seem to recall that there was another university trip that then did a peak working on the 179 to Paulton.

The 337 was certainly also a route that just got whatever was available to fill in between other workings.

Later, with dedicated vehicles, it wasn't anywhere near as interesting. As you note, it does seem to be about trying to get elderly double deckers out onto services where the capacity is needed without having them out all day.

Yes, that was much as I remember a few years earlier except the regular day service was formed of 5 'Mini Link' minibuses (Transits I think?) on a 6-minute headway, which occasionally swapped to other city services. For the peak 'swaps', I don't recall the exact details but I do remember that in the evening peak there was at least one 18 when then formed a 3 - and some services had been on routes such as the 265 (Trowbridge) and 177/79 (Paulton) as you also observed.

In 1993/94 the 337 was numbered the X37, but it had a similar pattern of 'filling in' between other workings. I seem to remember the X37s were timetabled out of Bath at xx22/xx52 and also arrived at xx22/xx52 (90 minutes later), which meant it was logical to go on and form another working rather than lay over for half an hour. A pretty even mix of Nationals and VRs, if I remember right. The 32 (Ensleigh) also had that 'fill in between other workings' pattern at the time.

Most unusual regularly diagrammed working I remember was an X39 (Bath to Bristol) which then formed an 8 (Larkhall) in the evening peak, worked by a VR. That was particularly interesting as the 8 was minibuses otherwise; maybe it was intentional in order to give an (unadvertised, but known to those 'in the know') through working from Bristol in the evening peak.

By the way, just to clarify, when I say 'unpredictable' I don't mean the diagrams change every day, but rather I mean that the diagrams are set, but the vehicles change between routes in a manner that cannot be figured out merely by examining the timetables.

I agree that these sorts of 'planned, but unpredictable' diagrams are much more interesting. In those days the 18, for instance, was quite a mix of minibuses, nationals, VRs, and even one regularly diagrammed coach (came off the X4 from Salisbury, I think).

Good to know that the spirit is alive and well in Stagecoach South (Guildford and Aldershot depots) amongst others though (thanks @SeveerYeliab for that link). Indeed, some of the diagrams, particularly for school/college services, involve vehicles going all over the place - look at this:

18066 - WA04 CRU

Dennis Trident Alexander ALX400

bustimes.org

Haslemere to Midhurst, then Alton College, then some Alton town services, then all the way to Bagshot to do a college service, then back to Alton again, then onto Haslemere on a 13. Presumably all intricately planned to make the best use of resources.

 

[Whisky Papa]

Does anybody know what the current interworking situation is at Stockport with Stagecoach Manchester? When I was producing schedules there for GMT in the early 1980s, all buses terminating in the bus station interworked at random, the aim being not only to minimise the peak vehicle requirement but also to create the most suitable chunks of work for the drivers' duties. The compulsory single-deck routes were something of an exception as there was a theoretical set pattern linking the 328 (Bridge Hall) and 375/6 (Hazel Grove via Bramhall Lane). Alternate hours that pattern would also interwork at Hazel Grove with the 394 over to Glossop, the other hour being covered from the Glossop end.

 

[Kieran1990]

Arriva Guildford had some tough Sunday diagramming a few years back when they dominated the local bus service. Everything interworked and delays were awful especially during term time when a 26 would then take 53 out to Cranleigh.

 

[L401CJF]

Arriva Birkenhead has the most variable diagrams, although hybrids are mostly allocated to routes 407/432/433/437/464/471/472 & because of low bridges mostly Pulsars to 487 you can still see any bus on any route, hybrids can often appear on any non cross river route, & can see any single decker on any route, & any non hybrid decker can be allocated to any route apart from 487

To add to this, the Clatterbridge 410s interwork with the 411, the 407/471/472 all interwork with each other, the 432/433/437 interwork with eachother, and there are a few odd duties - one where you run a 471 to Heswall in an evening, go empty to Liverpool then do the 1803 423. Similarly the 487 at 1800 ish from Little Neston switches over to a 423 in Liverpool at 1903.

 

[LUYMun]

Good to know that the spirit is alive and well in Stagecoach South (Guildford and Aldershot depots) amongst others though (thanks @SeveerYeliab for that link). Indeed, some of the diagrams, particularly for school/college services, involve vehicles going all over the place - look at this:

18066 - WA04 CRU – Stagecoach South (SCHM) – bustimes.org
Haslemere to Midhurst, then Alton College, then some Alton town services, then all the way to Bagshot to do a college service, then back to Alton again, then onto Haslemere on a 13. Presumably all intricately planned to make the best use of resources.

That's quite unusual for an Aldershot bus to promptly run the 83, shouldn't the Collingwood services be operated by Peasmarsh garage?

But yes, Stagecoach's Aldershot garage is known for this sort of practice for long as it has taken over Alder Valley.

As far as I know, until the you-know-what struck, some diagrams revolved around routes 7, 9 and 10 in not only interworking but some college and school services (such as the 409, 410 and 610) also run in unison. The route 10 also has a number of extensions and diversions that caters Calthorpe Park School, All Hallows School and Farnborough Colleges. Nowadays these allocations have segregated themselves mostly to stay on their own routes, especially with the 7 reducing from hourly to every 90/120 minutes and requiring a single vehicle. This is because of social distancing requiring duplicate buses for students, running behind an ordinary bus on normal routes where there extensions to schools/colleges whilst services that catered primarily for school/college students were locked to students only, resulting in an increased PVR!

 

[nw1]

That's quite unusual for an Aldershot bus to promptly run the 83, shouldn't the Collingwood services be operated by Peasmarsh garage?

Is this anything to do with needing a double decker? Looking at a few diagrams it looks like it might be (I don't know) that Guildford is 100% single-decker. The first journey on that diagram (Hammer Hill Estate to Midhurst) is also on a route (70) more normally run by Guildford (though that particular journey is numbered 470).

But yes, Stagecoach's Aldershot garage is known for this sort of practice for long as it has taken over Alder Valley.

As far as I know, until the you-know-what struck, some diagrams revolved around routes 7, 9 and 10 in not only interworking but some college and school services (such as the 409, 410 and 610) also run in unison. The route 10 also has a number of extensions and diversions that caters Calthorpe Park School, All Hallows School and Farnborough Colleges. Nowadays these allocations have segregated themselves mostly to stay on their own routes, especially with the 7 reducing from hourly to every 90/120 minutes and requiring a single vehicle. This is because of social distancing requiring duplicate buses for students, running behind an ordinary bus on normal routes where there extensions to schools/colleges whilst services that catered primarily for school/college students were locked to students only, resulting in an increased PVR!

I'm not sure what the 7, 9 and 10 are without looking (being some time, perhaps as long ago as 2000, since I actually physically visited Aldershot) but I did notice on bustimes that a number of the town services in the area currently interwork. The 5 and 14 (I think they were the routes? Sandy Hill and Tices Meadow, anyway) seem to interwork a bit and quite a few of the town services also go onto out-of-town routes.

Another oddity is that the afternoon Midhurst to Hammer Hill estate school bus (470) appears to be consistently run by a Route 1 'Gold' branded bus! The given diagram seems to spend the morning on route 1 and then goes empty to Midhurst in the afternoon.

Arriva Guildford had some tough Sunday diagramming a few years back when they dominated the local bus service. Everything interworked and delays were awful especially during term time when a 26 would then take 53 out to Cranleigh.

Looking at Arriva Guildford now, interworking seems more limited with the 34 being almost entirely-self contained by the looks of things (quite a contrast to the 34 and its predecessor the 284 in Alder Valley days) and the 53/63 likewise. The 18/36/37 town services (which seem to be the only Arriva town services that I could find) interwork with each other to some degree though.

That said, the Cranleigh services were self-contained some time back too, in the later 1980s when Cranleigh depot opened and the routes (263, 273 and 283 at the time) received new dedicated double-deckers. (Incidentally I'm curious as to why Ewhurst and Horsham have since become 53/63 rather than 73/83?)

 

[Cesarcollie]

Don’t think I’ve ever hear Bus workings referred to as ‘diagrams’ in the industry - though it may apply in some cases. Think that’s rail terminology!

 

[GusB]

Don’t think I’ve ever hear Bus workings referred to as ‘diagrams’ in the industry - though it may apply in some cases. Think that’s rail terminology!

I've certainly seen 'diagrams' being referred to, although mainly in the context of National Express services.

 

[Cesarcollie]

I've certainly seen 'diagrams' being referred to, although mainly in the context of National Express services.

Yes correct - for whatever reason NX coach workings are ‘diagrams’ - I’d forgotten that - perhaps they nicked the rail terminology!

 

[Flange Squeal]

Is this anything to do with needing a double decker? Looking at a few diagrams it looks like it might be (I don't know) that Guildford is 100% single-decker. The first journey on that diagram (Hammer Hill Estate to Midhurst) is also on a route (70) more normally run by Guildford (though that particular journey is numbered 470).

The 84 does indeed use a double decker, although I presume the tender with Surrey County Council MAY specify a number of seats rather than specific vehicle type as it was for a fair period operated using a pair of single deckers. Guildford isn't a solely single deck operation though, with five 64-plate ex-Coastliner Enviro 400s wearing branding for the University of Surrey routes 1/2 permanently allocated, along with a similar number of Tridents and an older Enviro 400 currently also there. As well as the 1/2, the deckers can be found working the PT1-5 school routes to St Peter's School (some of which then interwork with the 65 Alton and 72 Godalming), as well as a school dupe on the 715 to Esher High School. Maintenance on Guildford's decker allocation is generally undertaken at Aldershot though, as the building at Guildford can't accommodate them. I guess this may mean decker routes will generally be worked by Aldershot except where particularly impractical, such as the Uni routes.

The 5 and 14 (I think they were the routes? Sandy Hill and Tices Meadow, anyway) seem to interwork a bit and quite a few of the town services also go onto out-of-town routes.

They do indeed. Interestingly the combined 4/5 route used to run cross town Farnham > Aldershot > North Town, but was split in half in 2016 to aid reliability. The Aldershot to North Town section became the 14, and interworked with the 15 to Tices Meadow (so buses ran Aldershot > North Town > Aldershot, change route, Aldershot > Tices Meadow > Aldershot, then repeat). The 4/5 became a self-contained Aldershot to Farnham operation (although evenings and Sundays I believe it interworked with the 20/KITE Aldershot to Guildford). As frequencies have changed in the five years since though, we now see the 15 back to being self-contained and the 14 now interworking with the 4/5, so the splitting of the 4/5 and creation of the new 14 turned out to be a rather pointless affair in the (not so) long run as the vehicles are now back to running Farnham > Aldershot > North Town like they did five years ago as one route!

 

[Statto]

Don’t think I’ve ever hear Bus workings referred to as ‘diagrams’ in the industry - though it may apply in some cases. Think that’s rail terminology!

Yep, bus industry it's normally called allocations.

 

[RT4038]

Yep, bus industry it's normally called allocations.

I have come across car / bus Workings, or car / bus lines [referring to the graph]; running numbers or boards or routes (pronounced rowt), amongst others.

The allocation is generally which bus fleet no. or type is on which car working/board etc. each day.

 

[nw1]

Don’t think I’ve ever hear Bus workings referred to as ‘diagrams’ in the industry - though it may apply in some cases. Think that’s rail terminology!

That was just me applying the rail term to buses for the same concept. I don't work in either the rail or the bus industry FWIW, just interested in the workings of both.

The 84 does indeed use a double decker, although I presume the tender with Surrey County Council MAY specify a number of seats rather than specific vehicle type as it was for a fair period operated using a pair of single deckers. Guildford isn't a solely single deck operation though, with five 64-plate ex-Coastliner Enviro 400s wearing branding for the University of Surrey routes 1/2 permanently allocated, along with a similar number of Tridents and an older Enviro 400 currently also there. As well as the 1/2, the deckers can be found working the PT1-5 school routes to St Peter's School (some of which then interwork with the 65 Alton and 72 Godalming), as well as a school dupe on the 715 to Esher High School. Maintenance on Guildford's decker allocation is generally undertaken at Aldershot though, as the building at Guildford can't accommodate them. I guess this may mean decker routes will generally be worked by Aldershot except where particularly impractical, such as the Uni routes.

Ah ok, thanks for that.

Re. the 1 and 2 (the existence of which I only found out about a couple of days ago) it looks like some of those services interwork with the 70. Looking back over recent days, there was one day certainly when the 0855 from Midhurst then went on to 1/2s for the rest of the day after arriving at Guildford and the 1100 from Midhurst did the same. Are these regular workings?

The 2 incidentally (which seems to go via Grange Park estate) brings to mind the old G2 on a similar route, jointly run by Alder Valley and Blue Saloon at the end of the NBC days, which the 228 was renumbered to in April 1985 (and which itself got its number from the Blue Saloon 2, which was the other side of town but then extended cross-town to Grange Park when it became the G2). I think for a brief time in the early 90s the Guildford-Grange Park and back under Guildford and West Surrey was also the 2.

 

[Andy Pacer]

It generally will boil down to the most efficient way of achieving the optimum frequency on the routes with the least resource.

 

[Whisky Papa]

I have come across car / bus Workings, or car / bus lines [referring to the graph]; running numbers or boards or routes (pronounced rowt), amongst others.

The allocation is generally which bus fleet no. or type is on which car working/board etc. each day.

The former Manchester and Salford garages of GMT used the term timecards, but the surrounding garages were happy with running boards. They were also written the other way up - timecards had the central Manchester / Salford terminus on the bottom line, the outer districts had their town terminus (eg Stockport bus station) at the top of the running board.

 

[LUYMun]

Is this anything to do with needing a double decker? Looking at a few diagrams it looks like it might be (I don't know) that Guildford is 100% single-decker.

Not true, since that Peasmarsh garage has a number of E400-bodied Scanias and ALX400-bodied Tridents that would be used not only on some school routes but for their prominent route 1/2 circulars serving the University of Surrey. It is without a doubt that Peasmarsh should be operating the Collingwood service considering that the routes end up closer to their territory (83 starts/ends at Bagshot, 84 at Knaphill, 87 at Chobham) than to Aldershot's. Surprisingly, route 417 (Farnborough College - Chobham) is also one college route considered to be Aldershot's responsibility, whereas this service uses vehicles from Peasmarsh, usually an E200, such as the case when I saw newly-livered 36839 (GX62BNL) the other week.

I'm not sure what the 7, 9 and 10 are without looking (being some time, perhaps as long ago as 2000, since I actually physically visited Aldershot)

For clarity:
Route 7 = Aldershot - Fleet - Elvetham Heath (with a few journeys running beyond to Hartley Wintney)
Route 9 = Farnborough - Southwood - Minley - Farnborough (circular)
Route 10 = Farnborough - Fleet - Church Crookham

The interworking was a result of a spiralling decline in council funding supporting route 7, which led to the route being split between Reading Buses (who operate Reading - Fleet) and Stagecoach (Hartley Wintney - Aldershot). In February 2019 Stagecoach's 7 was cut further as Hartley Wintney's services were reduced to a return journey intended for shoppers. The route 10, on the other hand, was commercially operated but the half-hourly frequency was cut to hourly so that other bus routes in Farnborough could have their frequencies boosted. That said, Stagecoach increased frequencies on the outskirts of Fleet in order to make up the route 10's loss - when a 10 bus completed its duties on the Church Crookham loop, it continued to Fleet Oatsheaf (where it is at one end of the town centre) and became a 7 to Elvetham Heath, thereon to a full 7 duty to Aldershot. The same story applies vice-versa.

As far as I know, there were several buses needed to make up the 7/9/10:

1. One bus was used to provide the Hartley Wintney journey, firstly in southbound direction departing 09:28, then running route 7, then 10, then returning to the 7, before heading back to arrive at Hartley Wintney at 14:11, then continued to run on routes 7 and 10 for the rest of its workings, return to Aldershot garage. Most times when I saw this service, the vehicles allocated to this was usually a Plaxton Pointer SPD, probably because the loadings were very few. There was no Saturday service for extended journeys to/from Hartley Wintney.
2. Two buses operated the standard 7/10 service. As I mentioned, some journeys do have their own variations to cater local schools within catchment. On weekdays these used Dennis Tridents whilst Saturdays saw just about any single decker Aldershot can get their hands on.
3. A couple of Optare Solos operated the last two route 10 journeys out of Farnborough, as to ending their YoYo duties (Farnborough - Prospect Estate circular route) and reducing that route's frequency from every 10 minutes at daytimes to half-hourly by 7pm. I believe it was considered more beneficial to run these on route 10 to upkeep the hourly frequency rather than dead-running straight to Aldershot.
4. Two buses were used to operate the interworking between the 9 and 10. Of which, one operated some morning 10 duties, then running four out of the five route 9 journeys (departures being made at 09:15, 10:15, 11:15 and 13:15), thereon afternoon route 10 duties. The other bus operated the 14:25 journey. Again, these were Tridents used and the 9 did not run on Saturdays.

When COVID-19 resulted in reduced bus operations and staff availabilities, the 7 and 10 became segragated so that a sole vehicle can be concentrated on each route, alongside the 10 bus also interworking with the 9, which gained a Saturday service! Since then, frequency has increased on the 7 and 10 has increased, but they remain segregated and it seems unlikely that they will return to pre-COVID operations.

 

[Cesarcollie]

The former Manchester and Salford garages of GMT used the term timecards, but the surrounding garages were happy with running boards. They were also written the other way up - timecards had the central Manchester / Salford terminus on the bottom line, the outer districts had their town terminus (eg Stockport bus station) at the top of the running board.

But ‘timecards’ may refer to a driver duty rather than a vehicle duty. Some companies use one, and some the other! Both have advantages and disadvantages. In essence a bus board/bus working (or various other terms!) shows what a particular vehicle does from leaving garage in the morning to returning at night. A duty board/time card (or various other terms!) shows what a driver does from the start of his/her shift to the end, including walk round checks, breaks, walking time etc. In scheduling, both sets of information will exist - a bus/car graph will show what each bus does in diagrammatic terms, which can then be produced in Bus board form if needed. A duty graph will show what each driver does (or conductor in days of old), and again this can be turned into timecard/duty board format, and from there a rota. However, only one format is normally carried on the bus, depending on company/history/working practice. Apologies to those who know all this already!

 

[Andy Pacer]

But ‘timecards’ may refer to a driver duty rather than a vehicle duty. Some companies use one, and some the other! Both have advantages and disadvantages. In essence a bus board/bus working (or various other terms!) shows what a particular vehicle does from leaving garage in the morning to returning at night. A duty board/time card (or various other terms!) shows what a driver does from the start of his/her shift to the end, including walk round checks, breaks, walking time etc. In scheduling, both sets of information will exist - a bus/car graph will show what each bus does in diagrammatic terms, which can then be produced in Bus board form if needed. A duty graph will show what each driver does (or conductor in days of old), and again this can be turned into timecard/duty board format, and from there a rota. However, only one format is normally carried on the bus, depending on company/history/working practice. Apologies to those who know all this already!

And some companies, such as where I work, it varies by depot. Some use duty boards others use running boards.

 

[nw1]

And some companies, such as where I work, it varies by depot. Some use duty boards others use running boards.

The best ones (from an interested-member-of-the-public point of view) are the companies which display the vehicle duty publically on the bus.

'London Transport' (i.e. the contracted red bus routes in London) and formerly London Country, did this by design as they had a slot on the bus exterior carrying a small metal board for the vehicle duty. Maybe they still do this in London.

But other companies do/did do the same practice. Bluestar does it right now, though Bluestar diagrams seem very predictable anyway in the main. As Bluestar vehicles seem to stay on the same route all day, the diagram number seems fairly consistently to be [DepotCode] (route mod 10) * 10 + n, where n is 0 to usually 9. For instance the 1 uses E10, E11, E12 etc; the 2 E20, E21, E22 and so on. An exception is on Sundays when routes 1 and 2 interwork, and I'm not so sure whether the Totton routes follow this schema; the Eastleigh routes certainly appear to.

Formerly, Alder Valley used to do it in the 80s, notably Guildford depot but also Hindhead and Aldershot for a time. Alder Valley (and London Country, Guildford depot) used to use different number ranges for single and double deckers. Low numbers up to about 30 for single-deckers, numbers in the 60s and 70s for minibuses, and 101+ for double-deckers was the most common, which meant you could easily tell whether the vehicle working that duty that day was the 'intended' type. I do remember one or two duties/diagrams where the 'wrong' type, according to the number, frequently ran it - and there were oddities like a duty which started and ended at Horsham (for Alder Valley Guildford) did not display a number at all.

 

[Andy Pacer]

I've always thought it must be useful (as a driver) when operating with your own duty board to have a way of knowing which is your bus, especially on a frequent route where 2 or 3 buses on the same service may arrive together having bunched up, and displaying the 'car working' would be beneficial.

 

[RT4038]

I've always thought it must be useful (as a driver) when operating with your own duty board to have a way of knowing which is your bus, especially on a frequent route where 2 or 3 buses on the same service may arrive together having bunched up, and displaying the 'car working' would be beneficial.

Most bus companies have few, if any, routes running at that sort of frequency nowadays for it to be such a problem that would be worth the faff and effort of displaying the 'car working' on the vehicle.
Organised drivers have probably made a note of which vehicle they are going to be driving, off the allocation sheet, when they signed on.......

 

[Andy Pacer]

Most bus companies have few, if any, routes running at that sort of frequency nowadays for it to be such a problem that would be worth the faff and effort of displaying the 'car working' on the vehicle.
Organised drivers have probably made a note of which vehicle they are going to be driving, off the allocation sheet, when they signed on.......

I would consider myself an 'organised driver' but as we don't have to formally sign on for a road relief then wouldn't look at the board.
We have routes operating 6 minute frequencies, but as we use running boards that stay on the vehicle it's rather a moot point.

 

[RT4038]

I would consider myself an 'organised driver' but as we don't have to formally sign on for a road relief then wouldn't look at the board.
We have routes operating 6 minute frequencies, but as we use running boards that stay on the vehicle it's rather a moot point.

There will be, no doubt, circumstances where such a display would be useful.
A really organised company would have their allocation sheet on line, amended in real time, for their drivers to check from their mobiles. Probably easier to organise reliably than displaying somewhere on the bus!