Fully Charged Live Highlights

Looks like 'Fully Charged Live' was a success:

Bin less bus stop

There is no waste bin next to the central Waterlooville bus stop on the Asda side of the street.

So fast food trash just gets dumped around the seats.

At least on this occasion most of it was biodegradeable.

X9 bus route to be 'cut'

News on the grape vine is that the X9 bus service from Hambledon and Denmead to Portsmouth is to be cut, I believe the revised route will be between Denmead and Waterlooville (i'm not sure about Hambledon).

The route is currently financially supported by the one or more of the councils and they are no longer willing to support it beyond Waterlooville.

The service is currently the only one from Waterlooville to the entrances of Queen Alexander hospital and there is no information regarding any replacement service that stops at the hospital. Other services from Waterlooville require a long walk and some steps to the main entrances, not very good for the elderly, injured etc.

The change is scheduled on the 8th or 9th January 2017, so if you care about those that need public transport, get writing to your MP and your councillor.

Some cyclists abuse the Eclipse priority bus lane

I'll start this blog post by saying I am a big supporter of cycling. The only personal transport vehicle I own is a bicycle, if I don't use that, then it's walking, bus or train.

Sadly some selfish cyclists abuse the facilities that are provided for public use and this is the case I witnessed recently on the Eclipse bus route.

I posted about this service before:

http://lovelywaterlooville.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/eclipse-bus-ride-to-hovercraft-museum.html

There are some cyclists that are using the long straight section of the Eclipse route as a cycle race/training track. I witnessed two cyclists on racing bikes and (yes you guessed it) lycra basically racing up and down the stretch of special road at least 3 times whilst I was waiting for a bus.
I witnessed them reaching the end of the road (Hutfield Link) and turning around to head back towards Fareham for another circuit.

On top of that they broke the highway code by overtaking the bus parked at the bus stop and forced an oncoming bus to slow to a stop, something the highway code specifically warns against because it is dangerous. The bus driver in the oncoming bus threw his arms up in the air in despair.

Imagine if two car drivers decided to use a stretch of road to charge up and down in preparation for a motor race?

The fact is it would be an illegal use of the road and the police would at least give both the drivers fines. Isn't this cyclist behaviour just as bad?

There are a lot of cyclists that use the Eclipse route to transport them to work and shops, they use it for the purpose it was designed for. Cyclists that want to race on a track (because that is what these cyclists were using the road for, they didn't have a destination) should find a dedicated track just like motor racing enthusiasts do.

I don't think it would be unreasonable to ban this type of use on this special road. There are already restrictions on vehicle types, it wouldn't be unfair to ban these fanatics and make sure other cyclists that use the road are protected.

A day in the life of Milton Road bus stop

Baffling changes to First X9 bus service on 27th July??

Well First Buses as usual have made the changes they are making to the route of the X9 tomorow as clear as mud!

But my interpretation of the cryptic time table and supporting information is this...

The X9 that stops/turns around in Hambledon will not go down the old Sunnymead Drive and Milton Road route, but will instead go down the Hambledon Road and stop at the old Charlesworth Drive bus stop on the Hambeldon Road. It will also start serving the new Berewood estate.

However..

The X9 that stops/turns around in Denmead will not stop at the Charlesworth Drive bus stop as mentioned above but instead will take the old/current X9 route down Sunnymead Drive and Milton Road. As above it will also start serving the new Berewood estate.


In both cases the Brambles Industrial Estate will no longer be served directly, which means it will be a bit of a walk to the swimming pool and leisure centre, as well as all the factories/offices. But I guess it's not that far, but doesn't make good reading for those thinking of driving less to work.

We shall see how this develops, what with the new Sainsburys and a bowling alley etc being built.

Try a bus

New web site encourages you to try a bus:
http://www.tryabus.co.uk/

With leather seats, wifi, automated bus stop announcements and BBC news on display, I certainly find it a better experience now.

The Star bus service

The new number 7 and 8 'Star' service between Waterlooville and Portsmouth has started and like the Eclipse service between Fareham and Gosport includes a bus stop announcement system and leather seats.

The display at the front of the bus shows the next stop once the current stop has been left and a 'ticker tape' feature at the bottom displays the latest news headlines.
I think the display is a bit under used. There is a large area that is used to display messages about the free WIFI and other onboard features.

Maybe First could do a 'deal' with The News and display local news in that space?

As well as the display, an audio voice announces the next bus stop. These systems are great for people with disabilities and also great for people new to buses or new to an area and don't know where to get off.

The seats are smart with leather coverings which should make them easier to clean. The padding in the seats is also good, giving comfortable support.

On some of the buses the display didn't seem to be working (one displayed the Windows command line and some error messages), but hopefully that is just initial teething trouble and on most of the buses I used it was working. The system certainly appears to be an improvement over the bus stop information systems installed years ago which took a long time to get working.

I have to say that despite some displays not working on some buses, the voice 'next stop' announcements were still working on those buses.

Whilst using the service, I did notice that some people were deliberately waiting for 'Star' buses and avoiding other bus numbers!

http://www.firstgroup.com/ukbus/star/index.php

Electric buses and under-road charging come to the UK

Milton Keynes will be the site for testing new electric buses and under-road battery charging this year. Milton Keynes route No7 diesel engined buses will be replaced by Arriva run electric buses that will have their batteries charged along the route whilst parked for scheduled driver breaks.

The battery charging is contactless and via a coil buried in the road at the parking spaces (presumably at bus stops). It isn't exactly a new idea, similar systems are used in China, South Korea, Europe and other places, I think it's the first time the idea has been trialed in the UK. The No7 route has been chosen because it is very busy and will be used to see if the system can be rolled out world wide.

South Korea have taken it a step further and have developed a system that allows charging along short stretches of road so that the buses don't have to stop to charge.

http://www.arup.com/News/2012_09_September/25_Sep_MASP_led_project_to_introduce_wireless_busses_to_Milton_Keyens_finalised.aspx

Lots happening all over the place!

This weekend First buses bring their new timetable and bus numbers into action. The switch occurs on Sunday I think.

There is a lot of public support for the Fareham Photovoltaic solar farm. From what I have seen of Vogts plans, they appear to have done a lot of homework. This includes research into aviation issues, biodiversity and environmental managment. Even the councils officers seem to like it. Implementation of the project would increase biodiversity since the land is currently a typical mono-crop farm.

Haven't heard much about the smaller solar farm proposed near Clanfield. In theory that is less controversial, especially as it is near a big electricity sub station.

Bad news about Ash trees though. I think with climate change and aggressive diseases attacking our native species, we are going to see some big changes in the UK tree population in the coming 100 years.

However Havant Borough Tree Wardens got a load of cash to plant over 5000 trees.

The battle of Scratchface lane continues over at Bedhampton. It's the only place where locals have any common sense.

Big changes for First buses in November

Just been looking at the new bus service changes that First are planning for November.

The first obvious major change is that practically all the bus numbers are changing. Most of the Waterlooville services into Portsmouth are changing to No's 7, 8 and 9, including variations on those numbers. Numbers that remain will be X40 and X41.

A much bigger change is in the routes. Nearly all the Waterlooville services will now miss out North End and Northern Parade completely and instead take the route along the M275 into Portsmouth. This will mean that most bus journeys into the City Centre will be faster.

From what I can see on the new route map only one bus service from Waterlooville passes through North End. Not sure if that is a 50% cut in services to North End, depends on the frequency of the remaining service. To get to non-City Centre areas of Portsmouth it appears the best option might be to change at Cosham.

Another problem seems to be a lack of buses servicing the North East of Portsmouth. There are no buses at all servicing the Anchorage Park area.

There is one bus service numbered 0! Is that a first in the UK??
It seems to do a circular route around Portsmouth. Never in my life have I seen a bus numbered 0.
Maybe they will start using negative and imaginary numbers in the future?

Worlds first electric bus service

Interesting development in South Korea. The first electric bus service goes into operation on a mountain/hilly route! The buses apparently take 30 minutes to charge, which isn't to bad.

Coastliner700

Looks like the Coastliner700 bus service is being improved. This is the service that runs from Portsmouth to Brighton and is very popular. Apparently the number of passengers has doubled in the last 5 years, as a result,  from the 6th June the frequency of the service is changing from a bus every 30 minutes to a bus every 15 minutes.
That is quite impressive! The last time I remember such an upgrade in services must have been in the days of nationalised buses. The bus service has its own web site and 21 new low emission doubledecker buses are now being used along the route.

There is also a Coastliner700 booklet that can be picked up from bus stations and other places which include discounts to various attractions if you have a Stagecoach bus ticket that takes you to the attraction. The discounted attractions include Fishbourne Roman Palace, Portsmouth Historic Dockyard and Weald & Downland Museum. The discounts are also available by downloading vouchers from the bus service web site.

Coastliner700.co.uk

Looking for buses from Waterlooville?

I seem to get a lot of visits from people trying to find info and timetables about buses. Oh the wonders of Google Analytics!

So here is some basic information about the local buses. There are two bus companies that operate most of the routes. Generally First operate most of the routes into Portsmouth, whilst Stagecoach operate routes that don't go into Portsmouth. There is of course overlap between the companies and routes.

All the info you need about the timetables and routes can be found on the bus companies web sites:

Stagecoach South

First Bus Hampshire

Also I have these links permanently in my 'Other Links' menu.

Apart from that general info, bus users might also be interested to know that another new bus service will be starting later this year (i forget when). The X43 will operate between Clanfield, Waterlooville, QA Hospital and Portsmouth. Probably using the motorway into Portsmouth like the other 'X' routes.

New Waterlooville to Portsmouth bus service (x42)

It's not often that a new bus service starts up. We are used to services being cut and other bad things. But a new service between Waterlooville and Portsmouth has started, using the motorway to speed things up.

The x42 takes a route between Waterlooville and Gunwharf Quays in Portsmouth, the nice thing about the service is that it stops at South Downs College, a real plus point for any students that live in Waterlooville or Portsmouth.

As more details become available, the route info will become clear.
x42 timetable

Using buses

This post is partly in response to a posting by Steve on the Garden Hens blog, but also something worth posting about in any case.

There is an art to using buses, although, having been brought up as a child using buses regularly, it hasn't been so difficult to go back to using them. Also if one makes do with buses for a long time before learning to drive, then returning to them later isn't such a big deal.

I do think that some people learn to drive because they think it means they are more competitive or that they are more likely to get a job. But really i think that is more to do with the sad state of affairs in society today, rather than any absolute reasoning.

I use the buses all the time, to get to work, shopping etc. Last year I took the bus out to the Roman Villa at Fishbourne (the 700 Coastliner service from Havant). Quite a day out! On the way there, the other passengers were very helpful and pointed out the stop I needed to get off at for the museum. On the journey back I had to wait for the bus and decided to have a beer in the nearby pub whilst waiting. Then on the bus back, I went on the top deck and watched the fantastic scenery go by. It was a great day out and because I used a weekly ticket I was using at the time, it didn't cost any extra.

You certainly have to change your concept of time and life when using buses. A newspaper, magazine or book are handy whilst waiting for a bus. I don't tend to plan much using a timetable unless of course I have a meeting at a specific time, so I can find myself waiting at the bus stop for up to half an hour. I suppose the worst case scenario is that I would have 'wasted' an hour in a day.

But is it really wasted time?
I have met numerous people at bus stops and got into some interesting conversations, although you never usually learn other bus users names, you do tend to 'know' them and their quirks after a few years, annoying as they may well be. In the past, discussions on buses and at bus stops have included TV soaps, climate change, rubbish on the streets, supermarkets, the loudness of the chimes of St Georges church etc.
Given that most people waste a lot of time using computers, watching TV etc. Actually talking to locals at bus stops must be a positive thing.

An alternative to waiting at the bus stop reading a magazine, is to pop into a nearby cafe for a coffee or tea. After a while you can end up being a 'regular' at a bus stop or cafe. Life is certainly different when using the buses, but it doesn't have to be unproductive or frustrating.

If you haven't used the buses much, it can be quite daunting to change and start using something that seems alien, especially if you have heard so many bad things about them. It can take weeks or months to get your head around what is or isn't possible using buses. After a few years, you just take them for granted and curse all the car drivers that pull alongside the bus in busy traffic!