This is the lull before the storm, actually we really don't know if there will be a storm. Maybe the Rock Walk problem will pass unnoticed. We do have an extra 15 minutes on each trip just in case there are serious delays on the diversion but we will have to wait until the brown gue hits the fan on Monday to find out. Fleet Walk will of course hold the key.
Anyway most buses ran on time to day except for a brief while around 8 am when a pickup truck broke down on the Penn Inn roundabout. Listeners to traffic news on Radio Devon will be familiar with the Penn Inn just as listeners to radio in London will have heard of the Hammersmith Flyover even if they have never been there. The truck broke down right in front of me so I was lucky and got past without any delay but a couple or 3 buses behind me got caught up in the problem.
Later in the morning I managed to upset an elderly lady. Not my fault, honest. She got on, I think in Torquay and asked, she said, for Christchurch which is half a mile before Paignton. As I headed for Paignton no one rang the bell for Christchurch and I carried on past the stop. The bell rang for the next stop, Victoria Park and several people got off, including elderly lady who spoke rather reproachfully to me, "When I got on I asked for a ticket to Christchuch." and gave me a very disapproving look. Now if you get in a taxi and tell the driver where you want to go it would be understandable if the driver went straight past your destination. But a bus is different, for one thing buses are, and have always been equipped with a bell which passengers can and should ring to let the driver know they wish to get off. And an other thing, Taxis usually only carry a few passengers all of whom are going to the same place. Buses can carry up to 90 people going to lots of different places. If you get on a bus you are expected to know where you are getting of and ring the bell. If you are unsure of where to get of then explain that to the driver and he/she will endeavour to remember and stop at your stop for you. But if you say nothing then the non-mind reading bus driver is going to take you past your stop.
This weekend there are road works in Brixham and we aren't going into the town square. Instead we will drive half way down New Road and drop the passengers near Cudhill Rd. They will then be picked up but a shuttle bus and taken into the town square along the back roads. The bus will then, with the aid of a banks person reverse into Cudhill Rd and pick up passengers who have been brought from the Town Square by the shuttle bus and then head for Newton. Just for two days, should be interesting.
Nice new bus stops going up all over Torbay.
4 comments:
What? You didnt turn around and take her back?
Hmm just typed out a comment. Have to retype it now.
Stagecoach Route 12 in Torbay is one I used to use a lot in the 20 years I lived there. It offers extremely frequent buses, which are cleaned daily, never run out of diesel, are generally on time, the drivers are generally very helpful and well spoken - and the price per mile is extremely low. Not sure how SC pays for the amount of new buses it has running.
Thanks for your efforts, and nevermind the people who tend to be quick to critizise. They'll learn when they move to a FirstBus area. (I hate them almost as much as FGW, lol)
Keep up the good work!
Stupid woman! Perhaps she needs one of those new "how to use a bus" leaflets Stagecoach are doing!!
I think SC pays for all its new buses in profitable areas by keeping hold of those that are clapped out & well past their sell-by date and sending them to us at Lillyhall!
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