These are the town centre bus stops for the 34 service which starts in Cary Parade down by the Harbour. Then up Fleet St to the Post Office Roundabout which not longer has a Post Office near it and hasn't been a roundabout for about 8 years. From this misnamed place it heads up Abbey Rd stopping twice as marked. At the top of Abbey Rd it turns right into Torr Hill Rd and again right into Union St. Until yesterday it didn't stop in Union St but continued down to the junction with Market St where it turned left and 300 yds along stopped outside the back entrance to the market. A very busy stop. From there it goes through Ellacombe, Plainmore and on to Watcombe and Padacre. It then returns to town via Barton and Hele. It is a circular route and the service 31 goes the other way round.
Now a little history. Pimlico used to be one way from the Post Office Roundabout to Market St and the 34 went along Pimlico missing Abbey Rd, Torr Hill Rd and Union St completely. Then the section of Union St between Market St (not shown on map) and the PO Roundabout was closed to traffic and Pimlico, though remaining one way was now one way in the opposite direction. So the 34 had to make the long journey round. No extra time was allowed for this so it didn't stop between Fleet St and Market St. Then about 5 years ago it was decided it would stop at the bottom of Abbey Rd by the cinema. A couple of years ago the stop at the top, by the casino was included in the 34's repertoire. This was when the route became a circlar route. Now Union St has been added. Now from a passengers point of view this is a good idea, it is a long walk carrying bags of shopping all the way to Market St. But there are a couple of problems, aren't there always. First, the 34 will now stop at this stop in Union St on it's outward journey and on it's return journey. Lets hope no one gets on hoping to go to Watcombe and ends up in the Harbour. The second problem is a bit bigger, or should I say smaller. A few years ago the council spent lots and lots of our money giving Union St a complete Make Over, new pavements, new road surface, lots of speed humps, new loading bays, new taxi rank, new flower pots and a fairly small bus lay by which also acts as an unloading bay and overflow taxi rank. Already it is used by 12, 12A, 12B, 32 and a couple of First Buses. Where is the 34 going to go, or if the 34 gets there first where are the various 12s going to go except in the middle of the road? And any bus driver will tell you loading up a bus is what takes the time and this stop will be busy once people work out it is there.
The other bus stop is also Cary Parade. The 12/12A presently stop here on their way to Newton. From May 19 the 12, 12A and the 12C will stop here as well as the 111, 31, 34 and the odd car, white van and any coach driver who thinks he can drop 50 tourist of on our bus stop. Well coach driver let me tell you in no uncirtain terms. If you want to stop and drop your passengers of feel free to do so, it is against the law and I might take your photo and and post it here with a nasty comment or an NCP operative might stick a parking ticket on your coach, or the final deterant, the Council Public Transport Coordinator might walk up and have words. Let me warn you in advance, having words with the Public Transport Coordinator is not something you will forget in a hurry.
Sorry, got side tracked there. From May 19th the 12 will go from Cary Parade up Fleet St and Abbey Rd to Newton via the Tor Park Hotel (and a few other hotels) but the 12A and 12C will nip round to Debenham's on the Strand to pick up for Babbacombe and St Marychurch. The opposite direction to Newton. What's the betting that thousands of passengers who have just got on at Cary Parade and confused a 12 with a 12A/12C will be heard to say as we trundle through Welswood, half way to Babbacombe, "Will we get to the Torr Park Hotel soon only I'm going to be late for my tea?"
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