Middle Chapter ...my log (hard to note and photograph as queueing / jostling for a bus

Melksham to Devizes (272 / single decker)
Devizes to Market Lavington (x2 - Salisbury Red electric)
%
Market Lavington to Gores Cross (Rouetmaster RM9)
Gores Cross to Tilshead (old Go South Coast No. 145, JAM145E)
Tilshead to Imber (Salisbury Read Electic dd / HV26CWF)
Imber to Warminster (LYR854 Open Top RT3435)
Warminster to Imber (WestLink XX66WKL)
Imber to West Lavington (Stagecoach modern double decker)
%
West Lavington to Devizes (87 - Optare Solo YJ66AOA)
Devizes to Melksham (273 / Double Decker)

And some general comments

I do have photos of the first and last buses to and from Melksham too. The first one was photobombed by a couple of joggers and became a picture of them rather than of the bus, and as they're probably local to me I should probably not add the picture. And as I was taking my phone out of my pocket back in Melksham, it sagged on a thread and would not come out until the bus was virtually a receding blurr.

I note social media grouches from the folks who arrived on the Hastings Diesel that there weren't enough Routemasters. Well - in my view there were plenty for everyone who wanted to have good rides on them, and muliple if they wished.  They are getting to be old girls and there is not a limitless supply; the newer vehicles were in about the right quantity - added the the variety for those of us enthusiastic for buses and trains, as opposed to old bus or train enthusiasts, and helped with queue-busting which - had it not been done - would have given our social media friend another grouch!

Also to note - I take far too much notice of social media - comment that Warminster has plenty of parking and that I should not encourage people to get to bus running day by bus or train. After arriving into Warminster soon after lunch, I walked through the admittedly extensive car parks between the railway and the High Street. Indeed they are extensive.   They were also full.  Traffic of the roads around was certainly very congested too.  I know there's another car park across / near the civic centre; not sure how full that might have been.  But I stick with my recommendation to use the bus from Melksham to the Lavingtons.   And that's in preference to the trains; why GWR were running trains with as few as two carriages on their Cardiff to Portsmouth service (which is long distance train that calls at Warminster), I don't know but the 2 car - and even three car - trains on that route were packed. On the other hand, I was the only one off my public bus in Lavington - I WAS early, and the only one getting on the bus going back - though there were several other choices at the same time.

And some piccies - others have done far better!

The buses I rode on













And some pictures out and about

 

They certainly are: really wishing that First / WECA didn't immediately treat the screens as a place to insert a carousel of other material unrelated to their primary task, it's disruptive. Ditto at bus stops.

Thanks for this comprehensive read by the way.

Mark

 
Introduction and Context

Imber Bus Running Day has changed over the years.  And - for me - for the better. It remains very busy - indeed is seems to be getting even busier - which vouches for its popularity and draw.  A huge undertaking and a superb fundraiser for very deserving charities, but at the same time excellent value and no feeling of feeling "gouged".

So why is it better?   It is wonderful to ride on old buses, that was not changed.  And to catch up with old friends and contacts, and make new ones.  To that, add in the more modern buses that are now running too, which provide a showcase for their operators of some their current vehicles, and also add in some vehicles of intermediate age and not-RM/RT too. Personally, as a "bus day" I have taken to connecting into the Imber Bus using other (service) buses rather that swelling the crowds (and my own frustration at significant queuing) at the Warminster railway interchange pinch point.   So much learning on the way.

Chapter 1 - from Home to Market Lavington

I took the 08:01 bus, Faresaver route 272, across the road from my home into Devizes. Normally, I use online tracking so that I only have to leave when the bus is a couple of minutes away; as this one only starts in the Market Place, out there before it was tracking - but on time and just one other passenger when I joined it.   The timetable at our stop has disappeared - so we're into a "you need to know" mode - though online systems will give you a list of departures if you know which stop you're starting from and click on it.  Confusingly, 272 runs to two places on the app - "Market Place Bus Is" for the first services of the day, and "Devizes" from 11:29.   That's because the first three services of the day terminate on the north side of Devizes Market Place outside the Black Swan, and subsequent service terminate a few paces across the road outside the Pelican. As there's also a Market Place in Melksham, wouldn't it be nice if the destination town / city was always included?   Good run up to Devizes and - on past knowledge - into Costa for a coffee and a teacake, the latter selected as part of an advertised 'deal' on the counter. I know they have overheads, but my goodness the raw materials for the cakes, etc, on offer seem to be an ever-tinier part of the price.





Onwards to Market Lavington - bus services 2, x2, 3A, 3C and 87 make the journey. Two different operators, and no real time departure displays in even the key stops in the town.  None of the services is turn-up-and-go frequent, though together there are a couple of buses in most daytime hours.  I had used Google to give me the combined service, and selected the x2 Salisbury bus operated via Salisbury Reds at 09:00.

The x2 from Devizes to Salisbury is another more modern victory for common sense - a change for the better. It calls at Stonehenge (further) along the way - providing a service for visitors to reach that honey-pot attraction by public transport from the north / rest of Wiltshire.  There is no longer an absurd, impractical double back via Salisbury for people from Devizes and around looking to get to the stones.  That improvement took a decade plus of asking - not sure how they have solved the abstraction of bus income from lucrative the Stonehenge Specials which was what we were told the problem was.

The x2 turned out to be an electric bus - the first electric bus on a scheduled service I have used in Wiltshire.  Very nice.  Still bumpy in places with the state of the roads.  Also impressive is the amount of luggage, pram, wheelchair space on the vehicle - and seen on other recent vehicles during the day. Really good to see - and I really wonder what the difference is between bus provision - where these things seem to be thought through and the trains, where we seems to be travelling on UK trains where maximising seats seems to be the rule, rather than providing enough and appropriate facilities for luggage, wheelchairs, prams, cycles.



The direct route from Devizes to Stonehenge and beyond would have been via the Chocolate Poodle - avoiding Market Lavington.  However, Google suggested it diverted via Market Lavington and on checking with the driver he confirmed that it did.  Another passenger who joined a couple of stops along also checked with the driver some journey details - confirming the very real need for information systems and re-assurances for the occasionally travelling public over and above the information systems.  Later research confirms that all x2 services, most southbound 2 services ans a couple on northbound 2 services also run via Market Lavington these days. Google was a huge help, but really not easy to research!

In-bus indications of next stop are a massive step forward - really helpful, again, to newcomers to an area and others who are not geography/ surrounding aware.  "Kings Road" struck especially - we used to live at the far end of Kings Road - the back lane from Easterton; a help to putting it and the travel options around on the map and to public notice. But I did have one concern - "Kings Road", "Spin Hill", "Roman Way", "Park Road" - none is the obvious stop for the centre of Market Lavington, and rather like my earlier suggestion of putting DEVIZES on the real time bus tracker so we knew which Market Place, so add an indication (Roman Way, perhaps?) "for Market Lavington village"?



Anyway - I got off at Roman Way, in double plus plenty of time for the first bus up to Imber, and that's a good point to close this chapter, on local bus arrival.  So much good, yet so many areas where a few little tweaks would make it so much better.  The fact that there were constant flows of cars on the various road, and yet many available seats on the buses, suggests to me that we may have a product in our bus services that has a capacity to grow, and the issues I report should be able, in being fixed, to fertilise that growth.

Chapter n-1, where n is the last chapter - home from Market Lavington

At the end of the day, I took the bus from Imber via Brazen Bottom to The Lavingtons. But to where in which Lavington? As well as the 3A and 3C (which head from different stops in Market Lavington into Devizes) and the x2 (which goes from a different stop), there's the 2 which I mentioned in an earlier chapter and the 87 which pops its head up twice a day. Easy for the regular passenger and manageable for the public transport / bus geek.  No real time information on any of the stops, of course - and little indication is seen anywhere of "other buses available from the following nearby stops".

I - chose - to stay on the bus from Imber as it called into Market Lavington, that extra mile to West Lavington crossroad where 2, 2A, x2, 3A, 3C, 87 and 887 come together. Oh - sorry - a couple of new routes in there.   I got off the 23A from Imber at the crossroads, at 16:43, having previously established that an 87 was due from West Lavington to Devizes at 16:53.   But even in the very small area - where would it appear from, in which direction would it leave, and where would it stop?

My logic suggested it would appear from the west (after all, it was coming up from Westbury and that would be the road) and would leave headed north (towards Devizes).  However, looking on the myTrip tracker (it's Faresaver, so that's the app) that suggested it would appear FROM the north (having wriggled through Great Cheverell) and the leave to the east, headed towards Market Lavington.  OK.  The tracker said 6 minutes, but no little symbol on the map to show how it was doing.

And another worry - there was no bus stop I could see on the road approaching the crossroads from the north (I know there's a stop just beyond the crossroads headed south), and no bus stop I could see on the road it was leaving on.  A lay-by and a driveway where perhaps a bus could pull in, but no flag or anything to indicate the bus might stop.  Local buses and drivers are typically helpful, so fingers crossed?



Then a thought.  I crossed the road to the bus shelter and stop opposite - wrong side of the road - and it said "Bus Stop both side of the road".  Actually it said it 1.5 times (half of one message worn away) ... and it even confirmed that the 87 runs twice on a Saturday - at 14:02 and 16:53 - from "stop opposite" into Devizes.  And so it proved - I held out my paw from the unmarked lay-by and the bus stopped, pretty well on time, and picked me up as if it was the most natural thing in the world!   Oh - the "16:53" looked to be crossed out, but look carefully, move your eyes around, and you'll see that was just a dirt smudge on the 'glass'.





And so we headed for Devizes.  Now the timetable on the bus stop had said "via Easterton and Urchfont" but that turned out not to be the case - we went via the back of Market Lavington rather than the village centre, the Black Dog crossroads and Potterne, a very pleasant journey but not what was advertised on the stop.  It WAS as the myTrip app said - I get used to taking multiple data sources from all over the place, all supposedly official and accurate, combining them into a single set of most-likely views, having a "Plan B" and falling back onto that if need be.    There would have been an x2 (Salisbury reds) a few minutes later, and a 3C (Faresaver) from across the road, followed by a 2 an hour and a half later to end the service.  The Lavingtons have lost their evening services.

Uneventful run into Devizes.  Before we got to the Market Place, the onboard system seemed to be gearing up for the return trip with a couple of confusing indications.  And we arrived at the back of the bus island.

Prior knowledge suggested that the bus home to Melksham would run from across the road in front of the Pelican, though the online tracker for some reason had it absent.  With 4 stops in Devizes Market place, it's a bit of a game finding the service on the tracker and as per comments earlier, really good to have a "nearby" option - rather better than just a single set of data and other stops unmarked as just above in West Lavington.

On a Saturday at this time, there are buses from Devizes via Melksham to Bath 30 minutes apart. Daytime, the service runs past my home but I had missed the last bus on that route at 16:25. From an arrival at 17:10 I had only to wait until 17:25 for the 273 service, and I know it veers off around the back of Melksham and can get off at Pembroke Road from where it's only a short walk home.  The next bus truly home would have been Monday morning.   The 273 ran AOK - good journey and final walk home.

Chapter n, where n is the last chapter - Summaries

I travelled on 10 buses - 4 service buses and 6 on Salisbury Plain / bus running day, ate and drank in two establishments, had just a drink in one.  Met long standing friends Ann and Chris, David, Natacha and Phil, and made new friends and contacts in Tom, Sue and Barb.  I spend perhaps £10 on my own refreshments (thanks for the drink, Chris) ans just under £25 in total on 6 items I brought home. The four bus journeys above were paid for earlier in life, on my senior bus pass that comes to me as an OAP, and I paid £10 for my Salisbury Plain 23A bus rover. I visited several displays / museums - Market Lavington (where I need to go back) and Imber Church (which I have seen before) and I enjoyed briefly seeing some of the dinosaurs of Roarminster.

The 6 bus journeys on The Plain - the intermediate chapters - are still be be written up.   I don't know if anyone will read all of the above so far, but it flags / records very much the micro-issues that I noted as an occasional traveller on regular bus services which - I believe - with relatively little attention could help in the provision of a much more friendly, much more available, much more used service.