The South Wales and West Bulletin is unusual in that it contains a number of articles in each issue. An index to those articles published since February 1998, issue No.85, is given on another page. Two typical articles from the October 1999, issue No.95 are reproduced below, to indicate the breadth of such articles.
Since the article on South Molton published in BB90 the services in this small North Devon market town have changed considerably, as a result of Rural Bus Grant initiatives. The area is far more accessible now from the east with weekday services from Taunton and Tiverton.
Since 26th July 1999 an 18 seat LDV, in the livery of Devon County Council, provides a network of routes replacing many of those previously operated by Terraneau. The bus, T789RDV (and not 788 as appears on the timetable leaflet - or is there a spare vehicle?), is operated by First Red Bus with the network of services operating Mondays to Saturdays as below:
660 South Molton to Bishops Nympton : basically two hourly.
855 South Molton Town Service : 3 round trips, plus one extra on Thursdays provided by the vehicle off the 696. One 859 journey should divert to Raleigh Park, but failed to do so on my visit!
856 South Molton to North Molton : basically two hourly.
859 South Molton to Chittlehampton : 3 journeys with extra on Saturday morning. The routing in Chittlehampton is somewhat different to that followed by Terraneau's
657 South Molton to Barnstaple : Service runs for North Devon College, running Monday to Friday peaks, one trip in each direction. On Saturday afternoon an extra journey is operated on 660 and 856.
The vehicle is fitted with a mounted Setright ticket machine. Through fares are advertised in the County Council produced timetable leaflet on to Barnstaple, by changing buses at South Molton onto the 307 and 346. This is shown as £1.85 single and £2.95 return. The County Council produced faretables for the drivers show the through fare as £2 single and £2.95 return - which is also the fare between South Molton and Barnstaple. It is therefore cheaper to travel from the villages into Barnstaple (providing the timetable leaflet is produced!). Another anomaly is the fare within North Molton. Terraneau had a special fare of 15p for people wishing to travel up the hill from the bridge to the Square. The County Council faretable has no local fare so it is a matter of barter (the passengers on boarding ask the driver "what is your fare today"?).
Other tender changes during the week commencing 26th July saw First Red Bus take over the 696 East Anstey to South Molton via Molland on Thursday - this vehicle, usually a Ford Transit, also works the extra journey mentioned above on the 855 town service. Terraneau's North Molton to Barnstaple circular on a Saturday, the 333/4, is withdrawn and First Red Bus operate a replacement for the northern half, the 833, which runs from North Molton via the South Molton bypass, East Buckland, Brayford and Stoke Rivers before reaching Barnstaple. Known locally as the "Stoke Rivers Flyer", it spends most of the time crawling around very narrow country lanes (navigated by the one regular passenger) before returning out of service down the "Link Road" to the depot. On 4th September the afternoon journey was operated by 6010 (C741GFJ), the First Red Bus blue liveried Transit blinded "Contract". "Tour" would have been more appropriate!
Terraneau's still provide the 661 Roachill to South Molton via Knowstone on a Thursday, the morning journey being retarded by 25 minutes. They also operate the Saturday service on the 678 to Exeter, which commences from Lynton, replacing the withdrawn X16. This involves a very complex route via Witheridge and Cheriton Fitzpaine, which needless to say is slightly different from the Wednesday and Friday 678 operated by First Red Bus. Terraneau's 881 on Tuesdays to Tiverton has replaced the Friday X16 and still deviates via East and West Worlington, but now runs additionally via Black Dog and Cruwys Morchard to replace service 346. All these minor revisions came about following the improvements from 1st March 1999 which resulted in the 346 keeping to the main road between Tiverton and Barnstaple. The other major change from 1st March was the introduction of the 307 from Taunton to run via Dulverton to Barnstaple. Both run on a basically two hourly frequency with additional short journeys between South Molton and Barnstaple giving an half hourly service over that section. The 307 replaced the Thursday Exmoor Community Bus from Dulverton to Barnstaple, which diverted on request to serve South Molton.
One interesting feature of the 307 is the loop working at Dulverton. It means that passengers travelling in either direction between Taunton and Barnstaple can alight at the delightful riverside pub at Exebridge and re-board the same bus, on the same journey, some 20 minutes later, suitably refreshed! (Is this unique on a trunk rural route?)
Routes 662 South Molton to Tiverton via East Anstey and 663 Chulmleigh to South Molton are unchanged. Also the 657 to Barnstaple via High Bray - this was often a coach of Terraneau's (despite the narrow lanes and lack of passengers) but on a recent ride we were involved in an accident on a section of route not covered if a minibus is used!
Finally the twice weekly Terraneau 655 is withdrawn. This was really only a
garage working to and from South Molton, being an extremely indirect way of
going to Barnstaple. Its replacement is a First Red Bus 325 from Exeter to
Barnstaple via Chulmleigh and High Bickington (with Monday to Friday shorts
between Chawleigh and Barnstaple.) operated by an acquired Leyland Lynx from
Western National G261LUG, ex Brewers. The village of Riddlecombe is not
covered by the 325 so the Friday 664 (now operated by Turners) is
additionally diverted and there is a 656 into Chulmleigh on Tuesdays. As
the 664 spends so much time wandering around the lanes it is eventually
routed onto the A377 direct into Barnstaple, with Tawstock now being served
by a new First Red Bus service 844 which provides the link to Barnstaple.
(Full details of changes in next Bulletin).
The poor level of support for some of the new Rural Bus Grant initiatives introduced during the past year was mentioned in the article "Pembrokeshire Revisited (BB94). Further observations of other new services in this area during the summer shows this lack of passengers is not an isolated problem. Pembrokeshire County Council has sought to introduce several new services (some to rather bizarre timetables) with their allocation of Grant bringing services into areas that have long been without any public transport.
One such area is Maenclochog and surrounding villages which have not enjoyed the luxury of even a market day service for many years. Two new routes were introduced to serve the area, both operated by Summerdale Coaches of Letterston. The 344 runs on Tuesdays from Fishguard over the Preseli Hills to Haverfordwest by way of Llanychaer, Rosebush, Maenclochog, New Moat, Llys - y -Fran and Clarbeston Road. The service consists of two round trips from Fishguard to Haverfordwest, the first journey leaveing Fishguard at 0910 and arriving Haverfordwest at 1015. It returns from Haverfordwest at 1115, arriving back in Fishguard by 1220. The afternoon round journey leaves Fishguard at 1600 and returns from Haverfordwest at 1715. The timing of the journeys are in no way attractive to passengers, offering 7 hours or one hour in Haverfordwest to do their shopping, one option being far too long whilst the other too short to be worthwhile. The 3 hours 40 minutes offered in Fishguard is also rather excessive for an afternoon shopping in this small town.
A journey from Haverfordwest aboard the 1715 departure on Tuesday 17 August 1999 revealed no passengers, (except for your editor), to enjoy the scenery. The service was operated by L469APJ, a Mercedes 609D with Olympus C24F bodywork. The driver confirmed that this was a typical loading, especially on the afternoon journeys. There had been a few weeks when one or two passengers had travelled into Haverfordwest, but they always made alternative arrangements to return home.
The second service into this area is the 345. This runs on a Thursday from Mynachlog-ddu to Fishguard via Maenclochog, Rosebush, Tufton, Ambleston, Little Newcastle, Puncheston and Llanychaer covering in part the 344 and in part Richards Brothers 343. This is more of the form expected of a traditional shopping service, with a journey in from Mynachlog-ddu at 0915 arriving Fishguard at 1035 and returning at 1330. This the driver of the Tuesday 344 was pleased to say that he had carried slightly more passengers, with one week an unprecedented eight!
Summerdale Coaches also operate the "Puffin Shuttle", details of which were recorded in BB94. This daily summer only service runs between St. David's and Milford Haven, with departures from St. David's at 0925 and 1400, with return journeys from Milford Haven at 1135 and 1625. A trip on the 1400 departure from St. David's to Milford Haven on Saturday 21st August found it operated by L469APJ, the above mentioned Mercedes. The article in BB94 suggested the service would have been more aptly named the "Nuffin Shuttle" and this name would have truly reflected the load on this journey, Once again nobody, apart from your editor, used the journey, despite the weather being excellent. The driver (a different driver to the one engaged in conversation on the Tuesday service) said that loadings were very variable with "some good days". The County Council required that the driver made a judgement of each passenger to decide if they were "Tourists" or "Locals", to ascertain the use made of the service by "Locals". Not surprisingly almost every passenger was within the Tourist category. It would be interesting to see if this service returns next year, and if it does whether it will start earlier in the season, when the Puffins are to be seen!
Further east a new link between Tenby and Cardigan has been introduced, running Tuesdays and Saturdays. Numbered 390, it is operated by Silcox with departures from Tenby at 0905, 1205 and 1510 returning from Cardigan at 1030, 1330 and 1650. The Tuesday operation has only been observed as full size vehicles, whilst the 0905 journey from Tenby on Saturday 21st August was operated by K651TDE, a Mercedes 709D with Crystals B33F bodywork. The service runs via the main road between the two towns, except deviating to serve Kilgetty and the Central Car Park in Narberth. The loading on the 0905 from Tenby mentioned above consisted of one passenger, in addition to myself, a return from Narberth to Cardigan. The 1030 return journey from Cardigan was observed leaving with two passengers.
Arrival in Cardigan at 1013 off the 0905 from Tenby, enabled the discovery of a Ceredigion Rural Bus Grant service, in the form of Richard Brothers service 408. This runs Monday to Saturday offering two journeys a day, at 1025 and 1225 on a circular trip via Gwbert, Verwig and Mwnt turn, reinstating an old route run in my memory by T. M. Daniel of Cardigan on a Thursday. The service was operated by F876RDE a Mercedes 609D with Reeves Burgess C19F bodywork. The most encouraging aspect of this service was the loadings, arriving back in Cardigan on the first trip with 12 passengers, plus myself. An examination of the timetable would suggest that this service was interworked with other Rural Bus Grant services towards Newcastle Emlyn. However this was not the case as the bus from the 408 ran empty up to Tescos to form the 1100 journey on the 407 to Poppit Sands.
A trip into Carmarthenshire on Friday 20th August also found services poorly supported. Castle Garage now provide a link on Monday to Fridays between Llandovery and Lampeter. The 288 leaves Llandovery at 0930 and runs to Lampeter via Llanwrda, Crugybar, Llansawel, Rhydcymerau and Llanybydder arriving at 1043. It returns from Lampeter at 1300. To fill in the vehicle's and driver's spare time in Lampeter between these journeys they return to Llandovery as service 289 running direct via Pumsaint, Crugybar and Llanwrda. The service departs Lampeter at 1045 arriving Llandovery at 1125. The return trip from Llandovery departs at 1215, allowing only a mere 50 minutes in the town, which given the tight running time for these services is in reality somewhat less than this! As with the 344 into Haverfordwest, a very unattractive facility.
On Friday 20th August the journeys were operated by D79KRL, a Ford Transit with 16 seater Dormobile bodywork. The 1215 service 289 journey from Llandovery to Lampeter saw no other passengers than myself, whilst the return on the 288 at 1300 from Lampeter saw two other passengers boarding, one to Pumsaint (which according to the timetable was not served!) and one to Llanwrda. The more interesting passengers were the two who boarded at Rhydcymerau and travelled just a few miles down the valley to Llansawel. This driver confirmed that passengers were rare on the 289, although a few were to be found on the 288 during mid week.
Other services travelled on included First Cymru 279 at 1535 from Llandeilo to Carmarthen, operated by E281TTH a Mercedes 609D with Robin Hood B20F bodywork. The only genuine passenger on this service was between Golden Grove and Carmarthen, the excursion via Carmel yielding nothing. The 1640 Carmarthen to Llanybri via Llangynog , also operated by E281TTH, had two passengers for this new facility to Llangynog, with a further lady continuing to Llanybri. The 1745 Bysiau Cwm Taf departure on the 224 to Whitland via Meidrim, St.Clears and Tavernspite conveyed passengers to Meidrim, but beyond that I was, once again, a lone soul, until I too alighted at Tavernspite.
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