Delightful Derbyshire Data

It duly arrived at 1215 yesterday …

Also sent via e-mail was a before …

… with the consequences of some fbb mishandling and after …

…with the new screen firmly in place. No 3 son also sent a couple of shots of the innards of the laptop …

… and (possibly, fbb has no real idea) the lid without the screen attached.

Readers aware of the arcane workings of DaFT (The Department For Transport) will remember that, a while back, all local authorities were invited to submit plans for Bus Improvement in order to get their hands on a chunk of several tens of millions of BSIP grant money. It was all rushed and the guidance was lengthy and convoluted, verging on the incomprehensible at times.

The result was that some LAs were told that their plans were too imaginative and costly and they got nothing. Likewise others were told that their plans were NOT imaginative enough and equally likewise they got nothing. 

The definition of “imaginative” was never clear which led some bus watchers to conclude that DaFT obfuscation allowed the men in dark suits to dole out their largesse to those Councils that said the most acceptable things to the officials!

So the largely rural Derbyshire got money but hard-times post industrial South Yorkshire got not a bean or even the pod of a bean. No pod – odd!

Derbyshire has now revealed which services will be improved – indeed two have already started way back at the end of March.

Chesterfield to Alfreton – 55

It is very much a “back way round” from Chesterfield (off map to the north) via Clay Cross and Tibshelf then on into Alfreton.

As usual there is plenty of rubbish lurking in the entrails of the interwebnet.

You could find a Hulleys 55 and 56 …

… a Stagecoach 55A …

… and, as it turns out, the correct Hulleys 55.

Derbyshire explains what has changed.

Prudent enquirers would advisedly go the Derbyshire’s own timetable library which is always the best and usually the most up to date.

It is worth recording that, over the years, several bus services have run to the railway station which is somewhat remote from the central shopping area in Chesterfield. None has ever been successful

Hulleys 170

This runs to Bakewell but eschews the main road and serves Old Brampton instead. But very obviously on-line is a PDF from Hulleys for the 170 and X70. 

A comparison of the maps …

… shows the 170 roughly as per the Derbyshire map and the X70 using the main road and avoiding the wiggle to the villages.

Derbyshire tells us what is changing on the 170 …

… but omits (in the text) the rather important fact that the X70 is withdrawn. Presumably the “new money” doesn’t run to supporting the retention of the X70. 

A note in the “timetable library” does tell all.

At least one out of date Derbyshire timetable pops up on line (posted by the non-existent Virgin Trains!) …

… that shows X70 trips from Buxton! 

They haven’t run for some time. 

To compensate for the loss of the X70, Hulleys includes their pre-existing 84 on the new 170 timetable …

… which also offers odd 84s to Bakewell.

Derbyshire keeps the two separate …

… but shows the”portmanteau” 170A with the 84 as well as with the 170 – which is probably sensible for both sets of passengers.

Coming Soon

Not terribly well explained.

The current X17 (above) runs every hour from Barnsley to Sheffield and Chesterfield; every hour Sheffield to Chesterfield and Matlock giving a bus every 30 Mon between Sheffield and Chesterfield

.

From the end of May this will become hourly Barnsley, Sheffield, Chesterfield, Matlock overlapping with hourly Sheffield, Chesterfield, Matlock and Wirksworth.

So you can have a half hourly service between Chesterfield and Matlock but, apparently, only one bus an hour to Bakewell. Strange! And it is not “Gold” any more!

The extension to Wirksworth represents a dramatic improvement over what is there now. But Hulleys 110 and 111 will feel the pinch.

Should government money fund competition in this way? Or is this less of a BSIP project and more of a Stagecoach expansion scheme?

For those who enjoy a long ride, they can travel all the way from Barnsley to Wirksworth on a Sunday …

… at nearly THREE HOURS, a real challenge to bladder and buttocks!

But a jolly good ride nonetheless – and currently only £2.

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Hopefully, with laptop back at fbb mansions, your elderly author can begin to complete some outstanding work.