Bemused By Border Buses (2)

We now know for certain that the main bus services in the area of East Midlands Parkway Station do not venture anywhere near the very long layby and the single bus top pole and flag. To see what IS available, we could look at the excellent network maps published by Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire. We might well need both at this is border country.

And there iS the border, running along the River Soar, a tributary of the mighty Trent.

Derbyshire’s map is not very effusive once you cross the border …

And, of course because it is in N*tt*ngh*mh*r*, East Midlands Parkway station is not included. The Nottinghamshire map includes lots more information.

We have “skylink” and “skylink express” and “SL” which might be Skylink Derby (maybe “L” for Leicester). Then there is “SV” which fbb interprets, using his many years of public transport cartographic nous, as having something to do with Soar Valley, a generic name for the area taken from the border river. 

And, yippee, it is!

Staffed entirely by volunteers and using two minibi …

… it runs a series of occasional journeys in the Soar Valley area. There is a clue in the name.

The centre of the world for the community bus is Normanton-on-Soar from where there is a school day service …

There is a market day service to Loughborough …

… which is still called Loughborough.

Then we have a delightful Tuesday bumble round the villages …

Finally, a couple of runs to the big bad outside world at ASDA West Bridgford.

The community bus routes are all called “SV” on the Nottinghamshire map. It would be better if they could have used the route numbers but perhaps they change too frequently for a network map to follow? 

But none of these offers the option of East Midlands Parkway!

But did you spot the one bus route which DOES serve East Midlands Parkway station, route 865?

You did? Well, don’t get too excited as it has been withdrawn! It ran from Clifton tram terminus via Barton in Fabis and Thrumpton …

… and on to serve many of the villages that the community bus serves.

It offered a bus evey TWO hours (very approx) which connected with the tram at Clifton.

Until nearly recently its was operated by Nottingham Coaches …

… but for a few months was taken on by Trent (etc), usually with a Kinch Bus vehicle from the Loughborough local routes “pool”.

And, as if to prove the point, here is one parked at Parkway, this time with the Kinch name on the side.!

Thus, tomorrow, we will look at what has happened very recently in the Soar Valley area.

It is not happy news for passengers.

 Next Notts and Derby blog : Wednesday 24th May