Urban network, rural setting

After a look at rural, long distance bus services in Suffolk, we turn our attention to the urban town network. In this very widespread setting, can five half hourly commercial bus services be justified six days a week? And does the infrastructure provided by the council stand up to the continuous, regular usage? A Bramcote Bus Blog correspondent finds out more...

The new map and times leaflet
produced by First Eastearn Counties
to promote their new network.

  The town network in Bury St Edmunds has seen a major improvement by First recently. There are now five, instead of four services, all of which are circular. Every route has buses every half an hour Monday-Saturday, with no Sunday service. This is very good service, but if you live near the start or end of a loop, you have to endure a long journey in one direction because buses only run one way around the circuits.

Despite the new, simplified routes, high frequencies and modern, low floor Dennis Darts the network is far from perfect. Buses repeatedly make dangerous manoeuvres around narrow estates not designed for more than an average car and while First have produced a comprehensive map and timetable leaflet, stop updates have been poor. At the Spread Eagle, I attempted to board the 81. The information and timetables were all at the stop and I even used the free text service to check if my bus was on time. According to Sufolk Traveline, it was. I stood at the stop and when I saw the bus coming towards me, I put my arm out clearly. The bus driver shook his head, and kept driving, leaving me a long walk away from the railway station with half an hour until the next bus. I set off on foot towards the centre.



The bus that rescued me outside the city centre and whisked
me back to the bus station.

I then saw a number 82 bus coming in the opposite direction. I got on, explained to the driver what had happened and showed him my return ticket. He allowed me to stay on for the loop round the estate and I made my connection at the bus station onto the 355 to the railway station. But I only just made it and if I hadn't left so much slack in my schedule for photography I would have missed my train. With services only every two hours, this would have been disastrous.

My ticket from the bus station to the railway station

But I made my connection onto a Mulleys Motorways BMC Condor on service 355 going to Mildenhall down to the railway station, with ten minutes to spare. The journey home then involved a change at Peterborough and a further one at Leicester, both of which passed without incident. All in all it was a very good day, but it shows that whle First are increasing service provision, driver training, infrastructure, and to some extent fleet age are important factors in this difficult operating environment. Would Optare Solos or Wright Streetlights be more suited to the longer distance town duties, than elderly, ex-London Darts?