In message , Paul Corfield
writes
On Sun, 20 Aug 2006 18:30:00 +0100, Ian Jelf
wrote:

In message , Paul Corfield
writes
On 20 Aug 2006 05:20:13 -0700, "Mizter T" wrote:
Paul C - so you're a geordie then. I've an affinity for the Toon, it's
a fascinating place.

Yes although most cannot tell from the accent. It's an interesting game
to play with people who don't know my background.
Yes, I can play that game, too! :-)

Hmmm - not another Geordie in disguise?
No Brummie born and bred (plus a couple of years in Germany). But
people never seem to be able to hear an accent. (Obviously I can't
prove that in a written format; I'll have to leave it to those from the
group who've met me, like Helen or Ivor!)

Tyne & Wear
Yes - oh happy days of nice new buses, proper interchanges and really
fast and reliable travel across the county with barely a traffic jam
anywhere. They had virtually disappeared once Metro was in full swing.
Though things were helped by the area having lower than average car
ownership at the time, you're quite right. Public transport provision
made a palpable difference.

Brighton
Which is important for a city
It's certainly a much more pleasant place than the rather shabby one I
remember from the early 1980s.

where I believe there is a vibrant night
life and yet no particularly convenient way of getting home.
Well there are "Nightclub buses" advertised by B&H. I don't know how
extensive they are, though.

Back to Tyneside.......
Oh yes. I used to live at South Gosforth so had three "lines" into town
peaks and shopping times.
Oh goodness, yes. Do I recall this correctly?

Green Line: Bank Foot - South Shields
Red Line: Four Lane Ends - Heworth
Yellow Line: Saint James - Heworth via the Coast?

I also seem to recall the Heworth terminus being extended to Pelaw later
but that was after my time.

Of course there's now Sunderland to fit in, too!
--
Ian Jelf, MITG
Birmingham, UK

Registered Blue Badge Tourist Guide for London and the Heart of England
http://www.bluebadge.demon.co.uk

In message , Dave Arquati
writes
I always find it mildly amusing that some smaller towns and cities
brand their late evening buses as "night buses". I've never actually
used a true night bus in the UK outside London (only in Dublin) - to
what extent do they exist in other UK cities?
Birmingham has a *very* limited network but only on Friday and Saturday
evenings, ie Saturday and Sunday mornings. I was surprised to learn
recently that they only operate "one way", too, so only journeys out of
Birmingham City Centre are possible.

Worcester (amazingly0 sees to have some, too. I only became aware of
this through stickers in taxi windows campaigning against them!

I had such a problem trying to get to the Dockyard in Chatham from the
railway station; there is a very convenient bus station next to the
railway station, but the Countdown-style displays were showing
completely different information from both the printed timetables and
the actual bus arrivals themselves. We saw a shuttle bus regularly
departing to an out-of-town retail park called Chatham Dockside, and
asked a driver about the Dockyard, but he didn't seem to know anything
about it.
As you say, it's opposite. Lack of knowledge by bus drivers is sadly
very widespread. They often don't see providing information as part of
their duties, regrettably.

I find it amazing how skills in the provision of information to
potential customers seem to have totally passed by many privatised bus
operations, when in theory, as private companies, they should be
marketing experts.
That's something I thought that privatisation *would* bring.
--
Ian Jelf, MITG
Birmingham, UK

Registered Blue Badge Tourist Guide for London and the Heart of England
http://www.bluebadge.demon.co.uk

Dave Arquati wrote:

I always find it mildly amusing that some smaller towns and cities
brand their late evening buses as "night buses". I've never
actually used a true night bus in the UK outside London (only in
Dublin) - to what extent do they exist in other UK cities?

Reading has 12 night bus routes, branded as NightTrack. They run until
03:30 with frequencies of 40-60 minutes. Details at
http://www.reading-buses.co.uk/rdg_nighttrack.htm

--
Richard J.
(to e-mail me, swap uk and yon in address)

On Mon, 21 Aug 2006 08:59:22 +0100, Ian Jelf
wrote:

In message , Paul Corfield
writes
On Sun, 20 Aug 2006 18:30:00 +0100, Ian Jelf
wrote:

In message , Paul Corfield
writes
On 20 Aug 2006 05:20:13 -0700, "Mizter T" wrote:
Paul C - so you're a geordie then. I've an affinity for the Toon, it's
a fascinating place.

Yes although most cannot tell from the accent. It's an interesting game
to play with people who don't know my background.
Yes, I can play that game, too! :-)

Hmmm - not another Geordie in disguise?
No Brummie born and bred (plus a couple of years in Germany). But
people never seem to be able to hear an accent. (Obviously I can't
prove that in a written format; I'll have to leave it to those from the
group who've met me, like Helen or Ivor!)

Ah. I'm sure if you reeeeellea tried you could get some Brummie
intonation into your posts ;-)

Tyne & Wear
Yes - oh happy days of nice new buses, proper interchanges and really
fast and reliable travel across the county with barely a traffic jam
anywhere. They had virtually disappeared once Metro was in full swing.

Though things were helped by the area having lower than average car
ownership at the time, you're quite right. Public transport provision
made a palpable difference.

Well yes but the thinning out of bus services and the very frequent
metro service as well as park and ride from the outskirts all helped to
kill the massive queues into Newcastle on the North Road and Central
Motorway. It was not unusual for there to be huge peak hour jams from
Newcastle right through Gosforth and South Gosforth. They virtually
vanished overnight and have only returned in recent years - as you can
see from the constant adjustments to peak hour running times and odd
headways because the bus companies cannot afford the extra peak buses.
There is now massive pressure on the Tyne Bridge as the High Level is
closed until 2010 and the volume of cross tyne traffic is huge.

Back to Tyneside.......
Oh yes. I used to live at South Gosforth so had three "lines" into town
peaks and shopping times.
Oh goodness, yes. Do I recall this correctly?

Green Line: Bank Foot - South Shields
Red Line: Four Lane Ends - Heworth
Yellow Line: Saint James - Heworth via the Coast?

Green - correct
Red - Benton to Heworth
Yellow - correct
Blue - St James to North Shields.

The Blue and Red services are what gave the frequency to make bus
interchange effective and convenient from around the network.

x5 St James - North Shields
x4/6 Benton - South Gosforth
x3 South Gosforth - Heworth.

(peak and inter-peak M-S) The Red and Blue lines did not run evenings
and Sundays but there was still a x5 headway SG - Heworth and x10
everywhere else.

I also seem to recall the Heworth terminus being extended to Pelaw later
but that was after my time.

Correct - they've just rebuilt Pelaw as it is now a busy interchange
between the Sunderland and South Shields lines.

Of course there's now Sunderland to fit in, too!

Well yes - you too can have a train every 24 minutes between Park Lane
and South Hylton. What a silly timetable.
--
Paul C


Admits to working for London Underground!

Paul Corfield typed

Ah. I'm sure if you reeeeellea tried you could get some Brummie
intonation into your posts ;-)

Oi niver hurd heem saaund loike a Brommie!

--
Helen D. Vecht:
Edgware.

Dave Arquati wrote:


I always find it mildly amusing that some smaller towns and cities brand
their late evening buses as "night buses". I've never actually used a
true night bus in the UK outside London (only in Dublin) - to what
extent do they exist in other UK cities?


Nottingham had a pretty extensive night bus network when I lived in the
Midlands a few years ago - when I left it still seemed to be expanding too.

Loughborough's Kinch Bus operated a service on the 12 until 3am at
weekends a few years ago as well but I believe that's since been withdrawn.

Both Glasgow and Edinburgh have (had?) good night bus networks when I
last checked, although I believe the former has since seen some major
cuts Sunday - Thursday. I also think Aberdeen has a new night network.

Going back to Newcastle, I was up for a Toon game last year and vaguely
recall there being a very limited set of night routes numbered in the
900s but they may have now been chopped.

Cheers

Steve M

In message , Paul Corfield
writes
On Mon, 21 Aug 2006 08:59:22 +0100, Ian Jelf
wrote:

In message , Paul Corfield
writes
On Sun, 20 Aug 2006 18:30:00 +0100, Ian Jelf
wrote:

In message , Paul Corfield
writes
On 20 Aug 2006 05:20:13 -0700, "Mizter T" wrote:
Paul C - so you're a geordie then. I've an affinity for the Toon, it's
a fascinating place.

Yes although most cannot tell from the accent. It's an interesting game
to play with people who don't know my background.
Yes, I can play that game, too! :-)

Hmmm - not another Geordie in disguise?
No Brummie born and bred (plus a couple of years in Germany). But
people never seem to be able to hear an accent. (Obviously I can't
prove that in a written format; I'll have to leave it to those from the
group who've met me, like Helen or Ivor!)

Ah. I'm sure if you reeeeellea tried you could get some Brummie
intonation into your posts ;-)
I think you meant "troyed" rather than "tried" there!

And a bison of course is where one washes one's hands.......

Tyne & Wear
Back to Tyneside.......
Oh yes. I used to live at South Gosforth so had three "lines" into town
peaks and shopping times.
Oh goodness, yes. Do I recall this correctly?

Green Line: Bank Foot - South Shields
Red Line: Four Lane Ends - Heworth
Yellow Line: Saint James - Heworth via the Coast?

Green - correct
Red - Benton to Heworth
Yellow - correct
Blue - St James to North Shields.
Yes, forgot the blue line.

Of course there's now Sunderland to fit in, too!

Well yes - you too can have a train every 24 minutes between Park Lane
and South Hylton. What a silly timetable.
It makes the Wimbleware and Mill Hill East look positively sensible,
doesn't it? [1]

The Sunderland line as built struck me as a bit pointless anyway, given
that it parallels the railway so much. The original intention to go
via Washington would have made far more sense in terms of service
provision.

[1] Please note half-hearted attempt to put this back on topic for
utl!
--
Ian Jelf, MITG
Birmingham, UK

Registered Blue Badge Tourist Guide for London and the Heart of England
http://www.bluebadge.demon.co.uk

In message , Helen Deborah
Vecht writes
Paul Corfield typed

Ah. I'm sure if you reeeeellea tried you could get some Brummie
intonation into your posts ;-)

Oi niver hurd heem saaund loike a Brommie!

Okay, you'll have to make up your own minds.......

Here's a (poor quality) .wmv file of a BBC News Item featuring the
launch of tours of Birmingham's 11 outer Circle bus route last year with
some fleeting examples of yours truly in "commentary mode".
Mercifully, I only *appear* momentarily!

http://www.bluebadge.demon.co.uk/OC.wmv

Hope my ftp skills have allowed me to upload it properly. Apologies if
not.
--
Ian Jelf, MITG
Birmingham, UK

Registered Blue Badge Tourist Guide for London and the Heart of England
http://www.bluebadge.demon.co.uk

Ian Jelf wrote:

No Brummie born and bred (plus a couple of years in Germany). But
people never seem to be able to hear an accent. (Obviously I can't
prove that in a written format; I'll have to leave it to those from
the group who've met me, like Helen or Ivor!)

I've heard Ian speak. There's a trace of Klingon.

"John Rowland" typed


Ian Jelf wrote:

No Brummie born and bred (plus a couple of years in Germany). But
people never seem to be able to hear an accent. (Obviously I can't
prove that in a written format; I'll have to leave it to those from
the group who've met me, like Helen or Ivor!)

I've heard Ian speak. There's a trace of Klingon.



Do you mean Kling-gon?

What do I speak?

--
Helen D. Vecht:
Edgware.