NHBUG feedback and comments.
This page expands upon the information in the News page by including extra detail and personal views from members. Views expressed are not necessarrily those of the North Herts Bus User Group.
Content from members is welcome. Please email any comments and news to ,
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October Newsletter from North Herts BUG.
Bus services in North Herts continue to deteriorate. This despite vast amounts of money spent on new Hertfordshire routes which do not really benefit most of North Herts and a so-called Real Time Information system which simply does not work here. Stevenage perhaps benefits from the new services, many of which start from there, but also have the same issues with the lack of real time information and the very unreliable Arriva services. For further details of the ongoing issues in question I cannot improve on the excellent summaries in the Chairman and Secretary's reports from their AGM in September as published on the NHBUG website
The Stevenage BUG User Group meeting was held on Saturday 13th July 2024. The new MP for Stevenage Kevin Bonavia atended and announced the then upcoming Labour bus strategy. He took note of the various ongoing problems with services in North Herts and said he would, together with colleages Alistair Strathern and Chris Hinchliff in Hitchin and North East Herts to try and improve the experience of bus users. We will make contact for an update next month.
See News for details of the Better Buses Bill.
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Herts CC decide against Bus Franchising
It is very disappointing, although perhaps predictable, that Herts County Council has decided against introducing Bus Franchising in Hertfordshire. Bus services in Hertfordshire are among the worst in the UK and this would have been a chance to improve them rather than continuing with the current deregulated shambles and the meaningless 'enhanced partnerships'. The reason given is a cost estimate of 'up to 174 million'. This is of course nonsense. The figure includes £160 million for electrifying all buses, which is totally unnecessary and has nothing to do with franchising. Without this the cost estimate would be around £14 million. Even that seems on the high side considering the economic benefits to the county of a reliable bus system. It seems obvious that the council does not consider bus services a priority.
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A sad day for the city of St. Albans as the last red London bus service is withdrawn after 112 years. The city lost its last direct link to the capital 2 years ago and part of its history is now gone. Yes, there will be other services, but it's like losing a reliable and trusted old friend after many years. This has been an integral part of the city's history for decades, featuring in many photographs and publications down the years.
It's perhaps ironic that Metroline now operate 4 services in Waltham Cross, but just 2 in Potters Bar, Borehamwood and just one in Bushey, part of Hertsmere's urban 'bus desert'. TFL still refuse to operate between Potters Bar and Barnet or St. Albans despite operating for literally decades in the past, but still operate to Watford, Waltham Cross, Slough, Staines, Bluewater in Kent, Dorking and Redhill, near Gatwick Airport.
That could also cause problems for future franchising with UNOs 614 and 644.plus the 84b, R1 and R2 operating in greater London.
Paul@SHUG>
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Problems continue with the Arriva 55 service. - email to Stevenage Bug from a resident
,,,,, for the last few months the 7:06 bus from the old town to letchworth hasn’t shown up; is there a reason for this I’ve called up and someone was supposed to get back to me and still had nothing back . My son gets that bus so he isn’t late for school . I would really appreciate it if someone could get back to me regarding this issue.
A reader from St. Albans has written to the Herts Advertiser questioning the HCC strategy of adding new 'fast' limited stop services at the expense of the frequency of previous local services. i.e. trying to encourage new bus users but risking losing existing ones. This does not seem a a sensible plan. See the letter at https://nhbug.org.uk/buscutsoct23.pdf
And a response to the new 908 service (see News) from a member:
The limited stop 908 (Stevenage-Rickmansworth) is not necessarily an 'improvement' as it will probably mean a cut in the frequency of the 301 service (Stevenage to St Albans) just as the new limited stop 721 (Luton - Hemel via St Albans) means a cut in frequency to 321 (Luton to Maple Cross) and 302 (WGC to Hemel).The main problem with the buses is lack of drivers (caused by Brexit creating a lack of lorry drivers, and many bus drivers becoming lorry drivers) so any new routes are at the expense of existing routes. Arriva services are still very unreliable, despite many timetable cuts.Also you do not mention the recent changes to 97/98 service. The earlier 97A/98A changes have been scrapped, so that only the 97 goes round the Purwell Estate in Hitchin, meaning that the service round Purwell is reduced to hourly from half hourly, just as the 81 service round the Highover Estate was earlier reduced to hourly from half hourly.
There is also a new service X10 (Luton-Hatfield) by UNO to cover the large number of students travelling from Luton to Univ of Herts (but is less helpful to those travelling from Hatfield to Univ of Beds), but only in term time and is limited stop and does not go via Harpenden Town Centre and partially replaces the old 366 service. It remains to be seen if there are cuts to the 610 (Luton - Cockfosters) service.Also each alternate 314 (Hitchin - WGC) service is diverted via Kimpton and Whitwell and renumbered 315.Also the A505 is being shut at weekends at Hitchin Station bridge and the 97/98 and 386 diverted via Woolgrove Road and Grove Road, without any notification on the affected bus stops. I have no idea where the 80 (Hitchin-Stevenage via the Wymondleys) is diverted.
Overall the changes tend to mean faster services between town centres, but reduced services outside town centres and in rural areas.
A further comment on this service (908)
Today I went on the new 908 (Stevenage-WGC) service. It is the same as the 301 (Stevenage to St Albans via WGC) service as far as Old Welwyn south then it goes along Digswell Hill and then to WGC town centre via Valley Road (where it replaces the old 366), instead of via Knightsfield in WGC. It is not limited stop. It is hourly.
It does not go to Rickmansworth. The Stevenage - Rickmansworth route has been renumbered 725 and is limited stop, but does go through Knightsfield. I do not know its route south of WGC town centre. This route is stated to start on 19/11/23. We seem to be resurrecting the old Green Line system. The only local remnants are the 757 (Luton - Victoria). and 724 (not branded as Green Line) (Heathrow - Harlow).
The 301 is half-hourly (it used to be 4 an hour combined with the old 300).
More comments still can be found on the reail users forum feedback page:
https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/connect-herts-new-limited-stop-7xx-services-from-19-11-23.254871
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