Trust this is the first and last of a series of posts in which we grumble petulantly & peevishly at the efforts of those who, like me, try rather hard to improve our bus services…
Is it me? Am I missing something? Surely the intention of the new Gosport to Fareham busway, whose weekday services launch in exactly one week’s time, is to speed things up, not slow them down.
The current direct weekday service between Gosport and Fareham comprises the snappily numbered 82 & 83 (they used to be Provincial’s 1 & 2, then 1, 2 & 3). Combined, First offers six buses an hour, half of which operate via Forton Road & Elson, the other via Ann’s Hill Road. The Gosport to Fareham journey time is 30 minutes no matter the route. 
From next week, the new Eclipse E1 and E2 services, advertised together, give an increased combined frequency eight per hour. So far, so good. In fact, so far, so brilliant.
In terms of routes, the E2 is almost a straight replacement for the 82, substituting the busway for the congested A32 Fareham Road. By including the E1 with the E2, First is marketing the E1 as an 83 replacement via Elson. The E1 is also a direct replacement for the 86 via Whitworth Road, Elson and part of Rowner Road. It, too, then speeds onto the busway.
Increased frequencies will be most welcome. The slight drawback is that the end-to-end journey times have all increased. From Gosport to Fareham, centre to centre, the E1 takes 39 and the E2, 33 minutes. At its worst, the E1 is nine minutes longer than the 83 it is marketed to replace. This is an increase of a third, in spite of the busway. Even the E2 takes three minutes longer. Though this may hardly be noticeable, it’s still an extra 10 per cent on the running time. Mind you, it has to be said that the E1 is also six minutes quicker than the 86 it directly replaces. That’s 15 per cent quicker, end to end, with benefits particularly for middle-to-end passengers.
So, why is this multi-million pound congestion-busting scheme not delivering quicker journey times? The answer lies in the routing of the E1 and E2 via Fareham rail station. E1 and E2 both have to leave the busway and enter Fareham via Redlands Lane, making a sweep of the rail station on its way to the bus station. Currently, the 82/3/5 enter Fareham more directly, via Gosport Road.
The bonus is that Gosport, Elson, Holbrook and Brockhurst each have direct access to Fareham rail station. This was always one of the busway goals, Fareham’s rail station being slightly off-centre. The plan was to offer a total & tenable public transport solution not just between the two towns but out of the peninsula. We’d call it integrated transport. The downside is that those who don’t use the train have to suffer an added time penalty.
Buses operate clockface from Fareham but, from Gosport, oddly at 00, 13, 15, 28, 30, 43, 45 &58 (to align themselves clockface onto the busway)
With E1, First is retaining the direct 83. When the busway services launch, the 83 reduces on weekdays from three to two buses an hour. The new journey time is 31 minutes. It’s ironic that this non-busway service is still the fastest between the two towns, even with an increase of one minute. It continues to enter Fareham via Gosport Road.
But if you think that this post is solely a negative one, think again. The 83 may take 31 minutes *on paper* but it will still be the subject of congestion on the notorious Fareham Road A32, including along its entry to Fareham, north of Hoeford and towards Quay Street roundabout. And that’s where the busway services gain. Running times might be a tad longer but at least there’s more of a possibility that they’ll actually run to time.
That said, the coinciding bus lane along Fareham’s Portland Street & A27 Western Way that bridges the gap between the town, rail station and busway is actually only experimental. I would imagine that this will prove highly unpopular with motorists…
Service summary before and after busway, Mondays to Fridays daytime (above) and evenings (below)
14 comments:
"Surely the intention of the new Gosport to Fareham busway, whose weekday services launch in exactly one week’s time, is to speed things up, not slow them down."
Presumably it does, if you happen to be traveling from Fareham railway station to a point south of the end of the busway? That may or may not be a significant proportion of the existing market for the services between Fareham and Gosport, but it would appear to be an important part of the 'target' market for the busway services. The convenience to at least part of the rest of the market would appear to have been sacrificed in the interests of serving the 'target' group better - which is perhaps a consequence of the inevitable compromises that have to be made when designing bus services.
Of course, the concept of an 'integrated' (in this case, rail and bus) system appeals to politicians (and one or two other commentators!), so that such projects tend to be viewed favourably - and therefore stand a better chance of being funded. Whether that concept actually meets the needs of the majority of the traveling public is another question, as Busing's post demonstrates. Indeed, such integration may actually disadvantage some passengers - and possibly quite a significant proportion.
It's possibly worth bearing in mind that politicians, and enthusiasts (including myself!), who enjoy making complicated journeys by a mix of modes may actually not be the best judges of the requirements of the vast majority of the traveling public!
"It's possibly worth bearing in mind that politicians, and enthusiasts (including myself!), who enjoy making complicated journeys by a mix of modes may actually not be the best judges of the requirements of the vast majority of the traveling public!"
Well said. As a public trnasport campaigner who likes going to obscure destinations to go hiking, it is a hard lesson to learn that for most people short simple trips are most of what they do and that buses are mass transit not taxis.
However, collectively the obscure multimodal trips do add up and find their way onto the bottom line.
It is getting the balance right which brings in the money.
Did anyone conduct any passenger surveys to research the needs of the locals,or was this purely a cheapo option in place of the light rail option?
I would have thought Portsmouth is as popular a destination from the Gosport area. Surely a tunnel could be constructed under the harbour ...after all,we have got one to France !
The end-to-end journey time is three minutes longer yet it serves more destinations on the way? That sounds like an excellent service.
I can honestly say that I don't care how long a bus takes, within reasonable limits, so long as the bus times are reliable. I'd rather First say something takes 33 minutes and it take no longer than 33 minutes, than say 31 and have a journey time of anywhere between 30 and 40 minutes depending on traffic.
Three minutes is neither here nor there in the grand scheme of things, it's little more than waiting two turns at the lights in some places.
"Three minutes is neither here nor there in the grand scheme of things, it's little more than waiting two turns at the lights in some places."
One reason why I wish the UK would put in the effort and introduce tram lights to allow buses to overtake at pretty much every major junction, like happens in European countries e.g. Germany and the Netherlands.
As a result, bus running times are *very* predictable.
You can do a "bus gate" with a traffic island, but that takes up so much more space and can't be done in anywhere near as many places.
Neil
The studies needed for the light rail scheme will have seen many forecasts of passenger demand, hopefully based in reality. And DfT is usually quite strict about these things before handing over cash.
As for a tunnel - yes, that was proposed, but the Royal Navy then demanded it be deeper, to allow larger aircraft carriers into Portsmouth Harbour. The extra costs that this created, together with the land requirements associated with longer ramps, were one of the many things that finished off the light rail proposal.
Just how many people actually use Fareham Railway Station - is it really so busy as to warrant such frequent new services ?
If there's little take up at the station I can see regular users preferring the traditional route !
"I would have thought Portsmouth is as popular a destination from the Gosport area. Surely a tunnel could be constructed under the harbour "
Theres a ferry that offers a quick journey across the short bit of water every 7/8 minutes in the peak and every 15 minutes in the off peak. The bus way cost £20million, that will buy you about 20 metres maximum of a tunnel so where would the other few hundred or even billion come from to build a tunnel?
It was after all the Royal Navy that indirectly lead to the previously proposed LRT tunnel between Gosport and Portsmouth to become unfeasible.
Following on from Anonymous above, the Gosport ferry is presumably also the reason for the bunched depature times from that end - for time immemorial off peak ferries have left Gosport at 00, 15, 30 and 45 past each hour and Portsea in between at 7 1/2, 22 1/2, 37 1/2 and 52 1/2 minutes past the hour. Effectively that means that passengers alighting at Gosport can dash up to the bus station just in time for an E1 and an E2 - hopefully the drivers will await these passengers rather than depart just as the ferry docks . . .
The bus lane on the A27 is indeed just a painted line on a short part of the hitherto two lane section. I'll be interested to see how well it works.
I think serving the station is more a consequence of the location of the busway (i.e. on the old Gosport railway alignment) than a real effort at integration - otherwise wouldn't buses actually be entering the station forecourt?
One point hasn't been covered by commentators so far. Services used to be cross-linked at Fareham, with buses coming up from Gosport carrying on beyond the bus station to the rail station and housing estates further west. But these were all cut back when congestion on the A32 became so bad - and unpredictable, that the services to the west became hopelessly unreliable. Thus, to travel from Gosport to Fareham station or the shops in West Street, a change of bus has been necessary for a number of years. In reality, most people will have walked, although it's a ten minute walk along West Street to the station.
So, now the three critical points are linked up once again, although now in a novel order.
Someone asked how many people use Fareham railway station.
The answer is 1,571,000 people per year (2010/11 figure).
I've not been to Fareham station for a while,but I recall the walk from the station entrance down to the main road was far enough to get drenched,or frozen, depending on weather conditions.Perhaps a covered walkway could be erected..or perhaps it already has?
The whole station layout seems a bit poor,including the rail platform arrangements.Is that overbridge still open to the elements ?
The walk from Fareham station to the nearest bus stop is not especially long, 2-3 minutes max from the front of the station to bus stop - 5 minutes from the door of the train to door of the bus.
To be fair, if you watch the BRT video, the wider scheme will involve extending the busway all the way to Fareham station, though how they do this is anybodys guess.
In theory platform 2 could be re-opened to trains, this would require a .slight. (possible understatement of the decade there) realignment of the rails and bridge, though in theory this would free up platform 1 to be tarmaced over allowing buses to cross straight over the bridge to the railway station.
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