'One-way' bus service introduced in Wiltshire

[whole diary]

[bobm]

..and we think the railways get it wrong sometimes...

From the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page)

A new bus service has been introduced in Wiltshire which, due to council cuts, is offering no return service.

The 87 bus timetable, released earlier in the month, offers three buses a day and one on Saturday from Winterslow, Wiltshire to Andover, Hampshire.

But with a limited return service and buses scheduled to leave before passengers arrive, residents say the route is effectively a one-way service.

Anne Riggs from Winterslow said "it would be better not to have it at all".

She said: "We've never had it before but when we found out that there was going to be a bus service to Andover - we thought wow, good a bit of variety.

"But with the new one-way service, we can board a bus and travel to Andover but there is no provision for getting us back."

The 87 bus route operates three buses a day from Winterslow arriving in Andover at 1040, 1240 and 1440. The return service leaves Andover at 0945 and at 1145.

The service on Saturday arrives in Andover at 1850 with a return service available at 0815.

(article continues in link above)

[ChrisB]

That's obviously a service *from* Andover to Winterslow! But ehy anyone nreds that, heaven knows!

[grahame]

Have a look at the timetable ...

http://www.stagecoachbus.com/extuploads/andoverroute870409.pdf

It's basically a bus to Salisbury with some journeys starting from Andover.   Taking Saturday as an example, Stagecoach run a bus from Andover to Salisbury in the morning. They then use it to provide the regular Salisbury / Over Wallop service during the day, and send it home to Andover in the evening. Looks quite sane to me, and never intended to provide for a phantom flow from Winterslow to Andover.

[JayMac]

Route 87 is mostly run under contract to Wiltshire & Hampshire County Council.

Have they merged? 

[smokey]

Is this even a Safe Bus Route?

Who would go to OVER WALLOP