Soon as we may, off and away…
15 January 2022
ABOVE: Arriva buses dominate at Wakefield Bus Station on Friday 7th January 2022
The displays on my S-stock London Underground train from Paddington aren’t working, and nor are the automated announcements. The platform indicator suggests that I have boarded a Circle Line train, but there’s no advice from the driver. I feel sorry for the people in the rear carriage, who won’t get to hear the grammatically-dubious advice for Baker Street station that “all doors in this carriage will not open here”…
I’m back on my travels again for my first long-distance trip of 2022. I am heading for Harrogate in North Yorkshire, to attend a Gilbert & Sullivan New Year Festival. It will be three proper live music concerts, on three consecutive evenings, in the beautiful Royal Hall. Of course that gives me the opportunity for four days of ‘research’ for this blog (i.e., bus riding for pleasure).
To be honest, I had been very pessimistic before Christmas about the likelihood of this trip going ahead, given the Covid situation. But here I am, after my silent tube ride, in St Pancras International, preparing to head north.
OK, I know that Harrogate is best approached via King’s Cross and Leeds, but when would I ever do the direct route? I’m heading for Sheffield, and will cover the rest of my journey to Harrogate by bus.
I’ve reached Sheffield. The sun is shining but the ground is distinctly wet, suggesting a recent downpour. Another downpour has begun by the time I reach my stop at the Sheffield Interchange a few minutes later.
I am aiming for the 1108 departure on Stagecoach route X17 to Barnsley, and reach the stop at about 1055. There’s no-one else there. Then I spot the information screen, indicating that Stagecoach services are being affected by strike action “from 1st / 2nd January”. As it is now January 7th, my first reaction is that this is out-of-date information that hasn’t been updated. It’s just that word “from” that concerns me. Why does it say “from” rather than “on”? Or where is the “to” that should go with it?
It turns out that Stagecoach Yorkshire drivers have walked out on an indefinite strike. I’ve seen many disputes where one-day strikes have been held week after week, but indefinite strikes are quite a risky strategy in my view. It will all come down to who blinks first (checking of course that there isn’t a Weeping Angel hanging around).
Being in London, I wouldn’t expect to hear about a strike affecting buses in Yorkshire. However, as part of my journey planning for the trip, I had visited Stagecoach’s site the previous weekend. I saw no mention of the strike – surely there should have been something prominent enough for a casual traveller to see?
So is my bus running?
The good news, via a quick drill-down into the Stagecoach website, is that the X17 is not affected by the strike. A statement to that effect on the Interchange information screen would have been nice. But I can get to Barnsley as planned.
I abandon my Silver Dayrider in favour of a single ticket, though, as it is implied that my second service, route 59 to Wakefield, is not going to be running.
My X17 turns up in good time, and we’re soon on the way. Two separate photographers take pictures of my bus as it works its way through the City Centre – one outside the Interchange and another on Castle Street. Hello, fellow enthusiasts, if you’re reading this! Top deck, left-hand side at the front – that’s me!
We pass the Premier Inn on Angel Street – one of two hotels that I have previously stayed at which I will see today.
Passenger numbers are light, and thin out to penny numbers after the Meadowhall Shopping Centre. The X17 joins the M1 motorway and takes us three junctions’ distance to Birdwell. Here we join the A61, known in this area as the Sheffield Road, but if you follow it north it will take you all the way to Harrogate. I’ll be drifting onto and off this road for the rest of the day!
North of Birdwell is Worsbrough, where we more than double the passenger load as eight people board. By this time we’re already into the environs of Barnsley, and we reach the Interchange, on schedule, at 1159.
Barnsley Interchange is strangely quiet – lacking both passengers and buses. It is clear that the Stagecoach strike is affecting this area badly. In the absence of my intended route 59, I have found a route 96 to take me to Wakefield, operated by Globe Holidays of Bradford – not an operator that I have come across before.
The 1300 departure of Globe’s plain white Enviro 200 is busy, to the point that I can’t claim a second seat for my suitcase! I wonder whether the lack of the 59 might be a factor in this, but as far as I can tell, the 59 follows a completely different routing to the 96, so the scope for diversionary traffic – other than people like me who are going end-to-end – appears to be slight.
The driver is very friendly, and the 15-year-old bus runs very smoothly. I wonder whether the vehicle is a London veteran, as many are, but it turns out to have been new to Aston’s of Worcester.
We make a double-run to serve the Yorkshire Sculpture Park, but no-one boards or alights. This looks like it might be an interesting place to visit on a summer’s day, but, in the January gloom, and with the rain threatening again, it looks less inviting! I’m on a tight schedule anyway; talking of which, our 1400 arrival into Wakefield Bus Station is bang on time.
ABOVE: A Globe E200 on route 96 for Wakefield, exiting the double-run at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park on Monday 10th January 2022.
The picture has been taken from another Globe E200, also on route 96 and heading in the other direction, to Barnsley.
Wakefield bus station’s WC has a narrow, full-height turnstile gate that one has to push through to gain access. I am glad that I only have a small suitcase as I don’t think I would be able to get through with a large one.
During the 96 journey we have crossed from South Yorkshire into West Yorkshire, and it is noticeable that we also seem to have crossed from Stagecoach territory into Arriva’s. A sea of blue buses dominates the landscape; something I suspect would be the case here even if Stagecoach services were running.
There’s probably enough to say about buses between Wakefield and Leeds to fill a separate article. I have covered five different bus routes between the two cities at various times, and there may well be others. Today I have opted for the most direct route, Arriva’s 110. This runs every 10 minutes and takes about 40 minutes end-to-end.
I catch the slightly-delayed 1400 service by the skin of my teeth. It’s a moderately busy run and I spend the first part of it enduring a conversation between a man and a woman, of indeterminate relationship, that is completely unrepeatable here. Thankfully they soon leave and the rest of the journey is uneventful. We’re into Leeds by 1445.
I don’t hang around in Leeds – there’s only about an hour’s daylight left and my journey on route 36 to Harrogate will take most of that. The 36 is what I would view as a ‘premium’ service, operated by Transdev’s Harrogate Bus Company. It will definitely merit an article of its own one day.
I take the 1455 departure and soon see the Travelodge on Vicar Lane – the second hotel that I have previously stayed in that I have passed today.
The 36 is behind a bus on route 7, also from the Harrogate Bus Company and also heading for Harrogate, but a longer way round. I note that this is not the only route 7 available from this stop – there is also a First Leeds service 7. Although the Harrogate 7 is the one that will end up in the same place as the 36, it branches off immediately and it’s the First route that initially follows the 36 north. Must be confusing for strangers!
It’s always a lovely drive on the 36 and today is no exception. The last time I rode the 36 – a Saturday evening ride in the opposite direction – it had been full-and-standing for most of the way. Today’s trip remains quiet, though, and I have the front seat to myself.
On the outskirts of Harrogate there is suddenly an automated announcement that the bus will be diverted straight to the bus station due to traffic congestion. This doesn’t affect me but we’re skipping a couple of stops; I’m sure they’ll not be missed.
I don’t see any evidence of traffic congestion and we reach our destination, on time, at 1549. As it’s January, darkness is descending, and I only just make my hotel in daylight. It will be a full 16 hours plus before the sun’s rays are all ablaze again. Well actually a bit longer, as the next day will open wet and miserable. But that’s for the next article…