17 and 43/43A Interworking (Read 401 times)

[04jessops]

It's common knowledge that the 17 and 43/43A interwork with each other at Meadowhall, but I was just wondering about something. I forget how long ago it was now, but it was fairly recent, when the 17 went from Sheffield all the way through to Rotherham following almost the same route as the current 43 (minus Blackburn and Parkgate). I remember the few times I went on it when it went all the way to Rotherham, it used to wait for ages at Meadowhall, then it continued on its way to Rotherham. And now, when it changes into a 43/43A at Meadowhall, it waits for a bit as well.

So why was the 17 changed back to operating between Sheffield and Meadowhall only? I know it was because it started becoming very unreliable, and now it's fairly reliable now and shows up most of the time (!), but how is the current situation any different than how it used to be, except for the numbers being different etc?

[tox0114]

It maybe to not confuse people, but i agree they are exactly the same routes and do interwork with the 17, allthough some of the 14 buses interwork with the 17 and 28 aswell at meadowhall, but maybe it would be good to extend the 17 back to rotherham interchange again, but then again this may cause a problem, as now in kilmberworth park, there is 2 routes, one for the 43, and one for the 43A alllthough these are minor routes, and could be covered by one bus route again, but like you say, if reliability is still a problem, then why do the 17/43/43A interwork, but also don't forget the 17 interworks with the 66 in sheffiield city centre aswell.

[04jessops]

It's just strange because when the 17 used to go all the way to Rotherham it was very unreliable, but when it changes to just go to Meadowhall and interwork with the 43/43A, it became a lot more reliable, even though it's practically the same route!

[buswatch]

Looking at the timetables of 17 arrivals and 43/43A departures i would guess the difference is that an allowance of 7 mins at Meadowhall is built in compared with none when it was all one route.

[tango]

Yes that's true, and there is now extra running time added onto the route aswell, to make it more reliable than it was before, and to be honest, i don't think it will be too long, until the 17 is sent to rotherham again.

[dougie]

tango said:

i don't think it will be too long, until the 17 is sent to rotherham again.

Whilst I can see the benefit of these routes sharing buses/ drivers at Meadowhall, there'd be little or no benefit to through running, apart from it being a direct bus from Greasborough/ Blackburn to Centertainment/ Arena? You wouldn't sit on a bus from Blackburn/ Greasborough to Sheffield all the way through Parson Cross/ Grenoside would you?

A better solution would be to extend the 43 along Carlisle Street into Sheffield, providing a fast bus into the City Centre, replacing some journeys on the 85/86.

[buswatch]

Just found an old 17 timetable (April 2004) and here are the typical journey times on the Sheffield - Grenoside - Meadowhall - Greasbrough- Rotherham:
Off Peak Jounery 1hour 30 minutes / daytime 1 hour 39min/ Peak 1 hour 55mins

Today the main 17 route has a journey time just for Sheffield - Meadowhall :
Off peak 1hour 2 mins / daytime 1 hour 10mins / Peak 1 hour 19mins you then have to add on the todays 43/43a of average 40 mins.

For North Sheffield the present 66 offers journeys to Rotherham :
Off Peak 1 hour 6 mins / Daytime 1 hour 15 mins / Peak 1 hour 27 mins which are not much longer if you travelled into Sheffield and then went Rotherham.

You already get puzzled customers at Meadowhall who look at monitors see a 17 due out in a couple of minutes get on ... ask for City.. driver says its takes hour and half luv.... go for x78.... same between Meadowhall and Arena.

[04jessops]

buswatch said:

Looking at the timetables of 17 arrivals and 43/43A departures i would guess the difference is that an allowance of 7 mins at Meadowhall is built in compared with none when it was all one route.

I remember, though, when the 17 went to Rotherham that it waited quite a while at Meadowhall before continuing on its way. Unless the bus was early and the driver was just catching up on time, which I think was probably not the case!

[buswatch]

In the April 2004 timetable the waiting time was 2 mins between arrival and departure on most trips to Rotherham at Meadowhall with a couple of journeys on weekdays given 5 minutes( all day Sundays given 5 mins). None coming Back!

[04jessops]

buswatch said:

In the April 2004 timetable the waiting time was 2 mins between arrival and departure on most trips to Rotherham at Meadowhall with a couple of journeys on weekdays given 5 minutes( all day Sundays given 5 mins). None coming Back!

That's basically the same as it is now with the 17 and 43/43A.