First in Cornwall Improvements

First Devon & Cornwall are making some changes to a couple of their core Cornish routes for the summer holidays, from 27th July.

From 27th July, the 88 (Falmouth - Truro, operating at every 15 minutes) has one of it's journeys extended to Newquay as the 88A. From this date, the 89 and 90 (Truro - Newquay) are cut, meaning an end to this famous service. First Devon & Cornwall even purchased 3 brand new Tridents for the 89/90 back in 2005 (now transferred on to Plymouth).

Illustrated to the left are firstly Volvo Olympian 34200 (VOO273) on route 90 in Truro last summer, followed by Corlink livered Volvo B6BLE 48273 (YG02DLV), pictured in Falmouth on route 88 back in 2005.

This now has resulted in a rather confusing organisation of services. Each hour, from Falmouth:

07' departure route 88 to Truro bus station

22' departure route 88 to Tresliske hospital

37' departure route 88A to Newquay

52' departure route 88 to Tresliske hospital

At least the Truro - Falmouth section is constant!

The 88A does not alternate between Porth and Trenance Gardens as the 89/90 does at present - I'm not sure what the impact on local passengers this will have as I am not local myself - nonetheless some are not going to be happy. The new 88A goes via Trenance Gardens each way, leaving the residents of Porth to Western Greyhound's 556 and summer 505. The 88A does, however, have the same times approximately as the 89/90 throughout the hour (for example, the 88A, 89 and 90 all arrive in Newquay at 33 mins past the hour, so not a huge change here). The service is branded as a "refresher", and will provide opportunities for passengers to travel from Newquay to Falmouth without changing buses for the first time since the 89/90 were cut back to Truro. (Of course, there is a once-a-day WGH 590 if you fancy it also).

A definate improvement to the First Devon & Cornwall network is the doubling in frequency of route 14. Route 14 operates from Truro to St Ives, via Redruth and Camborne mainly mainly former Manchester Volvo B7RLEs, such as 69229 (MX56AEW) as illustrated right. It is one of First Devon & Cornwall's remaining premier routes in Cornwall. The 14 goes to every half-hour for at least the summer holidays, which should add more interest for enthusiasts and provide more opportunities for the travelling public. I hope the service improvements are popular.