Chelmsford to Hertford

 28th July 2022

Buses would be more frequent over the next few days as I moved away from rural Suffolk into the more urban territory of Essex and Hertfordshire.  My plans could therefore be more flexible and I left Chelmsford on the earlier of two options - the 0935 X10 service to Stansted Airport. I wanted to incorporate Stansted into the itinerary as it is a very significant transport destination; the airport having its own rail, bus and coach stations. It's also somewhere I'd never visited before.

Having not flown anywhere since 1985, airports are a bit of a mystery to me and I couldn't resist having a look inside the terminal. What I saw was enough to convince me that I wouldn't be flying anywhere again in a hurry. Large numbers of people milling about, queues for check-in, security, "fast track check-in" and even for coffee!  I had thought of having a coffee, but the coffee shop on the bus station was closed and the queues in the terminal were too long to contemplate joining them.

The 100th bus of the trip at Bishops Stortford

I wasn't sure how long it would take me to see Stansted so had no onward plan other than the time I needed to be at my next destination of Bishops Stortford. It was chance, therefore, that the next bus was Arriva's 508 to Harlow, which took me as far as Bishops Stortford and, although I didn't realise it at the time, became the 100th bus of this adventure, crossing the county boundary into Hertfordshire followed swiftly by the M11 on the approach to the town

HERTFORDSHIRE:  County town - Hertford

References to Hertfordshire can be traced back to Anglo-Saxon times as the area surrounding the county town of Hertford, which is reasonable central to the county. Hertfordshire was the birthplace of the Garden City movement with Letchworth its first example. To the south it merges into Greater London, but the north is more rural.

Confusion again!

I arrived in Bishops Stortford well in advance of the departure time of my connection onto the infrequent Central Connect 386 service, which was just as well.  After a wander around the town, enlivened by the presence of a street market, I set out to find my next bus. 

The market at Bishops Stortford

Never exactly easy in an unfamiliar town, this was made more difficult by there having been a change to bus stopping arrangements made three years ago that hadn't been reflected in the information available online from either the bus operator or Hertfordshire County Council.  The stops shown on line have actually been closed and obliterated and the buses that used to stop there moved a short distance away. This has not been reflected in the timetables or in the National Transport Database that supplies information to the various apps and websites that give out public transport information.  Therefore, when I arrived at the location shown on the map on my phone there was no sign of any bus stops!  There was a stop around the corner and 100 metres down the road, but the timetable case there contained no information about the bus I needed to catch!  By now, it was getting very near departure time, but as I could see a number of buses on layover farther down the road I decided to take a chance - I really had no option - and hope that the 386 stopped where I was waiting.

I needn't have worried as it turned up bang on time!  I commented to the driver on how difficult it had been to work out where the bus started from and she agreed, saying that even her ticket machine was telling her that she shouldn't be starting the journey from there.  I suspect that one of the reasons this situation has been allowed to prevail for so long is that whilst just myself and one other boarded at the Interchange, when we reached the next stop at the rear of the shopping centre it became obvious that this was where the majority of passengers get the bus from.

This 386 follows a curious and lengthy route to Stevenage going the long way round via a number of commuter villages the largest of which was Buntingford, where the majority of the passengers alighted, leaving just me and one other, who boarded there, to continue virtually non-stop to Baldock and then to Letchworth where we both alighted, leaving an empty bus to continue.

Garden City Success

Letchworth was the first Garden City and is very interesting because of that and a good advert for the concept. Unlike the post-war new towns, road traffic was not seen as a big problem and the centre was not therefore pedestrianised. With its wide streets and open-plan feel it must have seemed revolutionary in the early years of the twentieth century to people arriving from the cramped streets of London. More than a hundred years on it has certainly stood the test of time.

Letchworth Garden City

New Town Comparison

Stevenage

Arriva's 55 took me on to Stevenage, which was the first of the post-war "new towns" to be developed, again to cope with London overspill. The rise in motor traffic over the first half of the century led to the new towns being designed with fully pedestrianised town centres and complete separation of pedestrians and motor traffic.  Whether its because of this, or whether 1950s architecture is not as satisfying as that of fifty years earlier, I found Stevenage much less attractive than Letchworth. The town centre seemed drab and devoid of life and although the indoor market was still open it seemed to be hanging on by the skin of its teeth.

The new bus station

One bright spot was the new bus station, which is well-designed and welcoming, although its location means a longer walk to the shops for bus passengers.  Fortunately, I got back there a few minutes early for my planned departure on Central Connect's 384 to Hertford so was in time to catch Arriva's service 390 which had been slightly delayed but which followed a more direct route getting me to Hertford half an hour earlier than planned. No doubt it was a less interesting journey than it would have been, but fast and direct was just what I needed at the end of the day.

Ipswich to Chelmsford                                                                              Hertford to Aylesbury