08 - Park & Ride

Not content with (1) Route 66 and (2) the shuttle bus, there is, as in so many areas of life, a third way. In this case, a third bus service that plies its trade between downtown Ipswich and out-of-town Martlesham. Two words, folks: Park & Ride. Incidentally, if you've got five minutes to spare -- hey, you're reading this -- go from PARK to RIDE by changing one letter at a time.

Into the town centre on the bike, and as I was locking up outside the library, a bright pink vehicle disappeared down Great Colman Street. Darn it, missed that one. No matter, there'll be another one along in 10 minutes (7am to 7pm, I believe). Quite satisfying to watch the bus stop's electronic display slowly count down: 5 mins, 4 mins, ..., due. And here it is, the 800 service at 0800 hours: you will know synchronicity.

Er, I'd like to do the ride in reverse, please, Mr Driver, going out to Martlesham then back to Ipswich later. Er, not sure we do that, he says, rightly confused. What kind of fool uses a P&R service back to front and with no car? Me! But we can do a single, he says: that'll be £2. Done, I say. Ticket reads:

BOARDED: Town Centre
ALIGHT: Martlesham

Since everyone in their right mind is coming IN to town at this time of the morning, I've got the whole shebang to myself. Roadworks cause us to zigzag up St Margaret's Green and up Tuddenham Road, joining the A1214 where Valley Road becomes Colchester Road. Past the Royal George which is evidently holding a Psychic Night tonight: no jokes. One more stop near Heath Road, then out on the taxi route through the 30mph commuterlands of Kesgrave. Held up slightly by the odd pesky cyclist: why do they let these people on the roads?

Before we know it -- actually around 8:15am -- we've arrived at the terminus by the A12. All very swish, this being the most recent of three P&Rs around the town provided by Suffolk County Council. This is where I should have parked my car, had I been doing it right. As I disembark, a small crowd embarks. Now how do I reach Adastral Park?

I'm impressed that there's a pedestrian exit leading to a crossing, and over I go down along the oddly named Portal Avenue. That unlovely place on the right is the Suffolk Constabulary HQ, as featured on telly whenever there's crime to report.

There then follows an excursion into Michael Smith psychogeography as I venture into the places between places, heading down overgrown pathways, into an underpass and through the car parks of anonymous retail parks, the BT radio tower always in sight. Fully 25 minutes elapse before I'm showing my passcard, quite a trudge.

Later, I rewind my steps for the return leg. I'm totally out of sync, dodging a horde getting off the pink bus before I get on, alone again or. Takes no times at all to get back to Major's Corner. Well, quarter of an hour. Bonus to turn the corner of Old Foundry Road and find the bike still there.

Cost - £2 single; around £3.50 for a return covering up to 5 people
Duration - 15 mins (08:00-08:15), then 25 mins walk to the site

Pros - regular; quick; all the advantages of Life In The Bus Lane
Cons - the walk to Adastral Park

04 - Shuttle Bus

Another day, another bus. While NASA's shuttle may be on its way out, the Adastral Park shuttle bus is straight from the future. It stems from "Grass Routes", the pun-tastically titled AP travel plan, and offers:

-- "fast, direct & free courtesy shuttle direct to Adastral Park reception"

Did that really say "free"? You better believe it. Point of departure is Ipswich station, and it's aimed squarely at folk who'd otherwise catch a Billy No-Mates taxi out to Martlesham (and probably another one back at the end of the day). Simply flash your rail ticket at the driver ... oh, hang on. To make this a legit journey, I needs to get me a choo-choo ticket, valid for today. No problem. Time to make the train take the strain.

Out-in-the-wilds Westerfield is the answer, being an unmanned station on the Ipswich to Felixstowe/Lowestoft lines, and not too badly placed a couple of miles from my place. Thus into the saddle at 7:50am, some five minutes later than planned, pedal like Billy Ocean up Valley Road and left along Westerfield Road. A-ha, there's the Railway pub and here's the crossing.

Impressively, a gate indicates cycle parking this way. Through I go, up and on to the platform, and behold, a solitary uncovered Sheffield stand. Oh well, that'll do. It's now 8am and I'm standing, like a Dylan lyric, on the wrong side of the tracks.

Quickly out again, over the line and up the other side to join two other commuters. Matter of moments later, here comes our Ipswich-bound loco. Surprisingly, a handful of people are getting off here, at least two of which have their bikes and pedal off towards town. In we go and it's not worth grabbing a seat as we pootle back over the Norwich Road / Bramford Lane / Bramford Road bridges, slowing as we come alongside Gippeswick Park. At the last minute, practically in the station, a guard appears and sells me a £2.10 return to Ipswich. Hoorah, I have a "valid rail ticket for today"!

There follows a restrained dash across the station concourse -- now 8:12am -- and over to stand C, where sits the awaiting bus, doing its best to sync with the London train. Quite a few people already on board, none of whom I saw on the Westerfield train, but who'd be daft enough to take that route? Quarter-past and we're off.

Along Burrell Road and up to the lights, then a nifty shimmy as our driver goes (a) right into Stoke Street and (b) left into Austin Street, emerging on Wherstead Road and avoiding the busy-busy Novotel dock roundabouts. Today's route is brought to you by the letter "A" and the number 137 as we motor up past the ski slope to join the A14 at the Orwell Bridge.

This particular omnibus, which could fit comfortably inside the Route 66, offers a 240V socket to charge your phone, and there's some loose talk of WiFi. Mind you, given the speed of the journey, you'd be approaching Martlesham as your Outlook was still sorting itself out. And it parks right outside reception, some 100m closer than the 66.

Later that day, I did the whole thing in reverse: 4:40pm shuttle bus, 5:02pm Lowestoft-bound train (thankfully a few minutes late) to Westerfield, and much relief to find my bike still there in its exclusive parking slot. Phew.

Cost - free between Ipswich Station and Adastral Park (though I got the £2.10 Westerfield return)
Duration - 20 mins (8:15 - 8:35)

Pros - quick, hourly, greener than a cab
Cons - may need to wait a while if you arrive between buses, and last bus from Adastral is 6:40pm

03 - Bus

Inevitably there comes a day when you have to dig into your own pocket -- you can't expect to forever be freeloading (note to self). So time to act like a Merry Prankster, drink the Kool-Aid and get On The Bus.

Handily enough, there exists a direct public transport service, Route 66, from Ipswich to Martlesham Heath. Before I converted to two wheels, I used to catch it every now and then. Back in the day, it would take a frustrating three-quarters of an hour due to (a) numerous stops and (b) slow-dancing in and out of the pristine Grange Farm development. And that was when it turned up at all.

Thankfully it's all much improved now. For starters, there ain't only one bus. We have various services on offer from the First Group:

* 66 -- goes via Town Centre, Kesgrave & Grange Farm
* 66A -- goes via Town Centre & Grange Farm
* 66B -- goes via Town Centre & Foxhall Road

First two of these, 66 and 66A, start at Ipswich Station. I could have headed up to the railway this morning for the 08:17, seen the hospital & Kesgrave & Grange Farm before landing at Adastral around 08:57. Much like the old days, in fact.

Smart money, however, as recommended by Robert Peston, is on the 66B, where the "B" stands for bullet. Starting point is the Old Cattle Market, opposite Pals meat market. I was down there shortly after 8am and joined the queue for the 08:10, which left dead on time. Curious route down Turret Lane and onto the Star Lane bus lane (enough with the lanes), then past swish new UCS building and up Back Hamlet.

Quite a few folk got on at the Foxhall Road / Grove Lane stop, then a handful more outside the Railway pub near Derby Road, leaving no more than half a dozen free seats on our single decker. Of course, Foxhall Road takes you nearly all the way to your destination, once you're past the Nuffield and the speedway. Boom, we decanted at 08:32, like what the timetable says, and the stop is right outside Adastral.

BTW, friend of a friend, a 66 regular, apparently stood waiting for 2 hours yesterday at the bottom of Grove Lane, not realising that roadworks had forced a change of route. Oops.

Let's mention the obvious point that most of the passengers these days are Indian guys and gals, probably working at BT for a limited time. These daily commuters all flashed their passes at the driver; no coinage passed hands, which helps to speed things up still Furthur.

Journey back at 5:10pm was also painless and took the requisite third of an hour. And it's good to see that most people take the time & trouble to thank the driver when leaving.

Cost - £4.60 bought me an Ipswich area day ticket, i.e. a return; regulars buy a batch of 10 tickets or a weekly pass, which works out a fair bit cheaper
Duration - ~20 mins (8:10 - 8:32), plus 15 mins walk into the town centre

Pros - 66B is quick, regular & reliable, and you can read
Cons - great if you live near the bus route, less so otherwise