First Bus 27 and Go Cornwall Bus 27 follow each other to St Austell
16 September 2023

In an earlier story, I reported how Go Cornwall Bus have scheduled a 27 between Truro and St Austell at 16:35 on Saturdays just 5 minutes before the First leaves Truro at 16:40. As it happens, on the first Saturday that this should have occurred (9 September), First cancelled its 16:40 service for operational reasons. Consequently, the Go Cornwall Bus was probably quite convenient for those passengers planning to catch the 16:40 (apart from those who may have turned up at Truro bus station only a minute or two before it was due to leave and not aware of the GCB leaving earlier).

However, on Saturday 16 September, both buses ran and followed each other along the A390 to St Austell just a few minutes apart. I still find it hard to understand the logic of this timetabling by Go Cornwall Bus other than to annoy First.

See below screenshots of the tracking of the two buses at 17:02 at which time the GCB has just passed New Stables and is going down the hill to Grampound, while the First Bus is coming through Probus.