The mysterious Go Cornwall Bus leaving Truro for St Austell five minutes before the First service
7 September 2023

The new timetables that take effect from 3 September contains at least one mysterious bus. First Bus run a commercial service on the 27 route between Truro and St Austell Monday to Saturday daytimes, with Go Cornwall Bus running a Council subsidised service in the evenings and on Sundays.

However, on Saturday, when First run a service leaving Truro at 16:40 in line with all their other departures at 40 minutes past the hour between 08:40 and 17:40, the latest timetable shows a Go Cornwall Bus leaving Truro five minutes before the First bus, i.e. at 16:35. It arrives at St Austell Aldi at 17:20 and then leaves there at that time to return to Truro. This only happens on Saturdays because on Monday to Friday, First run a commercial service leaving St Austell Aldi at 17:29.

I have asked Go Cornwall Bus to explain whether or not this timetable entry is correct but, to date, I have not received a reply. What I think has happened is that Go Cornwall need to reposition a bus from the Truro area to St Austell in order to provide the early evening service back to Truro on a Saturday. In the April 2023 timetable, the Go Cornwall Bus left St Austell Aldi at 17:32, virtually the same time as the Monday-Friday 27 service. By pulling the departure forward to 17:20, Go Cornwall Bus is able to slot in the 16:35 service from Truro. If my supposition about this being a repositioning move is correct, this means that GCB is essentially running this service as a zero cost venture with the added advantage that they will almost certainly pick up a large number of passengers who would be waiting for the First 16:40 service. Not exactly the friendly cooperation between bus companies that was supposed to be part and parcel of the Transport for Cornwall joint working!

Update
16 September 2023
See what actually happened on Saturday 16 September.