Evan & Katelyn Heling and Emily Calandrelli discuss a question about a baffling bus.
LATERAL is a weekly podcast about interesting questions and even more interesting answers, hosted by Tom Scott. For business enquiries, contestant appearances or question submissions, visit https://www.lateralcast.com
GUESTS:
Evan & Katelyn Heling: @EvanAndKatelyn, https://twitter.com/EvanAndKatelyn
Emily Calandrelli: @SpaceGal, https://twitter.com/TheSpaceGal
HOST: Tom Scott.
QUESTION PRODUCER: David Bodycombe.
RECORDED AT: The Podcast Studios, Dublin.
EDITED BY: Julie Hassett.
GRAPHICS: Chris Hanel at Support Class. Assistant: Dillon Pentz.
MUSIC: Karl-Ola Kjellholm (‘Private Detective’/’Agrumes’, courtesy of epidemicsound.com).
FORMAT: Pad 26 Limited/Labyrinth Games Ltd.
EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS: David Bodycombe and Tom Scott.
© Pad 26 Limited (https://www.pad26.com) / Labyrinth Games Ltd. 2023.
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I would love to see the whole episodes as video…
first question: does the moon have something to do with this?
Just for once I knew the answer straight away
Tom has time travelled to a time when Scotland is no longer part of the UK.
I grew up in Southern Louisiana and we could have flood waters coming up the bus steps, but we were still going to school that day.
Before reaching the answer: I'm guessing it's dependent on something like a tertiary mode of transportation with inexact scheduling (like a ferry or small plane with only a few seats), possibly volunteer-run, so there's no sense in having it run when said mode of transportation isn't exactly on time.
Edit: At least I wasn't alone in my thinking!
I was thinking sports. Two games, maybe a tie breaker, possible overtime, but have a busload of fans whenever the game is over.
Here I was thinking, how can I not know this, then I watch the video and see, ah, it's a bus route in the North East and I'm down south, so yeah, would not have been able to guess though. But it has certainly given me something to do in the future.
Down in my area (Essex) we have a similar but not exact situation where there are two bus routes, the 63/86 which run to Mersea Island, the bridge is known to flood in high tides, thus cutting the island off. So instead both routes terminate at Peldon, which is the village just above.
Huh, I guessed correctly because I know of a road in western France that's also only usable at low tide, but as far as I know it doesn't have a bus line running over it
First I said "tides," and then I thought "No that wouldn't be twice a week" and then I was thinking it was a bus that collects fans to Newcastle and Sunderland games, and it runs whenever either team is at home
2:51 Emily's time working at Disneyland shows
Calls Northumberland "north east UK"….then apologises for calling a Canadian American!
Cool
I didn't realize tides could vary so much day to day!
Uses a tidally covered road?
the bus will get a bit wet, Tom the bus would get very wet
Immediately thinking tides cut off roads.
Tom: Anyone from the Northumberland area is already screaming this.
Me: Hmmm… County Durham must be too far south, because I have no idea.
Emily: Tides?
Me: Oh! It's [the name of the place, obfuscated because spoilers]!
After a storm they do have to clear the sand, mud, and debris off the road.
I've never heard of this island, but the odd timetable immediately made me think of the tides. When I was playing Ingress, there was an island, inaccessible at high tide, but also off-limits between dusk and dawn, that people would compete over, trying to capture it as close to sunset as possible. Never made it down there myself, but it was always fun listening to people figure out the best time to go.
Is this the same road Top Gear parked the Hilux on to try to intentionally kill it?
Has Tom not done a video on this?
The timetable I found at https://passenger-line-assets.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/bordersbuses/PERY/477-timetable-20231001-38887bc5.pdf indicates that the 477 bus actually runs seven days a week, but it's still a VERY confusing schedule!
I kind of got this before they did, because of one of Tom’s previous videos… but I was thinking of the Broomway, which of course doesn’t have a bus 😂
I used to holiday on Mersea Island (yes, that is the correct spelling) in Essex as my aunt and uncle lived there. It also has a causeway connecting it to the mainland. As my mother used to say, it's one of the few places where a bus could run over a jellyfish.
I guessed it straight away from the "one OR twice" part, but It's so much fun to watch the group working together to figure it out.
I knew the answer to this as soon as Tom said it. Have been there!
Canada is part of America. In fact, it's the biggest part of America.
Guessed at part of it! Has anyone else seen the Anthony Andrews "Scarlet Pimpernel"? Lindisfarne features heavily in the last parts of it. Very cool place.
To the question about why not build a new bridge. Whilst it incorporates a small bridge it's a causeway, a road laid across the sands. A new bridge would have to be well over a mile long and ruin an area of natural beauty. The island itself is tiny and the current system works perfectly well for 99.99% of users. It would be a wildly disproportionate and costly change for the sake of the occasional idiot.
It's clearly sign posted and yet I've seen people literally drive their cars into the sea at >20mph and then have to abandon them. I've not personally seen the RAF helicopters have to winch people to safety from the roof of their flooded car but a close friend has.
Didn't Tom make a video about this already? I seem to remember a video about this road, or atleast something similar.
Tides?
I'm more impressed that I know what is so important about Lindisfarne.
Having come to Hong Kong for many holidays in the past, and now having lived here for over ten years, I finally bothered to check why that place is called Causeway Bay. 😂