Tuesday 30th October 2018 The Euro Bus Expo show opened at Birmingham’s NEC today for its biennial showcase of what’s hot in the bus and coach industry. I popped along for a stroll round the stands; here are ten exhibits that took my fancy. 1 Navaho Technologies Ltd’s displays These guys were demonstrating attractive bright... Continue Reading →
Cambridge Busway confusion
Monday 29th October There’s something not quite right on the Cambridge Busway. That’s apart from a driver shortage impacting the reliability of Stagecoach services. I arrived at the Cambridge Station stop this morning for the 11.47 Route D which uses the Busway towards St Ives as part of a combined 15 minute frequency with Route... Continue Reading →
TramTrains arrive … at last.
Thursday 25th October 2018 It's taken around ten years to deliver at over four times the original budgeted cost but today passengers could finally get on what seemed like a 'train' at Rotherham Central station and get off what had turned into a 'tram' during the journey right in the heart of Sheffield's city centre... Continue Reading →
10 years from now
Wednesday 24th October 2018 Last week's conference for Young Bus Managers in Bristol was another great success. A hundred people attended from across all five of the UK's big bus Groups as well as ten smaller companies and even some transport students from Aston and Huddersfield Universities. The afternoon workshop session asked attendees what the... Continue Reading →
Friendly feedback for ManFred
Saturday 20th October 2018 Monday's 'Business Announcement' outlining proposals to centralise even more of Arriva's UK bus business mysteriously landed anonymously in my inbox. I'm told it's a legacy plan left over from recently departed UK Bus MD Kevin O'Connor (formerly Regional MD of G4S) who's now moved on to pastures new. I thought I'd... Continue Reading →
I just snapped!
Wednesday 17th October 2018 'Snap is premium inter-city travel, on demand, using the UK's best independent coach companies. All for pocket money prices. Snap was founded in 2016 by Thomas Ableman, former Commercial Director of Chiltern Railways and Product Director of National Express and has carried over 100,000 people since launch, with outstanding customer feedback... Continue Reading →
I went to Thorpe Park by bus
Tuesday 16th October 2018 No, not the infamous leisure park in Surrey, that's so last decade; I'm talking Thorpe Park as in 'a flagship scheme for the Northern Powerhouse Agenda' no less (well that's what their brochure reckons). And in case you didn't know, Thorpe Park 'sits in the city regions most significant growth area... Continue Reading →
Wandering around West Yorkshire
Monday 15th October 2018 I've been spending a few days travelling by bus around West Yorkshire. Always a pleasure for me as, aside from brief spells with London Transport in my student days, this was where my first 'real' job 'on the buses' began (in Wakefield) over forty years ago so I've always found an... Continue Reading →
Is Oxford’s Pick Me Up picking up?
Friday 5th October 2018 Oxford's Pick-Me-Up is now over three months old so I thought it was time to see how it's settling down after the introductory honeymoon. My four criteria to judge these new ride share taxi-come-bus services are: waiting time for bus to arrive; direct or meandering route; solo ride or share with... Continue Reading →