Sunday 29th March 2020 It's been hugely impressive to see central and devolved governments, local authorities and bus operators (with trade association CPT) working together to come up with a pragmatic plan to keep the bus industry in intensive care for the next few weeks. Slaying the sacred cow of the 'no better or no... Continue Reading →
Sunday 22nd March 2020 The trouble with sitting at home instead of travelling around the country is it gives too much time to ponder; so here are a few more thoughts on the extraordinary situation we've now found ourselves in. There's no doubt bus and train companies are going to run out of cash pretty... Continue Reading →
Saturday 21st March 2020 Prime Minister Harold Wilson coined the famous phrase "a week is a long time in politics" after tumultuous events before the 1964 General Election enabling Labour to overturn an expected Conservative victory by thirteen seats. I wonder what he'd have made of the seismic developments over the last seven days as... Continue Reading →
Thursday 19th March 2020 I don’t think I’ve ever seen or heard 'unprecedented' used so often than in the last week. Even that's unprecedented. Unprecedented has become the new normal. In fast changing developments it’s difficult to predict what we’ll be facing at the weekend, let alone next week. Only a few days ago in... Continue Reading →
Monday 16th March 2020 For those who enjoy trying out new bus routes and train services, as I do, there are some exciting developments planned for the next few weeks. Or are there? Not just because I’m personally ceasing travel for my own health and wellbeing during the current pandemic crisis, but my guess is... Continue Reading →
Thursday 12th March 2020 London’s so called ‘integrated transport system’ with its much lauded ‘seamless ticketing’ didn’t work for me on Monday. TfL’s ticket machines at stations on the Metropolitan Line also served by Chiltern Railways (ie Harrow-on-the-Hill, Rickmansworth, Chorleywood, Chalfont & Latimer and Amersham) are unable to sell tickets with a Senior Railcard discount.... Continue Reading →
Tuesday 10th March 2020 I’ve always had a fascination with maps including discovering duplicates of place names. None more so than my north London birthplace: Winchmore Hill in London’s N21 postal district. This particular place name pair has held an obsession ever since I covered my study bedroom wall at University with Ordnance Survey maps […]
Sunday 8th March 2020 Dublin's hotly contested airport to city centre public transport market began a new three way contest this week with the arrival of a new Dublin Express branded route run by Bernard Kavanagh Coaches on behalf of National Express alongside the long established Airlink operated by Dublin Bus and Aircoach run by... Continue Reading →
Thursday 5th March 2020 TfL's hydrogen powered single deck buses reach their final terminus tomorrow so I took a couple of rides on board for one last time today. TfL first trialled hydrogen propulsion for a couple of years from 2004 as part of an EU wide trial in ten cities to test the technology. TfL used... Continue Reading →
Tuesday 3rd March 2020 Hull Trains introduced its first Hitachi built Class 802 train three months ago and as four of the five seat sets on order are now with the Company, it seemed a good time to take a ride and see how they differ, if at all, from similar trains run by GWR,... Continue Reading →
Monday 2nd March 2020 Stagecoach rolled out its high profile £16.5 million investment in 32 BYD ADL Enviro400EV double deckers yesterday so I popped up to Manchester today to take a look. They're zero emission electric buses and in a nice piece of purchase symmetry the Government's Ultra-Low Emission Bus Scheme contributed a handy £6.9... Continue Reading →
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