Saturday 31st October 2020 A long awaited extension of TfL bus route 383 from its southern terminus outside Woodside Park Underground Station to serve Finchley Memorial Hospital began today. It’s small fry in the normal scale of TfL’s bus service changes but it’s an interesting example of how TfL’s massive corporate machine responds, or not,... Continue Reading →
Thursday 29th October 2020 This week sees the start of a trial of BYD's electric EMV200 single deck demonstrator bus in Slough. But this isn't one of those short visit bus demonstrators slotted into an existing bus route for a few days enabling bus company managers to get a feel for what a new bus... Continue Reading →
Tuesday 27th October 2020 I recently had the pleasure of exploring the Abbey Line with my friend Geoff Marshall. Geoff's a professional and brilliant YouTube Creator producing engaging videos about all things track based including the epic All The Stations series he and his wife Vicky undertook in 2017 as well as the LEJOG trip... Continue Reading →
Monday 26th October 2020 Today’s date, 26th October, will for ever resonate for those of us involved in the bus industry back in 1986 as the anniversary of the birth of deregulation. And here I am, 34 years later, marking the launch of a pioneering new bus route filling a gap in the network over... Continue Reading →
Friday 23rd October 2020 Continuing my exploration of the former red and green bus territorial boundary around London to mark this year's fiftieth anniversary of London Country’s formation brings me to the Borough of Epsom & Ewell. That’s pointedly NOT the London Borough of Epsom & Ewell as residents, and more notably their representatives, resisted... Continue Reading →
Wednesday 21st October 2020 As the all too predictable battle for control of TfL rages amid the desperate need for further Covid funding from Government to keep the Capital's transport going, bus passengers in Sutton and Croydon are being asked for their views on a raft of changes proposed for bus routes serving the Boroughs.... Continue Reading →
Wednesday 14th October 2020 The coronavirus pandemic hasn’t completely scotched new initiatives launching into the bus and coach market. Recent blogposts have highlighted the Bracknell Express, Flixbus entering the UK market, TfL extending bus routes to new destinations, new DRT schemes in Sevenoaks, Newport, Watford and north Lincolnshire and new rural bus routes in Oxfordshire,... Continue Reading →
Monday 12th October 2020 Woking lies five and a half miles north of Guildford. You're spoilt for choice when travelling by public transport between the towns - there are seven different routes to choose from. Over the last week I’ve tried out all seven to see how they compare. The quickest and most direct bus... Continue Reading →
Friday 9th October 2020 When TfL intrdocued the politically inspired New Bus for London - I hesitate at using its official ‘New Routemaster’ name for want of not denegrating the great iconic London bus designed in the late 1950s - nor its nickname after the vanity seeking Mayor who set the hare running by introducing... Continue Reading →
Thursday 8th October 2020 Following recent trips to Selsdon/Croydon and the Herts/Essex border I've continued my 'London Country 50th anniversary' inspired days out to the former London Transport red and green bus boundary territory by taking a look at how things are fairing in that prosperous corner of Surrey that includes Walton, Weybridge and Woking.... Continue Reading →
Monday 5th October 2020 Transport Secretary Grant Shapps rolled out the usual sound bites when launching the Emergency Recovery Measures Agreements (replacing Emergency Measures Agreements) on the breakfast media round a couple of weeks ago. This is what he said on BBC Radio 4's flagship Today programme: "Today we've ended the franchise system after a... Continue Reading →
Thursday 1st October 2020 Pre Covid, Leicestershire County Council was pursuing a review of tendered bus routes across the county with a view to achieving £400,000 saving on its annual £2.4 million subsidy budget. This involved an area by area assessment of each route with public consultation workshops to discuss proposals. One of these was... Continue Reading →
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