Sunday 30th January 2022 Flashback to those innocent days in summer 2018 when all was ready for the December opening. Following yesterday's blog when I explored how Crossrail is set to change the travel landscape between Abbey Wood and Liverpool Street, it's now time to continue westwards through the new central core towards Paddington from... Continue Reading →
Saturday 29th January 2022 The sign says Crossrail, so it must be. With Crossrail construction finally in sight of the finishing line and the network's long awaited opening now expected within a matter of weeks I took a ride along the new stretch of line last week so I can appreciate first hand the significantly... Continue Reading →
Thursday 27th January 2022 Continuing my 2022 odyssey around England’s mid sized towns to check out their public transport offering brought me to the post war new town of Bracknell in the ceremonial county of Royal Berkshire. It's surrounded by (clockwise) Maidenhead, Slough, Windsor, Egham, Woking, Camberley, Wokingham and Reading. 1998 saw a local government... Continue Reading →
Tuesday 25th January 2022 A one and a third mile section of the Cambridgeshire Guided Busway will close next Monday due to safety concerns. It follows two fatal accidents, one in September 2018 and another in October last year. Following October's incident an independent safety review was established and after consultations with the Health &... Continue Reading →
Sunday 23rd January 2022 I recently took a ride up to Luton to check out progress on the new £225 million DART (Direct Air Rail Transit) shuttle which will link Luton Airport Parkway station on the Midland Main Line and the Airport terminal building. Ever since Luton Airport Parkway station opened in 1999 a bespoke... Continue Reading →
Saturday 22nd January 2022 One of the proposals London Mayor Sadiq Khan has put forward to help shore up TfL’s finances in ongoing funding negotiations with Government to replace the current arrangements ending on 4th February is the end of the Travelcard. If this goes ahead it will confirm without doubt the wheels have well... Continue Reading →
Thursday 20th January 2022 The pandemic hasn't been kind to Maidstone's Park & Ride service. Rewind to those carefree pre-Covid July 2019 days and there was much celebration as Maidstone Borough Council officially handed over the running of the town's Park & Ride operation to Arriva with a six year contract committing the company to... Continue Reading →
Tuesday 18th January 2022 The last time I used "London's newest bus route" as a title for a blogpost was on 29th March 2021 heralding the arrival of new route 456 in north London. Almost ten months on I’ve taken another ride on the route to see how it’s getting on but before that another... Continue Reading →
Sunday 16th January 2022 Join me during 2022 as I check out the state of public transport provision in a variety of small to medium sized towns across England. And as I like to bring a bit of order to such meanderings, let's start with the letter A and take a visit to Andover in... Continue Reading →
Saturday 15th January 2022 As bus and train companies make service cuts to cater for reduced staff availability due to the continued impact of Covid's Omicron variant I can’t help wondering whether the consequential slimmed down networks will become the "new normal" as passenger levels continue trailing 25-30% below pre-pandemic times and the Treasury plays... Continue Reading →
Thursday 13th January 2022 This Saturday sees the closure of London Underground Northern Line's city branch between Moorgate and Kennington for the next four months**. This will allow the £655 million 'Bank Station Capacity Upgrade Programme' to enter its final stages. Specifically it will allow for a new southbound platform and 570 metre tunnel, which... Continue Reading →
Tuesday 11th January 2022 First of all a reminisce about how Braintree's Bus Park (to use its former official term) used to look until its closure for a full rebuild in March 2020. In particular its 'back-in-time' original 1930s glorious waiting room complete with boarded up authentic fire place and wonderful wooden bench seating all... Continue Reading →
Sunday 9th January 2022 Today's the last day to submit comments in response to TfL's consultation on the proposed withdrawal of routes 168 and 271. Regular readers will be aware I've been chronicling the relentless reductions in London's bus routes since August last year and uncharacteristically for TfL noted none of these have been subject... Continue Reading →
Saturday 8th January 2022 This week has seen further rationalisation between Go-Ahead owned Oxford Bus and Stagecoach Oxford simplifying which bus company operates which routes. Long gone are the days of intense head-to-head competition between the two operators, now there’s sensible cooperation and coordinated timetables making for an attractive bus network to entice passengers. Following... Continue Reading →
Thursday 6th January 2022 It’s nice to see London’s regulated buses at long last catching up with standards of comfort, decor and facilities that have been commonplace on new buses in the deregulated rest of the country for many years. Yet, this being London, it’s not just a straightforward upgrade to bus specifications. Bish bosh... Continue Reading →
Tuesday 4th January 2022 Christmas Eve marked the end of an era for price savvy Kent commuters travelling by coach from the Maidstone, Swale and Medway areas to Docklands and the City of London. Gillingham based National Express owned Kings Ferry coaches withdrew all its commuter journeys with not much more than a week’s notice.... Continue Reading →
Sunday 2nd January 2022 What on earth is going on at Southern Rail? There we all were making alternative arrangements for travel between Christmas and New Year while Network Rail carried out resignalling work closing all lines between East Croydon and Victoria for nine days .... .... when on Thursday it was announced these arrangements... Continue Reading →
Saturday 1st January 2022 A Happy New Year to all readers. As John and Yoko remarked in 1971, “let’s hope it’s a good one” especially for public transport. (I added that last bit, but I’m sure they were thinking it too.) And what a year it promises to be with lots to look forward to... Continue Reading →
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