Seen Around

Thursday 3rd April 2025

Welcome to another round-up of miscellany that’s caught my eye during recent travels and apologies for it being a few days after the month end, but Hulleys, Orpington and Oakham took priority.

First Bus restructures (again)

If it seems Arriva, First Bus and Stagecoach are for ever restructuring or launching transformative new branding and liveries you won’t be surprised to hear this week see’s another management reorganisation at First Bus.

This week’s new structure comprises three “delivery units” which have all the hallmarks of being devised by external management consultants as naturally they’re defined by “management speak” acronyms – B2B; B2C and B2G.

In plain English these are Business to Business (ie coaching and contract operations) headed by Andrew Jarvis; Business to Customer headed by Colin Brown and Business to Government (ie franchised areas) headed by Gary Hitchmough (who’s the current lead on bidding and development). All First’s local commercial teams based in regional bus companies are being made redundant with all commercial decision making now centralised at First Bus head office. Regional companies will be allocated to Andrew (Aircoach, Ensign, coach businesses and First Travel Solutions); Colin (South, East and West and Wales and eventually Scotland) and Gary taking those areas for franchising (Manchester, Midlands and the Yorkshires). Regional bus companies will just be delivery units with no commercial decision making.

A guide book for Guide Bridge station

While in the Greater Manchester area recently I passed through the wonderful Guide Bridge station. Located on the line from Piccadilly to Rose Hill Marple and Hadfield it has a Friends of Guide Bridge group who do a fantastic job looking after the station and making it look very inviting and cared for, as you can see from the heritage photographs adorning the entrance. Passing through those double doors takes you into the former spacious ticket office entrance hall …

… with steps down to the eastbound platform where there’s a landing with tables and chairs set out, but I couldn’t see how you can access them.

There’s a memorial garden alongside the westbound platform towards Manchester…

and on the other platform a Wildlife Garden looked after by local primary school children.

Alongside this are former Network Rail offices which have been transformed into a museum run by the Woodhead Railway Heritage Group.

A pleasure to visit.

Information overload at Kings Cross

While waiting for a recent train to Sunderland at Kings Cross I spent an interesting five minutes looking at the latest giant size inter-active information screen installed on the concourse and beloved of train company managers to show they’re improving information provision. (I seldom see any passengers actually using them, but that’s by-the-by).

As you can see, this one gives a whole host of information and tapping on the giant “Next direct trains to …” tab, I entered Sunderland, but sadly didn’t get anything…

… so I tried “Local points of Interest” and seeing St Pancras Station (what happened to “International”?!) is listed as one of them…

… clicked on that to see what walking route it would recommend (bearing in mind the stations are adjacent) and just across the road from each other.

Buoyed on by this success I clicked on the “Station map” to see what’s on offer at Kings Cross itself and was presented with a very detailed and comprehensive map, which I’m not sure is very helpful…

… and looking in a bit more detail was puzzled to see it shows the station has a platform 11.

Which is news to me, as that was renumbered platform 10 when the tracks of the original platform 10 were removed some time ago. There’s now no platform 11; only 9 and 10 on the old ‘suburban side’ of the station.

For rail enthusiasts, there’s a section where you can scroll down every Train Operating Company and check out its current status. Presumably this’ll go once Great British Railways begins and there’ll be a list of every conceivable journey!

Empty retail units ready for action at CLJ

Further to the entry in a recent Seen Around, I see the new retail units created on the busy footbridge at Clapham Junction are now finished but haven’t been let yet.

Anyone passing by with a business venture in mind just has to scan the helpful QR code and find themselves scrolling through the Network Rail Property website spending a happy few hours searching out any reference to opportunities at Clapham Junction.

Cambridge South takes shape

Passing through Cambridge recently it was interesting to see the huge new Cambridge South railway station taking shape.

It sits on the edge of the Biomedical campus to the south of the city where there are extensive hospital facilities including Royal Papworth, Addenbrookes and The Rosie and a number of major pharmaceutical companies including AstraZeneca.

The new station is also close to the Cambridgeshire Busway which passes over the tracks to do a dog leg for a circuit of the campus.

Once Cambridge South opens early next year I reckon numbers of passengers who currently interchange at Cambridge station between the train and guided bus to travel to and from the campus will reduce significantly as it will obviously be much more convenient to stay on the train and alight at the new station.

While travelling on the Guided Busway I noticed some of the bus stop information is out of date, including reference to the long abandoned route C on bus stop flags…

… and the network map…

… and also those redundant ticket machines can still be found at Trumpington which isn’t a particularly good look.

Geoff Marshall recently uploaded a video on Cambridge South to his YouTube channel and members to his channel have also received a bonus video about the Cambridgeshire Busway. Worth checking out.

Inspection Train in new colours?

Also spotted while in Cambridge was this pale blue liveried Inspection Train used by Network Rail which made a change from the usual yellow colours. It was the first time I’d seen it.

Imbalance of trolleys at Wakefield

Meanwhile at Wakefield Westgate there was a distinct imbalance in the distribution of luggage trolleys between the two platforms. Passengers alighting from the Leeds bound train were foxed by the platform only having one trolley which was chained to the fence (see above). You needed to go over the footbridge to the London bound platform to take one of the trolleys sitting there ready for use. And you needed a £1 coin.

Bee awkward

Applications of logos on to buses are always a challenge with all the different body shape and styles. Which is why you need a creative design agency that knows what it’s doing.

Mike’s latest Greater London bus map is now available

Mike Harris has just published the latest updated version of his wonderful Greater London bus map (edition no 42). The download ‘soft copy’ version is available for just £1 from his website and the printed version can be pre-ordered for just £2 plus postage. The map includes route changes up to 26th April so is usefully bang up to date including new services using Silverlink Tunnel (129 and SL4) when it opens on Monday (7th April). Thank goodness we have Mike showing where London’s bus routes go, even if the area around North Greenwich, the Blackwall Tunnel and the new Silvertown Tunnel is now somewhat complex to depict, but as always with Mike, totally accurate.

Mike’s also issued the latest 2025 version of the Greater London Night Bus Map too.

Delay Repay woes again

I’m beginning to suspect the Delay Repay team at Avanti West Coast are one and the same as the Delay Repay team at GWR. It can’t just be a coincidence whenever I submit a claim to Avanti it almost always immediately gets rejected if there’s a slight complication, just as is the case with GWR. I’m sure it’s a ruse to put passengers off claiming with the expectation they’ll not bother to appeal.

My travels to and from the Manchester area a fortnight ago were disrupted in both directions. Returning home on Sunday from Horwich Parkway via Preston, Euston and Victoria to Hassocks (no trains via Bolton to Manchester due to engineering work on Sunday), the Avanti train from Preston reached Euston 23 minutes late (animals on the line north of Preston), so I submitted a claim which led to an immediate “Unsuccessful” response saying “Please provide a photo or scan of your travel ticket/s”. Which I had done. I spoke to Avanti’s ‘Customer Resolutions’ department who confirmed the ticket image had been received and was perfectly legible and promised to “escalate the matter” as she couldn’t see why it had been unsuccessful as my connection from Victoria had been missed and I had to get the next train.

My claim for the outward journey on Friday afternoon was more complex as I was only travelling as far as Manchester, even though my ticket was the outward portion of the same ticket described above (an off-peak return Hassocks – Horwich Parkway). The Euston to Manchester train arrived into Piccadilly 21 minutes late but my claim was rejected with the response saying “Please provide a photo or scan of your travel ticket/s” which I had done, but sent it through again as an Appeal, only to receive another “Unsuccessful” response and this time was told “we need further supporting information to proceed with this claim, please contact our customer relations team who will be able to discuss this further.”

It turns out because my destination (Manchester Piccadilly) was not the final destination on my ticket (Horwich Parkway) then they deem I don’t have a claim. When I pointed out had I continued to Horwich Parkway I’d have missed my connection in Manchester and would have arrived late, I was told it doesn’t matter as I ended my journey short of my intended destination – even though it wasn’t my intended destination. I pointed out had I bought a single to Manchester I’d have been entitled to the claim but that, with a single back from Horwich Parkway on the Sunday, would have cost £125 instead of the £92 it did cost for a return.

The further complication I added to the mix was I paid £32.50 to upgrade to Standard Premium for the journey from Euston to Manchester so should be entitled to compensation for that added expense, but was told by the Customer Relations person the ticket number on my Horwich Parkway ticket doesn’t match the ticket number on the Supplement ticket – which it wouldn’t do as the Train Manager just issued it from his machine. I was told this disputed claim has also been escalated and I can expect to hear back in up to 28 days. Indeed, four days later last Friday I got an email letter from Avanti Customer Service Advisor Adam asking me to submit all the details I’d already submitted on the Delay Repay claim which I did by return and now await Adam’s further response.

I did say I’d be publishing details in this blog and I’ll also include Avanti’s reply in next month’s round up.

It’s yet another example of Avanti West Coast’s policy (as per GWR too) of obfuscating and adding delaying tactics to put passengers off claiming. I spent half an hour on the phone to Customer Service Advisor on Monday afternoon last week discussing this, a further 15 minutes on Friday replying to Adam which means I’ve now spent 85 minutes more with Avanti (with the two delays) than I wish to.

They seem to forget it was me who was delayed and inconvenienced. They should be taking steps to apologise, recompense and regain goodwill, not try all the tactics they can to avoid paying out.

Meanwhile LNER were a model of efficiency when I was delayed travelling home from York to Hassocks a couple of weeks ago. The far superior Delay Repay software used by LNER identifies the journey I travelled on, including across London, and crucially, the updated real time experience so it automatically shows your entitlement – which only kicks in after a 30 minute delay which is a bit of a cheapskate as Avanti is 15 minutes. However, on the upside it was all sorted within 24 hours of my claim submission, whereas Avanti are going to take 28 days and counting. One other annoyance – LNER no longer offer Rail Travel Vouchers as compensation – only BACS bank transfers, PayPal or donation to the company’s nominated charity. LNER give themsleves 14 working days to get the refund into your bank account. It took them seven – another example of lowering expectations and then surpassing them.

One more tip for anyone travelling with LNER and wanting to buy the old style flexible off-peak tickets which were outlawed in February 2024’s so called “simplification” leaving only rip-off Anytime fares such as on Sunday 9th March when I checked out the price of a journey from Edinburgh to London Kings Cross a few days ahead and found all the Advanced tickets gone and only the Anytime £204.80 single available, and then, allegedly only on alternate journeys….

… then fear not. You can get round it by buying a Super Off-peak single from Edinburgh to a station close to Kings Cross but off the East Coast Main Line, for example Bethnal Green where you’d pay just £95.40 – less than half of what LNER wanted to rip you off with. But they don’t tell you that.

Arriva’s duff travel advice

Arriva Herts and Essex are going through a phase of encouraging readers of its Facebook page to visit various attractions served by its network of routes. Andrew pointed out to me a recent posting promoting “Family Fun at Cassiobury Park, Watford” recommended to “Catch services 500 and 320 for a direct route to this beautiful great escape. No parking? No problem!”. Except there is a problem in that route 500 hasn’t run to Watford for over over a year (since January 2024) – it’s now the 322 – and route 320 was reduced to two schoolday only peak journeys (06:09 and 15:25) in favour of route 20. Even more bizarre, route 20 is one of the routes which will have its frequency reduced during school holidays (30 minutely instead of 20 minutely) – just what you need to encourage “Family Fun at Cassiobury Park”. Not.

On the positive side, apart from the information detail being completely wrong (!), the maps themselves are quite colourful and would be helpful (if accurate) and given a wider audience by being prominently displayed on Arriva’s main website.

Shipping containers become bus shelters in Plymouth

One of those quirky news stories hit the headlines in Plymouth last month with the city council installing modified shipping containers to act as temporary bus shelters while new permanent replacements are awaited in Royal Parade. It seems 12 old shelters were removed by the previous contractor, JC Decaux, with the new contractor, Clear Channel, contracted to install 15 bigger shelters with upgraded seating. However, contract negotiations have taken longer than anticipated hence the stop gap measure. My thanks to Ray for the photograph.

New shelters for EMR

At the other extreme, shelter wise, are smart new shelters being introduced by East Midlands Railway to a number of stations including this one photographed at Lowdham. There’s a mix of stainless steel Macemain shelters and environmentally friendly timber Natural Shelters with other stations due to receive them being Netherfield, Longton, Fiskerton, Rolleston and Goxhill. A huge improvement on what went before – the tired old metal shelters with uncomfortable seats or perches. So well done EMR.

Don’t forget to vote

Andy sent me this interior cove panel he spotted on a Big Lemon bus in Brighton the other day. With local elections coming up again in a few weeks it should be a simple job of placing a ‘5’ over the ‘2’ in ‘2022’ to encourage any residents of Newport who happen to be travelling on a bus in Brighton to go and vote.

Male and female lifts at Wakefield Westgate

I had to do a double take when I saw the lift at Wakefield Westgate station. At first glance I thought it was a gender neutral toilet then realising it was the doors to the lift was relieved that it takes both male and female passengers.

Stay safe with Arriva, if you can read the small print

Meanwhile as highlighted in a recent round up Arriva are into pink internal notices on its buses these days, but they still use print size that’s virutally impossible to read on a moving bus.

A tip for your coach driver

I took a ride on a National Express coach to Heathrow Airport last weekend and hadn’t before seen a notice explaining to passengers it’s OK to tip your driver. I wonder how many do.

It’s no April Fool

Finally for this round up, Mel kindly sent me a News Release from the Transport Museum, Wythall on Monday and I honestly thought it was an April Fool. The Museum is “proud to announce its acquisition of an Aurrigo Shuttle, and example of the world’s first conventionally driven electric and autonomous purpose-built vehicle”. It’s that road sweeper again. Now safely preserved in a museum.

Roger French

Watch out for BusAndTrainUser LIVE – at 12:00 on Saturday at the South East Bus Festival at the Kent County Showground, Detling near Maidstone. Full details here. The positives and negatives captured from seven years of blogging.

Online blogging timetable: 06:00 TThS together with that LIVE blogging session: 12:00 South East Bus Festival on 5th April.