Seen Around

Sunday 29th June 2025

A bumper bundle for this month’s round up of previously unblogged travels and sightings from the last four weeks, so let’s get straight into them with more autonomous bus riding….

Autonomous Cambridge Connector

… this time in Cambridge. The latest trial of “driver-less” bus provision began this last week on a figure-of-eight route linking Eddington and the Maddingley Road Park & Ride site with the adjacent Cambridge West Innovation District…

… in the morning and afternoon peak periods.

It’s the same Fiat Dicato bus with Mellor bodywork used in the Didcot trials a couple of years ago but has been given a brand makeover…

… with an all new line up of logos on the side including Whippet which is providing the driver after Stagecoach pulled out from participating in the project last year.

Fusion Processing, the technology provider, continues to mastermind the project with funding still coming from the Centre for Connected and Autonomous Vehicles – a joint unit from the Department for Transport and Department for Business and Trade.

I had a ride on Wednesday afternoon, and as in other similar autonomous trials I’ve experienced over the last couple of years, in Sunderland, Milton Keynes, Edinburgh, Harwell and Didcot, it’s impressive to see the technology at work with the bus recognising traffic lights…

… and negotiating roundabouts and junctions with ease even when there’s a lot of traffic.

However, it can’t cope with anything just a bit unusual – such as this parked car which was just slightly over the kerb line…

The Cambridge Connector trial is being extended in a few weeks with two more buses, including an Enviro100 to be used on a route in the Trumpington area of Cambridge.

Tiger moth balls

While in Cambridge on Wednesday I caught up with the two recently introduced ‘orbital’ Tiger branded routes T2 and T3 which I didn’t manage to sample on my other recent visits. Stagecoach run both routes on an hourly frequency with two buses on each.

While I can see a slight purpose for the southern T3 route in that it provides a link from Grantchester and Great Shelford to Addenbrooke’s Hospital…

…I’m struggling to find any justification for northern orbital route T2 which just seems to link three Park & Ride sites.

It does serve the new Eddington area and also Impington village but these are also well served by Cambridge’s radial bus routes.

Suffice to say my journey on the T2 was a solo affair other than one passenger who travelled the short distance from the Arbury area to Eddington. Two passengers also took a short ride on the T3. The other bus we passed on each route looked similarly sparsely loaded or even empty.

I don’t hold out much hope for these routes generating better loadings. There’s no information about the T2 displayed at the Newmarket Road Park & Ride terminal point other than an entry on the electronic departure sign which shows its destination as Madingley Road Park & Ride … as if any passenger arriving at the Newmarket Road Park & Ride would want to take a bus to another Park & Ride site (via a third Park & Ride site). Totally bizarre.

Hopefully Council Tax payers in Peterborough and Cambrigeshire are valuing these strange new bus routes they’re funding.

Bizarre bus information leaflets and network map

And while on the subject of bizarre offerings from Combined Authorities, take a look at this selection of Travel Guides produced by the West of England Combined Authority, now known as ‘WEST‘ kindly sent to me by blog reader and good friend Paul. On first glance you’re probably thinking – they look great, just what’s needed.

But, take a look inside each leaflet and the information is so basic it’s pretty much useless. No timetables are provided although in a few cases (eg the Keynsham one) there is a list of bus routes…

… and a map of the Keynsham local area.

But the crowning glory is the network map for the area which is also included.

Here it is, slightly larger in case that might help you see just how useless it is.

And that QR code on the front of each leaflet? It simply takes you to the introductory travelwest.info webpage. It’s as much as to put you off travelling.

All electric Warrington

At the other extreme I spent a very positive couple of hours visiting Warrington’s Own Buses a week ago where, aside from a handful of buses, the council owned bus company now has an all electric fleet thanks to last year’s bulk purchase and entry into service of 105 new Volvo BZL buses with MCV bodies – 72 single decks and 33 double decks. Funding came from the Council and the Government’s ZEBRA scheme.

Managing Director Ben Wakerley kindly showed me around the recently opened and impressive purpose built bus depot at Dallam Lane, not far from the town centre, where there are excellent facilities to maintain the new fleet as well as space to charge the vehicles overnight.

I asked Ben about the decision to switch the livery from red and blue to yellow and he explained with neighbouring Greater Manchester and Liverpool City Region both promoting a yellow based livery, it made sense to show passengers Warrington was complementary to what was happening nearby.

Indeed, it was interesting to try and spot the Bee Network bus alongside Warrington’s Own Buses lined up in the town’s bus station.

It’s the double decker.

The bus station itself has a large circulating space behind each departure stand – something other newly built bus stations seem to lack these days (eg Exeter, Halifax and Durham)…

… and also has a much welcome Travel and Visitor Information Centre staffed by Warrington’s Own Buses…

… and even more positive, Ben quite rightly proudly showed me the display of printed timetable leaflets…

…as well as a network map on the wall.

It really was heartening to see a great team of dedicated staff clearly giving a good service and being supported by its local authority owner.

When looking around the depot, Ben showed me the spare panels kept so any slight damage to buses will see them immediately replaced, and he explained it’s one reason why the livery has been kept plain along the lower panel area, which struck me as quite a contrast with the recently launched Weaver brand in West Yorkshire.

Good luck with that, Tracey.

Even Stagecoach struggle with their simple green livery in Cambridge.

Yet another award winning confusing timetable presentation

You’ve got to hand it to Arriva, the team certainly know how to make it as hard as possible for passengers to read their online bus timetables. Following last month’s award for the most confusing timetable presentation (routes 2/3 in Harlow), blog reader Stevie got in touch and trumped that with Arriva’s presentation of its route X93/X94 between Middlesbrough, Whitby and Scarborough.

Not only are the timing points in the wrong order (Middlesbrough and Ormesby Roundabout are at the bottom of the listing, and should be at the top) but journeys on the X94 are shown in three/four separate sections and not even in adjacent columns. For example, the 07:45 departure from Middlesbrough has to be followed in four different moves in three columns, as shown and numbered in yellow notation below, to know the bus arrives in Scarborough at 10:08.

‘SM’ also pointed out in the Comments on last month’s blog a similar situation with Arriva’s 51/51B and X51 in north Wales where through journeys aren’t even shown on the same timetable. However, to ‘Anonymous’ who opined in the Comments the timetables shown on the Arriva website “are automatically generated from BODS and nobody in the Commercial or Marketing teams at Arriva has any control on how the website presents them. Roger is well aware of this, and his blog is starting to get boring. I understand they are in the process of moving to a new web platform to resolve this” …. I would say, firstly if you’re finding this boring, Anonymous, there’s plenty of other websites for you to look at online, secondly, I wasn’t aware Arriva uses BODS for the online presentation for passengers as no other bus company makes such a hash of things, and thirdly, this ‘not-fit-for-purpose’ online presentation of timetables has been in place for five years now and if I was running Arriva I’d immediately take down these timetables and provide a temporary link to the bustimes.org website until a proper presentation can be introduced by a web design company who knows what it’s doing.

Right, we’re already on eight minutes reading time and there’s still quite a lot more “boring” things to catch up on, so for the rest of the blog, it’ll be quickie comments only.

Front Middle and Rear explained in detail

My thanks to Blog reader Roy who sent me this very helpful sign at Glasgow Central whereby Scotrail are helpfully explaining in what order the front, middle and read of a train can be found on the platform.

Makeover for Elizabeth

I noticed the newly refurbished Class 345 trains on the Elizabeth line (yes, I know, it seems like they were introduced just the other day) are now in service and have included a Priority Seat at points along the train with a different coloured moquette. Odd this wasn’t incorporated from the start.

Class 168 refurbished

Also being refurbished are Chiltern’s Class 168 trains and very nice they look too. Unfortunately the train was out of service so I couldn’t get to take an interior photo, but looking through the window it looked very smart.

No tubes “until further notice”

I spotted this rather unhelpful sign at Farringdon at the end of last month giving no clue as to when services would resume or what the problem was.

Off brand

I’ve taken a few rides with Great Northern between Kings Cross and Cambridge during June and each time it’s been a Thameslink Class 700 train rather than a Great Northern branded train.

Even more confusing, one train was telling me I was in coach 11 of 12 when I was actually in coach 2 of 8…

… as confirmed by the Train Loading Indicator screen and the ‘Toilets on this train’ screen.

Even more puzzling was being told the doors of this coach will not open at Kings Cross…

… presumably because the computer thought it really was coach 11 of 12 and we’d be too long for platforms 9 and 11 at Kings Cross.

Very confusing.

Rules for travelling on excel

I was perplexed to be confronted with a Staff Notice advising that “NO HOT FOOD OR HOT DRINKS IN A THROW AWAY CUP ARE ALLOWED ON OUR BUSES” on a recent journey in First’s excel route from Peterborough.

The notice adds “CAN WE ALL PLEASE MAKE SURE WE ADHERE TO THIS SO WE ARE ALL SAYING THE SAME THING WHICH WILL ALLEVIATE THE PROBLEM OF GETTING ABUSE FROM THE SAID PASSENGERS”.

I wondered what the “SAID PASSENGERS” make of that display as they board the bus. Mind you “IT IS COMPANY POLICY”, so that’s alright then.

And talking of strange notices, my eye was caught by this rather loud display at Cambridge’s Park & Ride sites which, as well as insisting we all keep two metres apart state “Customers should be aware that when the doors of the bus have closed, the bus is deemed to have left the stop. The driver is NOT permitted to open the doors again. EXCEPT IN AN EMERGENCY.” Not only that but “THIS IS A LEGAL REQUIREMENT”.

Well, after 50 years that’s a new one on me. I never knew all those hundreds of bus drivers I’ve praised in times gone by for spotting a passenger after they’d closed the doors only to reopen them and let them on board were breaking the law!

Bizarre.

And one more ‘official officious’ style notice to enjoy for this month is this “Onboard Etiquette” displayed behind the driver on the Cymru Coastliner coach I travelled on from Rhyl to Llandudno. As you can see it’s quite a read as you pass it by to your seat (and remember to look behind you to see it) and still shows its Green Line origins with no equivalent in the Welsh language which won’t go down too well.

I love the way it’s headed “Please take a moment to note….” A moment?! It’s almost as long to read as this blog is becoming.

Not enough gates at KGX

Arriving at Kings Cross on a packed nine coach LNER train recently I was pleased to be at the front and able to hot foot it through the barriers as with only eight exit gates and with another packed train also having just arrived and disgorging its passengers, a long queue was building up as people struggled to scan their mobile tickets and pull their wardrobes on wheels (aka suitcases) through the ticket gate barriers.

Kirkby Stephen’s leaflet display

It’s always a delight to travel on the Leeds-Settle-Carlisle line especially soaking up the lovely scenery and noting how it’s matched by the gorgeous stations along the route.

It’s wonderful to see the great displays of leaflets on hand to encourage passengers to make journeys by bus as well as take walks and other activities in the area.

Darlington’s new footbridge

Work is continuing on the £100 million project at Darlington station to build a new platform on the eastern flank of the East Coast Main Line and I was interested to see the new footbridge…

… now installed across the tracks over the existing platforms which will connect the new entrance/exit and platform.

The artist impression below shows how it will eventually look…

… as well as the new entrance/exit.

City of St Albans

During my visit to St Albans earlier this month I was interested to see this lovely picture on display in the booking hall of a steam locomotive called City of St Albans (obviously at St Albans City, not St Albans Abbey!)

Llandudno in lockdown

It’s been a while since I was at Llandudno station so was pleased to see the improvements to the entrance/exit/concourse area have long been completed and give a much better impression than the old and tired set up.

As holiday makers walk from the train out into the sunshine a bus stop and shelter are positioned immediately ahead with this most unhelpful non information on display.

I can’t believe routes 19/19S, 25 and 75 are still subject to change “in response to Welsh Government Coronavirus restrictions”.

Just for amusement I rang 0800 464 00 00 and after a long drawn out pre recorded introduction in Welsh and English got through to someone at Traveline who wasn’t remotely interested that incorrect and out of date information was on display and advised me to contact Conwy Council. I didn’t bother; life’s too short.

Back inside the station I noticed the Gents toilets…

… were out of action just like my last visit.

However it was nice to see the restored gate line arrangement just like in the olden days.

Class 158 drys up

And while on the subject of toilets I was reminded when using the facilities on a Northern Class 158 just how useless the hand dryer is on these trains. You just can’t beat a Pendolino hand dryer. Best thing about those trains.

Credit where it’s Dews

A shout out to Dews, the bus company in Cambridgeshire for some excellent bus stop information I saw in Chatteris when passing through which even included a lovely map.

Well hidden info

Not quite so easy to see information can be found outside the National Tramway Museum at Crich – my thanks to blog reader Richard for forwarding the photo he took of the Derbyshire County Council departure listings at the bus stop … if you know where it is.

What’s the point of this Bus Information Point?

This Bus Information Point outside Cambridge railway station puzzled me. I tried pressing the button but nothing happened to the display. Perhaps it’s awaiting the end of Coronavirus restrictions as in Llandudno? Meanwhile this display at Addenbrooke’s Hospital bus station is helpful but why do those posting timetables insist on part covering up other notices – why not take them down or move them to the side? It just looks messy and unprofessional.

Windows are for seeing out of…

… not covering with a stylised dragon. It’s as much to give you a headache on a long journey especially when you’d hope to get a lovely view of the North Wales coastline – as seen on 197120 last week.

Avanti’s Useless Delay Repay continues

Further to last month’s update on the previous month’s update, the uselessness of Avanti West Coast’s Delay Repay and Customer Service teams continues unabated. I finally got my full recompense for the two hour delay on my return journey from Glasgow, only to then suffer an hour’s delay returning from Coventry last Saturday after riding the city’s Very Light Rail. Once again my claim was “Unsuccessful” and I was told to speak to “Customer Relations” to provide “further supporting information to proceed with this claim” and once again on speaking to Ali in that department, he had no idea what information was required. And, of course, passengers aren’t allowed to speak to the Delay Repay team to find out.

I can’t express just how useless and unhelpful Avanti West Coast’s customer service is. It surpasses any other experience of awful customer service, so much that I’ll be returning to this subject in a separate blog in due course.

Can you believe this?

And finally for this month. You have to wonder about the judges of the Scottish Transport Awards. Do they ever travel on a bus? I dread to think what the runner up was!

Roger French

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