The BusAndTrainUser Awards 2025

Tuesday 23rd December 2025

This isn’t just any awards ceremony. This is the BusAndTrainUser Awards ceremony ……. and you know what that means?

No, not the most prestigious, coveted, sought after awards the others all lay claim to be. Forget Golden Spanners, National Rail Awards, UK Bus Awards, Route-One Awards, CILT Awards for Excellence, National Transport Awards, Scottish Transport Awards, London Transport Awards, Wales Transport Awards and all the others… these are the Awards especially for those who don’t take Award ceremonies too seriously.

Blackpool Transport may have been crowned UK Bus Operator of the Year; First Bus awarded Public Transport Operator of the Year in Scotland; Translink’s Bangor Clerical Team ordained Bus and the Community Champion; London Bridge as Major Station of the Year and UNO winner of Outstanding Customer Experience at all those no expense spared (thanks to funding from sponsors) prestigious industry events held over the last few weeks, but here we like to take a more laid back cynical view on awards.

So let’s get going with our first Award which is the ….

The ‘I can’t believe they’ve made that award’ Award of the Year.

Having trawled through all the winners at the countless Award ceremonies this year the judges were unanimous in their absolute and complete flabbergastness at the news the Scottish Transport Awards awarded this year’s “Excellence in Technology and Innovation” to First Bus for its “AI Driven Timetables”.

The judges wondered what planet those judges were living on to come to such a conclusion and after much head scratching guessed the Award must have been decided by an AI algorithm itself, rather than human beings, and therefore was obviously totally biased in its judgement. Congratulations to First Bus for achieving the coveted double – the original Award and being the winner of this Award too. A fantastic achievement.

Next up is the….

Brand New Buses That Have Never Turned A Wheel Award

I’m delighted to announce our Gold Winner for this new award category goes to Liverpool City Region Combined Authority for it’s “Innovative project to bring new hydrogen buses and refuelling facilities to Liverpool City Region” announced in a blaze of publicity and excitement back in March 2021 with 20 new “state-of-the-art” buses costing around £20 million delivered in 2022. Other than a brief flurry with a couple of the 10 buses allocated to Arriva in May 2023 along with a high profile launch by Mayor Rotheram the buses, including all 10 with Stagecoach, have yet to turn a wheel over three years later.

And just after the judges had made their decision, news came last week the Combined Authority has a plan to bring this debacle to a conclusion by converting the buses to battery-electric power. So much for hydrogen …. and no chance of a repeat win for the Combined Authority in 2026 for this Award then.

It’s All Gone Very Quiet Award

Our second Award is also new for this year and is a joint entry from West Yorkshire Combined Authority, Network Rail and Munroe K for the ‘All Gone Very Quiet’ Award. And the winner is, of course, White Rose railway station in Leeds. Construction of this brand new station began in March 2022 with a scheduled opening at the end of 2023. But work on the £26.5 million budgeted project was suddenly halted in March 2024 due to “unforeseen circumstances” which translated as no-one is prepared to fund the inevitable cost overrun. Despite the station being largely complete it’s remained in a state of limbo with no-one talking about it for the past 21 months. David Aspin, CEO and owner of Munroe K (landlord and owner of the White Rose Office Park) told The Yorkshire Post “it’s a pause to recalibrate” ………. in March 2024.

Runners up in this category and receiving Highly Commended certificates are HS2’s link to Euston and phase 2A to Crewe and Northern Powerhouse Rail, neither of which have a secure and certain future at the present time, and it’s all gone very quiet.

Next up is the…

All At Sea Award

Another new category for these 2025 BusAndTrainUser Awards and the winner is Plymouth City Council for its innovative use of Shipping Containers to act as temporary bus shelters when it changed its contractor from JC Decaux to Clear Channel and the former took away 12 old shelters from Royal Parade before the latter was ready to install 15 bigger shelters. The judges were impressed with this excellent environmentally friendly way of recycling old Shipping Containers and wondered if it could be rolled out elsewhere as an example of best practice.

PR Gobbledygook of the Year Award

Always one of our most popular Awards which attracts many entries during the year as it has again in 2025. After much agonising the judges were unanimous in awarding this most prestigious of accolades in the world of PR to Stagecoach.

It submitted some top notch entries this year, not least its own award of its new PR contract to the aptly named PR Agency called Bountiful Cow (I promise I’m not making this up) as its “strategic media partner” in November.

Emma Lowe, Stagecoach’s Head of UK Marketing told us “we were specifically looking for a partner who could provide incisive strategic thought leadership while delivering innovative, highly targeted campaigns that resonate with our local communities. Bountiful Cow showed they are perfectly aligned with our customer and purpose-driven focus, making them the clear choice to help us accelerate our strategic growth over the next three years.”

Wow, can’t wait to see how the incisive strategic thought leadership pans out through to 2028 especially as it comes after an earlier top hitting PR coup in April when Stagecoach’s award winning PR machine launched its new livery. You know the one featuring “a revolutionised passenger experience” with the dark blue colour scheme and livery “a true step-change for the business” and of course the redesign “follows extensive passenger research, consultation and insights to provide an experience passengers need and want”.

And if that all sounds familiar, you are quite right, as it was as recently as 2020 Stagecoach introduced a “permanent new look bus design, shaped by customer research calling for a more simplified and modern service”. It went on to explain “the new bus design is part of a wider commitment from Stagecoach to simplify, modernise and enhance its customer experience, whilst reaffirming the customer-first approach that runs through everything it does – from its drivers and buses, to its customer service and technology solutions. When conceiving the new bus design, Stagecoach asked thousands of customers to share their thoughts on how the new design could serve them best, and what would encourage them to use public transport more regularly.”

And before we leave the world of PR, a special mention for our runner up Silver Award winner for PR Gobbledygook which is TfL for their regular practice of announcing bus route withdrawals with a huge dose of positive gobbledygook spin during the year. The judges were pleased to see this month’s withdrawal of route 72 between East Acton and Hammersmith was spun as a positive story for the route with it being “rerouted between Du Cane Road and Shepherd’s Bush Green via route 283” and only at the very end did it acknowledge “route 283 will; be withdrawn and replaced in its entirety by route 72”.

Of course, this sleight of hand was to cover up the fact a lower numbered route – the 72 – was being withdrawn. PR spin at its finest. Well done TfL. A well deserved Silver Ward winner.

Closed More Than It’s Open Award

This award first made in 2024 to the Island Line for its part time operation, previously closed between January and November 2021 and then between October 2022 and July 2023, followed by a further shut down between September 2024 and May 2025 when it finally reopened for what everyone hoped would be an uninterrupted long period of operation. Except it shut down again this autumn between 18 October and 2nd November with a partial closure (north of Ryde St Johns Road) from 2nd November to 17th November including a full line closure on 16th November.

Nice one. Let’s hope it manages to open for more than half of 2026.

And now for something completely different except it’s the same….

The Mountain Out Of A Mole Hill Over The Same Name Award

And the winner is JLR (Jaguar Land Rover) (“our vision is to be proud creators of the most desirable brands, for the most discerning of clients”) which found time in its busy year dealing with a misfired new marketing campaign, the announcement its CEO is stepping down as well as a major cyber attack…

…. to threaten to sue National Rail and the Rail Delivery Group (RDG) for an alleged trademark infringement over the use of the names Rover (as in Rover Tickets) and Ranger (as in Ranger Tickets). Despite these terms being in use on the railway since at least 1959 and the first Range Rover vehicle not being unveiled until 1970, the company sent a formal ‘cease and desist letter’ to the RDG. A truly worthy winner. Well done JLR.

Runner up and winner of the Silver Award is Mayor Brabin’s Weaver Network launched to great fanfare in West Yorkshire in May. It turns out Weaver Network Technology Co Ltd and formally Shanghai Weaver Network Technology Co Ltd is a registered Chinese technology corporation established in 2001 and headquartered in Shanghai, China.

We await their reaction to potential confusion from Mrs Miggins travelling on the bus from Batley to Bradford with interest.

Missing Bus Route of the year Award

This inaugural Award for 2025 is awarded to a local authority which manages to withdraw an entire bus service by mistake, leaving passengers completely high and dry without a service and I’m delighted to announce the Gold winner by a three month stretch for 2025 is Powys County Council. It’s chaotic handling of the changes introduced in September included omitting to seek tenders for route 72 between Llanfyllin and Oswestry. Passengers had to endure a change of bus at Four Crosses including long waits for connecting buses until the situation could be rectified three months later.

A spokesperson for Powys County Council admitted “regrettably, the Llanfyllin service – previously known as the 72 – was omitted from the tender documentation due to an administrative error. We are actively working with the operator to ensure the service is registered and reinstated without delay.”

Best Confusion For Passengers of the Year Award

This ever popular award is back for 2025 and posed another quandary for the judges to pick through the hundreds of entries and find a worthy winner. But by a clear majority the winner was TfL for its unadvertised introduction of a temporary timetable including a curtailed route on its service 375 between Passingford Bridge and Romford as mitigation for the works at Gallows Corner. The judges were particularly impressed to note the route doesn’t go anywhere near Gallows Corner and the old useless timetables were left on display at most of the bus stops along the 375 route with no mention of the curtailment or revised times. Even better, in the early days of the new arrangements the information posted online was incorrect too. What a superb and worthy Gold winner.

The Most Outlandish Waste Of Money On Rail Replacement Of The Year Award

A late entry but how could the judges turn down the £1.7 million spent by TfW since February 2024 on providing the half hourly minibus along Ynyswen Road between Treorchy and Treherbert in the Rhonda to serve the closed Ynyswen station especially as the minibus stayed on the main road avoiding the stations, and duplicated Stagecoach’s three buses an hour but did run 40 times a day from 05:20 to 00:20 for four ticketed passengers but wasn’t advertised at the stations involved. A true fire Gold Award winner.

Delayed Before It’s Even Started Award

Our final award for 2025 goes to the promised tram system for West Yorkshire and in particular between Leeds and Bradford. Just last week it was announced this project is to be “resequenced” and won’t now be finished “until the late 2030s”. And in a complete tram crash of an interview with Evan Davis on last Thursday’s PM Mayor Brabin admitted the “resequencing” will involve “considering a bus scheme instead” with Evan querying why we have to wait nearly 20 years for what might be a bus lane with Tracey defending her original claim “spades will be in the ground by 2028” as still being the case. You can listen to the horror of it all on this link to BBC Sounds and realise what a well deserved Award winner this is.

And that completes this years Awards with a huge thanks to our sponsors and congratulations to all our worthy winners.

And finally I’ll leave you with a few images capturing what was said behind the scenes at those high profile political launches during the year…..

Merry Christmas to all readers. Blogging will resume on Saturday 27th.

Roger French