Sunday 15th June 2025 As the Cambridgeshire & Peterborough Combined Authority gears up for bus franchising, recently elected (six weeks ago) Conservative Mayor Paul Bristow wasted no time launching a raft of new bus roues at the end of last month. But I wonder if he really appreciates what a waste of money some of... Continue Reading →
Saturday 14th June 2025 It’s the biggest contrast yet. One station at the end of a single track branch line with an hourly shuttle service with a 17 minute journey time and the other a four platform affair with two entrances/exits, two footbridges, lifts, 10 southbound trains and six northbound trains an hour including direct... Continue Reading →
Thursday 12th June 2025 I’ve been back on the DRT trail again, this time in Portsmouth, trying out the latest scheme which hit the road at the end of last month. Branded Pompey Link, it’s funded for an initial 10 months by Portsmouth City Council’s Bus Service Improvement Plan with hopes for an extension into... Continue Reading →
Tuesday 10th June 2025 My friend Ray and I enjoyed our third walking tour of London’s termini on Friday as part of ‘Railway 200' celebrations this year. Like Victoria and London Bridge, this tour, organised by Network Rail, was led by the wonderful Rachel Kolsky exuding her enthusiasm and passion for the social history surrounding... Continue Reading →
Sunday 8th June 2025 For some of us of a certain age with knowledge of the London bus scene, the route number 284 will always be associated with the Potters Bar local service operated for a time by the unique FRM 1 vehicle. The route lasted for nine years between 1968 and 1977. Now, hopefully,... Continue Reading →
Saturday 7th June 2025 TfL are introducing another cut to its beleaguered central London bus later this month involving a diversion to route 205 which currently links Bow, Mile End, Whitechapel and Aldgate with Liverpool Street, Kings Cross, St Pancras, Euston, Marylebone and Paddington stations as well as St Mary's Hospital, Paddington. From a date... Continue Reading →
Thursday 5th June 2025 It’s good to see the promised new battery-electric buses are now being introduced on the Kent Thameside Fastrack network. Readers will recall Go-Ahead took over the contract for this high profile operation in the Dartford-Bluewater-Ebbsfleet-Gravesend area last November and have been using mainly London cast offs for the last few months.... Continue Reading →
Tuesday 3rd June 2025 Eyebrows were raised in April 2023 when First Bus made changes to its network of bus routes in Slough and Maidenhead cutting the direct link from Heathrow Airport and Langley to Maidenhead. Route 4 was changed to terminate in Cippenham instead (shown in orange on the network map below) and is... Continue Reading →
Sunday 1st June 2025 Horray it’s June; so that means Sunday blogging is back as the BusAndTrainUser.com enhanced summer timetable kicks in for the next three months from today. I’ve been meaning to visit Pilning railway station for years and finally got round to treating myself to that delight yesterday, so what better way to... Continue Reading →
Saturday 31st May 2025 Welcome to a marathon medley of miscellany for the month of May. How to confuse your passengers Back in November 2023 Arriva changed the route number for the bus service between Hemel Hempstead, Watford and Rickmansworth from 320 to 322 but it came as no surprise on Thursday to see the... Continue Reading →
Thursday 29th May 2025 I’m pleased to report my follow up visit to Kemble to try out the recently extended Wiltshire Connect DRT operation went without a hitch last Friday as well as throwing up a few surprises. After the abortive attempt over a week ago, this time I forewent the offer of a pick... Continue Reading →
Tuesday 27th May 2025 The following blogpost has been brought forward from its intended slot this Saturday as it describes the perfect place to reflect on the weekend's sad news...... So here I am in the tiny hamlet of Tyndrum in Stirling, exploring its two lovely stations: Tyndrum Lower on the line to Oban and... Continue Reading →
Sunday 25th May 2025 I’m so sorry to update today’s blog (written yesterday) with the devastating news Andrew sadly passed away in the early hours of this morning. Rest In Peace Andrew. This very special blog is for a very special person. The sad news came on Friday that the hugely respected and much admired,... Continue Reading →
Saturday 24th May 2025 Secretary of State for Transport Heidi Alexander reckons tomorrow’s high profile ownership change of South Western Railway from First Group/MTR Corporation over to DfT Operator Limited (DFTO) is “a watershed moment” marking the start of the much heralded re-nationalisation of Britain’s Railways. Expect an overdose of hype as the first train... Continue Reading →
Thursday 22nd May 2025 My friend Ray and I enjoyed another of Network Rail's walking tours of London's three main line termini serving the south coast last Thursday. This time we were at London Bridge and once again enjoyed the brilliant company of our guide Rachel Kolsky, who as mentioned in the write up on... Continue Reading →
Tuesday 20th May 2025 I’ve been back on the DRT trail again, trying out the recently introduced geographic expansion of the Wiltshire Connect branded scheme to cover more of the county. I’ve previously praised Wiltshire Connect in a number of blogposts for showing how to do DRT properly. Until now their schemes have been built... Continue Reading →
Saturday 17th May 2025 New Mills Central looking west towards Manchester Welcome to another town with a station pair located virtually on the same line of longitude (see also Canterbury and Yeovil, previously featured in this fortnightly series). We're in the Derbyshire town of New Mills visiting its stations known as New Mills Central and... Continue Reading →
Thursday 15th May 2025 I had the privilege of speaking at ALBUM's Annual Conference in Nottingham yesterday. David Astill, ALBUM chair (and managing director of Nottingham City Transport), had invited me to share my thoughts on "what passengers are getting" based on my travels across the length and breadth of Britain over the last decade... Continue Reading →
Tuesday 13th May 2025 It can’t have escaped blog readers’ notice the railway is “commemorating 200 years of the modern railway” this year involving a whole series of events up and down the country including ‘The Greatest Gathering’ in Derby over the first weekend in August (which is sold out) and an ‘Inspiration’ exhibition train... Continue Reading →
Saturday 10th May 2025 Continuing my Top 10 countdown towards the country's Quirkiest Bus Route takes us this month to Devon to ride Britain’s least frequent schedule bus service. Tavistock Country Bus operated route 112 famously runs just one return journey on the fifth Saturday of the month between April and September linking the company's... Continue Reading →
Thursday 8th May 2025 Here’s another fabulous bus route that needs adding to the list of Britain’s Most Scenic Bus Routes. Introduced in June 2024, thanks to Bus Service Improvement Plan funding from Derbyshire County Council, it's another star performer in the Derbyshire Peak District. Branded as PeakPathfinder, High Peak operated route 62 comprises three... Continue Reading →
Tuesday 6th May 2025 It’s always heartening to see another small enterprising bus operator launch a brand new commercial bus route to tap into an unmet market. Black Cat Travel began a new six return journeys a day, six days a week route between Lincoln and Retford on Saturday before last, so I took a... Continue Reading →
Saturday 3rd May 2025 Unlike Wakefield (featured in March) and Yeovil (featured last time) Newark’s two stations have no connecting line between them and furthermore are famous for the two separate lines on which they’re located - East Coast Main Line for Newark Northgate and the Nottingham-Lincoln line for Newark Castle, crossing each other on... Continue Reading →
Thursday 1st May 2025 Before May gets into its stride here's a look back at some of the things I spotted during April's travels, but didn't get round to blogging about. DRT developments First up a couple of DRT updates. Go-Coach Hire have three Sigma electric buses in the fleet on evaluation. A Sigma 10... Continue Reading →
Tuesday 29th April 2025 Aside from people blasting out music and conversations on their phones (see Saturday's blog), another annoyance travelling by bus these days is the impact of roadworks, whether it's a gruelling slow journey when on board due to consequential traffic queues or waiting in vain for a late running bus caught up... Continue Reading →
Saturday 26th April 2025 Good for the LibDems. They’ve proposed an amendment to the Bus Services Bill, currently going through Parliament, which would add people playing music and videos out loud on a phone speaker on public transport to the list of antisocial behaviours such as dropping litter and using threatening behaviour. Anyone caught blasting... Continue Reading →
Thursday 24th April 2025 I took a ride on Red Eagle’s newly introduced route 500 on Tuesday to see how it was settling in. Readers may recall this competitive service against Arriva’s troubled route X5 between Hemel Hempstead and Aylesbury was announced a few weeks ago before Arriva publicly admitted it was throwing in the... Continue Reading →
Tuesday 22nd April 2025 New tenders for subsidised bus services issued by the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead earlier this month have meant changes to many routes and their operators with Go-Ahead's (Oxford Bus) owned Carousel expanding its reach as far as Staines and (Reading Buses' owned) Thames Valley taking on the infamous Windsor... Continue Reading →
Monday 21st April 2025 This Easter weekend's blogfest began with a Book Review, so it seems appropriate to bookend it with another. Keith Shayshutt has just published another treasure trove of nostalgia comprising historic details about bus route and operational developments over a period of time in a geographic area. Following his previous books looking... Continue Reading →
Sunday 20th April 2025 Yeovil Pen Mill I'm back on the fortnightly wander around places with two stations today and following my visit to Wakefield a month ago, here’s another pair of stations between which trains run in public service, albeit here in Yeovil, not very many. Yeovil Junction Timings of the limited number of... Continue Reading →
Saturday 19th April 2025 Today's post celebrates a true bus and rail industry legend who reached the milestone age of 75 yesterday. To mark the occasion my good friend Ray Stenning was given a surprise birthday celebration with 30 close friends and colleagues door stopping his home/office in Shepherds Bush late yesterday morning on a... Continue Reading →
Friday 18th April 2025 Welcome to the first of an Easter special of daily posts over the bank holiday weekend and kicking these off here's a review of a splendid new book that's just been self-published by blog reader Eric R Sykes. As the title suggests the book features scenic bus routes that can be... Continue Reading →
Thursday 17th April 2025 There’s a new ‘kid on the block’ providing express coaches between London and Stansted Airport. Flibco has been awarded a five year contract by the Airport's owners commencing 1st April, replacing previous incumbent Airport Bus Express, for the lucrative link to Stratford and Liverpool Street where it competes with National Express,... Continue Reading →
Tuesday 15th April 2025 Readers may recall an Explore Wales trip I did with my brother last September when we missed out on a planned journey on the lovely Sherpa'r Wyddfa branded route S1 through Llanberis and a ride on the Conwy Valley railway line from Betws-y-Coed to Llandudno Junction due to a late running... Continue Reading →
Saturday 12th April 2025 After Windsor and Northumberland I'm in south west London for this month's featured bus route I've ranked eighth in Britain's Top 10 Quirky Bus Routes. It's a TfL contracted route, operated by Transport UK (formerly Abelllio), running from Whitton via Richmond, Mortlake and Barnes to Roehampton. Some readers might be puzzling... Continue Reading →
Thursday 10th April 2025 Last Saturday I had the pleasure and privilege of speaking at the annual South East Bus Festival held at the Kent County Showground at Detling near Maidstone. What a lovely day it was with thousands of visitors wandering around the large display of buses, old and new, enjoying glorious sunshine as... Continue Reading →
Tuesday 8th April 2025 Welcome to the brand new cross-River Silvertown Tunnel linking North Greenwich with Leamouth and Docklands with the aim of relieving congestion in the nearby Blackwall Tunnel. It opened yesterday, on time and on budget (£2.2 billion). The 0.9 mile tunnel includes a lane dedicated to buses and lorries and sees one... Continue Reading →
Saturday 5th April 2025 Situated in the Metropolitan Borough of Stockport in Greater Manchester... ... the Ordnance Survey map gives the suburb of Reddish five named areas. North Reddish, Mid Reddish, Reddish Green, Reddish Vale and South Reddish. The first and last of these give their names to the area’s two railway stations - Reddish... Continue Reading →
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... Continue Reading →
Tuesday 1st April 2025 Answer: Both places saw a bus route denoted by the letter R withdrawn over the weekend. In TfL's continuing drive for efficiencies to save a few vehicles here and there (it all helps with Superloop expansion), from Saturday, it rerouted the already circuitous half-hourly route B14 (Bexleyheath-Sidcup-St Mary Cray-Orpington) to take... Continue Reading →
Saturday 29th March 2025 It's been on the cards for months, if not a couple of years; it’s the sad demise of Hulleys of Baslow (“Proudly serving the Peak District since 1921”) which finally came to pass on Wednesday. Emergency short term contracts were awarded by Derbyshire County Council commencing on Thursday, just in the... Continue Reading →
Thursday 27th March 2025 The latest issue of Passenger Transport fortnightly magazine is leading on a story originally covered in The Times newspaper that "Ministers saw how Greater Manchester’s Bee Network rebrand changed public perceptions almost overnight – and want the same bounce for rail". It goes on to report "the government is set to... Continue Reading →
Tuesday 25th March 2025 Many inter-urban bus routes have seen booming passenger demand in recent years as bus companies invest in new vehicles, improved frequencies and attractive branding to encourage growth along key corridors. But on the border of Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire it’s a different story. Specifically the Aylesbury to Hemel Hempstead corridor along what... Continue Reading →
Saturday 22nd March 2025 I first became familiar with Wakefield’s two railway stations, Westgate and Kirkgate, 50 years ago when embarking on my full time bus industry career in 1975 with the National Bus Company’s West Riding subsidiary based in the city. I recall arriving, carrying a heavy suitcase (no wheeled suitcases in those days),... Continue Reading →
Thursday 20th March 2025 Oh no! I hear you cry. “Not another blog about DRT”. “He’s obsessed with it”. It’s just I’m trying to find one that works and it’s not my fault, nine years on, that search continues. Beginning on 27th January, this latest offering is from Telford & Wrekin Council being particularly aimed... Continue Reading →
Tuesday 18th March 2025 The much anticipated autonomous bus trial on public roads in Sunderland city centre began earlier this month. I took a ride last Tuesday, interested to see how it compares with other trials I’ve experienced in Didcot, Edinburgh, Milton Keynes and Harwell campus over the last few years. It was the Aurrigo... Continue Reading →
Saturday 15th March 2025 This year's monthly blog series is counting down Britain's quirky bus routes. Following last month's wander through Windsor Great Park using roads out-of-bounds to ordinary traffic on White Bus route 01, this month we're heading north for a ride on a route where the bus timetable is determined by the tide... Continue Reading →
Thursday 13th March 2025 The long awaited smart new Class 555 trains for the Tyne & Wear Metro are slowly entering service and I was fortunate to have a guided tour of one of the new fleet on a visit kindly hosted by Nexus as part of the Young Bus Professionals conference held recently in... Continue Reading →
Tuesday 11th March 2025 The latest addition to the DRT scene ‘soft launched’ last week. Funded by Hampshire County Council’s Bus Service Improvement Plan the service involves two vehicles serving a rural area centred on Andover in the Northern Test Valley. The operation uses Padam software with on the road operations in the hands of... Continue Reading →
Saturday 8th March 2025 1849 was a good year for railways in Windsor. It was the year when both the town's termini opened. What's now called Windsor & Eton Central opened first, on 9th October, by the Great Western Railway and what is now, South Western Railway's station in Datchet Road (now called Windsor &... Continue Reading →
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