From Gravesend to Dorking Thursday 12th August 2021 OK, I realise I'm a year late, but just like the Tokyo Olympics, due to the uncertainty of Covid restrictions this project couldn't happen in 2020, but now, better late than never (just like a Green Line coach was for much of the time in the ‘old... Continue Reading →
Tuesday 10th August 2021 As well as bringing back open top bus routes all along Bournemouth’s seafront between Mudeford and Alum Chine this summer, Yellow Buses have also introduced a new route aimed at the leisure market linking Christchurch with Ringwood taking in the western side of the New Forest. It began operating at weekends... Continue Reading →
Wednesday 4th August 2021 This week has seen Stagecoach South East revamp its bus routes between Canterbury, Faversham and Sittingbourne and introduce an exciting new extension onwards to Maidstone. Southeastern trains run regularly between Faversham and Sittingbourne but services to Maidstone are not so convenient with journeys taking well over an hour and involving a... Continue Reading →
Monday 2nd August 2021 It was a welcome makeover at the time. In September 2013 Arriva bought out its majority partner shareholders in Centrebus Holdings which had been running buses from bases in Huddersfield, Elland and Honley since 2008 under various brands. Some of the operations had originally been part of the old Yorkshire Traction... Continue Reading →
Saturday 31st July 2021 How many times have you heard local councillors or traders calling for reduced or even free car parking to encourage shoppers back to town centres? Many of us in the industry usually retort “how about making bus travel free instead?". That’s exactly what's happened in Swansea where councillors have funded completely... Continue Reading →
Monday 26th July 2021 It’s not the longest bus route - extending only about five miles north and east of Llangollen at its furthest points - but it would be hard to find another route that packs in so many amazing scenic delights and heritage sites per mile. The brand new Dee Valley Picturesque Bus... Continue Reading →
Sunday 18th July 2021 As well as open-top buses and DRT, 2021 is also proving to be the year of the electric bus with more and more entering service as various Government funding schemes enable operators and local authorities meet high introduction costs not only of the buses but also the associated charging infrastructure. The... Continue Reading →
Sunday 11th July 2021 As January’s lockdown began at the start of 2021 the Go-Ahead owned East Yorkshire bus company revamped its bus service between Goole and Hull creating a new fast limited stop route X5 operating between the two towns to compliment the stopping service. It sounded like a great initiative to grow the... Continue Reading →
Friday 9th July 2021 I thought it was about time I wrote another blog about open-top bus routes - well, it’s been just over a week since the last one - so here’s a report on my recent travel experiences on First Kernow’s two prime routes in Cornwall - the Atlantic Coaster and Lands End... Continue Reading →
Monday 4th July 2021 It’s great to see the brilliant Moorsbus network of summer weekend bus routes across the North York Moors make a much welcome return after its enforced Covid absence last year. Running every Saturday and Sunday throughout July, August and September the routes numbered M1 to M8 as well as M31 provide... Continue Reading →
Friday 2nd July 2021 I promised myself last October when trying out Hulleys of Baslow’s then brand new Snake X57 bus route across the Peak District’s Snake Pass I’d be back for another ride if, as I dared hoped, it survived the winter and was still running this summer. Eight months later with summer arrived... Continue Reading →
Wednesday 30th June 2021 It might not have the scenic delight served up by the Exmoor Coaster or Dartmoor Explorer but the new open-top bus service introduced by Cardiff Bus this week has the potential to prove popular with both residents and visitors fancying a novel bus ride to Cardiff Bay and Penarth seafront. Open-top... Continue Reading →
Monday 7th June 2021 It’s not just First Bus in the South West who’ve introduced new open-top and leisure bus routes this summer. Their colleagues in neighbouring First Hampshire and Dorset have also joined in the fun with some much welcome developments on the well established Jurassic Coaster service. When first introduced a good few... Continue Reading →
Wednesday 2nd June 2021 This is the one I’ve been waiting for. Of all First Bus in the South West’s exciting new initiatives for the summer season under the "Adventures By Bus" brand, it's been the new Exmoor Coaster open-top service between Minehead and Lynmouth I’ve been looking forward to the most. It began at... Continue Reading →
Wednesday 26th May 2021 Following my hugely enjoyable ride across Dartmoor on the Dartmoor Explorer last Tuesday I made a return visit to the South West over the last couple of days to take a look at the many new bus routes aimed at the leisure market First Kernow are now running in Cornwall. There... Continue Reading →
Tuesday 18th May 2021 First Bus in the South West are launching a number of exciting bus route initiatives this summer with the aim of tapping into the tourist and leisure market. They're all featured on a new website adventuresbybus.co.uk which takes you through to a colourful page on the First Bus website showing all... Continue Reading →
Thursday 6th May 2021 I was struck by Baroness Vere's forthright endorsement of Cornwall Council's "vision for a high-quality, integrated and customer-focused public transport network" (quote from the Transport for Cornwall website) at the recent Transport Select Committee enquiring into the 'Bus Back Better' Strategy. “You should be very excited about Cornwall" she told Committee... Continue Reading →
Monday 19th April 2021 As the deregulated era of free market bus operation draws towards a close it’s not surprising head-to-head bus competition is pretty rare nowadays. Not least currently because Covid has reduced passenger numbers to (at best) less than two-thirds of normal times, and no one is making a profit in the current... Continue Reading →
Friday 9th April 2021 The Isle of Sheppey has been on my ‘to visit again’ list for some time, so news Arriva are retrenching from the island by closing their garage with its rather basic facilities sited alongside Sheerness station seemed a good reason to arrange a trip yesterday. I'd also been browsing Arriva's infamously... Continue Reading →
Saturday 31st October 2020 A long awaited extension of TfL bus route 383 from its southern terminus outside Woodside Park Underground Station to serve Finchley Memorial Hospital began today. It’s small fry in the normal scale of TfL’s bus service changes but it’s an interesting example of how TfL’s massive corporate machine responds, or not,... Continue Reading →
Monday 26th October 2020 Today’s date, 26th October, will for ever resonate for those of us involved in the bus industry back in 1986 as the anniversary of the birth of deregulation. And here I am, 34 years later, marking the launch of a pioneering new bus route filling a gap in the network over... Continue Reading →
Friday 23rd October 2020 Continuing my exploration of the former red and green bus territorial boundary around London to mark this year's fiftieth anniversary of London Country’s formation brings me to the Borough of Epsom & Ewell. That’s pointedly NOT the London Borough of Epsom & Ewell as residents, and more notably their representatives, resisted... Continue Reading →
Monday 12th October 2020 Woking lies five and a half miles north of Guildford. You're spoilt for choice when travelling by public transport between the towns - there are seven different routes to choose from. Over the last week I’ve tried out all seven to see how they compare. The quickest and most direct bus... Continue Reading →
Friday 9th October 2020 When TfL intrdocued the politically inspired New Bus for London - I hesitate at using its official ‘New Routemaster’ name for want of not denegrating the great iconic London bus designed in the late 1950s - nor its nickname after the vanity seeking Mayor who set the hare running by introducing... Continue Reading →
Thursday 8th October 2020 Following recent trips to Selsdon/Croydon and the Herts/Essex border I've continued my 'London Country 50th anniversary' inspired days out to the former London Transport red and green bus boundary territory by taking a look at how things are fairing in that prosperous corner of Surrey that includes Walton, Weybridge and Woking.... Continue Reading →
Thursday 1st October 2020 Pre Covid, Leicestershire County Council was pursuing a review of tendered bus routes across the county with a view to achieving £400,000 saving on its annual £2.4 million subsidy budget. This involved an area by area assessment of each route with public consultation workshops to discuss proposals. One of these was... Continue Reading →
Tuesday 29th September 2020 It was disappointing to hear Stagecoach has split its Oxford to Cambridge route X5 in Bedford. The X5 is the well established bus equivalent of East-West Rail now under active development. The half hourly frequency has been retained throughout but the opportunity has been taken to convert the more heavily used... Continue Reading →
Sunday 27th September 2020 Following my Essex experience last week Vecatre boss Dominic Kalantary reassured me their fledgling Essex tendered operation on route 13 between Waltham Cross and Epping was "mobilised at incredibly short notice and watch this space for a touch more class and a significant improvement", adding a photo teaser of a smart... Continue Reading →
Thursday 24th September 2020 Fifty-one years ago it was all very straightforward. London’s red buses ventured north as far as Potters Bar, Cheshunt and Waltham Cross in Hertfordshire as well as Waltham Abbey, Epping and Debden in Essex (oh, and Ongar as well of course). London’s green buses ventured much further north to serve places... Continue Reading →
Friday 11th September 2020 The last time Oxfordshire funded a bus service was July 2016. That month the County Council scrapped its circa £4 million annual bus subsidy budget abandoning 118 tendered bus contracts to the fate of the commercial market - and turned 34 years of deregulation on its head. Deregulation, you my recall,... Continue Reading →
Thursday 27th August 2020 It only takes 44 minutes on the train. But that’s far too easy a way to make the journey. How about taking the bus instead? I set off yesterday on the 08:13 route 270 from Brighton to East Grinstead operated by Metrobus. I joined the bus by Preston Park with two... Continue Reading →
Saturday 22nd August 2020 Continuing my Covid curtailed summer open top bus rides, I popped down to the New Forest today to sample Bluestar's colour coded circular tours around the National Park. There are three circular routes with the Blue and Green routes running anti-clockwise while the Red route goes clockwise. I last travelled on... Continue Reading →
Thursday 20 August 2020 The last time I took a ride on East Yorkshire's open top bus service along Scarborough's seafront was in May last year, just before the lovely bright new Beachcomber brand was rolled out, so it was nice to make a return visit on Tuesday and see the Best Impressions designed makeover... Continue Reading →
Thursday 6th August 2020 London's bus route 404 is interesting for a number of reasons. It’s one of TfL's short meandering routes that doesn’t really go anywhere. It wanders around well-heeled leafy residential roads lying either side of Coulsdon Road which links Coulsdon (in the London Borough of Croydon) with Caterham-on-the-Hill (just over the border... Continue Reading →
Saturday 1st August 2020 It’s a shorter summer season this year for obvious reasons, so this past week I've been out and about giving three bus companies running seafront open top bus routes in the south-east a bit of much needed custom and support. First up on a lovely sunshine filled day last Sunday was... Continue Reading →
Thursday 23rd July 2020 Regular readers will remember last summer I took a ride on four of Kent County Council’s new ‘Rural Transport Initiatives’. Three of these involved the introduction of ‘Taxi Buses’ including a Sevenoaks Taxi Bus linking West Kingsdown and the East Hill Residential Park with Sevenoaks; a Sandwich Taxi Bus linking that... Continue Reading →
Thursday 5th March 2020 TfL's hydrogen powered single deck buses reach their final terminus tomorrow so I took a couple of rides on board for one last time today. TfL first trialled hydrogen propulsion for a couple of years from 2004 as part of an EU wide trial in ten cities to test the technology. TfL used... Continue Reading →
Monday 2nd March 2020 Stagecoach rolled out its high profile £16.5 million investment in 32 BYD ADL Enviro400EV double deckers yesterday so I popped up to Manchester today to take a look. They're zero emission electric buses and in a nice piece of purchase symmetry the Government's Ultra-Low Emission Bus Scheme contributed a handy £6.9... Continue Reading →
Saturday 29th February 2020 A long overdue overnight visit to some friends living in the delightful market town of Stamford was a great opportunity to sample a couple of Lincolnshire’s bus routes on Thursday and yesterday. The foul weather put paid to more extensive travelling; pouring rain and misted up windows are a lethal combination... Continue Reading →
Friday 14th February 2020 Three different bus routes link Aylesbury, the county town of Buckinghamshire, with the county's former largest town, Milton Keynes (once in Bucks but elevated to its own Unitary status in April 1997). Taking the train between the two towns isn't really a viable option as you have to go via London,... Continue Reading →
Friday 7th February 2020 Public transport provision in Epsom is somewhat anomalous. Along with neighbouring Ewell it was keen to stay on the Surrey side of the new Greater London boundary back in 1965 and TfL’s Zone 6 boundary is tantalisingly close to the town running between the previous stations to the north at Ewell... Continue Reading →
Tuesday 28th January 2020 The competitive battle between National Express Coventry and Stagecoach Midlands notched up another gear yesterday with the former extending alternate journeys on their ten minute frequency route 20 running between Coventry and Bedworth every 20 minutes on to Nuneaton as a direct challenge to Stagecoach Midlands' long established, and long in... Continue Reading →
Wednesday 22nd January 2020 Social media was buzzing this morning with news the previously announced withdrawal of Blackburn Bus Company's Red Express route X41 had been rescinded and the route will continue after all. This is good news for Lancastrians living in the Accrington, Haslingden to Ramsbottom corridor on the fringes of Greater Manchester who... Continue Reading →
Friday 17th Janurary 2020 Last month's timetable change saw a greatly improved train service for Harrogate with LNER introducing direct trains to and from London Kings Cross every two hours; a substantial increase over the once a day journey which previously ran. Six daily southbound departures from Harrogate leave at 07:34; 09:36; 11:36; 13:36; 15:36 and... Continue Reading →
Wednesday 1st January 2020 Head to head competition between First Essex and Go-Ahead owned Hedingham between Colchester and Clacton-on-Sea comes to an end on Saturday. First Essex closed its Clacton-on-Sea base back in July 2018 with Hedingham taking over the town's local bus routes leaving First running only the three-bus-an-hour inter-urban link from Colchester to... Continue Reading →
Wednesday 4th December 2019 The recent announcement by Oxford Bus of the withdrawal of their long standing X90 coach route between Oxford and London in a month's time on 4th January surprised a good few industry observers. Me included. But when I thought about it and read more of the background it really wasn't surprising... Continue Reading →
Sunday 1st December 2019 There was a time when Oxford was the oft quoted example of head-to-head quality competition between two major bus companies as each operator aimed for a high standard of service to attract custom. Oxford's bus market matured after a statutory partnership deal led to a coordinated network so its fallen to... Continue Reading →
Wednesday 16th October 2019 Xplore Dundee, the National Express owned bus company in Dundee, launched a brand new airport express coach service back in June linking the city directly with Edinburgh Airport via the A90 and M90. Four months on I thought it was a good time to take a look and see how it... Continue Reading →
Friday 11th October 2019 TfL's next round of reductions to bus routes servIng central London begins tomorrow. This one is much less extensive than in June, involving changes to just a handful of routes, most significant of which is the complete withdrawal of route 48 between London Bridge and Walthamstow Central station. Introduced as part of... Continue Reading →
Sunday 6th October 2019 I picked up an old Western National timetable book for Cornwall when visiting the Isle of Wight Bus Museum last weekend. It's always fascinating to see how bus routes have changed over the decades so as I was heading down to Cornwall over this weekend I took it with me to... Continue Reading →
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