Saturday 20th December 2025 Welcome to another end of year nostalgic look back over the last twelve months of bus and train activity in Britain. As always, before revealing 2025's highs and lows here’s the chance to test your own recall and knowledge of the year's events with the BusAndTrainUser Annual Quiz of the Year.... Continue Reading →
Thursday 18th December 2025 To get in the mood for next week's festivities I've taken my annual wander around London's 12 main line termini having a look at their Christmas tree displays. Readers may recall last year I awarded joint first prize to King's Cross and Paddington for their truly splendid efforts complete with a... Continue Reading →
Saturday 6th December 2025 Another month's round up of emails readers have kindly sent me.... ember shakes up the coach hire market Roy kindly drew my attention to further expansion by ember, the forward looking coach company in Scotland. Not only did the company launch two more inter-city routes between Glasgow and Inverness and Edinburgh... Continue Reading →
Thursday 4th December 2025 Like many towns and cities, London is plagued with roadworks often necessitating road closures and consequent diversion and disruption to bus routes. BBC London contacted last week inviting me to take a look with them at the impact of the current closure of Delancey Street in the heart of Camden Town.... Continue Reading →
Saturday 29th November 2025 It's time for another round up of month end miscellany including items I've spotted during November's travels but not featured over the last month's blogging. The Bluebell Ice Queen And first up is a seasonal shout out to the Bluebell Railway which I visited with family last weekend to sample its... Continue Reading →
Thursday 27th November 2025 Castle Cary railway station has long been famous as the bridgehead for the annual Glastonbury Festival. Thousands of festival goers travel by GWR and SWR trains to and from this small Somerset station each June before completing their journey on a fleet of special shuttle buses laid on to move the... Continue Reading →
Tuesday 18th November 2025 Oxfordshire County Council took the bold step of introducing a three month "Temporary Congestion Charge" for motorists who drive through six camera points in central Oxford at the end of October. I paid a visit to the city on Saturday to take a look. The six sites are shown on the... Continue Reading →
Tuesday 11th November 2025 It's been a while since I looked into the veracity of media reporting but recent positive headlines extolling the completion of a 'Bus Rapid Transit' scheme on the A33 caught my eye, so while I was in Reading last Thursday I took a ride to find out more. The Reading Chronicle... Continue Reading →
Thursday 6th November 2025 Taking day trips by train north from London always brings home the huge inconsistency of rail ticket pricing, especially if you want to leave the capital around 09:00 to make the most of your day and enjoy reasonably priced fares. One of the worst culprits for setting unreasonable fares is East... Continue Reading →
Tuesday 4th November 2025 Welcome to a new blog feature where from time to time I'll share some messages and emails readers have kindly sent me so they benefit from a wider audience. Good news on the X1 in Glasgow and trains to East Kilbride Bryan got in touch following my reference to JMB Travel's... Continue Reading →
Thursday 30th October 2025 Another end-of-the-month round up of unblogged observations from October’s travels. More from Kernow First up are a couple more observations from Cornwall. It was great to see network bus maps posted at key locations but this one at Falmouth was simply impossible to read due to the print size being so... Continue Reading →
Sunday 26th October 2025 Today's the day. Imagine the excitement exactly 39 years ago today, Sunday 26th October 1986, as the new deregulated regime for Britain's buses outside of London brought to an end 53 years of tight supply side regulation through the requirement for bus operators to hold a Road Service Licence for each... Continue Reading →
Tuesday 21st October 2025 Transport for Wales (TfW) staff invited me to speak at the TrawsCymru Operator Forum held in Wrexham on Tuesday and Wednesday last week. It was the second year such an event had been held, bringing together TfW staff involved with TrawsCymru and the bus operators running the services along with some... Continue Reading →
Tuesday 14th October 2025 Knowing the frustrations I’ve experienced claiming Delay Repay over the years with Avanti West Coast and GWR, when I met up with Alex Hornby during the summer he kindly offered a visit to see Northern’s Customer Contact Centre in Sheffield which deals with Delay Repay. As you can imagine, I jumped... Continue Reading →
Tuesday 30th September 2025 Another month end so here's more miscellany I've spotted on my travels over the last few weeks but not blogged about. Gatwick Express takes over Eastbourne I've featured the mess that is GTR's train branding in previous roundups, but, noticing Gatwick Express liveried trains out in force in Eastbourne station (above... Continue Reading →
Sunday 31st August 2025 Sorry readers, it's another one of those blogposts containing pure personal nostalgia. But, don't worry, more normal topics return this coming week with lots happening to report on. But this coming week .... 60 years ago in September 1965 .... also saw a major milestone in my life as I started... Continue Reading →
Saturday 30th August 2025 Welcome to another potpourri of miscellany not yet blogged about from the past month's travels .... Andover's no longer connected to Newbury I'd hoped to kick off this month's round up with a report hot off the computer keyboard from yesterday about the penultimate day for route 7 between Newbury and... Continue Reading →
Friday 29th August 2025 Welcome to a Friday bonus BusAndTrainUser Verify blog special checking out unbelievable incompetence in the Romford area this week. The much respected and popular Diamond Geezer (DG) blog first exposed the lunacy on Wednesday. It’s not that I don’t believe his description of how awful TfL has acted - DG’s blog... Continue Reading →
A Friday bonus blog for 15th August 2025 Government controlled LNER is further restricting passenger choice and in some cases increasing fares again from 7th September as part of its Great Railway Ticket Rip Off on the East Coast Main Line. In the next phase of its "Simpler Fares pilot" LNER is withdrawing the availability... Continue Reading →
Thursday 14th August 2025 An open letter to Martijn Gilbert, Managing Director Arriva UK Bus As you begin your exciting new role next Monday I thought I'd drop you a line with a few thoughts based on impressions I've gained from extensive travel experiences with Arriva over the last few years. Let me say from... Continue Reading →
Tuesday 12th August 2025 Chiltern did it in January 2003. Greater Anglia did it (except Norwich/London) in January 2020. c2c did it in July 2021. Southeastern did it in December 2022. London NorthWestern did it in May 2023. The Overground has never had it. The Elizabeth Line has never had it. It's about time GTR... Continue Reading →
Thursday 31st July 2025 Welcome to Part Two of this month's miscellany round up, with Part One being an all London version having appeared on Tuesday. And we begin with some rather misleading announcements from Train Companies... Urgent repairs or not? Something very odd happened on the Brighton Main Line earlier this month. A major... Continue Reading →
Tuesday 29th July 2025 July's month end round up is over brimming with items not previously blogged about so I'm splitting it into two bites with today's installment covering a few items ‘seen around’ London and Thursday's post will be devoted to matters spotted outside London. Welcome to an extended route 241 I got round... Continue Reading →
Thursday 3rd July 2025 You’d think in an age when travel between many urban centres is booming, not least by passengers pursuing leisure activities, a bus service between Wetherby (population 11,000) and Leeds, its nearest regional centre lying 13 miles south west, would be prime territory for a successful commercial operation. All the more so... Continue Reading →
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... Continue Reading →
Sunday 22nd June 2025 Cast your mind back to March 2020. That's when Arriva was stripped of the Northern Trains franchise and control passed to the Government's Operator of Last Resort (subsequently becoming DfT Operator). Poor beleaguered Northern never recovered from the May 2018 timetable meltdown nor the strait jacket of a no growth franchise... 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 →
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 →
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 →
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 →
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 →
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 →
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 →
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 →
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 4th March 2025 I had the pleasure and privilege of co-hosting another fascinating conference for young professionals working in the bus industry on Wednesday and Thursday last week in Newcastle. It was one of the twice-a-year conferences held at various locations around the country to encourage and inspire young managers as well as share... Continue Reading →
Saturday 1st March 2025 It's not just Eastenders and Comic Relief's Red Nose Day celebrating a 40th anniversary this year. I am too, and more pertinently, today. 1st March 1985 saw the mighty Southdown bus company, whose buses and coaches had reigned supreme across Sussex and East Hampshire since formation in 1915, reorganised into six... Continue Reading →
Tuesday 18th February 2025 The DfT got round to publishing a report evaluating “the first 10 months of the £2 bus fare cap” (£2BFC) last week. It had been handed over to the DfT last November being compiled by consultants SYSTRA and Frontier Economics. But it only evaluates the first 10 months of the scheme... Continue Reading →
Thursday 13th February 2025 Blog reader Geoff kindly drew my attention to a recent online news story in which Derbyshire Live, part of the Reach news group, used a clickbait headline implying all was not well for “a new Derby bus hub”. It's not yet been built and is linked to the huge residential development... Continue Reading →
Saturday 1st February 2025 Photo courtesy Inside Croydon Bus shelters in Croydon have been in the news again this week with online media reporting TfL is to "install, maintain and clean new bus shelters across more than 100 locations”. In fact 114 brand new shelters are destined for the Borough. Why the big news story?... Continue Reading →
Thursday 30th January 2025 Another month end; another round up of things I've 'seen around' but not blogged about. STP takes over KGX First up this month is my journey from London to Newcastle last Saturday which coincided with the closure of Kings Cross and the East Coast Main Line between London and Peterborough to... Continue Reading →
Tuesday 21st January 2025 They say the railway's byzantine fare structure is going to be sorted when Great British Railways (GBR) finally gets up and running. But that promise is like Billy Bunter's never arriving postal order. Every incoming Minister in the DfT over the last couple of decades has promised to sort the complex... Continue Reading →
Thursday 16th January 2025 Today's blog is dedicated to Adam Trimingham, probably the most superb journalist who's ever worked in the regional newspaper industry and a truly wonderful, kind, generous and lovely man. Adam sadly died on Saturday aged 82. Photo courtesy The Argus Adam moved to Brighton from London, where he'd cut his teeth... Continue Reading →
Thursday 2nd January 2025 Welcome to the first blog of the New Year which is my monthly look back at things that caught my eye during the past month's travels not previously covered in posts. And we begin with a shout out to Alex Nelson at NationalRail.com for his latest.... National Rail Network Map It's... Continue Reading →
Thursday 26th December 2024 Here's a link to BusAndTrainUser's Annual video of 100 bus and train developments from 2024. All in just 10 minutes viewing. Something to while away those Boxing Day blues. Blogging returns next Thursday, 2nd January 2025. Roger French
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