Tuesday 2nd May 2023 Following the closure of Arriva's bus garages in Macclesfield and Winsford and the company’s withdrawal from Mid Cheshire on Saturday 22nd April I took a few rides around the area last Friday to see how the first week of the new regime was going with D&G Bus principally at the helm.... Continue Reading →
Saturday 29th April 2023 Another month's round up of notable sights spotted on recent travels. Hooray for a London bus map Many thanks once again to Mike Harris who has just published the latest up to date version of his Greater London Bus Map. It's edition no 40 and bang up to date including today's... Continue Reading →
Thursday 27th April 2023 The Katch DRT operation was introduced in May 2021 for a 12 month trial by Suffolk County Council. It provided a link between Wickham Market railway station located in the village of Campsea Ashe, Wickham Market itself located two and a half miles away and Framlingham village six and a half... Continue Reading →
Tuesday 25th April 2023 Last Friday Rob Jones, managing director, Stagecoach in Cumbria and North Lancashire (that name is going to need an update now Cumberland and Westmorland & Furness councils have replaced Cumbria) kindly invited me to the launch of the company’s circa £3 million investment in nine smart new Alexander Dennis Enviro400 MMC... Continue Reading →
Saturday 22nd April 2023 Ipswich Buses is celebrating its 120th anniversary this year. Founded in 1903, it's one of just five municipally owned bus companies left in England (along with Blackpool, Nottingham, Reading and Warrington) with two more in Wales (Cardiff and Newport) and not forgetting Lothian in Scotland. The company's head office and bus... Continue Reading →
Thursday 20th April 2023 One of my favourite quirky bus routes in London is the Richmond Park free minibus which has been running on Wednesdays between April and October for some years (aside from 2020 an 2021 due to Covid). This year's operation began on 5th April and includes an extended route, an increase to... Continue Reading →
Tuesday 18th April 2023 Central Hertfordshire residents woke up to a brand new bus route on Sunday. Operating an hourly frequency, seven-days-a-week, the new route 907 links Stevenage with Ware, Hertford, Hoddesdon, Broxbourne and Cheshunt. And if you're thinking some of those towns are already linked by the existing bus network, you'd be absolutely right.... Continue Reading →
Saturday 15th April 2023 Aside from DRT another topic that often comes up in these blogs is the state of bus provision in Harlow. In November 2021 I wrote about a positive outlook for the future highlighting the Borough Council's plans to completely rebuild the bus station. That can’t come soon enough for the long... Continue Reading →
Thursday 13th April 2023 I needed to get from Lancaster to Glasgow last month and instead of heading up the West Coast Main Line (which was closed north of Carlisle anyway due to track works at Carstairs), having plenty of time, I decided to enjoy a leisurely ride around the wonderful Cumbrian coast on the... Continue Reading →
Tuesday 11th April 2023 The ten mile heritage railway line run by Swanage Railway saw trains reconnected to the National Rail network again last week with a three/four journey a day four-days-a-week service through to Wareham. The line was severed in 1972 when British Rail ripped up the tracks after the train service was withdrawn... Continue Reading →
Saturday 8th April 2023 It's an Open Access duo for the next two letters in this year's fortnightly A to Z of bus and train companies enabling a 'compare and contrast' of two very similar rail businesses. Grand Central, owned by Arriva, was set up as an independent business in 2000 beginning operations in December... Continue Reading →
Thursday 6th April 2023 As well as bright green buses in the West of England from Monday (see Tuesday's blog), this week has also seen the launch of a fleet of bright green buses on a new circular bus route around Leicester city centre. I paid a visit on Tuesday to take a look. Branded... Continue Reading →
Tuesday 4th April 2023 This week sees the controversial withdrawal of many tendered bus routes within the West of England Combined Authority (WECA) area and their replacement with an extensive DRT operation. It's been a rocky road to implementation and I've got a feeling it'll be an even rockier road now it's up and running.... Continue Reading →
Sunday 2nd April 2023 I wrote a tribute to the wonderful award winning photographer Roger Bamber when he sadly died last September. Before his untimely death he'd been working on a book showcasing the tremendous collection of photographs taken during his lifelong career including spells with the Daily Mail, the Sun and The Guardian. It... Continue Reading →
Saturday 1st April It’s been a scenic bus route on my ‘to do’ list ever since I took the marathon Stagecoach route 35 from Elgin to Aberdeen in Autumn 2021 and the driver recommended route 201 from Aberdeen to Braemar to me. I finally got the opportunity to achieve this goal while in Scotland recently... Continue Reading →
Thursday 30th March 2023 Welcome to another monthly miscellany round up of what's caught my eye on travels during March. HS2 into Euston delayed until 2041 And I don’t mean just after twenty to nine. It’s 18 years away. I’m thinking I’ll be very lucky if I live that long to see the day trains... Continue Reading →
Wednesday 29th March 2023 An unscheduled Wednesday Blog Special Mayor Sadiq Khan was out headline grabbing yesterday launching his idea for a Superloop network of limited stop express style bus routes encircling outer London. The vision is for an Overground-come-M25 bus network and is being promoted now to stymie criticism the Mayor isn't doing enough... Continue Reading →
Tuesday 28th March 2023 A small variation on one of the latest coaches in the ember fleet with a turquoise circle at the rear. Ember, the Scottish coach company with expansionist plans introduced a Dundee to Glasgow service last August to compliment its Dundee to Edinburgh service introduced at the height of the pandemic when... Continue Reading →
Sunday 26th March 2023 One of the best journeys is Britain's longest bus route - Scottish Citylink's 915/916 Glasgow to Uig where this photo was taken. I had the best of times working in the bus industry throughout my career as I hope I conveyed in yesterday's blog, but it's also been a wonderful first... Continue Reading →
Saturday 25th March 2023 The Mayors of Hove and Brighton launch the new look Brighton & Hove in late 1985 (they were two independent towns). I can hardly believe it’s ten years ago this weekend I walked out of Brighton & Hove’s Conway Street, Hove head office for the very last time and entered the... Continue Reading →
Thursday 23rd March 2023 After D for Delainie and E for Ensignbus I'm staying with the independent family owned bus company theme for my next visit in this year's A to Z series of bus and train companies and headed over to Chippenham on Tuesday for a look at the respected bus company based in... Continue Reading →
Tuesday 21st March 2023 It’s not often a locally based community led climate action campaigning group puts its money where its mouth is and starts up a brand new route to encourage motorists to leave their cars at home and catch a bus instead. Even more rare it turns into a rip roaring success within... Continue Reading →
Sunday 19th Match 2023 And so to the final leg of last month’s bus journey from Newcastle to Edinburgh. Having enjoyed a leisurely ride on Arriva's scenic route X18 to Berwick-upon-Tweed where I had a stopover to savour Borders Buses route 477 to Holy Island it's now time to cross the border appropriately enough with... Continue Reading →
Saturday 8th March 2023 It was 24 years ago my then Operations Director colleague at the Brighton & Hove Bus and Coach Company, Paul Williams, came up with the idea of adding the names of some of the area’s iconic landmarks to the new fleet of 20 Dennis Trident double deck buses we were about... Continue Reading →
Thursday 16th March 2023 The route as originally introduced last October When Stagecoach East introduced its “sustainable bus network” last October it combined its route 81 between Bedford and Luton via the A6 with its route 99 between Luton Airport, Luton and Milton Keynes via the M1 to create one long through route. A new... Continue Reading →
Tuesday 14th March 2023 The bus had recently transferred in to Berwick-upon-Tweed from Borders Buses' parent company West Coast Motors I left you on my journey by bus from Newcastle to Edinburgh in the border town of Berwick-upon-Tweed having travelled there on Arriva's scenic route X18. Before continuing on my way to Edinburgh I wanted... Continue Reading →
Sunday 12th March 2023 You’re never far away from a DRT experience these days. Those living in the West of England region will soon be subjected to multiple schemes by the Combined Authority so I thought I’d relate my latest experiences on the off chance someone responsible at that Authority might come across this blog... Continue Reading →
Saturday 11th March 2023 Whenever anyone mentions Luton Airport readers of a certain age will almost certainly be imaging the iconic TV advert from the late 1970s for Campari shot in an exotic location featuring suave, elegantly dressed, sophisticated, smooth talking Jeremy Clyde asking Lorraine Chase “were you truly wafted here from Paradise?" to which... Continue Reading →
Thursday 9th March 2023 Sorry, East Midlands Railway you were going to be my E, but as today is a rather special occasion, being the very last day of an independently owned Ensignbus before midnight’s takeover by First Bus, I thought it only appropriate to mark this historic occasion with a special feature. I blogged... Continue Reading →
Tuesday 7th March 2023 TfL's Press Office was busy yesterday proclaiming"further new proposals for more than 400,000km increase in buses services in outer London to strengthen alternatives to private cars and maximise benefits of ULEZ". And if you think the grammar doesn't quite sound right in that sentence, don't blame my usual sloppy fat finger... Continue Reading →
Saturday 4th March 2023 Another new bus route began on Thursday. It’s been given route number 001. Operated by First Bus on a 15 minute headway it takes just under a quarter of an hour to complete its circular loop around the swish business park in Didcot known as Milton Park operating for almost 12... Continue Reading →
Thursday 2nd March 2023 I blogged about the £655 million capacity upgrade to Bank Underground station in January 2022 when the Northern Line Bank branch closed for five months to enable the new southbound tunnel and platform to be completed and opened. Since then contractors have been beavering away on all the other enhancements including... Continue Reading →
Tuesday 28th February 2023 Welcome to February's compote of miscellany I've encountered on recent travels but first a couple of plugs for two recent publications. UK National Rail Map Alex Nelson and his nationalrail.com website has updated his brilliant map showing every railway station in the UK (yes, it includes Northern Ireland too). If you... Continue Reading →
Saturday 25th February It’s the archetypal family owned business. Delaine Buses is one of the very few left in the bus industry. Fiercely independent and hugely proud of its heritage which can be traced back to 1890 when the family’s carpentry and general contracting business began carrying people to local fairs and markets using their... Continue Reading →
Friday 24th February 2023 I couldn't round off a week of travelling on new bus routes without a ride on the very latest DRT scheme which started on Monday in Kent. (New blog subscribers are welcome to put DRT into the search function on this website to read about my travel experiences on all other... Continue Reading →
Thursday 23rd February 2023 After visiting Telford, Skelmersdale and Bicester it's time to take a journey on another new bus route and this time one linking England and Wales. Last week I went to Chester to take a ride on the new TrawsCymru route T8 which passes through Flintshire and Denbighshire to terminate at what's... Continue Reading →
Wednesday 22nd February 2023 After Telford and Skelmersdale today's New Bus Route Week blog features new bus routes 24 and 25 in Bicester, Oxfordshire. Readers may recall I blogged about route 250 running between Bicester and Oxford via the huge new residential development at Heyford Park last August. The original plan had been to replace... Continue Reading →
Tuesday 21st February 2023 All this week I'm describing travel experiences on brand new bus routes. It certainly makes a change from cataloguing routes about to be withdrawn and with Bus Service Improvement Plan (BSIP) funding now starting to flow, we can expect to see many more forlorn initiatives like the ones I'm featuring in... Continue Reading →
Monday 20th February 2023 This week is New Bus Route Week on the BusAndTrainUser blog. In contrast to all the negative news about bus routes being withdrawn or threatened with cuts due to lack of funding I’ve been out and about sampling recently introduced bus routes and will celebrate their arrival with a post every... Continue Reading →
Saturday 18th February 2023 It's the end of an era for buses in Southampton today as First Bus closes its bus garage doors for good bringing to an end 143 years of bus operation that can be traced back to 1879 when horse bus operation began and in due course Southampton Corporation Transport took over... Continue Reading →
Thursday 16th February 2023 The train journey along the East Coast Main Line between Newcastle and Edinburgh is always a treat with some wonderful coastal views to savour. Although taking the bus for the 100 mile journey obviously takes much longer it offers equally fantastic scenery including castles and market towns. It's been many years... Continue Reading →
Tuesday 14th February 2023 Inverness Airport railway station had an official opening on 2nd February Back in December I reported on four bus and train developments in and around Inverness: the introduction of Request To Stop facilities at Scotscalder on the Far North Line; new electric buses in Inverness; the about to open Inverness Airport... Continue Reading →
Saturday 11th February 2023 Chiltern Railways is how rail franchising was always meant to be. Commencing operations in July 1996 it was crucially awarded a lengthy 20 year franchise in 2000 enabling the late and much missed Adrian Shooter and his team to invest significantly in infrastructure improvements over that substantial timeline during which they... Continue Reading →
Thursday 9th February 2023 Tuesday's newspapers gave a strong sense of déjà-vu with reports of yet another impending bus cuts cliff edge as post Covid funding for bus services comes to an end on 31st March with registrations for any service withdrawals/amendments from that date due within the next week. We’ve been here twice before,... Continue Reading →
Tuesday 7th February 2023 The transformation of Transport for Wales' train fleet continues with new Stadler built diesel powered Class 231 trains now running on the Rhmney to Penarth line in the Cardiff Valleys. It follows November's launch of the first CAF built Class 197s in North Wales. The 11 trains which make up this... Continue Reading →
Saturday 4th February 2023 Welcome to another quarterly dose of nostalgia going back 40 years recalling what I got up to as the recently arrived Assistant Traffic Manager (ATM) at Southdown Motor Services Ltd, one of the National Bus Company’s prestigious subsidiaries based in Brighton with an operating area stretching along the south coast from... Continue Reading →
Thursday 2nd February 2023 It’s been a long time coming, as these things always are at TfL. Having launched a consultation proposing the withdrawal of route 271 and associated changes to routes 21, 141, 143, and 263 as long ago as November 2021, the end is finally here. Tomorrow is the last day to enjoy... Continue Reading →
Tuesday 31st January 2023 Message to email subscribers: I am very sorry some subscribers didn't receive Saturday's blog and quite likely today's too. I have raised this issue with WordPress and asked them to urgently look into it. One of their “Happiness Engineers” (yes, really) has been in touch to advise ‘there is an ongoing... Continue Reading →
Saturday 28th January 2023 Blackpool Transport's history can be traced back 138 years to the Town Council's introduction of trams in September 1885. However, my 2023 fortnightly A-to-Z wander through selected bus and train operators is meant to be a contemporary commentary rather than a history lesson, so let's fast forward and see what the... Continue Reading →
Thursday 26th January 2023 The first of Merseyrail's new fleet of 53 trains finally entered service on Monday morning. Ordered back in 2016 to replace the ageing Class 507/508, the new Class 777 trains were originally due into service in 2019/20, but as is the way with these things manufacturing delays, delivery delays, handover delays... Continue Reading →
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