Sunday 13th March 2022 Evesham is the smallest town I’ve visited so far in my fortnightly A to Z exploration of the state of public transport in small to mid size towns. It’s got a population around 26,000 so is about half the size of Andover and Durham and a third the size of Bracknell... Continue Reading →
Saturday 12th March 2022 I was in Harrogate last week. You can't help but notice the bus service operated by Transdev Blazefield in the town exudes quality. Harrogate Bus Company is definitely in the bus industry’s Premier League. It's not that all the initiatives highlighted below are revolutionary; indeed some are small fry in the... Continue Reading →
Thursday 10th March 2022 A new sister company for Stagecoach - Belgium's Hansea. Forget that proposed merger-come-takeover between Stagecoach and National Express. That was last week’s news. It turns out while those board room discussions had been going on including a deal with Comfort DelGro to offload Stagecoach's share of Citylink as well as handing... Continue Reading →
Tuesday 8th March 2022 I’ve been visiting friends in Dublin over a weekend in early March for many years and after missing out in 2021 due to Covid was back on the Emerald Isle once again on Saturday and Sunday. It’s a great city to visit and I always look forward to my annual trip... Continue Reading →
Sunday 6th March 2022 Following the demise of Maidstone's Park & Ride last month comes news part of Canterbury's scheme is under threat. Launched in 1990, the city's Park & Ride is currently being subsidised by more than £57,000 a month and has seen the number of users halve since the Covid hiatus. There are... Continue Reading →
Saturday 5th March 2022 Last autumn I took a ride across Aberdeenshire on most of Stagecoach's route 35 between Elgin and Aberdeen, and thought it was high time I told you about it. Elgin (which lies 38 miles east of Inverness) and Aberdeen ... .... are connected by ScotRail trains running eight times a day... Continue Reading →
Thursday 3rd March 2022 Cambridgeshire Guided Busway Looking south I was in Cambridge briefly over the weekend so took the opportunity to take a look at the interim safety measures now installed between the public footpath/bridleway and the northbound guided busway on the one-and-a-quarter mile stretch between Addenbrooke's Hospital and Cambridge railway station. It had... Continue Reading →
Tuesday 1st March 2022 It's just over ten weeks since Arriva pulled out of Surrey so I took a ride over to Guildford last Wednesday to see how things were going. Bus networks in Crawley and Burton-on-Trent as well as Cannock have prospered since Arriva gave up on those towns so I wondered if the... Continue Reading →
Sunday 27th February 2022 In last Tuesday's blog about the Brighton Main Line blockade I mentioned a rail replacement bus was providing a direct journey between Seaford and Uckfield. As that seemed an unusual link - something not normally possible either by bus or train without changes and extended journey times - I thought I'd... Continue Reading →
Saturday 26th February 2022 It's time for my fortnightly visit to a small to mid sized town and for D I selected one of England's most beautiful and iconic cities which I hadn't explored for many months. The city of Durham's population is around 50,000. It's the administrative centre of its namesake Durham County Council... Continue Reading →
Thursday 24th February 2022 A fascinating exhibition opened at the beginning of this year in Elstree & Borehamwood Museum. I paid a visit a few weeks ago and thought I'd share the highlights with you. Elstree & Borehamwood Museum is a small one room affair on the second floor of Elstree & Borehamwood library located... Continue Reading →
Tuesday 22nd February 2022 A deserted Hassocks at 07:30 I was up bright and early yesterday morning taking a few rail replacement rides to see how Brighton Main Line commuters were faring on their first weekday of the blockade without trains. It was soon apparent, as in 2019, extensive pre-blockade publicity had done its job... Continue Reading →
Sunday 20th February 2022 It's a bit déjà vu on the Brighton Main Line this week. Flushed with a successful nine day blockade south of Three Bridges to Brighton and Lewes during half term in February 2019 which at the time was billed as a one-off efficient way of completing a whole host of upgrade... Continue Reading →
Saturday 19th February 2022 I'd planned to use this blog to write about the fourth funding settlement agreed between DfT and TfL yesterday including the controversial stuff like Travelcards ending. But I guessed a settlement wouldn't be agreed. And instead there'd be a further extension from last night's midnight expiry of the already twice extended... Continue Reading →
Thursday 17th February 2022 I’ve been meaning to enjoy the freedom offered by a Waterside Wanderer Day Ranger ticket since November when Nigel at the Image Team kindly contacted me to let me know about its "soft launch" that month. Last Saturday I finally found time to travel over to Southampton and give it a... Continue Reading →
Tuesday 15th February 2022 As a Brighton Main Line regular I’ve long been used to playing the ‘Thameslink only’ ticket game to save myself money on travels to and from London, not least during the current hiatus when my local station Hassocks is only blessed with trains to London Bridge and at that a Southern... Continue Reading →
Sunday 13th February 2022 Having explored a couple of southern towns to kick off this year's A to Z of public transport provision in small to mid sized English towns last month I thought I’d better level up and select this month’s two contenders in the north. And what’s more they’re both cities rather than... Continue Reading →
Saturday 12th February 2022 There's been much consternation among bus passengers living in Potters Bar and the surrounding area over the last week. Long standing route 84 between St Albans and New Barnet has been deregistered by Metroline. The 84 is one of those iconic routes with a long history stretching back over a century... Continue Reading →
Thursday 10th February 2022 Passengers using Edinburgh’s trams to travel into the city centre face a few weeks of inconvenience from today with the closure of track between West End through Princes Street and St Andrew Square to the (now, former) terminus at York Place. It’s so that the track can be joined up at... Continue Reading →
Tuesday 8th February 2022 It’s getting on for eighteen months since the start up company called ember (“the UK’s first scheduled electric coach company”) charged on to the Scottish express coach scene with its eight journey a day route between Dundee and Edinburgh. I took anther ride last Friday to see how it’s glowing. Bearing... Continue Reading →
Sunday 6th February 2022 Readers will have seen my recent news update about Essex County Council promoting its "spring clean" of Harlow's notorious bus station “with help from Arriva and Harlow Council”. It was good news that "public transport posters and timetables have been updated, alongside a deep clean" so as I was passing through... Continue Reading →
Saturday 5th February 2022 Cardiff Bus publicly launched its fleet of 36 Yutong E12 EV buses in the middle of last month. They looked very smart and inviting from the photographs on social media so I popped over to the Welsh capital on Wednesday to give them the once over. They’re being used on three... Continue Reading →
Thursday 3rd February 2022 I’d been hearing encouraging news about the way the business and technology park known as Milton Park, near Didcot, is embracing public transport so took a ride out there one day last month to see what’s happening. Situated two-and-a-half miles west of Didcot Parkway railway station, Milton Park is one of... Continue Reading →
Tuesday 1st February 2022 As expected the southern section of Cambridgeshire's guided busway between the railway station and Addenbrooke's Hospital and Trumpington closed yesterday for an indefinite "temporary period" pending the outcome of an independent safety review expected to conclude this month. I wrote about the background to this last week which led to a... Continue Reading →
Sunday 30th January 2022 Flashback to those innocent days in summer 2018 when all was ready for the December opening. Following yesterday's blog when I explored how Crossrail is set to change the travel landscape between Abbey Wood and Liverpool Street, it's now time to continue westwards through the new central core towards Paddington from... Continue Reading →
Saturday 29th January 2022 The sign says Crossrail, so it must be. With Crossrail construction finally in sight of the finishing line and the network's long awaited opening now expected within a matter of weeks I took a ride along the new stretch of line last week so I can appreciate first hand the significantly... Continue Reading →
Thursday 27th January 2022 Continuing my 2022 odyssey around England’s mid sized towns to check out their public transport offering brought me to the post war new town of Bracknell in the ceremonial county of Royal Berkshire. It's surrounded by (clockwise) Maidenhead, Slough, Windsor, Egham, Woking, Camberley, Wokingham and Reading. 1998 saw a local government... Continue Reading →
Tuesday 25th January 2022 A one and a third mile section of the Cambridgeshire Guided Busway will close next Monday due to safety concerns. It follows two fatal accidents, one in September 2018 and another in October last year. Following October's incident an independent safety review was established and after consultations with the Health &... Continue Reading →
Sunday 23rd January 2022 I recently took a ride up to Luton to check out progress on the new £225 million DART (Direct Air Rail Transit) shuttle which will link Luton Airport Parkway station on the Midland Main Line and the Airport terminal building. Ever since Luton Airport Parkway station opened in 1999 a bespoke... Continue Reading →
Saturday 22nd January 2022 One of the proposals London Mayor Sadiq Khan has put forward to help shore up TfL’s finances in ongoing funding negotiations with Government to replace the current arrangements ending on 4th February is the end of the Travelcard. If this goes ahead it will confirm without doubt the wheels have well... Continue Reading →
Thursday 20th January 2022 The pandemic hasn't been kind to Maidstone's Park & Ride service. Rewind to those carefree pre-Covid July 2019 days and there was much celebration as Maidstone Borough Council officially handed over the running of the town's Park & Ride operation to Arriva with a six year contract committing the company to... Continue Reading →
Tuesday 18th January 2022 The last time I used "London's newest bus route" as a title for a blogpost was on 29th March 2021 heralding the arrival of new route 456 in north London. Almost ten months on I’ve taken another ride on the route to see how it’s getting on but before that another... Continue Reading →
Sunday 16th January 2022 Join me during 2022 as I check out the state of public transport provision in a variety of small to medium sized towns across England. And as I like to bring a bit of order to such meanderings, let's start with the letter A and take a visit to Andover in... Continue Reading →
Saturday 15th January 2022 As bus and train companies make service cuts to cater for reduced staff availability due to the continued impact of Covid's Omicron variant I can’t help wondering whether the consequential slimmed down networks will become the "new normal" as passenger levels continue trailing 25-30% below pre-pandemic times and the Treasury plays... Continue Reading →
Thursday 13th January 2022 This Saturday sees the closure of London Underground Northern Line's city branch between Moorgate and Kennington for the next four months**. This will allow the £655 million 'Bank Station Capacity Upgrade Programme' to enter its final stages. Specifically it will allow for a new southbound platform and 570 metre tunnel, which... Continue Reading →
Tuesday 11th January 2022 First of all a reminisce about how Braintree's Bus Park (to use its former official term) used to look until its closure for a full rebuild in March 2020. In particular its 'back-in-time' original 1930s glorious waiting room complete with boarded up authentic fire place and wonderful wooden bench seating all... Continue Reading →
Sunday 9th January 2022 Today's the last day to submit comments in response to TfL's consultation on the proposed withdrawal of routes 168 and 271. Regular readers will be aware I've been chronicling the relentless reductions in London's bus routes since August last year and uncharacteristically for TfL noted none of these have been subject... Continue Reading →
Saturday 8th January 2022 This week has seen further rationalisation between Go-Ahead owned Oxford Bus and Stagecoach Oxford simplifying which bus company operates which routes. Long gone are the days of intense head-to-head competition between the two operators, now there’s sensible cooperation and coordinated timetables making for an attractive bus network to entice passengers. Following... Continue Reading →
Thursday 6th January 2022 It’s nice to see London’s regulated buses at long last catching up with standards of comfort, decor and facilities that have been commonplace on new buses in the deregulated rest of the country for many years. Yet, this being London, it’s not just a straightforward upgrade to bus specifications. Bish bosh... Continue Reading →
Tuesday 4th January 2022 Christmas Eve marked the end of an era for price savvy Kent commuters travelling by coach from the Maidstone, Swale and Medway areas to Docklands and the City of London. Gillingham based National Express owned Kings Ferry coaches withdrew all its commuter journeys with not much more than a week’s notice.... Continue Reading →
Sunday 2nd January 2022 What on earth is going on at Southern Rail? There we all were making alternative arrangements for travel between Christmas and New Year while Network Rail carried out resignalling work closing all lines between East Croydon and Victoria for nine days .... .... when on Thursday it was announced these arrangements... Continue Reading →
Saturday 1st January 2022 A Happy New Year to all readers. As John and Yoko remarked in 1971, “let’s hope it’s a good one” especially for public transport. (I added that last bit, but I’m sure they were thinking it too.) And what a year it promises to be with lots to look forward to... Continue Reading →
Saturday 18th December 2021 Welcome everyone to my annual round up of the bus and train year, a few well deserved awards and time to test your knowledge of the public transport highs, lows and quirks of 2021 in the BusAndTrainUser annual Quiz of the Year. 2021 in seven paragraphs 2021’s been another year of... Continue Reading →
Thursday 16th December 2021 As trailed in Tuesday’s blog about Soham, on Monday and Tuesday I took a look at a couple of other developments in the new winter rail timetable which commenced on Sunday. If one of LNER’s no expense spared razzmatazz launches is anything to go by the most exciting December development by... Continue Reading →
Tuesday 14th December 2021 The winter rail timetable began on Sunday incorporating LNER's new once a day direct service between Middlesbrough and London; a much improved timetable from GWR on the Severn Beach branch; a new direct hourly shuttle service linking Crosskeys with Newport in South Wales; and the return of Gatwick Express branded trains... Continue Reading →
Sunday 12th December 2021 West Midlands residents might think construction works which began on two major corridors across the conurbation (A34 and A45) a year ago are taking a marathon length of time but it’s all for a good cause, namely to introduce Sprint - the region’s new bus based rapid transport network with the... Continue Reading →
Friday 8th December 2021 Regular blog readers will know how much I love a good map. So I was delighted to receive an invitation from a 'long time ago' colleague* in the bus industry, Alex Nelson, to a launch lunch for the latest edition of the splendid National Rail Map he produces every year as... Continue Reading →
Wednesday 8th December 2021 It was much missed last December due to Covid, but this year's Ensignbus Running Day held on Saturday more than made up for that temporary absence. It really was a great day out. It's become a well established fixture in the calendar and almost certainly involves the most heritage buses from... Continue Reading →
Monday 6th December 2021 Fareham and Gosport's much heralded 3.4 km busway, opened in April 2012, has just got a kilometre longer following yesterday’s opening of a southern extension taking it further down the former railway alignment between the towns. Costing around £11 million it gives First Hampshire and Dorset’s Eclipse branded buses on routes... Continue Reading →
Saturday 4th December 2021 When I heard the news First Group and MTR Corporation had won the South Western Railway (SWR) franchise back in March 2017 I did a double take on hearing the deal included scrapping the fleet of thirty brand new five car Siemens Class 707 trains Stagecoach had only ordered a couple... Continue Reading →
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