Friday 17th September 2021 The Snowdon Sherpa network of bus routes provides a great way to explore the Snowdonia National Park. It links the six walking paths which give access to the mountains and removes the tediousness for walkers needing to retrace their outward route if parking in one of the designated parking areas across... Continue Reading →
Wednesday 15th September 2021 Transport for Wales have only gone and done it again. They've further expanded the TrawsCymru network of bus routes with a brand new route - the T10 - running through the Snowdonia National Park linking Wrexham via a connection in Corwen with Betws-y-Coed and Bangor. The T10 timetable provides a two-hourly... Continue Reading →
Monday 13th September 2021 I've been meaning to pay a visit to take a look at Chester's relatively new "Bus Interchange", opened in March 2017, for some time and a delay on the West Coast main line (axle counter failure near Rugby delaying and diverting all trains through Northampton) recently meant my extensive plans for... Continue Reading →
Saturday 11th September It’s sad when a bus garage closes. There’s so much transport history within the fabric of the building and it always seems such a shame to lose the heritage they represent and a living reminder of how bus garages looked and worked eighty to a hundred or more years ago. They’re also... Continue Reading →
Thursday 9th September 2021 Buckinghamshire’s expansionist bus company Redline has upped the stakes in its competitive battle with Arriva by introducing of a new hourly route X20 between Aylesbury and Oxford. It challenges Arriva’s long standing three-bus-an hour Sapphire branded route 280 on the same route. Redline are differentiating their interloper by offering a quicker... Continue Reading →
Tuesday 7th September 2021 Thanks for the guesses following Sunday’s post. Some of you were spot on identifying Britain’s most westerly bus stop. Bearing in mind we’re talking ‘Britain’ (therefore ruling out Northern Ireland) and not just thinking about England, the Outer Hebrides trumps Lands End by a considerable longitude; and in particular, the mission... Continue Reading →
Sunday 5th September 2021 I visited Britain's northernmost bus stop in July 2018. It's on Unst, the furthest north island in the Shetland archipelago, in the small hamlet of Valsgarth. It was a great trip. I turned my attention southwards in 2019 and visited Lizard Point in August that year to check out Britain's most... Continue Reading →
How that campaign should have looked Friday 3rd September 2021 Instead of this.... This.... This week’s controversy over Channel 4's national advertising campaign for Naked Attraction using T shape bus sides in major cities around the country reflects more on the attitude of media giant Global who signed off the campaign and those bus companies... Continue Reading →
Wednesday 1st September 2021 Apologies for the London and South East centric blogposts of late. That’ll change in the next few posts, but here’s just one more featuring a quick tour I did on Monday to check out three recent transport developments in the Capital. Aldwych goes two-way On Saturday 21st August Aldwych became a... Continue Reading →
Monday 30th August 2021 ‘Back in the day’ (I’m thinking the fifties and sixties) when the UK had a sizeable manufacturing industry and car ownership was much lower bus companies ran networks of routes to serve factories on industrial estates often sited on the edge of towns with journeys timed specifically to cater for workers’... Continue Reading →
Saturday 28th August 2021 Sooner or later the bubble had to burst. For years London's buses have been hailed as an exemplar for how bus networks should be across the country. It's a favourite bleat of MPs used to flotillas of red buses passing up and down Whitehall as they attend their Westminster offices that... Continue Reading →
From Compass to Carousel Thursday 26th August 2021 The LCBS Anniversary Tour Gang of Four (now joined by Mike Best and David Cole to make Six of the Best) reconvened on Tuesday to continue our wander around that much missed company’s Polo mint operating area taking us from Dorking Station (where we left off last... Continue Reading →
Tuesday 24th August 2021 One of London's most unusual bus routes makes its final journey this week. I write 'London’s bus route', but it's not a TfL route and only reaches as far east as Romford. But it does operate along a road once used by former London Transport Central Area red bus route 250... Continue Reading →
Sunday 22nd August 2021 Britain has three* bus networks using the prefix W. They’re a very diverse threesome. One comprises frequent routes in Wood Green and Walthamstow in north London (as well as Wanstead and Woodford). Another can be found running through the most remote spectacular scenery you’ll ever find in Britain, in the Outer... Continue Reading →
Friday 20th August 2021 A new name to the open-top bus scene this year is Reading based coach operator Aldermaston Coach Lines, the trading name of Southern Coach Lines Ltd. It’s reportedly been nine years since Southsea enjoyed an open-top bus service but now Aldermaston owner and managing director Nick Morton has introduced a service... Continue Reading →
Wednesday 18th August 2021 It's always impressive to read corporate vision documents. You know the kind of thing. Glossy photos of staff helping smiling customers and paragraphs full of glowing statements about the company's unbridled commitment to customers and how we're at the heart of everything the company does. Sadly they seldom match up to... Continue Reading →
Monday 16th August 2021 After my recent visit to Safeguard, I thought I'd feature another small bus operator exuding quality and that's Kings Lynn based Lynx operating a network of routes across north west Norfolk. Julian Paterson and colleagues began trading as recently as January 2015 and it’s no surprise to see how well it’s... Continue Reading →
Saturday 14th August 2021 After being relegated to online ‘virtual tours’ in March 2020 due to lockdown, the London Transport Museum’s programme of real life ‘Hidden London’ tours are finally back in business. The programme kicked off on Thursday with a brand new tour exploring the Kingsway Tramway Subway and I was lucky enough to... Continue Reading →
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 →
Sunday 8th August 2021 It's always a pleasure to visit one of Britain's quality smaller bus and coach companies. Safeguard Coaches has been trading for nigh on 100 years having been established in 1924. The company is still owned by the same Newman family (and that's not the famous Ensign Newmans), albeit now into their... Continue Reading →
Friday 6th August 2021 After I’d checked out Exeter’s new bus station on Monday last week it seemed a good opportunity to take a ride on First South West’s new open-top Discover Exeter tour introduced at the end of May for the summer season. It’s part of the company’s suite of initiatives under the overarching... 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 →
Friday 30th July 2021 I first met Ben Colson in 1977. He was working for Eastern Counties in Norwich and I'd been posted there for three weeks to undertake what was called 'comparative training' with the jointly managed West Riding and Yorkshire Woollen bus companies where I'd been working on the National Bus Company's two... Continue Reading →
Tuesday 27th July 2021 At a reported cost of £8 million Exeter’s brand new bus station, which opened for business on Sunday, sounded like excellent value for money so I popped down yesterday to take a look around and see what’s on offer. As readers will know I never trust the hyped up world of... 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 →
Saturday 24th July 2021 “Worcestershire on Demand” is the trying-to-be snazzy overarching brand name for what Worcestershire County Council hope will be a network of DRT schemes across the county to provide "better value and a better service for essential travel". That's what their 'blurb' says with its rather strange grammar in the first sentence:... Continue Reading →
Thursday 22nd July 2021 It’s wonderful to see the 'Staycation Express' run by Rail Charter Services back again on the Settle & Carlisle Line for the summer. And even better than last year’s trial, it’s being run by a former Great Western Railway High Speed Train in a very smart green and silver livery. This... Continue Reading →
Tuesday 20th July 2021 I made six train journeys on Saturday and experienced more mixed messaging leaving me wondering whether our Government controlled railways along with the train companies really are interested in attracting passengers back on board particularly following yesterday’s withdrawal of Covid restrictions. During the early months of the pandemic messaging was all... 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 →
Friday 16th July 2021 There are various ways to reach the Outer Hebrides (aka the Western Isles) by public transport from the south east of England. Travelling via Inverness then the train to Kyle of Lochalsh, bus or coach to Portree and Uig on Skye and the ferry to Tarbert on Harris (or Lochmaddy on... Continue Reading →
Tuesday 13th July 2021 It really was third time lucky. Readers will know it's taken two abortive visits to Scunthorpe, but after much perseverance I finally managed to experience a journey on the North Lincs JustGo DRT service at the third attempt last Tuesday. I left you in my last blog post on the East... 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 →
Wednesday 7th July 2021 It takes around four hours to travel by train between Swansea and Shrewsbury via the Heart of Wales railway line. You can shave a good hour off that by travelling via Cardiff, Newport and Hereford on the main line but lovely and scenic though that route is, especially between Cwmbran and... 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 →
Saturday 3rd July 2021 My latest 7-day All Line Rover came to an end yesterday (the first I’ve taken for a couple of years due to the pandemic) so here are a few reflections on the week’s travels in these continuing Covid aware times. Normally I’d ensure I got my Rover money’s worth by making... 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 →
Tuesday 29th June 2021 Gerald of Wales was an Archdeacon of Brecon born in 1146 in Pembrokeshire who travelled extensively in his life, not least all over Wales. He’s given his name to a "Premier Service" train that runs once a day in each direction between Holyhead (leaving in the early morning) and Cardiff (returning... Continue Reading →
Sunday 27th June 2021 You can usually pick up the vibes quite quickly whether a new bus venture will be a success when experiencing the service on the road. Despite my previous trip on First Bus’s (Buses of Somerset) Exmoor Coaster having a disappointing single decker at the beginning of the month the omens were... Continue Reading →
Friday 25th June 2021 Trying out new Demand Responsive Transport services in their first week or two, as I often do, can give an unfair assessment due to initial teething problems or the fact few potential passengers know about their existence in the early days. So it's always good to make a return visit after... Continue Reading →
Wednesday 23rd June 2021 Following the recent post describing my travels between Cannock and Telford with D&G Bus's new Chaserider branded route X14, I received some feedback from Centrebus/D&G Bus owner and bus industry entrepreneur, Julian Peddle, who’d leapt into action to pursue my reported lack of information at Cannock bus station and why I... Continue Reading →
Monday 21st June 2021 It’s not just buses and trains that offer interesting rides. The London Underground also has an intriguing history and much to explore. I recently spent a few hours at the eastern end of the Central Line. It's always an enjoyable travel experience - with each station full of fascinating individual characteristics.... Continue Reading →
Thursday 17th June 2021 I've become a bit of a DRT connoisseur. Sittingbourne, Weymss Bay, Liverpool, Speke, Leicester, Oxford, Sutton, Ealing, Teesside, Newport, Sevenoaks, Watford, Ebbsfleet, Scunthorpe, Milton Keynes ... I've tried them all over the last couple of years. Regular readers will be all too familiar with my varied experiences so I'm delighted to... Continue Reading →
Tuesday 15th June 2021 At last. Britain's most disgraceful bus station has been banished to history as a brand new replacement opened in Merthyr Tydfil on Sunday after a two year construction project. Funded by the Welsh Government at a cost of £12 million - not much more than a two platform railway station -... Continue Reading →
Sunday 13th January 2021 * that's Welsh for confusion. I’ve always liked the TrawsCymru network and brand. It’s grown in size and extent over the years providing frequent links across Wales, mostly on corridors where there’s no rail option. The branding is consistently applied thanks to the Transport for Wales policy of specifying and even... Continue Reading →
Wednesday 9th June 2021 It’s exactly five months since Arriva sold its Cannock based operations comprising about a dozen bus routes, 46 vehicles and the Delta Way bus garage to D&G Bus back on 9th January, so with a brand new service introduced last week, I thought it was a good time for a visit... Continue Reading →
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