Wednesday 19th February 2020 I took a ride on the Cambridge Busway earlier today to look at Stagecoach's latest vehicles purchased specifically to increase capacity to meet growing demand on the popular link from St Ives to the city as well as other destinations as far away as Peterborough and Royston. Eighteen vehicles costing £5... Continue Reading →
Monday 17th February 2020 It's 'take a ride on another high profile brand new fleet of buses' time again. Another £5.3 million spend. Another whole route conversion. This time nineteen buses for First Eastern Counties' excel branded Norwich to Peterborough 84 mile route. And all this before Johnson's promise last week of "4,000 beautiful, bouncing,... 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 →
Tuesday 11th February 2020 New route 459 linking the small community of Iver in Buckinghamshire (just over the Greater London border) with Heathrow Airport's Terminal 5 entered its third and final phase of introduction at the beginning of this month so I thought I'd follow up my previous visit in November with another ride around... Continue Reading →
Sunday 9th Febraury 2020 It seems not a week goes by at the moment without new 'state-of-the-art' vehicles being introduced to bus fleets around the Country; usually promoted with understandable emphasis on their green credentials at a time of increasing climate change concerns. None more so than in Basingstoke where Stagecoach South introduced a fleet... 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 →
Thursday 6th February 2020 One of the benefits of being a member of the Chartered Institute of Transport is being able to attend its extensive programme of fascinating meetings and organised visits. One of these took place this afternoon to London Underground's relatively new control centre in Hammersmith overseeing the four 'sub-surface' lines (Metropolitan, District,... Continue Reading →
Wednesday 5th February 2020 I’ve yet to see a bus in what is officially dubbed the “people-powered new look” actually out on the road so these initial comments come with a health warning it might all look much better when seen in the flesh and I reserve the right to change my opinion. In the... Continue Reading →
Monday 3rd February 2020 - updated Wednesday 5th February 2020 First the good news. Rail passengers using Gatwick Airport will be pleased to see work finally get underway from May 2020 on the project to increase the station's capacity. Although an extra platform (7) was added in 2014 to reduce track congestion, particularly Gatwick Express... Continue Reading →
Monday 3rd February 2020 I gave my mate Roger Davies' book Ribble a plug when it was published last summer by my mate Ray Stenning and now it's time to extol the virtues of another book about 'the mighty' Ribble, by another colleague from years back, Paul Kirkham. Except this book takes a completely different... Continue Reading →
Friday 31st January 2020 Bordon and Whitehill are two linked communities in East Hampshire situated midway between Alton on the A31 and Hindhead on the A3 and south of Farnham. The area is one of ten demonstrator sites in the Government’s Healthy New Towns programme. Launched in 2015 the programme aims “to explore the development... 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 →
Saturday 25th January 2020 Bus route 497 linking unserved parts of Harold Hill in the London Borough of Havering with Harold Wood Station was first identified as a good idea by TfL bus planners in their 'Review of bus services in Harold Hill' report back in September 2016. This report took a look at new... Continue Reading →
Friday 24th January 2020 I don't often attend new bus PR razzmatazz type launches these days, much preferring to take a ride when they're actually in service earning their keep with passengers travelling on board. But I made an exception this morning having seen First Portsmouth's social media promoting their sparkly new buses for the... 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 →
Tuesday 21st January 2020 It's interesting to compare three recent launches of buses and brands in the last couple of weeks. Highest profile was Blackburn Bus Company's launch last weekend of 13 new ADL Enviro200 buses for route 1 running between Blackburn, Darwen and Bolton. This route runs at an impressive 7/8 minute frequency between... 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 →
Monday 13th January 2020 Ride sharing's been around since the first horse bus began plying it's way but the modern incarnation envisages using a website or app to book a journey and clever software linking you up with other people going the same way, because that's what clever software can do. The fact there aren't... Continue Reading →
Friday 10th January 2020 I took a couple of train journeys today to catch up on two recent rail industry developments. First up was SWR's newly refurbished Class 442 trains now back in service after a bit of hiatus last summer after issues with the door locking mechanism and then compatibility with signal equipment. Apparently... Continue Reading →
Wednesday 8th January 2020 Abellio run Greater Anglia committed to introducing a completely new train fleet of 1,043 carriages across its network in its successful nine year franchise bid which began in 2016. First of these into service came Stadler built FLIRT Class 755 bi-mode trains introduced on the Wherry Lines last July. These were... Continue Reading →
Monday 6th January 2020 Universities are good business for bus companies. Many towns and cities benefit from having a network of attractive frequencies and buses running late into the night thanks to student travel. Despite this few, if any, University travel markets are hotly contested with competitive bus services. One exception is the University of... Continue Reading →
Thursday 2nd January 2020 I looked enviously at Paddington's departure board this morning seeing the 09:15 departure to Bristol Temple Meads, with its attractive non-stop 68 minute run to Bristol Parkway, 'boarding' yet still eluding me. Today was the first opportunity to have another try of enjoying the 'non-stop' experience after its hit and miss... 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 →
Tuesday 31st December 2019 Go-Ahead owned Carousel extended its High Wycombe to Uxbridge route 102 on to Heathrow Airport on Sunday; I took a ride yesterday to try it out. The route is part of the Chiltern Hundreds (routes numbered 101 to 105 - get it?) branded buses running between High Wycombe, Beaconsfield and Slough/Watford/Uxbridge... Continue Reading →
Did you miss the BusAndTrainUser Quiz of the Year? Take a look via the link above before sneaking a peak at the answers below..... 1 What comes fourth in the sequence: Lincoln, Aberdeen, Inverness ….? Harrogate - LNER began running its new Azuma branded trains to Lincoln on 21st October, to Aberdeen on 26th November,... Continue Reading →
Saturday 21st December 2019 A very warm welcome once again to my annual round up and review of what was in, who was out and the events that may have passed you by in the World of Buses and Trains during 2019; plus, as ever, the only prestigious awards worthy of the word prestigious …... Continue Reading →
Thursday 19th December 2019 Following Monday's disappointment at missing out on the inaugural GWR Paddington to Bristol Parkway non-stop journey at 09:15 after the journey was cancelled following a signal failure in the Slough area, I decided to give it another try yesterday. Having got my fingers burnt on Monday by GWR's sneaky retime last... Continue Reading →
Wednesday 18th December 2019 There's never a good time to have a complete signal failure at East Croydon but for the power to go down just as the evening peak is kicking in around 16:45 is probably one of the worst of times. I'm sure everyone at Network Rail did their very best to get... Continue Reading →
Tuesday 17th December 2019 A second new station on Britain's rail network opened on Sunday (in addition to Warrington West which I visited yesterday). This one's at Robroyston, located north east of Glasgow so I popped up this morning to see how it compares. It's on the Glasgow to Edinburgh line via Cumbernauld and Falkirk... Continue Reading →
Monday 16th December 2019 One of two brand new stations opened for business on the rail network yesterday, Warrington West; so I took a ride there today to take a look. But just for fun I decided to go the long way round from London and sample GWR's new speeded up timetable which also began... Continue Reading →
Tuesday 10th December 2019 It may be a bit pricey - at £8 (and only for six months validity too); it may be hard to find - usually only available from 'under the counter' at certain GWR rail stations; it may have some annoying flaws in its layout and content (see below); but it's a... Continue Reading →
Saturday 7th December 2019 It's quite a day for fans of new bus routes in London. Christmas has come early for those who love new route numbers added to an already comprehensive bus network - I can't remember the last time four new routes were added all on the same day. The Mayor has been... 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 →
Thursday 28th November 2019 The rail industry's fond of slipping in new developments before they're officially due to start; they call it a 'preview service'. It's just happened again on the stopping service between Reading and Paddington currently operated by GWR and where most of the service is to be handed over to TfL Rail... Continue Reading →
Tuesday 26th November 2019 It's good to see more and more bus companies playing payment systems catch-up by accepting contactless cards as an alternative to cash. I'm not convinced the transaction time is quicker, and indeed could well be slower in the hands of a proficient and experienced cash handling driver, but it's the way... Continue Reading →
Thursday 21st November 2019 Following last Friday's try out of TfL's latest Demand Responsive Transport trial in Ealing, I found myself back in the Borough with two bus industry colleague friends to give it another try yesterday afternoon. There was a Slide vehicle parked up waiting for custom as we came out of Ealing Broadway... Continue Reading →
Tuesday 19th November 2019 Indeed it is; and many congratulations to Mark Fowles, managing director of Nottingham City Transport (NCT) and his entire team for picking up the coveted Bus Operator of the Year award at the UK Bus Awards’ annual ceremony in London this afternoon. Not only that, but congratulations also to Mark for... Continue Reading →
Friday 15th November 2019 It's all change in the world of Bus Demand Responsive Transport (DRT). This week sees the final foray for Arriva Click's pioneering 'pilot' in Sittingbourne and Zeelo's scheme for pilots (and others) living in Crawley and working at Gatwick Airport. The former ends tomorrow having been launched with much fanfare back... Continue Reading →
Thursday 14th November 2019 It's becoming notable how many new and improved bus routes are being introduced with financial support from Heathrow Airport offering better connections for staff and airline travellers. Anyone would think there's a third runway in the offing. I wrote about First Bus's new RailAir link from Guildford to Heathrow when it... Continue Reading →
Thursday 7th November 2019 Seeing the photos online I was already hugely impressed by the sheer presence of the magnificent looking Alexander Dennis built Plaxton Panorama tri-axle coaches launched by Scottish Citylink on their AIR branded service between Glasgow and Edinburgh Airport towards the end of last month. Costing a cool £400,000, each of the... Continue Reading →
Wednesday 6th November 2019 Today's been an auspicious day for me. It's not my birthday but by dint of political chicanery back in 2010, my postcode and date-of-birth numbers have today, at last, come up in the concessionary bus fares entitlement lottery. There are now 8,500,001 people in England enjoying free travel on local bus... Continue Reading →
Saturday 2nd November 2019 Reading Buses owned Courtney Buses are making significant changes to bus services for the Windsor to Heathrow corridor this weekend. The improved timetable and revamp includes a smart new branding with buses sporting an updated Thames Valley livery for colour coded routes. I travelled over to the eastern end of what we... Continue Reading →
Tuesday 29th October 2019 It's good to see Stagecoach introducing another new commercial inter-urban bus route with the Group's Yorkshire company trailblazing a brand new service between Chesterfield and Nottingham this week. The new X1 provides an attractive alternative to the long standing Pronto branded route Stagecoach East Midlands operate jointly with TrentBarton running every... Continue Reading →
Saturday 26th October 2019 TfL's policy of redeploying buses from Zone 1 routes into the suburbs moved forward a couple more centimetres today with the launch of brand new route 335 linking the expanding residential development at Kidbrooke with Blackheath and North Greenwich for its 'Millennium Leisure Park' (basically posh looking sheds with retail, restaurants,... Continue Reading →
Friday 25th October 2019 Spoiler alert: the postman delivered a National Rail Voucher for £6.70 this morning. I wrote about the outrageous rip-off fares policy on the Gatwick Express back in May, but the other day I came across another pricing scandal from this past-its-sell-by-date train brand. I was buying a ticket in the Gatwick... Continue Reading →
Wednesday 23rd October 2019 Small independently owned bus companies are a vital part of the industry. They serve small size towns and rural areas which other plc group companies cannot reach. They're becoming increasingly important as the Groups try and reverse falling margins. These small businesses are usually run by dedicated passionate individuals working very... Continue Reading →
Monday 21st October 2019 LNER's flagship AZUMA trains started running between Lincoln and London Kings Cross today. They're journeys which previously just ran between Newark North Gate and Kings Cross now projected back to start at Lincoln, so they're not new journeys on the actual East Coast Main Line (ECML). They provide a significant boost... Continue Reading →
Friday 18th October 2019 There's rightly a lot of discussion about the impact of travelling by plane in the context of our global climate emergency; it pangs my conscious whenever I take a flight, and I don't do it very often, and when I do it's between London and Scotland, the Scottish islands or across... 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 →
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