Saturday 11th January 2025 Welcome to a new blog series featuring towns and cities around Britain which, by a quirk of history, are blessed with having two railway stations on different lines serving completely different destinations. To kick things off I've been to Hertford and had a look at that town's contrasting pair of stations:... Continue Reading →
Thursday 9th January 2025 In the current era of BSIP funding for exciting new developments you don't find many brand new bus routes being introduced on a purely commercial basis these days, but Milton Keynes is getting a nice helping thanks to the Arriva commercial team’s continued much welcome policy of seeking out new markets... Continue Reading →
Tuesday 7th January 2025 Biggest news on the Changing Hands front this week is of course the start of the third and final tranche of Greater Manchester's Bee Network from Sunday when Metroline took over routes and bus garages previously operated by Stagecoach together with Go North West and Diamond Bus also gaining smaller chunks... Continue Reading →
Saturday 4th January 2025 There are quite a few recent developments on the DRT front to catch up on so here’s an update to keep blog readers informed. ting begets TIGER As reported in my year end review, at the end of November the West Huntingdonshire based scheme funded by Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority... 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
Tuesday 24th December 2024 A warm Christmas Eve welcome to the not to be missed Annual BusAndTrainUser Awards. Don't believe the hype from all those other award ceremonies which dominate the bus and rail industry social calendars at this time of year telling you how they're the most important. These are THE one-and-only, genuine, life-changing,... Continue Reading →
Saturday 21st December 2024 Welcome to another end of year nostalgic look back over the last twelve months of bus and train activity in Britain. For those who are 'time-scarce' here's the customary word cloud summing up 2024 in one easy glance. But for those with bags of time, we begin with the usual BusAndTrainUser... Continue Reading →
Thursday 19th December 2024 The final bus route numbered 100 to feature in this blog series is the newest, the least frequent and the least used of all the 26. The route between Devizes and Marlborough only began in October 2023 and was initially part of Wiltshire Council’s semi-flex DRT initiative. It's operated by Go... Continue Reading →
Tuesday 17th December 2024 Over the last ten years we’ve welcomed Tweedbank in 2015, Okehampton in 2021, then Levenmouth earlier this year and now this week, after a 60 year break, passenger trains are running again on the 18 mile Northumberland line between Ashington and Newcastle and all the signs are it’ll be another successful... Continue Reading →
Saturday 14th December 2024 Sometimes it's just nice to take a leisurely three bus excursion around a lovely rural part of the country with no tight connections and some attractive scenery to enjoy on an unhurried itinerary. Norman Kemp, part owner and top man at Aylesford based Nu-Venture bus company, recently gave me a set... Continue Reading →
Thursday 12th December 2024 1. Another connecting bus that doesn't connect Residents in the village of Downe just inside the Greater London boundary with Kent have had their usual seamless bus journey into Bromley disrupted these past few weeks due to Southern Gas Networks closing Rockery Road; the main access road from Keston, used by... Continue Reading →
Tuesday 10th December 2024 It's been a bumper year for bus station rebuilds and Transport Hubs. Already featured in blogs this year have been Belfast, Cardiff, Cheltenham, Crewe, Durham, Halifax, Inverness and Stockport and just in the last few weeks there's been two more - Kingston-upon-Thames and Porthcawl with another 'frozen-in-time' rebuild in Porth. So... Continue Reading →
Saturday 7th December 2024 As this fortnightly series moves ever closer towards its terminus today’s penultimate route 100 to be featured is Cheltenham’s Park and Ride operation. And if that sounds familiar, you’ve got good recall as I half featured the route back in June while on my 7-day All Line Rail Rover and stopped... Continue Reading →
Thursday 5th December 2024 It’s something that’s happened since I retired so it’s a bit baffling and a struggle to keep up with, especially the tech side, but although the Bus Open Data Service has been a huge thing in the industry for some years it's still having many ‘settling in’ issues. It’s important, as... Continue Reading →
Tuesday 3rd December 2024 Tomorrow is the last day for most Megabus coach services operating in England and Wales. Stagecoach launched its low-cost inter-city megabus coach network 21 years ago in 2003 challenging National Express's monopoly for much of the express coach travel market in England and Wales. At the time the company predicted megabus.com,... Continue Reading →
Saturday 30th November 2024 Overground gets named We begin November's month end miscellany round up in London checking out how the orange coloured Overground has spawned six new individual identities to make it easier for passengers to work out which line they need. As you can see it’s a work in progress with some new... Continue Reading →
Thursday 28th November 2024 Readers may recall a blog in August describing an unusual situation north of Bedford where competition had broken out between Grant Palmer and Stagecoach on a bus route between Bedford and the village of Harrold. The pre August 2024 route 25 all operated by Grant Palmer On the face of it... Continue Reading →
Tuesday 26th November 2024 Photo courtesy: Mark Lyons This antepenultimate entry in my fortnightly travels on all Britain’s 26 bus routes numbered 100 series is one of the city of Oxford’s bus routes primarily aimed at students travelling to and from Brookes University, but open for anyone to use. Photo courtesy: Mark Lyons Oxford Bus... Continue Reading →
Saturday 23rd November 2024 Passengers on TfL’s route 358 between Crystal Palace and Orpington finally got to travel on the much anticipated Irizar electric ‘tram style’ buses on Wednesday when seven of the 17 vehicles allocated to the route, operated by Go-Ahead London from its Green Street Green bus garage, hit the road. Readers may... Continue Reading →
Thursday 21st November 2024 Earlier this month media outlets in London and Surrey ran a story about an "isolated Surrey village" "urgently needing" a bus service. The village is Netherne-on-the-Hill. I'd never heard of it so decided to investigate and verify claims elderly residents may be "forced to leave" for the lack of a bus.... Continue Reading →
Tuesday 19th November 2024 I was back in Kent yesterday for a ride on the brand new Dover Fastrack service which began on Sunday. It's been designed to provide a quick link from the expanding Whitfield area, north of the town, with the town centre and Dover Priory railway station where route D (as it's... Continue Reading →
Saturday 16th November 2024 As the Office of Rail & Road is soon to announce updated numbers of passengers using every railway station in Britain for the year ended March 2024, this monthly blog series counting down the previous year's top ten busiest stations finally reaches number 1 - which, for the first time, is... Continue Reading →
Thursday 14th November 2024 It’s Bus and Coach Show time again. Since Tuesday the NEC is playing host to the biennial exhibition that showcases shiny new buses, coaches, minibuses and mini coaches and a whole host of suppliers to the industry. There’s around 200 exhibitors to see so it would be impossible to cover all... Continue Reading →
Tuesday 12th November 2024 Whichever way you look at it, from a passenger’s perspective, this week’s takeover of the Kent County Council funded Fastrack branded network in Dartford, Bluewater, Ebbsfleet and Gravesend is an unwelcome downgrade. I know there’s the promise of new electric powered Irizar built ieTram buses to come and note these are... Continue Reading →
Saturday 9th November 2024 This route 100 is the only one operated by First Bus as well as the only one of that number in the whole of East Anglia now the summer only Wherry Line 100 in Great Yarmouth has ended. It’s actually mainly in the Thurrock local authority area with less than 20%... Continue Reading →
Thursday 7th November 2024 It's taken me a while, but my travels finally enabled a catch up with two public transport infrastructure developments. The £27 million rebuild of Sunderland station's southern entrance which opened last December and Halifax's newly rebuilt £20.5 million bus station which fully opened in July after a partial opening a year... Continue Reading →
Tuesday 5th November 2024 Please be advised today’s blog has been cancelled. This is due to .…. … a national shortage of blog writers. … unusually high levels of sickness among blog writers. … more than the usual number of blog writers reporting sick this morning. … an operational reason. … severe congestion in blog... Continue Reading →
Saturday 2nd November (No 999) This week has seen big Bee news in Greater Manchester. Mayor Burnham has been trumpeting the first new bus route added to the network since he took back control in September 2023. Except it’s not really a new route, more the reinstatement of a route withdrawn in 2020. I’ve not... Continue Reading →
Thursday 31st October 2024 (No 998) Another month end means it's time once again to look back on things I've spotted on my travels which haven't made it into a full blown blog. First up some good news from Padstow. Padstow extends eviction deadline to April 2025 Further to last Thursday's blog a lively meeting... Continue Reading →
Tuesday 29th October 2024 Today marks an important milestone in BusAndTrainUser blogging. This is blog number 997. And by a happy coincidence, ignoring Stagecoach's contrived route number 1066 (Hastings to Tunbridge Wells), 997 just happens to be the highest number taken by any of Britain’s scheduled daily bus routes (numbers 998 and 999 are school... Continue Reading →
Sunday 27th October 2024 Hot off the press, this latest book published last week and written by renowned industry expert Chris Cheek is a must read for anyone with a serious interest in the future of the bus industry. As its title (which adds the strap line "The Opportunities and Threats") conveys, the book provides... Continue Reading →
Saturday 26th October 2024 Three of Britain's bus routes numbered 100 serve airports. We've already ridden Metrobus's Crawley to Redhill via Gatwick Airport and Arriva's Stevenage to Luton via Luton Airport, and this latest review features the third - and one aimed specifically at serving the airport market; in Edinburgh. Lothian Buses operates three routes... Continue Reading →
Thursday 24th October 2024 A row has broken out between Padstow Town Council and Cornwall Council/Transport for Cornwall/Go Cornwall Bus over buses terminating on the Town Council's land in the car park by the former railway station in the town. It sounded an ideal job for BusAndTrainUser Verify to investigate, especially as the Town Council... Continue Reading →
Tuesday 22nd October 2024 A ride on route 310 I finally managed to take a ride on TfL's recently introduced route 310 which provides a direct link between the two Jewish communities in Golders Green and Stamford Hill, removing the need for a bus change in Finsbury Park between parallel routes 210 and 253/254 as... Continue Reading →
Saturday 19th October 2024 If you just look at Paddington's traditional platforms at ground level you would justifiably wonder how the station holds the title of second place Busiest Railway Station in Britain. It does so, of course, because of its two subterranean Platforms A and B for the Elizabeth Line. They make all the... Continue Reading →
Thursday 17th October 2024 It’s been in the planning for over a decade and taken four years to build. It’s cost £340 million (almost double the original £175 million estimate) due to construction cost inflation. It’s got eight platforms for trains and 26 departure bays for buses and coaches all under one roof. It’s been... Continue Reading →
Tuesday 15th October 2024 There's been understandable concern raised recently about the future role for Small and Medium sized Enterprises (SMEs) in the bus sector particularly following the franchise experience in Greater Manchester where they didn't really get a look in and, aside from the University of Hertfordshire owned UNO, the recent withdrawal of the... Continue Reading →
Sunday 13th October 2024 There are two bus routes numbered 100 in Greater Glasgow. I’ve already featured Glasgow Community Transport’s service to the Riverside Transport Museum in this series, so here's the other route operated by Avondale Coaches over in Clydebank. It’s a route in two halves with two buses shuttling between Clydebank town centre... Continue Reading →
Saturday 12th October 2024 Many apologies for the late running of this 'Every route 100' blog. This is due to 'blog uploading congestion' over the last couple of weeks so to get things back on schedule, welcome to a special weekend 'Every route 100' double with the next route 100 appearing in an extra Sunday... Continue Reading →
Thursday 10th October 2024 Readers will know I like to get out and about and see what's actually happening on the road as well as on the tracks when commenting. Something I wish more managers and especially senior directors of transport companies would do more often so they can take informed decisions based on real... Continue Reading →
Tuesday 8th October 2024 Apparently I’ve become renowned for being “anti-DRT”. I can’t think why! Let me clarify. From a professional standpoint, DRT is a complete waste of public money - almost always costing more in subsidy than axed traditional bus routes due to them needing too much subsidy. Operationally, it’s hugely inefficient. From a... Continue Reading →
Saturday 5th October 2024 Hello blog readers. I need your help. In the coming weeks and months I've been invited to make a couple of online presentations about the state of bus and rail integration in Britain and what can be done to improve things. I’m enormously grateful to Britain’s renowned rail fares expert Barry... Continue Reading →
Thursday 3rd October 2024 Last Sunday wasn’t a good day for GWR passengers and as bad luck would have it I was one of them. The signs weren’t good from first thing with a post on X from GWR at 07:19 advising “disruption is expected to the end of the day” due to “forecasted severe... Continue Reading →
Tuesday 1st October 2024 Thanks to £72.6 million funding, Bristol is well on course to benefit from reinstated passenger trains in a couple of years on what is currently a freight only rail line together with the construction of three new stations. The first of these, Ashley Down, opened on Saturday. It's nothing special. Located... Continue Reading →
Saturday 28th September 2024 Another month is reaching its last knockings so it's time for another round up of miscellany that's caught my eye over the last few weeks. And first this month is First and it's brand new brand.... First launches new brand and vision It's been four years since Janette Bell arrived as... Continue Reading →
Thursday 26th September 2024 Here's another one of those community involvement success stories. It's from the Lake District where a volunteer-led community group called Sustainable and Integrated Transport for Ullswater (SITU) has set about organising and funding two additional bus routes to supplement Stagecoach's successful and well used bus network through the National Park. Key... Continue Reading →
Tuesday 24th September 2024 It’s been a long while since I’ve visited the wonderful Amberley Museum in West Sussex so its annual autumn Bus Show on Sunday was a good opportunity to put that right. It’s a fantastic museum located in a former chalk pit which housed a working quarry doing its business between the... Continue Reading →
Saturday 21st September 2024 We're now into the top three of this year's run down, month by month, of Britain's busiest railway stations, using the Office of Road and Rail’s statistics for the year ended March 2023. Which brings us to Waterloo. Pre-pandemic and pre-Elizabeth line, Waterloo always proudly held the top spot, but nothing's... Continue Reading →
Thursday 19th September 2024 Over fifty keen, energetic, enthusiastic young bus professionals working in the bus industry met up for just over 24 hours in Cambridge on Thursday and Friday last week for the network’s latest conference. Over the the last 13 years I've had the pleasure of jointly hosting these proceedings and, as always,... Continue Reading →
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