Thursday 11th September 2925 Catching up on last week’s developments with a look at three more new bus routes which began on 31st August/1st September…. First up is a new link between Leigh-on-Sea and Southend Airport and its adjacent Business Park funded by Southend City Council. Stephensons are operating the two year contract with an... Continue Reading →
Thursday 14th August 2025 An open letter to Martijn Gilbert, Managing Director Arriva UK Bus As you begin your exciting new role next Monday I thought I'd drop you a line with a few thoughts based on impressions I've gained from extensive travel experiences with Arriva over the last few years. Let me say from... Continue Reading →
Saturday 2nd August 2025 Before today’s blog a quick update on the mystery of the missing route 15 on 16th July and non replies from AtoB Bus and Coach. Following publication of Thursday’s blog I was contacted by AtoB’s owner Brian who apologised for the silence in response to my emails/phone calls explaining the company... Continue Reading →
Thursday 26th June 2025 It’s a brand name I believe can be traced back sixty years to 1965 when Crosville first launched Cymru Coastliner to promote its lengthy route from Chester all the way along the North Wales coast to Caernarfon. Way ahead of its time, the name stuck for decades, even though in the... Continue Reading →
Tuesday 29th April 2025 Aside from people blasting out music and conversations on their phones (see Saturday's blog), another annoyance travelling by bus these days is the impact of roadworks, whether it's a gruelling slow journey when on board due to consequential traffic queues or waiting in vain for a late running bus caught up... Continue Reading →
Thursday 24th April 2025 I took a ride on Red Eagle’s newly introduced route 500 on Tuesday to see how it was settling in. Readers may recall this competitive service against Arriva’s troubled route X5 between Hemel Hempstead and Aylesbury was announced a few weeks ago before Arriva publicly admitted it was throwing in the... Continue Reading →
Thursday 17th April 2025 There’s a new ‘kid on the block’ providing express coaches between London and Stansted Airport. Flibco has been awarded a five year contract by the Airport's owners commencing 1st April, replacing previous incumbent Airport Bus Express, for the lucrative link to Stratford and Liverpool Street where it competes with National Express,... Continue Reading →
Tuesday 25th March 2025 Many inter-urban bus routes have seen booming passenger demand in recent years as bus companies invest in new vehicles, improved frequencies and attractive branding to encourage growth along key corridors. But on the border of Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire it’s a different story. Specifically the Aylesbury to Hemel Hempstead corridor along what... Continue Reading →
Tuesday 14th January 2024 It's good to see Merseyside's Mayor Steve Rotheram provided funding for the reintroduction of the limited stop bus route between Runcorn, Widnes and Liverpool just before Christmas, from 16th December. The new look route X4 is operated by Arriva running hourly on Mondays to Saturdays over an extended day between 05:00... 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 17th September 2024 1. Penny pinching over Railcard discounts Holders of Railcards will notice their discounted rail ticket has increased in price this week. That's because the discount reduced marginally on Sunday from 34% to 33.4% making it closer to the actual "one third" discount included in all marketing and advertising literature for Railcards.... Continue Reading →
Tuesday 10th September 2024 As the mood music from Government turns up the volume of "local communities put back in the driving seat"; “new powers to take back control of local bus services” and "public control to be delivered faster and cheaper" with yesterday's DfT announcement of its upcoming "bus revolution"... ...recent developments in Derbyshire... Continue Reading →
Tuesday 6th August 2024 This summer school holiday has seen three new bus routes hit the road in Kent. First up, commencing on Saturday 20th July, is a free shuttle bus on new route 51 connecting Folkestone West and Folkestone Central railway stations with Folkestone Harbour Crosskeys are running the daily service on behalf of... Continue Reading →
Tuesday 23rd JULY 2024 Many years ago Stagecoach ran a bus route (numbered VT99) on behalf of Virgin Trains linking Milton Keynes Central station with Luton and its airport. Press fast forward and it became route MK1 and more recently Stagecoach linked the service to its Luton to Bedford bus route creating a pronounced V... Continue Reading →
Thursday 4th July 2024 It's just over three weeks until Arriva's exit from High Wycombe (along with Aylesbury) so I decided to pay a visit to see what the company will be leaving behind. Despite imminent abandonment of the town Arriva's website continues to extol its virtues..... "High Wycombe is a thriving market town situated... Continue Reading →
Thursday 2nd May 2024 A few weeks ago a partnership between Arriva and Stagecoach was announced. It's part of the Leicestershire Enhanced Bus Partnership and has seen the two bus companies amend timetables of their respective hourly routes (X3 and X7) between Market Harborough and Leicester so there’s a more even half hourly frequency from... Continue Reading →
Saturday 13th April 2024 The eighth route 100 to be featured in this fortnightly series must rank as one of the quirkiest. It’s Arriva's second of that Company’s two routes numbered 100 but unlike its busy Stevenage to Luton route already featured, and certainly unlike the lengthy Manchester to Warrington featured last time, this 100... Continue Reading →
Tuesday 27th February 2024 A fortnight ago I explained in the blog about Flitwick's Transport Interchange that Stagecoach was withdrawing its hourly route 2 between Bedford and Flitwick after 17th February. The two buses saved from that cut were redeployed on an extension to the company's half hourly route 9A/9B which perviously ran from Bedford... Continue Reading →
Tuesday 20th February 2024 Department for Transport funded Bus Service Improvement Plans (BSIPs) have helped launch a number of new bus route initiatives around the country. I’ve recently caught up with Hertfordshire’s latest addition to the network as well as a new arrival in West Sussex. As reported in recent blogs, Hertfordshire has been introducing... Continue Reading →
Saturday 6th January 2024 A new year heralds a new fortnightly series of BusAndTrainUser blogposts. And for 2024, instead of another A-to-Z, I'll be featuring all Britain's bus routes numbered 100, as by the wonders of numerical coincidence there just happen to be 26 of them. Britain's bus routes numbered 100 provide a fascinating mixture... Continue Reading →
Saturday 25th November 2023 As highlighted in my recent blog about Hertfordshire’s new bus route 908, two further new routes began in the County on Monday this week so I took a ride on that first day to see what they bring to the network. Route numbers used are 721 and 725 rather than in... Continue Reading →
Thursday 2nd November 2023 Hot on the heels of last Thursday's blog catching up with the six month old route 907 between Stevenage and Cheshunt comes another Hertfordshire County Council inspired new bus route introduced this week. It's numbered 908 and runs between Stevenage and Welwyn Garden City. Like the 907 it falls under the... Continue Reading →
Saturday 13th May 2023 I thought it would be nice to report on a positive Bus Service Improvement Plan (BSIP) development so took a trip to Leighton Buzzard on Thursday to sample Arriva’s brand new bus network introduced on Tuesday in partnership with Central Bedfordshire Council. Central Beds got awarded £3.7 million for its BSIP;... Continue Reading →
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 →
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 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 →
Saturday 21st January 2023 Tomorrow sees one of England’s seven jointly operated inter-urban bus routes change to be operated by just one company. After today Arriva are quitting the long established route 685 between Newcastle and Carlisle with fellow operator Stagecoach taking over Arriva’s three bus workings increasing their commitment from two buses up to... Continue Reading →
Thursday 18th January 2023 This month’s miscellany I spotted on recent travels. Coalville information I was in Coalville on Tuesday. It has two locations in the town centre where buses congregate - one called Marlborough Square and the other Memorial Square. It can be confusing for visitors but credit to Leicestershire County Council which has... Continue Reading →
Thursday 12th January 2023 The Chiltern Railways ‘ghost bus’ ran for the first time yesterday demonstrating our railway at its most bizarre. It was a whacky Wednesday welcome to a superfluous one-journey-a-week outing between West Ealing and West Ruislip stations which no passengers in their right minds will ever use other than for the enjoyment... Continue Reading →
Thursday 1st December 2022 There aren’t many instances of head to head competition between bus companies these days, particularly not on inter urban corridors. So I was a bit surprised to see Arriva and D&G Bus are battling it out between Crewe and Macclesfield with each company running an hourly service numbered 38. The route... Continue Reading →
Thursday 20th October 2022 I can’t let Rannoch Moor, Bodmin Moor, Dartmoor and Exmoor get all the bus blog action so thought it was high time I paid another visit to the lovely North York Moors and take a bus ride across this scenic delight of a National Park. You just can’t beat a double... Continue Reading →
Tuesday 11th October 2022 Welcome to an occasional series of London bus rides on palindrome route numbers. And first up for consecutive number lovers are routes 123 and 321. I’m delighted to kick off with a ride on the 123 for two reasons. Firstly this year marks 50 years since I began my bus conducting... Continue Reading →
Saturday 3rd September 2022 I know; it’s not a mid size town in its own right; not even a small size town come to that. More just a crossroads in Flintshire’s sprawling Deeside conurbation but ‘beggars can’t be choosers’ when it comes to awkward letters in my fortnightly A-to-Z visiting odyssey. The town gained its... Continue Reading →
Thursday 25th August 2022 Firstly an update to Tuesday's blog regarding Kent's bus cull for blog subscribers and early morning online readers before the post was updated at 07:30. Thanks to reader Darryl I added an update after it had been published to confirm at a Kent County Council Scrutiny Committee meeting last Thursday the... Continue Reading →
Saturday 6th August 2022 It’s the smallest town I’ve visited in my fortnightly AtoZ safaris but there aren’t many O options to choose from. Oswestry’s population at around 17,000 means it’s not my normal ‘mid size’ town for a visit although by Shropshire standards it is in fact the second largest town in the unitary... Continue Reading →
Saturday 16th July 2022 It's been a busy few weeks for new bus station openings. Joining Stevenage (see Tuesday's blog) is the city of Leicester which unveiled its all new St Margaret's Bus Station to the public on Sunday 26th June. I was able to pay a visit last Sunday to check out the new... 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 →
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 20th November 2021 It’s been a long lingering death sentence. 'The writing was on the wall’ way before the pandemic destroyed passenger numbers so it came as no surprise to hear news Arriva are withdrawing its Green Line branded route 758 between Hemel Hempstead and London Victoria. The route will cease after service on... Continue Reading →
Saturday 6th November 2021 I’m conscious there’ve been a few blogs recently about bus routes in Essex; well, sorry folks, here’s another one. The issue is, each time I visit I spot something that attracts my attention justifying a return visit to investigate further. I did the same a year ago when I took a... Continue Reading →
Sunday 17th October 2021 A surprise ending And so to the fourth and final quadrant of our London encirclement commemorating last year's fiftieth anniversary of the much missed London Country Bus Services. We'd journeyed from Gravesend to Dorking; Dorking to Amersham and Amersham to Bishops Stortford and Friday saw the circle completed by travelling from... Continue Reading →
Wednesday 13th October 2021 As promised last month, a further quick update on my recent experiences with customer service teams in the public transport sector. In my Sunday 19th September blogpost I explained how I’d encountered a problem at Tottenham Hale Underground Station on Friday 17th when the ticket gate ate my rail ticket and... Continue Reading →
Sunday 19th September 2021 I thought I should provide a few updates after my post a month ago about unsatisfactory experiences at the hands of various rail companies and their hard to reach customer service departments, or often, their sub-contracted outsourced companies. I explained how South Western Railway had twice declined my delay repay claim... 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 →
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 →
Monday 19th April 2021 As the deregulated era of free market bus operation draws towards a close it’s not surprising head-to-head bus competition is pretty rare nowadays. Not least currently because Covid has reduced passenger numbers to (at best) less than two-thirds of normal times, and no one is making a profit in the current... Continue Reading →
Friday 9th April 2021 The Isle of Sheppey has been on my ‘to visit again’ list for some time, so news Arriva are retrenching from the island by closing their garage with its rather basic facilities sited alongside Sheerness station seemed a good reason to arrange a trip yesterday. I'd also been browsing Arriva's infamously... Continue Reading →
Wednesday 31st March 2021 It's all change for Milton Keynes Council's funded bus routes tomorrow as the local authority sweeps away the low frequency services which compliment Arriva's cross town commercial network replacing them with Demand Responsive Transport (DRT) commissioned from the tech company Via. Councillor Lauren Townsend, Cabinet member for Community Safety, hailed the... Continue Reading →
Saturday 27th February 2021 The Government's new-look-cautious irreversible-one-way-road approach to unlocking means the 'stay-at-home' message will be eased, subject to data, "data not dates", in four weeks (at the earliest) on 29th March (which sounds like a date to me, as does 12th April, 17th May and 21st June, but I'm sure it's all splendidly... Continue Reading →
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