Thursday 23rd October 2025 West of England Combined Authority's WESTlink branded DRT was in the news again earlier this week after the local BBC news featured a locally based transport campaigner, David Redgewell of the South West Transport Network, who'd worked out it must be costing the Authority around £40-£50 per passenger to fund. It... Continue Reading →
Thursday 12th June 2025 I’ve been back on the DRT trail again, this time in Portsmouth, trying out the latest scheme which hit the road at the end of last month. Branded Pompey Link, it’s funded for an initial 10 months by Portsmouth City Council’s Bus Service Improvement Plan with hopes for an extension into... Continue Reading →
Tuesday 20th May 2025 I’ve been back on the DRT trail again, trying out the recently introduced geographic expansion of the Wiltshire Connect branded scheme to cover more of the county. I’ve previously praised Wiltshire Connect in a number of blogposts for showing how to do DRT properly. Until now their schemes have been built... Continue Reading →
Tuesday 1st April 2025 Answer: Both places saw a bus route denoted by the letter R withdrawn over the weekend. In TfL's continuing drive for efficiencies to save a few vehicles here and there (it all helps with Superloop expansion), from Saturday, it rerouted the already circuitous half-hourly route B14 (Bexleyheath-Sidcup-St Mary Cray-Orpington) to take... Continue Reading →
Tuesday 11th March 2025 The latest addition to the DRT scene ‘soft launched’ last week. Funded by Hampshire County Council’s Bus Service Improvement Plan the service involves two vehicles serving a rural area centred on Andover in the Northern Test Valley. The operation uses Padam software with on the road operations in the hands of... Continue Reading →
Saturday 18th January 2025 Leicestershire County Council introduced a raft of changes to its subsidised bus network in the Melton Mowbray area from 5th January including major renumbering of bus routes and a new DRT scheme which joins its original FoxConnect branded scheme introduced in August 2022 in the south west of the county which... 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 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 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 →
Thursday 22nd August 2024 In DRT news ……. following last month’s blog about NottsBus On Demand expanding into West Rushcliffe comes the long awaited new scheme in Buckinghamshire. I paid a visit to Aylesbury on Tuesday to check out the town’s new Village Connect branded operation which began on Monday. There have obviously been issues... Continue Reading →
Sunday 28th July 2024 Nottinghamshire County Council has expanded its DRT scheme for the third time. Thanks to the DfT's Rural Mobility Fund, NottsBus On Demand began back in August 2022 operating in two adjacent geographic zones North Ollerton and South Ollerton covering an area stretching from Gainsborough in the north to Newark in the... Continue Reading →
Thursday 18th April 2024 This month has seen four developments in the burgeoning world of DRT operations. Firstly, Nottinghamshire County Council expanded its Nottsbus On Demand offering last week adding a fifth area south of Newark. To kick start the new arrangements it withdrew “your friendly local link through the Rushcliffe Villages” represented by Marshalls... Continue Reading →
Thursday 4th April 2024 Something odd has been happening to rural bus routes in the Dacorum district of Hertfordshire these past few weeks. Readers may recall the County Council's Herts Lynx branded DRT scheme expanded into the Berkhamsted and Tring areas west of Hemel Hempstead in December 2023 without any reduction in conventional bus routes.... Continue Reading →
Tuesday 16th January 2024 It's timely to have a DRT update. Firstly to Hertfordshire where the HertsLynx service based on Buntingford in 'North & East Herts' introduced in September 2021 and operated by UNO has been expanding across Hertfordshire. The scheme was extended from 4th December to include Hertford and Ware, making for quite a... Continue Reading →
Thursday 16th November 2023 When I wrote about Wiltshire Council's launch of Wiltshire Connect three months ago I mentioned the Council would be expanding the geographic area covered by its semi-flex DRT scheme in two more phases; in September and at the end of October. Sure enough the full operation is now up and running... Continue Reading →
Thursday 9th November 2023 If the pre-launch photo-call is anything to go by everyone at Shropshire Council is very excited about the County's introduction of DRT. Shropshire Council officers and councillors with their new electric Mellor Sigma. Photo courtesy Shropshire Council. After much anticipation and about two years in the planning, Shropshire Council's Connect On-Demand... Continue Reading →
Tuesday 3rd October 2023 Transport Focus has just published its interim report on this year’s ongoing research into bus passenger satisfaction while the report by the University of the West of England commissioned by the DfT into DRT schemes funded by the Rural Mobility Fund is also now available. I’ve had a read of both... Continue Reading →
Sunday 24th September 2023 Cheshire West and Chester Council was awarded £1.075 million from the DfT’s Rural Mobility Fund as long ago as March 2021 for a DRT scheme in the Borough. You’d hope in the two and a quarter years since then it would have learnt lessons from the many DRT schemes introduced and... Continue Reading →
Sunday 27th August 2023 This week’s DRT experience samples yet another model of operation following recent examples I’ve covered of semi-flexible and Taxibus schemes in West Sussex, Wiltshire and Sevenoaks. It’s the new Go2Gate branded operation operated by Thames Valley (part of Reading Buses) and introduced last Sunday with funding from Heathrow Airport. It’s a... Continue Reading →
Sunday 13th August 2023 As explained in last Sunday's blog about route 99 in West Sussex, the other stalwart of semi-flexible rural bus routes to succumb to a technology upgrade and expansion, including a fully flexible additional bus, is long standing route 101 between Pewsey and Devizes in Wiltshire. This was the original ‘Wiltshire Wigglybus’... Continue Reading →
Sunday 6th August 2023 Readers will know I cite the semi-fixed arrangements on long standing bus route 99 between Chichester and Petworth and route 101/102 between Devizes and Pewsey as examples of best practice in combining a timetable with times at fixed points with flexibility to serve hamlets and villages on a semi-flexible route in... Continue Reading →
Sunday 30th July 2023 For this week's DRT travel experience I returned to Hertfordshire to give the Herts Lynx service another try. Along with High Wycombe's Pick-Me-Up and South Forest of Dean's Robin, both of which I've recently reviewed, Herts Lynx, introduced in September 2021, really is being held up as a massive DRT success... Continue Reading →
Sunday 16th July 2023 This week’s Demand Responsive Transport (DRT) journey experience comes courtesy of Surrey County Council (which pays for it) and Mole Valley District Council (which operates it). The ‘Connect’ branded DRT drifted into service as a trial in four micro areas close to Leatherhead in 2021 with a public launch in November... Continue Reading →
Sunday 9th July 2023 You lose some you win some. In the world of DRT trials we see schemes ending as failures after a shoal of public funding has been expended just as others get going thanks to another shedload of money and renewed optimism this really will be the one to succeed because “it... Continue Reading →
Sunday 2nd July 2023 And another one bites the dust. Introduced in September 2021 for "an initial period of three years" the East Leeds FlexiBus scheme was "the first trial of digital DRT within West Yorkshire" to be "used to evaluate the impact, effectiveness and commercial viability of the DRT service for the wider roll... Continue Reading →
Sunday 4th June 2023 I’ve been out DRT riding again. This time in High Wycombe. Carousel’s PickMeUp, introduced last September as a three year scheme with £736,000 from the DfT’s Rural Mobility Fund and Section 106 funding, is being hailed as a DRT that’s working well and "going from strength to strength". A series of... Continue Reading →
Thursday 18th May 2023 I’m sorry to be reporting on yet another new DRT scheme so soon after last week’s East Sussex FlexiBus write up, but this is the reality of the bus industry at the moment with more DRT operations slowly but surely taking over. This latest scheme in West Rushcliffe began on Monday... Continue Reading →
Tuesday 9th May 2023 “Fflecsi is the perfect way to enjoy fun days out and explore the beauty of this part of Pembrokeshire” encourages a colourful Transport for Wales (TfW) leaflet extolling the virtues of its fflecsi DRT service and the scenic county of Pembrokeshire and the Coastal National Park. I didn’t need convincing about... Continue Reading →
Tuesday 4th April 2023 This week sees the controversial withdrawal of many tendered bus routes within the West of England Combined Authority (WECA) area and their replacement with an extensive DRT operation. It's been a rocky road to implementation and I've got a feeling it'll be an even rockier road now it's up and running.... Continue Reading →
Sunday 12th March 2023 You’re never far away from a DRT experience these days. Those living in the West of England region will soon be subjected to multiple schemes by the Combined Authority so I thought I’d relate my latest experiences on the off chance someone responsible at that Authority might come across this blog... Continue Reading →
Friday 24th February 2023 I couldn't round off a week of travelling on new bus routes without a ride on the very latest DRT scheme which started on Monday in Kent. (New blog subscribers are welcome to put DRT into the search function on this website to read about my travel experiences on all other... Continue Reading →
Tuesday 8th November 2022 It's time for another new DRT try out. This one's in Gloucestershire where £1.35 million from the DfT’s Rural Mobility Fund is paying for two schemes to operate in the county for a two year trial. One is in the southern part of the Forest of Dean... ... and the other... Continue Reading →
Thursday 29th September 2022 Nottsbus On Demand It’s been a few weeks since we’ve seen a DfT funded DRT launch but two more have recently hit the road including one in High Wycombe this week and another in Nottinghamshire at the end of last month which had sneaked passed my DRT launch antenna until now.... Continue Reading →
Thursday 30th June 2022 Long term blog readers may recall I paid a visit to Wiltshire's very successful 'on-demand' rural bus route 101/102 running between Pewsey and Devizes back in April 2019. I was concerned to read recent reports Wiltshire County Council are consulting on changing this highly successful arrangement to an app based fully... Continue Reading →
Saturday 28th May 2022 As well as a new station opening in Reston, Monday also saw another DRT scheme take to the road; this time in Warwickshire thanks to £1.02 million from the DfT’s magic money rural mobility funding tree. And if you’re thinking ‘haven’t I read one of your blogs about a DRT bus... Continue Reading →
Thursday 14th April 2022 There’s a lovely hamlet in Essex called Good Easter. Located in rural Essex between Chelmsford and Braintree it just happens to fall into one of the two areas covered by Essex County Council’s brand new DigiGo branded DRT scheme which began this month and was officially launched yesterday. It seemed like... Continue Reading →
Friday 1st October 2021 The DRT craze reached Aberdeenshire on 16th August when the snazzily named Ready2Go five vehicle operation hit the road. Six weeks on it was time for a ‘BusAndTrainUser’ visit to give it the once over which I managed to do on Tuesday morning to add to my collection of DRT travel... 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 →
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 →
Thursday 13th August 2020I had high hopes for fflecsi (it’s Welsh for flex) - the Welsh version of DRT (Demand Responsive Transport).Transport for Wales (TfW) are replacing existing fixed-timetable small-scale bus routes with a bookable flexible bus running along the route and its environs according to demand. It’s a bit like how Go Coach Hire... Continue Reading →
Friday 17th July 2020It hasn’t worked in Bristol, Sittingbourne, Sutton, Ealing or Oxford. And it’s on pause in Liverpool. But these failures haven’t dented Watford Borough Council's enthusiasm for joining the craze of flirting with Demand Responsive Transport (DRT). The latest scheme got underway in the Hertfordshire town a couple of weeks ago on 1st... Continue Reading →
Tuesday 25th February 2020 After Friday's Tees teaser I spotted the new 'Tees flex' app became available to download over the weekend so armed with that and the zonal maps which blog readers kindly pointed out were on Stagecoach's 'Tees flex' webpage as click throughs from the zonal names, I was able to plan today's... 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 →
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 →
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 →
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 →
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 →
Wednesday 28th August 2019 I was puzzled by a recent news item that Merseytravel are withdrawing a local bus route they fund in the Speke area of south east Liverpool from this weekend to be replaced on Monday by Arriva Click: 'the new Arriva Click Speke Zone service will operate between the same hours... Continue Reading →
Tuesday 13th August 2019 TfL's first foray into the new fangled world of App based Dial-A-Ride (aka Demand Responsive Transport) in Sutton is now in its twelfth week and yesterday a rather impersonal email popped into my inbox announcing an exciting extension of the area served by the swish exec style wishy-washy liveried Mercedes Sprinter... Continue Reading →
BusAndTrainUser 