Public Asset?

Comments left on the Lancashire Evening Post website about the demise of Preston Bus predictably demonstrate the usual misconceptions about a modern, deregulated bus industry. It’s probable that the general public will never grasp the complexities of bus service operation. And, why should they? All they want is a value-for-money, reliable, punctual service. Yet, if those web comments are a true reflection of what people think, deregulation appears to them to have failed.

While most of the sentiments were anti-Stagecoach, there were those who felt Preston Bus needed whipping into shape. Either way and for whatever reason, even after 22 years of deregulation and privatisation, when the public believes the bus service isn’t working, when this becomes so overwhelming, the bus industry finds itself painted defensively into a corner. The odds stack up in spite of the good that’s emerged in the last two decades.

And much good has emerged in the North West. Prestonians must remember their history. Stagecoach purchased Ribble in 1988 and began the process of turning around the stultifying culture of this once drifting super-tanker. In 2001 Stagecoach sold the less profitable east Lancashire garages. New owner Blazefield turned them around but only after it ruthlessly concentrated on core routes.

And Prestonians are less likely to recall the lack of investment till relatively recently at Preston Bus, the old Atlanteans battling on, the end-of-life Lynxes and the seemingly exhausted Metroriders.

Prestonians will no doubt soon see a rationalisation but will they recall the traffic chaos in town and buses queuing at residential termini? And will they realise that the resultant service is likely to be sustainable?

And yet, it still comes back to it. In the eyes of the public, has privatisation worked? Profit, to the public, is a dirty word and they want service first. The operator has an incentive to maximise profit by offering a good service. But the two seem as far apart in the public consciousness as ever, as passengers continue to consider the bus industry not as a business but a public asset.

Photo: Omnibuses Northern Correspondent

Consulting our Customers

The use of the internet is now almost universal amongst bus service providers. A web presence is a relatively cheap way of informing potential passengers about services and has the advantage that our target market of non-bus users can access the information as easily as our existing passengers.

What fascinates me about this method is the way in which different operators use it to either consult or inform passengers about forthcoming changes.

Trent Barton has in the past posted proposed timetables on its website ahead of registration to benefit from feedback from passengers. Stagecoach Oxford also tried this method of consultation late in 2007, prior to revising its service 20 between Oxford, Woodstock & Charlbury/Chipping Norton. Both operators claim useful feedback by using this method of communication but no doubt any operator in a competitive location will be loath to reveal plans to their rivals.

Stagecoach in East Sussex also merits mention as, already, full timetables for its new Eastbourne network (starting March) are posted on the web. This includes details of the new network with a separate written summary, a move which will surely help to retain the confidence of passengers who have lost both Eastbourne Buses and Cavendish to Stagecoach almost within weeks.

In my view, ahead even of these companies is Southern Vectis, with its blog on its public website. As industry professionals, it's sometimes difficult to put ourselves in the position of our customers. The blog on the SVOC site is written for the layman, and in its six month life so far has managed to explain some of the thinking behind running the Island’s buses. Fares were explained and now the way in which services are planned. The blog explains that two corridors out of Ryde merit increased levels of service, but only if the concessionary fare settlement with the council can support the intended investment. It goes on to mention that the Ryde to East Cowes service could benefit from not circling residential areas of Ryde, but then tells the reader of the problems that such a move could cause.

Well done to all of these operators for making good use of the web; if only the industry as a whole showed the same enlightened approach. (Mystery Contributor)

i Stagecoach in East Sussex
i SVOC Blog

Winners?

The worst news yet about our recession yesterday. The UK economy will shrink faster than any developed nation and it will take 20 years to clear the current debt. Our recent survey revealed that a quarter of our regular readers are currently in the age band 36-49. In 20 years, they’ll either comfortably have their free bus pass or be close to one.

In spite of it all, there are some winners during the recession. People looking for eligible partners are rushing to dating agencies. In spite of those agnostic bus adverts, there’s a recession-related rise in church-going. Bread & basics sales are up as people make home-made sandwiches rather than pop down the shops. Chimney sweeps report a ‘roaring’ trade as people look to economise on fuel.

And people are using their free travel pass more.

Ridership has increased dramatically in so-called ‘honeypots’, masking underlying trends, but even elsewhere, high spring and summer fuel prices correlated with a marked growth in free travel. The assumption is that bus services scooped up a number of discretionary passengers. And, evidence would suggest that in spite of falls in fuel prices a lot have continued with the bus. Perhaps the relatively poor return from building society savings means that it’s prudent for those over 60 to count the pennies. So, in economic, social and environmental terms, free travel’s a Good Thing.

And not just free travel. Major groups such as First and Arriva pushed cheaper bus commuting during the peak of the summer fuel rise. Some passengers will stick and have stuck.

It’s not all good news. Financially, if free travel reimbursement rates are poor, there are real risks. Town Halls can expect further pressure that will only lead to otherwise unnecessary operator disputes. As fares increase ahead of inflation—once blamed on fuel—so will reimbursements. And, if buses become full of free travellers, where do farepayers sit? And will they be back?

A Different Challenge

If you fancy a change of scene and a move to (and around) Wales, the Welsh Assembly Government’s recruiting for a network manager to exploit and develop its five-year plan for Trawscambria services.

Transport-wise, Wales has achieved much in the Assembly’s 10-year life. For example, it was first off the blocks with free travel, in 2002. Not only that, the national scheme has attracted no appeals, somewhat unlike England. And in policy and legislative terms, it has gradually drifted away from England but in a positive way. Its latest legislative venture is called the Learner Travel (Wales) Measure. This ensures councils or head teachers as appropriate take responsibility for behavioural issues on coaches & buses, reduces the statutory three mile limit to two for all primary pupils regardless of age and, importantly, allows transport authorities rather than schools to determine opening times if this leads to school transport cost reductions and sustainability improvements.

And, of course, the Assembly’s supporting Trawscambria, either directly or indirectly. This provides a network of longer-distance bus services that plug some of the gaps between locations without rail (or without rail to all points). Network manager applicants need experience in
‘implementing quality partnerships and contract schemes’, so you can guess in which direction the Assembly’s thinking.

It may seem odd but I am a very occasional user of Trawscambria services (the Powys 704), benefiting from improvements in journeys that were once practically impossible. There are gaps and I have wondered why, for example, the X63 Brecon-Swansea wasn’t part of Trawscambria. Perhaps the network manager incumbent can ensure that it is.

A New Dawn in Eastbourne

Stagecoach representatives will be on hand between 0830 and 1800 in Eastbourne today to sell its new, March 2009 unified network. Opportunities to throw two competing networks into the air and see what settles are still relatively rare. Now that Stagecoach owns Eastbourne Buses and will close Cavendish, Stagecoach has real scope to redraw a network that can set aside a somewhat chequered past: the slow decay of Eastbourne Buses; and the chipping away during daylight hours by Cavendish—an operator less profitable then first thought, if this comment is correct. In short, Stagecoach has a Brighton-style opportunity for a customer driven network, something that includes Cavendish innovations, such the 8/8A circulars.

It’s interesting that Stagecoach, well known for its brinkmanship, is marketing Eastbourne’s network as providing “timetables that have been designed to provide regular times between journeys so that buses no longer run within a few minutes of each other, followed by a long gap in service.” The general public never sees the logic in competition that causes imbalances such as these!

While some will cry ‘foul’ over the creation of a monopoly, others will remember that monopoly was near enough the case in 2006 before Cavendish started, the more so since Stagecoach’s strategic Eastbourne withdrawal in 2002. Yet others will welcome even headways and much-needed investment, visible as £1½mil-worth of ADL E300s start appearing on service, diverted it seems from Northampton.

If, on balance, all this is good news for the people and council of Eastbourne, watch out for the competition authorities who might see things differently. Can the OFT really expect Cavendish to hang around when an efficient and ruthless competitor sets up stall to replace the previous lacklustre incumbent? And could the OFT really expect Cavendish to sell to another?

Forgotten no More?

i CPT’s “Britain’s Coaching” report

A promise of more holidays at home this year, longer distance passengers seeking cheaper express travel options and the launch by the CPT of a campaign to help bulster England’s coaches may lead to a long overdue renaissance in the sector.

Because, you get the feeling that the UK coaching sector is under siege, from all sides.

For one thing, a large number of Town Halls appear to misunderstand coaches. There’s a belief—often true, it has to be said—that coaches contribute little to local economies. They bring in cash-strapped older people who stay five minutes, buy a Mars bar, newspaper and cup of tea at best, and quickly move on. Hardly the sort of ABC1 long-stays our tourist centres aim to attract.

Then there’s the shifts associated with personal wealth and choice. The onslaught of both the private car and continental package holiday have weakened the coaching market. Result: businesses selling, slimming or shutting.

Add digital tachos, driver CPCs, the cost of fuel, free concessionary travel on buses and the London emissions zone. While bus manufacturing is seeing something of a recession-busting renaissance, the complete opposite is true of the coaching sector.

Long gone, therefore, is the golden age of coaching, from about 1948-1968, when operators large and small could rely on bulging Plaxtons or Duples on day and extended tours. Even in the 1970s, Bournemouth’s big boys Hants & Dorset and Bournemouth Corporation were offering excursions, competing against the family-owned coaching sector. No more. Indeed, you’re hard pressed to find details of any day excursions from resorts these days.

What might change? We’ve said the coach sector’s bracing itself for more business in 2009. And then there’s the CPT “Britain’s Coaches: partnership & passengers”. When the current chief executive joined just over 12 months ago, he promised to deliver for the coaching sector. The report highlights the coach’s contribution to the UK economy & environment, and postulates that, in partnership, it could do more. 2009 could be the year coaches come out of the cold.

i CPT’s “Britain’s Coaching” report with facts, figures and nice images of mainly continental-bodied fleet

Recovering Car Users

Said a bus industry manager this week, “I have to admit to being a recovering car user”.

A brave thing to admit. And don’t you think there’s something rather Alcoholics Anonymous about such a statement?

We often get hung up about trying to get people back onto buses that we forget that for some people the car can be a sensible choice for certain journeys and the bus for others. Life isn’t black & white. We don’t need to be hair-shirted all the time. Making the right choice where it’s convenient and easy to use the bus can be enough to make the difference between supporting an otherwise marginal service as opposed to seeing it whither.

If only more people would see themselves as “recovering car users” and recognise that there are times when they can leave their car on the drive. We shouldn’t berate but encourage them. It's pragmatic rather than reprehensible.

We suspect that’s entirely why one of the Dorset region’s premier operators has seen a 15 per cent increase in ridership since it introduced new Scanias on its X3 Bournemouth-Salisburys. The Scanias offer more passenger comfort than their predecessors and marketing's made them highly visible. “Recovering car users” are therefore more likely to see the service as an alternative for some of their journeys. And free travel for those over 60 helps, too.

Sold—Official

One phrase in Preston Buses’ Peter Bell’s closing statement as news spread yesterday that his employee-owned Preston Bus had officially sold to Stagecoach summed up the reason why now is a good time for a smaller operator to sell up… an uncertain future.

Bell cited recession, BSOG, the uncertainties of the Local Transport Act and free travel reimbursement issues. Quite a list of issues.

And he might’ve added (but wisely didn’t) aggressive competition from the new owner of his business.

The deal was accepted by shareholders on Thursday and completed yesterday. Inter-availability of tickets begins on Sunday and, no doubt in eight weeks or so, we shall start to see changes that will rationalise and integrate both networks in a sustainable fashion. Or, if you prefer, offer a reduction in service and competition. As to which will be best for passengers depends upon your view. But this sort of scenario worked in Brighton.

One of England’s most bitter bus wars is now officially over. There’s no doubt who won. Preston Bus shareholders can also claim some victory among the sadness, as they are likely to receive significant windfall payments. They’ll need to complete a self-assessment tax return in due course. Drivers and fitters can also enjoy a two-year no compulsory redundancy promise.

Said Stagecoach, “We are delighted to have acquired Preston Bus, which is a well-run business that is an excellent fit with our existing operations.” Excellent fit? You betcha.

Meanwhile, nothing’s appeared on the Preston Bus website though the news reached Stagecoach’s, yesterday.

10 Years of Rural Bus Funding

A Cumbrian writes...

PART ONE of TWO—RURAL BUS GRANT

Can you believe it? It's been ten years since John Prescott launched the rural bus grant scheme.

£55.6mil was paid to local authorities across England over 2007/8, including some unlikely *rural* recipients such as Bristol (£10,930) and Milton Keynes (£122,928). Initially the total sum available was split between local authorities based on the population living outside settlements of 10,000 or more. It was for funding new or enhanced services (as opposed to replacing existing local authority subsidy). From 2001/2, the criteria were changed to refer to settlements of 25,000 or more and to allow (in the face of increasing costs threatening transport authority budgets) a 20 per cent prop-up for services that had existed before the introduction of RBSG. Here in Cumbria we get £1,604,293—about 3 per cent of the national figure—for we are rural, but we are few.

Overall, RBSG (the 'S' is for 'subsidy', but isn't often used) seems to have been successful in funding rural services. It has in many cases restored services that had been withdrawn in the aftermath of deregulation, as cross-subsidy was no longer an option, and local authorities no longer had duties to procure integrated networks.

Not that the restored services would necessarily be successful. As an example, I use Cumbrian service 541, which serves the picturesque Lyth Valley, home of damsons and posh hotels:

1971
Four Monday to Friday services (two each way intended for scholars). Additional two Tuesday and Saturday (market day) trips to/from Bowness. 'As one of the few services not to cover 50% of its cost it would not qualify for government rant'

By 1998
Two Fridays only shopping time round trips Kendal-Crook only. Additional summer weekend services Kendal-Lyth Valley-Bowness-Windermere-Kentmere

1999
Rural Bus Grant! New Monday to Saturday services approx 0800-1800 Kendal-Lyth Valley-Bowness. Kentmere services rerouted. Friday only services unchanged

2002
Friday only services withdrawn

2008
Reduced to two trips each way Wednesday & Friday only, to cut costs. Good for granny. Not so good for the odd few, seasonal, posh hotel workers.

Some rural bus grant routes introduced brand new services to brand new places—like Longsleddale—and these were even less successful. More modest improvements, like evening services and enhanced frequencies (e.g. on the 108 Penrith-Ullswater whose winter daytime trips had been Tuesday, Friday and Saturday only) proved more durable.

In some ways, though, the 541 above is exceptional. Scenic interurban links often worked, attracting older people making shopping trips to exciting, far away places. Examples are the 746 (Wolsingham-Consett) on the roof of England in County Durham, or the 900 (Huddersfield-Hebden Bridge) in West Yorkshire. The former survived, albeit in truncated daytime only form, and serves mostly elderly people travelling between Consett and Tow Law; the latter, meanwhile, has seen bigger buses and additional trips to facilitate commuting to and from Huddersfield, to which people must have driven before.

New services are less likely now as tender prices have increased faster than rural bus grant settlements. However, Britain's countryside would be far worse without it. Far less accessible, anyway.

A big threat, meanwhile, for the remaining, low cost rural routes (typical with drivers filling in between school runs) is the reformation of bus services operator's grant. Promises include rewarding smartcards and real time info, as well as fuel consumption. Developments are awaited.

Image above is from the back cover of the Winter 1998/9 Getting Around Cumbria guide, as produced by Southern Vectis. Note J Prescoach behind the wheel, the announcement that reads 'Hey Presco, hourly services to Carlisle', newspaper headline 'Rural Bus Grants' and the New Bus Stop.

Life on the Top Deck

Does behaviour on our buses simply reflect the wider society? Or is anti-social behaviour magnified when people are within the confines of a metal box that’s outside most people’s gaze?

With the help of two bus drivers, two teenage girls, sundry TfL and police officials and one MP, BBC Radio Four looked at life on the top deck of London’s buses, particularly now that younger people travel free of charge. Independent minded? Forward thinkers? Risk takers? Or just a plain nuisance? Here are some views. They’re not unexpected. The reporter offered no conclusions as to how to improve matters other than a vague possibility of reintroducing conductors. Would that help?

• People used to get on a bus for safety, to get away from someone. The bus was seen as safe.
• Youngsters are always behaving badly on buses and it’s got worse over the last three years.
• Buses are public spaces, though there are no publicly accepted rules of behaviour.
• Girls are far ruder and loader than boys.
• Young people are only talking loudly when in a group. They just want to be heard over each other.
• Music is continually played out load.
• You must expect children travelling between 1500 and 1700 to let off steam.
• Buses are mobile youth clubs.
• Problems were less prevalent when young people had to pay.
• Service 43 (Friern Barnet-London Bridge) is the Party Route.
• The worst bus in London is the W3 (Northumberland Park-Finsbury Park)
• Even young people won’t go upstairs when they’re on their own.
• Adults still give drivers the most stress, like refusing to pay, even in using the emergency exits most.
• Some older people can be as rude to young people as the other way round.
• Children have always been boisterous throughout the generations
• There’s no respect any more.
• Young people are victims as well as perpetrators.
• No one will do anything about the problems they see. They are afraid of attack.
• Drivers should have weapons and sprays.
• To sit at the back of a bus is to enter a piranha pool where threats are all about you.
• Conductors made a difference, as they would clip [trouble makers]around the ear.
• During the last financial year, there were 15 crimes on London’s buses per million passenger journeys.
• Official figures represent only reported crimes.

Bit Previous

Yesterday, First Group celebrated its 20th anniversary. A nice media stunt and a good excuse for a party, given that it’s Britain’s biggest transport operator and that its bus side if nothing else is holding up in the eye of the recessionary storm.

Except First isn’t really 20 years old at all. Or so we reckon.

OK, accuse us of nit picking. It was First’s immediate antecedent that was formed 20 years ago, following Grampian Regional Transport £5mil management-led employee buyout. GRT itself dates back to the Scottish local government reorganisation of 1975 and before that to Aberdeen Corporation (probably traceable to the turn of the 20th century).

First Bus was something else altogether. It came along later, in 1995. This was the time of the merger of Badgerline with the by now renamed GRT Group. Then, Badgerline’s share of the vehicle pool was by far the higher, at about 70 per cent. At the time of the merger, First Bus was second to Stagecoach.

It was in November *1997* (at least according to my records) that First Bus became First Group and it was at this point that First announced a corporate livery—initially for new vehicles only. Since 1996, there'd been a simple corporate fleetname upon existing liveries.

First has a lot to crow about, whether that’s after 100, 34, 20, 14, or 12 years. But it’s had its share of disappointments, too. There’s not been a universal acceptance of its corporate livery among enthusiasts, for example. While First might say ‘so what?’, enthusiasts tend to be polarised between the highly supportive and—sometimes in First’s case—the highly critical. Throughout its history, First has needed sympathetic friends to help defend its corner publicly. Who better than an enthusiast? Hard times have included protests over high fares and poor service; and the number of official public inquiries it’s had to face. And, of course, in spite undoubtedly true statements about First's strength being its employees, it’s seen a particularly high turnover in management.

While First openly looks towards its second 20 years, who knows what change may befall it and the other Big Five players in the coming months or years...

Breaking the Mould

i Traveline Wales site

We like that the potential traveller is able to access a journey planner directly from the front landing page of the following regional Traveline sites: Northern Ireland, North East, Yorkshire, East Anglian, South East and London. This, after all, is precisely what people want. Full marks.

Not all Traveline sites offer this solution, though. Whereas TfL’s version is clearly laid out and functional, those for the North West and West Midlands are fashionably uncluttered but rather too minimalist: users must click onto a second page for everything.

Scotland’s has recently undergone a makeover. It’s now a pleasant-looking site and the front page is informative, with all sorts of links and tidbits—but no planner immediately visible.

It seems easier to navigate to a local council on the East Midlands site than it is to click a link for a planner.

The best is recently made-over Traveline Wales. Here you will find attractive and well thought out web pages that definitely break the Traveline mould. There are easily identifiable links, Discover and What’s On in Wales pages, and options to receive travel alters via RSS. The photography’s breathtaking and it changes at each page load. The best image is possibly the open top Arriva bus against the backdrop of Snowdonia (above). Mind you, not everyone will warm to the wheeled caricature known as Traveline TIM, the Travel Information Man. And is that really a 1950s Rail Modernisation Plan DMU bottom right? We rather hope it is.

The best feature of all is Link to Us. In four easy steps, you can generate code that will place a Traveline Wales landing page on your own website that can automatically look up travel times. You can make it location specific or set it so both the origin and destination is available to the end user. We hope others will follow in both the design and innovations.

(Notice anything about the origin and destination shown above?)

i Traveline Wales site

Stock Take 2008

Dear Visitor—just like we did exactly this time last year, we must file an online report on ourselves, for our stakeholder readers & contributors, with thanks for everyone’s continued interest & support.

In 2008, the key headlines for a booming year for Omnibuses2.0 were:

Publishing

• We published 110,636 words in 2008 (2% fewer than 2007)
• Mercifully, the time spent writing in 2008 decreased by 11%
• There were 336 posts (6% higher than in 2007)
• Readers left 720 comments (9% higher than 2007)
• On the basis of comments left, the single most popular post was by our Mystery Contributor, entitled Velvet Refocus
  

Readership

• From 2007 to 2008, the number of people viewing the site increased by 110%
  

• For every three visits, there were approximately five separate page views (5% fewer than in 2007)
• A minimum* of 68% arrived directly by typing in the site’s URL or via a feed (23% higher than in 2007)
• By adding the above direct entries to those who searched specifically for terms such as ‘Omnibuses blog’, ‘Omnibuses blogspot’, ‘Omnibuses 2.0’ etc, the percentage of readers who arrived here because they wanted to* increased to 70% (as opposed to finding Omnibuses by accident)
• Then add those who also searched for ‘Omnibuses’ and this total rises to 72% (up 11% from 2007)
• The proportion of arrivals from links from other blogs fell from just over 10% in 2007 to just over 6% in 2008

Searches

• The number of searches recorded for the period July-December 2008 compared with July-December 2007 showed an increase of 44%
• Even though the number of search engine arrivals was up considerably, the proportion of readers arriving via a search was 20% (42% fewer than in 2007)
• Google was again by far the most popular search engine, accounting for 93% of search engine arrivals
• The most popular search term was ‘Omnibuses’ followed by ‘Optare’ in various guises, Mercedes 608, Omnibuses blog, the term ‘strap line’ in various forms, RMXL/RM/Routemaster and ‘Bournemouth’. An interesting and important search term was Wilts & Dorset’s X12. We published in September some detail on the more interesting searches that found their way here

Conclusions for 2008

• We published about 2½ times the number of words written by George Orwell in his seminal Animal Farm
• Overall, readers at least* more than doubled
• Nearly ¾ of readers arrived here because they wished to visit
• The numbers arriving via a search engine increased significantly but was a smaller proportion of total readers
• Blogrolls are becoming progressively less important in sending visitors

A note on stats packages—we currently use two and the results are slightly different for each. Consistent with last year, in determining the figures for this report, we have used lower rather than upper numbers.

* These figures are minima. Stats packages cannot accurately register readers entering via feeds

First time for Everything

Is this the first time a driver has refused to take out a bus because of an advert on its side?

An interesting post for a Sunday morning. It was last October that we reported a London bus advertising campaign promoting atheism. This has now more-or-less gone nationwide, on 800 buses. According to yesterday’s Telegraph, First in Southampton is accommodating a 62-year old driver who feels he cannot drive a bus with the slogan “There’s probably no God”, owing to his Christian faith. A single driver at a single garage is one thing. What happens if passengers decide they don’t like the message?

We’re a secular and broadly tolerant society, so respect is due on both sides. But the driver does have a point when he suggests that bus-side anti-Islam messages simply wouldn’t even find their way to print. You couldn’t substitute Allah in the slogan, for example. This speaks volumes about the way in which the State and public view Christianity in the UK. Remember the former Virgin Records’ ‘Mary’ furore a few Christmases back?

Atheists seem to have missed the point, though. There’s an irony in the statement that uses the word “probably”. This means it’s not really atheist at all, rather it’s technically agnostic.

They’re not the only ones missing the point. 16 pages further into the same newspaper was a column by Michael Portillo in which he says, “Rulers like their subjects to be religious, because god-fearing people will be more obedient… they will conform. No secret police could be as effective.” If this is really so, perhaps the State should be promoting Christian bus-side adverts.

From Bournemouth to Belgium

Just how to do you tackle congestion? Do the Belgians have an answer?

As you crawl through Upper Parkstone, wait over an hour in your car trying to leave Castlepoint, spend the best part of 20 minutes stop-starting your way out of Poole town centre, you have to wonder whether there’s a better way.

So, Wilts & Dorset’s Alex Carter has the temerity to suggests one. Congestion charging from 2016. This to avoid gridlock by 2016. 2016? Try any south Dorset summer. There’s even tentative support from Bournemouth’s chamber of trade & commerce for at least *considering* the idea, albeit not till 2016. Categorically no plans from Bournemouth council though, unless forced. And 85 per cent of Echo readers are negative towards the idea.

So, what’s left to do? A voluntary approach to make buses more attractive to motorists. This is the chamber of trade’s preferred approach. But isn’t that *exactly* what both Transdev Yellow Buses and W&D have been doing for five years? Cross-conurbation services, air-con, leather seating, investment in low floors, 2+1 seating, frequency enhancements—and 40 per cent growth. Why, then, are all roads seemingly still gridlocked? And how bad would they be without these commercial initiatives? Is it inevitable that there’s only so much you can do to improve the perception of a bus service?

The 71,000-strong Belgian city of Hasselt has virtually no congestion. The city’s said to have ‘come alive’. It hasn’t introduced congestion charging or specifically banned the private car, though many areas are pedestrianised. Instead, enhanced bus services are free to all. In just over ten years, Hasselt has seen an increase in use of 1,300 per cent. Because my Walloon isn’t up to par, it’s difficult to understand the costs and benefits. Capital and revenue investment in buses is no doubt substantial. But then again, there are fewer requirements for ultra-expensive road projects.

Would such a project ever be considered in Engalnd, even as a trial? Thee are probably too many memroies of cheap fares in the so-called People's Republic of South Yorkshire.

The Three Rs

2009. How will we cope? We’ll see Regulation, Part 2: Reform and Part 1: Recession...

Part 2. Reform

Bus service operators’ grant, also for the juvenilely-challenged known as fuel duty rebate, pays out over £400mil per annum direct to bus operators. It’s said to be worth about 9p per passenger carried. Taking off BSOG and VAT means a gallon of diesel is currently costing about £2.70 (the average Bournemouth forecourt price or motorists is currently £4.47). If you run an eligible bus service, you have the right to claim FDR.

Ruth Kelly instigated a review because she thought BSOG was “poorly targeted”. In a sense, she was right. Why should the government dole out millions to operators without proper targets or incentives? So, 2009 is the year that BSOG may well be reformed, following a consultation last year. We say “may well” because next week the Big Five will warn new transport secretary Hoon that BSOG changes may drive up fares or lead to withdrawn mileage.

One option is to link BSOG with fuel efficiency and low carbon buses, especially the uptake of hybrids. While this might hasten the production of reliable hybrids, the technology isn’t proven yet and is still over complicated for mass adoption. In any case, buses account for a very modest emissions total especially emissions per passenger.

Another is that BSOG could be linked to increasing passenger numbers. Commercial operators already have a great incentive to do this—it’s good for the bottom line! Concentrating resources where growth is most likely might (will?) further weaken socially necessary services to the point that, for example, deep rural routes become inoperable. To counter this, there’s talk of some sort of rural safety net. But this is unlikely to address marginal urban buses that operators might abandon in favour of those likely to grow.

There’s more to this debate. Should, for example, BSOG:

• Be administered by transport authorities?
• Pass to authorities under quality contract agreements?
• Be capped or tiered?
• Be available to taxis on demand responsive type services?
• Be linked to punctuality?
• Reward the use of smartcards?
• Form part of a wider policy agenda—e.g. services tackling social inclusion?
• Only be paid under quality contracts or partnerships?
  

Noting the Big Five's concerns above, operators are up for the debate, certainly, but within reason. So long as the end result doesn’t hurt too much. Perhaps a change of heart by rebating the forthcoming April 2p duty rise may help oil the wheels.

End of an Era?

Just when transport stock began rallying, news yesterday comes of a 15 per cent drop in First Group shares. First particularly blamed poorer than anticipated US trading by its Greyhound operation (-4.5% October-December 2008). Even so, First remains upbeat about its immediate future. UK rail growth had also slowed but remained at a very respectable +7.2%. The bus side saw +7.6%, owing to people switching to save money. Speculation about a Greyhound start-up on this side of the water may be driven by a renaissance in value for money travel.

With both Stagecoach and National Express seeing redundancies within its rail operations and NatEx in particular having removed duplication within its business divisions, the latest edition of Transit magazine speculates upon whether merger & consolidation might deliver even bigger cost reductions.

Interestingly, Transit also feels that the shares doldrums and a weak pound may now make the UK Big Five susceptible to foreign take-over. As Keolis bowed out of UK bus with the Eastbourne Buses sale, “the French groups might... take the opportunity to expand their UK interests, with Veolia probably the most likely to acquire one of its UK rivals."

From Gosport to Preston

It’s not difficult to speculate on the mixed emotions Preston Bus staff are experiencing right now. To sell to Stagecoach or not. 40 per cent of the workforce is said to have the shares they bought when the borough council sold to employees in 1993. The remainder of the workforce, including new staff, have no stake, though there is also an equal amount of equity held in trust that may be part-distributed their way. So, there are tensions.

Reports suggest shareholders could each benefit from a £30,000 windfall upon Stagecoach buying the business. That’s a very tempting sum even if, right now, investing it brings little return.

There are very few precedents regarding this sort of sale. The most noteworthy was the sale in 1995 of employee owned People’s Provincial Bus Co-ownership Ltd to First. It’s worth reflecting on the process through which Provincial went.

• In 1983, newly-formed Provincial Bus Company took over the merged operations of the Gosport & Fareham Omnibus Company (t/a Provincial) & Hants & Dorset’s Fareham garage. Provi had in fact been managed as a separate entity by H&D since 1971.
• During the National Bus Company sale process, the then general manager was initially in talks with I recall Harry Blundred’s Transit Holdings but negotiations failed and the GM joined and promoted what was in 1987 to be NBC’s first and only employee share ownership plan (ESOP).
• 80 per cent of the workforce took an equal and not insignificant £750 stake in the business. That’s over £1,500 at today’s prices. They had much pride in bringing back the company to private ownership. It’s future was literally in their own hands.
• In 1990, employees decisively rejected two Southern Vectis bids.
• After some negotiations in 1995, shareholders sold to First. This was a difficult period for staff. Reports suggest that in the previous two years People’s Provincial profits were falling, owing in part to Transit Holdings’ post-Stagecoach minibus Portsmouth reforms from-1991. Yet, shareholders were often protective of all they had achieved. Those reluctant shareholding employees were nevertheless attracted by what at the time was described as ‘a massive cash windfall’.
• There was much public disquiet and sadness in Gosport and Fareham at the sale.
• The sale to First nevertheless went through.
• Eight months later First, as owners of Provincial and by now having bought Portsmouth’s Red & Blue Admiral from Transit Holdings, rationalised in south Hampshire and withdrew 40 vehicles.

More on Provincial's long and distinguished history at Regent8

Bus Stop

A Cumbrian writes...

The tide seems to be turning for pro-bus routings within city centres. After Manchester council banning buses from Corporation Street in favour of Shudehill Interchange and fewer cross-city routes, other local authorities seem keen on their streets getting quieter.

Much traffic in Oxford city centre now seems to be buses—but the local authority has announced plans to make it, from next year, at least as far a walk to some bus stops as to the remaining multi-storey car park (and presumably as far as the inner-city private parking from which all cars seem to emerge in the evening peak). See the Oxford & Chiltern Bus Page.

There haven't been cross-city routes in Oxford for some time now, but the council plan seems like creating a town centre like Runcorn's—except without an inner ring road, let along an inner ring busway. I'd expect more leakage for Oxfordians to more accessible centres like Milton Keynes or Aylesbury. Others, meanwhile, will probably lump it and walk. How much do you feel like spending after a half-mile walk?

I expect similar news in Newcastle, where a plan aims for a third bus station on the south east side of the city centre. Nice idea except, like Manchester, it will probably mean pedestrianising some of the cross-city bus arteries, principally through Blackett Street and Market Street. Users will lose a choice of city centre boarding points. As an indication of things to come, Go North East managed to cause a furore a few months ago by routing Newcastle-bound buses on the X1, X2, X3 (Red Arrow) and X30, X31, X70 and X71 (West Durham Swifts) away from the Tyne Bridge and onto Grey Street, which Newcastle council's designs had reserved for the under-loaded QuayLink. The routing only lasted a week.

Presently less penetrative routings through city centres are about either operational convenience or the location of pleasant waiting facilities (bus stations). Planners may like to be able to wander down and across the road as they please, but shoppers and workers may not wish to. It's a difficult one to balance. The most likely outcome will be increasing leakage to more accessible out of town business & retail developments. Or internet shopping. Good luck, shopkeepers.

Is our Cumbrian contributor right? Is pedestrianisation a good or bad thing for bus users? If a town relies on buses for between 45-60 per cent of its shoppers or more, is adequate weight given to bus services? Or should town centres rid themselves of *all* traffic for the sake of everyone and the environment, thereby indirectly benefiting bus users, too?

Omnibuses' Northern Correspondent adds: No one can deny that Chester’s pedestrianisation has been anything other than a success. It was a 20-year process, with full pedestrianisation achieved in 1995. But there was a cost to bus operators, notably Chester City Transport. The then transport department reckoned that the main phases of pedestrianisation cost it two extra peak vehicles. This was because routes from the main terminus suddenly became indirect and took longer. Chester isn't a large city and fortunately a number of routes can still penetrate parts of the centre, which means passengers don’t have too far to walk; others leave from the bus exchange and never see another city centre bus stop.

More from Eastbourne

The most surprising thing about Stagecoach’s Friday announcement that it’s bought Eastbourne Buses’ competitor Cavendish-Renown is how soon it comes after the Brighton-style Stagecoach/Eastbourne deal.

The demise of both Cavendish and Eastbourne Buses reduces the number of bus operators in Eastbourne (excluding Brighton & Hove) from three to one. What will the competition authorities make of that? With Cavendish in play, Stagecoach’s chances of being noticed were lower. Yet, could Eastbourne support all these operators?

In terms of Cavendish selling to Stagecoach, it again indicates that competition 20 years after deregulation isn’t always easy in small towns such as Eastbourne. Casual observations just a hop and skip along the coast would suggest that 28-vehicle Cavendish’s commercial network is actually more comprehensive and seemingly more sensible than that of competitor Eastbourne Buses. Its fares are cheaper. And as a private operator, it was seemingly at least treading water… rather unlike Eastbourne. That at least one and possibly both were struggling suggests that the market cannot support both. Stagecoach is unlikely therefore to invest some £4mil on a loss maker only to see its returns squeezed by a profitable third party.

For those who wonder why Stagecoach didn’t just buy Cavendish, step up the competition and watch Eastbourne Buses wither on the vine, that would attract considerable unwanted attention.

Cavendish is a young start-up. It’s not yet even three years old. It’s one thing the pale green and cream Southdown-of-the-past-liveried buses successfully competing against Eastbourne but quite another facing off against Stagecoach.

After the Eastbourne Buses deal, Stagecoach promised that no driver or fitter would lose their jobs. With rationalisation likely upon the purchase of Cavendish, can Stagecoach keep that promise?

More on Velvet

With the advent tomorrow of Black Velvet Travel’s competitive Fair Oak Flyer, our recent post of 11 December 2008 continues to attract comments. Ordinarily, readers might miss the four in January (including one yesterday and one on Friday) unless we point them out and, for those who are following this particular issue, they are worth a read.

Brutal?

40 years ago, some thought the Arndale was brutal, but not me...

(The official picture, right, appears to suppose Wilts & Dorset will be reintroducing dual door buses! upon the completion of Poole's bus station refurb)

As we look forward to the start tomorrow of a makeover at Poole’s 40 year old bus station, I wince ever so slightly when I hear people referring to it as outdated. In fact, it remains broadly fit for purpose.

OK, so you may need to elbow yourself through the crowed reservoir space during the summer, as a number of heedless clots of people queue or, in the case of English as a Foreign Language students, coagulating continental-style around a stand. And with the number of departures up from some stands thanks in particular to More and Transdev Yellow Buses, drivers need their wits.

The bus station can handle all this and is relatively incident free on both sides of the platform edge. That Poole council is trialling security staff will help in improving passenger perceptions.

The bus station has its strengths. There’s a large operator garage literally around the corner. And it’s bolted seamlessly onto Poole’s Arndale Centre (sorry, after 40 years I still can’t bring myself to call it the Dolphin Centre).

40 years ago, the Arndale encompassed modernity. Sweeping aside all before it, with high ceilings, a hundred stores, a light airy aspect, and those large wooden animals through which children would slide, it heralded a new shopping dawn. Thrice refurbished and after a (regrettable?) change of name, it continues as the piazza that, along with the now pedestrianised High Street leading from it, has cemented Poole as the town centre shopping choice on the east Dorset coast. The fact that buses take you to the heart of this consumer pantheon is more than a plus. The Arndale and its bus station are inextricably linked.

The 12-week, £300,000 refurb will brighten the place and give much needed disabled access. Meanwhile, who knows whether a new state-of-the-art bus station may be a reality if the possible town centre north development actually sees the light of day. Till then, tomorrow’s refurb demonstrates that the site still offers the best location for those wising to visit Poole. As Badger Vectis found to its cost.

January and Sales

These are two words in the same breath you don’t often hear in the bus industry. January sales in shops mean a way of clearing slack stock, those items hanging around a bit, or seasonal goods that would otherwise get dumped. On the other hand, crudely put, the economics of bus services mean that you only have but one opportunity to sell a seat—which doesn’t lend itself to a sale. Good deals or just gimmicks?

Bluestar—Eastleigh season ticket and Fair Oak-Eastleigh singles & returns reduced. Motive? Spike the Velvet guns ahead of Monday’s Fair Oak Flyer. No other routes appear to benefit.

First Northampton—50p promotional single on the Northampton-Kings Heaths. Motive? Meridian Bus Shuttle spoiler. One other route sees a reduction but nothing this significant. After the previous cut to 50p, First settled out of court with Meridian.

First Chesterbus—free travel tickets on Chester-Blacon by redemption, usable by today. Motive? Campaign against Arriva competition continues.

Megabus—10,000 free seats till 1st March, in England & Wales. Motive? Attract from other operators and services during slacker period (50p booking fee *still* applies).

Southampton City—26 free coach parking spaces per day till end of January 2009. Motive? Recession-busting, advantage-seeking over other destinations.

A Lack of Confidence

A lack of confidence in the immediate future plus difficulties in getting finance are the factors that between them result in two thirds of operators stating they will be delaying investment this year, 2009.

So said the routeONE confidence survey, yesterday. This has considerable implications for new and second hand purchases. And it has implications for the trade press reliant on dealers and manufacturers, not least for routeONE itself, its free subscription to operators supported by advertising. Nearly two thirds of yesterday’s edition was devoted to adverts (but there’s a lot of editorial, too). Remember that there are four journals relying to some extent or other on adverts.

About three-quarters of businesses who responded to the routeONE survey expected to be affected by the recession.

Of those predicting hard times, 70 per cent of respondents felt that the coach industry will be affected the worst. Not only are operators probably correct in their assumptions, the routeONE survey is likely to be dominated by the small and medium coaching sector. Nearly a quarter felt the worst affected segment would be minibuses. Both rely on discretionary purchases.

Yet, there was hope. The interesting news is that only about five per cent felt the bus side would be hit the hardest. Bus passengers make distress not discretionary purchases. And the survey sites younger people putting off the purchase of a car, green travel plans, fewer vehicles on the road and renewed interest in the bus as an alternative in the face of recession as mitigation for an otherwise decline in patronage owing of high street closures, unemployment and a feel bad factor.

Putting the Boot In

The humorous headline on another blog that recently shouted "Sell your sole (sic) for £30,000" got us thinking, not about fish but footwear...

It’s getting increasingly difficult to feel virtuous about the way we sort our rubbish into recyclables. The economic slowdown’s created a crash in trash. Once, India and China were keen to turn our waste into packaging or products they could export back to us. No longer. The results are English warehouses backing up with unwanted recyclables.

And there’s me thinking that China didn’t want our old newspapers because they couldn’t read them.

And then comes First Group, to stick the boot in. And we can suddenly feel good about our footwear, recycled as it is from old bus tyres and seat fabric. As befits First, they’re on sale in north east Scotland, as well as London. You never know, they may just appear in the magazine produced near First’s headquarters by the Aberdeen Press & Journal, which suggests “A shoe for every fashionable foot this season” (picture, top right). Unless at weekends, we can’t see Moir Lockhead wearing these baseball boots, but Brian Souter is far more relaxed about his feet, even if the fabric isn’t specifically Stagecoach’s.

Take a close look at the boots. You’ll recognise the moquette upper fabric, from First buses but also London’s District & Bakerloo underground lines.

Said a First spokesman, “Each pair is a limited edition relic of transport design heritage, which are comfortable, stylish and robust.” If you can’t afford to preserve a bus, preserve a boot. I wonder how many millions of passenger miles each boot has seen; and how many bottoms.

And if you look *very* carefully at the bottom image from First Group, you might recognise the registration plate is of a Routemaster. Proving once again that the industry can't shake off the RM.

Here’s to Next Christmas

Standing passengers on Boxing Day and breaking even on Christmas Day. Could the rest of us learn from Southern Vectis’ approach to Christmas bus services?

While elsewhere Christmas 2008/09 services were their usual patchwork affair across central southern England, as the table at the end shows, could 2009/10 be different? Has SVOC taken a lead?

SVOC is no stranger to Boxing Day buses. This time, though, it operated services commercially and was delighted at the response. So long as there are shops open and sales on, there’s probably more demand during daylight on Boxing Day than perhaps on an average Sunday. You need to select your routes arefully, though. Why let the opposition—car, taxi and where appropriate rail—seize the opportunity?

But Christmas Day was the real surprise. Where else in Britain will you find Christmas Day services, let alone commercial ones? Three SVOC routes, four duties—and 642 passengers. That’s an average of 80 passengers an hour or 20 per bus per hour. A disaster on any ordinary Thursday but Christmas Day is different. And just consider the goodwill.

We’ve decided to take a look at the possible implications of hristmas Day on the island. We’re not using full operational costing models because we can only approximate SVOC’s pay rates, fares structure, passenger profiles free travel reimbursements, current fuel prices, mileages and so on. These estimates do, however, give an indication of what SVOC might’ve achieved.

Revenue Estimates

642 passengers. Assume one third farepayerts, one third season tickets and one third free travellers and an average fare of £3 taking into account reimbursements.

£3 x 428 passengers = £1,284 + goodwill from season tciket holders + general goodwill from all passengers

Cost Estimates

Drivers : £10 per hr x 8 hrs x double time x 4 driver x an allowance for on-costs = £800

Engineering support: c. £300

Fuel: 4 buses x (45,000 p.a. / 305) / 10 mpg for a Dart x £0.55 per litre (exclusive of BSOG and VAT) = £147

Contribution to fixed/semi-variable costs: zero. Operation on Christmas Day is marginal compared with a 305-weekday operation

Total Estimated Costs: £800 + £300 + £147 = c. £1,247

(This makes no allowance for management time or publicity costs)

Conclusion

£1, 284 profit less £1,247 direct costs = break even (plus goodwill as mentioned above). Remember this was Christmas Day. As an experiment with minimal risk, it worked for SVOC. It won’t work everywhere and on all routes. But it might surprise you where it does. Fair play to SVOC for giving this a try. SVOC’s already planning Christmas Day services for 2009.

Christmas 2008/09	Christmas Day	Boxing Day	New Year's Eve	New Year's Day
Transdev Yellow Buses	No service	Saturday service but with finish at about 2000	No service
Wilts & Dorset	No service	No service	Saturday service including evenings but no Night Buses	No service
Solent Blue Line	No service	No service	Saturday service but last departures at or about 1930.Gap in service to Night Buses start	No service
Unilink brand	No service	No service	Saturday service with approx. 100 finish	No service
Southern Vectis	Three commercial routes	Five commercial routes	Normal service	Sunday service
Brighton & Hove	No service	Special services on about 15 routes	Saturday service with late finish at about 2200. All bar one night bus service operating normally	Sunday service
First Southampton	No service	No service	Saturday service but with finish at about 2000	No service
First Portsmouth	No service	No service	Saturday service but with finish at about 2000	Sunday service to 1900
First Weymouth	No service	No service	Saturday service but with finish at about 2000	No service
Stagecoach Winchester	No service	No service	Saturday service but with finish at about 2000	No service
Stagecoach Portsmouth	No service	No service	Saturday service but with finish at about 2000	Sunday service to 1900

Though we did mark in a small way the recent deaths of Gwyneth Dunwoody and Reg Varney, we don’t really do obituaries. I’d like to make an exception with Derek Fytche because I owe him a great deal. Derek started his career with Tilling and BET before moving to senior roles within National Bus, culminating 1981 as regional director for the South-east and finally in 1984 as chairman of National Products, responsible for National Express & National Holidays; and the development of the National Travelworld agencies, the post-Transport Act 1980 London-focused Brand X & London Crusader. Derek died aged 81 and is survived by his wife, son and daughter. That he moved home no less than 14 times for his work is a testament to his service to the travelling public.

Sitting Comfortably?

Then I’ll begin… with a tail of social observation that proves the bus is more than a means of getting from A to B. It’s also a vehicle for social observation.

Chances are when you sit in the staff canteen, at church or on the bus, you’ll pick the same seat every time. We feel comfortable with our familiar territory. But, for those who travel by bus, more appears to be at play.

Yesterday’s Daily Telegraph devoted a substantial part of page 7 to psychological research that purports to determine (or indicate) your personality based on where you sit on the bus. This obviously applies more to passengers than drivers! The photograph below explains the relationship between location and personality. Click the picture to enlarge.

Are these maxims correct for you? Does where *you* sit reveal something of your personality?

But, there are questions. Where might ‘forward thinkers’ sit on a single deck? Are bus enthusiasts ‘risk takers’ or ‘forward thinkers’? Did those who in winter used to sit at the lower rear of a Wilts & Dorset Bristol VR take risks or just pragmatically wish to stay warm? Do ‘sociable-meeters-and-greeters’ extend to that young-ish lady stood talking to the male driver?

Have the researchers ever observed a double deck bus on a Saturday, with youngsters upstairs scaring the life out of everyone else crowded downstairs?

As for personality, a friend who steadfastly used to sit at the rear was once accosted as he passed a Scientology centre. Would he like to come in for a free personality test, they asked. No, he said, it was OK, as he explained that he didn’t have a personality, to which the reply came, ‘that’s OK, come in and we’ll give you one’. Or so the apocryphal story goes...

Seven personality types as defined by where you sit:

• Upper deck front seats: forward thinkers
• Upper deck middle: independent-minded
• Upper deck rear: rebellious types
• Lower deck front: sociable meeters-and-greeters
• Lower deck middle: strong communicators
• Lower deck rear: risk-takers
• Anywhere (no preference): chameleons who fit in anywhere

Britain gets back to normal today if these recessionary times can claim to be ‘normal’. After the peaks and troughs of the Christmas period, some normality will be good for the bus industry, even if 2009 is set to be a year of change.

Omnibuses2.0 managed a normal service every day during the Christmas break. There was one exception when the intended post went up 2½ hours late—a long night and the social calendar had by then just gotten the better of me! There’s only so much you can do.

Refreshed, we intend to offer our usual mix of posts, single-mindedly concentrating of course on the most important mode in British public transport. And have you tried the Random Post link, top left? It’s been active since 28 December 2008.

Shrinking—a Little

Britain’s smallest municipally owned bus operator just got smaller. Before Christmas, Islwyn Borough Transport of Blackwood, Wales, sold its Kingfisher Travel arm to D Coaches (Diamond Holidays). It’s understood no staff transferred though, with effect from 1 January 2009, D Coaches has taken over the lease of four coaches.

The sale of Kingfisher means that Plymouth Citybus is the only municipal now advertising a coaching arm. And that was once due to close.

The Islwyn fleet is still about one third bigger than it was pre-deregulation. The eclectic fleet consists of a collection of largely repurposed (i.e. second hand) buses from a number of sources. IBT was late in gaining low floor technology but in the last five years has reduced its fleet age from 10 to 6.4 years. This includes a rare new purchase, an Optare Solo minibus, in the autumn.

In many ways, IBT is a bit of an enigma. There’s its size. IBT maintains no ocal bus web presence. Its services aren’t particularly frequent. Its depot is reported as going back to the West Monmouthshire Omnibus Board and a private operator before that. The use of the word ‘borough’ in IBT’s name harks back to the days of direct municipal control (others have dropped such civic titles). Yet, Islwyn borough itself disappeared nearly 13 years ago (IBT’s shareholder is Caerphilly county borough).

IBT was also loss-making. Of the thirteen *remaining* municipally-owned operators, IBT is very much at the bottom on the profitability pile. 2005/06 figures suggest that while a number broke even two, Halton and IBT, made losses. Matters have since worsened for the municipally-owned sector, with top performing Lothian seeing a profits slide.

One Door or Two—Pt 5

RC169 reaches the penultimate post in his survey of dual door buses in southern central England, looking at Southampton Corporation's somewhat ad hoc use of them...

Southampton Corporation

This brings us to Southampton Corporation. Again, an early trial in the 1950's with some of the Guy Arab LUF single deckers, with a similar configuration to Hants & Dorset’s Bristol LSs, but with standee facilities and fewer seats, was abandoned fairly quickly, and the vehicles converted to a conventional fully seated configuration with a single door.

As with H&D, a dual door revival occurred in the second half of the sixties with 10 AEC Swifts. These were 36ft long, and the dual doors to some extent followed the fashion of the day, but logic again seems to have been absent from the thinking, as deliveries of Atlanteans started shortly after the first Swifts, but these were all conventional single door 76 seaters. The doorway widths of the Swifts and Atlanteans were similar, so the potential improvement in stop dwell times with the Swifts must have been considerable - but to what point, given that they only had 47 seats (+19 standing)? Was it simply the extra length that justified an extra doorway? Again, not really logical, as the walking distance from most of the seats on the upper deck of a double decker to the doorway must be more than from the rear of a long single decker. In any event, the Swifts were not a success in various respects, and when further single deckers were required a couple of years later, 33ft long Seddon RUs were chosen, with single doors.

That wasn't quite the end of dual door buses in Southampton, as in more recent years, under First ownership, various secondhand double deckers from parts of the First empire have been drafted in to the fleet, including dual door examples from London (and elsewhere), but it does not appear to be part of a deliberate policy to introduce separate entrance/exits to the fleet. A few artics also operated briefly in Southampton for a while.

To be concluded...

Fotopic Problems or Dead?

March 2010: Fotopic problems here

A major spike yesterday in google searches arriving at Omnibuses. The search term was “Fotopic problems” or similar. Omnibuses reached fourth on google and with a google headline screaming “Fotopic at Fault: a sorry tale” it’s little wonder we experienced a peak.

It turns out that there are rumours surrounding either Fotopic’s insolvency or its server has severe technical problems. If the former, an awful lot of enthusiasts are in trouble, and not just in England. Whereas we trust most will have retained duplicate copies of their photos, there’s the time and effort of uploading to Fotopic, organising sites, cataloguing, writing descriptions and so forth. Quite a few eggs in one basket, really.

If Fotopic has gone the way of Woolies, that’s something like the loss of an estimated quarter of a million bus photographs (as at November 2007). Many are simply record shots, it’s true. Some are of significant interest and many others are of historic merit. Seven of our nine 7+2 Photo Sites were Fotopic hosted.

A year ago, there were 500 sites alone belonging to Fotopic’s Busworld community. And that only scratched the surface. And don’t mention contemporary or archive rail and train Fotopic sites. Or other catalogues. A favourite of mine was a collection of images of old radios.

Flickr aside, there *are* other free photo host sites but none seems to have the flexibility of Fotopic. Plus free web hosting services. And while they all remain free, there’s always the possibility that a site will implode or suffer outages. Even the professional paid-for side of Fotopic doesn’t seem immune.

The same could easily happen at Blogger/Blogspot. That’s why I take care to back up regularly!

2008 in 300 Words

Go to 2007 in 300 Words ~ 2006 in 300 Words ~ 2005 in 300 Words

That was the year that was. Tricky summing it all up in 300 words but here goes. Let us know if we've missed anything...

April’s national free travel continually causes concerns. The fuel crisis came and went, leaving some on the wrong side of the ‘hedge’. Both contribute to passenger growth. The industry looks forward to its contribution to the environment and looks over its shoulder at recession. The 50km rule farcically concludes… after operators chop services.

As London implements the emissions zone, Boris and Ken ensure buses rise up the political agenda. Boris wins, artics lose… as Clarkson blows up a Routemaster. TfL announces rear loader design winning potential bus of the future. Meanwhile, bus manufacturing looks confident, though DDA deadlines remain bleak.

Coach sales slump in face of recession as ADL Plaxton launches top-flight Elite. Darwen’s reverse take-over of Jamesstan rebrands as Optare… while previewing Rapta… and receiving little praise for Solo+.

Arriva sells UK’s first ground-breaking SLFs, expands in Spain, Slovakia, Hungary and Portugal, announces North Wales/north west split… as First merges its four Yorkshire bus operations. First buys Truronian while concluding its official-sounding Yellow School Bus Commission.

Transdev acquires York’s Top Line Travel. The Big Lemon gets squeezed. Newcomer Velvet gets a little beeped. Rotala buys Ludlows and turns round Go West Midlands. Profits slide at award-winning Lothian, embroiled in buggie protest.

Manchester rejects the £3bil TIF… while it continues with England’s slowest morning peak traffic. Council brokers peace in Preston. Stagecoach trials in-cab eco-driving behaviour experiment… and buys Mayne’s, Bullock’s, Rapson’s & Eastbourne… and sells Huddersfield to part Centrebus partnership… while Centrebus sells St Albans to Uno.

NatEx undertakes restructure & super-rebrand, places dot2dot for sale, while seeing M4/M25 crash driver jailed. For others, the driver CPC becomes a reality.

Gwyneth Dunwoody and Reg Varney die. Lockhead is knighted.

Meanwhile, 2008 sets the scene for the Local Transport Act, BSOG reform, Passenger Focus, Wallace Arnold and even possibly Greyhound.