Jubilation in Hampshire

There’s jubilation in south Hampshire this month as the government has confirmed it will fund the Gosport-Fareham BRT, with buses planned to operate at up to every five minutes. No dates, though. And, there’s a little matter of planning permission.

If you are one of the 70,000 people who live in the harbourside peninsular Hampshire town of Gosport, you’ll know of the inadequacies of the A32 spine road out. At peak it can be one long stop-start traffic jam. It obviously affects buses. Average car speeds can be as low as 7 mph through the peninsula.

In 2005, the government dashed proposals to convert the former railway track-bed between Gosport and Fareham to light rapid transit, also serving Portsmouth. )The railway closed to passenger traffic as early as 1953.)

LRT has morphed into BRT. Approval was finally given at the end of March. This will see the construction of a busway along the dead straight alignment from just south of Fareham town centre to some 1¾ miles short of Gosport Ferry.

Detractors say that converting just three miles of track-bed will make little difference to the 5½ miles between the two towns. They argue neither will it link with Gosport Ferry nor Fareham rail station.

This misses the point. The scheme will require an element of conventional town centre running at either end. More, the proposal cuts a useful swathe through the housing, industry and MOD land to the east of the conurbation. True, there is considerable housing development to the track-bed’s west but people are more likely to walk for a reliable, punctual, dedicated service than they would a standard bus. BRT may have an impact on the A32 but whatever it does, it certainly will improve the bus service greatly.

Understandably, those whose properties back on to the proposal need reassurance. The track-bed is reserved for walking and cycling and is rich in wildlife. Cycling needs protecting as the town is apparently the sixth in England in terms of the percentage of trips made by this mode. But, we doubt the track-bed is wide enough for both bus and bike.

The Wimborne Flyer emerges from Broadstone Way

Protesters might consider how much worse it could be. The peaceful haven that was the redundant Somerset-Dorset railway through Broadstone becomes the Broadstone Way relief road in the early 1990s. A BRT would’ve been far more pleasant (and buses now even use Broadstone Way, from June 2006, though it’s easy to see why it’s taken so long: unlike in Gosport, the relief road avoids all of Broadstone’s population).

Historic note: direct buses between Gosport & Fareham on the Provincial 1s and 2s formed the backbone of its network and have always been every 10 minutes, half via Criterion (now bingo, once a cinema) and half via Ann’s Hill Road. This continued at every 10 minutes in the early 1980s but also included the 3s via Elson & Criterion. First’s perpetuated this with its 82/3, retaining the 10 minute frequency, either via Ann’s Hill Road or Elson/Criterion.

Free Bus Travel Descoped

A Cumbrian writes

Reaching national news on Saturday following breaking news on Friday was the DfT's intent to reduce from 1 April 2009 the legal requirement for free bus travel to exclude certain types of bus service, following a consultation. For the record (from the statutory instrument), these are those where:

• (a) more than half of the accommodation on the vehicle by means of which the service is provided can be reserved by members of the general public in advance;
• (b) it is intended to operate for less than six consecutive weeks;
• (c) it is operated primarily for the purposes of tourism or because of the historical interest of the vehicle;
• (d) it is a [rail]bus substitution service; or
• (e) the fare for the service includes a special amenity element.

Sections (a), (c) and (e) are the most worrying. Section (d) didn't really apply anyway seeing as rail replacement buses were rarely or never registered services (they operate as special services for rail ticket holders only, conveniently getting past the regulation requiring registration of buses charging separate fares).

I have written before about Cumbria, as you might expect, and the tourism and historical element could hit us hard. There is only one real example of the latter—Cumbria Classic Coaches—which runs the only service to/from various communities between Kirkby Stephen, Barnard Castle and Hawes. Its service is extraordinarily popular with non-farepayers (even though the fares are fairly comparable with other commercial routes in the county).

There are, however, many seasonal services into the Lakes—buses to such honeypots as Whinlatter Forest Park, Tarn Hows and Grizedale Forest to name but a few, which could be less viable when councils no longer have to fund travel for OAP visitors who, hoteliers have noticed, are increasingly visiting the Lake District by parking up at the hotel and flagging buses down for the rest of the time. It will be interesting to see what happens over the coming weeks—to see how ‘purposes of tourism’ is interpreted, as it could include almost all bus routes in the Lake District National Park.

Kirkwhelpington

Section (a) worries most residents of certain rural areas travelling long distances on legitimately registered National Express services. While there are few such opportunities in Cumbria, in Northumberland for example an elderly person would be deprived the right of a shopping trip from Otterburn, Kirkwhelpington or Belsay that would involve a convenient 1620 departure using National Express ser 383—they would need to return earlier on a different bus. One wonders how hospital appointments might be affected.

Park & Ride is difficult too [section (e)], but we should bear in mind that (1) parking is only free and bus tickets paid for to avoid VAT and (2) there are quite a few older people who might want to avoid parking charges (and fair play to them). It would also affect disabled people who have blue badges who might have liked the convenience of a low floor bus over a multi-storey car park... but can probably park free in the town centre in any case.

Most of the consultation respondents seem to be local authorities (curiously in some cases just counties where districts control concessionary fares: not a single Cumbrian district responded and one wonders whether the consultation, then, was botched). Authorities would in some cases I assume be likely to want to make savings from excluding older people.

The grannies are upset. We all should worry.

i Cumbrian Classic Coaches ~ Nexus advertise coach services with additional local stops

A Bristol Finale

Okay, okay, I know. Another nostalgiafest post on the Bristol marque. This one is in due deference to the Bristol/ECW combination with which I have become so familiar—in planning & executing services and in riding as a passenger; and in occasionally driving them, too.

A red VR (in W&D privatisation livery) with Hants & Dorset (Damory) legals.
This livery sits well on the VR

Yesterday’s Wilts & Dorset Bristol finale went off very well, with a permutation of any two of three VRs providing tenuous service duplicates for a healthy group of gathered enthusiasts. I say “tenuous” as my interpretation of the traffic commissioners’ understanding of “duplicate” perhaps differs from W&D’s. As there was a tacho in at least one of the three, perhaps the £7.50 charge was actually for a private hire.

Each of the three was in pretty good condition following their 1997 initial refurb, with 1979 vintage 3(4)413 recently externally refurbished (again) for retention as a special events heritage vehicle. Each could maintain a good turn of speed, too. There was a report of a lady driver at Amesbury who asked if she could swap her turn on the Salisbury-bound Activ8 and take a VR instead. Perhaps she just wanted to avoid the hassle of taking fares. More likely she felt just a little nostalgic at finally bidding farewell to a bus that’s been at the heart of service to the people of Dorset, Hampshire & Wiltshire.

It’s the little things I shall remember about the VR. The domed roof. The penetrating cold during winter mornings. The high-pitched trill and clatter as the passenger door closed. The ‘Bristol’ gearbox whine. The upstairs front seating arrangement. The seemingly unavoidable clunk as the driver selected reverse gear. The visored cab warning light housing. The rotary trafficator switch redolent of earlier generation Bristols. The Self-Changing Gears shift assembly. The early non-black window rubbers…

Meanwhile, with the first W&D Spectra already withdrawn owing to what is understood to be flooring problems, it’s unlikely that they will reach 28 years of continuous service… unlike the VRT last used in anger in 2008.

With thanks to the organisers of yesterday’s VR retirement event.

Vehicles in the Spotlight

As the south coast turns its attention today to bidding farewell to the Bristol VRT, we at Omnibuses2.0 look instead at the continuing Go South Coast significant investment in brand new Scanias, most of which have now arrived.

Days old is this Wilts & Dorset 09-reg Scania

Salisbury is the centre of VR activity today and so it is for Wilts & Dorset’s Scania N230UDs. Added to the seven 58-reg examples at Ringwood usually for the X3 Salisbury-Bournemouths are nine or ten 2009 deliveries launched officially on 18 March and for use in and around Salisbury, including Activ8.

Bluestar never misses a party and its Bluestar 1 Scania launch was less subdued than W&D's

To come and to complete the W&D picture are 12 Optare (East Lancs) Olympus-bodied Scanias principally for Swanage, to replace the DAF/Northern Counties. Though these Scanias are running slightly late, they are expected well ahead of the season. The bad news is that those cascading to the Isle of Wight will need a quick turnaround in terms of preparation. Interestingly, this should give Swanage garage 100 per cent 09 plated vehicles.

Uni-link Scanias are dual doored

At the time of writing, 25 of Southern Vectis’ 28 are present and accounted for, with the remainder imminent. The SVOC Scanias ensure an 100 per cent low floor operation for its normal green bus fleet. The only step entrance vehicles will then be open tops, coaches, and up to half a dozen Olympians transferred to the coach fleet for schools till more coaches are available. Nine for Uni-link plus seven gives Bluestar its total. In all, that’s 73 in service or on their way which, by any measure, is significant and considerable.

SVOC aims at 100 per cent low floor on its green bus fleet, thanks to the Scanias

The Scanias are having a greater impact than the VRs once scattered across the Hants & Dorset operating area when new, though the VRs’ contribution in terms of reliability and conversion to one man operation cannot be minimised for an otherwise financially unhealthy H&D.

The Spectras from 1993 simply took passengers’ breath away. The Scanias, though not quite so impressive, aren’t far off, but the added dimension is their Best Impressions revised or tweaked livery & adornments that give the buses a modern, sharp, lively appearance, all of which has contributed to a reported 15 per cent increase in loadings on the X3.

All pictures © Dave's Buses in the UK (used with permission)

Spotlight—again

Another parliamentary report calls on the government to shake up school transport. This time, it revolves around the introduction of the 14-19 agendum, which sees pupils travelling more for tuition to more than one school or institution. This, in turn, will increase the transport required—and the cost to parents. The Commons Transport Committee has considered the barriers that fares might place on families with children aged 14-19 who need to travel to enjoy their new educational opportunities (for those who don’t get free travel).

It’s not just a matter of cost, though. What happens in cases where there is no or any easy public transport?

Understandably, the government is concerned about the cost of free fares for younger pupils. And so, perhaps, should operators be, if reimbursement is required along the lines of free travel for elderly people. Not to mention full buses at peak with the afternoon anti-social behaviour this implies.

Inevitably, American-style buses form part of the equation. The thought of fleets of dedicated school buses operating for two hours a day may seem wasteful but could nevertheless be something I suppose the government might usefully consider as a means of ensuring manufacturing jobs are maintained at British bus builders.

Pram Ban Slam

Following yesterday’s post on disabilities comes the possible resolution to the long-running Lothian Buses pram ban saga. This has been a nine-month squabble between parents and Lothian over keeping the dedicated wheelchair space free for wheelchairs. The Edinburgh Scotland operator’s apparently considering the provision of a pram space alongside the obligatory one reserved for wheelchairs.

This might be a face saving situation but it does raise a number of implications. One is, won’t the operator be back to square one if the pram space is taken; won’t a second pram try to occupy the wheelchair space and refuse to give way to a wheelchair user? What effect will this have on the vehicle’s seated capacity at peak periods?

It seems the common-sense compromise of allowing only foldable buggies onto the bus rather than rigid, inflexible prams is not an option. Perhaps this is because mothers have refused to budge when a wheelchair user needs the space. Yet, parents don’t have to use a pram. Buggies can enter buses normally but can then be folded up & stored when a passenger with disabilities requires the space. This is the generally held and accepted view elsewhere in Britain and, unless you know otherwise, tends to work well.

Disabled Travellers

If we feel that complaints regarding people with disabilities trying to use our services are one-offs, I think we are seriously deluding ourselves.

Everyone gets a complaint about disability issues at some time. It might be a driver who failed to use the ramp (preferring to keep his hands clean). Or who failed to align to the raised kerb, thereby stranding a passenger. Or who was simply brusque. Perhaps the driver just couldn’t be bothered. It’s possible that the driver was late and refused to take a time-consuming wheelchair passenger. May be the driver refused the wheelchair because of a concern over “exploding battery syndrome” (once a fear but now virtually eliminated with the adoption of sealed wheelchair power units). May be the customer has a wheelchair that’s incompatible with the bus’ dimensions. Or the mothers with buggies won’t shift from the wheelchair space. There are plenty of issues to trip us up.

And, there are always two sides to every story so it’s easier to take the soft option, dismiss complaints by a wheelchair user, and put it down to a one-off. Helping us take this view is the amount of training we give drivers in disability issues. Surely, this cures or prevents the problem.

Some experience of dealing with actual and potential passengers with disabilities leads me to the conclusion that although as an industry we *think* problems are isolated, they probably are not. They are almost certainly more widespread than we would like to admit.

For one thing, the bus industry is and always has largely unsupervised at the point of delivery. Whereas over 80 per cent of drivers are helpful and sympathetic to people with differing needs, some are not. For another, the majority of disabled people hate to make a fuss, will rarely complain and will put up with a great deal. They will only come forward in extremis or when perhaps they see a fellow passenger in the media who’s apparently suffered. At this point, their views are tainted by yet another problem on the bus. They may even begin to view a lack of understanding as institutionalised.

In the age of the driver CPC, customer focus training and low floor buses, we ignore complaints from disabilities at our peril. For one thing, if we don’t get the basics right for disabled people, how can we ever expect to meet the aspirations of more general travellers? And though it’s tempting to imagine that when matters do go wrong it’s the driver’s fault, doesn’t the problem lie with managers in getting the message across, and enforcing it?

And on a very human level, drivers are able to identify regular wheelchair bound travellers quite easily. One serious but justifiable complaint cannot be allowed to poison other drivers’ views about the passenger who, after all, has a hard enough time simply boarding and positioning in front of over 30 starring passengers.

Good News, OK News

The good news is that passenger satisfaction in terms of English bus journeys has increased to 83 points out of 100, up one on the previous quarter. This is according to the quarterly bus & light rail quarterly statistics, the latest of which were published yesterday by the DfT. Satisfaction with bus services continues at its high level and 2008 Q4 is the highest ever.

Satisfaction in shire counties reached 85/100 while in the city regions, this was unchanged at 84.

In spite of huge investments in a totally low floor fleet, higher frequencies, shelters, termini and publicity at stops; and congestion charge traffic levels that have stemmed the worst excesses of traffic growth, London languishes unchanged at 81/100. Those who place London’s quality contracts on a pedestal may care to speculate as to why the deregulated shire counties are performing so much better.

The statistics don’t answer this question. What they do say is that since 2001/02, London’s satisfaction rate increased by seven points, from 74 to 81; whereas the shires have climbed much more slowly, from 82 to 85 per cent. In other words, satisfaction in London has risen at double the rate of the shires.

Do quality contracts have an impact on Londoners’ perception of their bus service? May be it’s not so simple as franchising versus the free market. Perhaps it’s because Londoners have a higher expectation or are discontented with the hordes of free travelling young people who roam on buses and create a nuisance. London’s trends quite appear variable compared to elsewhere but recent increases might, for example, reflect promises to withdraw bendy buses. Perhaps, even, in the Oyster-driven market, passengers have less contact with their drivers who value the face-to-face interaction of cash transactions elsewhere. Could it also be that a deregulated market drive customer service to higher levels than in a regulated London?

And, is the four point difference between the shires and London that significant in any case?

Interesting that in the years between 2001/02 and 2008 satisfaction about value for money increased in London by six points to 77; whereas in the shires, this has remained constant at 74.

Promise of a Smoother Ride

Why not re-read the recent post on ADL redundancies and in particular the interesting comments on hybrids attached thereto. Hybrids are the future, you know. Or so they say.

Way back in November, as a clutch of further hybrids were finding their way into London garages, we promised to post more about the Wrightbus Gemini HEV, actually about an interesting feature said almost to be a by-product of its second generation hybrid management unit: a smoother ride for passengers.

At Bus Expo 2008, a Wrightbus engineer was at pains to explain to me how the software that runs the hybrid drive actually compensates for the usual stop-start of urban driving. You know the kind of thing. Pull away from a bus stop by accelerating hard, speed to the next stop (or queuing traffic) and slam on hard. Scheduling, urban traffic and modern vehicles engineered for acceleration (not to mention some drivers' styles) encourage this sort of driving that tends to throw passengers around. Wrightbus says that its software counteracts this otherwise lumpy effect, making the journey far more comfortable for passengers.

It was only a matter of time before a software solution to this problem became available (and not before time, assuming it actually works, of course, on the Wrightbus Gemini HEV in service with Arriva, First & London General).

BTW, the spell checker wants to convert ‘Wrightbus’ to ‘Righteous’. Hmmm…

In Court

Last summer’s Wilts & Dorset toppled double deck incident has concluded with a £1,100 fine, £1,800 costs and a six months’ driving ban for a Porsche driver who the court found caused the crash and who had been driving erratically, fast and on the wrong side of the road.

The result, you may recall, was an open top double deck bus on its side near Studland, with passengers ejected therefrom. Had the DAF/Northern Counties been conventionally closed topped, the injuries and damage would have been magnified. Had the passengers found themselves thrown out other than on soft ground, the consequences would’ve been far more serious. One passenger is still unable to travel on double decks and boarded a PSV for the first time to attend court. The driver, who’s now been named in public, is still on medication and still has nightmares.

Drastic Measures

Though it’s difficult to predict, the 1,100 job cuts announced yesterday at First’s UK bus division probably equate to between 500-600 front line driver redundancies. This is the first significant job cutting programme announced by any major operator for some years and follows an extended period of relative stability when driving jobs in particular have been seen as safe.

Add rail and it’s 1,750 jobs to go in the UK overall at First. An equal number are out of work in its North American yellow school bus and Greyhound operations, in response to a weakening stateside economy.

Those potentially affected will take little comfort that the net result of First’s announcement saw shares rally by over 20 per cent yesterday (though First’s shares are still less than half their September 2008 value). But that’s economics. And there was I thinking that the economy was there to serve us rather than the other way around.

First employs some 14,000 worldwide.

A Cumbrian was correct in commenting on yesterday’s post in suggesting that the Stagecoach innovation that didn’t work was the Fife yellow taxibus service. He cracked it within 39 minutes of the post going live. Deacon suggested it may be selling Stagecoach’s London operations, though that was a strategic decision rather than an ‘innovational inadequacy’.

A Tale of Two Cities

Well, of two municipals at any rate.

Recent experience suggests that when a council starts denying rumours that its arms-length operator is up for sale, there’s often no smoke without fire. So it is that 110-vehicle Rossendale Transport’s chair Cllr Anne Cheetham said, “We are not exploring any option to sell Rossendale Transport because it is very important to Rossendale. We have looked at our assets, but we have not discussed the idea of changing the transport system in the borough and we do not plan to”. Unequivocal.

But the council had only recently talked of market testing to see what whether there was any interest in the business. “In making any final decision with regard to the ownership of Rossendale Transport, the council will be seeking best value and the future interests for council taxpayers, passengers and transport staff.” Less equivocal.

We’d suggest that there might well be strong interest in Rossendale. Could it therefore be that the next of Britain’s dwindling 13 municipals for sale is tipped to be no.9, Rossendale?

And will applicants for the £70,000 p.a. top job at 80-vehicle 11th placed Newport Transport have all this in mind when applying, that munis are slowly sliding into oblivion?

The first thing that when appointed the new managing director of Newport Transport could usefully do is modernise the company’s website. OK, that’s not really likely to be the first job but giving the operator an innovative website must surely be somewhere high on the agenda. For Newport Wales is one of Britain’s newest cities and it prides itself on being cutting edge. If you think it’s largely industrial, it’s important enough to feature a summer City Sightseeing open top tour (operated by Newport Transport). Not everyone can boast one of those.

Innovation from Stagecoach

Stagecoach likes to innovate and rarely gets it wrong. Within days of the law changing, it took advantage of coach deregulation—and never looked back. It used crew operated double decks as effective short-term competition against established bus services. The Magic Bus brand was designed to eliminate or deter competition. Stagecoach was the first to brand strongly. Goldline raised the bar in bus service provision. The Kickstart concept is accredited to Stagecoach. Megabus offered low cost inter-city coach travel from 2003. And it entered the budget train market with Megatrain two years later.

And from 30 March 2009, Stagecoach has come up with something else that’s different, a new concept in no-frills travel called Megabusplus, from Yorkshire to London. It’s simple and may just catch on. It comprises two elements: Megabuses on three routes connecting with East Midlands Trains at East Midlands’ Parkway (completed in January) for onward travel to London.

There are two return trips on three Megabus services on weekdays, each from Halifax, Hull and York, all of which are timetabled with a 19 minute connection for the same London St Pancras train. The last rail departure from St Pancras is a restrictive 1415 but this is deliberate. Stagecoach is trying to fill empty seats rather than overload busier services.

There are, of course, a couple of snags or issues:

• One is weekend engineering work. During these periods, Stagecoach will offer a direct coach-only London service.
• A specific train will take you from East Midlands’ Parkway and, confusingly, this may not necessarily be the first to arrive at the station.
• There’s also the possibility of missed connections. In such circumstances, making your own way rather than following Stagecoach advice may result in penalty fares.
• There is no facility to use either the coach or rail element for local travel, yet the East Midlands' Parkway connection would otherwise be useful for East Midlands’ Airport. Since there are no automatic barriers at East Midlands’ Parkway, and since a passenger can presumably abscond when dropped by coach, passengers may decide to chance it with a cheap London ticket.
• Stagecoach may lose its East Midlands franchise but that’s not till March 2015.
• And, the following comment is interesting and may lead people to wonder about longevity, “It is not expected to be highly profitable and must attract a good number of new customers to justify itself.”

Not all that Stagecoach touches turns to gold. Anyone any ideas as to a Stagecoach UK innovation that didn't work? (Answer tomorrow, if no one guesses correctly)

How does Megabusplus compare?

We looked at journeys from London to Hull. We successfully managed to book a seat on the first London to Hull via East Midlands' Parkway returning the following day for £1 each way plus 50p booking fee. Megabusplus uses yield management in its pricing, as is usual on Megabus itself, so the earlier the better in terms of bargain fares.

Hull-London	Megabusplus	National Express	Hull Trains
No. of trips per weekday	2 (change at East Mids P/way)	1 (through) + 1 (change at Leeds)	7 (through) (others available by changing)
Quickest journey time	4hr 39m	6h 10m (through)	2hr 31m (through)
Single fare (off-peak)	Variable, from £1.50 single including booking fee	£26 single	£45 single (£27 advance)

c Stagecoach also knows when to back away. It has divested of much of its international operations. In spite of a rocky road, it has retained a slimmed-down north American Coach USA & Coach Canada operation.

Stagecoach nevertheless announced yesterday that from the day after Magabusplus starts, Coach USA’s Gray Line New York open top sightseeing tours will form a joint venture with New York’s market leader, Citysights NY, as Twin America. The venture seeks to rationalise administration, reduce congestion at specific points and give better choice & value for money.

Citysights operates a fleet of some 60 brand new, American built open tops whose austere appearance contrasts with Stagecoach’s own Envro 500 tri-axles.

Conundrum & Spiral

The chattering classes may have felt anger at Marks & Spencer’s January 2009 decision to close 35 Simply Food outlets but in the event they learnt to live with it, knowing that there probably was a Waitrose not too far away.

First is blaming poor passenger numbers and the economic downturn for a re-evaluation of its bus businesses in Bath & Bristol; in York; and also in Lothian & Edinburgh, Scotland.

The X42 towards Yate is reported to become peak only

while the X27 may vanish altogether

Understandably, passenger reactions are vocal. First is often a monopoly provider, with no real alternative nearby. In the Bristol overspill town of Yate, for example, following consultation First Bristol Bath & the West reconsidered some of its planned changes for August 2008 only to bring them out again, now. Locals feel Britain’s largest transport operator is railroading the changes through again, changes that unless the local authority can intervene will leave passengers stranded with no immediate alternative.

The local authority also faces budgetary pressures in less certain times. The issue is whether it is able to subsidise replacements. If it isn’t, there’s a stark choice: leave the services that are due for withdrawal or cut existing supported routes to ensure the recent proposed withdrawals can continue. After all, if a route has managed to keep its head commercially above water between dereg in 1986 and 2009, it’s probably more robust than one that’s been in the subsidised domain from the dawn of deregulation more than 20 years ago.

During the progress of the Local Transport Bill (now Act), operators rightly pointed out that (some) transport authorities had a poor reputation for making cuts to supported services. Could such authorities be counted upon to provide services in a more regulated world, asked operators. May be the boot now appears on the other foot. Along comes a recession. The early mood at First was one of optimism in the face of the downturn. Sliding rail passengers changed all that. First needs to—has to—manage the future of its business or go under, meaning cuts in bus services. But with fewer, less direct buses and suburban withdrawals in and to Yate, this causes hardship. It dents the industry’s ability to deliver without funding from sources such as local government. Passengers question how a diminishing bus service can ever attract people out of their cars. Passengers are left wondering what happened to partnerships. All this while Bristol city itself sees an unprecedented investment in new vehicles for showcase and other routes that has brought in a uniformity of Wrightbus Eclipse Gemini double decks.

Investment in stock and in showcase corridors aims to tackle

some of Bristol's serious congestion

Neither First nor local councils can easily solve this conundrum, with or without the Local Transport Act. At the crux of it are not enough people using public transport, in spite of free travel. Cuts result, then even fewer passengers. And the age-old downward spiral continues. Welcome to the future? Perhaps it isn’t so different from the past.

What's Going Wrong?

The news yesterday of up to 150 potential job losses at the UK's largest bus manufacturer Alexander Dennis Ltd shattered any final illusions that the UK bus industry is immune from recession. The announcement came after the recent post-Transbus uphill struggle that saw ADL again at the forefront of UK bus manufacturing. It adds to the significant (and proportionately higher) number of redundancies expected at Wrightbus.

So, what went wrong? Readers may recall the initial upbeat messages from operators. First, Stagecoach felt that UK bus was likely to ride the recession even if it thought that rail was going to suffer. Stagecoach was right about rail. Then, First Group followed with its own upbeat assessment.

There was talk of modal shift. There was talk also of free travel-led salvation—even in areas with lower than necessary reimbursements. After all, older people would keep on travelling and shopping, right? Not for them the continual looking over the shoulder to see if they still had a job. But older people are much less well off than at the beginning of this recession (if, like most of them, they rely on fixed incomes from savings).

Readers may also recall some warnings of what happened in the deep recessions of the mid-1970s. These were truly turbulent times when peak loadings quickly crumbled in proportion to the number of general job cuts in industry and the service sector. Then, there was a higher percentage of bus peak journeys, so losses were potentially more harmful. Even now, even where there are fewer regulars travelling at peak times, every redundancy equates to 10 lost bus journeys. And these are regulars, week in, week out, 48 weeks of the year.

It may just be that operators who hedged fuel have landed themselves with a problem. Last summer, they were quids in but now, they may be locked into poorer fuel contracts that haven't benefited from the recent market stability. This, then, gives operators a massive headache and one that cannot so easily be blamed on fuel inflation (as were fares increases from May 2008).

And rail, too, has its part to play. Rail fares are capped at inflation minus one percent and, on regulated fares at least, this gives little room for manoeuvre. The government seems intent on using this formula even as we approach deflationary times. With train operators now seeing the evaporation of the projected growth they once predicted to sustain optimistic franchise bids, it's little wonder that these same operators are having to look closely at their bus businesses, too.

Added to which, there's a real sense that we just may be on the verge of significant developments in hybrid technological. Good news in one sense, perhaps, but not for current orders. Initial hybrid trials on Merseyeside floundered, with those on Tyneside a little more successful. London is now the focus and even here, promises haven't been kept about the pace of change. So, First (and probably other operators) is reticent about diesel orders in the face of advances that just might be just as revolutionary as Gottlieb Daimler's 1885 combustion engine.

So, it's little wonder that all these factors conspire to translate directly into fewer bus orders. Added to which, when you're used to a recent strong and increasing bus (rather than coach) order book, any regression comes as a bit of a shock.

Trolleys at -40

In a parallel world, Yellow Buses would no doubt be the first to use hybrid technology, such was its love with electric traction. And do not mention the monorail...


The recent retirement of Bournemouth’s last member of the platform staff who worked on the town’s trolleybuses reminds us all that *next* month sees the 40th anniversary of the closure of Bournemouth Corporation Transport’s trolleybus system.

Arcking as a driver sped under junction catenary, near-silent running, waiting trolleys at a crowded Triangle, the last brand new trolleybuses for a British operator, only one trolley at a time over Tuckton Bridge and other memories are all that’s left of a once extensive system.

The Christchurch turntable as it is today

The only tangible remnant, however, is the now just about inaccessible Christchurch trolleybus turntable. Built in 1936 two years after the first trolleys entered full service, one of the crew could quite easily backwards-walk a double deck Sunbeam through 180° at the confined terminus while the other used a long pole to relocate the booms to the wires. The trolleybus was then able to move to the queue barrier.

Bournemouth’s swift, smooth, powerful and fumeless trolleys were popular. Yet, the inevitable wind-down decision taken in April 1963 resulted from a paucity of spares, an unwillingness by manufacturers to build new, the cost of electricity and the cost & inconvenience of moving the overhead wires for junction improvements & each time there were (an increasing number of) roadworks.

Trolleys lasted six years after the decision to withdraw and the final day was 20 April 1969. By then, the only route left was along the Christchurch Road.

Belle Vue Road

Trolleybuses used to fair scamper up the short, steep pitch of Richmond Hill in a way motor buses were never able to do. In fact, clause 6 of the former Bournemouth Transport motor bus Regulations & Conditions recognised the severity of Richmond Hill thus, “Standing passengers will be carried on single deck buses and on the lower deck of double deck buses at any time, except when ascending Richmond Hill.” These days, of course, Richmond Hill has been stopped up at the Square.

For a few years after the trolleys’ withdrawal, Yellow Buses unsuccessfully flirted with electric traction in the form of battery buses. One wonders had deregulation & privatisation not intervened whether a municipally owned *and* controlled YB might have been an early hybrid adopter.

Trolleybus over Tuckton Bridge twixt Christchurch & Bournemouth

Tuckton Bridge today. Note the difference in the volume of traffic

i Older photo credit to David Bradley, used with permission. His trolleybus site is recommended

Friday’s incident near Rotherham claimed the life of a First Group bus driver and injured 14 others. Our sympathies go to the driver’s family. It’s at times like these that operators large & small need formal crisis management training. Meanwhile, a TM Travel bus driver was initially believed to be held on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving over the incident.

15 Seconds of Fame

It’s not often you hear a bus registration quoted on BBC Radio 4 but that’s what happened on Friday. Though not in a good way.

The consumer programme You & Yours received an email from one Felicity, which read,

“I was following a bus in Liverpool yesterday which was blasting out filth from its exhaust. My brother puts this down to the privatisation of public transport. Nobody has responsibility any more. Etc etc.”

The vehicle was Dennis Dart/UVG P17 FUG in the Huyton Travel fleet which, I’m guessing, was new to Fuggles. Felicity wondered whether it was a coincidence that it’s registration spelt ‘Fug’, though I associate the word fug with the atmosphere in my local before the smoking ban rather than a plume of black smoke at start-up.

What VOSA thinks is a smoky bus is somewhat different to a laywoman or her brother’s view. The rule of thumb is whether the rear is obscured. Nevertheless, even though blasting out filth is what diesel engines occasionally do, the perception was bad enough to blame someone or something—in this case, privatisation.

Blaming privatisation is ‘clearly’ a sweeping statement, of course. HTL was called to a public inquiry 3½ years ago when the traffic commissioner felt at least an investigation was the responsible thing to do. Merseytravel PTE grants towards soot traps made a marked difference to particulate emissions throughout the region. And what of the significant investment in buses on both commercial and supported services in the region?

Additional information and photo courtesy Northern Correspondent whose 2009 picture of P17 FUG shows a well-maintained exterior (save for the unhelpful destination indicator) and no evidence in this admittedly frontal view of excess or any emissions

We promised to publish the results of our brief magazine survey. Note that in the Favourite Overall Magazine category, no one voted for CBW, Bus & Coach Buyer or Bus & Coach Professional. The final pie chart shows the proportion of readers over a 24 hour period who took part.Thanks to all who contributed.

New Strapline

“Here to take you there” is the new brand strapline coming to Arriva bus publicity material near you. It’s perfectly simple, does what it says (unless there’s no link to “there”, of course) and has that pun element so favoured by marketers.

But, I’ve heard it or something like it somewhere before… but I just can’t remember where. It sounds like one of those post-privatisation 1980s slogan popular when managements shrugged off NBC shackles to master their own destinies. I can see it in my minds eye as black italicised script on a yellow background...

Such brand collateral reviews (unified branding across media formats—in this case timetables, leaflets, on-bus) are popular these days. Brands are important in the marketing toolkit. Specifically, Arriva wanted a new creative approach to all its marketing materials to reflect its customer focus and dependability—and one that was memorable & consistent that would united its UK bus marketing.

The full result was the strapline “Arriva buses. Here to take you there.”

Of Quantum Physics, Headways & Bournemouth

I very much enjoyed the Andy Foster column in the current Transit. There was much sense in his justification for even headways. A no brainer you’d think but not every operator gets it.

You’d expect the co-ordination mantra from a TAS consultant (even if this holy grail isn’t always quite achievable with scattered outer termini). Yet, to some, I fear Foster was talking quantum physics. This is the physics of particles. Atoms behave in an entirely different way to the gravity of Newtonian physics.

Newtonian or classical physics says that on the snooker table, the cueball will cannon the red into the opposite pocket. In unpredictable quantum physics, the red may go straight through the cushion to the floor (as might happen with gamma radiation).

Buses don’t always operate in accordance with the laws of classical physics. There are random elements such as congestion & roadworks, not to mention drivers, people & passengers. Foster sets out the case that unco-ordinated headway buses see their irregular gaps between exaggerating the inevitable bunching. The gaps will widen rather than reduce. Result: a smaller proportion of the resource carries a higher percentage of passengers.

Foster illustrates this with two services at his stop, one of every 6/7 minutes, the other every nine (sic—sounds like Preston). The longest theoretical gap is every seven minutes. This is an uneven service so buses in the longer gaps take a higher proportion of passengers. The gaps continually widen. When this extends to 10-12 minutes, Foster feels a surprisingly high proportion of passengers consider getting their cars out when it rains or for short distance trips; or they simply walk.

You can't avoid bunching but even headways can reduce the widening gap syndrome. There are plenty of examples where growth is significant simply by offering a co-ordinated headway where once it was not. As good an example as any comes from Transdev Yellow Buses, with first year ridership increasing by 20 per cent, another five per cent the following year and a further 15 per cent with national free travel.

And the reverse is true, says Foster, where a service is cut from every 7/8 minutes to every 10. Every 10 is still good. It's the holy grail. Yet, in his actual example, passengers declined by 12 per cent. Passengers therefore notice subtle changes and react in physical ways, quantum or otherwise.

Of Antecedents, MAPs and VRs

Though they’ve all been officially withdrawn from Wilts & Dorset service up to December 2008*, we get the opportunity this month to bid farewell to the venerable Bristol VR. W&D is the last major operator to have a closed-top VR in service. VRs have lasted longer with a major operator here than anywhere. But, life moves on and so, with good grace, we should let the VR retire. Go South Coast’s influx of new Scanias brings comfort beyond even the promise of the Spectras. So it is that there remains no place for antiques like the VR, even on W&D school workings. That’s how it should be.

But we must also recognise the role played by the VR in the everyday life of the people of Dorset, Hampshire and Wiltshire. It was predecessor Hants & Dorset’s bedrock double deck of the 1970s and 1980s and could be seen on trunk, inter-urban, suburban and rural routes throughout the region. There were dual purpose and open top examples. The VR hastened OMO conversions. It was quick and it was modern. It’s rock-solid dependability meant that it lasted even longer in the fleets of England’s school bus providers as a sound second- and third-hand investment, prized above any other body/chassis combination. This has resulted in a lasting legacy of nearly 200 VRs in preservation.

The VR started quite late at H&D, with the arrival of the six newly designed, double-curvature fronted ECW-bodied Series IIs in December 1972. The body modifications were to last till H&D’s final VR, its 150th, in December 1980. Few remember, though, that H&D ordered up to a further 19, all of which were diverted in 1981 to hungry-for-deckers Bristol Omnibus, at the height of the Market Analysis Project. It was ironic the H&D’s own MAP requirement meant a reduction in double deck orders—and an influx of Bristol Omnibuses’ unwanted yet relatively new small single deck 43-seat Bristol LHs.

Fittingly, the first six VRs came to Poole though were carted off I recall to Basingstoke soon afterwards. Like subsequent ECW-bodied examples, they shared a number of design features that were common to immediate antecedent FS, FL & FLF Lodekkas of which H&D was justly famous, including common front & rear domes and window lines. It needs no imagination to trace the ECW body-style back to the Bristol K, via the LD and, as such, this month’s event will mark not only the last of the Bristol marque at W&D but the last of the lineage of ECW designs dating to the 1940s.

For one last time, up to three ECW bodied VRs will operate local bus services as duplicates in the Salisbury area. Even die-hard modernisers will recognise the VR’s contribution to the industry and should these professionals wish for details of the 28th March 2009 event they might consider contacting well known local enthusiast Ant the Ringwood Smoothie by searching out the ‘click here to get in touch’ link on his website. We trust he can help.

i Bristol Commercial Vehicle enthusiasts’ website

* unless you know different!

Contravision Controversy

One can only assume operators value motorists over customers. Why else would they use so-called contravision all-over applications on their buses? We live in customer-focused times yet window-obscuring vinyl isn’t usually applied for the customers’ benefit.

This growing phenomenon may be lucrative but it’s highly unpopular with ordinary passengers. It renders the windows useless, transforming day into night. Windows, after all, are designed for seeing out of; and for providing natural light within. It strikes me as very strange that the only glass exempt from contravision is in the driver’s cab. Why might that be, I wonder?

I concede there might have been a role for contravision on short-hop urban services save that occasional and not so occasional passenger finds it hard to see whether their stop approaches. Using contravision on longer distance services seems counter productive. Contravision negates the very benefits of travelling by bus—watching the world roll by, perhaps just letting life drift past.

Not only that, contravision becomes tatty when scratched & scraped by passing, overhanging tree branches.

These photographs of two buses, one with a high proportion of contravision and one without weren't taken on the same day, the same season even, in the same area or in the same conditions but they nevertheless illustrate the difference window light makes. They were both taken in daylight and I can assure readers of no editing or enhancing. Spot the bus with contravision.

In many areas, winter's been rather snowy. Snow creates significant bus-side road grime that obscures vision in a similar fashion to contravision. But road grime isn’t permanent and most operators—certainly the Big Five and other large concerns—take a pride in presenting clean buses whatever the weather, and often have performance indicators or inspection regimes to ensure they do so. Why, then, use contravision?

Contra, of course, means against or in opposition to. Vision means something seen or a scene. Contravision simply signifies “against seeing”. QED.

Are there easier ways of promoting a route or a product, even assuming that adverts of any kind on buses are a Good Thing? All-over bus advertisements became popular in the 1970s. They left the windows untouched but managed to get across their points in a unique and outstanding way. The problem these days is the amount of window area’s increased and body panelling's decreased but even so, it still leaves a large canvas on which to be creative. Without covering the windows.

Head to Head

One suggestion from the recent Omnibuses survey was that we might try an online poll rather than rely on the Comments box to garner views. We thought now would be a good time to try that idea. Once readers have digested the post below, they are invited to answer two simple questions. UPDATE 11/03/09: survey now closed. Results at the weekend

Just because operators have to choose to buy Coach & Bus Week doesn’t mean that the trade journal is automatically the industry’s favourite weekly. CBW might assume that because every reader has made a conscious effort to subscribe, this instantly translates to customer satisfaction. But it doesn’t follow that free-to-qualifying-readers rival routeONE is knocked into second place.

So, we felt it was time to update and refresh our various trade journal head-to-heads that we’ve been posting since October 2005, by comparing CBW no. 873 with R1 no. 272. The impetus came from a cover and three-page article in CBW on Eastleigh’s Black Velvet Travel.

That article told this blog’s readers (and commenters) very little that they didn’t already know—but it would otherwise be stimulating to others. Operator profiles are one of CBW’s strengths.

But there are other litmus tests in determining which magazine is best. One is reader correspondence. What, for example, has happened to the letters page in CBW? This week’s edition had none, whereas R1 had five, over 1½ pages.

And then there’s vehicles for sale. In display and classified advertising, R1 offered about double those of its rivals, in 18 pages. R1 is strong on display ads. In addition, it has effectively boxed off the private classified adverts market—there are virtually none on CBW. Instead, there were less than 200 vehicles for sale in total, mostly in display adverts, over 12 pages.

And finally general news which, after all, is probably the main raison d’être for most readers in making their choice. CBW featured over double the general news stories of R1. Though some of CBW’s 60 stories seemed fairly trivial, CBW was the clear winner here. Interestingly, only nine stories crossing over between magazines. Note, however, that R1’s day-later press date meant it could feature Wrightbus redundancies last week, whereas CBW had to wait.

R1 was stronger on features this week. There were four pages on an ADL E400 hybrid test and two pages of top 20 tips on beating the recession. R1 also interviewed Paul Clark at the DfT. R1’s Westminster Watch aimed high as usual—competing with the likes of Transit. On the other hand, CBW offered a two-pager on the April 2009 employment law changes, two pages of specific tour news and its usual good one-page financial news summary.

The conclusion? It depends what you want. Though readers here may not like to hear it, the conclusion as before is that to get the best of both worlds, you really need to read both. On the fence, I know, but that’s how it is.

Omnibuses2.0 is pleased to mention Jimmymac’s charity Thurso-Basingstoke-Brighton six-day charity bus challenge, entirely on Stagecoach buses (or Stagecoach trains, where there are a few gaps). This, of course, is made easier following Stagecoach’s purchase of Rapson’s. Jimmymac encourages online sponsorship via the challenge’s website.

OFT Shock Announcement

Just what, prithee, are we to make of OFT’s announcement last week that it is to examine the supply of bus services?

It’s come at a most inopportune moment, at a time when the Local Transport Act at last relaxes some of the issues that hitherto have prevented sensible co-ordination in the public interest; and at a time when local authorities may wish to strengthen voluntary or statutory quality partnerships that could in themselves be considered at least partly monopolistic.

Yet, the OFT is concerned about the number of take-overs in the last few years and will no doubt wish to consider whether the concentration of services in the hands of the Big Five (and others) has an effect on fares, competition for tenders and tender prices. But are these the public’s main concerns? Especially with more of them travelling free of charge?

Perhaps the OFT will consider the following rhetorical questions:

• Why are smaller operators actually selling?
• Does the absorption of these low cost niche operators drive up standards and vehicle investment?
• Why are bus industry margins generally slipping?
• Why is it that more people are using bus services?

And, perhaps the OFT might consider the poorer reimbursement rates paid by some local authorities. Here, operators have no choice in accepting what’s on offer.

Off the Wall?

An off the wall post.

Veteran Devonian James Lovelock, the environmentalist who propagated the Gaia concept (Earth as a super-organism), feels that the Earth will naturally stabilise itself when, through global warming, by the end of the century it reaches +5°C. In his view, there’s no need to “save the planet”, as at this point the planet will look after itself, eventually re-stabilising.

The problem is that in re-stabilising at +5°C, it cannot support anything like the current population, approaching 7bil. Lovelock hypothesises that the maximum sustainable would be 1bil. Lovelock’s view is that we cannot now halt the temperature rise but we can plan for human survival.

Which puts pressures on islands like ours and other areas where climate change is likely to be mitigated by essential rainfall. To cope with the influx of people who henceforward will wish to live in England, Lovelock suggests a mass house building programme (always assuming this country wishes to open its floodgates).

His predictions may seem bizarre but in his long career, he’s got quite a lot of them right. Extra population places extra pressures on so many things but one positive is that the only form of public transport with the flexibility to cope with any mass house-building is likely to be the bus service.

Manufacturers' Word Search—Solution

Manufacturers' Word Search

Omnibuses2.0 is currently away. Here, then, are 19 contemporary chassis and or body manufacturers—and an older former manufacturer as well. Answers later today.

An Oddity

A fortnight ago I participated in a celebration to commemorate one of those landmark birthdays. Not mine, I hasten to add. The colleague had hired a preserved bus from the 1960s but one that still looked quite modern (it wasn’t a half-cab). Its livery style was period and anything but contemporary. In all, it was a well-preserved piece of transport history & archaeology, lovingly restored and cared for. When my turn came, it also proved good to drive.

We went out on a number of bus routes that happened to feature rather decent pubs. They also featured passengers waiting for their bus service. It was with some amusement that passengers began moving forward as we approach. Or they would stick out their hand in the time honoured way. They wanted to get on. Most looked bemused as the bus sailed by. One was actually angry, shaking his fist. It’s nearly forty years since buses wearing that particular livery graced the streets. And over 25 years since the bus type was withdrawn.

None of this prevented their trying to hail the bus as if it was still in service. It caused some hilarity for those of us on board. But there are valuable lessons for operators to learn about the reaction from the public to this odd experience.

C Minus for the Solo+

Those of us at Euro Bus Expo 2008 in November witnessed two outwardly identical buses on one stand that were both the first and the last of their kind: the Solo+ minibuses. To say that the operating industry reaction was “mixed” is an understatement. So “mixed” was the response, in fact, that Optare has now pulled the Solo+, concentrating instead on the traditional Solo body for at least another year (plus running the premium Solo SR alongside it). Optare could not afford to sacrifice its lead and healthy order book in minibus production by offering an unwanted Solo+.

Before Expo, sales staff at Optare were pretty confident, upbeat even, about the Solo+’s appeal. They were no doubt taken aback at the response. It’s rare indeed that a manufacturer can have so ill-judged its market. Most other donkeys that tanked (if donkeys *can* actually tank) tend at least to get off the drawing board before they later die in service. Wulfrunian, Roadliner, the Panther chassis and RU all spring to mind.

How, then, can Optare refresh its standard Solo that was a fresh face more than 10 years ago—without alienating operators and making every other Solo on the road obsolete? Keeping it alongside whatever alternative is offered. Perhaps it doesn’t have to kill the traditional Solo off at all. Optare states it has 400 Solos in build or ordered and that demonstrates it remains a bus that has universal appeal.

Better than Acceptable

It’s funny how people seem at best to have a grudging acceptance of their bus service. Even when that service’s actually very good, they can’t bring themselves to say so, in public.

I was speaking to a woman from Bristol today (that fact in itself was rather strange but there you go). She’d been forced from her car owing to a crash. She was using the bus.

Said she, referring to the bus service operated by First, “It’s not bad”. I felt this was undervaluing First’s service. So I dug a little deeper. How far did she have to walk to a stop? About three or four minutes. How frequent was the bus? Often there was one within a couple of minutes wait. Was the bus punctual? Yes, so far as she could tell—at her inbound stop, at least. It might get delayed further in. Was there a shelter? Yes. Did it have real time? No.

Were there usually seats available on board? Always going into town. Even though going home was sometimes full, she never needed to stand. Were the drivers friendly? They were OK, polite. Was the bus clean? Always in the morning but a few items of litter in the afternoon.

I told her that it sounded to me that her service was a little better than “not bad”.

“Well, yeee-ssss” came the grudging response, I suppose so. “It’s a bit expensive, though”. It turned out to be £4. I wasn’t sure whether this was a single or a return. In Bristol, First has certainly been accused of costly fares, some of which are a throwback to the notoriously high fares charged all the way back by antecedent Bristol Omnibus Company.

I wondered how much it cost to park her car in Bristol. She sometimes managed to get a space at work but otherwise it was £8 a day, apparently. £8! QED said I. I estimated that the cost of a week’s travel ticket would be no more than two day’s parking and that’s without any petrol or diesel (or hassle, come to that).

The package as an alternative to the car seemed far better that “not bad”. Why can’t people work this out for themselves?

Shortfall in Free Fall

It depends what you read but the deficit for free travel in 2008/09 in Bournemouth is projected to be some £4.5mil. There's no denying this is a huge sum. Little wonder Transdev Yellow Buses reports a 40 per cent increase in ridership since July 2006. Over 25 per cent of Bournemouth's 163,000 is over 60. That's high enough, of course, but it's the visitors to the resort who give buses their extra boost.

And if you think that shortfalls of this nature are just confined to Bournemouth, try the Isle of Wight's at an estimated £3.7mil (with a slightly higher proportion over 60 of about a third, a slightly lower population of about 133,000, but equally impressive growth in bus use).

The common factor between TYB and Isle of Wight operator Southern Vectis is that they have both undergone customer-focused market reviews that attract large numbers of additional passenger journeys—free or farepaying. In the case of SVOC though, summer changes to one route recognise reimbursement levels are too low to cover costs.

So, there remain operator reimbursement issues, of course, and there are veiled threats in Bournemouth that there might be free travel-induced cuts next year—where, if any, we don't yet know. But the scheme cannot solely be measured in terms of projected shortfalls. What about the significant affect increased patronage has on maintaining the bus service for everyone and in keeping cars off the road?

It's fair to say that south coast tourist traps are likely to be among the hardest hit by free travel. All except the Isles of Scilly, a third of whose population qualify and where a proportionate funding formula sees the islands benefiting to the tune of £551,000—even though they have no bus service. Though the council need not make any reimbursement, are residents able to apply for a pass so that the next time they come to Bournemouth they can hope on the 1b?

Meanwhile, yesterday saw start of a Scilly-wide consultation on the viability of a local free dial a ride scheme to match the needs of elderly residents. This will include a formal presentation that explains exactly what dial a ride is—there can be no assumption that residents will actually know. And, what sort of service might Scilly be able to afford for the 640 people over 60—with potentially £551,000 to spend?

Pictures of Liverpool—2

Omnibuses2.0's Northern Correspondent moves from Arriva to Stagecoach in his Pictures of Liverpool...

Stagecoach, too, has invested heavily since 2005, after it took over troubled Glenvale’s ageing fleet of MCW Metrobuses, Leyland Titans and Ensignbus dealer step entrance midibus cast-offs, some even appearing in Glenvale service in Stagecoach stripes livery!

Stagecoach subsequently infused some £6.5mil in 75 new midibuses. Its all-single deck operation—save for buses on the X2 from Preston—though supplemented this Christmas from elsewhere has nevertheless seen its PVR reduce by about one third. There are charges against Stagecoach of peak over-crowding owing to the small capacity of its single deck midis when compared to the former double decks, but this phenomenon is not confined to Stagecoach, though Arriva has favoured 44 seat conventional single decks.

The Stagecoach rationalisation saw several loss-making competitive services against Arriva withdrawn in what became known as a peaceful co-existence, and there was even some speculation of alleged deals in smoke-filled rooms as Arriva reciprocated by all but withdrawing from the Stagecoach Kirkby heartland. In a veiled attempt to see off the remaining high frequency Arriva 14s (Liverpool-Croxteth), last September Stagecoach introduced its Magic Bus brand on the 14C shorts (Liverpool-Broadway); the move at the same time left the 79s (Liverpool-Netherley) to Arriva. Arriva’s, incidentally, is within the Le Bus clutch of services so named from 2004 in recognition of the 2008 Capital of Culture. The once perhaps insipid Le Bus decals are now replaced by something much more striking.

Magic Bus states “£1 to town”, a clear reference to the typically high short-hop fares charged throughout Liverpool (said to combat chronic over-riding). Magic Bus lacks city centre penetration and in particular its inability, owing to Merseytravel rationing, to join Arriva and standard Stagecoach 14s at Queens Square bus station is a major impediment. Magic Bus relies on the standard high floor Stagecoach Volvo B10M/Alexander PS but painted in stark Magic Bus all-over blue.

1969 and All That—Pt 3

We continue our look at the Transport Act 1968 that saw the creation 40 years ago of NBC and PTEs

Section 34 of the Transport Act 1968 for the first time gave the government and district & county councils the ability to subsidise socially necessary rural bus services. This recognised that far from all rural bus services in England were covering their costs and that cross-subsidy in some areas was not robust enough in every case.

This was as well because, unlike the at PTEs, the newly created National Bus Company subsidiaries had to break even one year with the next. Throughout the sixties, this was becoming increasingly difficult to do and some subsidiaries availed themselves of S.34 subsidy as soon as it became available in May 1971.

Measures were further enhanced by the Local Government Act 1972, which gave local government the power to subsidise networks, rural and urban. This was available from 1974 and marked the beginning—35 years ago this year—of the council transport departments as we know them.

It’s of particular interest that, as the 1970s progressed, subsidies rose exponentially in spite of the mass introduction of one man operation (as it then was known), the phasing out of double decks, cuts in service and fares greatly exceeding inflation.