New Era Dawned

Electronic ticket machines have been with us for 30 years. Given Wayfarer of Poole was within Hants & Dorset ’s area, it’s not surprising that NBC chose H&D to trial the early Wayfarer ETM. The rest, as they say, is history…

It was therefore surprising that associated Provincial should adopt the rival Timtronic. In fact, The National Bus Company felt that Timtronic would prove the better machine.

Looking back, what now seems most odd about the Timtronics was the language used at the time. Remember in the early 1980s computers were a little mysterious.

Analysis was by “micro-computer technology” (I’m guessing just one solitary DOS-based machine at Provincial in those days, just like that for the whole of Oxford South Midlands, the very first to introduce Timtronics). The module was called a “cassette”, perhaps in deference to way in which Sinclairs and others stored and retrieved data. At the Timtronic’s heart was a “silicon chip”, an impressive term at the time and one filled with mysticism. Even the name Timtronic evoked a technological leap.

One thing Provincial learnt very quickly was that the Timtronic was more or less incompatible with the electrics and bounces & jolts associated with the Bristol RE. This mattered little since in the early 1980s these were speeding towards retirement save, of course, that machines that conked out lost potential revenue for the company. Timtronic worked well on Leyland Nationals and by 1984 Provincial used no other bus type.

It’s understandable that drivers weren’t keen on Timtronic, at first. Union negotiations meant that Provincial could only use data for specific disciplinary issues and not, for example, regarding punctuality. Drivers softened as they realised that they needed an ACE module rather than a specially issued ticket machine. The production of an automated waybill assisted in reconciliation, saving driver and depot time. And fares look up dispensed with references to faretables and saved mental arithmetic.

Provincial also discovered that they would need to send one or two ticket machines a week back to Cirencester for repair. And Provincial inspectors became adept at dealing with simple issues on site: rebooting, for example, and the perpetually jamming ticket cutting mechanism that sometimes just needed the removal of accumulated paper dust.

Balanced with this, though, were the problems associated with ageing mechanical equipment. And, Provincial made use of an unheard of wealth of information about origins & destinations, fares paid, journeys made and so on. While others were engaged in the expensive, manual Bus Driver pre-deregulation market assessment, Provincial could simply interrogate its computer.
Photo: Omnibuses' Northern Correspondent

Quote of the Week

A listener emailed to BBC Radio 4’s PM news analysis programme on Wednesday afternoon to comment, “Constitutional change as a means of dealing with MP’s dodgy expenses is rather like scrapping Routemaster buses because someone’s been fare dodging.”

Did the correspondent actually mean articulated buses rather then RMs?

Still a Choice

Even though one of the major electronic destination manufactures has called it a day, there’s still some choice left for manufacturers & operators.

The recessionary down turn in business has forced Bright Tech Developments of Poole to close voluntarily. There’s no official suggestion of insolvency but the 67-year-old proprietor feels that a lack of forward bus manufacturing means now is the hour. This in spite of the rush to install LED units in new builds and by retrofitting.

High above the NEC floor in 2006 at the trade show

Bright Tech is a significant high-end player in the market. There are others. In truth, there’s little to chose between all the main players, with each offering the passenger clear messaging and the operator consistent performance.

What the operator needs is something that can be reprogrammed quickly using flawless software. What the driver wants is an easy to use system with as few key presses as possible and one in which he can have confidence. None have particular flaws, though everyone will have their favourites. Mobitec is as good an example as any of what is best in digital blind manufacturing. It loses no brightness, is intuitive for drivers to use and will update when messages or routes need changing hassle-free in seconds. On the other hand, Bright Tech is slightly less easy to update. Hanover’s are excellent but here, perhaps its driver blind setting that is slightly less easy.

A most interesting montage by Bright Tech of Poole. Last time I looked, Poole had yet to ask Her Majesty for city status conferment. And the former X4 in Bournemouth?

There are also budget digital destination displays, such as Centrad. The first versions were somewhat basic but now Centrad offers scrolling and messaging on two lines though you can’t check the setting on the cab control panel. Prices are about half that of the mainstream manufacturers and offer good value for money. While new orders will probably continue to specify market leaders—the price is such a small fraction of the overall vehicle cost—budget ranges are ideal for mid-life conversion from ‘linen’ blinds.

Lost in Translation

Kipling said, “To be born an Englishman is to win first prize in the lottery of life”. Today, that may be slightly outdated but even so, the lingua franca of the business world remains English. Major international bus concerns offer their websites in English. Except, sometimes, Johnny Foreigner gets it just a little wrong. Here are some examples from the bus world, each followed by Omnibuses2.0’s re-translations:

From Beulas

“This coach has been designed to aport more capacity to the passengers, the excellent general view that the Glory offers is as a result of the big visibility and the luminosity.”

“Designed to provide a higher passenger capacity, the Glory offers a bright passenger area with improved visibility”.

From Solbus

“The result of this extraordinary density in bus production is an ever-growing competition on the Polish market, a rising level of quality in the bus production, and a well-developed industry of parts and sub-assembly suppliers.”

“The Polish bus market is strong and competitive resulting in rising quality and a healthy parts and sub-assembly supply”.

From Madrid Municipal Transport

“The stops that the different MTC lines have available along their itineraries are discretionary, in other words, the user or passenger will have to warn the driver with sufficient notice if they want to get on the bus via an unequivocal signal…”

“Please give a clear signal to the MTC driver if you wish to board the bus”.

From Noge

“Last February 2008, Noge installed a biologic depuration system, using previous installation as a provisional mud storage, in which recovered mud and residual water are placed at street level to facilitate afterwards treatment.”

“In February 2008, Noge installed a street level water purification system for the treatment of muddy and grey waste water.”

From Autosan

“Comfortable Autosan buses fit ideally for short and long distances”

“Autosan produces buses that are ideal for any distance, long or short”.

From Reykjavík Bus Company

“As drivers cannot make change, you will need to have the correct fare ready.”

“Please have the correct fare ready as drivers cannot give change.”

From King Long

“King Long has remained a stable performance growth during the continuous 20 years… Up to December 2008, King Long has manufactured over 140,000 units in total, which takes up 20% of market maintenance in China and tops in the industry.”

“King Long has benefited from stable growth over the last 20 years. Up to December 2008, King Long was the Chinese market leader, building over 140,000 units, equivalent to 20 per cent of the Chinese market.”

From Ataf Spa (Florence)

“Ataf Spa remembers to the users that the service is active every day of the year until 01.50 am except for Christmas day - the bus service ends at 1.00 pm; Easter day - the bus service ends at 1.00 pm; May, 1st - Ataf Spa doesn't effect service for all day. “

“Ataf services run till 0150 every day except for Christmas and Easter Days when services finish at 1300 and May Day when there is no service.”

From Indcar

“Our effort in innovation gets a very high quality statement to our products, following the needs and requirements of customers.”

“We match our customers’ needs & requirements, and provide high quality & innovative products”.

From Caetano

“The history of this Group is made of constant victories and an accumulation of projects, aiming at the construction of a Portuguese group of international prestige.”

“The internationally prestigious Portuguese group is the result of past successes.”

From Otokar

“Navigo City keeps the driver's comfort during whole day at the traffic. You will have a wide vision with its large windscreen, heated mirrors and you will master of the road and the traffic entirely.”

“Navigo City drivers will feel refreshed even after a long day’s driving. We’ve designed heated mirrors and a large windscreen with wide vision so that you can be the master the road.”

From Autogari (Romania)

“Departs from: _______ Arrives to: _______” (route planner)

“Departs from, Arrives at”

Form Ibus (Italy)

“The agreement among nine transportation companies is allowing us to put at customer disposal a long and special experience in the working sector of the passenger transportation: many daily courses around all the national territory and over one million of passengers carried per year.”

“Nine experienced operators work together to offer passengers something special. We provide many national routes daily, carrying over a million passengers each year.”

From Traveller 21 (Hungary)

“Company Traveller 21 Ltd takes part in the public transportation in the present form since 2000.”

“Traveller 21 was established in its present form in 2000.”

From Sorrento Bus

“Seriousness, quality, experience” (strapline)

“Quality, experience, integrity”

From Solarisbus

On the other hand, this Polish manufacturer's website offers flawless translation—and a pretty slick design, too (if perhaps you ignore the dog). Highly commended. i Solarisbus (in English)

So, Who’s Next?

After Plymouth Citybus, who might be next in the municipal queue to sell?

Rightly or wrongly, there appears an unwritten rule that municipal bus operators should run marginal services at unprofitable times as a kind of social dividend. They run more services as commercial than they would perhaps like (though perhaps fewer than their shareholder council would wish). How else would you explain some of the low margins in this sector?

One of England's most unusual: Reading's MAN 18.240/East Lancs (sic) Kinetic+

This manifests itself in a number of ways. One is that financial performance obviously suffers. Another is a false expectation that services will continue regardless. A third is that low dividends lead cash-strapped councils to consider realising assets locked up in an arms length business over which they have less than 100 per cent control.

As local government belts tighten, does this make the remaining municipal operators easy targets in the sights of their controlling councils? Take a look at the reasons why Plymouth council felt it should consider a sale and then ask whether others are doing the same:

• Plymouth council retains a high level of risk in owing Citybus (is this really true in Citybus’ case? Increasing competition may, however, reduce the future dividend, though it may weaken the prospect of a good sale price)


• There are considerable financial benefits in a sale (times are tough at the moment. The council estimates £10mil for Citybus. Hmmm. Difficult to ignore)


• Bus company ownership is no longer a core business (hasn’t been for a while councils have still retained ownership till now—and remember that social dividend)


• High quality bus services aren’t dependent upon ownership of an arms length company (true, but that doesn’t mean a private sector operator would be any better)
  

We feel we were the first to break the Plymouth Citybus story nationally (rather than regionally). There was firm and independent information available to that effect. Unconfirmed speculation that Reading Transport may follow is petrhaps conjectural but the word is that councillors there are thinking hard. And if in Plymouth and Reading, we’re sure others are equally interested in their own operations.

Reading, by increasing fares, is already looking to recoup losses it says are due to the recession, reducing some mileage in July, with threats of redundancies in the autumn not ruled out as the company aims to balance supply with demand (now there’s a good old 1970s term you don’t hear every day!). This follows news earlier in the year of job growth at Reading Transport.

Who was Right & Who was Wronged?

One wonders whether the directors of Go South Coast and indeed Go Ahead itself will be reading the OFT report on Cardiff Bus v 2Travel with renewed interest. One wonders, too, whether the OFT will begin to take a retrospective look at Eastleigh bus operations to determine whether one company was predatory. All this follows reference in parliament on 21 May 2009.

Competition between Velvet and Bluestar ser 2 has now ceased

For, Saturday saw the end of Velvet’s Fair Oak Flyer, the direct Eastleigh-Fair Oak service introduced in January 2009. The Southern Daily Echo blames the withdrawal on Bluestar’s service 2 revisions that saw Bluestar's four buses an hour increase to six. As a result, parliament heard Eastleigh MP Chris Huhne refer to a “desperate need to provide local authorities with the powers to re-regulate buses” in the light of an “extra-ordinary fight” between Bluestar, the large, dominant operator and “new, innovative and young competitor” Velvet.

Huhne cites Velvet’s attempt to provide new links that were “suddenly” thwarted by Bluestar only to find that Bluestar ceased just as soon as it could, something to which Huhne referred as a “scandal” and as “outrageous, bully-boy behaviour on the part of the dominant operator”.

Crucially, Huhne intends to take this up with the OFT. And if, in the post-Cardiff Bus world, the OFT bites then there could be repercussions (or so Velvet supporters might claim).

But, we all know that life isn’t always quite as simple as it looks. For one thing,Velvet MD Phil Stockley is on record as saying that he supports the free market. This suggests that an incumbent should be free to defend its position. And it suggests that Velvet understands the business risks of bus operation (if anyone does, Stockley does).

For another, Velvet has spotted a niche in providing the C1 & C2 under contract (albeit a short term one). With its subsidy, this is a far better bet for Velvet.

Thirdly, there’s no mention within the Southern Echo’s pages of Bluestar’s recent investment that brings the average age of Bluestar’s 100-plus fleet including Unilink to about eight years, far less any considered argument as to whether the hoped for local authority intervention would guarantee the future of smaller operators.

It's interesting that the Southern Daily Echo fails to capitalise on the situation it champions. It reports that, with the fall of the Flyer, 100 journeys are now axed (actually 78 on Mondays to Fridays). It then neglects to mention that from 15 June 2009 Bluestar’s 2 sees the withdrawal of the Fair Oak-Eastleigh shorts, leaving three buses per hour through to Southampton where, before the Flyer, there were four through. This equates to 83 journeys per day between Fair Oak & Eastleigh, compared to Bluestar's current 128.

83 may yet be more than realistic given the strength of that market.

It has always been this blog’s aspiration to point to both sides of an argument. And so it is that in summing up this post on the remarkable parliamentary mention of both Bluestar and Velvet, we wonder ultimately whether the OFT may decide who was right and who was wronged.

i Photo by Southern England Bus Photographs ( used with permission)

Go South Coast's Wilts & Dorset could also find itself being mentioned in parliament, as the RMT considers taking the issue of violence against transport workers to the Commons via an MP's Early Day Motion. This follows the recent attack on a Poole driver.

13 - 1 = 12

In a surprise move, 160-vehicle arms-length Plymouth Citybus could be part- or fully-sold by the autumn, leaving just 12 in the municipal sector. This follows a council decision to test the market.

The Conservative leader of Plymouth council said, “Running a bus company is not core council business and we're one of the few councils in the country to still own one.” She also remarked that a sale would only result if there were a sensible offer. It’s unlikely that there will be anything other than a reasonable one given the interest any sale would generate. There are few jewels left and there’s likely to be a frenzy for this one.

Cue a local controversy, with each side lining up to support or denigrate the council. There’ll be talk of profiteering, fares increases, withdrawal of services and poorer staff conditions.

On the other hand, there may be economies of scale and network benefits if Marc Reddy’s First Devon & Cornwall were successful bidders. First already operates some city services, a legacy largely of the pre-1986 Plymouth Joint Services days. And First is a very different animal to the operator that previously expressed an interest in Citybus exactly three years ago. Yet, First’s fares are said to be higher than Citybus’ and First hasn’t invested in vehicles in quite the same way. Conceivably, you could still end up with a Brighton situation. Any First takeover would create a situation not dissimilar to Chester, though Chesterbus & Citybus are so very different.

First will not have any bidding its own way. Stagecoach, for example, would love Citybus and could, like Transdev in Bournemouth, inject new life into it. Except it’s arguable that Citybus doesn’t need new life. It’s well run, understood to be profitable (watch for the next set of accounts, though), and returns a dividend to the city council, while investing in vehicles, leased or otherwise.

Though in view of recent issues in the south west, the thought of Stagecoach versus First would be interesting indeed.

More BRT

Rapid transport is not just about trams, as we considered yesterday. The vehicles are ready for the Cambridge guided busway even though the track isn’t. As BRT slowly catches on, there’s moves elsewhere towards bus rapid transport…

The long-awaited Luton-Dunstable Busway project sees another milestone next month. Potential operators need to express their interest in joining the two local councils in the development process and then to run potential services on the six miles of segregated, guided busway in three years hence.

The launch date may have slipped. The scheme first gained statutory powers in 2005 but, not unlike the Gosport proposal, has met with opposition from those who, in Luton’s case, would prefer to see heavy or light rail along the former railway line.

But guided bus is the best use of the corridor. First, there’s the issue of cost. Secondly, there’s the flexibility. The guideway will allow buses on and off the busway at intermediate points, to serve established residential and or industrial areas. And then there’s the ability to serve town centres. All this and avoiding congested main roads. This is just as well because, as would appear often to be the case in using a former rail alignment, the track skirts alongside rather than through residential areas.

Those who wish to run services along the busway must sign up to minimum service levels plus commitments to joint ticketing.

In August 2008, the government pledged £85mil as part of commitments to improve public transport. Running between Houghton Regis, Dunstable and Luton, it aims to provide a fast, frequent and efficient alternative to travelling by car, combating congestion. The busway’s catchment will be some 185,000 people, catering for a growth in employment and housing in the area. Expect 43,000 new houses and 26,000 new jobs in the immediate area.

Flexibility

In the early and middle years of the 20th century, the reason the motor bus beat the tram was the bus’ flexibility. As early tram systems came to the point where they required significant capital investment to replace tired assets & infrastructure; and as cities and towns expanded into the suburbs beyond traditional tram termini, buses seemed the natural successor and substitute.

Do they really say this in Nottingham?

Everything turned on its head as the congestion caused by the very flexibility of the road system played against bus operation. There followed the reinvention of the tram: Manchester Metrolink in 1991, Sheffield Supertram (1994), Midland Metro (1999) and Croydon Tramlink (2000).

And, of course, there’s the Nottingham Express Transit which, after five years of operation, will from 1 June face motor bus competition from Dunn Motor Traction t/a Your Bus. Just like in the olden days, YourBus makes a virtue of flexibility. Its publicity states, “As we don't run on tracks, we can stop at any bus stop along our routes, making it more convenient for you”. The service is also cheaper than the tram (and other buses). And, when compared to Nottingham City Transport buses, Your Bus offers the flexibility of giving change. But, them again, so did Nottingham & District.

All this is not to say Your Bus will find it an easy ride. Over Your Bus’ 10-minute core, it runs from Bulwell to Nottingham via Basford & Hyson Green. This compares to a tram at 5-6 minutes intervals and NCT buses 68-71 combined at every five. Your Bus also serves Phoenix Park park & ride but at every 20 minutes compared to the tram’s 10-12.

But Your Bus doesn’t follow the 68-71 Nottingham Road/Sherwood Rise arterial into Nottingham. Instead, Your Bus travels along roads served far less frequently, also part served by NET. It’s here, no doubt, that NET passengers struggle to find a seat, for Your Bus makes a virtue of offering room for struggling tram passengers.

i Your Bus website

Intending Your Bus passengers will need to consider the following trade offs in terms of bus v tram:

Your Bus offers cheaper fares, flexible stopping patterns and the promise, at least initially, of getting a seat at peak tram times.

On the other hand, NET offers about double the frequency, an 18 hour operational span and ability to arrive in central Nottingham on a congestion-free reserved track, albeit with further distances between tram stops than bus stops.

Going Dutch

London made headlines yesterday, for two very different reasons. It was announced that NatEx was bound to sell its 410-vehicle Travel London & Travel Surrey subsidiary. There can only be one reason: in the face of recession and poorly performing rail franchises, to reduce NatEx’s debt. The result is a new entrant onto the UK bus scene: NS Dutch Railway subsidiary Ned Railways. At £32mil, the Dutch are no longer going Dutch with usual long term bidding partners Serco. The deal also ends speculation that Metroline's ComfortDelGro was a potential Travel London suitor.

Travel London (or National Express London as it was so nearly renamed in 2008) was formed in 2004 upon the take over for a nominal sum of the ailing Connex Bus which, before that, had taken over Limebourne, adding part of Tellings Golden Miller a year later. It was to Limebourne, of course, that Travel West Midlands sold its two London routes, following a less than inspiring original entry to the London market in 1998. Connex, you may recall, was a brand of Veolia, itself seeing some structural change. Aside from mediocre London financial performance, the Connex name suffered at the hands of poor rail performance, forcing a swift exit from the English transport scene.

NatEx is the second large group to withdraw from London. Stagecoach sold to Macquarrie in 2006.

Meanwhile, yesterday’s Daily Mail had a piece on 31 seven year old articulated Mercedes Citaro buses up for sale at £70-£80K apiece. No takers as yet. Mayor Johnson called for them to be “pensioned off to a Scandinavian airport”. Not that it much matters airside but Sweden shifted to driving on the right in 1955. Perhaps a London sightseeing company should acquire a couple and offer heritage routes by fast disappearing bendy buses.

And talking of matters Veolia, the Dunn family who sold to the French giant three years ago are reported as ready to start Nottingham competition from 1 June 2009 on a 10-minute Your Bus route from Bulwell to Nottingham.

Five Challenges. Or Two

The one thing that puts me off travelling atop a double deck on a Saturday is the noise from 14-15 year olds, plus the music on their phones & MP3s. Perhaps I’m getting old but I find their over exuberance slightly intimidating. It’s not every bus but if you happen upon the wrong one at the wrong time, thoughtless young people can make life miserable just because they’re off the leash. They aren’t necessarily threatening, just a little boisterous. It doesn’t help that you have your back to them.

Not surprisingly, I’m not the only one that feels that way. First Yorkshire has begun a campaign to clean up some of the more unpleasant aspects associated with bus travel, the type of things than intimidate regular passengers and put off casuals. First’s passengers have identified five behaviours that put passengers off. There’s no surprise: littering, music, drinking, eating and feet on the seats.

First believes its five quirky, comedy characters such as Mr Chips and Litter Lads that each match a repellent behaviour offer a unique and different approach to solving these perennial problems. Why not? A straightforward approach from authority figures such as drivers, inspectors or supervisors doesn’t seem to work. The last time I asked an 18 year old to put his feet on the floor and not on the squab took two attempts, a begrudging acceptance and I knew as soon as my back was turned up they’d go. Had I been an inspector in uniform, I would’ve probably gotten nowhere. Psychologists tell us that we must engage with young people in different and less threatening ways and that they don’t relate to let alone understand conventional messages.

I would challenge First to publish the results of its campaign. If successful, we could all learn from it.

I would also suggest that in tackling a certain segment of the market, there comes a point when younger passengers still will automatically move up to fill the slot vacated by those who leave or who mature. So the further challenge to First is to keep coming up with something innovative that can continue to have an effect throughout a passenger’s life cycle. Not that littering or drinking on board is exclusively down to young people.

Protecting Staff

Sooner or later, if you run a bus service, you will come across brickings or other attacks on passengers, vehicles—and drivers. And, yes, I’ve had to try to sort out the aftermath on more than one occasion.

There was a piece in the paper today about a driver the subject of a fairly brutal attack. His wife remonstrated, it has to be said, principally at the operator over an horrendous assault by youths on her husband. He apparently met with a slew of stones and bricks while out of the cab fixing a panel flap lifted by his attackers.

It has to be said that, in my experience, publicity for this sort is self-defeating. It often sends the wrong signals to others. There’s a strong possibility that it might generate copycat attacks elsewhere. Far from helping, headlines in the press can simply threaten other drivers. Don’t the media understand this?

That’s not to say that we shouldn’t have anything other than the deepest respect for the driver and sympathy for him and his clearly concerned wife. It’s what you can do about this that’s so difficult to resolve. In this case, the media don’t help. Whatever the solution, it’s costly—for the operator, for the community, for drivers.

The attack was only at 1845, near Poole. Withdraw Wilts & Dorset buses to the affected area after 1800 and everyone suffers: the community (no buses), drivers (potentially reduced earnings) and operator (reduced revenue or subsidy). Such a solution is really only short term. And, do the criminals get the blame? Not in my experience. That falls squarely on the operator.

This, then, adds to the Echo’s opprobrium reserved for W&D, which is a shame. The issue is one for society and its attitude to criminal damage (for that is what vandalism is) and criminal behaviour (for that is what anti-social behaviour is, in this instance).

Other solutions also come with a price tag. Double or security staffing (doesn’t really work as the miscreants flee) or external all-round CCTV (probably unable to identify hooded feral youth in any case) both ratchet up costs that must ultimately be born by someone—passengers or revenue support.

Realistically, pulling the service is the only short-term solution if the assessment suggests the need to remove the risk. If you can’t protect remote staff then there’s little alternative. Yes, innocents suffer at the hands of the guilty but that’s what happens when we all pay increases well ahead of inflation on our council tax police precepts. Not that anyone can expect constant policing in these situations.

Leather. Will it Last?

As Transdev Yellow Buses begins to place a further 11 leather seated buses into service, how are the original Versas doing after some eight months?

The Versas’ leather seats look the business. And, after eight months, are surprisingly gash free. That’s not to say that there isn’t some minor scuffing on some seats. The vast majority of seats appear tidy. The other day I did notice a young girl (about six?) who managed to apply copiously food-covered sticky fingers to her seat squab. This left what appeared to be an unsavoury residue. And though it might be unseemly to say so, there are occasions when a passengers’ hot bottom has the inevitable consequence… nuff said on that other than matters used to be worse on the vinyl covered seating of old where, in addition, there was also a tendency to find a bottom shaped indentation, too. Moquette certainly has its strengths.

The longer term prognosis for leather remains uncertain. Reports from leather seat pioneers up north suggest that after several years of wear, the seats appear in other than first class condition. Then again, moquette-covered seats can wear badly, too, and can be subject to permanent staining in a way not seen on leather.

The Versa seat squabs are among the most comfortable I’ve used. The seat backs are not over firm but, like Wilts & Dorset’s Scanias, they appear *slightly* raked too far back for my own taste. The most comfortable seats are actually over the wheelarch where the passengers’ feet are slightly raised on the arch itself which, for me, compensates for the raked seatback. Seat pitch is class leading.

The entrance area and wood effect flooring is still remarkably in almost as new condition throughout. Personally, I still can’t quite get used to the vehicles’ openness at the front, the double wheelchair/buggie space. It tends to make for a strangely empty area that boarding or alighting passengers must negotiate when the bus is moving. This is less of a problem at Bournemouth town centre on the 1A where there was inevitably a Versa waiting on stand. This was deliberate and one that must surely be welcomed by passengers.

Seating capacity is deliberately low for the vehicle length. This did lead to standing passengers on some peak 1A journeys, even out of season. The progressive use of Tempos on this route will cure that.

And that leaves Versa’s shape. Its pinched but bulbous tadpole-like front still takes some getting used to but that, too, is a selling point for passengers. Intending passengers can be in no doubt as to the bus they should expect.

Future of Deckers

The usual Optare advert in the trade press last week featured the Olympus double deck. It reminds us that Optare decker orders have all but dried up and it needs a marketing push. After the conclusion of the Blackburn factory’s current build, there are believed to be no forward orders remaining. And to think of the double deck heritage from the former East Lancs factory.

It’s therefore unsurprising that Optare has recently let contract staff go, previously hired to rush through delayed orders; and there’s talk of redundancies mostly at the former East Lancs factory at Blackburn though Leeds is by no means immune. This goes beyond rationalisation following merger and accounts for up to half of Blackburn’s 320 workforce who could be affected owing to the downturn in demand. Optare therefore joins ADL and Wrightbus in resorting to job cuts in the teeth of recession. This in spite of bus orders holding up well thanks, of course, to long lead times. The bubble, it seems, has now burst.

Is the double deck manufacturing sector becoming a little too crowded for the number of orders now anticipated? Optare continues to ready the integral Rapta it showed at the NEC in November. This differs to the body on chassis Olympus but Rapta promises weight reduction-related economies. Fewer orders for the Enviro400 is understood to be the principal reason why ADL is considering redundancies. Against these are the Wrightbus Gemini 2 that combines style and high build quality plus the Scania offering, doing well thanks in part to a significant Go South Coast order.

Meanwhile, MCV will offer a double deck prototype towards the end of the year, again on the Volvo B9TL. Images released by Volvo in the trade press indicate a front not unlike the former Alexander ALX400 body, with its wide, black under-windscreen grin.

A dozen Optare Olympuses (Olympi?) currently under completion on Scania chassis are for Wilts & Dorset. They are variously conventional but mainly full- or half-open tops. These have been a while but aren’t far off with reports that a small number will be making their journey way south this or next, or by the end of the month. In a reverse of the policy adopted by sister Go Southern Vectis, expect some W&D buses to feature non-standard, route-specific livery and branding.

Other recent Olympuses delivered or in build include:

• London Big Bus Sightseeing: 20 either delivered or in build
• Ensignbus: 10 for Thurock local bus services
• Kent Top Travel: 10 for Canterbury park & ride
• Soul Bros, Bucks, Beeston's, Suffolk, Confidence Bus, Leicester: one each

Quote of the Week

In these difficult times, journos covering the bus industry need a sense of humour. One such is always Gareth Evans, the approachable and irrepressible news reporter of trade rag Coach & Bus Week. At the back of Wednesday's edition he wrote, "A female employee from a PR firm calls and asks the classic question, 'How often does Coach & Bus Week come out?' My mischievous side is tempted to say monthly..."

Eastbourne Defended

I’ve yet to speak to anyone in the industry who supports the forthcoming (though inevitable) OFT investigation at Eastbourne.

This, of course, follows Stagecoach’s acquisition of former municipal arms length Eastbourne Buses and competitor Cavendish.

The former situation at Eastbourne was desperate. Not even investment from the huge French Keolis seemed to help.

Eastbourne has now seen the back of its former arms length operator

Remember that Stagecoach largely withdrew from Eastbourne in 2002, selling to Eastbourne Buses. It was not till Cavendish appeared with a rival daytime network that there was any sort of competition. In other words, Eastbourne Buses had been a monopoly supplier in the same way Stagecoach is now.

The difference between the two monopolies is that Stagecoach’s remodelled network is now in a far stronger position. There’s been a strong commitment in vehicles from a mighty bus group willing to invest. Eastbourne’s bus users are better off now than with the uncertainties of a weak municipal and a part-time competitor.

I’ve yet to speak to anyone in the industry who supports the forthcoming (though inevitable) OFT investigation at Eastbourne. The strange thing, though, is that the industry supports Stagecoach’s position in creating for itself a monopoly but defends at every turn competition elsewhere. Or perhaps the industry defends the right of the market to decide. And that’s what the market’s done in Eastbourne.

Feeders

It’s simply not in our culture whereas in continental Europe it can be. I refer to passengers changing from feeder to trunk services.

Passengers just hate changing buses. Provide a link service from an estate or suburb or rural village into a trunk bus route or even add a taxi into the mix and they don’t like it, preferring by far a through service. Car-using barrack room transport professionals feel that feeders are some sort of a solution but real passengers will almost always disagree.

The same was true of the high profile forced changes that occurred pre-deregulation between the Wirral & Liverpool (bus-rail) and between south of the Tyne and Newcastle (bus-metro). Passenger time, effort, uncertainty and inconvenience were swept aside at dereg as bus operators had the freedom to provide what passengers really wanted.

Changing from trunk to trunk services as part of a chain of bus journeys is, of course, more acceptable as passengers realise that buses travel between main centres, though even here the early interpretation of the EU hours rules on longer distance routes proved unpopular.

The sort of perceived unnecessary change to which I refer here, though, is from a tributary to a main bus route, perhaps at a location that often isn’t seen as a traditional nodal point or doesn’t offer facilities in case of broken connections.

While there are exceptions such as Lincolnshire’s Inter-connect, success is rare and requires considerably hard marketing. In the mid-1980s, Burton enjoyed a 20-minute Skipper minibus service to Christchurch. This was replaced by a through service to Bournemouth at various frequencies culminating at half-hourly on the X12. Following the X12’s demise at Burton, the replacement broadly hourly service 21 to Bournemouth is PVR 3 with two buses used during the off-peak. Yet, a feeder service into any one of Transdev Yellow Buses’ 14 per hour commercial services would require PVR 1 and give a Burton service at every 20 minutes, the same as at its height on the 105 and Morebus m2.

But, guess what, people wish to travel through, even though the penalty is a markedly reduced frequency.

Bed Time Reading

I should imagine that there’s a palpable sense of relief in Cardiff, Wales. Cardiff Bus had apologised at a recent public inquiry following a critical OFT report into the way in which it dealt a blow against former competitor 2Travel.

It appears it wasn’t mere coincidence that a Cardiff Bus no-frills service came and went at the same time as 2 Travel. The Welsh traffic commissioner accused Cardiff Bus of serious misconduct and that it came close to losing its repute. But there was no revocation that comes with such a loss of repute and no suspension or other punishment. The OFT report a year earlier exacted no punishment, either.

Cardiff now

What the OFT report made clear was that this was the first time ever of findings regarding illegal predatory actions. This in itself would normally lead to a loss of good repute and a consequent revocation, said the traffic commissioner.

What probably saved Cardiff Bus was a general level of ignorance within the industry as to what was and was not an acceptable reprisal. Given the OFT report and the high profile inquiry, it’s unlikely a traffic commissioner would be so lenient in the future.

Those outside the bus industry will fail to understand what almost losing your repute actually means. It’s extremely serious, especially for a large and heretofore respected operator.

Cardiff then

Yet, it has to be said that Cardiff Bus had a right to defend itself against a predator. And, my understanding of the situation that’s now almost five years old—and the memory fades—was that 2Travel operated on a handful of routes only and even then patchily: basically largely off-peak against Cardiff’s 18 hours a day operation. What’s new is that 2Travel apparently was only 70 per cent and not the expected 95 per cent compliant regarding punctuality or reliability.

There’s a balance between acting to protect your business and being seen as predatory. Perhaps this balance is now almost impossible to achieve. Medium and large operators would do well to take the advice of the Welsh traffic commissioner and study the Cardiff Bus OFT report carefully. Bed time reading.

Those who feel that Cardiff Bus were let off the hook might wonder what would’ve happened had the traffic commissioner revoked its licence, grounding all 250 buses...

FTR Withdrawn

Talking of York, as we did on Monday, First’s controversial York FTRs are shortly to be replaced by conventional vehicles.

At least during evenings & at weekends, that is. This sensible move sees more appropriately costed vehicles operating at times when there are fewest passengers. We’d probably contend that the vehicle seating capacities are somewhat similar and this, no doubt, will add grist to the campaigners’ mill as it grinds away to try to make First York and the York council partnership rid the city of the Streetcars.

Campaigners will no doubt call First’s decision a U-turn and wonder, if the FTR is so good at encouraging modal shift, why it’s not available throughout the whole timetable rather during daylight hours only. Let them.

And all this just at the time First Swansea is readying itself for a 12-minute FTR on service 4, replacing a 10-minute conventional service. Swansea’s different, though. Much more work’s gone into the "track".

Can anyone help shed light on the massive visitor spike yesterday, following Google image searches for the Temsa Avenue single deck. Mainly from Turkey they came and also Germany (reflecting a strong Turkish minority there, perhaps). Searches were also logged from the likes of the Sates, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Canada, Austria, Bulgaria and Norway. If in the meantime you’d like to see what they were looking for, click here.

Confidence Shaken

I wonder whether there’s a better way. First, an operator gives notice to the traffic commissioner regarding a cancellation and I’m talking about an entire service. The press soon gets to hear of it and interviews local councillors. There’s a bit of a stink. Passengers cry foul. Quotes using adjectives such as “furious”, “outrageous”, “isolated” and “desperate” are bandied about. Suddenly, the penny numbers on the bus are exaggerated into a large petition. No one’s happy and everyone blames the bus operator. Resentment builds and those who have any sort of discretion make their way to alternative modes or get lifts, well ahead of any withdrawal.

Fast-forward four to six weeks. The council or even another commercial operator steps in, perhaps not quite at the same frequency or by the same direct route. Too late to stop some of the damage but after the angst there’s some relief all round. The original operator is seen as the pariah, the new one the saviour.

But confidence in the bus service is shaken.

One example of this is the commuter village of Burton, near Christchurch. Wilts & Dorset has given notice to quite. Villagers point to more (literally—Morebus m2 at every 20 minutes), then less (X12 at every 30), then none at all.

Then along comes Transdev Yellow Buses, offering hourly service no. 21 Burton-Christchurch-Bournemouth with effect from 25 May 2009, with additional buses either short or all the way to Bournemouth at peak and shoulders of the peak. The service sees yellow buses back along Fairmile. Burton gets its link with Boscombe back, albeit adding running time. And there’s an evening service, too, operating moderately late.

Burton residents may well feel aggrieved that their bus is no longer frequent but the reality is that the service is probably more in keeping with demand. Getting to the point where demand and supply match is a painful process of local seismic proportions during which time ordinary passengers worry that there’s going to be no bus for them.

And it’s happening to a marginal bus service near you.

Hyperbole?

When ratcheting up services in the face of competition, isn’t it interesting how incumbents tend to use terms as, “in response to customers’ requests” when they really mean to say, “in response to competition to maintain our market share”.

In response to competition to maintain market share—erm, in response to customers’ requests—Transdev Yorkshire Coastliner fights back today in the light of First’s recent challenge on the Leeds-Tadcaster-York corridor. Yorkshire Coastliner will double its Leeds-York service on the 840-5 to four per hour against First’s post-27 April 2009 two per hour X64. This follows First’s withdrawal of its York-Leeds Bradford air service. First offers leather and thus we shall see interesting, quality competition along the A64. Can First match Transdev’s legendary customer service, though? After all, this is something for which the former Blazefield operation is renowned.

Traveline Yorkshire gives two options for the X64, including oddly Exeter-Newton Abbot-Totnes-Salcombe (but not the Winchester-Arlesford-Alton)

If every operator responded to customer requests, there’d be considerably more buses on the road, well beyond what the market could bear. No doubt Coastliner’s customers request a similar improvement east of York towards Malton but they’re unlikely to get it. Instead, eastbound buses remain half-hourly before splitting in various directions towards the coast.

Yorkshire Coastliner was once Britain’s most profitable bus operator. An intensive though compact network of longer distance inter-urban services ensured that. We say was because the additional resources required including 19 drivers hired rather than the necessary 14 (so they say) will have an effect on the bottom line.

Other things being equal, a half-hourly service by both operators would split the existing revenue plus generation 50 per cent each way. Add in Yorkshire Coastliner’s extra resource and the revenue would fall 66 per cent to Transdev. The catch, though, is that to get that extra 16 per cent would see increased costs well in excess of revenue.

First Leeds: where's the X64 gone?

One interesting fact is that First’s Leeds website has quite a write up on the X64, inviting passengers to click the Timetable link to get times. Not only need you fish around to find where the X64 lies in the resultant six pages of services, when you get to the appropriate place, it ain’t there. Yet, the timetable appears under First York.

Transdev Yorkshire Coastline also extends its four per hour pattern to parts of the York suburb of Heworth, competing against First’s half-hourly 11. The changes are one week earlier than originally advertised.

While they're Young

I find it difficult to agree with the critics who say that a Hertfordshire council scheme to teach children to use a bus is ill conceived. Funding will go to Arriva to run a number of 90-minute sessions aimed at pupils moving from primary to secondary school. Part of it aims to help children feel confident in travelling by bus.

Yet, commentators have latched on to the scheme as a waste of money. Crumbs, and don’t children need this sort of training. But how to use a bus or read a timetable is but one part of the idea. It’s also about behaviour and vandalism on board and, presumably, at the stop too. And this is where it really becomes value for money.

The cost? £5,000 per annum for 200 primaries or £25 per school. Assuming each has an average roll of, say 200, of whom one sixth will leave for high school and, say, half of these will use a bus. That’s £1.50 per child. And how much does vandalism cost Arriva? And how much will a child day return ticket be?

In fact, £5,000 seems so cheap that we wonder whether Hertfordshire’s slipped a zero off the end. Tackling the issue as they pass to secondary schools is just the right time to instil what’s acceptable and what’s not. Year 7 pupils are often the worst offenders, come the new autumn term.

Absolutely Fabulous

What is it about Joanna Lumley? Something perhaps of a bygone age, of the values of the British Raj? She’s lent her not inconsiderable influence to passionate campaigns on behalf of animal welfare and human rights and, of course, there’s her ardent support of the Gurkhas. Even Gordon Brown will find it hard to withstand her.

Perhaps she might also lend her support to the bus industry. After all, she’s eligible for a free bus pass. Perhaps she could better explain the meaning of “no better or worse off” because the message isn’t getting through to the town hall, as marginal routes turn into loss makers where reimbursement is too low. A route holding its own under a typical 81p in the pound half-fare farebox plus reimbursement cannot hope to recover costs at 48p without something like a 70 per cent leap in free ridership, stiff increases in fares or cuts in service...

Least of our Worries

Pseudonymous has a second contribution. Re-read the first here...

The recession may well be the least of a number of worries for many bus operators.

While the recession is clearly having an impact on rail travel and especially long distance, the bus market appears much more robust. Go Ahead clearly impressed the markets with its continuing solid performances at its franchises, while National Express looks to be at considerable risk from it's East Coast Main Line operation.

Reports from across the country indicate the status quo of a mixture of stagnation, decline, and growth in bus travel.

In our own back yard there are still significant operators posting strong passenger growth, and so shouldn't all be well in the bus stations of Southern England?

Sadly, holding your ground in a recession doesn't seem to be enough at the moment.

Bus operators, especially the big groups seem to have finally tired of the concessionary fares debacle. In many areas operators have spent huge sums on the lawyers and advisers for three years' worth of appeals, yet still they haven't reached the point where they can manage with the current arrangements for payment for free travel. Faced with another round of appeals needing to be submitted imminently against multiple local authority schemes, and despite Stagecoach and Go Ahead both being in the process of extremely expensive High Court legal challenges against the Department for Transport, it seems that operators are giving up on their 'waiting game'.

While they continue to appeal and take action, it seems as though they are turning a corner. For some years now they have been very hesitant about axing routes, preferring to sit tight and hope that the concessionary payments come right. Some have tinkered, some been a bit more willing to make cuts, mainly to those routes that carry almost exclusively free travellers. The reluctance to cut is most likely in the knowledge that business lost will be lost forever. It appears that operators have been taking the pain in the hope that things will work out.

Yet word from within a number of operators suggests that they have decided that enough is enough—that their businesses cannot sustain the additional costs and reduced revenues that free travel has brought them. Apparently there are a number of them now working through the detail of significant network reworkings, poised to wield the axe in the remainder of 2009.

Word has reached them too that the government is not to rebate the 2p increase in duty on a litre of diesel either. To bus operators who pay a lower price per litre than other motorists that 2p in a significant percentage increase in their fuel costs.

The recession may be hitting many businesses hard, and government may be bending over backwards to prop up some sectors of industry and commerce. It seems however that public transport is one area where, as over many decades, successive governments fail to understand fully the importance of the services that are provided to every community in England.

Safety First

Funny how things turn out. Fashion plans to establish a night bus service and the taxi industry goes berserk. They claim loss of earnings and unfair competition. They talk of violence and anti-social behaviour on the bus, plus drivers either under threat or unable to deal with issues that might arise.

In general, night buses though boisterous are frequently relatively problem free.

First Yorkshire plans to cut some night buses in Leeds. The reaction? One of public safety, as people who can’t afford a taxi might be tempted to take lifts from strangers or walk.

Ever get the feeling you can’t win? Calls to Metro PTE to subsidise more late services have under the circumstances been met with a sensible response: it would be hard to place the needs of late clubbers above those of early morning workers, senior citizens going shopping or children going to school.

As First takes a long hard recessionary look at its operations, there are also plans to trim back night services in Glasgow. If you’ll excuse the pun, perhaps the night time economy is but a shadow of its former self. It seems numbers aren’t as buoyant as they once were.

Mix ’n Match

It’s always good to see brand new buses on the road, especially so in a town that in the recent past has relied upon so many second hand buses. Not that we should criticise used purchases as a quick win to modernise the Transdev Yellow Buses’ fleet.

Even with leather and wood effect, the more conventional-looking if upright Tempo will not have the same impact as the quirkier Versas before it. And at R-reg, they could even pass as from 1997...

The weekend saw service for six of TYB’s 11 new Tempos (or should the plural be Tempi?). As expected, they featured on the 1a Bournemouth-Boscombe-Christchurch-Somerford via Barrack Road, which operates as did the 1 of old.

Except that the 1a now requires PVR 13 and will still require two of the 11 Versas. Call me a purist who hates the idea of a mix & match approach but it seems odd that TYB didn’t order another two Tempos for consistency. Then again, there weren’t plans to increase the 1a’s frequency at the autumn 2008 order. And the key Christchurch corridor is already inharmonious, with the 1b and 1c seeing double decks.

Apart from the very obvious fact that the Tempos are longer, they feature just about all the accoutrements with which passengers have become accustomed on the Versa.

This is all part of TYB’s goal to seize back the Christchurch and Charminster Roads, post Wilts & Dorset Morebus. There are now as many leather seated TYBs between Bournemouth and Boscombe as there are 2+1 seated W&D Morebus buses. You take your choice: leather or individual seating. Add TYB’s non-leather 1b and 1c and TYB is almost double W&D’s number per hour.

And with the bulk of the Versas now cleverly cascading to the Charminster Road, passengers have the same dilemma—though here, Morebus wins on frequency (every 7½ minutes to TYB’s every 10).

As for Bournemouth-Christchurch, W&D’s potentially already lost that market, first with the withdrawal of the m2 east of Boscombe from every 10 to the X12 at every 15. And, from later this month, the X12 goes to half-hourly. Mind you, the X12 remains the most direct bus to the Royal Bournemouth Hospital and the only bus via Fairmile.

TYB trumpets the 1a change in particular as providing extra seating capacity. It’s true that an increased frequency from six to eight an hour plus extra capacity on the buses themselves will assist at peak (when the Versas found themselves stretched, given the English distaste for standing). TYB should take a look back 30 years ago when the Christchurch Road had 888 seats per hour as opposed to TYB’s current 792 plus Morebus’ 296. Ish.

Footnote: TYB is now advertising as easy access all routes bar the hourly 38 and 39 and schooldays only 49. Good on ’em.

Micro Sites

As the bus industry learns how to make better use of the internet, I wonder why there are so few websites dedicated to a single bus service.

One answer is that probably such individualism sits uncomfortably with corporate website standards at groups such as Arriva and Stagecoach. Websites dedicated to single rail lines don’t seem to cause such problems though here it tends to be a partnership rather than rail operator running the site.

If community rail initiatives feel that they can promote a single rail line, there must surely be a role for a similar approach in terms of bus services. Take Harrogate & District’s website dedicated to its 36 (Rippon-Harrogate-Leeds). Here, you get information on the route in one place (without multiple click-throughs) and additional information easily to hand, e.g. town centre & bus station layouts, information on vehicles, fares, etc. Transdev have similar offerings for The Witch Way and the Lancashire Way.

Another example is the Morebus site from Wilts & Dorset, with its detail on routes, frequency, fares and night buses. The site's purposefully dedicated to Morebus m1 & m2 rather than making reference to the m5 or m6 Poole-Canford Heaths.

There aren't too many more examples.

Such micro sites, given a bit of imagination, can include information on weekly events, walks and all sorts of other paraphernalia such as ideas for days out, hospitals served, markets and so on. And they can be the basis for establishing an online community, if the operator so desires.

i Morebus ~ The 36

Conundrum

Judging by the number of visitors about so far this bank holiday, you’d be forgiven for thinking the good times are still with us. Or perhaps it’s because of difficult times that people are looking for a break…

Lower demand for bus travel results from an unusual mix of affluence and recession.

Affluence, because car ownership remains high. Those who can afford to own and run a car are still very plentiful. Even where budgets are tighter, the car is seemingly the last thing people wish to surrender. They will do anything to keep theirs on the road. If operators thought there’d be a plentiful stream of passengers who, through difficult times, might convert to the bus, they are mistaken.

Recession, because there is a general dampening of demand nationwide from reduced leisure/shopping and work-related travel.

Which means, of course, that operators are looking to tighten their collective belts. And there’s a resultant pressure on fares which, as we hover somewhere between low inflation and deflation, can seem at odds with general trends in other economic sectors, at least in passengers’ eyes.

Remember Erica Roe?

As Transdev Yellow Buses today launches its minor though significant summer network revisions, no one could deny that Transdev has done anything other than transform a once lacklustre municipal. The situation in which the former Yellow Buses found itself was far from ideal. Fatalism appeared to have crept in. TYB adopted a the four-track approach of a new brand, simplified network, easy access on core routes and marketing par excellence, generating a 40 per cent increase in ridership 2006-2009.

This is a family blog

It was just over 25 years ago that Bournemouth Transport tried something similar. Remember the late Ken Baily? He was even more famous a Bournemouth resident than Barry Doe is today (and perhaps Doe will one day also become a Freeman of Bournemouth).

The Baily Years

Baily was the bus-using sports & charitable champion who fronted the “Your Official Yellow Bus Catching Kit” campaign. Baily was both a local and national celebrity who self-funded his way around the world supporting England in whatever games were in the news. It was Baily who, using his Union flag, protected Erica Roe’s modesty before the police caught her during the infamous streaking incident at Twickenham in January 1982. Four months later, Baily exchanged his usual red John Bull suit & top hat for a yellow equivalent, to launch Bournemouth Transport’s new brand Yellow Buses (the name everyone used in any case).

The Baily Years meets Erica Roe (sort of)

“Catch the Yellows” was initially a £50,000 marketing exercise half-funded by Dorset council to do what TYB is achieving today. And it was more than moderately successful but, after a good run, complacency seemed to set in. Like TYB, the campaign focused not just on rebranding and marketing. It coincided with the arrival of 20 new (though perhaps not satisfactory) Marshall-bodied Olympians.

2CR DJs Caroline Verdon & David Perry aboard a Versa

Baily and “Catch the Yellows” swept aside the former A5 “toilet paper” timetables of the past. The new pocket A6 guides with their innovative messages and slogans had by the turn of the century given way to less individualistic publicity.

Today’s timetable

Cue Transdev for another shot in the arm. Rather than use the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra (erm, actually in Poole these days) as Yellow Buses had during the Baily years, TYB has broadening itself by employing the power of commercial radio DJs. It knows, though, that if all else fails, it can perhaps learn something from Erica Roe, the ultimate publicists...

Woebegone & Winning

“I was looking for a job and then I found a job. And heaven knows I’m miserable now”—The Smiths (1984)

A Bristol newspaper reports that the city council’s transport supremo has dubbed Bristol’s bus drivers as “miserable”. They are apparently impatient and sombre. Whether this statement’s true or not, this is probably how the majority of urban Britain perceive many of their bus drivers. May be that’s because drivers have to put up with miserable passengers. Or miserable motorists. Or miserable traffic congestion. Or may be it’s because the time passenger have to interact with their driver is so small you simply cannot strike up a meaningful relationship. If there is any truth in the “miserable” statement then that means the cheerful ones are a real bonus.

“Reasons to be Cheerful, Part Three”—Ian Dury & the Blockheads (1979)

But rather than be miserable, Bristol drivers at least now know their jobs aren’t at risk. Neither are fitters. Expect no public sympathy for the “up to 100” staff who might expect to be made redundant at First Bristol, Bath & the West’s operation—they’re all back office. This is a huge number and is symptomatic of the industry and the country. Not that staff redundancies at Bristol are new. There was a huge head office clear out in 1983, for example, upon the splitting of the former leviathan Bristol Omnibus Company, more just after privatisation & deregulation and successive managements have chipped away ever since. The good news for passengers is that drivers are not threatened. Early indications were that they might be.

The most recent time I travelled with First Bristol, Bath & the West I have to report a satisfactory driver plus one very affable & helpful one. The latter was from eastern Europe.

Sound Advice

Yesterday’s post on the intermittent Busdriving blog refers to an instructor’s final comments some years ago to his successful new recruits.

“If you are running late don’t kill your self to get back on time; don’t steal the company's money—they always find out; and wash your hands at every opportunity—you are handling money that has been through lots of grubby hands”.

We could add a few more, such as, as be nice to the supervisor if you need overtime; remember that discriminating against wheelchair passengers is now neither acceptable nor lawful; and don’t upset the canteen staff.

Anyway, sound advice and all as true today as it was back then. In terms of stealing the company’s money, road inspectors may be scarcer these days than they once were but using electronic ticket machine data can help understand inconsistencies in driver takings that enable better targeting. The comment about grubby hands has a new resonance in the light of swine flu.