In 10 Words Each

With a decision on the sale of Plymouth Citybus expected today and a government seeking to reduce debt by realising £16bil in asset sales, what future is there for the remaining municipal arm-length companies?

Local government owns about two-thirds of this £16bil-worth of assets. The suggestion seems to be that councils consider what they can release. Councils will obviously be expected to realise the maximum value from the assets they hold.

Campaigns like Unite’s Buss Off may become more more high profile in the future. But will they succeed? The only Buss Off campaign currently active is at Plymouth

If you exclude Plymouth Citybus (still in municipal hands, today at any rate) and Islwyn Borough Transport (in the throws of transfer to Stagecoach), there are now just 11 munies left. Here’s the Omnibuses Blog synopsis on them all, in just 10 words each, with operations ranked in order of size, largest first:

1. Lothian Buses—award-winning star performer suffers from recession and tram works


2. Nottingham City Transport—already benefits from public-private investment & strong council support


3. Cardiff Bus—rocked by competition concerns. Indications of possible sale somewhat unsettling


4. Reading Buses—slipping high performer battling against recessionary downturn and PR debacle


5. Blackpool Transport—cuts force award winning well-known director off the scene


6. Warrington Borough Transport—strong and consistent performer seemingly bucking usual depressing industry trends


7. Thamesdown Transport—expanding housing & economy can’t disguise some unpalatable network thinning


8. Rossendale Transport—questionable performance from operator surviving sell off debate, for now


9. Ipswich Buses—previously immune, Ipswich follows First in recession led route axing


10. Newport Bus—new management tries patching staffing ills, as X30 gamble wins


11. Halton Transport—investment certainly but very lacklustre performance takes the shine off

Only a handful of munies are what you might call steady. As the municipal sector this week shrinks still further, just how long will councils be able to resist the lure of a multi-million pound deal? Especially in an era of recession and government prompted asset release.

And, if you can predict the future from recent history, at deregulation in 1986 there were 45 municipally owned arms-length operators plus seven publicly-owned PTEs. Four have gone in the last five years, alone.

Running out of Steam?

Tomorrow’s Plymouth council meeting considers Plymouth’s children & young people’s plan, a three year review of the Gambling Act 2005 statement of principles and amendments to scrutiny committees’ terms of reference. But by far the most important item of business will be the sale to Go Ahead of Plymouth Citybus.

Yesterday saw what some describe as a last gasp attempt at influencing Plymouth council before tomorrow’s crucial debate. Some say as many as 100 marched from Plymouth Hoe to the city centre to voice support for the status quo. Others say there was less than half that number present. It certainly was nowhere near the 25,000 people who’ve signed a petition to keep Citybus in public ownership. Nor was it the 5,000 people who elected to join the Facebook page. May be the weather had something to do with it. Or may be the campaign has run out of steam.

The Plymouth council report recognises that many Citybus staff are generally opposed to the sale. It optimistically states, “However, they would no doubt acknowledge that the future of the company and their employment is dependent on the company’s financial performance. The commitment in relation to future employment for local bus drivers is more then they benefit from now under council ownership. Additionally it is anticipated that Go Ahead’s approach in relation to pensions will be welcomed.”

Whether or not Unite’s drivers see it like that is open to debate. Yesterday’s protest is nevertheless unlikely to have any real influence and, tomorrow, the sale is expected to be voted through. On the basis of…

• The sale is probably a dead certainty
• Guarantees given by Go Ahead
• Risks to profitability & dividend following competition from First Devon & Cornwall
• The need to replace some 50 vehicles ahead of the 2016 DDA cut-off
• A windfall equivalent to 50 years’ dividends (a dividend the council feels may not be matched in the future)
• Protection for drivers and possibly Citycoach & the engineering wing

… the council is likely to vote to sell. So, in the next 24 hours, the Plymouth situation is likely to change. Whether this is for better or worse will be open to debate for many years to come.

Uninformed and Intolerant

The imminent arrival of Dorset’s first & solitary ex-London Mercedes Citaro articulated bus for use in the Poole-Bournemouth conurbation is provoking the selfish, uninformed and intolerant reaction you’d expect. Very few seem in favour. Very many don’t comprehend bus operations. At all.

At the W&D Citaro artic trial of September 2009

The bendy bus will from 11 January be introduced by the company that on Thursday won Bournemouth’s Transport Initiative of the Year 2009 award: Wilts & Dorset.

Honestly, it’s not as if the bus is designed to go regularly through the centre of Bournemouth or run in and out of Poole bus station. The intended route is orbital and the closest this gets to the town centre is Lansdowne.

Unilink U1 operates during term time and links Pokesdown, Boscombe, Lansdowne and Cranborne House with Bournemouth university’s Talbot campus (actually just in Poole borough). It runs half-hourly, with additional half-hourly shorts for the 10-minute journey from Cranborne House student residency. Under normal circumstances, it requires three buses, one of which will be a bendy. For the most part, we understand that the artic will operate on the shorts, to assist with loadings.

Generally, I haven’t the time to waste on reading pointed public comments on newspaper websites but in this case, I just couldn’t help myself. As expected, there were some ludicrous remarks, nearly all of which were prejudiced, opposing, ill conceived or, on occasion, badly written. Here’s a flavour, generally corrected for grammar, spelling & punctuation, where necessary:

“I can see the back end hitting loads of things, as they do in London.” They don’t, in London, or elsewhere.

“So, someone please explain the mentality of purchasing something that the only real existing user of is scrapping because it is a total disaster.” Bendies operate successfully in Cardiff, Manchester, Bury, Birmingham, Coventry...

“Considering that most of the buses only have a handful of passengers most of the time, why is a bigger one needed anyway.” Were this the case, why waste resources in providing more capacity? Even if for peak loadings, 36 weeks a year.

“They used to have a tendency to burst into flames.” Now rectified. Let’s hope no one realises that W&D already operates (rigid) Citaros.

“Couldn't they try something which won't result in more congestion/insurance payouts/court cases, like reintroducing conductors or an easy to understand flat fare for any journey?” Potty apart from flat fares, though there are commercial risks. W&D’s fares are certainly simpler than they were.

“Then they have to find some other gullible fools to take them. First stop, Bournemouth council.” This is a service under contract to Bournemouth University. OK, so up to 1992 as Dorset institute of higher education and as Bournemouth polytechnic, it was “controlled” by the local education authority, but no longer.

“Still, at least these buses may get a few of these pesky cyclists off the roads. They don't pay road tax you know.” Complete myth. Presumably, this commenter is referring to cyclists not paying “road tax” rather than bendies.

“If they can use bendy buses in Bath, where I spend a lot of my time, then I think Bournemouth should be OK.” Wow, sensible point.

“A bus driver turning on his indicator and just driving into traffic without looking in his mirrors like 99% do around here…” Load of nonsense but what do you expect?

One point that no one has mentioned, though: what happens when this one-off bendy is out of service for its safety check or MOT? Remember that these are designated as peak vehicles and therefore W&D will have plenty of opportunity for maintenance at other times.

And before we all think this is new to the region, Stagecoach Hampshire Bus operated a Leyland DAB articulated bus in Winchester (one of a pair, the second not lasting long), new to South Yorkshire PTE and from c.1989 finding its way mainly on what was then the 47 Winchester-Southampton. It lasted a little over a year before withdrawal.

The Benefits of Deckers

Wilts & Dorset will be using an articulated bus on one of its Bournemouth university contracts from January 2010. This may prove an interesting diversion but it isn’t anticipated to be the norm in the Poole-Bournemouth conurbation.

Not that double decks will be, either. Yet, double decks have been with us in Britain since the dawn of the motor omnibus. They’ve taken something of a battering in the past 30 years and once common, uniform fleets of city-wide deckers are no more.

A week ago, we posted on the benefits of articulated buses. This drew 15 comments. In order to ensure balance, we thought it might be useful to do the same for double decks. Before considering the benefits, it’s actually best to start the two significant disadvantages.

1. Double decks attract more anti-social behavioural problems and, as such, operators will always think twice before buying them. Yet, anti-social behaviour whether on a bus, at a bus shelter or the high street is a societal problem and should be addressed as such. What tends to happen, however, is that passengers blame the operator for a failure to “police” double decks. Where possible, operators nevertheless need to “design out” anti-social problems where they can—by ordering single decks.


2. Older passengers prefer siting downstairs and this can cause what appears to be an overloading issue, especially since there are fewer seats these days. Current provincial double decks seat about 30 on a longer chassis, the same as on a shorter VR of the 1970s. Passengers with luggage, shopping of travelling short distances similarly prefer this area. Conversely, longer distance passengers might benefit from less crowding upstairs and the very different view of their surroundings when compared to a car or walking.

So, as for the benefits, double decks are:

• Realistically the only choice for an operator who needs a capacity of more than 40 seated passengers. Thanks to DDA regulations that mean a 12m single deck can barely exceed 40/44, a decker is the only option. And to think since the late 1960s it was possible to seat more than 50 on an 11m chassis.


• Preferred by passengers who to a person dislike standing. Whereas operators might wish it to be otherwise, the public want seats—that’s what they pay for. Overhead clearances in England tend to be high enough for double decks and this has been the preferred design for carrying larger numbers for a century. Even during the privations of war and its crush loadings, there were complaints from standees. There were even complaints on the earliest *short-distance* London Transport Red Arrows of 1966 onwards, when Merlins replaced double decks. There once was a time, long gone, when youngsters would routinely give up their seats for older passengers and no longer helps ordinary passengers.


• Arguably safer than having loads of standees. When the bus is moving, passengers are best in a seat though clearly not necessarily so while descending today’s straight rearward-facing staircases as the bus brakes to stop.


• More pleasant to ride upon. High capacity standing is uncomfortable for passengers on bendy buses when this is for more than about 15 minutes in duration. Disembarkation then becomes very difficult and drivers cannot easily see the rear platforms to control doors easily.


• Better suited to garage groundspace. Bus garages are built with rear entrance rigid single and double decks in mind, in terms of maintenance facilities and parking.


• Better suited to road space. Deckers block fewer junctions or accesses and don’t require considerably more stop-side or expensive bus station infrastructural work. Bus stations are designed for shorter, higher vehicles.


• Arguably better in negotiating English city roads that can be tortuous and congested. The shorter the bus and its wheelbase, the better. This may nevertheless be a spurious argument when you consider the front wheelbase of an artic.


• Cheaper to operate. Maintaining a third axle, whether rigid or bendy, plus an articulation platform, is a considerable expense when compared to two axle vehicles.

It really comes down to Hobson’s choice for the bus operator, as usual. Nothing’s perfect: single decks haven’t peak capacity and require higher frequencies. Double decks attract anti-social behavioural issues, carry empty seats off-peak and passengers tend to avoid the top deck. Artics have flaws that make them unsuited for operators and townscapes.

Whether you are pro-bendy or pro-decker, it seems inevitable that the longer-term future of the bus in urban Britain is neither of these, unless we are going to see modal shift at very high levels. In most towns & cities, it is the single deck that will continue to reign supreme.

Hatchets Buried?

The eight joint CPT/PTE Group voluntary partnership position statements published yesterday reveal the closest potential co-operation yet between PTEs and their city region bus operators. Hitherto, the two sides tended to be slightly antagonistic towards each other—witness Brian Souter’s ptegasaurus stunt, aimed squarely at P.T.E.G., the PTE Group. It would seem that there may now be some common ground, at last.

Designed to reduce timescales, the position statements provide a framework under which operators and PTEs can negotiate voluntary partnerships. To date, such partnerships have remained somewhat loose or toothless. The suggsted protocols benefit all sides. PTEs want an easier route to improvements and in meeting targets. They argue partnerships provide little tangible benefit to PTEs for their investment and that operator fleet investment is something any business should be doing in any case. Operators, on the other hand, wish to head off quality contracts.

This is not to suppose that QCs are now off the menu. West Yorkshire, for example, wishes to press ahead with QCs, though it recognises that benefits might accrue via partnerships. The statements explicitly state that, under the Local Transport Act 2008, there are alternatives open to PTEs.

Do the statements go far enough? There are plenty of derogations (e.g. for existing vehicles) but also plenty of new responsibilities on operators to satisfy PTEs. And there are terms within such as “subject to local agreement” and “chose from a spectrum…”. Some of it is no more than operators do now, or the PTEs expect, but there’s more. And it demonstrates what might be a potential new era of co-operation between public authorities and bus operators.

It’s impossible in a blog post such as this to encapsulate more than the thrust of each statement and here’s a flavour of the main points of any likely voluntary partnership agreement:

• The network should satisfy a balanced of objectives (e.g. profitability, ridership growth, accessibility, agreed minimum service levels/frequencies). The PTEs should have a say in network design, in order to achieve PTE bus strategy, planning, modal shift and growth targets. This would ensure networks focus on design principles that reflect the public interest.
  


• Kite marks or other similar devices may be introduced locally or nationally, to recognise standards.


• Agreement on fares maxima and attractively priced multi-operator ticketing is a strong possibility (where currently single operators tend to under-cut a joint scheme).


• Deviations and exceptions will be reported to PTEs; and PTEs should show reasonableness.


• The worst 25 per cent of drivers could retrained to such a level that will satisfy all parties involved.


• Joint marketing, communications and co-ordinated publicity would enable operators to assist in satisfying local travel plans, including for school and employers.


• Performance reporting should include the PTEs, against their bus strategies, transport plans and other indicators, plus the monitoring of the partnership itself and its contractual terms.


• A basket of infrastructure measures are mentioned, including the thorny topics of bus priority and junction improvements.

i P.T.E.G/CPT Partnerships

Optare

Visitors arrive here often having typed “Optare rumours” into a search engine.

This time last year, Optare had relaunched itself. It also was licking its wounds after the Solo+’s NEC debut. The much trumpeted unveiling resulted in something of a shock: an upright design that, although recognisably Solo along its flank, caught the opposite of the industry’s imagination. It proved to be a talking point for all the wrong reasons. How could the manufacturer of Britain’s most popular minibus have blundered so, especially since it collaborated with the industry in the development of the original Solo and 1997 launch? And was Optare serious about those seats?

The other style mock-up on display, the Rapta double deck, has also been quietly retired before it had a chance to gain orders or interest, though this lasted on paper a little longer. This would’ve seen an all-new integral, with all the weight savings that that implies. It would probably have put paid to the Olympus, though why go to the expense of developing a new decker when new Opatre already has the former East Lancs/Darwen design? Optare is now believed to be pursuing a double deck integral via its Olympus; if Optare is to be believed, it could soon be available on a conventional chassis or, from January 2010, an integral. And after some uncertainty, to be fair, the Olympus is gaining ground and approval. The design is a considerable improvement on many a recent East Lancs decker, particualrly the Myllenium Lowlander.

In December 2008, Optare’s chief executive resigned and the company’s shares tumbled. Hardly surprising, then, that there’s been consolidation. Optare’s former Rotherham works closed on 13 November 2009. Such a consolidation means that Solo and Versa are produced & finished solely at Leeds and these days, the facility can, apparently, get a little crowded. The Olympus, meanwhile, is the only model under build at the East Lancs unit at Blackburn, where Optare releases one complete vehicle a week, if that. There was talk of the Tempo moving to Blackburn.

As the rest of us know and Optare understands, the double deck market isn’t what it once was. May be hybrid technology will be the key to unlock integral Olympus sales. It will be interesting to see what power pack Optare offers in terms its integrals. The jury’s definitely out on the Solo EV all-electric battery powered bus. The single deck Tempo hybrid is showing promise although space precluded the Tempo appearing at this year’s Coach & Bus Live 2009. This week, Optare announced its first dual-fuel order, converting 11 Lincolnshire buses to run on diesel & bio-methane. Expect a carbon reduction in excess of 50 per cent, making the design eligible for the government's £30mil green bus fund. Bio-methane comes from either landfill gas or anaerobic digestion, apparently.

The Small Guy

One of the most intersting references within the now closed OFT consultation on the market study of the bus industry was paragraph 4.32. Here, and I paraphrase, the OFT remarked that smaller operators:

• Preferred competition *for* the market (for tenders) rather than *in* the market (on-street competition).


• Were effectively scared of registering competitive routes against bigger operators for fear of over-bussing and predetory activity.


• Did not use subsidised routes as a ‘bridgehead’ for commercial services.
  

Let’s unpick this a little. It’s certainly true that smaller operators tend to operate in a niche rather than compete head-on with a large incumbent. This may be through fear but there are other factors involved:

• Smaller operators are often better placed to win tenders. They have fewer overheads and there are no City shareholders to please. They settle for lower margins. Concentrating on this market is therefore of considerable benefit to the tax payer.


• By concentrating resources in the tendered market, smaller operators therefore enable tendering authorities to eek out limited resources. In doing so, smaller operators are successful: look no further than your own back yard for that, the more so during the increases in real terms in expendiuture on transport in the last 10 years.


• Talk to smaller operators and they feel that competition for the market rather than within in it is a justifiable way of running a business.


• There is a hierarchy of risk for small bus operators. The highest risk is operating commercially in competition. Then, comes a commercial service without competition. The lowest risk of all is by winning a tendered service. Why expose yourself to too high a risk?


• Often, smaller operators have of necessity a slim management structure perfect for subsidised service provision but lacking in epxertise or capacity to struggle with competition.


• A number of traditional, family-owned companies see local bus servies as a means of keeping the wheels turning between school times or generating additional business in a depressed coach market: coaching activities peak seasonally and are otherwise in long-term decline. They wish to look no further than tendering.


• Smaller operators are comfortable with the subsidised model. Larger operators understand that their strengths lie elsewhere. A number of smaller operators may yearn for more but they accept that they can make a good living by developing a niche.
  

To suggest that smaller operators run scared of the big boys is, at best, only part of the picture. At worst, it is a distortion of economics, the same economics that suggests that a small local shopkeeper is unlikely to open a 4,000 square metre superstore next to Tesco. Instead, he might chose to concentrate on the “foodie” element of the market by offering niche products unavailable at Tesco. Every little helps, right?

See also our Mystery Contributor’s 2008 post entitled Views from the Little Guy

More from Phil

Omnibuses concludes its interview with Velvet’s Phil Stockley, by looking at Go South Coast and the OFT... and the most important question of all. See Part One here...

OB: You are on record as saying you’d buy your former employers at Go South Coast a pint but your departure though amicable was decisive. Would you say that GSC management would buy *you* a pint?

PS: A few wouldn’t, most would and some have!

OB: How best would you describe your relationship with Bluestar? And Go South Coast?

PS: Professional. We applaud them when they do good things—the new buses on Bluestar 1 have made a huge difference, they have got UniLink looking superb and Bluestar’s vehicle presentation is so much better across the board, to give a few examples. At the same time I suspect that our continued existence has surprised a few people and there is an uneasiness that is understandable but a little sad. In the end, my view is that for the bus industry to have a healthy future, it needs to consist of good companies that are successful, the cake is big enough for all of us so we will continue to try to find a relationship with all our fellow operators that respects our competitive position while at the same time placing the priority on delivering first class public transport to the public.

OB: Views regarding your bus services in Eastleigh and beyond are polarised. Some view them as combative, others as complementary. Some say you were naif to take on or even establish yourself near GSC. Was this folly on your part or has GSC over-reacted?

PS: We established ourselves in Eastleigh because we felt there was a gap in the market in this region. In some respects it has proved harder to establish our niche than we imagined it would, but we believe we have managed to establish some key differences between ourselves and the other players that demonstrate there is a role for an operator like us.

OB: You say that you deliberately designed your service B to operate as far away from Bluestar as possible. Some were surprised that Bluestar responded to your B in such a decisive way. Were you?

PS: Yes and no. We always suspected they would want to bare their fangs at some point, so not surprising in that respect. But I can’t believe even they saw the B as competitive because anyone with a map, a timetable and a few grains of common sense can plainly see that it wasn’t. I suppose we could have carried on running all our positioning mileage to Southampton for the 300 and the college runs as dead mileage, but what a waste! So we picked the only possible line on the map that missed all their key commercial flows—even where we ran in parallel, we timed our journeys as far away from theirs as possible.

All our publicity was about Boyatt Wood and Velmore to Southampton, which had no other service, and anyone who thinks that we ever anticipated toppling our blue cousins with 4-5 journeys a day from Eastleigh to Southampton, as opposed to their 15 minute frequency, almost 24/7 service coverage, is frankly mad. So in that sense, surprising that they put as much effort into it as they did, although I guess we saw it as a sign of respect.

OB: The competition authorities seem to have a bad reputation in the industry for picking the wrong fights. Post-Cardiff, do you think you have a case regarding your service B and the Fair Oak Flyer and, if so, how could the authorities help you?

PS: I’m not prepared to make any specific comments on our case because I don’t wish to prejudice anything that may emerge, but it certainly appears true that the competition authorities have more work to do to establish exactly what their role is in a deregulated bus industry.

OB: In the light your experiences since Velvet started, how welcome is the OFT market study report on the bus industry?

PS: While this study addresses the general state of the industry rather than exploring specific cases, I do believe it is a well put together piece of work which raises relevant and interesting questions that need to be debated. My hope is that the industry as a whole will engage positively with the relevant authorities to provide constructive input - whether for or against any proposals that might be forthcoming - and does not simply stick its head in the sand and hope the issue goes away.

OB: What is the future for small operators in a world ever increasingly dominated by larger ones?

PS: Small operators can get a lot closer to the communities they serve and it is much easier to micro-manage the quality of one’s operation with small numbers of buses and drivers. Equally, large operators have the resources to achieve things that small operators can’t. In my view there is a role for both—the size of the company is not the most important thing, it is the talents of the people that run them that matter most.

OB: Do you ever see the time when you would work closer with neighbouring operators under the terms of the Local Transport Act 2008?

PS: Yes, of course. We have no reservations about working with neighbouring operators. We already do with things like Solent Travelcard. And if it helps to give the public a better perception of their transport system, so much the better!

OB: And finally, the key question, one that has apparently floored even the prime minister. What type of biscuit do you prefer?

PS: I’m tempted to say "no comment" but honesty prevails and custard creams win the day! There is probably some deep-seated psychological reason why this is so, but it would take a better man than me to rationalise that one.

Parallels

As the Plymouth Citybus sale deal draws closer—and details begin to emerge—we consider Plymouth in the context of recent developments in Blackburn, where Transdev Blazefield bought the former council owned Blackburn Transport nearly three years ago.

First, though, here’s the latest from Plymouth. If Go Ahead buys Citybus, Go Ahead promises that it will:

• Offer £20.2mil for Plymouth Citybus


• Maintain existing school bus services for a minimum of three years


• Operate all existing local bus services as is, for at least six months and will give the council 90 days’ notice of any change, five weeks in addition to the regulatory minimum


• Make no drivers compulsorily redundant in the first 12 months of ownership, unless for reasons outside the company's control


• Eliminate front-line step entrance vehicles by April 2011, reducing the fleet age from nine to eight years


• Retain the Citybus name


• Give the council a percentage of any profit made in the next 30 years upon the sale or long lease of Milehouse depot

Yellow Buses sold for £13.8mil. Without knowing Citybus’ turnover, it’s difficult to judge but the deal, on a like-for-like basis, is on par with Bournemouth’s. That it’s so strong is interesting, in the light of First Devon & Cornwall’s Ugobus Phase 3 competition. Citybus pays an average dividend of £270,000 per annum though this will, no doubt, be affected by First’s competition.

Anti-sale protesters may feel like it’s all over, and they are probably right. They may nevertheless point to Blackburn as an example of how things might go wrong. This autumn, forced into action by what Transdev Lancashire United claims are poor free travel payments and recession-led decline, it’s taken unpopular decisions. Not even Blazefield is immune. And not everyone at Blackburn is happy.

Lancashire United has slimmed things down and done the infamous but nonetheless clever M.A.P.-two-step, something the former National Bus Company made famous in the early 1980s: reducing the PVR by using peak vehicles that aren’t strictly necessary during off-peak periods. In Transdev’s case, it’s using step-entrance so-called ‘school bus’ double decks on all-day service, selling some now surplus single deck SLFs.

Blackburnians (is that the correct term for such folk?) have short memories. Under arms-length control, Blackburn Transport was reported as loss making and under-managed. Blazefield has a reputation for turning around marginal businesses (as it did upon Lancashire United’s formation in 2001 to tackle former Stagecoach malaise). It’s fixed Blackburn, launching in the process a Best Impressionable, Spot On market-led service soon after. Were Blackburn Transport still in existence, there’s little doubt that the former municipal would face exactly the same pressures. The action would actually be compounded by two further years of losses and without the benefit of Spot On market-led growth.

Not all bad news in Blackburn: Transdev is stimulating demand with fare deals

Transdev Blazefield’s decisions seem the lesser of two evils. It’s a good use of resources during difficult times, especially if it makes the difference between profit and loss; or between good housekeeping and wholesale withdrawals. Given the choice, most passengers would probably agree, though it will continue to brass-off wheelchair & buggy passengers.

Yet, in marketing terms, selling SLF single decks and replacing them with step entrance deckers is retrograde. Not only is it sending the wrong signals, it will start to erode further recent ridership increases.

Whereas Plymouth Citybus is capable of renewing its step entrance ‘school bus’ fleet with former London SLF deckers, it seems Blazefield isn’t able to. Citybus has had the foresight to invest in SLF deckers that it would appear will remain available for use for at least three years. And this, no doubt, is one reason why Go Ahead can offer the school bus promise: modern vehicles reducing the engineering overhead that are acceptable for general use.

Christmas, Fares & Boxing Day

My late mother was the most organised person I have ever known. She completed her Christmas shopping by the end of the July sales (perhaps not such a good strategy these days, in the light of autumnal & last minute bargains). She had all her cards written, addressed and stamped the day after Christmas stamps went on sale. They’d be dispatched to ensure arrival on 1st December or, for commonwealth destinations, as soon as the sale of Christmas stamps would allow.

Not everyone is so organised but shops and stores of course are. They’ve been selling Christmas fayre and decorations since mid-September and rely heavily on this early income; and even discounting for early purchases, in some cases.

What better time, then, for operators to market bus services for Christmas, nice and early. Here, Arriva leads the pack. Under its “kiss stress goodbye this Christmas”, it’s promoting a stress-busting service that offers passengers an alternative to the hassles of travelling by car at this busy period. If you’ve ever queued at Christmas to leave Bournemouth’s Castlepoint shopping ‘experience’, you’ll’ve regretted not using the bus (though obviously not Arriva’s). At its worst, it can take an hour or more clear the area by car.

It’s designed to appeal to casual and first time customers, many of whom will know how driving can spoil a shopping trip. Arriva refers to to the usual advantages of travel by bus and even introduces the spectre of what it calls “mean-spirited traffic wardens” though, in reality, this species is the industry’s friend.

What the campaign cannot easily do is offer fares incentives. Such offers might including family deals that could cement the decision to use a bus. This is a notoriously difficult and dangerous area for an operator, one that can lead to a reduction in revenue rather than otherwise. Fares promotions linked to late night shopping might be the least risky.

What Arriva *is* doing is offering discounts on its m-ticketing, introduced everywhere last week. This is thought to be the largest m-ticketing scheme in the world. Registrants can pay for day and season tickets by mobile but discounts of 10 per cent are available only for four-weekly tickets.

Taken to its logical extreme, if you want to avoid the driving & parking stress *and* the crowds, online shopping’s the way to go. Can’t see that appealing to Arriva.

Meanwhile, this year, Christmas services themselves could get a little confusing in some parts of the country. Boxing Day falls on a Saturday and the official bank holiday is Monday. Southern Vectis, seemingly ahead of the game over the actual season, plans to extend last year’s Christmas Day services into the evening. The following Saturday-Sunday-Monday will *all* operate to a uniform Sunday service which, as you might expect, is pretty comprehensive.

The Benefits of Bendies

The gradual scrapping of London’s bendy buses is becoming less & less remarkable and newsworthy. So why is it that the media continue to bang on about it so much?

This time last week, the third route, no. 38, saw the last of its Citaro bendies, converted the day after to standard TfL double deck operation. Whether you think replacing 47 articulated Mercedes Citaros with 68 double deck VDL or ADLs makes sense depends upon your viewpoint. If that’s what Londoners really want and they can pay for it, so be it. And pay they will. Media estimates put the additional cost of replacing all three London bendy routes to date at £3.3mil p.a. That’s not counting the cost of any extra emissions.

In theory, there’s a lot going for the bendy bus:

• Most seats are accessible


• Passengers travel on the same level as the driver, reducing anti-social behaviour associated with upper decks


• Artics can soak up peak loads efficiently


• Passengers need not climb to the upper deck to find most seating. Bendies typically seat 49-56 on one level. TfL double decks seat 22-26 down stairs


• There’s more space for buggies and wheelchairs


• Passengers are not throttled between the entrance & staircase and can move around easier


• There are more opportunities to get out in an emergency


• The buses are nominally as manoeuvrable as or more so than a 12m rigid


• They are successfully in operation in congested European cities that are no less constrained when compared to England
  

It’s understandable, in spite of these positive points, that operators have reservations. There are bus station and other infrastructural implications concerning bendies. There are garage and maintenance space issues to consider. They take roadspace. And then there is the threat of fares evasion where Oysters don’t exist, something that cannot easily be solved, even with one-way gates at the rear doors. And dare we mention passenger and the public’s perceptions, not always good, something demonstrated more perhaps in York than anywhere, following the introduction of the FTR Streetcar. There appear particular hang-ups regarding cyclists, although Mayor Johnson has had to concede there’ve been no deaths as first believed.

London’s decisions to abandon (all but one of?) its artic routes leaves a surfeit of bendies that may yet prove useful elsewhere. Interest to date hasn’t been especially strong but if the rumours circulating are true as to where some might emerge, there are some more surprises ahead, at least at the demonstration stage. In spite of the benefits, we still can’t see artics taking off outside London, even if double decks remain in long-term provincial decline. Or, rather, it would take a brave person to forecast the popularity of the bendy, even at its early 21st century peak.

TfL 38 runs to a remarkable timetable. Buses operate at 2-minute intervals at peak (every minute from Hackney Central 0659-0713 except 0707); from 0848 every three minutes; then 3-4 minutes off-peak. Evening buses are 10-12 per hour.

On the Agendum—an end to deregulation

Tomorrow, the West Yorkshire integrated transport authority discusses quality contracts. It’s clear WYITA is keen to adopt the powers under the Local Transport Act 2008 that afford a greater opportunity for QCs. WYITA feels that in spite of operator and Metro PTE investment, bus patronage is still declining, even while the economy was growing. Result: fares increases above inflation and withdrawals. WYITA therefore talks of “dramatic interventions” to achieve a number of goals. These include increased passenger confidence, improved customer service, integration, and support for the wider social policy agenda. And they must be value for money.

Other ITAs are considering similar opportunities. South Yorkshire and Nexus have already undertaken dummy tendering. Are we therefore seeing an end to deregulation in our city regions?

Well, yes. In spite of Yorkshire media hype, WYITA’s view is nevertheless measured. WYITA considers the risks, not least a possible change of government that might put paid to QCs before they even start. WYITA’s timescales ensure that there are no significant costs ratcheted up till the governmental position is known.

WYITA also states that if it can achieve its goals within partnerships, this will continue to be pursued in parallel.

WYITA is also being upfront when it states that it may need to make difficult and unpopular decisions on service levels and fares in the future, to meet budget targets.

And there’s the rub. While WYITA talks of London & European city-style bus networks, this takes funding whereas, at the moment and in spite of its flaws, much is operated commercially. Proper funding squares the circle whatever the regime in force—and this needs to be sustainable. Will it be? And can WYITA give any long-term guarantee that a QC will be any better than the current market mix of commercial and tendered mileage? If there *is* long-term sustainable funding then it might actually be in operators’ interests to drop their opposition to QCs as the benefits might outweigh the disadvantages.

Better Off?

Will Plymouth Citybus be better off under Go Ahead ownership?

There are strong reasons why it might be, although Plymouth will lose the social dividend that comes with municipally-owned operations.

1. There will be safeguards and promises of investment & innovation that generally come with the securing of preferred bidder status. Promises are all part of the mix and post-Bournemouth privatisation Go Ahead will be well aware of them.


2. Go Ahead (and rival Stagecoach for that matter) has a good reputation at innovation and marketing.


3. As a distinct advantage, Go Ahead runs things locally. This will perhaps offer a face-saving option to those locals who point-blank oppose any sale. It should hone local brand awareness.


4. Go Ahead’s bus businesses are market-driven and successfully and that includes in competitive situations (e.g. Oxford, Bournemouth) and where there is a monopoly (e.g. Brighton, Isle of Wight). All the above have seen consistent and impressive increases in ridership.


5. Go Ahead has much experience in traditional coaching and its potential acquisition of Citybus is most likely to protect Plymouth Citycoach, once doomed as unprofitable but also much respected locally.
   

May these are reasons why the unions seem to have moved from anger towards acceptance (as reported on Plymouthian Transit). So much for the positives. Let’s consider some realities.

1. Go Ahead’s had to square up to poor performance across its Go South Coast subsidiaries and that’s been painful at both Wilts & Dorset and what is effectively now a W&D outpost, Bluestar. In spite of some bitterness, Bluestar is fixed—ser 1 even won this year’s UK Bus Awards marketing award. You sense that there’s more work to do at W&D.
   
   It’s not been entirely pain-free at Southern Vectis. Recent concessionary travel-related trimming has proven unpopular but, even so, services are still stronger than or at least as strong as before SVOC rebranded recently.


2. It’s true that there’ve been innovations. After its introduction, Morebus won a prestigious national marketing award though anyone could’ve made money at the expense the former municipally-owned Yellow Buses. But W&D has backtracked not only on some core services but also from some of its more frivolous excesses in Bournemouth (remember the Orange Circle?).


3. Go Ahead subsidiaries aren’t actually as locally managed as we all like to think but compared to the Three, including Stagecoach, at Go Ahead there’s less head office “interference”. We should be under no illusions as to the fact that Go Ahead is a quoted PLC and, as such, will never entertain its subsidiary businesses announcing UDI.
   

Let’s not forget that Citybus already operates a good fleet and at good frequencies. It’s prepared to operate commercially some evening work (the social dividend). Citybus sits more comfortably with Warrington & Lothian than with the likes of Islwyn and Eastbourne. You might argue that it doesn’t need a Go Ahead helping hand.

But what’s now changed is First Devon & Cornwall’s new competition. First’s move deliberately tries to safeguard its position in what has now become an uncertain marketplace. First had little choice as, post-Preston (and at the time post-Eastbourne), buying Citybus was not an option—and this in spite of First’s previous overtures to the council. But First’s move effectively means that without a sale, Citybus may now struggle.

*Not* selling could therefore be more disastrous for Citybus than selling.

i Plymothian Transit is covering the Citybus sale

Eastleigh Progress

Our Mystery Contributor follows up yesterday’s Phil Stockley Velvet interview...

After nine months of conflict between Go Ahead’s Bluestar & Phil Stockley’s Velvet, bus services in Eastleigh have settled down to what appears to be a stable level.

Velvet now reaches as far as Winchester, having taken over E2 from Stagecoach. Notice the poppy on the nearside mirror. Photo: Stephen Hooper (used with permission)

Velvet’s competitive Fair Oak Flyer was withdrawn in May, with Bluestar’s shorts on the 2 between Eastleigh and Fair Oak withdrawn just 3 weeks later. The 2 has regressed to a poorly regulated operation, with regular bunching of the six vehicles that operate the 20-minute headway that remains, albeit not helped by roadworks along its route.

The Eastleigh area saw virtually no changes at the start of the new academic year, apart from the addition of extra journeys from the town by Bluestar-operated UniLink, basically extra garage extensions of its core U1 service, which generally starts a mile from the town at Southampton Airport Parkway station.

The tendered C group of routes from Eastleigh to the affluent Chandlers Ford, Hiltingbury & Valley Park areas have from 1st November 2009 been awarded to Velvet on a contract worth £224,000 per annum, till May 2011. Velvet has been running there on a short-term contract since February, when Bluestar opted to withdraw commercially and it has to be said that this contract was vital to Velvet’s commercial well being. Without the C, Velvet would have had only its commercial service A requiring two buses and its commercial four-bus Barton Peveril College commitment. The three-bus C contract therefore gives Velvet volume, as it includes evening and Sunday services—and takes Velvet into Winchester for the first time, replacing Stagecoach on five-times-a-day Sunday service E2. Stockley has revamped the C to give better frequencies to the busiest locations on the route, while still serving all the lesser used stops at least hourly.

To many, the biggest sign of the ceasing of hostilities, however, was on the occasion of the one-day cricket international at the Rose Bowl in September. Go South Coast provide park & ride to events at this venue. Unable to staff the services themselves (Southern Vectis was striking the next day), they hired drivers from Velvet to staff GSC vehicles. That would never have happened even six months ago.

Omnibuses meets Phil Stockley

A graduate in transport management, Phil Stockley joined Southern Vectis in 1995 as a management trainee. Leaving in 1998 while traffic manager, Stockley moved to Stagecoach West, later West & Wales, as a director. Following a short stint at Stagecoach Devon, he moved back to Southern Vectis in 2004 to run Solent Blue Line and later under Go Ahead was responsible for operations at SBL & SVOC. Stockley left GSC in 2007 and after a short period running projects for First, set up Velvet, Eastleigh, in late 2007.

In Part One below, Phil looks at Velvet, customer focus, social media, Best Impressions, concessionary fares and artics. Later in the week, Phil talks candidly about Go South Coast… i Phil also has his own blog

OB: What have you learnt in your first year or so running your own business and what would you now do differently as a result?

PS: The learning curve is so steep it’s nearly vertical! The list of things I would do differently is way too long to repeat here, but I also think we got many more things right than wrong. We set up a functioning six-vehicle bus business from absolutely nothing in three months. At the time it seemed glacially slow but in hindsight it seems like warp speed! My advice to anyone contemplating the same would be to work out carefully how much cash you need, then double it; carefully work out how much time you need, then double it; be prepared for the fact that everyone apart from your closest friends will let you down somewhere along the way, but it is the most exciting journey you will ever take!

OB: What were your main challenges in setting up Velvet?

PS: Again the list is huge, but the sheer practical grind of raising cash, finding premises, getting an o-licence, finding vehicles and getting those vehicles on the road was far harder than we ever imagined. The main problem is that as a new company you struggle to get credit for anything, so things that more established operators take for granted become a huge challenge. One example—fuel: it took a while to persuade anyone to give us fuel cards, so for the first few months, we were having to meet every single bus that needed fuel and loading up our credit cards. We were maxing out our cards every few days so I was forever sending money to the credit card company! Things like that, you don’t even think of before you start—or if you do you have no idea how much of a chore they will be!

OB: Your customer focus is reported as excellent. Why do you think so many in the bus industry fall short of this ideal, at the last hurdle?

PS: I am delighted that we have this reputation, because it is customer service that caused us to start Velvet and it is customer service that makes me excited about coming to work every day. The problem is that many operators don’t even get near the final hurdle.

Along with all aspects of brand management, customer service is not a bolt-on extra, it has to be designed into the process from the very beginning, and it mostly revolves around the people you select to work for you and the way you harness their talents. Small teams, short rotas (ideally fixed duties), schedules that are realistic, ticket products that are easy to understand and sell—these are just a few examples of things that are pre-requisites in my view, not optional extras.

OB: The commercial world’s a harsh one and Velvet has seen a number of what appears as U-turns. Are these mistakes or do you feel that you need to take risks to succeed?

PS: Firstly, we are certainly not perfect and as I have hinted at already, if we had our time again then yes there are some things we might have done differently. Equally, there are some things we could not have foreseen, the unprecedented four-month closure of Eastleigh’s main arterial road from the south being the most obvious. If we hadn’t done what we did, when we did, who’s to say we would still be here now? The most successful companies have only got where they are by having good ideas, and when you try new things you have to accept that not everything will work out as planned. And when that happens, my view is it is much better to face up to that and make the changes you need to make, rather than fiddling while Rome burns!

OB: You have a reputation for being optimistic. Is there room for such optimism in the commercial bus world?

PS: I couldn’t be anything else, and believe it is only because of this that I have had the great pleasure to be involved in a good many highly successful projects, and work with some brilliant people, in my first eighteen years in the industry. But of course there have to be checks and balances and my good fortune now is to be surrounded by a fantastic team of people whose diverse views and experiences all play a big part in helping us make the right decisions.

Of course, the world needs optimists, but it needs accountants as well!

OB: After Best Impressions designed your Velvet livery, they were warned off by fellow Stenning users, Go South Coast. Was this fair?

PS: Were they warned off? I’m not sure I buy that. My opinion is that Ray Stenning is unparalleled within the industry for his ability to marry design expertise with an intuitive understanding of how customers and potential customers interact with transport systems. He does first class work for Go South Coast and we respect that they are a big customer for him. I have no doubt that he will work with us again some time in the future.

OB: What role does social media have in the bus industry?

PS: Traditional advertising has lost its appeal. The range of media is far too great and the ability to capture people’s attention is too limited. Moreover, our customers and potential customers resent being “talked at” and have ideas and opinions that can usefully influence how we develop our product. Social networking gives us the opportunity to capture this knowledge in the context of an informal conversation, during which we can also take the opportunity to share ideas about how our products can help them go about their lives. In the end, people know that we are a business and we are trying to sell them things, but as long as it’s genuinely a two-way process and we can have a laugh and make some friends along the way, I don’t think people mind that.

My view is we are only just seeing the tip of the iceberg of what social media can achieve but that is all the more reason to embrace the potential rather than sitting back waiting to see what happens next.

OB: What was Stagecoach like to work for?

PS: Fantastic. I don’t have a bad word to say. It is an inspirational organisation full of great people.

OB: Do concessionary fares help or hinder?

PS: I do not begrudge people for one moment for taking advantage of the fantastic facility that is available to them. But I had the good fortune to be working in Wales when free travel started there and saw how a healthy reimbursement rate could be used to kickstart commercial network improvements, logically resulting in a virtuous circle that ultimately decreases the financial burden of tendered services. I like the principle that public money follows the user and how he/she uses the system rather than being used to prop up an artificial network that may or may not meet people’s needs, and for this reason I deeply regret that England did not learn from Wales!

OB: I hear there are a good few articulated buses going cheap. Any room in Eastleigh?

PS: OK I admit it—I love articulated buses!!! They are so much more modern, stylish and classy than double deckers. If I had an excuse to run them I would take all of Boris’s cast-offs tomorrow, but the first and most obvious difficulty is that if you parked one in the workshop we use, the other end would block the entire industrial estate! So for practical reasons, sadly not!

OB: Where do you see yourself in 5, 10 or 15 years’ time?

PS: Continuing to develop Velvet, trying to find innovative ways to develop the public transport network based on first class customer service, looking for the common ground where good commercial instincts can combine to best effect with the political and social priorities of our local authority partners, and having lots of fun doing so.

OB: Where do you see the bus industry in 30 years’ time?

PS: Smaller but more perfectly formed. My vision is of a frequent, simple network of high quality links (not just buses but hopefully more innovative modes too) within towns and cities, surrounded by a ring of park & rides and main line routes radiating into the surrounding rural areas, providing modal choice and social inclusion where there is the critical mass to support the required levels of quality.

I believe that the quality of local transport provision to be much better overall, but that may be at the expense of quantity.

OB: What one thing could the (central or local) government do to make it easier for you to operate more successfully?

PS: Sort out concessionary fares, then leave the industry alone for a bit!

i Phil has his own blog

Photo credit: Stephen Hooper

Forward Planning/Challenge

Unless the government announces it is re-nationalising the entire bus industry, we publish tomorrow a fairly candid interview with one of the bus industry’s well-known managers. You may recall last week that we spoke to Jenni Wilkinson at Transdev Yellow Buses. If you work in the bus industry (at whatever level) and feel we could meet for a chat and interview for publication here, get in touch by email.
Thanks once again to those people who commented upon the blog posts on Birmingham’s Outer Circle 11C, who corrected spelling errors and who answered the brief survey. The survey consensus was that you would welcome occasional posts like those on the 11C. I have to say that the majority did not vote. Whether they were ambivalent or against, I am not sure.
I asked for ideas for routes that might feature in any future occasional posts and was truly impressed at the vast array of suggestions. I would never have thought of some of them. Most, nearly all, were long end-to-end inter-urban or rural services and getting on & off to sample the local area may pose a problem in terms of time. To those who suggested routes, thanks.
Do any of you wish to take the challenge forward yourselves, along the same lines as (or an improvement upon) the 11C? If yes, get in touch by email.

Dart Delivers Dennis

You occasionally hear of mothers naming their children after someone special who’s helped bring their child into this world. But after a bus?

Last month on Hackney Community Transport’s TfL 394, Emiloju Fatimah Lawal gave birth somewhat earlier than predicted, with the help of the driver and one fellow passenger. Mum of four Emiloju, upon hearing that the bus was a Dennis Dart, chose “Dennis” as her son’s middle name in appreciation.

We aren’t sure, but we think that the Caetano-bodied single deck was actually a *Transbus* rather than an (Alexander) Dennis Dart. If so, let’s be honest, “Transbus” as a name hasn’t quite the same ring. Being London, one wonders what might’ve happened had the bus been an AEC Routemaster…

I once met an Inspector who’d helped deliver a baby on a Leyland National. As far as I’m aware, the parents decided against christening their child either “Leyland” or “National”.

Plymouth Almost Concluded

News from Plymouth ahead of the official press embargo is that Go Ahead has beaten Stagecoach as preferred bidder for Plymouth Citybus. This is contrary to previous speculation. Subject to final council confirmation on 30th November and due diligence, it now looks as if Plymouth will retain some form of strong local brand and the high degree of local autonomy that comes with the Go Ahead business model. In a recent survey, Omnibuses readers said that of the two likely bidders they felt that Go Ahead rather than Stagecoach would offer the better service for Plymothians. I wonder whether there might now be a little sigh of relief at Citybus... and with competitors First Devon & Cornwall, too.

And About Time Too!

Transdev Yellow Buses has at last received the recognition it deserves. At yesterday’s Bus Oscars™ 2009, the UK Bus Industry Awards, TYB was awarded Shire Operator of the Year 2009.

TYB surfaced ahead of Stagecoach Bluebird, Stagecoach in Fife, Stagecoach in Warwickshire and Transdev stable-mates Burnley & Pendle and Yorkshire Coastliner.

The award is a ringing endorsement for an operator who has turned around an average performance that was leaking passengers to one whose recent ridership increase has been up to 40 per cent. The judges praised the path along which TYB has travelled, including the judicious initial purchase of second hand SLFs, following by impressively specified new ones.

The judges felt that TYB had focused on customer satisfaction, its network, marketing, punctuality, community involvement and its workforce.

We send our congratulations to the entire TYB team and to runner up in the Young Manager of the Year 2009, TYB’s head of operations, Ed Wills.

Other main award winners were:

• City Operator of the Year and UK Bus Operator of the Year: Brighton & Hove


• Independent Operator of the Year: Western Greyhound (that’s four times according to my calculator)


• Bus Marketing Campaign of the Year: Bluestar for Bluestar 1


• Innovation Award: Arriva North West for Ecomanager (TYB was highly commended for Carbon Stoppers)


• Bus in the Countryside Award: Norfolk Green/Norfolk council for Coast Hopper


• Winning new Customers Award: Nottingham City Transport for Go2 West Bridegford

Yesterday’s posts on the Birmingham Outer Circle were somewhat different. TY to all who left a positive comment, who emailed and the one person who even txted during the uploads! I’m keen to get more feedback on the posts. You can click here to help.

No Surprise There, Then

Now that the inevitable seems to have happened, what are the consequences of the Competition Commission ruling that Stagecoach shall sell its Preston Bus operation to reintroduce competition in the city?

1. Who will buy?

• How would you easily untangle Stagecoach & Preston Bus into something that is a meaningful purchase? Services are now intertwined, including swapping work between garages.


• Would any existing operator chance their margins against a formidable adversary such as Stagecoach?


• Who locally might take this on? Perhaps Transdev Blazefield, as the nearest. Blazefield has taken Stagecoach work before but under very different circumstances. Preston is not like Bournemouth. Perhaps even Arriva is further away, is this likely? As for small operators, Blue Bus is probably a non-starter and certainly conservative Fishwick’s wouldn’t even give it a second thought. There are no other growing independents in the area. This leaves operators such as Centrebus, Veolia or Rotala.


• No smaller operator has yet succeeded in competing in Preston, in the longer term.


• What are the lessons from down the road Liverpool? When Arriva was directed to divest in Merseyside, it took considerable time and a false Go Ahead start before Stagecoach bought Gilmoss.

2. Is it necessary?

• Will passengers lose network benefits (network tickets, co-ordinated timetables, vehicle quality, stability, timetable changes on one date)?


• Could network benefits be protected with some yet firmer, stronger and more robust Stagecoach guarantees?


• Could a statutory quality partnership have improved passenger services while retaining a monopoly?


• Would any two competitors enter into a partnership or even a quality contract, in any case?
  

3. Is there a market for two operators?

• If Preston’s market couldn’t easily support two operators, can it now? What has changed? Preston Bus was reported as in trouble even before Stagecoach competition. Though Preston Bus was turning around years of under-investment, the Stagecoach situation’s now improved investment markedly.

4. What about Lancashire council?

• Remember how industry watchers viewed Preston competition during its long two years? It was seen as among the worst excesses. So much so, in fact, the traffic commissioner brought in Lancashire council to devise a set of rules. This, you may recall, was to ensure that deregulation didn’t come toppling down. Will these measures be needed again, including monitoring?

5. Remember when…

• … Preston Bus and Stagecoach didn’t compete at all, which was effectively monopolistic. But that’s ancient history.

11C: The Final Post

• Buses used: 11 on the Outer Circle 11C plus a return trip on the 11A/C between Perry Barr & Handsworth.
• All bar one was a Wrightbus body, the other being a Plaxton.
• Total journey time including disembarkation, excluding return trip to Handworth: 4hr 43mins
• Total journey time on the bus: 2hr 28mins
• Favourite spot: Handsworth
• Least favourite spot: Perry Barr
• Annoyed about: mobile phones
• Concerned about: NXWM driver at King's Heath
• Pleased about: good loads on nearly all buses

11C: And back towards Acocks Green

Continuing the journey on Birmingham's 11C Outer Circle...


The leafy road to Acocks Green continues the middle class trend, something confirmed by a road sign acclaiming Acocks Green as a ‘village’. No doubt this alone adds £10,000 to the value of every house. Pity about the music emanating from yet another mobile phone speaker.

11C: Ward End

Continuing the journey on Birmingham's 11C Outer Circle...

Reboarding, the women in front of me continues her mobile conversation as if the driver wasn’t there. Crooking the phone between neck & shoulder, she fumbles for change for the hopper.

Then, the 11C marches on through relentless urbanisation, as the bus goes everywhere yet nowhere, a perpetual conveyor belt spinning round.

The 11C crosses the Birmingham & Fazakerley canal at Heartlands. Passengers witness sheds, warehouses, industry, brownfield dereliction and strange, modular, pre-cast concrete structures prophetically labelled ‘Waycon’.

The 11C is said to pass 49 pubs. The substantial one here is now a Chinese. We also pass a rare high occupancy vehicle lane.

As we approach Ward End, there’s more evidence of just why local suburban shopping is struggling: Tesco is building yet another store. At least that’s accessible via the 11C.

11C: Yardley

Continuing the journey on Birmingham's 11C Outer Circle...

The scene changes here.

Fewer passengers but still the 11C observes many stops. In various states of repair are 1930s semis and ornate Victorian terraced villas, some overlooked by high rise flats.

You get the impression that we’re moving upmarket and this is perhaps demonstrated by a ‘no cold calling’ zone. Verges are wider and trees mature. The Swan shopping centre is preceded by a work-in-progress, with mountains of hard core.

11C: Erdington

Continuing the journey on Birmingham's 11C Outer Circle...

The road from Perry Barr to Erdington typically passes through terraces and convenience shopping, punctuated by warehouse-type employment, a few open spaces and some construction work. The 11C rises in quick succession over two water navigations, a slower transport system for which Birmingham is also famous.

The 11C is a slow crawl, as the bus picks up at every stop, though numbers are noticeably lower here than to Perry Barr. The clatter of coins into the hopper rattles less often, too, as most have passes or their £3.30 day tickets. Not one driver inspects any of them.

You get the feeling Erdington’s seen better times. I suppose it’s difficult to get a feel for the place in 10 minutes but that’s all I have. Once a lower middle class suburb, this area seems less diverse. Out of centre retailing & the recession have resulted in random units closed or to let. Charity, cheap & pound shops prevail. Compare this to Handsworth and I know which I’d prefer.

11C: Perry Barr

Continuing the journey on Birmingham's 11C Outer Circle...

On the edge of Handsworth is this temple dedicated to the Guru Nanak, under construction

The upper deck empties quickly as shoppers and students disembark. Birmingham’s been planned for the car and this is nowhere more evident than the inner-city suburb of Perry Barr.

On the fringe of Handsworth

The A34 dual carriageway forces its way, forming an impenetrable north-south barrier negotiable on foot only via grim 1960s-designed underpasses, with over-bright tiles.

Perry Barr’s other dominant feature is the soulless One Stop shopping centre. Here, a grey mall and greyer warehouses circle a single huge car park, the very antithesis of lively, independent Handsworth. Members of the diverse community nevertheless continues to add personality if not quite in the same way as its neighbour.

The 11C doesn’t quite reach the modest bus station attached to the shopping destination and for good reason: it requires an unnecessary diversion.