A New Departure

A recent change of chief and a more recent new managing director for First UK Bus and these days First is really motoring. How many more positive developments can we expect?

Yesterday, there came news of a mammoth order of no fewer than 955 new vehicles. What better news to demonstrate a confidence in the UK bus market.

Similar to these, 460 of the First order will be bodied by Wrightbus, mainly on Volvo chassis. There is an option for up to 46 Streetlites

Orders of this magnitude are uncommon and certainly point to a new departure for First where there’s been paucity of late. There were hints from the management of a considerable order to cement the new emphasis on growth and here it is. The scale is almost unprecedented.

The downside, if there’s one at all, is that the order is for two years. This gives some manufacturing certainly but it does dilute the impact a little. It’s still nevertheless welcome and represents about 10 per cent of First’s declared current fleet. First has always stated that it was on target to meet the 2016/2017 requirement for low floor buses. This £160mil order will not hinder that plan.

Something equally important was the parallel announcement that First expects to a two-year refurbishment programme for the resultant newly cascaded buses, equivalent to £4mil. Not only will there be new buses but those displaced will see an improvement in quality. Good news all round for passengers. Such refurbishment programmes currently are significant business as is often the case when times are hard.

Meanwhile, in something of a coincidence, as things look up at First, highly regarded Leon Daniels leaves today and will join TfL tomorrow in the important role of managing director surface transport. Daniels was instrumental in getting the prestigious olympic contract and can proudly point to the 200 of the 955 order required for the event purchased specifically for this task. These olympic double decks will not, of course, be Olympians. Nor Olympuses. The 200 are about a quarter of the total requirement. 200 vehicles with 15,000 seats sounds a lot and will no doubt cope well with incoming spectators who will shuttle between venue & parking when arrivals will be staggered. Imagine the queue after each major event!

From tomorrow, Daniels shifts seats and as poacher turned gamekeeper will have even more of a responsibility for the olympic traffic jam than his role within First UK Bus. We wish him well.

What’s in a Name?

Prudent industry professionals keep an eye on Notices & Proceedings (or they get their employees to do so). Though the information on bus service registrations & variations gives little away, it’s enough to give pointers. But rarely is there something so tantalisingly off-beat as this, straight from the current N&P for the Western Traffic Area, dated 22 March 2011.

A new operator is applying for a licence, trading as Crosville Motor Services. You might associate that address with Cheshire or, at a push, Devon (Croscol’s of the 1920s) but certainly not Weston-super-Mare.

Is it really true that one Jonathan Pratt intends starting a one-vehicle business in Somerset trading as Crosville Motor Services? It seems so. Is this the same Jonathan Pratt who appears recently to have been the coaching & national express manager in Wales for Veolia?

There’s something else that’s odd about this development. Punch in the given residential postcode BS22 7WB and you’ll notice that the address is a cul de sac accessed only off Weston’s Badger’s Way. Weston super Mare was once the head office of Badgerline. Interesting coincidence. And, if my memory serves (and I think it does), Badgerline so nearly bought Crosville Wales.

You would think that the successors to CMS would’ve safeguarded the name. Apparently not. Arriva has Crosville Bus Ltd, as heir to some of the Cheshire garages and those in Wales. Crosville Ltd is an extant company registration that in 1986 passed to Potteries Motor Traction but one that currently has an unassuming address at Wallshaw Street, Oldham, c/o First. At least that’s nearer to the Crosville of old.

I wonder what the late W J Crosland-Taylor might’ve made of this. It was he and his family, notably Claude, who fostered and grew CMS to one of England’s biggest territorial operators. In his first book, WJ gives a very romantic assessment of the early years. No doubt embellished, readers nevertheless get a first-hand feel for the Klondike-like fight to establish a territory. It was just as commercial in the 1920s &1930s as it is today. There were times when CMS was quite ruthless; there were also times when CMS acted with nothing other than benevolence towards its employees. It’s a pity more general managers didn’t see fit to commit pioneering memories in such a way. Crosville pitched hard to take over businesses in a largely rural swathe of north west England and north Wales. Its successors have lost much ground outside main centres & corridors and you wonder whether the fight was worth it to end up with an operation baring the once grand name of Crosville Motor Services on a sole vehicle operation in Weston…

P.S. The possible reason for the CMS application? It may just be that the operator or person has a preserved former CMS Bristol

Whingers’ Charter

I can remember cash registers with glass domes where the value would pop up like a flag as a bell rang. I can remember air tubes that would carry cash to a back office. I can also remember the first electronic tills on the High Street and, obviously, EPOS scanner technology. All these revolutions took place without any media interest.

“Please bear with us…” always seems an odd plea

I recall arcane bus ticket equipment and the transition to ETMs. Neither were the media interested. Then came smartcards. The industry is more prone to shouting about such a new revolution. But not everyone’s delighted. The usual Brighton Naysayers are again out in force (even though Brighton & Hove’s machines are yet to be card-enabled). We report Honest John style on their views.

“Nice story but no effort as the buses are now slower due to the slower ticket machines”

So not true. Try waiting behind the passenger who hands over a Twenty for a £2 fare. Or a woman rummaging in her purse for the correct change. It frees driver time, every time. Just glance at London. Who pays a bus fare there, as everyone speeds through...

“Pity he doesn’t deal with the basics, like stopping his staff throwing their fag ends in the road outside the depot on the Lewes Road”

Fortunately, “he” [RF] has stopped most of his smoking passengers doing the same on the top decks of his buses. Now that really *was* anti-social.

“Just something else for Mr Lemon to whinge on about I suppose”

His turn’ll come. But may be it’s The Big L that needs to concentrate on some of the basics, I don’t know.

“I really hope they get the billing right and don’t end up over charging people otherwise it’ll die before it gets started”

Likelihood? Zero.

“I am very pleased that what has been available in Tenerife for decades is due (at last) to arrive here!”

Well, bully for you and bully for Tenerife. A little more complicating in a nation of 51mil people with a tad more “guaguas” (buses) over here than there. Not to mention Scotland & Wales.

“Try improving customer service/friendliness among their staff also better drivers needed instead of driving buses like dodgems try slowing down instead of slamming on brakes”

Phew! Try punctuating a sentence. Harsh braking can be an urban disease. But I suspect that the commenter might actually be surprised were he actually to board a bus.

“I expect the fares will rise… to pay for these machines”

Why? It might even stabilise fares for a while.

“Other bus companies have had [these machines] for decades”

Decades? Where exactly. London? Not decades but since 1998. It’s regime predisposes towards technology such as this. That regime, for better or worse, also costs Londoners dearly.

“Only reason to introduce these cards is that the bus company gets large amounts of your money before any service is even rendered”

No one ever complained about upfront payments for season tickets. If the smartcard gives you more journeys for your money, surely everyone wins.

“[Cash fares will go up more] which is of course a nice little earner to fleece those who are occasional users”

Makes sound economic sense to encourage people to see the benefits of regular bus use. Been happening since the first season tickets. Besides, you don’t need to use London’s buses regularly to benefit from an Oyster.

“They should have introduced Oyster all over the country as that is a system which is tried and tested and known to work”

And this is a government wish, supported by a BSOG uplift. And then the technology will become redundant as things move on…

A matter of presentation. Today, on the Dorset Bus Blog

Temporarily Disabled

This is a guest post by Hopalong Cassidy. Omnibuses welcome contributions

I’ve always had an interest in bus services but it’s only since they’ve been free of charge to those of a certain age that I’ve really begun to use them. With an excellent service not far from my front door, it’s only occasionally that I have to drive somewhere to board my first bus. I am therefore no stranger to the bus network.

But I must admit it has really come into its own now that I am recovering from a broken leg. After time spent in hospital and some weeks confined indoors, I am now able to enjoy the freedom the bus offers for I can’t yet drive. And since I can’t actually walk that far on crutches, I am currently one of those rare people who travels by bus for the sake of it, making full use of interchanges and longer distance services. The good weather’s helped. Here are some bus observations.

1. Low floor buses are such a brilliant invention. I thought little of this technology till recently but they really do help.


2. However, the distance between the platform and first forward facing seat on SLFs is actually quite a long way when you’re on crutches or cannot walk far.


3. Sometimes, the low floor seating area is so low in comparison to the window that you can’t see out as much as you think. Shorter people without a choice of seats miss out on the view.


4. Every driver I have had has been patient while I jump on, balance without crutches to find my pass, present it, put it away, re-crutch and hobble off to a seat.


5. Only one passenger has ever moved from the priority seats for me, a man who was actually older than me. Everyone else has stayed put. This simply slows the bus further as I have to go back further.


6. The only people who have tried to barge on as I was trying to leave the bus were school children (on three separate occasions).


7. Step entrance buses are a bit of a challenge. Though now few, there are still some around. The central entrance stanchion is there to aid people but it hinders those on crutches.


8. The worst sort of vehicle is a Mercedes minibuses. The steps are particularly steep. Here, it’s far worse going down than up and can be a little scary.


9. A rucksack is essential when you have crutches. Perch seating in bus shelters isn’t always adequate when you have a rucksack on your back that makes you stick out beyond the width of the perch.


10. However, bus stops without any seating are far worse, as it’s a strain to stand for long periods. You’d be surprised how many stops have no facilities. Normally, I would take these for granted.

712 Rides Again

Arriva has held firm over its decision to withdraw Green Line 712 from St Alban’s to London. This in spite of a concerted passenger & press campaign to keep the 712 extant. Regular readers may recall that Arriva was blamed for not advertising the service enough, an accusation often levelled at an operator in the face of difficult decisions. You can actually hear the sound of passengers grasping at straws. As if an operator would simply run a service without telling anyone (yes, I know it has happened but these days is far less likely to).

Since January the 712’s gone save, that is, for a solitary return journey outward *from* London at 0930, returned from St Alban’s at 1530.

From Monday, however, local St Alban’s operator Uno is taking a punt at the market. Uno is wholly owned by the university of Hertfordshire but acts commercially, not philanthropically. Why can Uno success where Green Line has failed?

• Uno may have lower margins, expectations and a lower cost base. But, given the investment in fleet and premises, this won’t give it much of an advantage.


• It provides a fast-ish service direct from central London to the university’s Hatfield campus, arriving at 0930, returning after a very long student day, at 1630 : )


• Uno is operating an inferior timetable. Uno offers four return trips compared to Green Line’s six. Uno is cutting its cloth but the service is less likely to generate, especially after the winter’s absence.


• Arriva used two vehicles while, on paper, Uno uses but one. This does mean a considerable gap in London between the early commuter arrival at 0813 and the first off peak arrival at 1118.

As commenters suggested when last we featured the 712, the main competitor here is the fast & frequent rail service. Ultimately, a limited stop bus has to offer something pretty unique when up against the level of service offered by British Rail or whoever it is that runs the railroad. Uno may have cracked this by offering free travel beyond the 712 on its St Alban’s local service. This may be a significant draw.

While wishing Uno every success, even its management concedes that this is a trial and will depend upon demand.

SIR—I read with humour the advertisements on buses stating that there may not be a god. Obviously these people have not met my wife.

Roy Stainton, Poole, Dorset, in an unpublished letter to the Daily Telegraph, p90

Wheels on the Bus

Health warning: I’m not an engineer but that doesn’t mean I can’t make comment on this subject.

Somewhat recently, a couple of operators have been called to account for wheel loss incidents. Trent Barton was reportedly one and the other was a allegedly at a Scottish Stagecoach subsidiary.

Wheel losses are very rare indeed but it’s hard to think of a more serious maintenance problem. Aside from injuries to passengers and damage to the bus, there’s the issue of a heavy wheel out of control that could easily kill someone, say in a car along the wheel’s path.

Wheel losses simply don’t just happen. They’re the result of negligence. Someone hasn’t ensured the wheel’s been refitted correctly or the nuts tightened in the correct order to the correct tension. Perhaps there was too little or too much oil on the spindle. And, in all probability, the driver has missed something during his walk round check. In a tell tail sign, those yellow wheel nut indicators may be misaligned.

I say this for, early yesterday evening, I was waiting for a bus when one arrived where just one of the indicators was slightly adrift. I’m in the habit of looking at the indicators. A little sad, perhaps, or a little paranoid but at least I don’t carry with me a hammer to tap the nuts. Rarely do I see anything unusual. The driver wasn’t one of mine and he elected to carry on but that was his decision. It was some hours since he or presumably an earlier driver made the morning walk round check. I guess the nut may have vibrated a little loose in that period, I don’t know.

Why be bothered about a single, slight misalignment? One ill-fitted nut can vibrate loose and completely alter the dynamics of the wheel. One problem nut will work another loose and a third and so on. It starts with one.

I imagine that readers of this blog tend to look at a number of things when a bus arrives or passes: the vehicle, the livery, the route indicator, the number of passengers aboard, may be even the fleet number. But rarely do they glance at any wheels. Take a look from time to time. If the indicators are not correctly aligned, point to point, tell the driver. You may be able avert an incident. On the other hand, since operators take loose nuts very seriously, misalignment is rare.

Belting Up

Wales seems to be one step ahead of England, again, regarding its public transport. Its regional assembly yesterday decreed that all school buses will need to have seat belts from October 2014.

We suspect that many school “buses” (i.e. coaches) already have them. Indeed, the quoted statistic is 80 per cent of vehicles so fitted, according to the BBC web report. That presumably leaves “troublesome” contracts such as those undertaken by service buses (that may then find themselves on a local bus service after 0900) and double decks.

I dare say, though I am just guessing, that registered local bus services carrying school pupils will be exempt. Might this lead to parental calls for some sort of parallel dedicated seat belted provision?

All the industry needs now is for secondary aged pupils whether in Wales or England to realise that they’re better off with a seat belt than without…

i BBC report

Criticised

The BBC is running some seminars today for people about to transfer from London to Manchester. They will acclimatise staff as regards Manchester's public transport. As if the 200-mile move isn’t traumatic enough, BBC staff will need to get to grips with an alien public transport system. This without any underground railway at all and a surface rubber wheeled system that is deregulated.

No one’s surprised, therefore, that the Daily Mail had a go at the BBC for its stating-the-bl**ding-obvious approach. Leaving aside the issue as to whether the BBC might consider employing Mancunians rather than Londoners, it has to be said that a significant slice of the population doesn’t know how to read a timetable let alone know how to get on a bus, whether from the BBC or not. We tend to view BBC staff as part of the intelligentsia but that don’t mean they knows how to use them buses. Quite the reverse, in all likelihood. Taxis, different story.

The Media City website fails to mention public transport at all...

We’ve been here before, of course. Every time someone proposes travel training, middle England’s car driving élite gets nervous, rattled and angry, as personified by the Daily Mail. It cites wasted funds. This is a smokescreen. Behind the hullabaloo is the fear that, next time, it’ll be them who might be required to leave their cars on their drives. This thought is offensive to petrolheads, who will resist any and all attempts to persuade them to change their habits.

Changing jobs at the BBC in this way is a really good opportunity to change travel habits. In fact, it’s a one-off. If this were some multinational, private sector corporation, no one would bat an eyelid.

i Daily Mail article

Driven to Distraction

Yesterday’s post entitled “Driven by Statistics” drew but a few comments. It made the point that modern technology offers a helping hand in running a bus company successfully. To the list of technologies, I could’ve added alcohol locks, internal & external CCTV, real time information and the data that can be mined from e-ticketing & smartcards.

Such comments as there were focused upon whether it was better for managers to get out there or rely on a computer. Fat Bus Bloke started it off.

“Are we really better off under a computer controlled regime… They knew what was going on because they knew the network: when schools turned out, what shift times applied, which major events needed extra provision. Many of today’s managers seem glued to their screens rather than seeking ‘on the road’ experience.”

Technology cannot replace face to face contact with customers or instinctive, intuitive knowledge.

Some operators send their managers out regularly. In others, the managers do so voluntarily. In some, directors get out as often as possible. You can’t beat meeting passengers. Some operators are better at this than others. Some do it on a structured basis. Others, less so.

Only last week while on a peak bus I discovered quite by chance some things from passengers on a busy journey. They had heard about proposed changes and made their feelings known. My colleagues *thought* they had the measure of things but had not. Passengers clearly preferred it just the way it was. And then there are general customer service benefits in meeting with regular travellers. Without experiencing some of the problems customers face, how can a business be seen as responsive and forward looking?

Face to face contact with customers or a natural ability can’t replace the technological approach.

The thrust of yesterday’s post was about eco-driving software that monitors driver behaviour. Other than offering training & assessments, I fail to see how managers can influence driving standards and fuel consumption each & every day, just by being out and about. It would take a fleet of managers and supervisors to police a network to achieve the sorts of benefits that operators see through eco-driving software. It might even need an assessor on virtually every bus to get the same result.

I’d say that we *are* really better off under a computer assisted regime. There are times when they’re no substitute for taking a ride on a bus or walking around a bus station. There are also times when the computer wins, easily.

Driven by Statistics

In today’s bus industry, if you’re not driving a bus, you’re driving a computer. Software tools enable business management in ways unheard of 30 or even 20 years ago.

The financial health of a route, garage and company can be monitored in varying degrees of detail over various timescales, trends compared and performance measured. Indicators identify when action is required.

• Drivers shifts are easily compared to understand takings and target issues.


• Engineering departments can pinpoint deficiencies, down times, trends, consumables, fuel consumption and flag periodic checks and annual MOTs.


• VOSA collates and supplies initial MOT pass rates as an indication of the health of a fleet. More controversially, VOSA has its indicative red-amber-green operator assessments that, it’s alleged, to direct operator targeting.

The most recent software revolution comes in the form of eco-driving, driver behaviour software. It has several objectives in improving:

• Fuel consumption
• Driver performance
• Crash rates

It’s been around since 2008 but is very quickly becoming de rigueur among bus and truck fleets. Even smaller operators are now realising the benefits of such a system. It allows real time monitoring of vehicles & drivers, tracking and measuring consumption, smoothness, speed, etc.

Usually, drivers can see their actual performance by glancing occasionally at a green-amber-red indicator in the cab. Newer vehicles can have this technology built into cab binnacles. Driver concerns that this was intrusive, spying or distracting have proved largely unfounded. Indeed, drivers recognise the benefits. Some systems will allow drivers to interrogate their own statistics from any internet enabled PC.

The statistics this gives an operator are phenomenal, by driver, by garage, by route, by vehicle type, by time of day, by class of road, by almost anything. Importantly, it can enable managers not only to target unacceptable performance but reward improvement, sometimes with bonuses. It can also be used to ward off false compensation claims. It shows vehicle dynamics and can identify whether harsh breaking occurred when the claimant said it did.

There are some truly staggering claims about fuel consumption improvements. “Up to 33 per cent” is somewhat optimistic. Expect over five per cent saving and usually nearer ten. Given the mileages a vehicle operates, this is not insignificant. This in no way compensates, for example, for manufactures making vehicles lighter. It will only mitigate the fuel burning properties of Euro VI. Return on investment is measured in months, not years.

And then there’s the benefit of passengers enjoying a better ride. Passengers will not associate eco-driving software with such an improvement but a garage of drivers who are consistent in their driving technique will have a long-term impact on the bottom line.

And even here, perhaps future software can eventually make the passenger experience better, who knows, by intervening automatically between driver and driveline to smooth out robotically any residual or remaining harshness. How knows.

Lemon Squeezed

There are some new developments in the twisted and often bitter tale of Brighton’s Big Lemon, if you’ll excuse the puns.

Brighton & Hove already offers better buses and higher frequencies than its Big L competitor. B&H’s output is consistent across its entire network, irrespective of competition. Big L cannot match any of this on its meagre offering with its relatively impoverished fleet—but it can compete on price. Not to mention intangibles, such as customer focus.

Now, though, B&H has lowered its fares on routes parallel to Big L. Carefully, B&H hasn’t undercut. But is this still predatory behaviour? The Big L thinks it is. It has—again—mobilised support in defending its corner. This time, it’s letters to the local paper, the local MP, the local council and a Facebook campaign with over 1,500 “likes” (not that “like” is a noun in this context but, hey ho, this 21st century English).

It sometimes astounds me that the residents of Brighton don’t recognise what the industry sees. B&H is consistently award winning, as judged by its peers. It’s the current city operator of the year. Either the people of Brighton don’t realise a good thing when they ride one or B&H is all about smoke & mirrors, an elaborate hoax that conceals nothing but an ordinary operation.

The key to B&H’s homeland unpopularity is its fares. Forget the fact that weekly and longer seasons offer good value for money across a frequent, penetrative, 24-hour network. They’re really no different, for example, to Bournemouth’s. But they seem to anger residents.

B&H, of course, must think of its margins in order to survive and invest. More than that, B&H takes the view that you should not (or need not) give away a good product. People will pay for quality. But this presupposes that people actually *want* quality. The answer is, of course, that they *do* but that they often aren’t willing to pay for it. Or they don’t see why they should.

Enter Big L. Its K-, L-, M-, N- and P-reg Mercedes minibuses, B10Ms and Darts, all step entrance, is a motley assortment. They will no doubt be past their best. But, provided they are roadworthy, who should judge what’s best for the public, when the fare’s right? This gives choice. The dominant market for which Big L caters is for students, hardly a sector of the population flush with money. Why would a student want to pay more than he had to?

Now that B&H has matched its fares, there seems little reason why passengers should wait for Big L. And that appears to be the crux of the problem. B&H lowered its fares in January. It was this week that Big L voiced its concerns. Can we therefore assume takings are down and that the business is starting to struggle?

Meanwhile, Roger French stated in the local newspaper that he welcomes competition… and, in somewhat misunderstanding deregulation, Big L is petitioning the council.

End of the £1 Fare?

National Express is reported as seeing a three per cent growth per annum thanks, it says, to value fares and a recession that’s resulted in organic growth. But UK rail is once again doing better still, in spite of that same recession with, according to Passenger Transport, year-on-year growth of nearly 12 per cent.

Taken from this time last year, the £1 fare plus booking fee is a thing of the past

And that’s in an era of record rail fares increases, and at a time when NatEx has shrugged off its internet-only £1 bargains. Perhaps time is money, hence the rail growth. Perhaps rail users are fed up with motorway and urban-area congestion.

When and if we crawl out of recession, we can expect even greater rail growth. But where will this leave NatEx and other bargain based express coach providers who have benefited from recession? Initiatives such as reducing the average age of its fleet by about two years will no doubt stand NatEx in good stead. It & Greyhound already have class leading legroom but it remains difficult to shrug off the poorer image of coach travel, a perception that leaves express coaching at the bottom of the national transport debate.

NatEx’s £1 internet-only fares attracted few new customers, it says. People apparently had a very jaundiced view as to whether such fares were actually available in the first place. And those in the know snapped them up as soon as they were released but would’ve travelled in any case. If £1 fares are not generating traffic, might other express providers have to change their tactics?

Silver Jubilee—2

Here’s the second in our series on the 25th anniversary of deregulation. See last month’s here

If ever there was a symbol of deregulation, it was the first generation Ford Transit city minibus. It all started as England’s second* urban minibus service, in Exeter.

Not Gen 1 but nevertheless an extension of the minibus principle is this larger Gen 2 Metrorider

The type was oft derided as “bread vans”. And it’s true that many in the industry felt the same way—till they understood its potential. Among managers, there was most certainly a conversion process. For, if the Gen 1 minibus was about anything, it was about the marketing opportunity that came with the vehicle. Marketing was often something of a new concept and the minibus offered a package, one with rewards. It definitely was not *just* about the vehicle. Indeed, you could argue it was about anything *but* the vehicle.

Usually, Harry Blundred, then general manager at demerged Devon General, gets the credit for establishing the concept. This is correct to a point. Let us not forget farsighted men at the National Bus Company’s helm, Messrs John Hargreaves & Derek Fytche, who saw the deregulation writing on the wall and who proposed a revolution that would last about 10 years. Who said that the NBC was unresponsive. In seeking a demonstration project, it was Blundred who stepped forward from among the ranks of the sceptical. Mind you, Exeter was seen as representative of NBC urban networks and a natural choice.

Under the working title “Maxi-Taxi”, the Exeter experiment, underwritten by NBC, proved to the world that urban minibuses could be a success. Exeter became a NBC tourist hotspot, as subsidiaries sent senior and not-so-senior managers to take a look. There followed a pre- and post-deregulation flood of schemes across England, all taking advantage of cheap, end-of-life old-style Transit chassis cabs that Ford was pleased to offload.

What, then, was the allure of the Gen 1 minibus concept? It:

• Addressed the down market image and of the “lumbering” double and single deck bus.


• Was easily marketable as something different & unique. Liveries and sub-branding helped mark the minibus out as special.


• Generated new traffic—25 per cent was quite often possible.


• Increased frequencies to otherwise unimaginable levels.


• Offered a near-personal service, often using drivers perceived as more customer focused, penetrating parts of estates beyond the reach of conventional buses, and often using hail & ride.


• Controversially, lowered wage rates.


• Reduced engineering overheads, as Transit parts were cheap and vehicles simple to fix.


• Importantly, was a tool to guard against potential competition, offering possible rivals nowhere to go. No longer were networks sitting targets.

After the Transit, there came the Sherpa. That was a different animal entirely and I well remember driving one to be dismayed at its steering properties. There also emerged the robust Mercedes 608D T2, offering three extra seats but in a popular 2+1 configuration. And there was the Iveco Daily and the bespoke Metrorider. Indeed, as capacity became more important and the Gen 1 mini had done its stuff, there followed Gen 2 minibuses with 25, 27, 30 and 33 seats and, thereafter, the midibus as we know it today.

*—but who can name the first?

Media Over-excited

Stagecoach is certainly receiving a bit of a battering in the media, of late. A public inquiry following an old historic wheel loss incident, a bus last week with suspension problems stopped by police and a bus carrying school pupils careering down an embankment.

Take a look at the picture from Aberdeen Press & Journal (12/03/11) and tell me whether the first paragraph in the report entitled “Youngsters have lucky escape as bus leaves road” rings true:

“Schoolchildren escaped injury yesterday when their bus went off the road and went down an embankment.”

Scotland is renowned for its hilly country so it’s surprising the reporter made what looks like a fundamental error (unless something was going on out of shot). It doesn’t really look like an embankment, not to me. I would perhaps call it a ditch and even then, not much of one, as the bus looks like it has straddled rather than fallen into it. You can see the tracks leading off the road and the mess where the driver seems fruitlessly to have tried to extricate the bus.

Even if there was something more sinister out of view, the story goes on.

“No one was injured and emergency services were not called following the accident on the B970 road from Boat of Garten to Grantown at about 8am.”

And more, on the cause of the incident.

“It was probably because it was slippy due to the weather.”

Yes, the press just loves a bus story. Even if it needs dressing up a little. Or perhaps especially so.

Inter-urban Buses: a dual story

This is a second guest post by Invicta. Omnibuses welcome contributions

If you were lucky enough to see the first edition of Passenger Transport (now online in highlights), the Réseaulutions map of East Anglia followed on nicely from the debate here about Wilts & Dorset’s and other “X” routes. That in turn made me speculate on the reasons why some interurban services have prospered, while others have faded away.

Dig out a bus map from the 1960s or 1970s, and compare it with a recent one. It’s a fair bet that many of the routes will be broadly similar, the difference being that in many places, villages and towns have been bypassed, while the bus still continues to serve them.

And that comes at a price, both in terms of the psychological effect of leaving the main road, and the time penalty compared to the direct route. It can be even worse if the bus has to make a right-turn across a busy dual carriageway; I know of at least one route that adds two or three miles to return to a roundabout to achieve the same manœuvre.

These then are the routes that are fading away, steadfastly ignoring the developing road network that is reducing journey times for longer distance travellers.

First Eastern Counties Excel X1 has its own unofficial blog. Though things have returned a little to normal after exposure in the media, visitors per day are up

On the other hand, it is newer routes that provide fast town-to-town links, such as First’s Excel X1 in East Anglia, or Trent Barton’s Red Arrow in the East Midlands, that are prospering.

And between the two, there are still places without bypasses where bus journey times remain similar to those by car. Brighton & Hove’s 12 from Brighton to Eastbourne, and Stagecoach’s Breeze between Canterbury and Margate have both been steadily upped in frequency and quality.

Of course, it is not true everywhere, but in many places, it seems to me that the presence or absence of a dual carriageway has done a lot to determine the success of the interurban bus.

Fire

Last night’s fire at Xelabus, near Eastleigh, destroyed two double decks and a single deck. Fire crews were able to move other vehicles and were able to protect preserved buses also on the site.

The lessons learnt? When a bus goes up, it does so incredibly quickly and it’s difficult to control. Because vehicles were parked closely together and to an adjacent building, the fire service is reminding operators to create fire breaks and not to park near buildings. That’s easier said than done, of course. How many operators really have that luxury?

And now the investigation into the blaze has started.

More here (yes, even the fire service is on Facebook these days!).

Hunter Gatherer

Hardly a day goes by without one searcher or another arriving here having typed “Fotopic problems” or similar. In this regard, Google sees fit to rank Omnibuses as its no. 1. I have no axe to grind as I don’t use Fotopic but it seems to me, an innocent bystander who occasionally likes to browse some of the few historic sets, that Fotopic is very fragile.

And, there’s been a bit of a search spike here, lately. The word on the web is that Fotopic has gone under, presumably taking with it hundreds of thousands of bus photos with it. Speculation, I know.

The image above taken form the post here is of the number of uploads per month on Fotopic. Fotopic hastily withdrew the graphic in August 2009. There had previously been a hiatus and this, presumably, caused a loss of confidence, hence the drop in uploads

Web photographic collections are one of the recent phenomena associated with an enthusiasm for buses (and indeed rail). It’s a very public display of an enthusiast’s “prey”. Like bird spotting, stamp and football programme collecting, they say it’s the hunter gather within that drives us to assemble such compendia (or, compendiums, if you prefer). Worldwide, transport enthusiasts seem to be the main Fotopic users.

The web in an ideal medium for this and Fotopic was probably the first of its kind to enable people to do this, en masse. It spread fast among the enthusiast community and though there may be better offerings, many have stuck by the original, perhaps because you get a good thumbnail index display, perhaps through inertia. It’s true that some galleries were more “me too” than original but, in time, they would’ve provided an interesting historic record.

Yesterday, of 110 keywords used by searchers arriving here, Fotopic was 4th, 5th, 6th, 16th, 17th and 29th. On Thursday, Fotopic reached 3rd. Wednesday, it was 5th. Tuesday, 10th. Indeed, in the last seven days, Fotopic-related arrivals accounted for 13 per cent of all search-related visits. To put this in context, other perennials such as “Mercedes 608” and “Erica Roe” accounted for four and seven per cent respectively.

I feel very sorry for readers who’ve committed time and effort to Fotopic. Some, no doubt, have thousands of photos to which they cannot get access. It does, however, prove the old adage that you don’t get aught for nowt and although Fotopic offered a premium subscription, the only safe way of ensuring your content online is by purchasing quality web space via a proper web hosting service.

Rural Revolution?

Yesterday’s government’s announcement of £10mil towards supporting rural bus services reminds me of the tapered grant it gave operators at deregulation. Both recognise that changes in regime affect rural areas most. Then, it was the viability of rural bus services in a newly deregulated . Now, it’s necessary local transport authority cuts.

Far from being some kind of sop, this might just lead to a revolution. Here on this blog, mainly thanks to commenters, there’s already been a debate about the merits of a taxi fulfilling rural needs at the fraction of the cost of a bus versus DRT being a relatively expensive and sometimes underused option.

Now, the government’s £10mil is aimed more at community transport. Defining CT isn’t easy. It could equally be a group of volunteers or a taxi contract aimed at serving the community but better.


It’s all about improving mobility, accessibility to services and ending isolation, whether that’s physically in terms of distance or because of social exclusion (there’s a term you don’t hear quoted by the coalition government that often).

Are smaller vehicles operated under the principles of the Bog Society a realistic alternative? First, the negative.

• This can only ever be a safety net or a sticking plaster solution.


• Are CT operators strong enough to undertake either DRT or semi-fixed timetabled work? Are there plentiful trained volunteers? Are drivers simply transient? Are they of sufficient financial standing?


• Will taxi and bus operators feel that CT is again competing unfairly in the tendered market place? If funded by LTAs, will there be comparable standards? Who monitors and enforces?


• Are taxi firms and taxi drivers really geared up to the sort of demands associated with regular mileage such as this? Is it within their mind-set? Have they sufficient control over their costs and do they understand marginal versus peak mileage?


• Is it still cheaper to use an off peak school bus, at marginal cost, than buy new minibuses to undertake rural mileage?


• Will minibuses & MPVs, as talked about, offer proper levels of accessibility?


• Do passengers prefer a proper timetabled service? And do they mind phoning to request their transport?

And what about the opportunities and the positives? Could there really be a rural revolution in the making?

• Large territorial operators in the licensed regime said smaller bus operators would never have the discipline to operate bus services. They have and they do. Why not taxi firms and CT operators, especially now that in some circumstances, CT volunteers can be paid.


• Everyone wins. Commercial operators can withdraw unsustainable mileage without backlash. LTAs can cut tender costs. Passengers keep a service, some of which may even be enhanced.


• It’s fruitless sending a bus on a fixed rural ramble when demand is low or non-existent. Better to use a smaller vehicle.


• CT operators will enhance their revenue and therefore their own operational sustainability.


• They may even be able to operate school contracts before off-peak rural work. But that will be the most controversial of all.

Crossbreed

The Chinese don’t miss a trick. They take their bus manufacturing very seriously. If that sounds a little obvious, the reason for mentioning it is because there’s a manufacturers’ website entirely in English especially designed to spearhead exports. They’re all there, each of China’s 27 manufacturers. I guess you can do that in a centralised, command economy such as China’s. Imagine European competitors clubbing together in one large export drive site. Might the EU competitive authorities have something to say?

The standard of English on the Chinese offering, unlike some export sites elsewhere, is usually good, if at times stilted. In parts, it can sound a little like cold war propaganda, with words of heroic deeds and large volumes. But this is China. Everything’s large, isn’t it? China’s bus builders shifted over 42,000 units—in January 2011 alone. Incredible.

Yuntong sports. Imagine something similar at ADL or Wrightbus. "Middle and senior mangers are joining the sports meeting not only in the regular events but also in some collective game events, which show their high-spirited and vigorous working status. In addition, many referees, staffs and volunteers work hard to support the sports quietly. And the sports becomes more harmonious with their efforts."

China already exports buses to what used to be considered its enemy, Formosa (Taiwan). It’s increasingly looking to developed counties with US-specified models. Indeed, it can’t be long before we see Chinese manufacture buses in quantity appearing in Western Europe. Aside for some recently announced 10 Optare Solo hybrids, the Maltese market is already geared up for a flood of 200 King Long single decks. The choice of King Longs might be part pragmatic, yet it’s but a hop & a skip from Itlay. Then where?

Those who perhaps felt betrayed that New Bus for London abandoned any Routemaster design cues may like to consider what might have been...

Slightly nearer to China than Malta but about equidistant to England is Macedonia. The first of the capital Skopje’s 200 deliberately retro Yutong double decks arrived on 1st March as a demonstrator of things to come. 60 are due this year.

A bit like Chinese English, the vehicle looks more functional than ornate. Not only because it’s a half-cab in a modern world. The heavy black rubbers emphasise the windows & destination aperture, and make them bulbous. In fact, the front looks like a cross between a Bristol H-type lorry, an early ECW-bodied flat-front VR with heavily split windscreens, a Foden 6A truck and a Citroën H van used by among others by Inspector Clouseau. All it needs is WILTS & DORSET in block with the NBC symbol and it might even be a parody of English nationalised territorial transport of the 1970s.

Oddly, there’s no apparent mention of the Skopje Yutong on China buses website. Perhaps the Chinese are missing a trick, after all.

ww w.ChinaBuses.org

Census Coincidence

Census forms will shortly be dropping through our letterboxes. They were posted out yesterday. It could well be the last of its kind which, for family historians of the future, is a shame. I speak as a family historian of today. Censuses have been going since Caesar Augustus’s day and probably before.

If it continues the trend of previous years, it will ask each household the number of cars or vans owned or available for use. Expect an increase again, in both the number of households blessed with a car and a rise in the average number per household.

It will again probably ask us how we travel to work. When compared to 2001, expect to see another drop in the number of people who commute by bus. In most urban concentrations, morning peak commuting where it is not static is still busy but is falling more rapidly than any other reason for travel. The one encouraging sign in terms of bus use actually comes from shoppers but even that may be past its peak in some parts. The Census deems shopping trips as worthless. Not surprising, really. But the Census could ask far more about travel habits but chooses not to.

In spite of what will be revealed as frightening statistics about the bus, it’s interesting to note that the Census people have chosen the bus as part of its own branding. And not just an origami one, a real one. It symbolises a journey. That journey, as it travelled the country trying to ensure interest in the Census, is now over. It only reached ten places outside London, enough though to ensure it featured on virtually all regional television news programmes.

I wonder whether the organisers recognise the significance of the vehicle they’ve been using. On the face of it, the Northern Counties-bodied Dennis Dominator is nothing special. But it joined GM Buses in April 1991, an anniversary very close to the 27th March 2011 census day, almost exactly 20 years later. Must be a coincidence.

Also of note back then was that GM Buses was whole and not split in two and still in arms length ownership. 1991 was also a very different era in that, like 2001, you had to complete your Census on paper. This time, there's an online alternative.

Empowerment

There are three pages within Passenger Transport devoted to Giles Fearnley’s first month with First UK Bus. That’s the importance of Tim O’Toole’s appointee. Within, the writers are saying what everyone, including this blog, seems to be feeling… though Passenger Transport is doing it in a far most erudite manner.

The term “brand” appears in 314 Omnibuses posts. It’s clearly an important business issue. We looked at First branding in particular & the local v national debate in general 5½ years ago and it’s still relevant. At the core of it is First’s local versus national image. At First, there are two issues:

• The brand is only as good as its worst performer. Problems in one business area will result in the shine coming off elsewhere (so why not sell the poor performer? That’s now a possibility)


• Passengers don’t really give a fig about branding, save when it goes wrong. The trouble at First seems to be that it’s no longer a brand upon which customers let alone stakeholders can rely. Passenger Transport calls it “devalued to the point of being toxic”.

Actually, local branding including livery *is* important. If all passengers want is a safe, reliable, speedy and value-for-money journey, why so? Because a brand engenders local passenger & staff pride in a common investment; it turns heads; it influences perception; and engages stakeholders & partners. Because:

• Bus services are local in nature and not homogenised like the High Street.


• Unlike Tesco, each area is different, there’s nothing global, each “product” (network) is unique.

Stagecoach often manages to blend the local and national in one. Go Ahead and part of [Veolia] Transdev, on the other hand, have proven that business growth models don’t need strong, over-bearing centralised control (like at First).

If First looks over its shoulder at these other two models, it will know that in a truly transforming business there is plenty of scope for change. Fearnley at Blazefield had empowered local businesses to plan and execute their local service delivery. Stagecoach isn’t that far off. The Blazefield routes that blossomed most were those set apart from any other (the 36, Lancashire Way, Witch Way etc). On the other hand, it’s possible, too, for local branding sometimes to lose it’s footing a* little*—dare we mention Trent Barton? So, it’s a question of focused management, appropriate relationships (central/local level), stakeholder engagement—and strong brand management.

It’s not something you can do over night but might this philosophy be exactly what First needs? It’s a change management and culture. It’s empowerment.

Local versus national branding. What do you think? And what would First do?

Print Media Interlude

There’s more than a hint of Old Transit about England’s new fortnightly professional Passenger Transport, delivered yesterday. It’s like the return of a long lost friend. The industry preferred erstwhile Old Transit to any of the other offerings and, in spite of its initial promise, was largely disappointed when in its stead it had to put up with (monthly?) New Transit. Speak to any manager and it wasn’t long before they pined for Old fortnightly Transit.

Transit became New Transit because there were alternative ways of getting news. A fortnightly wasn’t able to compete against the weeklies, they felt. This applies, 18 months later and is still the biggest risk for Passenger Transport.

The weeklies are a good news source, though they tend to rely more on press releases. An improved Coach & Bus Week is now surfacing above its weekly rivals but the format lies in the balance with the recent departure of its editor, Andy Sutcliffe. Something to do with poorer than expected newsstand sales, no doubt. Passenger Transport, though, once again offers comment on and analysis of the news and not just reports. That’s to be *warmly* welcomed.

With Leon Daniels’s acquisition by TfL and early days for Giles Fearnley at First UK Bus, Passenger Transport is able to offer a tasty first issue. But it was to Chris Cheek’s analysis that I first turned. In Old Transit, each fortnight he’d dismantle the balance sheet & financial report of an operator. This was always regarded by many as a “must read” and is now apparently back with us. He looked at First West Yorkshire (16 per cent margins no less, much to the “regular opprobrium of West Yorkshire PTE”) and although perhaps not quite as detailed as previously, it was entertaining and authoritative. Cheek also gave a similarly commanding over-view of recession-busting rail growth, the likes of which the bus industry can only dream. But with Fearnley in charge, who knows.

In other areas of interest, former Southern Vectis man Stuart Linn compares the current rural & inter-urban buses once operated from the same stable by now split First Eastern National and Stagecoach (Cambus, as was). No doubt Fearnley will wish to read that, too.

Every journal must have its whimsical side. But what’s that bottom right? Surely not a reference to Omnibuses and your comments on the new Preston Bus livery?

If the format seems substantially like Old Transit, there are changes. The layout’s modern (actually, I miss the old yellow of Transit) and nicely colour coded but with Old Transit-style sector headings. There’s what appears to be a regular piece by Alex Warner (late of Greyhound) as a mystery traveller. He’s dubbed Passenger Transport’s own Mary Portas (though without a shock of ginger hair). He picked Cardiff, Wales (we have done that, too). Operators who aren’t quite cutting the mustard (as Portas might put it) may well quake a little.

Thumbs up to Passenger Transport as the new industry standard. Published fortnightly. Subscription at £140 p.a. ain’t cheap though it’s available at £105 before the end of this month (monthly [?] New Transit runs at £95 p.a.). The Passenger Transport protagonists are the experienced Robert Jack & Andrew Garnett with Chris Cheek & Stuart Wilde. It includes rail news & analysis but don’t let that put you off. It would be nice to see something like New Transit-style web access as part of the subscription

RATP on the Scene

Since news of RATP Dev’s takeover of the Bath Bus Company emerged on Wednesday afternoon, it would appear that this modest operator is RATP Dev’s first UK operation. Or so it’d be nice to think.

Spot the difference. Aside from the logos, check the Photoshop job on the shirt pocket and epaulet

For it wasn’t till the following day that RATP Dev announced the long-awaited transfer-in of Transdev Yellow Buses and its sibling Transdev London United. The Bournemouth/London changes were previously expected on 22 February 2011 as part of RATP’s divestment from Transdev.

TYB had been gearing up for the change from 16 February by removing Transdev logos from its buses. A few have the new ones. And, unlike the Yellow Bus Veras, the latest Tempos have no T logo on seat headrests. It also swapped its Facebook site from Transdev Yellow Buses to plain Yellow Buses. In the process, it lost about two-thirds of its original 1,273 fan base (itself peaking at 1,308).

Both Yellow Buses (as it’s now known) and London United were quick in adopting RATP Dev fonts with the new logo on their websites. The result is far cleaner than the blocky Transdev. Yellow Buses has yet to eliminate all traces of Transdev by yesterday and its “history” page made no mention of the new owners.

Of the move, said RATP Dev, it provides a “promising foothold in the United Kingdom… one of the world’s most attractive markets where the group plans to expand gradually.” Attractive markets? Interesting that RATP should say so. Gradual expansion? That's a little pedestrian.

Yellow Buses, London United and BBC gives RATP Dev a 1,035-vehicle presence in England, including the City Sightseeing franchise in Cardiff, Wales.

Meanwhile, also on Thursday, Veolia-Transdev announced itself to the world. Note the name that comes first, something that might send a slight shudder through the UK operating industry.

Brutal Truth

There’s no doubt about it. Just over one year since the government finally said it could go, Preston’s “brutalist” bus station’s footprint remains too large, writes Omnibuses’ Northern Correspondent.

It occupies a huge apron with an equally impressive number of stands. It coped when Stagecoach competed against Preston Bus. That’s history now and services are back to normal. There remain too few services to occupy its cavernous space. A number of stands in the north east corner lie fallow. Such space may give considerable operator flexibility but it’s also expensive to maintain for the number of departures now using it. And, who knows, a modern bus station might generate additional passenger trips for the two main commercial operators. Preston Bus purchaser Rotala will have had this and the associated development in mind at purchase time. Currently, the site is too off-centre.

There is nevertheless opposition to plans for its demolition and replacement. This comes from those who rate the building’s design highly and not from those who recognise the needs of a successful bus station.

In fact, the building has a growling following who regard it as something distinctive in terms of 20th century brutalist architecture. There’s even a nearby building that looks similar. It’s true that there’s something pleasing about the design but this isn’t related to the bus station at all. If there’s anything “iconic” about the building, it’s the car park element that is the more architecturally significant.

The long fencing on the left and concrete barriers to the right add nothing to the bus station aesthetics but do assist passengers

The guts of the bus station itself look old and tired. Passageways into the city centre are depressing so people prefer to take risks across the wide, sprawling apron. Designers have now remedied this by barriering off much of the open area thus preventing chancers. Passengers are channelled via a single crossing.

This has a marked effect on the problem of safety that befalls all nose-in bus stations. It might also impact positively on the footfall of the bus station. The barriers look awful but they might nevertheless encourage people to use the bus station rather than on-street stops. These stops have traditionally been busier for local services and are one reason why the demolition protagonists feel the bus station is too large.

Preston bus station came to life in the year of great optimism in public transport—1969. That was the year of the first four PTAs & PTEs and it was the occasion of the formation of the National Bus Company. That was then. Things change though the interchange between local and regional buses remains a good idea.

At that time, the designers said it was the second biggest in Europe. There’s actually little merit in being classed as second, especially when no one actually knows whose bus station was or is first. Preston’s may be large but it no longer needs to be. It’s nowhere near the busiest. That probably falls to Liverpool’s Queen’s Square, a product of the 1990s.

The only reason why the bus station stands is the recession. Had we been living in different times, Preston council would by now have demolished it to make way for the new shopping development. In spite of failed efforts to gain listed status, there are increasingly more people who want to see it stand. They probably won’t succeed in the end. That’s the brutal truth.

Images by Omnibuses’ Northern Correspondent

RATP Dev

RATP Dev has made a momentous announcement. Not yet the passing of Transdev Yellow Buses into the RATP fold though a small number of TYB’s buses already have the Transdev logo removed in readiness for a second RATP announcement.

No, it’s the acquisition by RATP Dev UK of the little known and slightly obscure Bath Bus Company.

Who? This is a niche provider specialising in Routemasters and open top sightseeing. Obviously, Bath is its base but it also operates the City Sightseeing franchises elsewhere, in Cardiff, Eastbourne and Windsor. Between 2004 and the end of February 2011, it was part of Ensignbus, itself part-owners of City Sightseeing.

We know that RATP Dev joins a growing list of acquisitive groups but what does this large transnational want with a modest, unknown, scattered, 30-vehicle specialist operator such as BBC? That’s a very good question. It hardly fits with soon-to-be RATP Dev London United & RATP Dev Yellow Buses. Perhaps it’s because:

• It forms a bridgehead in the west country, to compete on commercial or more likely tendered services. Here, its managing director Martin Curtis’s experience may come in handy in deregulated England, not just here but more widely within RATP Dev.


• There’s a growing recognition that open top buses actually make a deal of money, especially in prosperous inland resorts such as Bath and Windsor. More so, these days, than on the coast. City sightseeing is fashionable with the Germans, Japanese & Americans, together a rich vein to be exploited.

Indeed, such tours are enough to maintain more and more of the open top fleet not as the traditional decapitated fully depreciated vehicles of old but increasingly modern low floor examples. Not that BBC had a choice: it’s subject to a traffic regulation condition that stipulates the age of its vehicles.

(And what will happen in 2017, when open top registered services on less profitable sightseeing tours will need to be DDA compliant?)

Curtis fronts the BBC. During his National Bus days, Curtis will be remembered for his youthful looks on the dust covers of some of his books on Bristol Commercial Vehicles. And for some of his occasional slightly unclear photos within (not that I can criticise at all—see above). Time at Bristol Omnibus, Western & Southern National and back to Badgerline, IIRC where he succeeded one Keith Ahlers after his departure to the ill-conceived Badger Vectis project. Curtis set up the BBC in 1997, the same year Transdev bought London United. I am sure I recall early BBC competition with his former employer, including for the student market. Articulated buses featured at that time. Latterly, though, he has settled into his niche.

It’s time to recall some controversies in Bath. The good residents of the city’s famed Georgian Royal Crescent have oft complained about a continual stream of open tops passing their premises. Who’s to blame them. Yet, if you will live in a row almost as famous as Coronation Street what might you they expect?

At one point, there were four competitors vying for open top custom: Badgerline, Ryan’s, Roman City and BBC. Roman City sold to Badgerline in the early days of deregulation. Ryan’s and Badgerline successor First pulled out. That left BBC, which branded as the acceptable face of City Sightseeing. And, who know, perhaps RATP Dev will reintroduce open tops in Bournemouth. There is an existing City Sightseeing operation about to start its second year in the town. TYB, however, is steadfast in its need to put its orridnary network first.