BSIP Press: A Response

North Somerset Council have today released this press release regarding their Bus Service Improvement Plan (BSIP) to create an Enhanced Partnership (EP) scheme they are enacting with the West of England Combined Authority. In response:Citistar have been forced to stop running bus services because our services were excluded from the scheme. This exclusion would give…

Ask the Audience?

Our local branch of Tesco has a board at the back of the store which features responses to customer questions. 80% of these take the form of "You asked why we no longer stock Freeman's Biscuits. These are no longer available from our supplier." and the vast majority have a negative answer. Perhaps what Tesco…

99 and out: The end of buses between Blagdon and Weston-super-Mare

Tuesday 12th April 2022 will see the end of bus services between Blagdon and Weston-super-Mare, which first began on 1st June 1923. Almost 99 years of continuous service in one form or another will conclude as Citistar service 134 is withdrawn primarily as a result of changes to concessionary fare reimbursements and the Enhanced Partnership…

The long and the short of it

We'll start with the short. Following an announcement on board my bus services this week, this accompanying notice explains my position. There are a lot of factors involved over and above those on the notice, so i'll go in to a little more detail here. The income squeezePrior to Covid coming along and making everything…

Time to stop the rot

This week, independent Hereford operator Yeomans have announced their intention to withdraw from a large part of the Hereford city service network they took over after First similarly retrenched around six years ago. Amidst all the chatter about Bus Service Improvement Plans (BSIPs), Bus Back Better (BBB) and Enhanced Partnerships (EPs), perhaps this is the…

Bus Back Burning

Every day, invitations to online seminars appear in my email or elsewhere requesting my presence at events discussing Bus Back Better (BBB), Bus Service Improvement Plans (BSIP), Mobilitiy As A Service (MaaS), Dynamic Demand Resposive Transport (DDRT) or some other current buzzphrase (with accompanying acronym) which is going to be the magic panacea to make…

Fails all round

It is reasonable to suggest that most people who use the road network find roadworks and road closures frustrating, especially when they're not done properly. There is currently a water main being replaced in at Bromley Road in Stanton Drew, here is the detail available on One.Network. Note that none of these logged disruptions indicates…

WECA Bus Service tendering: Results and analysis

This is a companion piece to the tale of how this procurement process was carried out. All references made here refer to contracts due to commence from September 2021. As the results have now been published, there are some interesting facts to report: 100% of large operators were successful in securing work through this tendering…

WECA: Where flawed metrics replace informed decisions

The West of England Combined Authority (WECA) has recently undertaking their first local bus service tendering exercise to procure replacements for expired contracted services in B&NES and South Gloucestershire. 74 lots for bus services ranging from a single return journey once a week to frequent weekday services were offered for quotation, with services to replace…

Decision Time

The West of England Combined Authority is probably the most important body in the area where transport is concerned. The "Metro Mayor" as the leader of it is therefore a very important person in the lives of public transport passengers and providers as their policies will set the tone for the direction that WECA takes.…