Behind the scenes of buses in the West.
This is a companion piece to Sold Down The River, my own experiences of providing a bus service serving Timsbury and the surrounding area from 2014-2016. A bit of background From the 28th October, First made changes to their service 179 between Writhlington, Midsomer Norton, Paulton, Timsbury and Bath. Although it isn't the main service… Continue reading The Blame Game: Timsbury Chronicles 2/2
This is a companion piece to "The Blame Game". Both concern a similar georgraphical area and the two tales are linked with many recurrent experiences. I've never felt much inclined to write about our tenure of operating service 768, but the resurfacing of considerable ire from the residents of Timsbury regarding their bus services is… Continue reading Sold Down the River: Timsbury Chronicles 1/2
I know i've moaned about Weston Community Transport before, but they're not getting any better. I thought it might be a reasonable time to illustrate the ways in which this community transport operator is failing where a professional operator would not be able to do so: Step entrance vehicle. In an age where low-floor, accessible… Continue reading This isn’t good enough
"Jeremy Corbyn takes the bus route to victory" bellows the headline of The Guardian in response to the Labour leader's somewhat unexpected raising of the issue of the decline of bus services at Prime Minister's Questions. (I say decline, you should read this as crisis if you read any of the material shared on Facebook… Continue reading Control, Control, Control
Lets disspell a couple of myths: Community Transport is not saving bus services. Community Transport is not saving the public purse any money. On the first point: Community Transport is being used as a plaster to patch up a crack in a dam. Community Transport does nothing to promote new public transport usage to new… Continue reading False Economy
Danny Baker's Saturday morning radio show on BBC 5 Live always has a talking point which starts with "Don't talk to me about...". The older i've got, the more i've found myself thinking (if not using) it in situations. Here is an example, illustrated by a couple of maps for the Bristol Metrobus services. 2017… Continue reading Don’t talk to me about Integrated Transport
The management culture of the bus industry has been gradually changing for several years. 31 years that have passed since 1986, and the old guard of NBC managers with the experience of working in the culture of the bus industry before it was purely business led are gradually being replaced by the results of the… Continue reading “Don’t hate the player, hate the game.”
Much of this post is based upon a press release issued to the local media on 4th December, which resulted in this article in the Weston Mercury. Text which is copied verbatim from the release will be coloured maroon and references (found at the bottom) in blue. Despite the date of publication, it was written… Continue reading The Barbie Dalek
Aside from the obvious drum beating by the hard left over the vulnerability of the private sector, the collapse of Carillion and concerns over the future of similar business Interserve raises some interesting issues over public sector procurement. The problem is that government only appears to be able to deal with big corporations (and charities)… Continue reading Failure of the Middlemen
In any other industry, the most important people to ascertain the views of would be the customer. Almost every chain restaurant these days offers you a discount or small freebie at your next visit after you've eaten with them in exchange for completing a survey afterwards. In the bus industry, some operators do such things;… Continue reading The Top Secret Consultation
