Behind the scenes of buses in the West.
A lot is made of the contributions of local government towards the infrastructure of bus services - the bus stops, shelters and raised kerbs are the mainstay of this, but larger schemes such as bus lanes and bus priority fall in to this category too. Over recent years schemes such as Better Bus Areas have… Continue reading On Infrastructure
A bit of numbercrunching can find some interesting results. First were gifted £240,000 by North Somerset Council in early 2017 for interurban network improvements which are to start at the end of April. Surely a significant uplift in funding such as this would only produce winners...? X1, X1A, X2: Bristol - Backwell - Congresbury -… Continue reading Winners and Losers in North Somerset
Previous reading regarding this post can be found in "The Impossible Dream", in which i made some predictions regarding North Somerset tendering. 50% of my predictions were correct, although i underestimated how keen First would be to push back against the seemingly unstoppable expansion of Crosville in Weston-super-Mare. There has since been a significant retrench… Continue reading How the neighbours do it
In May 2016, the WebberBus operation collapsed. WebberBus had done a fairly comprehensive job of spreading themselves far and wide over most of Somerset, often duplicating First routes but also taking on some other work in which nobody else had an shown an interest.Most of these odd choices were operated commercially - Bridgwater and Minehead… Continue reading A vital village (dis)service
To preface this tale and provide a little context: In late 2016, i unsuccessfully tendered to operate revised bus services 663, 664 and 665 around Keynsham. These services commenced in their new form, with their new operator from 8th January 2017. If you want to read any bitterness in to this, then feel free to,… Continue reading A Konundrum
As a bus operator, Bus & Coach Buyer send me their publication each week. For the most part, it is a good read and covers a lot of interesting material. Occasionally i find it a little frustrating. For a publication aimed more at the independent sector than the big groups, certain articles can get carried… Continue reading Zut Alors!
This will only be a short extension to one of the themes covered in the previous post, that being working together as an industry to not look like a bunch of squabbling children. Meanwhile in Wiltshire... I was recently made aware (via an email group) of some changes coming up to the Nadder Valley services… Continue reading Pushing an Agenda (2)
First had a difficult day in Bath last Thursday. Following a serious road accident immediately outside their Weston Island depot at 3am in the morning, the police closed the road in order that their investigations could take place for around nine hours. This prevented First from getting any of their buses out on the road.… Continue reading Pushing an Agenda
The Elected Members of North Somerset Council have recently voted themselves out of the reformation of Avon County Council currently being glamourised in various guises, most notably the Metro Mayor. I assume he (or she) will have had an immaculate manicure prior to taking office. But i digress. North Somerset's councillors seem to be blissfully… Continue reading The Impossible Dream
There has been talk about trams or some form of light rail returning to Bristol for as long as i can remember. Times have passed by and various plans been given the red light by Bristol City Council, the DFT or some other public body, usually on the grounds of the benefits being unjustifiable when… Continue reading Trouble in Metroland
