Weekly Transport Update 10

• Enthusiast crashes bus. A drunken bus enthusiast wearing the old style Stagecoach bus driver's uniform, climbed into a Stagecoach bus in Exeter's main bus station and drove the bus into a pillar with 3 passengers on board. When arrested Gary Millgate, 56, was 2.5 times over the legal alcohol limit. He's been banned from driving for 2 years, made to carry out 150 hours unpaid work, ordered to pay £400 compensation and £60 costs.
• First of TfL's Overground trains produced. Bombardier has begun production of new rolling stock for the London Overground network - the first Electrostar 378 carriage body shell. A total of 44 new units with 36 extra carriages have been ordered by TfL in a £259m contract. The first new trains will enter service in 2009. TfL is to take over the concession for the North London Railway on 11 November when the first London Overground services start operating. The existing rolling stock will be deep cleaned and repaired for use until the new carriages are ready to be commissioned.
• Dot 2 Dot for NX. National Express are to launch an airport transfer service named 'dot2dot' from early November, linking central London hotels with Heathrow and Gatwick Airports. The 32 Mercedes-Benz Sprinters plus 4 Volkswagen Crafters will all feature state-of-the-art satelite navigation equipment, congestion-tracking systems and fully trained and experienced drivers. Fares are priced at £22 one-way from Heathrow and £24 from Gatwick, half the fare you're likely to pay in a taxi.
• ASBO for graffiti artist. Transport for London has been granted its first Anti-Social Behaviour Order (ASBO) against a persistent graffiti vandal. Billy Murrell, a 17-year-old from Plumstead in south east London, is now banned from the top deck of any public transport bus in England and Wales. The ASBO also prohibits him from carrying any permanent marker pens or any glass cutting equipment on London Underground, railway or any other transport provider's property. Murrell has a history of convictions for criminal damage on public transport including vandalising a Tube carriage in Brixton station and convictions for damaging buses and other public property using marker pens.
• Dublin bus crash. Two passengers and the driver of Dublin Bus service 121 were taken to hospital after it crashed into the garden of a house in Crumlin on 19 September. The female driver was taken ill and a passenger grabbed the steering wheel.
• Partner firm needed to complete New Street. Network Rail is seeking a delivery partner for the £555m Birmingham New Street Gateway scheme. The delivery partner contract is expected to start in March 2008 and run until completion of the project in July 2014. Network Rail's Birmingham New Street Gateway proposals seek to facilitate the major refurbishment and associated redevelopment of New Street Station and adjoining land, alteration and reconfiguration of station facilities, changes to the Pallasades Shopping Centre and the demolition and replacement of Stephenson Tower.
• Go Ahead buys Stanley Buses. Go North East, the Go Ahead subsidiary, has purchased Stanley Buses, the local bus operation of Stanley Taxis, with 11 routes for an undisclosed sum. The Company was founded in 1961 with two vehicles and sold its bus business to concentrate on its taxi operation. 14 vehicles and 22 staff are involved in the sale.
• Volunteers help try-out T5. More than 15,000 volunteers will help test out facilities at Heathrow Airport's new Terminal 5 from 24 September. The six-month trial period comes after construction workers handed over the completed main building to owner BAA last week. A free lunch and goodie bag are on offer to those who take part in the six-and-a-half-hour dress rehearsals. BAA said the trials had been designed using lessons the company had learned from the security and baggage delays faced by passengers at other terminals over the past few months.
• EYMS to close Whitte's Ludlow depot. The EYMS Group announced last week that, due to ongoing losses and driver recruitment problems, it plans to close the Whittle depot at Ludlow by mid-November. Whittle HQ are nearby Kidderminster is unaffected and EYMS Group Chairman, Peter Shipp, even suggested it may be enlarged. Ludlow's workforce (11 drivers, one fitter and two cleaners) are being offered work at Kidderminster depot.
• Another Eurostar record set. High speed train operator Eurostar has set another record for train travel with its inaugural service between Brussels and the new London St Pancras International station. The 232-mile journey from Brussels Midi station to St Pancras took one hour, 43 minutes, cutting 20 minutes off the time it currently takes to Waterloo. On 4 September Eurostar set a new journey time record for the Paris to London St Pancras route. That trip, which also used the new £5.8bn dedicated high-speed route from the Channel Tunnel near Folkestone, took two hours, three minutes and 39 seconds.
• Hamiltons Coaches authorisation cut. Michael Hamilton {Hamiltons Coaches} has received an authorisation cut in its business by 20% from 5 vehicles to 4 for six weeks. Traffic Commissioner for Scotland, Joan Aitken, also banned Mr. Hamilton from registering any new local bus services for the same period of time. Maintenance problems resulted in the Traffic Commissioner getting involved.
• New stations and re-opened train lines. West Midlands PTA is to investigate proposals to reopen freight railway lines to passenger services, including the possibility of building new stations. Last week the PTA agreed to explore the feasibility of opening the Sutton Park line to passenger trains and members believe opening new stations in Solihull, Sutton Coldfield and inner-city Birmingham could help unlock regeneration opportunities. New stations being considered include Castle Vale and Castle Bromwich, which would be linked to Birmingham's emerging Eastside district. The stations - situated on the Water Orton corridor - would also be connected to the new Sutton Park line, which is being investigated by local councillors.

Going home

After a second all-you-can-eat full, English breakfast at the Davenport Park Hotel, both Peter and I left at around 0830 and headed into Stockport in order to then go our separate ways home. We caught Stagecoach in Manchester ADL Trident 2/Enviro400 19057 (MX06 FSG) at 0839 from the stop opposite and alighted at the stop in central Stockport outside the Great Central Leisure Centre at 0850.

Peter's plan was to catch trent barton's Skyline 199 to Buxton after photographing a few vehicles, and then their Transpeak service to Nottingham, before getting a train home from there. My journey home was far more simplistic: the 0926 First Transpennine express train to Cleethorpes for 1154, in the form of Desiro 185118. We left a shade down at 0928 but I wasn't bothered as I'd accidentally stumbled upon the best seat on the train! Unlike the Class 158s these vehicles replaced, the doors are not situated at the extremities of the carriages - they're about a fifth of the way in from each end, meaning if you're able, grab an airline seat next to the driver's compartment and you will never be interrupted by people walking past for the entirity of your journey. Specifically the seat means you'll be travelling backwards, but that's something I lived with very well - it's also a trolley-free zone, too as there is physcially nowhere for the chap selling hot water with a tea bag for £1.80 to turn it round.

I'd booked my ticket online a few days before, which automatically reserves you a seat: coach C, seat 62. There were only 2 reserved in the entire train, the other being the seat next to me.

I bailed out at Grimsby Town at 1148 and walked to the bus station for the 1204 Service X1, operated by Stagecoach Grimsby-Cleethorpes, and at 1210 Volvo B10M-55/Plaxton Paladin 20282 (R722 RPY) arrived and I got off near home at about 1220.

A day in Manchester

The all-you-can-eat full, English breakfast at the Davenport Park Hotel was most welcome if allowing a shade too much self indulgence.

You're never waiting too long at any stop along Buxton Road betwixt Hazel Grove and Stockport for a bus to take you to Manchester city centre, in our case we boarded Stagecoach in Manchester ADL Trident 2/Enviro400 19010 (MX06 XAK) opposite the hotel and made our way through Stockport towards Manchester. On a map Stockport and Manchester centres aren't too far away, yet progress is painfully slow aboard Service 192; we weren't stopping at too many bus stops, it was large numbers of traffic lights - all changing to red seconds before we reached them - that hampered progress the most.

Not long into the journey, the route skirts Stockport bus station at Mersey Square. Unmissable to the left (south) of the route is the Stockport railway viaduct, one of the tallest in Europe, standing at 111 feet (33.85 meters) it bridges the valley in which much of Stockport's CBD is built, adjacent to the River Mersey. The viaduct opened in 1842 initially carrying rail services to Crewe, allowing people from Stockport to travel to London. Its 11 arches were widened between 1887-1889 to increase the number of lines from 2 to four and required no further attention for another century, when it received a face lift in 1989 costing £3 million. 600 men were employed at one stage in its construction, constructing the whole structure out of 11 million common bricks, which if laid end-to-end would cover a distance of 1,500 miles.

Back aboard the top deck of a Stagecoach in Manchester Enviro400, we continued along through Levenshulme, Longsight and Brunswick towards Piccadilly in the city centre. We alighted at 1024 - a 46 minute journey shortly after the end of the morning peak; if you'd said to me that off-peak a journey on a particularly linear route between Stockport-Manchester would take just over three-quarters of an hour, I wouldn't have looked forward to it or considered the Davenport Park Hotel quite so convenient for Manchester. That said, the return trip later on took almost 30 minutes, though was after 1930hrs!

Earlier on in the year, North West Traffic Commissioner Beverley Bell had revoked the O Licence of relative new-comer to local bus operation in Manchester, UK Buses North, following numerous accidents that had, in her opinion, been caused by the firm's disregard for safety and the employment of drivers who spoke virtually no English. These factors came to a head at the same time as congestion in the Piccadilly area received restrictions from the Traffic Commissioner's office, following there being physically not enough stops to accommodate primarily Service 192 buses, as this was one route that UK Buses North competed with Stagecoach. Following the firm's removal from business, everything seemed to be flowing well in the Piccadilly area from my observations and it's probably worth pointing out that at the same time as UK Buses North were removed from the streets of the city, Stagecoach also received an official warning over the way in which they retaliated.

As I'd been lead to believe, the Manchester Metrolink trams bore no signs of their recent Stagecoach ownership and so it was to the Piccadilly Gardens stop that we went, boarding tram 1002 at 1041 towards Bury.

Although classed as a light rail scheme, Manchester's Metrolink trams are like full-size trains, utilising former railway lines for many miles, each unit needing to be large enough to offer virtually no step up to/down from the platforms that have been in situ along most of its lines for over a century, therefore the 'street running' sections in the city centre do have enormous, rather intrusive full-size railway platforms, rather than in all subsequent schemes, smaller, less noticeable boarding points/platforms.

Like many cities, Manchester had its own first generation tram network, so impressive it covered much of south-east Lancashire and north-east Cheshire, the first to operate being on 12 June 1899 by the Oldham, Ashton & Hyde Company. Trolleybuses also made an appearance in the area commencing operation in 1919 at Stockport and final operation being between Ashton-Manchester in 1966; however it was the tram network that was most impressive, seeing at one point the possibility to travel from Liverpool's Pier Head to the Rising Sun pub at Hazel Grove to the south-east of Stockport!

We boarded at Piccadilly Gardens, one stop up from Piccadilly Rail Station; 3 further stops up the route is Victoria Rail Station and it was the proximity of these two rail termini that ultimately fuelled the Metrolink's formation, for back in the early 1970s plans were drawn up to link these two stations using an underground network, though for financial and logistical reasons, this was ultimately shelved; however in 1988, powers were obtained to realise the dream if you like, though using overground operation, and the updated conviction to link more than just two central rail stations saw the ambitious plan to link two abandoned rail lines: Victoria-Bury and Piccadilly-Altrincham using the "Picc-Vic" on-street running.

The first section to open was Victoria-Bury, on 6 April 1992, being the section of route we were now headed on, northbound towards Bury. We'd travelled on this section before, alighting at Woodlands Road to visit the Manchester Transport Museum a few years ago. My hard-drive crash of 2004 saw all my digital photos be deleted forever, included in them was the collection I'd taken at the museum that year. Very little seems to have changed in the past 15 years that this section of route has been opened: some signage is in need of repair and the colour scheme does look a little old fashioned now; the platform used at Victoria Rail Station is now parallel to the mainline rail platforms and not prior to it as it had been.

We arrived at Bury at 1105, a journey time of 24 minutes is almost certainly faster between central Manchester and Bury than any other mode of transport. The fares seem competitive - just, with a day return between the two points being just over £3, though remember that you are effectively travelling on a train in terms of its dimensions, infrastructure and speed, rather than a second-generation tram in the sense that Nottingham or Sheffield can claim.

We got back on the same tram (1002) and left at 1112 back towards Piccadilly; the next tram was bound for Altrincham, i.e. a through journey, omitting the Piccadilly Gardens stop but still travelling through the city centre, calling at other central stops. We got off 1002 at Woodlands Road at 1127 as the sun was in a good spot for photography and at 1132 tram 1006 arrived, bound for Altrincham. Back to Victoria and through the streets of Manchester city centre we passed - this section of 'street running' opening shortly after the Victoria-Bury section, on 27 April 1992 when the route was extended between Victoria and the G-Mex centre (former Central Rail Station). Beyond the G-Mex, the route was opened to Altrincham on 15 June 1992, whilst the final section - the spur down to Piccadilly Gardens and Piccadilly Rail Station opened on 1 July 1992.

Throughout the entire Bury-Manchester-Altrincham route a total of 19 rail stations have been inherited from the then British Rail, all of which needed very little doing to them, with Timperley, Navigation Road and Altrincham seeing parallel operation between Metrolink and Chester-bound Class 142s (Pacers). We arrived at Altrincham at 1207.

Following a quick wander around, we boarded tram 1025 at 1228 bound for Altrincham, though alighted at G-Mex at 1247 as Peter had a shot in mind which saw a passing tram in the foreground and the G-Mex centre in the background. Being more of a railway person than myself, Peter went on to explain how the G-Mex centre was once the Central Railway Station, and some of the track Metrolink uses was a direct descendant from that once used by trains leaving Central Station.

After growling at a couple of OAPs for walking in the way at precisely the time a tram passed, we managed to 'bag' the shot needed and boarded an Altrincham-bound tram in the form of 1015 at 1259, alighting at the next stop, Cornhill, one minute later. On this one-minute journey, if you know where to look you can see the roofs of houses along the Granada TV set of Coronation Street.

Cornhill is the only Metrolink station with no street access, it exists purely for connections between Alrincham and Eccles trams. At 1307 we boarded tram 2002 towards the latter. This section of route was built some years after the opening of the Altrincham-Piccadilly-Victoria-Bury section, and unlike these, it didn't follow former rail lines, instead operating along the streets of Salford and Eccles. Initially opening in December 1999, the Eccles branch started life as a one-stop spur off at Cornbrook to the new development at Salford Quays (formerly Manchester Docks), though in July 2000 this was extended and opened to Eccles.

After passing through unusually-named places such as Ponoma and Anchorage we arrived at Eccles at 1330. Following a quick drink at the Wetherspoons pub opposite, we boarded tram 2006 at 1407 and travelled back on ourselves to Salford Quays (arr 1421) as a nice shot of it passing the quay looked as if it could be possible. Indeed it was, however I found the only way to capture the best angle was to step out behind an Eccles-bound tram immediately after it had passed.

The trams, incidentally, are 86-seaters, built by Firema of Italy; they have two sections the majority (1001-1026) were built between 1991/2 for the initial opening; a further six (2001-2006) were built by the same firm in 1999. These similarly seat 86 and can withstand 122 standees each, though have numerous technical modifications. Of the initial batch, trams 1005, 1010 & 1015 have been modified, allowing them to additionally be able to run along the Eccles branch.

We boarded tram 1005 (one of the modified ones) at Salford Quays at 1433 and alighted at St. Peter's Square in the city centre. We walked back towards the G-Mex to get a shot of a tram descending the gradient from the approaching line and viaduct, in the hope to capture a good shot as it passed the front of the G-Mex. Turning 180 degrees also saw a cracking shot of trams passing the very grand Midland Hotel, where later we impersonated hotel guests and managed to partake of a particularly expensive drink in their bar.

Back to St. Peter's Square for 1604 when we boarded a very busy Piccadilly-bound tram in the form of 1023, alighting at the terminus at 1611. A visit to the Ian Allan bookshop by the entrance to Piccadilly Station is a must for anyone interested in transport and I ended up buying two mugs. The light was starting to fade now so we walked back to Piccadilly Gardens and boarded tram 1018 at 1816 to Victoria Station, arriving at 1821, and partook of an alcoholic beverage in the pub on the station.

Following this we wandered the streets of Manchester back to Piccadilly in order to catch a bus back to Stockport, and in so doing walked past the newest tram stop on the Metrolink network: Shudehill, opened in March 2003, standing next to equally new Shudehill bus station, the predominant operator in which is First.

Our bus back to Stockport left at 1944 in the form of ADL Trident 2/Enviro400, 19015 (MX06 XAP), and it was displaying "part route" to Stockport, Mersey Square only, where we alighted at 2016. A short walk up hill to Pizza Hut was in order, where I introduced Peter to the delights of a 'Spicy Hot One' and unlimited fizzy drink refills (he opted fro a Stella)!

We concluded the day at 2130 on trent barton's Airline 199 service, Buxton-bound, boarding at the Grand Central Leisure Centre stop (opposite Pizza Hut). A slight query was raised regarding Stagecoach Staff Passes being valid on trent barton services, though it was overcome when the driver gave way rather than offend someone who works in the same industry as him encountering similar problems, issues and day-to-day problems. We got off at the stop outside the hotel at 2137. The vehicle was Optare L1180/Optare Excel 264 (Y264 DRC).

Stockport via the East Midlands

On 29 May 2007, the Stagecoach Group announced that it had been awarded the contract to operate the Manchester Metrolink light-rail system from Serco, until July 2017. The Metrolink is certainly one of the busiest light rail systems in the UK, based on passenger numbers - around 20 million a year - per the number of tram units the operation has (32). Despite having taken over operation for almost two full months, I was a little unclear whether or not Stagecoach were to start applying their fleet identity or corporate livery to the trams, certainly this hasn't happened yet.

A trip was in order and testing my theoretical Day 1 of free travel to Scotland using Stagecoach vehicles, arranged with my LEYTR co-editor Peter to travel to the area cross country taking in a few places on the way.

A summary of the itinerary for Day 1 and the vehicles used is as follows:

0619 Home - Service 14 (Stagecoach Grimsby-Cleethorpes)
0630 Grimsby bus station

0640 Grimsby bus station - Service 3 (Stagecoach in Lincolnshire)
0832 Lincoln city bus station

0900 Lincoln city bus station - Service 46 (Stagecoach in Lincolnshire)
1018 Newark bus station

1030 Newark bus station - Service 29 (Stagecoach in Lincolnshire)
1050 Southwell Church Street

1121 Southwell Church Street - Service 29A (Stagecoach in Mansfield)
1204 Mansfield bus station

1230 Mansfield bus station - pronto (Stagecoach in Mansfield)
1300 Chesterfield bus station

1330 Chesterfield New Beetwell Street (Stagecoach in Chesterfield)
1404 Matlock bus station

1537 Matlock bus station - Transpeak (trent barton)
1628 Buxton Market Place

1745 Buxton Market Place - Skyline 199 (trent barton)
1840 Stockport Buxton Road

The first, early, leg of my journey was fairly straightforward with Grimsby-Cleethorpes' 1 year old ADL Dart 35142 (YN56 HBL) arriving 3 minutes late as the driver was new and being trained, but we still reached the bus station punctually at 0630.

The next service arrived 5 minutes before departure in the form of Lincolnshire's Volvo B7TL/East Lancs Vyking 16907 (FX53 TXA). It was particularly chilly this morning and I didn't really want to sit too far away from the heaters but still opted for a top-deck front seat (where there are no heaters). The timings and route on the Connect 3 service were altered in the Spring, which saw the Cleethorpes-Grimsby section of route withdrawn and vehicles terminating at Grimsby. This saw no reduction in vehicles (driver man hours not reduced) as the round trip journey time was still the same (2 hours, inclusive of layover periods).

Layover periods do not generate any revenue whatsoever for a company and yet more had been built into the Connect 3 while at the same time any ad hoc passenger journeys between Cleethorpes-Grimsby had been ruled out as the service no longer ran to this route. The service had suffered from reliability problems and the shortening of the route, plus the reduction in duplication of other Stagecoach routes to/from Cleethorpes, was seen as a good compromise to ensure the core section of the route, i.e. Lincoln-Grimsby was strengthened, especially since it is between these two points that competing rail services operate.

But, whoever was in charge of re-timing the service within Grimsby, and along its now meandering route out of the town along Hainton Avenue and Weelsby Road, has made the journey particularly frustrating with 17 minutes being given to cover 3.5 miles at 0640hrs! That's right, Nuns Corner roundabout is timed at 0657 and at 57 mins past almost all journeys - very welcome in peak hours I'd imagine but mind-numbingly slow and frustrating at all other times with drivers having to hang back - something my driver did. Better to make at least the first departure 0645 at the earliest, surely?

We ran into trouble soon after Nuns Corner, with the driver pulling over on Laceby Road by First Avenue and turned the engine and master switch on. She phoned the depot complaining of a symbol coming on the computer screen on the dash and thought it implied the engine was running hot and did they want to send an engineer with some coolant? I drive Volvo B12M coaches with a near identical dashboard and am well aware of the ridiculous "info" warnings that display on the computer screen, so I was more than willing to offer assistance when the driver came upstairs to say she had a problem with the bus.

The problem? The engine fans were on, or at least that was the symbol displaying on the dashboard. Clearly the engine fans weren't on and there was no coolant or other liquid leak, and after I explained how any other vehicles with any other non-computerised dashboard simply wouldn't make the driver aware of this "info", she phoned the depot, relayed my information and we continued, ironically now running late!

Over 25 people boarded in Market Rasen and both CallConnectplus minibuses (also operated by Stagecoach in Lincolnshire) were out and about. This didn't assist our punctuality as many were paying cash and additional loadings at Middle Rasen, Welton and Nettleham saw us enter Lincoln with a standing load. Progress within Lincoln was particularly awful and we arrived exactly 20 minutes late at 0852. Without my intervention on Laceby Road we were likely to have been much later waiting for an engineer to bring out unneeded coolant.

Optare M880/Optare Solo 47462 (FX07 LJA) was waiting to load on stand P by this time and on I got with 4 other people, opting for the last seat before the step at the back of the aisle, before the rear wheels. The reason? These seats have an unintentional headrest to prevent people sat behind accidentally kicking you in the head, such is the increase in height of seats behind. I looked around to see where the warm air was coming from and there were no heaters. More investigation showed air vents on either side of the rear wall. It was very welcome as the outside temperature was still rather chilly and to my eternal shame I fell asleep by Eagle, waking up on the outskirts of Newark!

I got a shock when I did wake up as the bus was two-thirds full of non fare paying passengers (over 60s). Coupled with my free pass, I suspect this journey took no cash whatsoever. The route is particularly meandering since it was created at the start of the month by merging Services 65 & 87B to form a logically numbered 46, following - and travelling along - the A46. 1:18 minutes to cover what the crow flies at 18 miles is one hell of a journey time, especially since the train can cover the same distance in a shade over 20 minutes, but it's clear this service has no intention of competing with anything. Subsidised by Lincolnshire County Council, the service calls at numerous villages with no rail station and as I mentioned earlier, is a conglomerate of two services, taking in North Scarle, Witham St. Hughs, Aubourn, Norton Disney to name but a few and then 'fast' to Newark via the A46 dual carriageway. We arrived 4 minutes ahead of schedule at 1014. Newark depot has an identical Optare Solo for their contribution to the service and both vehicles have been recently branded 'route 46' in pink but unfortunately the branding above the windows doesn't appear to have been measured correctly, as two words overlap the orange Stagecoach 'swoop' making it unreadable.

In the last decade before their purchase by Stagecoach, RoadCar services operating to the west of their Newark depot was limited: generally school services in the Southwell area and one of the first casualties of the Stagecoach takeover was a school service to Mansfield! Now, Newark depot operates short journeys on a route that has been an East Midland stronghold for many year: Service 29/29A (Newark-Mansfield), though utilising one vehicle between 1000-1530, i.e. in between school transport commitments, operating between Newark-Southwell, creating a 30 minute frequency between these points. Peter was to meet me in Southwell and suggested I board the short working as it was Newark-operated and then join the through Mansfield-operated journey once there. This I did and the vehicle provided was ex TWM MCW Metrobus 15954 (POG 490Y), almost certainly my last ever ride on a closed-top example within the Lincolnshire fleet as their continuation into October is looking very shady indeed.

A cleaner met the decker on stand 7 and swept it out as drivers were changing. One said that the vehicles is always cleaned here at this time as the school run he'd been operating carries "animals" and often items left behind can make things unpleasant for other fare paying passengers throughout the day. Typical with the MCW Metrobus, the ride was particularly loud, bumpy and rough but really enjoyable. I'm not usually one to get sentimental about old buses, but there is something about the sound and the rattle of a vehicle older than my brother (who graduated this summer!) which makes you appreciate it despite having no feeling in your bottom after a mere 20 minutes.

Southwell reminded me of Louth though with even more traffic passing through its narrow streets and finally, some 19 minutes late, Stagecoach in Mansfield's Volvo Olympian/Northern Counties 16169 (R169 HHK) arrived at 1140. This vehicle is unique to Mansfield in that it is their only ex London decker. They acquired the vehicle in 2003 and at the same time were running short of vehicles and it actually entered service prior to its re-paint and single door conversion. It had been intended for Hull, though operated for so long in Mansfield that others vehicles were cascaded from the Capital to Hull and this vehicles remained here.

Top-deck, front seats for us both again and I'd hoped we'd make good progress but the driver didn't seem to want to. I'd passed him en route to Newark as I was on the MCW heading to Southwell so I knew he'd be late, but his excuse that Newark Market was on causing him to be late was plainly false as he was late heading to the town. We sat at Farnsfield for a couple of minutes with nothing happening downstairs. Was he running deliberately late as he wanted an extended break once in Mansfield? Was there a problem with the bus? All I knew was that my 26 minute connection was reducing considerably. We arrived in Mansfield bus station at 1227.

Luckily there was no sign of the pronto service to Chesterfield. This route started in 2005 and was a branding amalgamation between Stagecoach and trent barton at the same time as alterations within Stagecoach's operation to the northern extremity. The routes had been known as Services 737 & 747, with Stagecoach and trent barton operating jointly on Service 737 between Chesterfield-Mansfield-Nottingham, taking in all stops en route particularly between Chesterfield-Mansfield where there service operated via Temple Normanton & Holmewood. Stagecoach operated the hourly Service 747 between Meadowhall-Sheffield-Chesterfield-Mansfield-Nottingham, a limited stop express service and trent barton ran shorts between Nottingham-Mansfield, all of which combined to provide a 20-min frequency between Mansfield-Nottingham.

Two years ago through Service 747 journeys between Meadowhall-Nottingham was withdrawn with the Chesterfield-Sheffield section remaining in tact though now numbered Service 727 and the Chesterfield-Nottingham section being amalgamated with the remaining services, which lost their 737/747 numbers in favour of the word pronto. A bright pink livery was designed by Ray Stenning's Best Impressions consultancy, and both Stagecoach and trent barton had vehicles painted in it. The timetable itself isn't complicated but the lack of route numbers means only regular passengers know which pronto services call at all stops between Mansfield-Chesterfield (former 747, now curtailed) and which call at all stops en route (former 737 joint between Stagecoach & trent barton). Sure, the destinations do display "pronto Chesterfield direct" and the timetable (a 31 page book) detail which is which, but so few people can understand a basic timetable let alone be willing to fathom a 31 page book in bright pink that I don't personally think as much is being made of the service as could have been if services were numbered P1 & P2, for example.

This also means that, as a result of the withdrawal of the Stagecoach Express Service 747, the non-stop journeys via the Hasland by-pass between Chesterfield-Mansfield are worked by aging Dart SLFs, ours was a particularly tatty ex AA Buses vehicle, 33765 (R465 LSO). 30 minutes journey time is given between the two towns and was the case in 1999 when vehicles capable of 62mph were the norm, so a non-stop, foot-to-the-floor journey meant we arrived in Chesterfield at exactly 1300. If we'd stopped to pick anyone up or drop anyone off we'd have been late.

pronto vehicles are certainly striking, more so than the liveries Stagecoach and trent barton operated the former 737/747 vehicles in, so perhaps the 'wow factor' attracted passengers despite the confusing timetable and lack of service numbers?

Our next service was one I used to drive: Service 17 between Chesterfield-Matlock. In 2000 the service was worked with Service 80 between Chesterfield-Brimington, when a round trip took 2 hours. Through fares between Brimington-Matlock were available, too. Stagecoach in Chesterfield have had a couple of shake-ups with services in the Chesterfield area since then seeing Service 80 disappear, so now the service is tied-in with Service 95 (nee 61) between Chesterfield-Wingerworth. There were a lot of people to board the 1330 departure so it was pleasing to see 16484 (N134 AET), an ex. Grimsby-Cleethorpes Volvo Olympian/Alexander RL decker arrive. I'd have driven this vehicle, too, though over 80 miles away. We left 3 minutes late and it wasn't long before we were passing through Walton and out towards Kelstedge.

The route is particularly scenic and every single stop is a fare stage (well it seemed like it!) resulting in a huge fare table and the driver needing to keep track of his ticket machine settings at all times. Kelstedge lies at the opposite side of a locally renowned gradient called Slack Hill. It's a 1:7 ascent towards Matlock with a crawler lane. After leaving Kelstedge we climbed Slack Hill, and I reminisced to Peter how I'd ran out of diesel once at a yellow grit box (which was still there!!!) in ex London Dart 815 (now 32426 (N426 MBW) - at Grimsby, another vehicle I'd driven at both Grimsby & Chesterfield depots!!) and that me and my passengers had remained there for around 35 minutes at a 1:7 angle until a replacement had arrived.

As you enter Matlock, there was/is a far stage called Bentley Bridge, but there seems to be no bridge. There are walled sections of the road that imply you are on a bridge, but it doesn't seem that you are. A Google search seems to imply Bentley Bridge is more of an area of Matlock than a specific structure. I'm still none the wiser. Lime Tree Hill is a 1:7 descent into Matlock with very well used stops along the decline that cause acceleration problems when travelling back to Chesterfield: I was once on a Bristol VR that physically couldn't pull away from the stop at Lily Bank Hydro and had to roll back to have another go.

Mid-September was the initial date for the opening of the new Transport Interchanges within Matlock town centre at the same time as the A6 by-pass was to be opened. This had been delayed once and now 4 October was the new opening date. I'd hoped to have visited when the new by-pass was opened, though it was plain to see that masses and masses of work has yet to be done. It meant that I could take many photos of my second home whilst working at Stagecoach in Chesterfield: Matlock bus station. 12 of the 13 duties came here at some point, some of which were based in the town all day when we operated the 4 town services to Cavendish Park (157), Hurst Farm (159), Hackney (160) & Tansley (164). We also ran services to Castleton (174), Elton (169), evening journeys Bakewell (172), Millers Green (61), Clay Cross (64) and evening journeys to Bonsall (158).
The current bus station will continue to house some services once the town centre alterations are complete, though will eventually be reduced to a shadow of its former self; other services will call at a new mini interchange by the rail station on the other side of the river. This isn't even buit yet, or wasn't when we visited, and the 4 October was looking very optomistic indeed in my eyes as an opening date. trent barton's Transpeak service was next to catch, taking us to Buxton. It arrived at 1552 (15 mins late) in the form of 109 (V109 LVH), an Optare L1180/Optare Excel, unusually wearing trent barton's standard red livery (the vast majority of the trent barton fleet being painted in individual liveries, tailored to each route). I was aghast to see interior trip torn and hanging from the side of the vehicle as I sat down! I've never, ever witnessed a tatty interior on any trent barton vehicle. Realistically, the 'damage' could have occured earlier today and would be seen to that evening. We were 20 minutes late by Bakewell, having been made to wait by Monyash Road as we entered for 5 Hulleys buses to pull out onto the main road from Lady Manners School (I used to drive two routes from there at this very time: Service 024 (to Tideswell) & Service 173 (to Castleton)).
A few years ago, the Transpeak journey we were travelling on wouldn't have operated. Additional funding by Derbyshire & Nottinghamshire County Councils, plus the Peak Park Authority and, I believe, the European Union, had seen the two-hourly frequency (with coaches) increased to hourly between Nottingham-Buxton using low-floor vehicles - this Excel being a good example. We arrived in Buxton (after some more reminiscing on my part to Peter about the steep hill I used to drive Service 193 (Taddington-Buxton Community School) up as we went through Taddington, still 20 minutes late at 1648.

Following the largest plate of fish and chips I've had for a very long time, we boarded the 1825 Skyline 199 service to Manchester Airport. Operated by trent barton, this route is branded at a third-party's request: Manchester Airport - most unusual for trent barton! The name Skyline is given to all regular services operating to/from Manchester Airport - a common brand name applied to many liveries belinging to many operators being something which has proven increased patronage. Our vehicle, another Optare L1180/Optare Excel, was 260 (Y272 DRC) and we made our way out of Buxton with only one final reminisce on my part - as you approach the boundary of Buxton rail station from the town centre you'll see a road go off to the left called Palace Road; this has a nice big bus stop attached to the first lamp post yet only one bus calls there: Service 193, a route I used to drive though now operated by TM Travel. When I drove it the service started at a school in the Fairfield Estate and then operated to Brownedge Road then went to the other side of town to pick up children at the Buxton Community School, the quickest way to get there was down Palace Road. This first section of Service 193 was fo school children only and so was never shown in the main 193 timetable; since TM Travel took over the service it is shown as a through service though in mornings only, with afternoons continuing to show this specific bus stop as the starting point.

There were two sets of major roadworks between New Mills and Disley which delayed us by around 5 minutes. The prospect of massive delays throughout the day must be so high that trent barton have thoughtfully produced a leaflet to inform passengers of the potential for delays. The trent barton uniform strikes me as not necessarily being a uniform that identifies those wearing it as being bus drivers; it has an air of office worker about it, a subtle undertone that their drivers are more than just people paid to drive their vehicles. Our driver pulled over at one point and asked the person sat at the back to kindly remove his dog from the seats as other people had to sit there. How many other drivers would have said something? Very few, most chosing to say nothing an ignore it. It was said in such a way that no offence was received by the bearded, tattooed, slightly drunk owner of the dog. Talking of drunks, the chap sat behind me smelt of parafin he was so drunk.

The Davenport Park Hotel is situated in Stockport (just) at 175 Buxton Road and offers rooms from £29 (single) or £36 (en suite). We've stayed here before and it is in a good location for the Manchester area with the reputed 'most frequent bus route in Europe' passing by: Service 192 (Hazel Grove-Stockport-Manchester). We actually got off 1 stop too early (it's actually the third stop after the Stepping Hill Hospital) at around 1922, three minutes later than the time we'd estimated we'd be passing.

Fotopic Updates

I've finally uploaded my photos for the Scottish Vintage Bus Museum Open Weekend at Lathalmond on 16 August, which can be seen by clicking HERE.

Photos taken at the Seaburn Rally, Tyne & Wear on August Bank Holiday Monday can be seen by clicking HERE.

All photos uploaded to my Fotopic site can be seen by clicking HERE.

I've chosen not to go through all my Showbus photos and label each shot with the vehicle's registration number as the prospect is far too sobering, so they will be uploaded without alteration to the file name my Fuji camera gave them (though not yet as I'm going on holiday tomorrow).

Beverley Bar

This is the name given to the 15th century arch in the minster town of Beverley, East Riding of Yorkshire. Built as the North Bar, the arch helped to protect the settlement from the north from Molescroft, now Molescroft Road. The Arch poses something of a problem to the operation of bus services in the area, not least because prior to pedestrianisation of the area, it formed part of the logical access to the area, which, due to its dimensions, precluded many buses from entering.

East Yorkshire Motor Services were and still are the predominant operator of bus services in the area and in 1956 the Company placed an order with bodymaker Willowbrook to have specially modified bodies placed on a batch of AEC Regent Vs they'd ordered, capable of entering the town centre through the Arch. By 1972 all examples had left the fleet though in 1990 the Company purchased one back - VKH 44. This now forms part of their Coaching Fleet and is available for private hire.

Ironically, this vehicle, although built specifically to negotiate the Arch, cannot do so today as the road has been raised subtly over the years, resulting in the clearance being reduced to less than needed.

Last week though, a Stagecoach in Hull driver tried to negotiate the Arch, with caution, in recently-acquired Volvo Olympian/Alexander RL, 16732 (N732 LTN), luckily resulting in only minimal damage to the vehicle (far less than to his ego)!

September/October 2007 LEYTR

Taken to the printer yesterday is the latest LEYTR. Another 28 page edition with a four page colour centre spread this time featuring Lincolnshire Locomotives. It's the first for a fair while which sees no articles within its pages as local news was so forthcoming and plentiful. It should be collected on Friday and posted out over the weekend, being delivered for around Tuesday (2 October) next week.

Weekly Transport Update 9

• Durham forced to reveal 70% rise. Durham County Council undertook a 'pilot project' in 2004 when it replaced an operator's contract to provide four vehicles for home-to-school transport with three brand new Irisbus Scolar (yellow buses) that it purchased and operated wholly in-house. The cost was partially revealed this week for the first time since 2005, when DCC claimed it need not make the cost available as it formed an exemption under the Freedom of Information Act, as being £104,335. The contract with the bus operator it ended in 2004 is understood to have cost the council £61,000 a year and that included 1 additional vehicle!
• TM Travel provide free Sheffield bus. TM Travel of Staveley, Derbys, have won a contract with SYPTE to provide a free circular bus service within Sheffield city centre, commencing 29 October 2007. SYPTE projected figures claim around 125,000 passengers will be carried in its first year, costing the PTE £265,000 per year in subsidy (equating to a rather impressive £1.06 per passenger!). Three new Optare Solos will be purchased by TM Travel to operate the service, operating every 7 minutes Mon-Fri between 0700-1900 and 0800-1900 on Saturdays. 11 bus stops will be called at within the city centre and it mirrors similar free bus services in Manchester, Leeds, Wakefield and Huddersfield centres.
• Hull Paragon Interchange opens. 16 September saw the eagerly awaited Hull Paragon Interchange open, following over 2 years of redevelopment. This will be partially covered in the forthcoming LEYTR, though we plan to visit the city over the coming weeks for a full report and possible photo feature. What I wasn't aware of is that Hull boasts one of the biggest percentage rises in passenger usage outside London, with 8.5% up to 2004/5.
• Fuel cell minibus. A hydrogen fuel cell-powered 16-seater Irisbus Iveco long wheelbase Daily minibus at the Grove Fuel Cell Symposium, London, this week. It is to be trialed with the University of Glamorgan.
• Edinburgh's tram final business plan approved. City councillors have voted to approve the draft final Business Case for Edinburgh's fledgling tram network. A total 56 out of 58 councillors voted in favour of the recommendations laid out in a report produced by the City of Edinburgh Council. The report, authored by the director of city development, Andrew Holmes, and director of finance, Donald McGougan, considered a phased tram network for Edinburgh to be affordable, viable, necessary for the city and for the benefits to significantly outweigh the costs. The draft final Business was prepared by Transport Initiatives Edinburgh Ltd, the organisation delivering the project.
• Cambridge's own Low Emission Zone? The city and county councils are proposing consultation on the possibility of a Low Emission Zone to start in 2009. This would affect all 11 local bus operators as well as coach firms entering the city on schedules services and private hires. The city centre is currently accessed through 'bus gates' seeing transponders fitted to the front of buses, coaches, taxis and emergency vehicles; one proposal is for this gated area to be extended. I'm not a big lover of bus gates and clicking HERE shows how, after the initial humour has worn off, the city centre then becomes paralysed until they are rectified.
• New Metroline depot. Metroline London, owned by ComfortDelGro, has opened a new Central Engineering and Logistics facility in Perivale.
• Appeals due soon. The outcome of 96 appeals from bus operators against the 2007/8 local authority reimbursement rates for free concessionary travel is expected this autumn. Here in the LEYTR region, operator Stagecoach says that when concessions received half-fare travel the half they didn't pay was reimbursed 70% by the local authority; now concessions receive free travel they're only being reimbursed 49% of the entire fare, causing them to reassess their non-profit making routes with a view to withdrawing them in lieu of a £1million shortfall. Louth town service 41 (Bus Station-St. Bernard's Ave) is once such candidate.
• Bus Rapid Transit for South Yorkshire? SYPTE have asked for a £44million grant for a Bus Rapid Transit scheme linking Sheffield with Rotherham via Waverley. The Yorkshire & Humber Regional Transport Board is considering the proposal. The government vetoed a Supertam extension to Rotherham and this proposal comes as a direct alternative. No doubt local operator First, who have been the sole operators of similar cases in York and recently Leeds will offer the immediate knowledge to assist any such scheme once approved, though will no doubt need to bid to operate the service.
• First Euro 5s delivered. As mentioned in last week's Weekly Transport Update 8, operators choosing to purchase Euro 5 spec vehicles will pay a mere £165 Vehicle Excise Duty irrespective of size, as a way of encouraging more operators to consider purchasing vehicles with these new engines. The first examples have been delivered to Suffolk County Council and are 9 Irisbus Iveco coaches with Marcopolo Viaggio bodies. Many were at last week's Showbus Rally at Duxford and photos will be uploaded to my fotopic as time permits.
• VW, MAN & Scania merger. Volkwagen says that 'discussions with MAN and Scania about a merger are ongoing and have not collapsed'. VW's Chief Financial Officer, Martin Winterkorn said there was no rush to combine companies since all three were posting record orders.
• Free concession fares beats target. The introduction of free local travel for concessionary fares throughout England and Wales from April 2008 will allow the DfT to meet its public transport target 4 years early. It aimed to increase bus and light rail patronage by 4% by 2010, compared to figures at 2000. Up to 2007 usage had grown by 15%.
• Bomb squat attend NX coach. Following a suspicious package being found on a National Express coach service on the M62 in Merseyside, the motorway was closed while the Bomb Squad attended the Liverpool-Newcastle service to safeguard it. A male passenger was arrested and detained under the mental health act as a result.
• Universal SmartCard for free concessionary travel next year launched. Transport Secretary Ruth Kelly has unveiled the new pass that will give older and disabled people free off-peak bus travel across England from 1 April 2008. Currently, people aged 60 and over and eligible disabled people are entitled to free off-peak bus travel within their own local authority area. But from April 2008 the government will spend up to an extra £250m each year to extend the scheme to include off-peak local bus travel anywhere in England. The new passes will also incorporate ITSO smartcard technology to allow the roll out of 'smart ticketing'. This will help minimise fraud and ensure that the number of journeys made by pass-holders are accurately recorded for reimbursement purposes between local authorities and bus operators. In areas where buses are not yet fitted with smartcard readers the cards can still be shown to the driver as a traditional 'flash' card upon boarding.
• X78 patronage up 9%. A route in South Yorkshire I know well links Sheffield with Doncaster via Rotherham and numbered X78, operated by First. The company has recorded a 9% passenger increase in the service and in June introduced 20 Volvo B7TL/Wrighbus Eclipse Gemini vehicles to meet the increased demand.
• Lack of coach parking at St. Pancras highlighted. 14 November sees the official start date of through trains to Paris from London St. Pancras station; however the provision of adequate coach parking at the UK terminal has been highlighted. 5 set-down bays will be available from the start date, coaches picking passengers up will not be allowed onto the site more than 20 minutes before the train they are awaiting is due.
• Stagecoach invest more in Manchester. A £15million order by Stagecooach will see 108 Alexander-Dennis Trident 2s with ADL Enviro400 bodies enter service in the city. The order is seen as the company's endorsement of the Greater Manchester's bid for government Transport Initiative Fund money to support and realise the local transport strategy. All 108 buses will run on biodiesel and will enter service later this month on key routes to/from Manchester city centre, with the delivery completing in February 2008.
• Transport 2000 name change. The campaign group Transport 2000 has re-named itself to Campaign for Better Transport.
• Red Route report out. Fewer motorists are committing offences such as driving in bus lanes and stopping on box junctions, according to a new report by Transport for London. TfL's second annual report on the impact of parking and traffic enforcement on the capital's Red Route network says that better driving in London has seen the observance of parking and traffic regulations improve by up to 35%. In 2006, there were 14.3 parking contraventions; 13.6 moving vehicle contraventions and 8.8 bus lane contraventions per hour, where CCTV enforcement was monitored. In March 2007, this has reduced to 11.6, 11.7 and 6.1 contraventions per hour respectively. The number of observed contraventions per mile of Red Route also went down to the lowest numbers on record from 0.74 to 0.57 between March 2006 and March 2007. Similarly, the enforcement of bus lanes has been successful with the number of contraventions from bus mounted cameras between July 2000 and July 2005 per hour of viewed footage reduced from 12 to 0.1. Between the end of 2004 and the end of 2005, bus speeds in bus lanes increased by 5% - and buses now travel 12.6% faster in bus lanes than between bus lanes.
• EST Bus fined £6,650 & 2 services cancelled. Roger Seymour, Deputy Traffic Commissioner for Wales, has banned EST Bus, Cowbridge, Wales, from registering any new bus services for a 12 month period, ordered the firm to pay £6,650 in fines and cancelled two registered bus services following, over a 16 day period in May 2006, 159 journeys were monitored, of which 9 failed to operate, 12 departed early, 21 departed late and a number of incorrect destinations were shown. 166 journeys were monitored in January and February 2007, of which 14 failed to operate, 15 ran early, 10 ran late and 6 had incorrect destinations. The company failed to respond on both occasions to letters they received.

Chesterfield Strike: conclusion

Two days before the second strike was planned in Chesterfield (14 September), Stagecoach management made another offer to the workforce which saw their £7.50 per hour current pay increase to £7.75 with immediate effect and to include back-pay to the anniversary date of April 2007, plus an incrament to £7.90 at the start of December and to re-negotiate in March 2008, thus removing the two-year deal that was initially in place. I understand the 2 year deal would have seen most drivers on around £8.15 per hour at the end.

The revised offer was accepted and further strike action called off.

Showbus, Duxford 07

Today saw the annual EFE Showbus International Rally at the Imperial War Museum, Duxford, Cambs, where around 500 buses and coaches attend. I've visited the rally for the past 5 consecutive years, this being the sixth. Unlike all the previous attendances, this was the first time I travelled on one of the entered vehicles, Stagecoach in Peterborough's citi6-branded ADL Dart/Pointer, 34880 (AE06 GZZ). This is one of three in the batch which sport additional branding for GNER's train services; the citi6 offering a 20 min frequency between the developing suburb of Hampton and the railway station.Myself, the driver and only one other passenger made the 1:05 journey from Peterborough to Duxford. We overtook both Delaine Volvo B9TLs on the M11, and I managed to capture quite a unique shot from the back window of our vehicle. Upon entry to the site a plethora of enthusiasts were stood photographing all entrants as they passed through the gate in single-file order towards the check-in booths. As we had 4 or fewer people on board, we all gained free entry so used the Express Lane to overtake some of the vehicles with numerous passengers on board who had to pay the much reduced entry fee of £7. This year's entry fee for other paying visitors was £14.95, and in my opinion fairly expensive, though Showbus literature claims they make no money from this fee and that it all goes to the Imperial War Museum.

Irrespective of this, Showbus is THE biggest bus and coach rally in the UK and I'd be more than happy to pay the entry fee.

We got parked up for 1015 and I was now faced with a new phenomenon: normally I arrive around 1100-1130 when the vast majority of vehicles have arrived and are in situ; Peter and I then dissect the site ensuring that between us both we've managed to photograph everything there. Peter wasn't able to attend this time and so few vehicles were parked up at this 'early' hour that I didn't fancy taking photos of what few were there as I'd never remember which I'd photographed a few hours later when I returned to take some more.

I felt that public attendance was a little down at this year's rally; so few people stood in the way of my shots I hardly ever felt outraged. I witnessed the Managing Director of Stagecoach East Midlands out with his camera, which was very pleasing to see and bumped into numerous friends and colleagues at various stages throughout the day. Our Chairman and former Managing Director of RoadCar, Paul Hill was travelling on the Stagecoach in Lincolnshire entrant - Trident 2/Enviro400 in 'the1' livery, being driven, I understand, by the son of the late Steve Sanderson, RoadCar's Operations Director, who I again understand, that thanks to Paul's efforts, is now a member of the LEYTR.

Lincolnshire and East Yorkshire vehicle entrants were pleasingly high with EYMS entering two vehicles - the last of their batch of recently delivered Volvo B9TLs, 721 (YX07 HKH) with Wrighbus Eclipse Gemini body (the only one of the batch to not be based at Driffield or allocated to Service 121); as well as their recently delivered single deck version of the same body though on Volvo B7RLE chassis, 343 (YX56 FHL) in route 115 branding (as featured on the inside rear cover of this year's LEYTRs. As well as Stagecoach's Enviro (19124 - FX07 CME), Veolia's Lincoln depot sent two vehicles: Optare Tempo YJ56 VWU and recently acquired Northern Counties-bodied Volvo Olympian L214 TWM.

Sleafordian entered their Neoplan Cityliner, T774 JWA; Brylaine one of their new VDL DB250s, YJ57 BBE; A&P Travel entered both their Scania/Van Hools - winning a coveted award (details of which can be seen in the forthcoming LEYTR); Fowlers entered three vehicles, of which one was very recently purchased - Dennis Javelin, AF57 WHF; and as I mentioned earlier, Delaine entered both their Volvo B9TLs, Volvo claim both are the first two such vehicles to enter service in the UK, AD56/07 DBL.

Preservation played a big part in the show and in the LEYTR region at least three such examples were in evidence: LEYTR member Mervyn Wilkinson's ex Lincolnshire Bristol LH, 1045 (SVL 830R); Grayscroft's Ford Thames Trader, GCC 3; and regular visitor to the event in Hull Corporation livery was 270 (TKH 270), a Leyland Atlantean entered by Nigel Green.

Despite having just over 7 hours to get everything done, I only just felt as if I'd managed it. I bought a rather restrained 5 ties altogether, the Plaxton centenary mug, a couple of models and a couple of other bits n pieces. I even managed to get slightly sun burnt, too.

Despite being full of buses and coaches, some operators bring their entire fleet it seems - Wootens and PPH of St. Albans spring to mind - the site has something for everyone as admission also allows unlimited access to the Imperial War Museum where you can see some excellent examples of British and foreign aviation - including Concorde, a few years ago the opportunity arose to have a photo of RM1 parked next to it, not something you're likely to see ever again in your lifetime!

My intention is to upload everything to my fotopic site though I'm running at maximum capacity at the moment and whilst acquiring additional space isn't a problem there are some other collections I need to upload first - the Seaburn Rally and the Scottish Bus Museum open weekend photos being two examples. I always try and name each photo before uploading and I took 467 today so you can the time element involved here.

Weekly Transport Update 8

• More Megatrain destinations. Stagecoach Group is expanding its budget rail service Megatrain to three more stations on the South West Trains network. Off peak fares from £1.50, including booking fee, will be made available for travel to and from Axminster, Honiton and Havant, offering an additional 370 discount seats a week. Tickets for the new destinations went on sale yesterday for travel starting Monday 29 October 2007 to coincide with the completion of Network Rail’s major engineering works in the Portsmouth area.
• Euro 5 tax break. The DfT has decided to give tax breaks on the early uptake of Euro 5 specification engines before they become mandatory on 1 October 2009. A Vehicle Excise Duty rate of £165 will be issued, irrespective of engine size.
• US deckers for Megabus. Stagecoach Group plc placed into service last week the first of 17 integral Van Hool TD925 double deck coaches on its US network, based in the Midwest around Chicago. The $10million (£4.9million) investment is a first in the US.
• West Coast Main Line figures 'up'. Figures released by Virgin Trains show that train passenger numbers between north west England and London have grown by more than two thirds since West Coast rail services were increased in September 2004. The one exception is the Manchester/Stockport to London route where a doubling of the train service to half-hourly has been matched with a 121% increase in passenger numbers.
• Driver released from hospital. The Veolia Birmingham driver who was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol after causing his Scania/Irizar coach to tip over at Newport Pagnell services last week was released from hospital on 13 September and was questioned fully for the first time by Police.
• Solent Blue Line bucks the trend. Go-Ahead subsidiary Solent Blue Line has announced that more than 975,000 additional journeys have been made on its network of services in the 12 month-period since July 2006. This represents a year-on-year increase of 19%. While most bus operators have experienced passenger growth due to the free concessionary travel to the over 60s offered by local authorities, Solent operations manager Alex Hornby says that the company is pleased that its Bluestar and Red Rocket services have attracted 8% more fare paying passengers within the total growth figure.
• Arson to blame. A fire at the premises of Bluebird Coaches, Weymouth last Thursday is the likely cause of the fire which destroyed 8 vehicles - one vehicle was only 4 months old.
• Cardiff Bus sell-off? The LibDem controlled city council is considering selling its 40% steak in the city's bus operator, Cardiff Bus. Cardiff is one of only 14 remaining council-owned bus operators, though by selling a sizable steak of its business to a third-party it joins the ranks of Nottingham City Transport (Transdev) and Eastbourne Buses (Keolis). The equity release would primarily be used to plug funding gaps.
• Three-in-one Oyster Card launched. Barclays has launched the UK's first ever smartcard combining travel and dual payment functionality. Called OnePulse, the card can be used as a credit card, an Oyster smartcard, and a contactless payment card, which can be used as an alternative to cash for small purchases. An official launch took place on 10 September in London's Docklands and was supported by full page advertising in London's free commuter newspapers, distributed at railway and Tube stations across the capital. Barclaycard OnePulse cardholders will benefit from the cheapest fares on the Transport for London bus, rail, Tube, DLR and Tramlink networks using Oyster, exactly as they do with conventional Oyster cards. As well as acting as a credit card for transactions over £10, cashless OneTouch payment using contactless technology will allow cardholders to make low value purchases below £10 without entering a PIN or signature, thus reducing a customer’s reliance on cash. These transactions will be listed on the cardholder’s credit card statement. For transactions over £10, the OnePulse will require a PIN number or signature for authorisation. Barclays said if a card is lost or stolen, the cardholder can cancel it and it will no longer work for contactless transactions.
• Lothian Buses' new deckers launched. Scotland's transport minister Stewart Stevenson has officially launched 10 new double deck coaches for use on the Edinburgh Airport to city centre Airlink express shuttle bus. The £2m order brings route operator Lothian Buses’ total investment in the Airlink service since 2000 to £8m. The 10 new coaches, built by Scania in Sweden, have a higher interior spec to existing buses in the fleet and include high-back leather seats for 74 passengers, tables, CCTV and additional luggage space. So far this year the Airlink service has seen passenger numbers increase by 5%. Edinburgh Airport reports that 23% of airline passengers travelling to and from the airport use the Airlink service – the highest percentage of bus transport at any of the UK’s major airports.
• Management change at Grand Central before official launch. Open access rail operator Grand Central has announced a further change to its senior management team but has failed to quash speculation that the company may miss its scheduled September launch date. As final preparations continue for the launch of its high speed passenger train link from Sunderland to London King's Cross, the company would only say that services would begin "within the next few weeks". Tom Clift will become managing director when services start, enabling Ian Yeowart, Grand Central’s current managing director, to concentrate on developing further open access service opportunities. Clift's background in the rail industry includes being a former managing director of Cardiff Railway Company, which traded as Valley Lines when part of Prism Rail and National Express. He has extensive background knowledge of rolling stock matters and will also become a director of Grand Central’s sister rolling stock company, Sovereign Trains.

The Humber Flyer

Stagecoach was the first of the 'big three' bus companies here in the UK to adopt a uniform livery irrespective of the local identity they may have removed from their latest acquisition's home turf. My former boss and manager of one of their depots said that in his opinion this was the 'big downer' of the firm, though went on to praise other aspects of their business such as their market-leading pension scheme and the possibilities for promotion.

Now, Stagecoach, despite retaining their policy of a uniformed corporate livery throughout its UK bus business, are arguably the least draconian of the 'big three' with Arriva and First ridding their vehicles with local fleet descriptors; Stagecoach retain these and made them an integral part of their livery re-branding in 2001.

But all three bus companies have seen the benefits of route branding; after all, it's nothing new, though with all three firms' liveries being so different and contrasting, the skill in applying the right branding to match the corporate 'swirls' or shading, is what makes it either work or an expensive advert gone wrong.

In 2003 Stagecoach's Hull depot cut their losses with the once half-hourly express coach service 909 linking North-East Lincolnshire and the City of Hull with North Lincolnshire and South Yorkshire, showing the restraint that was to herald alterations en mass over the past few years with consolidation of core bus businesses, seeing much more emphasis on no-nonsense, simplistic corridor routes that could arguably not require a timetable for they run so frequently without exceptions throughout the day.

They commenced operation of service X1, linking Grimsby town and Hull city centres hourly with fast, non-stop journeys. Coaches departed the terminal points at the same times past each hour throughout the day and never deviated; the fare was simple too: single £4, return £5. A new name was given to the service: Humber Flyer, and although it was applied rather subtly, the name still lives on today on the side of one vehicle - Volvo B10M/Plaxton Premiere Interurban C51F, 52357 - P157 ASA.

The problem with applying this new thinking in terms of frequency and simplicity to a coach service is that fuel subsidy was lost as the distance between bus stops was so lengthy it wasn't classed as a local stopping service; crossing the Humber Bridge required £10 per crossing, too; and coaches are more costly to maintain than super low-floor Darts, for example. Hull depot were particularly short of drivers during 2004 and it was decided to pass the operation to Grimsby depot and to alter the route so that Humberside International Airport was taken in and the 'back route' to/from Grimsby was used via the A18 & A46.

The service was then classified a local stopping service and fuel subsidy was eligible. The additional time taken meant a rather odd 1:10 frequency occurred, meaning a very strange, non-repeating timetable was produced; passengers simply didn't get the hang of such an odd frequency - done specifically to placate the need for a third vehicle. This also called into question the name - Humber Flyer was now anything but.

A stand-off between Stagecoach and the Humber Bridge Board finally came good for the UK's third largest bus operator, seeing reduction in tolls for all PCVs operating stage-carriage services across the Bridge at the end of 2006, securing the financial future of the service. In the spring of 2007, service X1 saw further alteration in that it merged with local bus service 12 within North-East Lincolnshire, to stop duplication between Laceby-Grimsby; the Interurban coaches were taken off the route and Volvo B10M-55 buses with Plaxton Paladin bodies were used (ironically from Hull's fleet).

This alteration saw the frequency return to hourly for the vast majority of the day (the last two departures from Hull leave 20 minutes later to make them more attractive to commuters). In so doing, and despite my reservations about downgrading an express service and then merging it with a very intricate local bus service, two things have happened, both fitting into the current ethos of consolidation:

1. No further vehicles were required so no additional outlay; however around 300% more bus stops are called at within North-East Lincolnshire, and with Hull being the largest city in a 60 mile radius, it has big pulling power. This has seen the route become more accessible in the traditional sense of the word to thousands more people, who can catch the service without the need of changing buses in Grimsby town centre. The villages of Laceby and Keelby have been added to the journey which had been by-passed before - around 7,000 people in these villages alone now have an hourly service direct to Hull (or Cleethorpes/New Waltham) - not bad for around an extra 1 mile per journey!

2. In hand with this, the hourly frequency is maintained. Without exception for example, college goers in Grimsby know that shortly after half-past each hour from 0630 until 1730 there will be a direct bus from opposite Grimsby College to Hull. No odd 1:10 frequency. No missing runs around 1500 for school contracts.

Of course, now it's adopted the full ethos of the consolidated bus market, it's certainly nothing of a flyer, meanwhile P157 ASA proudly continues to boast its fleet name in its more recent, down-graded role as a vehicle used to transport children in Laceby to Healing School and to transport workers to/from the Millennium Inorganic Chemicals factory on the Humber Bank.