Excursion to Skegness

"When is a local bus service not a local bus service?"

"When it's been registered as an excursion (and so cannot accept free concessionary bus passes)"

This could be a new way for bus and coach operators to get round their perceived shortcomings in the government's free concessionary travel scheme on local bus services. Hunts of Alford, based in the heart of the LEYTR area, already cottoned-on to this idea when, faced with the prospect of very low reimbursement rates, chose to de-register their Seaside Express service linking the Lincolnshire Coast with Sheffield, and to instead operate the route as a bookable excursion.

Stagecoach in Peterborough are the next to operate in the LEYTR area who have sussed the same. During the school summer holidays for the past two years they've chosen to operate their weekend seaside special bus service to Skegness; hitherto Hunstanton was the town of choice, although in order to "breath new life" (and presumably profit) in the service, Skeggy was chosen - and loadings would appear very favourable to the Lincolnshire seaside town: usually two, full deckers depart Peterborough's Queensgate bus station at 0945 on Saturdays & Sundays (& August bank holiday Monday) bound for the coast.

Of course this year added operating costs have been incurred, specifically the fitting of tachometers to a number of Alexander-Dennis Tridents, in order to conform to EU Drivers' Hours Regulation 561/2006. At around £780 per vehicle the pair of Tridents will effectively be operating their first weekend profitless. With the prospect of the increase in patronage by way of over-60s travelling for free and the disproportionate reimbursement rate of 71.3% by Peterborough City Council, those in control at Stagecoach Cambridgeshire have opted to only part register the service as a local bus service and part register it as an excursion.

The Lincolnshire County Council & Peterborough City Council journey planners show Service X12 as operating only between Peterborough-Boston this year - a route that, operating over a weekend, will generate very little patronage - though the service is then operated between Boston-Skegness as an excursion, and with operating a service as an excursion operators do not have to accept the free concessionary scheme.

There is one big revenue earning problem with doing this: excursions do not qualify for Bus Service Operators' Grant (BSOG - nee fuel rebate) and at the current level of 44p/litre this amounts for a sizeable payment, especially for a lengthy bus service to, say, Skegness. Figures will have no doubt been crunched, graphs drawn-up and a line-of-best-fit produced and the outcome accepted that assuming very healthy loadings the deficit in BSOG will be more than made up by the number of concessions willing to pay the £10 day return fare, who'd otherwise have travelled for free.

In small print at the bottom of the poster advertising the service in Peterborough bus station the following can be read: sorry, there are no concessions available on this excursion.

Bus Pass Heaven

A new website and forum for all those holding National Free Bus Travel concessionary passes is now available. Please click here for further information.

News #2

This week's transport headlines, that follow our new format, have been taken from bus industry magazine CBW (Coach & Bus Weekly).

New Placing Price and name change for Darwen. From 15 July the Darwen Group name will change to that of parent owner, Optare plc; additionally the company's share price has started to fall and the directors know of no reason why this should occur so have revised its placing price to 30p per share from 40p in order to generate £16 million from their AIM-listed shares.

More bad news from Plimsoll suggests 8,000 industry jobs could go. Analytical company Plimsoll has suggested that around 8,000 bus/coach industry jobs could go in the next year as part of an overall UK unemployment hike of 300,000. Details of the analysis can be purchased for £350 by calling 01642 626422.

New awards ceremony for managers. The Dorchester Hotel in London was home to the Passenger Transport Management Awards ceremony with top price Transport Professional 2008 being awarded to First ScotRail MD Mary Grant.

Roberts takes first triaxle Volvo deckers. Roberts Coaches of Hugglescote (Leicestershire) has recently purchased the Volvo B9TL tri-axle option, the first of their kind to be bodied by Darwen East Lancs and to enter service in the UK. They are 12.4m long, have a Euro 4 D9B engine rated at 310bhp and can seat 100.

Translink orders 45 concept buses from Wrights. Translink has ordered 45 new concept Solar Rural buses for its Ulsterbus subsidiary, the first delivery to be this month and for the entire batch to enter service by the end of the year.

First's superstar lifesavers praised. Transport operator First has awarded its 2008 Superstar award to John Corder who performed CPR on a gentleman who collapsed at his local bus station.

NCC scheme wins employee benefits award. Employees for Nottingham City Council can purchase an annual bus pass through their payroll, which saves significant payments of tax and national insurance and was seen impressive enough to win the "Most Effective Application of Tax-Efficient Benefits" award.

OBC speeds up the airline. Go-Ahead's Oxford Bus Company subsidiary has introduced a new, faster Airline service, linking Oxford with Heathrow and Gatwick airports, by avoiding the M4 route into Heathrow and using the M25 in order to reach newly-opened Terminal 5.

New Tourino for Marshalls. Marshalls of Sutton-on-Trent (Nottinghamshire) has added a Mercredes-Benz Tourino to its fleet; the coach is LEZ-compliant and has 36 reclining seats offering a much roomier feel inside the coach.

Strong June crowns the best first half for years. The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) has released "near record" figures for the production of full-size buses and coaches for the first half of this year.

CPT turns to members for PR campaign. The Confederation of Passenger Transport is planning a large public relations campaign in order to breathe new life into the UK coach industry and is initially looking at its own members for ideas by sending them each a small survey - the results of which will form the basis of the campaign.

WAG subsidy boosting compliance rates. The Welsh Assembly pays for three VOSA compliance officers whereas the entire West Midlands area - with a population twice that of Wales - has only one, and the Wales & West Midlands Traffic Commissioner Nick Jones would like to see the balance redressed.

Customer service moves up a gear for Cardiff Bus. A newly-modernised Customer Service Centre has been opened in Wood Street in the city centre, as part of Cardiff Bus' commitment to improve services for its passengers and address their changing needs.

Buses to benefit from station travel plans. Transport Secretary Ruth Kelly has launched the Station Travel Plan initiative in Derby last Friday, the main aim of which is to get passengers to use more environmentally-friendly forms of transport to get to and from rail stations.

Public opinion shifting as fuel prices sore. A YouGov tracker poll, commissioned by FirstGroup, has suggested that, as a consequence of the increase in the cost of fuel, the public believe more journeys will take place by buses and trains.

LOOK seals Stagecoach deal. Cctv firm LOOK has signed a £1.5 million pound deal to fit cctv camera equipment to the firm's entire 2008 bus order, totalling 580 vehicles.

New Chair elected to the North East CPT. Robert Knight, Commercial Director of Stagecoach North East has been elected Chairman of the CPT's North East division; prior to his election Robert held the position of vice-chair.

Shift to public transport is unavoidable. A call by EU and International Association of Public Transport is calling on each EU member state to earmark revenues from 'green taxes' for use in improving and promoting public transport as an alternative.

GMPTA pledges to get young people on public transport. A new 3-year plan has been announced by GMPTA that it hopes will get more young people on buses, trams and train, yet apart from mentioning its investment in yellow school buses and a £6 weekly ticket for 55 school buses in its area, nothing new has yet been announced by the Chair of GMPTA's Policy Committee, Keith Whitmore.

London drivers want equal pay. Bus drivers throughout London want to see the introduction of equal pay across the network; this was reinforced when 28,000 Unite union members voted for this. TfL has said it doesn't want to get involved and that it is down to each individual bus operator in London to pay what rates can be agreed. A demonstration march through central London is planned on 24 July.

CBW is now sold at Ian Allan bookshops for £2.95 each week, although an annual subscription of £69 sees copies equate to £1.35.

Cambridgeshire blow

The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) has imposed a total of 17 undertakings on Stagecoach Cambridgeshire, following its acquisition of Cavalier Contracts on 1 April 2008. Within days Stagecoach set-up a new company name - Stagecoach in the Fens Limited - and has just last week painted the first Cavalier vehicle into its corporate colours but this must now cease and no further integration is permitted.

The full OFT report can be found here.

Perhaps the most draconian undertaking is the necessity for Colin Brown, a Stagecoach Group director, to inform the OFT - in writing - every 10 days that none of the agreed undertakings has been breached. While publicly Stagecoach insist this is "normal initial undertakings" it is seen as a massive blow that will significantly hinder progress (and profits), specifically in the traditional Cavalier operating area in the LEYTR area and northern Cambridgeshire.

As can be seen from the OFT's report the Huntingdon & District (H&D) name must be retained and that the entire Cavalier business must be operated separately. For the time-being, Commercial Director of Stagecoach Cambridgeshire, Phillip Norwell, has taken over as MD of the Cavalier business. This will ensure that both operations are no longer managed by Stagecoach Cambridgeshire's MD, Andy Campbell.

It would appear that there may be some movement on dropping the Cavalier name, however, as the company's founders, Dennis Upton and Christopher Bloor, are legitimately entitled to continue operating their taxi and private hire business in Long Sutton, Lincolnshire using the Cavalier name - something agreed as part of the sale to Stagecoach.

Why has the OFT come down so hard on this particular purchase? Primarily because the H&D subsidiary was one of three bus operators (Stagecoach Cambridgeshire and Go Whippet are the other two) who was granted exclusive access to the St. Ives Guided Busway when the route opens. Following the acquisition of Cavalier, and thus H&D, by Stagecoach this would be lessened to just two operators - Stagecoach being by far and away the most dominant when compared to family-run Go Whippet of Fenstanton. In order to ensure fair play on the Guided Busway - a route which incidentally has cost more to convert from former rail line to busway than it would to simply re-open as a railway - Stagecoach's wings have been clipped.

Similarly, Stagecoach chose to divest its Milton Keynes and Huntingdon operations in 1995 when it purchased Cambus Holdings, inclusive of Premier Travel and Viscount Bus & Coach of Peterborough as too much of a swathe of the east of England would be under Stagecoach ownership and had they not done so a referral to the then Monopolies & Mergers Commission would have taken place, which could have ruled that Cambus be divested instead and losing Cambridge was never an option for Stagecoach!

Cavalier's logo - perhaps not consigned to history just yet?

It will be interesting to see if the raft of Cavalier/Stagecoach in Peterborough service alterations, planned for 24 August, will take place. Certainly this area of the operation has seen less rigidity imposed, although absolutely no merger of depots or the closing of Long Sutton - widely known to be of no interest to Stagecoach - can take place.

Robin Sisson 1955 - 2008

Somehow the news that my friend and Assistant Editor of Today's Railway UK (TRUK), Robin Sisson, had been killed following a collision between himself and a car as he crossed the road some 300yds from the Platform 5 offices in Heeley, Sheffield, had passed me by until today when I read the news, ironically, in one of TRUK's rival publications - Rail.

I was first introduced to Robin during the summer of 2000 when I was studying for a management CPC at Sheffield University. Dr Robin Sisson, who never told me he had studied to such a level of education to be awarded this title - such was his lack of imposed self-congratulation - came to give an informal chat to we 'students' about the role of integrated transport systems and that the world did not necessarily revolve around buses.

Seven years passed and on 1 July I found myself sat in a ridiculously overcrowded first class carriage on a GNER Class 91 train from King's Cross. The journey took place at the height of the floods that took hold of great swathes of the country - the ECML appearing as if it had been built on stilts above great open expanses of water. I remember Robin immediately congratulating the on board team personally for the great work they were doing in such extreme circumstances. He even managed to quell a potentially nasty situation when passengers were becoming most vociferous about the overcrowding of the train. He told them in a very informed yet simplistic fashion that the route trains would normally take north of Doncaster was flooded and that the only alternative route was not electrified and thus only half GNER's fleet could travel to York and beyond.

We reminisced about our initial CPC meeting and swapped numbered and have remained in touch ever since. I regularly purchased TRUK - a publication he was employed to assist its transformation from a 'train spotter rag' to an informed transport publication: buy a copy yourself, I think you'll see he's done a superb job!

Robin was a keen cyclist and knew the lanes well in Lincolnshire - especially in the Witham St Hughs locality, which was where his mother lives. I remember quipping that hed grown up in Lincoln and yet had never heard of the LEYTR!

Robin was instrumental, nay solely responsible, for the opening of Frizinghall rail station, a location he fought for years to re-open and to this very day numerous pupils at the Bradford Grammar School where Robin taught English use the station. Right up to his untimely death Robin was the main "adopter" of the station under Northern Rail's adoption scheme.

I most enjoyed our chats about railway scheduling - something Robin was as fascinated with as I am with bus schedules; unlike my equivalent knowledge, Robin's knowledge of rail schedules included a full, unmitigated history of every single National Rail timetable in the land; for example he was able to quote, with ease and without hesitation, precisely why the departures on First Transpennine Express trains from Doncaster to Cleethorpes are at xx42 past each hour - with full historic reasoning.

We'd met a couple of times since July last year and communicated by email, phone and text message.

He was very eccentric - able to provide a Handel quote for any occasion. He was a great lover of wine and classical music. We downed three bottles of red on the relatively short 1:40 journey to Doncaster where I alighted. It is an absolute tragedy that this very witty, clever, knowledgeable, educated fellow transport enthusiast and editor, died in such an abrupt and unjustifiable manner. At least those of us who knew Robin have some comfort from the fact that the person who drove the car that collided with him has been arrested and interviewed.

He always reminded me of the actor, satirist and writer John Wells - one of the very first contributors to Private Eye. They had a similarity about them in both looks and wit.

Robin will be very sadly missed indeed.

His death was well covered in the local online press as listed below. My only criticism is that they quoted him as aged 51 when he was in fact two years senior:
The South Yorkshire Star
Telegraph & Argus
Yorkshire Post - an obituary by one of Robin's former students, Ben Moore

transportinfo.org.uk

We should perhaps mention TransportInfo.org.uk since they kindly linked to this blog on Monday and almost blew up the statcounter!

We dip into the site fairly regularly. It amasses the day's transport-related news headlines - it's one of the best sites to go to for a daily transport fix, and best of all it's FREE.

TransportInfo.org.uk linked to our Rail Station Usage blog entry.

Graffiti train

I once watched a programme on tv about graffiti in London and was surprised at the number of people not necessarily in favour of this this latent form of vandalism, but either passing no real opinion about it or being mildly attracted to the 'works of art' that are daubed over the city. Graffiti takes two broad forms - 'tags' that people place all over the place, generally a small emblem or modified initials that are left by the purportator; and mural-type expanses where at least some form of skill has been used to create an image of sorts.
Such is the expanse of graffiti on the UK's transport network - specifically the railways - that the Victoria & Albert Museum's online shop was selling a model of a 'graffiti train' that the owner can then additionally daub him/herself. The product was promoted thusly:

"Indulge the secret vandal in you with this wonderful solid vinyl scale train and everything you need to get creative with graffiti galore. If dicing with death and risking imminent arrest aren't high on your preferred risk of pastimes, then here's a way to indulge your rebellious streak from the comfort of your own home or office. A solid vinyl scale train, ready and waiting as the perfect white canvas for all your creative embellishments. The train comes with loads of graffiti and tags for you to use as you wish. So get creative and vandalise away to your heart's content!"

The product, which was available for purchase 3 days ago, has since disappeared - possibly sold out! The same product is available elsewhere online though again sold out here in the UK but stock from the USA is available. Visiting the Firebox site you can see, if nothing else, the difference in sales techniques by contrast to that employed by the Victoria & Albert Museum. I especially like the term "Graffiti with no fears of getting an ASBO".

Latest rail station usage data

The Office of Rail Regulation has released the latest data for the 2,519 rail stations that are managed by Network Rail in mainland Britain. Based on sales, for each station a total usage figure has been calculated that comprises all journeys that either end or start at each for the financial year 2006/7. Additionally the number of passengers using each station as an interchange point between trains has been calculated.

Stations not included are those served wholly by London Underground. Data from the previous year's calculations (2005/6) has also been given and is easily comparable with the current details and thus each station can be denoted as whether it has seen growth or not.

However, be warned: a growth percentage of 99.9% for one of the stations in the LEYTR area - Gainsborough Central - stuck out like a sore thumb. Gainsborough Central sees three eastbound and three westbound departures on Saturdays only - a total of 6 trains per week and scored 2,519th in last year's figures, i.e. the least-used rail station on the National Rail network; this year it has risen 608 places and has a total usage of 33,271! How? Well the accompanying file, that should be read in conjunction with the latest data, explains all.

There have been four major changes to the way in which the data has been compiled and shown since the station usage data was first produced in the financial year 1997/8. The one that we're most interested in is that the ORR "have changed the methodology for journeys made to and from group stations (including London)".

Manchester is given as an example, although the same principle is applied to Gainsborough, which has two stations: Lea Road and Central. In previous years' data all journeys to/from Manchester were shown on tickets as "Manchester Stations"; this included Piccadilly, Deansgate and Oxford Road, except the station usage data was attributed to Piccadilly. In an attempt to show a better representation of Deansgate and Oxford Road stations' usage, a formula has been adopted that, assuming the total number travelling from any of the stations in the group is over 1,000 p/a, should give a true and accurate reflexion of the total usage of each.

Unfortunately as Gainsborough Central's total usage for 2005/06 was a mere 21 passengers this has artificially inflated the data to (an impressive) 33,271 for the latest data. This equates to 640 passengers starting or ending their journey each Saturday, or, more impressively, a staggering 107 per individual train!! This individual train figure is more than 5 times greater than last year's annual total for the station. The culprit? Gainsborough Lea Road, which sees regular, daily service between Lincoln and Sheffield and an annual total usage figure well in excess of 1,000. We assume that because one of the group stations (Lea Road) meets the criteria, the formula is applied despite the other(s) (Central) not meeting the criteria.

Despite the statistical warning (any statastitian will always be wary of any such usage tables) a broad consensus can be agreed upon for the busiest and quietest rail stations in the UK. No one can be in any doubt that London Waterloo, with it's 84 million annual usage, is in its rightful place at the top of the list. Below are the top 10 stations in all three categories:

Top 10 most used stations 2006/7

1. London Waterloo, 83.9 million
2. London Victoria, 66.7 million
3. London Liverpool Street, 55.2 million
4. London Bridge, 47.5 million
5. London Charing Cross, 34.7 million
6. London Paddington, 27.2 million
7. London Euston, 25.5 million
8. London King's Cross, 22.5 million
9. London Cannon Street, 21.1 million
10. Glasgow Central, 21.0 million

Bottom 10 least used stations 2006/7

1. Tyndrum Lower, 17
2. Buckenham, 22
3. Coombe Halt, 32
4. Golf Street, 38
5. Barry Links, 44
6. Denton, 65
7. Sugar Loaf, 67
8. Breich, 75
9. Dorking West, 79
   
10. Thorne South, 79

Top 10 most used interchanges 2006/7

1. Clapham Junction, 12.8 million
2. London Bridge, 7.7 million
3. East Croydon, 5.1 million
4. London Waterloo, 4.2 million
5. Birmingham New Street, 3.7 million
6. London Victoria, 3.2 million
7. Leeds, 2.8 million
8. Reading, 2.6 million
9. London King's Cross, 2.1 million
10. London Euston, 1.9 million

Bottom 10 least used interchanges 2006/7**

1. Rose Grove, 3
2. Burnley Manchester Road, 5
3. Upper Warlingham, 6
4. Bootle New Strand, 6
5. Long Preston, 9
6. Upper Tyndrum, 13
7. Smethwick Rolfe Street, 23
8. Fishguard Harbour, 27
9. Stockton, 28
10. King's Lynn, 29

** - only 510 of the 2,519 stations can be used as an interchange point

We've spent some time analysing the 64 rail stations in the LEYTR area and this will be included in the forthcoming July/August edition.

Passengers lose out as tram lines installed

The Edinburgh Evening News reports that bus passengers are facing three years of service cuts in the Capital, despite Lothian Buses - Edinburgh's largest bus operator - making record profits last year. Yesterday Lothian Buses blamed disruption to services by trams roadworks for a five per cent drop in passenger numbers so far this year. Falling customer numbers and the rising cost of fuel means the company is facing its toughest trading conditions in over a decade and bosses say cuts in services must be made.

Recently the council-owned company posted results showing profits rose by 20 per cent to £5.9 million during 2007. As a result, the city council stands to pick up a £2m dividend – just as the bus company is looking to axe loss-making services. This has understandably angered local residents and tourists alike, with the council perhaps feeling duty-bound to forgo a proportion of the dividend and to use this excess to ensure the continuation of bus services making marginal profits.

Ian Craig, managing director of Lothian Buses, said: "It is clear the disruption in the city centre and elsewhere has lost us more passengers than we have gained from the petrol price increases. This confirms that, due to the disruption, we have lost five per cent of our passengers. This is in line with figures from some major Princes Street retailers who, I understand, are reporting sales in central Edinburgh hit harder than at other locations."

In March, Lothian Buses revealed it was facing a £4m shortfall because of increases in tax and fuel costs, as well as a Scottish Government freeze on a rebate to transport operators used to cover rises in fuel duty and the requirement to allocate more buses to maintain service frequencies during the disruptive roadworks to install the new tram system. Lothian claim that they are able to cope so far due to a very successful year in 2007 - a year in which only the day ticket increased in price. All this and a total of 85 brand new buses entered service on the streets of Edinburgh, at a cost of £17.8 million.

Possible tram-trains for York

Plans are being considered for a new tram-train link between York and Leeds that, whilst not likely to be operational for "many years" would significantly improve the daily commute those living along the rail line currently linking the two cities currently have.

The call for a proposed tram-train link has come following a study that has been backed by York City Council and Leeds City Region, which combine a total of 10 local authorities. Local councillors have unveiled details yesterday while officially endorsing the proposal. This comes as trials are taking place on the 17-mile Penistone Line (Sheffield, Barnsley and Huddersfield), serving 37 stations, which, if successful could see tram-trains operational by 2010. Much of the York-Leeds proposal will rely heavily on success here.

The Penistone Line scheme will see tram-trains replace conventional rail services for a minimum of two years.

Commenting on the study advocating the York-Leeds scheme, Steve Galloway from York City Council said: "The tram-trains are faster, more economical and have the ability to go off heavy rail tracks. In the Leeds area this could be a real advantage as the tracks could be developed away from the station and existing tracks. Because the tram-trains are lighter than trains, they can be used on existing road infrastructure, such as bridges, so an extension is more practical."

Back on track

Today I received the very latest Derbyshire timetable book. It is the North East Derbyshire booklet that contains all bus times of all services in the area. It was one of the two timetable books that had been withdrawn without replacement for much of June. There is nothing inside the latest reprived publication that states the reason for its delay in delivery or why the book is dated June 2008 yet wasn't distributed until early July.

It could even be considered prudent to intimate the longevity of this book's publication relies on people purchasing it and to thus justify its production costs within the County Council.

Perhaps "business as usual" is the preferred tactic, which is a shame; for quite a few weeks Derbyshire's residents lost their UK-leading timetable books and associated maps and tourist information contained within each publication. For them not to be told this or to be given the opportunity to support a local production for local people is ill-founded.

For a non-Derbyshire resident like me, someone - who unlike an Ilkeston resident for example - makes use of all timetable publications as I travel extensively throughout the whole county on a regular basis, it was a welcome sight to see land of my hallway mat!

News #1

We've decided to end the Latest Transport Development digest news reports as due to the nature of our 'proper' work it was becoming difficult to maintain regular fortnightly updates for both rail and bus/coach news. Instead we plan to replace them with one-line headlines taken from industry magazines for the bus/coach world and the leading rail magazines for that industry, followed by one sentence of our own that gives further information.

The first example is below and this week comes from trade magazine routeone:
Environment drives modal shift. The detailed results of a study in which 4,000 people were contacted by Stagecoach show that 36% of car users have switched to buses; 30% of car users now walk and 5% now travel by train.

Strong Stagecoach performance. Stagecoach reveal revenue up 17.2% to £1,763.6 million for the year ended 30 April 2008.

National Express trading in line. Transport operator National Express report its trading as being "in line with management expectations" and that the integration of all its transport arms has seen savings of £11 million.

New Warrington MD. Warrington Borough Transport has appointed John Bannister as its new managing director who replaces Nigel Featham who has defected to Arriva.

Jail for drunk coach driver. Leslie Weinberg, 35, who overturned his Scania/Irizar PB, injuring 25 people in Newport Pagnel Services, has been jailed for 10 months, been fined £500 or 14 days' imprisonment to run concurrently and has been banned from driving for 4 years for drink-driving plus a concurrent 2 year ban for dangerous driving.

Fraser Eagle has 'bright future ahead'. This was how the firm's managing director, Kevin Dean, described the improved set of annual accounts which saw a pre-tax loss of £426,063 for the year ended 30 June 2007 into a £789,774 profit on a £30.3 million turnover for the following year.

CPT backs IRU call for a common fuel duty rebate. The Confederation of Passenger Transport is backing a call by the International Road Union for a common rate of taxation for any diesel used by commercial operators.

Labour unseated from GMPTA. Matt Colledge, the Conservative Deputy Leader of Trafford Council has been elected as Chairman of GMPTA, up-seating Labour of the first time ever, as a result of the former Chairman, Roger Jones, being unseated in the last local elections. Colledge will be in charge of how Manchester's £3 billion TIF money will be spent.

Bow is the big attraction. Bow Garage in east London is celebrating a century of tram, trolleybus and motor bus operation with a recent open weekend that attracted more than 1,500 visitors.

Bus Bill to next stage. The Local Transport Bill has progressed to the Committee stage now having failed to be derailed by intervention by the Conservatives. Graham Stringer, MP for Manchester Blackley, said that bus companies had become "subsidy junkies", more interested on how much grant they can claim than running a service for the passengers and that "The Brian Souters are always asking for more, to which a Stagecoach spokesman replied "It is absolute nonsense. The vast majority of all operators' services are run on a commercial basis and cost the tax payer nothing".

Plaxton confirms two B9R specifications. The new Volvo B9R mid-range coach has been confirmed to be available in two different specifications: the 12.3m Plaxton Panther body with front entrance wheelchair and Sunsundegui body. The B9R is powered by Volvo's 9-litre 380bhp D9B engine, mounted vertically at the rear.

Majestic relaunched. Lothian Buses-owned Edinburgh Bus Tours has relaunched its Majestic Tour, which visits Waverley Bridge, Hollyroodhouse & the Scottish Parliament, Ocean Terminal (home of Royal Yacht Britanica) and the Royal Mile. A new recorded commentary has also been introduced.

Tramlink sold to TfL. The transfer of Croyden Tramlink to Transport for London has been completed and is being seen as an excellent investment by taxpayers who last year had to pay £4 million in compensation.

Linked operator banned. Alistair Brown (Browns of Edinburgh), who recently had his O Licence revoked, acted with his son Ronald Brown in falsifying tachographs and their records, drivers' names and the firm "lied, obstructed and mislead" Traffic Examiners. Ronald Brown therefore had his own O Licence revoked.

Labour to re-regulate? Scottish Labour MSP Charlie Gordon wants to introduce legislation to re-regulate Scotland's bus network, though to date his plan only has the backing of the Green Party.

New trams on order for Manchester

The Chartered Institute of Logisitcs and Transport reports that Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Executive (GMPTE) has ordered 28 new trams as part of a £575 million project to build new lines to Oldham and Rochdale, Droylsden in Tameside, and Chorlton in South Manchester.

The trams will be built by global transport company Bombardier in partnership with Vossloh Kiepe and are costing just over £2 million each. The new model of tram already operates in several European cities, including Cologne and Bonn.

Philip Purdy, GMPTE’s Metrolink Director, said: “We’re expecting passengers to make more than 90,000 journeys on the Metrolink network every day when the extensions open so we’ll need lots of extra trams. We’ve got a construction team in place to build the three new lines, and I’m pleased we’ve now reached the stage where we can place an order for new state-of-the-art trams to run on them. I’m looking forward to seeing the new model of tram become a familiar sight across Greater Manchester.”

Last week, GMPTE appointed the M-Pact Thales consortium to design, build and maintain the new Metrolink lines. Construction work is due to start early next year and the lines are expected to begin opening from spring 2011 onwards.

GMPTE ordered 12 new trams from Bombardier last year to relieve overcrowding on the existing Metrolink network, and provide a new service to MediaCity:UK in Salford Quays. The latest order will take the total number of trams on the Metrolink network to 72. Up to 200 passengers will be able to travel on each of the new trams, and wide double doors will make it easy for people with wheelchairs or child buggies to get on and off them. Bombardier will design and manufacture the trams at its sites in Bautzen in Germany and Vienna in Austria.

Arriva pays KMP to stop services

Transit journalist Rhodri Clark reported via Wales Online yesterday that the UK's second largest bus operator Arriva has paid North Wales independent operator KMP an undisclosed sum to stop operating a competing service between Llandudno-Bangor from 4 August. The amount is estimated to be around £1 million for the 7 low-floor buses KMP operate.

Llanberis-based KMP has not been purchased by Arriva, just its competing service. Arriva would appear to have been badly affected as a result of its competitor providing newer vehicles with low-floor entrances and offering a range of much reduced fares. An example given is a day return fare between Penmaenmawr to Llanfairfechan - a total of 5 miles; Arriva charge £3.80 while KMP charge £1.70.

What has angered local residents and AMs is that Arriva are to withdraw the KMP diagrams once under its ownership; thus a reduced frequency will be offered (4 per hour while the current service level offers 7 per hour) and passengers will lose out. To make matters worse Arriva is also the predominant rail operator in Wales, and the Bangor-Llandudno area is no exception. Welsh AMs are very concerned that people are being forced to take either their Arriva bus or the Arriva train and that this firm's domination is reducing competition and also reducing service levels yet increasing bus fares.

Yet despite this, and the pledge by a Penmaenmawr councilor to report the firm to the OFT, Arriva claim the change will be "seamless" and offer "significant benefits" to its customers. It would seem that the range of unlimited daily/weekly tickets in the Bangor area is something KMP did not offer, yet no similar initiatives are planned for those travelling further afield on the affected route.

New 'Cab card' launched in London

London's Evening Standard newspaper reports today that an Oyster-style cashless card has been launched today for use in London's black cabs. The scheme has been dubbed "tap it and go" and works by customers touching an in-cab reader with their card which will then deduct the total fare cost from the balance on their card.

Today's launch sees the Royal Bank of Scotland-operated scheme fitted in 25 black cabs in the city and if successful the scheme is likely to be extended to a greater number of vehicles. The card itself is a "contactless" debit card issued by the RBS; no new-style card is needed, customers simply get their bank card out and touch the reader which will pay for any fare less than £10. A similar scheme was introduced last year where a Barclaycard could act as an Oyster.

Talking of Oyster, the company who manufactures the cards also features in the Evening Standard today, though not for such a positive reason!

RMs quit Nottingham

Bellamy's Coaches of Nottingham can't be called a stagnant operator! Over the past years they've had very good success with their Nottingham-Skegness-Mablethorpe service; trialed a frequent Nottingham-Newark-Lincoln daily bus service and more recently commenced operation of Routemasters in Nottingham city centre. What other small operator is trying such a vast array of bus and coach services out?

Only the Nottingham-Skegness-Mablethorpe service remains today as the Lincoln service was withdrawn some months ago due to poor usage (East Midlands Trains operates a very frequent and fast service almost parallel to the route) and a couple of days ago the RMs were pulled off the road. In an article in the CBW trade magazine last week it was revealed that Bellamy's had a run-in with VOSA officials and had lost two O Licences so there would appear to have been maintenance issues surrounding the firm, too.

Quite a few people we spoke to where aghast that RMs were running in Nottingham, one LEYTR member thought that it put back public transport in the city by at least a decade and that went against everything Nottingham City Transport, Trent Barton et al had struggled to achieve over the past few years. RMs emit more fuel, cost more in terms of wages as two employees are needed per bus and if people simply do not use them what is the alternative other than to withdraw the service?

The RMs began operation on 7 April this year and operated from the city centre to Arnold - a route served very well indeed by NCT using state-of-the-art low floor vehicles to an average 5 minute frequency. NCT also offer a full range of unlimited travel tickets for regular passengers as well as cash fares for ad hoc customers. Cash payers are not given change and this must have been one aspect that Bellemy's thought they'd confront and satisfy with their RMs - conductors always give change! It would seem that the 15 minute frequency offered with the RM route, the fact that Nottingham was never a hot-bed of RM activity and so offered very little in terms of loyalty and nostalgia and that many, many people have weekly, daily and monthly tickets pre-purchased for travel on NCT's service between the two points effectively consigned the brave attempt to the drawing board.

We understand that although VOSA did not give Bellamy's authorisation to stop the service with immediate effect, the RMs have been removed without replacement.

RM photos by Perry Jest & Peter Bown

Stagecoach pay rates

We like to think that one of the reasons so many people return to read this blog is because of its diversity. Transportation generally is covered - usually public transport related. Here's something a little different.

Bus operator Stagecoach has made known its hourly pay rates. Simply visit each of its operations using its website and apply to work for that depot. Here an hourly pay rate is usually given. Often a weekly or annual rate is quoted rather than an hourly pay rate, but basing this on a 39 hour week we've worked out an hourly rate for that depot/group.

Below are our findings - a massed group of depots and hourly pay rates after 1 year's continuous service unless stated otherwise. Of course, with such league tables there is a top-payer and a bottom-payer - in this case Oxford and Devon, though importantly this table does NOT take into account terms and conditions at each depot. For example Peterborough while appearing to not fair particularly well at £8 p/h receive time-and-a-half after 2100hrs and are only stopped up to 52 mins per day, whereas Cambridge seem to fair better at £9.15 p/h yet are stopped 90 mins per day if the duty spreadover is greater than 9:30.

We like to think that it is, if nothing else, the first national compilation of one operator's pay rates. No doubt Union officials will find it a useful tool for reference when entering into pay negotiations. Beware: pay rates are only correct as at today.

DEPOT/GROUP	HOURLY RATE	NOTE(S)
Aberdeen	£8.20 (after 2yrs)	£7.19 (1–2yrs)
Aldershot	9.19
Andover	£8.60
Arbroath	£8.39
Ardrossan	£8.39	After 6 months
Arran	£8.45	After 6 months
Ayr	£8.45	After 6 months
Ballater	£8.20 (after 2yrs)	£7.19 (1–2yrs)
Basingstoke	£9.17
Bedford	£9.00
Blairgowrie	£8.39
Cambridge	£9.15
Cheltenham	£9.36	See NOTE A
Chesterfield	£8.22
Chichester	£8.50
Corby	£8.50	After 6 months
Cumbria (all depots)	£7.92
Devon (all depots)	£7.50	After 12 weeks
Dumfries	£8.45	After 6 months
Dundee	£8.39
East Kent (all depots)	£8.55
Elgin	£8.20 (after 2yrs)	£7.19 (1–2yrs)
Fife (all depots)	£9.00
Forfar	£8.39
Fraserburgh	£8.20 (after 2yrs)	£7.19 (1–2yrs)
Gloucester	£9.36	See NOTE A
Grimsby-Cleethorpes	£8.15
Hartlepool & Teeside	£7.95	See NOTE B
Hull	£8.03
Inverness	£8.20 (after 2yrs)	£7.19 (1–2yrs)
Kettering	£8.66	After 6 months
Kilmarnock	£8.45	After 6 months
Leamington Spa	£8.63
Lincolnshire (all depots)	£7.75
Macduff	£8.20 (after 2yrs)	£7.19 (1–2yrs)
Manchester	£9.00
Mansfield	£8.20
Mintlaw	£8.20 (after 2yrs)	£7.19 (1–2yrs)
Montrose	£8.39
Newcastle	£7.69	See NOTE C
Northampton	£9.00
Nuneaton	£8.63
Oxford	£10.35	Tube £11.22, NX £10.90
Perth	£8.20 (after 2yrs)	£7.19 (1–2yrs)
Peterborough	£8.00	NX £8.20
Peterhead	£8.20 (after 2yrs)	£7.19 (1–2yrs)
Portsmouth	£8.55
Preston & Lancashire	£7.92
Rugby	£8.63
South Shields	£7.69	See NOTE C
Stonehaven	£8.20 (after 2yrs)	£7.19 (1–2yrs)
Stranraer	£8.45	After 6 months
Stratford on Avon	£8.63
Stroud, Wye & Dean	£8.75	See NOTE D
Sunderland	£7.69	See NOTE C
Swindon	£9.86	See NOTE E
Winchester	£8.98
Worksop	£8.20
Worthing	£8.51

NOTE A–Gloucester & Cheltenham quote an annual salary of £19,000 rather than an hourly rate. Basing this on a 39 hour week, the hourly rate works out at £9.36.

NOTE B–Hartlepool & Teeside quote a weekly payment of £310 rather than an hourly rate. Basing this on a 39 hour week, the hourly rate works out at £7.95.

NOTE C–Newcastle, Sunderland & South Shelds Teeside quote a weekly payment of £300 rather than an hourly rate. Basing this on a 39 hour week, the hourly rate works out at £7.69.

NOTE D–Stroud, Wye & Dean quote an annual salary of £17,750 rather than an hourly rate. Basing this on a 39 hour week, the hourly rate works out at £8.75.

NOTE E–Swindon quotes an annual salary of £20,000 rather than an hourly rate. Basing this on a 39 hour week, the hourly rate works out at 9.86.