Out on a limb?

Go North East's managing director Peter Huntley made a speech at the National Transport Conference, in which he highlighted his dissatisfaction with local authorities and politicians. Considering his audience was littered with a large percentage of these people, it was perhaps never going to go down well with them.

He said that whenever his company plans service alterations, they launch a direct consultation with their passengers, rather than enter into discussions with local politicians and authorities. He's quoted as saying, "They are the genuine customers. I am not interested in getting involved with local politicians who know nothing about our product and are only getting involved to score cheap political points".

We suspect that there are local issues at play here, and that whatever has gone on in the north-east has left Go North East's MD particularly annoyed with his local authorities and elected officials.

Let's face it, privately-owned bus operators can operate when and where they want, to whatever frequencies they like; only in very special circumstances can authorities become involved to stop a bus service. Peter Huntley's speech, while coming out-of-the blue (we're not used to such candidness from someone so high-up!), does it actually say anything we didn't already assume?

But once politicians and local authorities stop 'interfering' in the affairs of private bus operators, accountability is then surely lost and it is this accountability that the public like to know authorities have over privatised industries to stop the potential for us all being taken for a ride.

Low calibre staff

The front page of the latest edition of Transit carries a story about civil servants working at the Department for Transport (DfT). The headline says that the National Audit Office (NAO) has concluded that the DfT requires "high calibre staff" to negotiate with the train operating companies (TOCs). This all sounds fair enough until you read the piece itself.

Essentially the NAO is worried that the TOCs will take the DfT for a ride over their franchises and the amount of money they'll receive from the DfT if the department only employs low calibre staff. Every company, be they privately owned or not, wants to ensure its workforce comprises the very best in the business, so I was partly shocked and partly welcoming of the NAO's candidness:

"The NAO noted that the comparatively low salaries paid to civil servants and the DfT's unattractive image meant it has had problems attracting high calibre staff."

"The department has difficulty in recruiting and retaining experienced and skilled staff, particularly in its rail directorate... so there is a risk of insufficient capacity or the wrong mix of skills to operate effectively in the future."

Comments like these are not going to help morale at the DfT one bit, and at a time when the PM has made numerous pleas to businesses for restraint when awarding pay rises to its workers, is it not a little controversial for the NAO to suggest more money needs to be offered to attract higher calibre employees?

It was the Conservative government who privatised the railways and through a decade of indecision by the Labour, could it now be argued that the government are fearful that the TOCs are in a very strong position to maximise their profits further (as a result of increased revenue following the 1,300 extra carriages being provided by the DfT next year), while at the same time being powerful enough to run rings around the government's transport arm in order to squeeze as much money out of Whitehall as possible?

If so, then surely what the NAO is suggesting - as negative as it is for those employed by the DfT - is a sensible strategy to adopt to ensure the tax payer is not taken for a ride by the privatised rail companies.

Toilet humour

If we're all honest, visiting a toilet on board any sort of public transport is usually an arduous task at best. Yesterday I travelled from Oxford to London on Stagecoach's flagship Oxford Tube coach (I'm after one of the special Oxford Tube ties if anyone's able to oblige!) and for much of the journey the toilet was occupied by an Oriental young woman projectile vomiting. Even if I had chosen to make a dash while she temporarily re-took her seat, I'm not sure I'd want to go in there.

Coaches tend to have the most basic chemical toilets on board. They are improving - those offered in National Express' Levante-bodied coaches are a vast improvement on anything offered before. I spoke with NX's Engineering Director last year and he told me how he'd personally been involved with the design of the washroom area on these vehicles.

Trains fair a little better, as do planes. I'm always impressed with the mini judder just after the flush handle/button has been pushed/pressed, which is then followed by an almighty sucking action as, well you can imagine, cleanliness prevails.

Which is why I laughed at a piece in today's Daily Mail, which reported how a chap in France managed to get his arm trapped between the waste flap and bowl of the toilet on the TGV train in which he was travelling:

A passenger on a French train had to be rescued by firemen after having his arm sucked down the on-board toilet. The 26-year-old victim was trapped when he tried to fish out his mobile phone, which had fallen into the toilet bowl, and fell foul of the suction system.

The high-speed TGV train had to stop for two hours while firemen cut through the train's pipework. Firemen had to cut through pipework on a TGV train after a man had his arm sucked down the on-board toilet.

The man was carried away by emergency services, with the toilet still attached to his arm. 'He came out on a stretcher, with his hand still jammed in the toilet bowl, which they had to saw clean off,' said Benoit Gigou, a witness to the man's plight.

The shame of it all - especially to be walked to the awaiting ambulance with the bowl still attached! I cannot believe that anyone would even attempt to thrust their arm merrily down the waste pipe, especially after the almighty sucking sound generated immediately before the bowl is emptied!

Mugs to go on NXEC trains!

Cups and Saucers have been removed from National Express East Coast services due to complaints by some passengers in First Class that the noise of spoons against cups whilst the train was in motion caused an annoying rattling!

The first cup and saucer appeared on a British train on October 18th 1879, on a trial run of a dining car by Great Northern Railway between London and Peterborough.

They have now been replaced by china mugs which have undergone rigorous testing. These are only available to first class passengers, those in standard class will continue to be given disposable containers.

A BBC News feature on this may be seen here.

New Metrolink design revealed

The new livery to be applied to the Metrolink trams has been revealed. The new design was unveiled on a 1.6 meter model yesterday. The Metrolink was the first of the second-generation tram networks to open in 1992 and had been operated by Serco until earlier this year when Stagecoach took over their operation.

The current livery is a little outdated, it has to be said. Very few public transport operators rely on a livery that's predominately grey with a splash of vomit-green to adorn their vehicles, yet Metrolink does. The trams themselves had been long in need of refurbishment - most of which has now been completed. The new livery will begin to roll-out from next year, in readiness for the expansion the network is set to see, with new lines being built to Oldham and Rochdale, Droylsden, Salford Quays and Chorlton.

The new trams - which will operate on all existing lines as well as the new routes - are being built by Bombardier in partnership with Vossloh Kiepe and are similar to those operating in several European cities, including Cologne, Bonn, Rotterdam and Stockholm.

Up to 200 passengers will be able to travel on each of the new trams and the wide double doors will make it easy for people with wheelchairs or prams to get on and off them. Bombardier is building the trams at its sites in Bautzen in Germany and Vienna in Austria.

The completed network should be open fully by 2012, with the Droylsden section being the final stage for completion.

The new livery was developed by Manchester-based design agency Hemisphere. Grant Windridge, creative director, said: "Our aim has been to create a bright and iconic tram that is easily recognisable on the streets. We chose yellow not just because of its high visibility but also because its traditional association with confidence and optimism echoes Greater Manchester's attitude and values."

'Acceptably loaded'

The Department for Transport has altered its definition of the term 'overcrowded' when relating to the state of the UK's train carriages on commuter services in order to give the impression that things are now better than they were.

In a gem printed in today's Times, the DfT has announced that it's altered its definition of an overcrowded train so that many are downgraded to the next, less busy definition: 'acceptably loaded'.

What this means is that the old rules defining an overcrowded train - when 10 people stood per 100 seated - have been scrapped and replaced with new ones - when 30 people are now stood per 100 seated. It's understood that the DfT's desperate attempt to re-define overcrowded trains is as a result of the 1,300 additional carriages it promised operators over 18 months ago are going to be late in coming. They won't be drawn on when operators will receive them now, and only state they they'll all be in service by 2014.

New RM design revealed

London's Evening Standard reveals the second serious Routemaster design since the competition to design a modern-day version to operate along London's streets was closed.

"A RADICAL new Routemaster-style bus for London is revealed today with a "smile" at the front, U-shaped seating and television screens. The H4 is one of several entries for Boris Johnson's design competition to find a new version of the traditional bus.

The Mayor has pledged to get rid of largely unpopular bendy buses and replace them with "a modern Routemaster for the 21st century". A team of 10 designers in London and Nanjing, China, spent more than a month designing a model that would combine the best elements of the classic hop on, hop off vehicle with the latest technology.

Guy Middleton, managing director of H4, which has also revamped the Royal Festival Hall and office complexes in Dubai, said: "The first thing you notice is the smile at the front. It's just a small touch we added to make the bus more pleasing to ride. "We have centred the driver's cab, which would not only improve his peripheral vision but also make the buses easier to export to other countries."

The upper and lower deck have TV screens visible to each passenger as well as air-conditioning and heating. Mr Middleton added: "The TV screens are a possible revenue earner, as they could advertise local businesses close to where people are alighting, as well as flash the latest headlines and travel information. The U-shaped seating will create more leg room for passengers, and there will be just one unobstructed aisle on each deck which will benefit the conductor.

"We also feel that anti-social behaviour would decrease when people are facing each other."

The bus would have full disabled access and the seats would be made with a flexible mesh that does not collect dust or dirt. Last week, a glass-roofed Routemaster designed by Foster & Partners was revealed, promising to give passengers an uninterrupted view of the capital.

But Mr Middleton said a glass roof would cause too many problems. "It would make the upper deck unbearably hot in the summer, while it could steam up and even drip in the winter. What we've come up with is a cost effective and very sleek Routemaster and we want to win it.""

The wheel-base of the new H4 looks particularly lengthy and could have an impact on its manoeuvrability. A centred driving position sounds interesting, though to do so primarily to make their retirement to other countries seems a little mis-guided and facing seats might curb anti-social behaviour but they also signal the green light for people to place their feet on the seat covers. The 'smile' at the front is a nice touch though. Is the H4 a serious contender for the chosen RM replacement, or will Alexander Dennis scoop the contract purely because it's one of the few bus manufacturers that have shown an interest?

Platinum Trains

We're both very interested in a new open-access rail operator whose recently emerged on the scene, lodging an application with the ORR last month to operate non-stop Anglo-Scottish trains using the East Coast Main Line (ECML).

Platinum Trains is headed by a former Northern Rail project manager called Gary Jones. He has over 17 years experience in the rail industry and has seen a way to improve journey times between London-Edinburgh that is unique to a new operator rather than an existing company. By running non-stop between the two points, he says that almost 20 minutes can be saved on end-to-end journey times.

Would National Express East Coast (NXEC) consider such journeys? Probably not as they make most of their money by running London-Edinburgh services that call at many stations en route, providing local services themselves, as well as the important London-Tyneside rail link. While Hull Trains and Grand Central could consider the type of service proposed by Platinum, their localities are not best suited to this particular route.

Gary Jones has identified paths during Network Rail's recent East Coast capacity study that allow travel between Edinburgh Waverley and London King's Cross to total 4 hours and 3 minutes. From December 2009, he's applied to the ORR for two return services to operate between Aberdeen-Dundee-Edinburgh-London. Platinum's plan is based on the growing market share the rail industry has for Anglo-Scottish journeys and to do so without aggravating its competitors - namely NXEC - by stealing its customers. Platinum Trains hopes that operating non-stop along the ECML and only accepting tickets specifically booked for its services will dissuade NXEC from retaliation.

This could lead to problems with its tickets not being valid on other operators' services should a Platinum train fail. Only recently Grand Central had to terminate one of its services at York as HSTs are not permitted to travel south of this point on the ECML with fewer than 5 carriages between the two units and this particular HST was hauling only 4. As the service approached York, the conductor issued standard open singles to all passengers on board - this fare is £103 (calculated using the Fares Manual CD) - as NXEC no longer accept Grand Central tickets for when their services fail. A standard open single from Edinburgh-London is £126, from Dundee it'll set you back £141.50 and from Aberdeen it's an impressive £148.

The on-board facilities offered by Platinum Trains seem very impressive though. All passengers would be guaranteed a booked seat; the back of the seat in front would have a screen built into it so that Internet browsing is made easier as well as playing live TV; passengers could also use this facility to play their own CDs or DVDs - and all this as standard, fitted initially, to Class 180 Adelantes!

But compare this with the 1 hour 30 minute Aberdeen-London flight time and the fact that currently the 350,000-strong Aberdeen & Dundee catchment area has only 3 direct London trains per day, will the proposed 6 hour 25 minute journey time from here tempt those from the air onto the train - especially since Platinum's trains wont be calling at Newcastle, Doncaster etc to make up the profit margin.

Fascinating times though, especially since the ECML passes through the LEYTR back garden!

Platinum Trains' application to the ORR can be viewed here.
Their draft Track Access Contract can be viewed here.

Too narrow

There are many roads far too narrow for buses and coaches to travel along. One of which is George Street in the centre of Market Rasen, Lincolnshire. On a recent trip in my car (to the LEYTR Committee Meeting in Langworth no less!) I found myself stuck behind a Stagecoach Volvo B7 as an oncoming red van decided to pass through a gap narrower than his vehicle was wide.

The bus driver did as I presume he'd been taught and simply applied his handbrake and let the red van do all the work. My only slight quibble with the actions of the Lincoln-based bus driver was that he could have got a little further over to the left. The van driver was of the opinion that one should never go back, ever, so eventually negotiated the tight space, smashing his nearside wing mirror on the wall in order to pass.

Without a lengthy diversion, there is no way to avoid George Street; other villages and towns have similar routes and scenarios. What can be done? The answer is: not a lot. Professional bus drivers have to rely on other road users having the same amount of savvy as they do, but with driving standards deteriorating among car drivers specifically, I can't help feeling these situations will only occur more and more.

In the Peak District there are two particularly awkward negotiations for buses to make - Service 272 (Hulleys/First) in Bradwell and Service 173 (Hulleys) in Cresbrook. The latter sees a hairpin bend that 40ft buses need to negotiate, and the only way to do so is to ground the front-end. I have photos of this in action. That'll form the subject of another post though!

Fares Manuals on CD

Back in May, The Stationary Office, in conjunction with ATOC, chose to cease production of its range of Fares Manuals, which cover all possible journeys on all possible trains operating on the UK's National Rail network. Neither of us had ever purchased any fares manuals, though we'd seen conductors wielding a book of biblical proportions on occasions to ascertain a fare for a passenger. To be honest though, the conductor had to return to his cab first to get the book as it was most certainly not the sort of item you'd manage to carry with you easily at all times!

Now, however, The Stationary Office has released for sale a hitherto industry-only CD that contains all the information previously assembled in the Fares Manuals. The CD does not come with any guidance and since it's an industry production, uses abbreviations and codes that may require a little online research before all its features can be used properly.

We've just this minute ordered the LEYTR copy. I unilaterally made the decision to spend £14.99 (after VAT and postage) for two reasons. Firstly the CD runs separately to the summer/winter timetables, i.e. come December it will not need replacing (well, not until the following month anyway). Secondly the CD can produce all fares between two places without need to search for a specific journey online first. In fact there's no need for the Internet at all - the CD will work pretty much as fast as your computer's processor will allow it to, i.e. instantaneously.

At £14.99 it's a punt that could come in very handy for all sorts of people.

Click here to be taken to the The Stationary Office's online shop to purchase the CD. If purchasing over the Internet is not your thing, the publication has two ISBN numbers: 10-0117025976 and 13-9780117025974. The CD costs, without postage, £10.59.

Sep/Oct LEYTR

The September/October 2008 LEYTR has been collected from the printer and is in the process of being posted out. We're around a week later than planned due to holidays; we had planned on going to print the day before Showbus, so decided to hold back two days in order to produce a full list of vehicles that attended from the LEYTR area.

Quote of the week

From one of our members:

"Mansfield is rather like Grimsby - youths stood on street corners, throwing missiles at buses for absoultely no reason at all!"

How very true, but unfortunately not the image the industry needs if it's to try and convert Mr & Mrs BMW to sample its wares in the current financial climate.

A poser

Who do you suppose owns this bus stop flag?

If your answer is Stagecoach then you'd be wrong!

The flag, although displaying the brand image and font of Stagecoach UK Bus, is in fact owned (and paid for) by Peterborough City Council. Back in 2002, Stagecoach East's Peterborough depot made alterations to its aging network of bus services, resulting in wholesale changes. At the same time a partnership was forged with the local unitary authority who purchased all bus stop flags needed so that a kind of uniformity was given to the 'poles of Peterborough' (no pun intended).

Similar flags can be seen throughout the Stagecoach East operating area. Whether or not the respective local authorities in this area have paid for these themselves isn't known to me. Now, of course, Peterborough, along with neighbouring Cambridge depot, form the Cambridgeshire group and, along with recently acquired Cavalier Contracts, have struck a deal with Cambs CC to maintain every bus stop flag in the entire county of Cambridgeshire - all in the design pictured above, and whether or not Stagecoach call at the stop or another operator altogether.

It's certainly the first time I've seen a local authority provide bus stop flags in one operator's style and design. This has rather strange anomalies, too. Take the village of Barnack: it nestles immediately south of the Lincolnshire border, just in Peterborough City Council's area, and the village bus stops are of the Stagecoach design (pictured above); yet this is Delaine Buses' stomping ground; moreover Stagecoach operate no services through that village and haven't done so since the start of 2003.

This does open up the potential for many, many posts on unusual or incorrect bus stop flags. I mentioned last week about the one in Oxford Street, Grimsby, erected in the late-80s that has remained untouched ever since - still baring the GCT emblem (Grimsby-Cleethorpes Transport) and, better still, no bus has called there for over half a decade.

Not too far from Barnack is King's Cliffe, Northants, whose residents take for granted the RoadCar bus stop flags in the village. This is Lincolnshire RoadCar, who stuck their flags there in the early 90s when they tinkered with a Stamford outstation, after winning contracts to provide transport for Northamptonshire County Council. They remain in situ today!