January Review

No one ever commented on our monthly resumes that are posted soon after the month in question has elapsed. That's not to say people don't find them useful. We have had positive reaction following these twelve such posts for 2009 being grouped together in our handy LEYTR's 2009 Summary post. We plan to continue with the monthly summaries if only for the ease of reference to stories covered through inclusion in our annual summary posts.

1st: We kick of 2010 with our 2009 Summary.

2nd: Traditionally, news stories over holiday periods are pretty thin on the ground, and to reflect this we bring you news of a new pet passport scheme introduced in Yorkshire.

3rd: Union members at First Captial Connect threatened to strike over their latest pay offer. We look at the likely extension to the already delayed Thameslink project this could have.

5th: Such was the harsh winter this year, that National Express listed scores and scores of towns, villages and cities that it found were inaccessible due to the snow.

6th: Ipswich Borough Council enter into talks with the Go-Ahead Group over a part-sale of its municipal bus operation, Ipswich Buses.

8th: The long-awaited report by the OFT into the competitiveness of the bus industry saw the decision pass to the Competition Commission, who thus began their own two-year inquiry. We also looked at a request by First for the agreement to which it was bound when it purchased the ScotRail, imposing minimum service levels of bus routes in the same area, to be overturned, so that these routes can be severely cut-back.

9th: News broke that Nexus, the Tyne & Wear PTE, chose to award the contract to operate and maintain the T&W Metro to the German state railway company, DB Reigo.

10th: We look at the pros and cons of running bus and rail services on Boxing Day.

11th: There had been thousands of stranded and inconvenienced Eurostar passengers over the Christmas period. We take a look at what exactly went wrong.

13th: Quite by surprise, we stumbled across a fascination TV series called Great British Railway Journeys, fronted by Michael Portillo. One of the first episodes saw Portillo return to the line his intervention as Transport Minister saved from closure during the 1980s.

14th: Contributing writer CW brings us an unfortunate Quote of the Week.

15th: A new tool has been created that looks at which dense urban areas receive the best bus service. As well as the agreed pantheon of excellence were a few surprises - Derby being one.

16th: We allow a Union Chairman to have his say over the recent news that a High Court judge stopped BA's cabin crew from striking over the Christmas period.

18th: We reveal to the uninitiated what Headcodes are and why every train service in the country carries one.

19th: Eurostar reveals that its compensation bill following the Christmas problems will reach £10 million.

21st: Transport Secretary Lord Adonis reveals plans to extend the average train franchise length to around the 10-year mark.

22nd: We have a London Buses Fact of the Week to report.

23rd: RAIL's Editor, Nigel Harris, makes a fascinating comparison between Eurostar's compensation payout and that which US passenger aviation companies are bound by.

24th: Chiltern Railway unveils its Evergreen 3 project.

25th: Southern Vectis' aim to increase its ridership and revenue, while at the same time taking part in a scheme launched by the government to actually increase car ownership, has won an award.

26th: We have a look at the 2010 Transit Power 50.

27th: From the start of the year, Oyster pay-as-you-go has been valid on virtually all National Rail services in Greater London. Our very own LEYTR Stig takes a look at the details.

29th: Transport group Arriva signals it has been in preliminary talks with French state-owned subsidiary Keolis. Could this give Arriva a foothold into France?

30th: With news of the Competition Commissions ruling that Stagecoach must sell its Preston Bus business, we look at the other big bus-related story in the city: the bus station's looming demise.

31st: Despite TM Travel's long-term future being assure when purchased by the Wellglade Group at the end of the year, its preserved fleet was less safe. Virtually everything needed a new home!

A parallel Underground

We've got a couple of interesting shots from the London Underground. First is one in a favourite vein of ours: easily miss-able spoof signs.

It looks as though an attempt has been made - and then abandoned - to remove the spoof sticker in red.

The second is of a special Underground tunnel devoid of adverts. As many readers will have used the Underground in their time, we're sure you'll appreciate just how different this shot looks compared to the more traditional look, complete with adverts and buskers galore.


Except we lied! This is a shot from a central London Underground station, taking just before Christmas. It depicts tourists and commuters using the new section at King's Cross St. Pancras. Many of us will look at the above photo and think "how very refreshing". The LEYTR Stig and his compadres will look at the same photo and utter something like "a revenue earning stream is not being realised". We wonder what it looks like today!

A Train Manager writes...

Dear Sirs,

I read with interest your cleverly-linked entry concerning guard-less trains in Scotland and on High Speed 1 and the unrest within British Airways.

I am a Train Manager for Southeaster Trains (SET) and work exclusively on the Class 395 'Javelin' trains that exclusively operate domestic train services along Britain's only high-speed railway line (for the time being). I had been a guard working the traditional commuter services for a number of years and was successful in my application for a sideways step onto the Javelins.

Your piece did not point out that we Train Managers receive a basic wage in excess of the traditional, safety-critical guards working standard SET services. I receive £25,500 p/a, compared with £23,800. In keeping with SET's guards, I too can refuse to work Sundays and so my working week is Monday-Saturday. I am not classified as 'safety-critical' and thus my training was slightly shorter than that which is offered elsewhere within SET.

The difference between someone like myself and a standard guard is best illustrated with overtime and commission from on-board ticket sales. I receive no greater rate of pay for working overtime and receive no commission for any ticket sales. SET's guards can earn in excess of £500 p/m just from the commission earned from selling tickets. They also receive a considerably enhanced hourly pay rate for working anything other than their basic contracted week.

In so doing, the vast majority of SET's guards earn more than a Train Manager each year. I chose to work the Javelins as I do not work any overtime due to my personal circumstances. If I chose to do the same as a safety-critical guard, I'd be financially worse-off. Yes, I have to clean the train at St. Pancras and top the toilet up with water and prepare the train for its next journey, but this is a price I personally am happy to pay.

Finally, re ScotRail's proposed Driver-only Operation. I believe that while not even a train manager will be present on these services, a team of Ticket Examiners will be present on the route, whose express job description is reflected in their title. They will work longer hours than guards and, unlike SET, be paid significantly less than a Train Manager - somewhere in the region of £18k p/a.

It's also worth pointing out that the safety-critical element of a guard's job differs slightly from one TOC to another. SET, for example, do not permit their guards control over opening the train doors at stations - only closing them. South West Trains and Transpennine Express, to name but two, offer their guards the role of having control over both the opening and closing of the train's doors. The removal of responsibility in just one aspect of the door procedure can lead to the threat of strike action, as guards see this is the start of a slippery slope to being ultimately downgraded to someone like me.

Congratulations on a very diverse and interesting blog.

Something in the air!

British Airways' (BA) cabin crew, on Monday, voted in favour of strike action by a majority of 7,400. The reason BA's workers feel the need to take action against their employer is the same as in December, when they first attempted to strike: pay and conditions.

BA has enforced a pay freeze across its entire workforce and even go so far as to request that its workers go without remuneration for a self-defined period. Directors have refused bonuses, cabin crew on board various flights have been reduced in number and yet despite this, BA's balance book makes very gloomy reading: for example, its pension 'black hole' is financially greater than the entire company's worth.


With a strike likely to cost BA in the region of £12 million a day, the company's response to its cabin crew is that any strike action could have a far-reaching effect on BA's very survival. But with 81% of the balloted 9,200 employees willing to take action, is there any chance of disruption being averted?

Well, no date(s) has/have been set at the time of writing and disruption over the Easter period has been ruled out by the unions - who are no doubt responding to the huge public backlash when strike action had been penciled in for last Christmas. Both sides say they continue to talk to each other and everyone - from bosses to employees and travellers - will be hoping a satisfactory outcome is planned.

Meanwhile, First ScotRail's drivers, conductors and sleeper train managers staged a 24-hour strike on either Saturday or Monday. Further one-day strikes are planned on 1 & 13 March. The sleeper trains were disrupted from 2000 Monday night, with managers there striking until 0800 yesterday morning. Pay is not the catalyst on this occasion, but changes to employees' job descriptions.

Strike action had an effect on services to and from Fort William - a locality no further away from the disputed Airdrie-Bathgate line than Bristol is from London (118 miles).

With the forthcoming Airdrie-Bathgate link soon to be completed, ScotRail wants to instigate Driver-only Operation (DOO) along this new route's metals, thus saving the need for a guard/conductor. The unions claim this compromises safety, with just one person - completely separated from the entire train - in charge of door operation and overall well-being of everyone on board.

ScotRail - and more recently Southeastern - didn't used to be permitted to simply rid their trains of guards. Even during the first few years of privatisation, the necessity for a train guard to have overall responsibility for the train's safety was encrusted in the 'railway rule book', though dropped by Railtrack thanks to lobbying by the Train Operating Companies in 1999. In Southeastern's case, a 'train manager' is present on each of its high-speed Javelin trains, though simply check tickets.

The financial savings from the instigation of DOO on the Airdrie-Bathgate line is believed to be £320k a year, which the RMT union is keen to point out falls way below the £429.2k paid to ScotRail's top-earning director last year.

Seen here at Inverness during February 2009 is the new-look logo and all-over blue livery that is steadily being applied to all ScotRail trains.

We suspect that the unions are after a short-term all-out assault on ScotRail to force sufficient damage before the company can clarify anything with the High Court. As you'll remember in December, BA cabin crew had to cancel their period of strike action over the Festive Period as it was deemed illegal. Should those in the Far North with single-figure train numbers per day suffer following an issue in the lowlands?

Further strikes could take place next month when all Network Rail's South Wales signallers, the company's entire maintenance workforce and London Midland's employees are all balloted for strike action. There is the potential for a very gloomy period ahead.

Airdrie-Bathgate rail line's forthcoming opening.

Manchester's Crossrail

One of the reasons why us Northerners get a little cross with the way we're treated by the media was shown perfectly last week. You will be forgiven, if you live south of that imaginary Bristol Channel - The Wash line, for not being made aware of a £500 million scheme, put forward by Network Rail, to rejuvenate Manchester's fortunes through a massive upgrade of its rail network.

Yes, it was reported, but not quite so vigorously as had it been in Brighton or Reading. There was decent coverage within the North, but far less so in the South. You could argue that a redeveloped Manchester Victoria station has absolutely nothing to do with people living in the Home Counties, and you'd be right. But then Crossrail has limited effect on those hard-done-to Leeds and Manchester commuters. Balance is all I ask.

So far-reaching is the effect of half-a-billion pounds being splashed on Manchester that it was covered in detail within the LEYTR area, thanks to BBC Look North's East Yorkshire & Lincolnshire regional news programme. We could see Transpennine Express' services to/from Hull increase in number and see slashed journey times.

The scheme's headlines are below:

• Reduce journey times by an average of 12-15 minutes to places such as Leeds, Sheffield, Liverpool and Chester
• Ensure any redevelopment is done with High Speed 2 in mind
• New western bay platforms to be built at Manchester Piccadilly (15/16)
  
• A new Ordsall Chord built enabling direct Salford-Deansgate journeys
• Increasing the number of tracks between Broad Green-Huyton and Marsden-Diggle
  
• Grindleford & Chinley station to receive passing loops
• Re-doubling Dore Junction
• Re-open the disused bores at Standedge Tunnel
• Additional platform at Manchester Airport and Rochdale.
• Increase line speeds at Marple
• Increase line speeds along the Chat Moss route in readiness for electrification

The benefit:cost ration has been calculated at 4.0, which sits comfortably in the DfT's classification of a cost-effective scheme. Total investment totals £578.2 million and operating cost has been calculated at £849.9 million. Once revenues have been subtracted (£491.5m) the true cost is identified: £936.7 million.

Total benefits have been calculated at £3,733.9 million, comprising rail users' benefits (£1,601.5m), non-users' benefits (£473.8m), crowding benefits (£1,018.5) and wider economic benefits (£766.2m). A net preset value of £2,797.3 million has accordingly been reached.

Metrobuses & WMPTE

As someone who worked with WMPTE's Metrobuses, Steven Knight explains in a little more detail the MCW Metrobus' raison d'être, which we hope those interested in, and saddened by the demise of, this iconic West Midlands vehicle will find enlightening.

It was never West Midlands PTE’s plan to concentrate its 1980s double deck fleet on the Metrobus, but Leyland’s problems and the decision to close the Park Royal plant meant that there was no chance of the PTE receiving a batch of 135 Leyland Titan’s that it had ordered.

Following trials with five prototype Metrobuses (6831-35) of which 6832 was based in East Division, five prototype Leyland Titans (7001-05) of which 7005 was allocated to Coventry and Rolls Royce-engined examples which after operating from Perry Barr and Washwood Heath settled at Acocks Green garage.

Prior to 7001-05 being delivered, the PTE operated Leyland Titan prototype FHG592S.

The initial plan was to order 175 Metrobuses (2001-2175) and 135 Leyland Titans. With the Leyland Titan order cancelled, MCW gained an additional contract for 100 buses (2176-2275), with the balance of 35 buses being filled by Leyland National 2s 7018-7052.

A further 160 buses completed the Mk1 Metrobus contract, being delivered as 2276-2435. The engineers at the PTE were keen to take further Ailsa double decks, but the masters at the PTA were insistent that bus buying must be local and so the PTE option for 125 Metrobuses and 35 Ailsas became the 160 Metrobus Contract.

In an almost rebellious gesture the PTE did operate a late-model Ailsa/Alexander double deck for several months when TGG386W, destined for Strathclyde PTE was operated – in full West Midlands PTE livery. 2435 was the last of the Mk1 Metrobus fleet. The next deliveries, starting at 2436, were of the modified Mk2 type. And of the five prototype Titans – they were sold in 1984 to London Transport.

I worked in the PTE's Technical Engineering office from 1978 until 1986 and was responsible for co-ordinating Warranty Claims against MCW - then based on 12-months or 40,000 miles. This kept me in contact with the garages, but also with MCW including several visits to Washwood Heath. It also allowed me to borrow a Northern example for display when I jointly organised a (small) bus rally in Nuneaton in 1981.

Finding a seat

We've all been there, haven't we? Some more than others! The train pulls into the station and our heart sinks when we see that only standing room is available - and on occasions that can be a precious commodity on some trains! You may or may not have a reserved seat, but frankly the chances of even getting to the area in which your reservation can be found to 'have it out' with the person sat there is nil. You sigh and/or shrug your shoulders, take a deep breath and step aboard.

Wouldn't it be a great idea - especially for those with the more flexible (and costly) Anytime tickets - for travellers to know the likely loadings of all services from their station? Thanks to The LEYTR Stig, we're able to point you in the direction of one Train Operating Company (TOC) who's undertaken such a scheme.


In the first we've seen (our Stig tells us that no other TOC into London has undertaken this measure), GoVia's London Midland company should be congratulated for compiling average loadings and offering its long-suffering commuters and leisure travellers alike a wealth of loadings information.

London Midland's finding a seat page could potentially be pure gold, especially for those able to delay their journey by an hour or so. The site divides into two sections: the first lists a selection of its key West Midlands station; the second lists key London commuter journeys from the West Midlands. If we stay with the first section, a list of 14 stations are listed alphabetically. We'll choose the second - Bourneville, for no other reason than it was a location as seen on TV recently.


Click on Bourneville and a pdf will open that lists what London Midland considers its peak journey trains to central Birmingham against the number of carriages and a traffic light system which rates the likelihood of getting a seat. Green means 'plenty of seats', amber means 'a few seats left' and red means 'standing room only'. Perhaps Bourneville wasn't the best example, since all affected trains (from 0700-0930) are shown as green. Click on Five Ways, however, and things are not so rosy!

The second section is very similar to the first, except the stopping pattern employed to London Euston isn't as straightforward as to Birmingham from its orbitals, so some stations have far more trains than others. It is the stations with few peak time trains that have pdfs covered in red dots. Kings Langley, for example, has - despite 12-car EMUs - most of its commuter trains (7) offer standing room only, while Blethcley - further up the line and with 13 journeys - looks like a seasick frog being so green!

West Midlands to Birmingham journeys seem to only show the morning peak, while London Euston shows journeys in both directions. London Midland say their traffic-light system is a projection, based on current data, though pledge to update it every three months as well as add further stations to the list. Where additional carriages are not permitted to lengthen trains further, this is also stated, presumably to limit hundreds of emails asking the TOC to simply lengthen its trains.

The general public don't get to see the actual figures on which London Midland's seat availability is based so we have to hope they've not fudged their figures to classify a train as having 'plenty of seats' when, say, 7 seats in a 12-car EMU are all that is regularly available at some stations. After all, the rail network doesn't class some trains as having operated late unless they've arrived at their ultimate destination in excess of 9:59 beyond that of the timetable.

Cynicism aside, it's very pleasing to see that a TOC is at least offering its passengers the chance to travel on a later train if their itinerary so allows. Some TOCs may shy away from this openness, suffering from overcrowding far worse than that endured by London Midland; peak time Thameslink trains would see its station lists look positively plague-ridden, with red dots everywhere!

The Amfibus Flop?

Well they would, wouldn't they? The odds would have been so low that a bet would have been a waste of time. Stagecoach were always going to be the ones to trial an amphibious bus. No murmur from any other of the 'big five'.

The Dutch-built Amfibus emerges on Yorker slipway in the early hours of 8 February.

Of all the countries to supply Stagecoach with such a vehicle, it was the Dutch who surprisingly came to their aid. Tested between Renfrew and Yorker, crossing the River Clyde, was Dutch Amphibious Transport Vehicle's (DATV) £700k 'Amfibus'. The planned two-day trials were reduced to 'trial', following technical issues surrounding the vehicles operation, meaning that it could only cross the Clyde at high tide, otherwise run into potential difficulties, crashing head-on into the slipways used to meet dry land. We understand problems with the vehicle's air bag was to blame.

Naturally press intrest was very high and the 12.8m Volvo D12 was posed to allow a thorough inspection before its second trip of the day - which, unknown at the time, was to be its last.

The Amfibus seats up to 50 passengers and drives as a normal road vehicle as well as navigating waterways identical to a small vessel. In theory, the Amfibus is a one-stop-shop for seamless travel, removing the need for passengers to change modes at interchanges. The scope is limited - the Amfibus would be completely unsuited to heavy traffic in city centres - and with each seat costing £14k, the break-even point would be a long way off!!

Seen behind the Amfibus is the SPT ferry that is to be withdrawn at the end of March. In the background is Renfrew.

However, the Stagecoach trial was conducted to float (sorry) the idea for a replacement to the existing ferry service that links to the two points - a forthcoming fatality of spending cuts by Strathclyde Partnership for Transport (SPT). Two years ago, Stagecoach announced that it needed cash from SPT in order to retain its cross-Forth hovercraft service, linking Kirkcaldy and Portobello. SPT were not willing to subsidise a private company's loss-making innovation and stalemate was reached. Last November, however, Stagecoach announced that plans are now well advanced to re-introduce the hovercraft service.

Back to the Amfibus, and that a solitary trial was made is not encouraging news at all. Word is that Stagecoach plan to abandon the scheme altogether. If you don't try, you don't know though, so full marks here.

The controls look bus-like though communication is clearly key in the Amfibus judging by the plethora of navigation systems and multiple phones.

While the Amfibus is a costly innovation, ticking the 'complete transport solutions' box on transport planners' checklists, it offers limited scope for new opportunities. In Stagecoach's case, the Amfibus would simply replace an existing service and while this would be appreciated by those resident in Renfrew and Yorker, the cost-per-head per crossing would be astronomical, which would no doubt have to be reflected in the price.

London's Duck Tours use American Army DUKW purpose-built amphibious vehicles and can be seen at around 20 locations world-wide. They do not offer wheelchair access or an electronic destination blind!

London's Duck Tours offers an existing Amfibus-style service to tourists. It's something that's been replicated in Liverpool, too. In London's case, a TfL driver controls the vehicles on land, while a qualified captain takes over when the bus takes to the Thames. I once saw one of these American Army vessels collide with a car at some traffic lights in Victoria. The distance from the driver to the front of the vehicle is around 15 feet. This has been overcome with the Dutch version though.

All Stagecoach Amfibus photos were taken by Donald Stirling, whose Fotopic site can be viewed by clicking here.

Landmark ruling for First

Having waded through some of the Public Inquiry findings by Scottish Transport Commissioner (TC) Joan Aitken, I can fully appreciate how laborious summarising these for the pages of the trade magazines can be. None more so than that which featured in the latest edition of CBW, which detailed how a landmark ruling had been placed on First Manchester by North Western TC Beverley Bell.

I'll try and condense matters further!

First Manchester was accused of permitting its driving an non-driving (though in possession of a PCV licence) staff of contravening the EC Drivers' Hours Regulations during the Farnborough Air Show of 14-20 July 2008. Specifically, the charge laid down was that those who volunteered were asked to take a day's holiday at the same time as they were voluntarily driving at the Air Show and that the voluntary work would be in addition to their rostered work, which, in the view of VOSA, saw many drivers contravene the EC Regs' minimum daily and weekly rest periods as many journeys conformed to these more stringent rules being, as they were, in excess of 50km in length.


First Manchester admirably admitted that some of its workforce had indeed contravened the EC Regs by failing to use a tachograph to record how their day was spent and that in some cases drivers hadn't observed the minimum required daily rest. They did not believe, however, that any driver had contravened the more lax Domestic Hours Regulation's weekly rest period of 24 hours continual rest within 16 days. While the driving an non-driving staff who'd volunteered all had a one-day rest period following the Air Show, the allegation was that since the work they'd undertaken at Farnborough saw many of these drivers work days in excess of 16 hours, this pushed their work into a second day, and where this second day was categorised as a rest day, it technically wasn't classified as such.

Pragmatically, Ms Bell chose to not linger on this issue as First Manchester had held its hands up, but to illustrate the need for a full review of the PCV driving legislation, instigated a new regime for all driving staff across the entirety of First in the UK. The imposition of Ms Bell's undertaking to First was seen as more effective in the long-term than forcing a reduction in its Manchester operation's O Licenses, as failure to adhere to the undertaking could see swift, effective action taken by TCs in the future.

First Manchester accordingly agreed to:

1. Limit any vehicle movements in excess of 50km by third-party or non-regular driving staff and that proper records would be kept and retained in accordance with EC Regs.
   
2. All drivers of all authorised vehicles affected by the EC Regs will receive a refresher course on the Regs by the end of May.
   
3. No employee will undertake work conforming to EC Regs unless the meet both above criteria.
   
4. Drivers whose work conforms to Domestic Regs (virtually all) will be given additional training on the rules by the end of March.
   
5. A 'clear training and disciplinary procedure' needs to be drawn up for all drivers of authorised vehicles by the end of February and sent to the TC.
   
6. All First Manchester's transport managers are to receive refresher training apropos their transport management duties by the end of May; a caveat was added here stating that the transport managers within the subsidiary would now hold the role of repute for the company.

The rest of First's empire in the UK agreed to be bound by the following undertaking:

1. All drivers at all operating centres throughout Britain who work at any time to the EC Regs will receive refresher training on these Regs by the end of May and that they will only carry out such work after that date provided they've received the training.
   
2. First's directors who hold O Licenses in Britain are now required to inform their TC that all drivers who work to the Domestic Regs (the vast majority) will receive a refresher course.
   
3. The same directors are also required to present their TC with the date when a clear training and disciplinary procedure has been produced, detailing how this affects all drivers in all areas of their business.
   
4. All transport managers for all First's subsidiaries will receive refresher courses for their management duties.

It was Ms Bell herself who referred to her ruling as a 'landmark' case. Clearly, she wants the industry as a whole to take note and act accordingly. She is seeking clarification on the law at the moment, opting to force her raft of measures on First Manchester as an interim measure.

It's a telling sign of how complex and obfuscatory the current legislation is, that a TC was unable to apply it to a specific case. Let's hope the legislation is made a little more under-friendly. To quote Ms Bell: "The law needs to be clear, the law needs to be easy to understand, the law needs to be easy to interpret and the law needs to be easy to enforce."

Currently, it struggles to be any of these.

Farewell to the Metrobus

They've been likened to the West Midlands equivalent of London's iconic Routemaster and despite having only entered service here during 1981, over 1,000 have operated in the area for West Midlands Travel (WMT) - that was until Sunday, when the last one ran in passenger service.

The MCW Metrobus prototype was produced in December 1977 and was initially lent to London Transport (LT), who must have been happy with its performance on the streets of The Smoke that they ordered a further 1,400 examples between 1978-1985; they were numbered M1-M1400. The impressive fleet amassed by LT was of the MkI Metrobus and while they were loaned M1401/2 - MkII examples - in 1984, no further Metrobuses were purchased directly.

While the lion's share (just!) of Metrobus operation centred on London, West Midlands PTE (WMPTE) purchased 1,100 examples for its WMT fleet - both MkI & MkIIs. Of particular interest is that a MCW Metrobus was the first PCV to operate along the short-lived guided busway 'Tracline 65'. WMPTE also ordered 50 Metrobuses that were used on limited stop services, and were equipped with high-back, dual-purpose seating. WMPTE took delivery of the first and last production line Metrobuses: 6831 (SDA 831S) and MB70 (G408 OGD), though neither are around today.

Rows upon rows of Metrobuses were seen at many TWM depots - that shown here is no exception, and was taken as recently as just over a year ago.

It wasn't just LT and WMPTE that purchased Metrobuses new; other dense urban operators such as Merseybus and Strathclyde PTE purchased significant numbers of them and even the National Bus Company dabbled in a limited number for its Maidstone & District and Northern fleets. A 12m tri-axle version was produced for Hong Kong during the 1980s, named Super-Metrobuses, as well as an 11m two-axle example. In total, around 300 examples were produced for Hong Kong - some were even trialed with air conditioning.

The last Metrobuses were made in 1989, with production ceased following the collapse of MCW. The following year, Optare purchased the design for the Metrobus and, along with DAF, extensively redesigned the body to produce the Optare Spectra, which was initially built on the DAF SB250 body, produced between 1991-2005.

Tracline 65 - the UK's first guided busway and despite being short-lived, ensured the Metrobus was crowned as the first bus to operate along such a specialised route.

But it was in the West Midlands where the MCW Metrobus remains synonymous. The Metro Cammell Weymann factory was located here and accordingly the bus was seen as truly local. As a result of privatisation, WMPTE sold its West Midlands Travel business to National Express during April 1995, who re-branded the company Travel West Midlands the following year and National Express West Midlands (NXWM) during 2007. Henceforth, National Express has been the one directly responsible for this iconic bus' continued operation locally.

2654 (ROX 654Y) was the last-ever MCW Metrobus to operate in service last Sunday, performing a few trips on Service 7 between 1100-1400. Following her last run - and ending what has been estimated as 1 million miles in service - she posed for photos at the aptly-named Love Lane in the Newtown suburb. Well, it was Valentine's Day. NX released a couple of facts surrounding 2654 - the one that caught my eye wasn't how many times she'd been to the moon and back, but that 32,000 had driven her since new. Six Metrobuses are being retained by NXWM until the end of the academic year, exclusively operating school contract services.

Many of WMT's Metrobuses were purchased by operators up and down the country. Last summer, for example, Stagecoach in Lincolnshire's entire open-top fleet of 'deckers at Skegness ran up and down the seafront there, all new to WMT. RoadCar purchased numerous examples from TWM in the three years before being purchased by Stagecoach. LEYTR Chairman and RoadCar MD Paul Hill often comments on how the vehicles were so reliable that they'd planned on running them for at least a decade. With the exception of those at Skegness, no other Metrobus operates in what was the RoadCar fleet now.

Stagecoach inherited all the Metrobuses acquired by RoadCar and within two years withdrew virtually all save a handful for conversion to open-toppers. Seen here on Anchor Lane in Ingoldmells is one such example - now branded Coastal Cruiser, with a palm tree seamlessly deputising for the rear swirl that forms part of the Stagecoach corporate livery.

That said, m'colleague and I were never particularly enamoured with them. While the last to operate in Birmingham on Sunday was referred to as 'Roxy', on account of her ROX.... registration, we both lovingly referred to many within the RoadCar fleet as 'Pigs' - their registrations began POG.... It was Sod's Law, though, that when one of us accidentally referred to them as 'Pig Buses', it tended to be in front of a devout follower of the Metrobus who would ensure swift and thorough chastisement for not seeing the light.

Midland Classic own and continue to operate the first-ever MCW Metrobus, prototype TOJ 592S, numbered 80 in their fleet.

However, not being enamoured with a vehicle (the ride quality was something we both found poor) is not the same as being unable to appreciate it. Clearly, the MCW Metrobus ticked many boxes - both with drivers and passengers. Why else would it have been produced in such quantity for such a long period of time?

Half a century ago

It hadn't occurred to us just what a milestone year 1960 was for the railway industry. We'd both read separate articles on the railways over the past few weeks and noted how often the year 1960 was mentioned. Below is a potted history of developments within that year - now half a century ago!

1960 was the year that saw the standard fitment of phones aboard trains decreed unnecessary by the Postmaster General. He was of the opinion that there was insufficient demand by the public for such a service. How things have changed today!

1960 saw a much-improved timetable introduce on the Great Eastern Line to Bishops Stortford, Hertford East, Enfield Town and Chigwell. The 45-mile route saw four new signalboxes installed, two new stations built (Harlow Town was the first - incidentally the first station to serve what was designated a 'new town'); three station buildings that had been sold to members of the public had to be purchased back for public use and the Southbury Loop was used to send passenger services for the first time 41 years.

1960 was the year in which the Class 305 electric multiple unit was placed in service, being built from the year before at BR's York and Doncaster works. 71 were built though none operate today, and all this first class that saw use on the Lea Valley Line have since been scrapped.

Class 305s came into being in 1960, operating initially on the Lea Valley Line, though many made their way to Scotland, which is the location of this photo - a rather tired-looking '305' wearing BR's Regional Railway livery in Scotland.

1960 saw Class 45 diesel locomotives come off the production line for the first time. Built at British Rail's Crewe and Derby sites, this class, along with its sister Classes 44 & 46 became known as "Peaks". 127 Class 45s were built between 1960-2 and today 12 are preserved. A Class 46 was destroyed in a novel way 26 years ago.

Seen travelling along the Dawlish sea wall in Devon is a Class 45 "Peak".

1960 dawned the era of the high-specification, fixed-formation diesel train that is now seen up and down Britain, operating inter-city train services. The first of its kind was the Blue Pullman - an unusual, if not iconic design - that bore the floodgates for many to follow. While the Blue Pullman was revolutionary, it wasn't universally accepted as a huge step forward within the available technical boundaries at the time. Many saw this train as under-powered and under-used, first introduced on 23 June 1960. By the early-70s, the Blue Pullmans became so unreliable that a mechanic was required to travel on board every service they hauled.

1960 was the year in which the electrification of the West Coast Main Line took place between Manchester-Crewe and some lines into London's Liverpool Street station. It's saddening to think that it has taken a further 49 years for the government of the day to announce further electrification schemes in the Manchester area, with Lord Adonis announcing that Bolton-Blackpool and Manchester-Chat Moss-Liverpool will be electrified over the next few years. Following the Crewe-Manchester electrification's completion, the first train ran on 12 June 1960.

The Blue Pullman was very unique in its appearance, but was so slow - even by standards of the day - that many questioned its credentials as a high-speed train.

1960 saw the opening of the Margam marshalling yard in South Wales om 14 April. At the time it was proclaimed the most efficient in Europe but following the decline of coal, oil and steel has meant the site has become redundant and closed on 1 April 2009. A sad end to a yard that, at its height, occupied an area of 178 acres with 33 track miles, 50 sidings and 240 points and crossings.

1960 saw speedometers introduced to all railway locomotive traction as standard practice. Speedometer fitment to all new locomotives build after 1952 had been mandatory, but it was 8 years later that saw retrospective fitment of speedos to all other locos - steam mainly - take place. Hitherto, drivers of these older vehicles had to effectively guess the speed at which their train was travelling.

1960's total railway network miles stood at an impressive (by today's standard) 18,369 - some 10% down on the peak at the start of World War I though. The London Midland Region chose to close the Sandbach-Northwich route to passenger services and there were a handful of small complete and relatively insignificant line closures: Wigan-Chorley-Blackburn; Market Harborough-Northampton; Bala-Blaenau Ffestiniog; Newbury-Lambourn; Seaton-Uppingham; Leek-North Road; The Mound-Dornoch and in the LEYTR area, Louth-Mablethorpe. The most high-profile closure of the year was between Southampton-Newbury-Didcot. Services over the Severn Crossing were stopped abruptly on 26 October when a pair of barges hit the Severn railway bridge in heavy fog. Services here never resumed, with a knock-on effect that the Sharpness-Lydney route was lost.

On the Louth-Mablethorpe line were three stations. One was Theddlethorpe, whose station house remains today as a private dwelling, as is so often the case.

1960 gave birth to two new part-electric locomotive types: Birmingham Railway Carriage and Wagon Class 33 "Comptons" and English Electric Class 37. The Class 33s were ordered by the Southern Region three years earlier. 99 were produced in total, with construction taking place over three years and 24 remain today, all preserved. The Class 37s were ordered as part of British Rail's modernisation plan - in the face of cut-backs by the government at the time, who intended to invest more heavily in the building of motorways. Known to many enthusiasts as "Tractors", these unique-looking locos were the mainstay of inter-city services between London and East Anglia and within Scotland. On the 2005 LEYTR RailRover, m'colleague and I were hauled by Class 37 traction on the Caledonian Sleeper between Edinburgh and Fort William. 309 Class 37s were built over a six-year period, with well over 40 currently in preservation and haulage companies such as DB Schenker and Direct Rail Services still employing this stalwart loco today.

Class 37s still operate in service today, at a time when they're celebrating their 50th birthday. A fair few trains had a 'snout', though none so distinctive as the '37'.

1960 was the year that saw the final steam trains made, with the last three, 92218-20 ('9F' 2-10-0s), being delivered from Swindon Works in March. 92220 was named "Evening Star" and had been the last-ever steam loco built in the UK until Tornado came along 49 years later. Tornado's first-ever passenger charter took place on 31 January 2009. We detailed its second trip.

Tornado stole 92220's thunder after 49 years. "The Evening Star" is now the penultimate steam locomotive to be built in Britain.

1960 was the first full year without the Midland & Great Northern Line, which passed through the south of the LEYTR area, running betwixt Peterborough and Great Yarmouth via a couple of routes: one branching off the East Coast Main Line at Essendine and travelling through Bourne, Twenty, Counter Drain and North Drove to Spalding. The other was from Peterborough to Wisbech, with both lines converging at Sutton Bridge to Great Yarmouth, with a branch to Norwich and Lowestoft. With the appointment of Dr. Richard Beeching in 1961 as BR's Board Chairman, things would change drastically forever....

1960 was the first full year that saw no service from Bourne. GC 40454 is seen here at Bourne during July 1955 working the 1621 King's Lynn-Nottingham service.

1960 gave Scotland its first electrified lines, with 51 miles in the Glaswegian suburbs being completed, at a cost of £13 million, though problems were to follow. So ambitious was the plan to introduce electric traction in the Glasgow area, that five serious electric multiple unit transformer explosions took place less than six weeks after the new 25kV 'Blue Trains' were introduced on 5 November). This necessitated the complete suspension of the new timetable - and it would be another 18 months before the full service was introduced. Happier times were to follow, however, and today this catchment has been extended to reach 2.5 million homes.

Taken from BR's publicity during the 1960s is this Blue Train at an unknown Scottish station. Following the serious reliability issues that clouded the electrification for the first 18 months, suburban Glasgow has benefited massively and now 2.5 million homes are served by the scheme.

1960 gave birth to the Neville Hill maintenance depot, near Leeds. Initially converted from loco sheds to a base to maintain around 240 diesel multiple units and shunters, the large yard, located just two miles from the centre of Leeds and adjacent to the line from York has been transformed into the all-singing, all-dancing Neville Hill maintenance depot, shared by East Midlands Trains and Northern.

Photos: ScotRail (Class 305); Trainnet (Class 37); Steve Johnson (Class 45); Andy27350 (Class 66, Margam) and Old Dalby (Blue Pullman).

Competitive Nottingham

It's not just YourBus who've started competing within Nottingham and its environs, Premiere Buses has been competing with Trent Barton along the Bingham-Radcliffe-Nottingham corridor since last year, and as we recently reported (via a Stop Press! item at the foot of our recent YourBus entry), the Dunn family plan on competing head-to-head with Nottingham City Transport (NCT) between the city centre and Chilwell.

This is precisely what the Office of Fair Trading insists is not happening throughout the bus industry, claiming the market has become stagnant by the large operators flexing their muscles to ensure that any new operator lasts but a moment. There are positives and negatives with the insurgence of hitherto unknowns, as the remainder of today's entry will demonstrate.

Why Nottingham?

None of the 'big five' has a foothold in the city. First is kept at bay to the south (Leicester), Stagecoach to the north (Mansfield) and Arriva to the west (Derby). The city council is the one operating the dominant bus company in the area - Nottingham City Transport. Wellglade's Trent Barton operates the more traditional rural and inter-urban services, typically to the south and west, with a joint-operation with Stagecoach to the north. The perceived might and dominance of First, Arriva, Stagecoach, Go-Ahead & National Express simply isn't visible in Nottingham. NCT, through its municipal ownership and operation, is seen as a laboriously slow-to-respond operator, who's 'got it wrong' numerous times in the past.

These are the base ingredients for smaller, often family-owned operators, to emerge. During the 1990s, Pathfinder brought competition to the east of the city, operating inter-urban services to Southwell and Newark, but eventually selling to NCT. A couple of years ago, Bellamy's Coaches introduced Routemasters to Nottingham to see what would happen. Family-owned Dunn Line sold to the much larger Veolia in 2007, who've not built on the family's success in the area, preferring to concentrate more on the coach side. YourBus emerged last year, backed by many individuals who appear on the board of Rotala, though managed and operated by the Dunn Family. Premiere Buses, perhaps having witnessed the Dunn resurgence, dipped its toe in the water in 2008, competing with Trent Barton between Bingham, Radcliffe and Nottingham.

On paper, the comings and goings of bus and coach operators in Nottingham is just what was prescribed when the deregulation and privatisation of the bus industry was floated in the 1980s. If things were so rosy, though, Pathfinder wouldn't have sold to NCT, who last year closed their Newark base; Bellamy's would still be operating RMs; Dunn Line would never have been sold and thus YourBus wouldn't have emerged. A decade ago, NCT revamped its entire network of services and got it wrong. Thousands of regular passengers were inconvenienced and many route and frequency alterations were made to put right the gaps in operation and some cross-city flows. I remember reading that industry observers believed the long-term effect on the council-owned operator could be massive and that smaller, fledgling operators could well gain in the long term. Perhaps this is a reason why smaller operators are competing?

YourBus

Today, and YourBus - the city's newest bus operator - is approaching its first birthday. We stated that its first year's operation has been regarded as a success. The physical number of buses operating for that operator on the streets of Nottingham has remained constant. However, one of their two routes was withdrawn (Service 82: Nottingham-Bulwell-Phoenix Park) and the resource placed onto Service 81 (Nottingham-Bulwell-Hempshill Lane), to maintain a 10 minute headway throughout. Not everyone is so enamoured with YourBus' media machine claiming a successful first year though!

Since we last visited Nottingham, the start point for Service 81 in the city centre has completely altered. If you remember, last spring, the timetable for the route claimed buses departed from Friar Lane, when in actuality, they departed from a stop round the corner on Beastmarket Hill. Now, the service departs from Milton Street - twice. Two stops are served, T1 and T4, separated by three bus lengths. Why? NCT's Brown Line calls at T1 and Yellow Line at T4. Both operate different routes, but both serve Bulwell. YourBus appears to be attempting to attract all of NCT's Bulwell patronage. So much for claiming to be an alternative to the city's tram network!

A new operator naturally needs to find its feet. They will implement a fares policy that was analysed on paper. After a few months, tweaks may well be needed. This hadn't been the case for YourBus until last month, which saw their 'short hop' £1 fare withdrawn; their single reduce to £1.50 and their Day ticket increase to £2.50. Clearly, the Day ticket still represents excellent value for money, provided you do not need to travel on any other bus service for the day. As managing director Scott Dunn pointed out, it is cheaper than the equivalent offered by NCT, though theirs only permits travel on the now solitary YourBus route, as opposed to every NCT bus in the city limits for 50p more. YourBus single fares now match those of NCT.

Opposing the Quality Bus Partnership

It is a shame that the smaller operators tend to be against the introduction of Statutory Quality Bus Partnerships (SQBP) and YourBus is no different. In a press statement, Scott Dunn claimed the scheme as 'anti-competitive' and restrictive to further growth. Nottingham's SQBP will require operators to meet strict emission and frequency standards in return for their use of the city centre's bus stops. YourBus' fleet does not meet the emissions standard and so will potentially be forced to the 'outskirts'. By 'outskirts', they refer to either Victoria or Broadmarsh bus stations, which can hardly be considered peripheral to the city centre. YourBus claim that its regulars will thus have further to walk. Not as far as they have to walk on Sundays or during weekday evenings when YourBus do not operate!

YourBus also seem to be against reducing the number of times an operator can change its timetables. Rotala, for example, benefits from an agreement in the West Midlands enabling them to change timetables up to thirteen times a year, while Nottingham's SQBP would cap this at six. "That’s possibly four too many! A great barrier to attracting passengers to bus services is confusion over timetables, due to times being revised too often. Any operator that changes times 13 times in a year is treating passengers with contempt," said our well-placed source.

YourBus, bizarrely, claimed that they do not compete with any other service. Their initial publicity made direct reference to how they were far superior to the tram. They're also copying NCT's Service 36 - even down to the same city centre departure point - from the end of the month.

Said our insider: "The City has used taxpayers money to provide quality infrastructure – raised curbs at stops, well-maintained bus shelters, information screens (with real time on some routes), timetable information, gradual introduction of bus priority measures and so on. Surely the least to be expected is for the bus companies to offer equal benefits to the passenger in partnership with the City Council?"

Premiere Buses -v- Trent Barton

Nottingham-based Premiere has worked wonders in improving the passenger base of their Service X9 between Nottingham and Loughborough, following it passing to them from Arriva. Ensuring minimal competition with South Notts' Service 1, the route has seen excellent levels of growth. This has seen the company take on Trent Barton between Bingham-Radcliffe-Nottingham. Their competing service started last year and has recently been increased in frequency to every 15 minutes and branded Red1. We understand the new name pokes fun at Trent Barton's competing XPRSS service, which wears an two-tone green livery and is known locally as the 'green one'.

With Trent Barton's Radcliffe Line and XPRSS, along with Premiere's Red1 operating along the corridor, there are now 12 buses per hour between Radcliffe and Nottingham, which many think unsustainable. Nottingham-bound departures from Bingham see identical departure times on XPRSS and Red1. So many buses have flooded Bingham recently, that Premiere agreed to curtail its Red1 at the market place, rather than operate to Willow Road.

Unlike YourBus, Premiere do offer an evening and Sunday service on its competing route. The last bus from Nottingham is 2300 - connecting at Bingham for onward journeys to Cropwell Bishop/Butler and the Belvoir Villages.

Some vaccuuming?

Some argue that smaller operators - both new to the industry and existing ones - are merely 'hoovering up' the concessionary travellers, who thanks to the nature of their English National Concessionary (ENC) cards, have no need to remain 'brand loyal', as had been the case when they paid. It has been suggested that some of the smaller operators nationally, who spring up suddenly, mirroring what many believe to be busy bus corridors, already at passemger saturation point, simply want to cash-in on those who do not pay. This demographic simply board the first bus that comes along and if your smaller, fledgling company is that next bus, you'll legitimately receive the reimbursement over your larger, more established competitor. Likely? I think that's down to you to decide.

It is interesting to think that many operators claim they are financially worse-off as a result of the ENC scheme, yet counter-claims are made that this elusive revenue is what many competing services run by smaller operators are in business for.

Further Reading
Nottingham's SQBP - full details
YourBus website
Premiere Buses website
Trent Barton website
Nottingham City Transport website