Latest EMT Fleet List

An up-to-date fleet list (to 29.05.08) for East Midlands Trains has been uploaded to the LEYTR website and may be seen by clicking here (PDF)

The End to Shared Berths?

First Great Western has announced that it will no longer allow strangers to share berths in sleeping carriages on it's Night Riviera service between Paddington and Penzance. A spokesman for FGW commented: "'It is considered more appropriate in the modern age to allow people their privacy. 'You wouldn't expect to share a hotel room with a stranger and nor should you expect to share a sleeper carriage with someone you don't know."

Couples will still be able to book a twin berth for £30 each, but all single passengers will have to pay £40 - or £80 for a return journey - to have a berth to themselves. Currently, the company's sleeper carriage can accommodate 24 people sharing twin berths. Under the new rules, it could provide beds for only 12 people travelling alone.

First Group, the parent company, is also considering an end to allowing strangers to share on its London-Scotland sleepers.

No bus to China!

The new Mayor for London has scrapped his predecessor's plan to send a bus to China for the Olympic Games. Ex Mayor, Ken Livingston, said sending the bus to the games were part of a scheme to regenerate east London.

However, Boris Johnson has responded by saying that it should be more about getting children into sports and deemed the scheme a publicity stunt and a "ludicrous waste of public money."

Unfortunately, London's tax payers will still have to pay more than half the £450,000 costs in organising the project and recruiting the eight drivers.

East Midlands Trains locomotive hauled

To ease the possibility of overcrowding on Bank Holiday Monday, East Midlands trains hired the use of two West Coast Railway locomotives and coaching stock. These worked an additional 1E27 service from Nottingham at 1020 to Skegness, returning from there to Nottingham as 1M34 at 1430. The locomotives used were 47787 and 17851 working "top & tail". Video of it departing from Skegness can be seen below, and additional photographs are available on the LEYTR website.

In addition to this, three standby buses were provided. Rail Replacement services, previously managed by National Express, are now managed by Stagecoach, generally using vehicles from Peterborough, as illustrated below:

New CallConnect services

I was given the latest copy of the Lincolnshire Public Transport Map & Guide today, it's dated as Spring 2008. The map itself is very similar to previous editions, though is now produced by FWT rather than Pindar and depicts bus routes by the number they actually display on the front. For many years LCC chose to only display the route numbers of RoadCar services on their map with all other operators' services assigned a zombie number that was referred to in the timetable booklets. This worked well when cross referring services from the book to the map but in many cases the number displayed by the bus service itself was totally different!

Now, happily, normality has been restored. Of most interest is on the back of the map where three new CallConnect demand responsive bus services have been listed: Service 15B, based around Bourne; Service 1K, based in the Kesteven area and Service 51E, based to the east of Louth. Both are listed as commencing in July. Also on the list is the most recent new CallConnect service - the CallConnect 31, based around Sleaford.

Delaine Buses withdrew their Bourne Town Service and reductions in frequency on Services 602 and 635 following Stagecoach's withdrawal from the routes (which have been taken over by Centrebus but to differing frequencies) have made Lincs CC look at a more effective method of subsidy - their CallConnect minibus services. This seems to follow a trend central government seem to be hinting at: they feel that subsidising set rural bus services to not be the best use of funds available and that in some cases providing taxis would be cheaper! Of course the "third way", to coin a New Labour phrase, is to provide a taxi-style service that is still classed as a bus, and this is where CallConnect comes in.

Many local councils throughout the country are slowly realising the benefits of similar demand responsive schemes, especially in rural areas. Lincolnshire was one of the first in the country to trial such schemes as part of its InterConnect brand and won a national award for its efforts. Come July it will be very interesting to see the number of settlements covered by CallConnect and what percentage this makes up of the entire county!

Tree collision kills passenger

Last Tuesday (20 May) saw a pedestrian killed in central London when branches torn from a tree by a passing bus landed on top of her. Eighteen other people were injured, four of them seriously, when the accident happened in Tower Bridge Road at about 0945.

The bus was operating Service 188 between Russell Square-North Greenwich and hit the tree near the junction with Tanner Street in Bermondsey. Police said officers have spoken to the driver of the bus though have yet to make their findings known.

A Metropolitan Police spokesman said: "One woman was pronounced dead at the scene. She is believed to have been hit by falling branches." Transport for London (TfL) said it had launched a full investigation into the crash. A spokesman said: "Trees along this section of Tower Bridge Road are owned and maintained by TfL and are included in our rigorous tree maintenance programme."

The branch is believed to have hit the right-hand corner of the bus, denting the roof and shattering glass in the front windows of the top and bottom deck. One eyewitness said the collision was caused by a large tree branch which smashed into the double-decker.

Tower Bridge Road and several other roads were closed, and buses diverted, for most of the day while forensic experts examined the area. The 188 is operated by Travel London, a subsidiary of National Express Group, which operates more than 30 bus routes in the London area.

One of the comments left on the Sky news website was by a reader in Canada who was amused to see that TfL and its outgoing head - Ken Livingstone - were being blamed for the accident, when in contrast the incoming mayor - Boris Johnson - pledged to plant many hundreds more!

Reduced Grand Central service

The East Coast's newest open access operator, Grand Central, has been compelled to introduce an emergency timetable following a series of rolling stock failures, including a fire on board a train travelling from Sunderland to London King's Cross on 15 May.The blaze occurred in the leading power car while the unit was travelling between Northallerton and Thirsk. No one was hurt in the incident and passengers for London were transferred on to a NXEC service.

Until Grand Central's fleet is fully operational again only one of the three direct trains in each direction will run between Sunderland and London. The other scheduled services are being replaced with a series of Grand Central shuttle trains running along part of the route and connections with National Express services, increasing journey times in some instances. Grand Central says these arrangements will be kept in place for the remainder of the week and may continue into next week, depending on progress to replace major rolling stock components. Two of the company's six Class 43 power cars have been sent to Brush Traction for the necessary work.

Such has been the problems with its power cars that on 21 April and 15 May detailed and full apologies have been issued to passengers. Other rail operators - particularly Hull Trains - have been vociferous in their concerns about the knock-on effect to their services' punctuality.

Full details of the emergency timetable can be viewed by clicking here.

S457 BCE returns!

Volvo B10M/Jonckheere Mistral S457 BCE made a return to its once familiar haunt at Skegness on 24 May, whilst it worked a rail replacement service. Now based at Rugby and in the Megabus fleet, until November 2005 this was one of the vehicles deployed on the National Express services (447-9) when it was based with Stagecoach in Cambridgeshire. Two comparison shots are given below, one outside the Stagecoach depot in Grimsby in October 2005, and below one of it at Skegness on 24 May 2008.

Stagecoach buy Rapsons

The whispers had been around for a while and flatly denied by Stagecoach spokespeople, so it was only a matter of time before the confirmation of the sale of Rapsons bus and coach business to the UK's third largest bus operator, Stagecoach, was announced on 19 May 2008.

The Rapsons Coaches business additionally comprises Highland Country Buses Ltd and Orkney Coaches Ltd. Bus and coach services are operated throughout the Highlands of Scotland with bus depots at Inverness, Aviemore, Fort William, Portree, Thurso, Wick and Orkney, plus a number of outstations. Services are also operated on the Isle of Skye. Contracts exist to operate services for Scottish Citylink and National Express.

The business has an annual turnover of £12.5 million and employs 400 to operate and maintain around 200 vehicles.

The Stagecoach brand will be applied to the Rapsons businesses.

A few years ago both Editors visited the Highlands and rode on the most northerly bus service on the UK mainland - a Highland Country Buses service between John o' Groats and Thurso - ironically deployed on the day we travelled was an ex Eastern Counties Bristol VR VAH 280X seen below in June 2005.

Manchester tram funding approved

Approval has been given for the extension of the Metrolink tram network in Greater Manchester. Transport Secretary Ruth Kelly has announced the government will pledge the required £244 million towards the total £382 million extension scheme. The extension is likely to be completed by 2012.

It will see trams travel to Oldham, Rochdale and Chorlton as well as seeing existing sections of track upgraded to allow faster and more frequent services. The new sections are estimated to attract around 10 million more people onto the light rail scheme each year.

GMPTA is also compiling a case for a further extension to Droylesden, which will be submitted separately at a later date.

This is the first major investment the government has announced for improvements to be made to existing tram schemes since the Edinburgh tram scheme was actioned. It will no doubt be followed very closely by the PTE in South Yorkshire and Nottingham City Council who are both plan to submit plans for extension to their respective tram systems very soon.

Click here to see a map of the extension to the Metrolink network.

Coach driver announcements

Recently I travelled on a large number of National Express coaches in one day. I did so with a friend who used to work for the company. As the largest scheduled coach operator in the UK, NatEx coaches are instantly recognisable; indeed their name was recently ranked as 179th in a league table of World Superbrands. On virtually all the occasions I've travelled on NatEx coaches in the past announcements by the driver have been made.

This is true of rail, ferry and plane journeys I've made. Each and every announcement has been slightly different as each has been made by a different person, each adding their own 'edge' to the announcement (or not as the case has been sometimes). Last July First TransPennine Express started running new Class 185 Desiro trains in the LEYTR area (Cleethorpes - Manchester Airport) and they have automated announcements so they now form the solitary exception for announcements made on transport in our area; every other I can think of has a human being make the announcement at least in part, if not in full.

My first journey was from Peterborough to London Victoria on the 0735 NatEx service 448 to London. The driver - a jovial chap named Alan - made a thorough if not a little farcical announcement as we left the city. He likened the toilet at the back to his garden shed and proceeded to warn ladies not to catch their tights on his lawn mower in there! There were, however, very sincere overtones in the announcement - I especially liked "if you have a problem come and see me; if you don't then please don't complain about anything when you get off". Perhaps a little too direct for a formal announcement but nevertheless a commonsense statement that other drivers, I'm sure, have managed to refine.

The next trip was aboard one of the 15 meter Scania Levantes on the 1045 Service A6 to Stansted Airport. The p/a volume was far too low and the driver seemingly felt he had to shout to make-up for the lack of volume (perhaps he'd not been shown the volume knob?). His announcement was brief and concise: seat belts, no smoking and a description of the 4 emergency exits on board plus the locality of the fire extinguisher and first aid kit.

Comparing the two there is much going for Alan's announcement on the 448 earlier on in the day - humerus, friendly yet sincere in places. But it was rather lengthy. I didn't mind the length of the announcement too much but what if he never variates it? What if I catch his coach tomorrow and find myself again on board next week? It could become tedious. What about those in a bad mood, on their mobile phones or wanting to sleep? They'd much prefer the A6 driver's announcement (he didn't give his name). I feel there is much to be gained from a short, concise announcement though in the end the ultimate decision is the driver's and it could be best for he or she to decide on the style of announcement against the 'feel' he or she gets off the passengers that have just been loaded.

Later on during the same day we found ourselves boarding the 1635 Service 210 from Heathrow's T5 to Wolverhampton, though we alighted 15 mins later at the Central Bus Station. I must confess to allowing a wry smile to creep between my ears whenever I hear someone with a Birmingham accent make an announcement on a coach. I just recall a story Jasper Carrott told once about how one of his friends had got himself stood with away fans at Aston Villa's ground and had managed to give away no clue he was a local supporting the home team until half time when he shouted over "Oy! Jasp! They've run out of cowing Bovril!" in a broad Brummie accent. I now just think of "cowing Bovril" every time a Birmingham accent is heard from a p/a.

My thoughts of beef extract products soon disappeared when our driver elaborated on the legal requirement for all passengers to wear seat belts. He said that those who didn't could be fined up to £1,000 and have 3 points added to their licences if found not to be wearing a seat belt if a Police officer boarded at any point. I've never heard the £1,000 fine be mentioned before! It may well be for a driver of a PCV but so too for a passenger? Again how can the Police issue a someone who doesn't drive with 3 points on their licence? If my parents were caught by the Police sat on board the 210 coach devoid of a seat belt each, my 52 year old mother who's never ever sat behind the wheel of a car would only have half the punishment given to her compared to my dad who would be £1k lighter plus 3 points heavier???

I think not. But the announcement was otherwise concise and pointed; as too was the announcement made by the Service 031 driver on the 1655 service from Central Bus Station into London Victoria.

The last trip was on the 1800 Service 448 back to Peterborough. The driver wore a name badge stating Bally yet gave his name as Dave when calling in two "no shows" at Golders Green - very strange. His announcement wasn't as long as his counterpart's travelling south this morning but was perhaps the clearest of the day.

Certainly with NatEx not enforcing strict without-deviation set announcement they allow their drivers to give the human touch to them. This can backfire with the ridiculous '3 points for not wearing a seat belt' but then the automated First TransPennine Express announcements do not make passengers laugh as the first driver's announcement on the 448 did. The fact that things are done as they are is testament to the way drivers do make their announcements - if a flood of complaints came in then NatEx would no doubt insist on a strict, itemised list of things to say, the fact they don't would seem to suggest all is well out there with the nation's largest coach operator.

I'll end with two clips from YouTube. Both contain the same announcement made by a female driver on the 420 service between London Victoria and Birmingham. The announcement starts at Victoria and doesn't end until Marble Arch - some 2 miles further! So long was the announcement that the camera (on which t'other Editor was recording it) expired! This lady received a round of applause at the end. See what you think!

PART 1 of 2


PART 2 of 2

Another Eddie Stobart rail freight service

Road haulier Eddie Stobart started running freight rail services in September 2006 between Daventry and Grangemouth. It was awarded the 2007 Freight Achievement Award and it has since been claimed such a success by the Stobart Group that a second dedicated freight rail services has been announced, running between Inverness and Grangemouth, which will start by at least September. It comes after supermarket giant Tesco signed a 5 year contract with Stobart.

The new service operates to take Tesco's goods from its 1 million square feet distribution centre in Livingstone to Inverness. Lorries will take the goods from Livingstone to Grangemouth where they will be loaded onto the new rail service, departing at 5am, arriving in Inverness at 11.01am. The journey will then be completed by Eddie Stobart lorries, delivering the goods to Tesco stores in the Highlands. The journey will operate in reverse for southbound traffic.

The new rail service will reduce individual lorry journeys on the congested A9 to Inverness by 13,000 a year - that's 1.79 million lorry miles or 5.3 million freight tonnes being removed from road transportation.

A Freight Facilities Grant of £525,000 has been awared to the Stobart Group by the Scottish Government to go towards purchasing the 70 intermodal containers required to safely transport the Tesco vehicles.

A brand new Class 66 loco will haul the new rail freight service pulling 20 specially designed curtainised containers measuring 45 feet each. The containers are under 9 feet tall so can travel on any rail line in the UK.

The Stobart train passed through Spalding (in the LEYTR area) on the Saturday before May Day, when the annual Spalding Flower Festival was taking place. Neither LEYTR Editor managed to get to see the event - any photos sent to the LEYTR Editors' email address will be greatfully received!!

On the move

We blogged on 21 February that a number of new Enviro vehicles had been delivered to Stagecoach's depot in Grimsby. They have, since then, been stored at the former RoadCar depot in the town at Railway Terrace. Their intended use? For Stagecoach's depot in Mansfield where they will operate services in partnership with Nottinghamshire County Council (who actually owns the vehicles). We understand 7 vehicles have been purchased and stored - the majority of which are ADL Darts/ADL Enviro200s (as pictured) though at least two are integral ADL Enviro300s.

They are being taken for re-paint at Scunthorpe depot before being allocated at Mansfield. Photographed below are two such vehicles - still devoid of number plates and fleet numbers. They were seen on 7 May.

Walking all the lines

It never ceases to amaze us the lengths some people will go to for their hobby (preparing a 28 page magazine alternate months, for example). Below is the blog of a chap called Neil who has, since December 2007, walked the entire London Underground network, taking photos along the way. The entire project has been blogged on his site: The London Photo Project.

Each Tube line has been mapped using GPS equipment and maps have been created for each line he's walked, once completed. A small amount of detail has been noted down and blogged about en route. The author calculates he's walked 378.5 miles over the 6 month period, totalling 54 days worth of non-continuous striding. Importantly this is greater than the total length of the Underground network as diversions were needed for a number of reasons: crossing the Thames is one example.

Before getting stuck into the blog we suggest reading his FAQ page, which is a fascination in itself. It's not plain sailing walking the Tube lines - the author suffered a strained calf muscle and found he couldn't get to the stations at Heathrow Airport for fear of trespassing. The blog has been summarised in a couple of ways: not too keen on reading every single entry for the past 6 months? Then there's the Walking Log - a table that details each line and what sections were walked each day in brief. The Merged Map (as seen uploaded to this blog) shows an overlay of all his individual Walking Maps of each Tube line.

A valiant effort and as the author suspects, he's the first to fulfill such a jaunt!

Not such a vote winner?

I've always firmly believed that giving people entitled to concessionary bus travel the ability to use buses for free was always likely to be a vote winner for whichever governing party chose to implement the scheme. In the recent English local elections the prospect for free bus travel played a part in many local manifestos.

We blogged about West Lindsey district council making news headlines on local radio on the eve of the elections with the ruling LibDem party pledging to remove the pre-0930 ban on free travel for concessions if they were re-elected. The opposing Conservative party said it would only look at removing the restriction and cited the LibDems' eleventh hour announcement as breaking the rules of electioneering.

Elsewhere North East Lincolnshire Council plan to remove the time restriction and South Holland district council in southern Lincolnshire claim to be looking into doing the same.

So I was shocked to see that control of West Lindsey had passed to the Conservatives in one of the very few losses the LibDems had. It was mentioned on the 6 o' clock news on BBC1 as a shock result and directly cited as one of the reasons the LibDems continue to remain static in the polls.

There are, of course, many reasons why voters vote the way they do, but the "one in the eye for Labour" philosophy that seems to be evident up and down the country in the recent elections was not seen in West Lindsey as Labour never stood a chance in the first place: it was a clear battle between the LibDems and the Conservatives.

So now West Lindsey residents have no guarantee that their pre-0930 time restriction will be lifted under the new Conservative council. Perhaps the free concessionary fares scheme is not such a vote winner after all?

Recent BUS/COACH developments, no 6

• Centrebus gain two bus fleets in Huddersfield. Stagecoach Yorkshire has sold its Huddersfield operation to Leicester-based Centrebus. At the same time K-Line (Teamdeck Ltd) of Honley sold its business to Centrebus. A new subsidiary named Huddersfield Bus Company was set up by Centrebus, operated by its Centrebus Holdings Ltd arm - in which Arriva has a 40% stake. Stagecoach had been in negotiations to sell its Huddersfield depot direct to Arriva. Its base in the West Yorkshire town had been part of Yorkshire Traction since 1969, passing to Stagecoach in 2005. K-Line had previously been an Arriva operation, bought back in 2000.

• Vale of Llangollen sell to GHA Coaches. Wrexham-based GHA Coaches has purchased the business of Vale of Llangollen Travel. Half of the fleet of 22 vehicles is understood to be involved in the deal, with the remaining 11 being sold or scrapped. The firm's Cefnmawr is not included. The operation will pass to GHA's Ruabon HQ in Wrexham.

• Free travel day for Yorkshire bus passengers. Stagecoach Yorkshire is planning a day where all bus passengers can travel for free on its services. Exactly one year ago, the firm commenced the largest service changes in its South and West Yorkshire operating area for more than 20 years. This has resulted in a 3.2% increase in passenger growth (equivalent to an additional 0.5 million journeys) and a 5% increase in adult passengers. Stagecoach admit that as a result of its wholesale alterations, not all passengers benefited, though with investment in over 30 new buses in the last year and more planned for this year, it hopes to have improved bus travel for the majority of its passengers.

• Free travel for college go-ers in Northumberland. Northumberland's new ruling body - the LibDems - has scrapped their predecessor's plan to axe free local bus travel for sixth-formers and college students. The former Labour ruling body had chosen to scrap the concession after it claimed very few people were making use of the scheme.

• Competing route axed in Preston. Preston Bus has withdrawn its Service 2 route - one of the two it operates in direct competition with Stagecoach in the city. Peter Bell, managing director for Preston Bus claimed the "pitiful" concessionary fares reimbursement by Merseytravel as the final nail in the coffin, claiming only £23 per day was being paid.

• Wildcat strike in Liverpool. Over 100 bus drivers based at Arriva's Speke depot in Liverpool walked-out of their jobs in a wildcat strike on 8 May at 0600 in protest against revised working hours. Bus services to Liverpool's One shopping centre are to be extended and drivers do not want to see an increase in shifts between 1300-2100hrs. The depot's 120 vehicle fleet was believed to have been grounded as a result of the action, with services to the south of Liverpool mostly affected.

• GM Buses/UK North bosses plead guilty. Vincenzo Casale and David Ellis, the managing director and traffic manager of defunct bus operator GM Buses and UK North, have pleaded guilty to giving false information about the number of hours their drivers worked. The both admitted a charge of conspiracy to defraud the traffic commissioner by giving false evidence. Their company was formed in 1994 and had operated solely in the Manchester area, competing directly with Stagecoach. The firm was brought to a public inquiry in December 2006 and its O Licence revoked in January 2007. The PI was told of how one of its buses was involved in the death of a man who'd fallen from a cherry-picker; two dawn raids took place on their premises where computer equipment was seized and taken away. The case against the driver of the bus who was involved in the death of the man falling from the cherry-picker was dropped.

• Stagecoach lose NX diagram. Stagecoach East Kent's Dover depot is to lose one of its National Express overnight diagrams on Service 007 between Dover-London. It will pass to National Express' Crawley depot, who currently operate one return journey each day on Service 021 between the same points using an Ulsterbus coach.

• Browns of Edinburgh banned from trading. Edinburgh-based Browns coach company has been forced to cease trading after the Scottish Traffic Commissioner banned its owner from holding an O Licence for four years following a Public Inquiry last month. During the PI it became apparent that the firm's owner, Alistair Brown, and his fellow operators of the company had falsified tachograph records and drivers' working hours; in so doing they had breached the European Working Time Directive.

• Cross-London bus route planned. A cross-London river bus service is in the planning stages. The route is being considered in order to enhance local transport links and to strengthen the case for the proposed Cross River Tram project.

• Highs and lows of Facebook. Bus operator Trent Barton has set-up a special Facebook page for its Red Arrow service (Nottingham-Derby(-Chesterfield). At the same time, members of the public joined a Facebook group named "NCT has gone too far" where they claim Nottingham City Transport's recent fares restructuring has resulted in massive increases in some fares. Activists have chosen to vent their anger by paying NCT's exact bus fares wholly in bronze coins (1p/2p) in order to cause delays to services. This has resulted in NCT posting a statement reminding passengers that, in line with the Royal Mint, bronze coins may only comprise a maximum of 20p towards each passenger's bus fares.

• Stephensons to withdraw London commuter routes. Both London commuter coach services operated by Stephensons of Essex are to be withdrawn from 11 July. The routes link Southend with central London. Numbered X1 the main service can be traced back to the first day of coach deregulation when Southend Transport commenced operation of the route (6 October 1980). Stephensons cite the forthcoming Low Emission Zone and the current concessionary fares scheme as the main reasons behind withdrawing the route. Their 1996 Volvo B10M coaches would need upgrading for when the LEZ affects PCVs (7 July). The entire route is covered by the concessionary scheme, so while the inbound journey sees an OAP require to pay (pre-0930) they travel home for free and the reimbursement rate offered is "50% or less".

• Boris to ban alcohol on TfL services. New Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, chose an alcohol ban on London's transport network as his first piece of legislation. From 1 June, drinking from, and carrying of, open containers of alcohol will be prohibited. Mayor BoJo claimed this would lead to a reduction in "more serious crime". Critics have said it will be impossible to police.

• Doncaster bus depot to close. Stagecoach Yorkshire is to close its Doncaster depot, following substantial damage during the floods of last June. 12 maintenance and management jobs will go at the Milethorne Lane, Wheatley depot. Services are not to be affected and will be operated by neighbouring depots.
  

Welsh concessionary free travel extended

The Cambrian Coast railway is to be included in the remit of concessionary free travel within Wales, as too is train travel between Wrexham-Bidston. Currently, those holding free concessionary Welsh bus passes can also travel for free on the Conwy Valley line and this is set to continue for a second year. Free travel is also currently permissable, between October-April, on the Heart of Wales line.

Ieuan Wyn Jones, Deputy First Minister of Wales, outlined his plans to extend the number of sections of Welsh railway that would allow free concessionary travel. He said, "I have concluded that there have been a wide range of benefits from the pilot scheme, which has extended the availability of free travel on trains to bus pass holders. In addition, there have been benefits to the local economy and social accessibility as well as encouraging a reduction in the use of private cars."

Full details of the specifics contained within the new proposals are listed below:

1. An extension to cover the Cambrian Coast railway in the winter.

2. The Welsh section of the Wrexham–Bidston scheme will be available to Flintshire and Wrexham passholders from 18 May.

3. Gwynedd passholders will be eligible for free travel between Machynlleth-Pwllhelli with some restrictions on busy school trains, between October to April.

4. The Heart of Wales line pilot will be extended for a further year, but only providing free travel between October to April.

5. The Conwy Valley scheme will continue to operate all year.

6. The high level of demand on the Heart of Wales line during the summer months meant that on a small number of occasions, despite additional carriages, trains were reported as too full to board at points along the line. There was a trend of free long-distance tourist travel – in particular to Shrewsbury – whereas the original intention was to help local journeys for social purposes. Pass holders seeking to travel for local travel, and paying customers, were prevented from undertaking their journeys. The scheme has been adjusted as a result of this.

There are some examples of English concessionary bus pass holders being eligable for free travel on local rail services. For example, North East Lincolnshire Council permits free rail travel within its area (i.e. all stops between and including Habrough-Cleethorpes).

Nottingham's workplace levy

Nottingham City Council has authorised the UK's first Workplace Parking Levy (WPL) on 12 May. The proceeds of which will go towards improving public transport in the city.

When approved by the Transport Secretary one of the first beneficiaries of the money raised by charging people who park their car at their company's premises, is likely to be the 25% subsidy gap Notts City Council need to find to extend the Nottingham Express Transit (NET) tramway. Central government have already pledged to provide 75% of the cash needed.

An increase in Link bus services - routes that bridge the gaps left by commercial bus operators; an upgrade of Nottingham rail station; and increased support to city businesses for travel planning and parking maintenance are all likely beneficiaries of the WPL, just in case you thought the City Council were too pro-tram!

The decision to authorise the WPL follows a 12 week public and business consultation as well as a five-day public examination overseen by an independent inspector. It is likely to start in April 2010, and in its first year is expected to raise £5.6 million, increasing to £11.3 million per year from 2015.

Smaller businesses (i.e. those with 10 or less parking spaces) will not have to pay the WPL, nor will the estimated 125,000 people who use public transport, walk or cycle to work. Those parking at essential services are also exempt (GP surgeries, fire stations, Police stations etc). Tourists and shoppers are also exempt, so too are drivers registered disabled.

It is estimated that around 500 large employers would be charged an annual fee for each of the parking spaces it provides for its staff. The cost of each space would initially be £185 in April 2010, eventually rising in stages (linked to, but greater than, inflation) until 2015. From this year, rises in the WPL would increase by inflation only. Some employers are expected to pass on the £185 cost per parking space to their employees.

Welglade investment

The Welglade Group have splashed out on 6 new Volvo B7RLE with Plaxton bodies for the Kinchbus operated Airline Shuttle service to East Midlands Airport from Loughborough and Derby. We saw them pass by very frequently on May Day when we were both attempting to get to Buxton on their Transpeak service - but that's another story. The upgrade took place on Easter Sunday and the most significant improvement is the frequency - now buses operate 24/7.

The name has changed to 'skylink Derby Loughborough'. The new buses cost £750,000 and were purchased in a joint investment by the East Midlands Development Agency in partnership with Derby City Council, the Airport and Welglade subsidiary Kinchbus. The new timetable can be viewed by clicking here.

Additional investment by the firm's Trent Barton subsidiary is seeing 26 Wrightbus Eclipse Gemini-bodied Volvo B7RLEs be purchase to upgrade all vehicles operating their flagship Rainbow 5 service between Nottingham and Derby. The current vehicles are 03-registered and are to be moved elsewhere within the group. The new vehicles are understood to be kitted out with Wellglade's now standard specification (as seen on their X38 and Black Cat vehicles): air conditioning and designed interior by Best Impressions.

1,900%

What's the highest percentage hike for a product or service you're likely to pay for this year? 20%? 50%? Apparently bread has risen by over 60% for some brands. Spare a thought then for tourists in London who have been faced with a staggering 1,900% price rise in bus fares on routes T1 and T2 operated by Arriva's Original London Sightseeing Tour.

In a genuine coincidence, since the last entry on this blog was about how one of their employees was witnessed 'in conflict' with a white van man, we bring you yet another 'original' news item from Arriva's operation in London: how the firm's 'short-hop' fare on routes T1 and T2 in London has risen from between 80p and £2.00 to £22.00, equating to an average of 1,900%. Effectively they have removed the 'short-hop' fee on these services and only offer the full tour fee, which is reduced to £20.00 if purchased online.

Routes T3, T4 & T5 continue to offer 'short-hop' fares ranging between 80p and £2.00.

Has nobody told them that our American friends are not as wealthy as they used to be?

Seeing red!

On 1 May London's Evening Standard newspaper reported an incident which saw a bus driver see red and assault a van driver. The incident happened on the Embankment next to Hungerford Bridge with hundreds witness to the brawl as they emerged from the nearby Tube station.

The bus driver was employed by Arriva and was operating one of their Original London Sightseeing open-top services - certainly an original sightseeing tour of the wrong kind was being displayed.

The London Standard said that witnesses told how the driver of the Original London Sightseeing Tour bus got out of his cab to confront a white van driver after an angry and expletive-filled exchange in front of passengers and pedestrians. It would appear the white van driver cut the bus driver up.

An onlooker was quoted as saying, "The white van driver got out and went up to the cab. He had his mobile phone and was going to take a picture. Then the bus driver got out and just went crazy. He was definitely the one throwing the punches. He chased the van driver under the bridge and he dropped his phone at one point. I couldn't believe it. There were three tourists sitting on the bus just looking on confused."

Arriva have opened up an investigation into the incident although said that no one has currently made a complaint to them.

Unfortunately for the driver, it wasn't the white van driver's camera he had to be concerned about as someone else had managed to capture a still of the incident.

Luckily such outburst from PCV professionals are very rare indeed; although as recently as last month footage taken in Peterborough bus station by youths captured an incident where a Stagecoach driver was seen attacking a 50yr old drunken man. The driver was later sacked we understand. Click here to see the article on the Peterborough Evening Telegraph's website, where the actual filmed footage can be viewed.

Recent RAIL developments, no 5

• Ticket simplification a step closer. ATOC's simplification of train ticket names will reach its third phase of implementation when the summer train fares commence on 18 May with virtually all tickets purchased at least the day before travel being named 'advance', irrespective of which operator the ticket(s) are to be used on; discounts for all railcards will be offered on these tickets. By September, walk-up fares will be re-named 'anytime' or 'off-peak'. Effectively all train tickets will contain either the name 'anytime', 'off-peak' or 'advance'.

• "Better railway next year". Delegates at the recent Passenger Focus conference in London on 24 April said they were confident in seeing a better railway next year. This sentiment was also echoed for the year 2014 when the end of the current control period is due, when the massive investment - currently valued at around £10 billion - being pumped into the rail network will be noticed fully.

• WSMR look for new Scottish route. Following the launch of its direct Wrexham-London service last week, Wrexham Shropshire & Marylebone Railway is looking at its next venture: direct services between Liverpool-Glasgow. If funding is successful the services could start as early as December this year! WSMR director Mike Jones said he can see "no operational reason why this cannot start". Hired class 67s from EWS are likely to be used. The firm is likely to be known as Glasgow Trains in this forthcoming venture, and a view is being given to linking Scotland's largest city with the East Midlands though currently non competitive timings are holding this particular venture back.

• UK's tallest semaphore signal to be decommissioned. What's alleged to be the tallest semaphore signal in the UK is being decommissioned this month. Situated at Hexham station the North Eastern Railway lattice post structure was erected due to a low road bridge and pedestrian footbridge at the station restricted drivers' viewpoints.

• Another NR overrun. Last Monday (28 April) saw chaos at Oxford station after another possession by Network Rail overran. The section of affected track, south of Oxford at Hinksey, had been booked for engineering work to take place between 2345 Saturday 26 April to 0445 Monday 18 April though it wasn't until 0750 - well into the morning London commute - that the section of track was handed back. This resulted in 13 Turbos stranded at Oxford station and services to Twyford were cancelled. A knock-on effect was still being felt in the evening.

• Abbey Line plans shelved. Hertfordshire County Council have ruled out a 6.5 mile loop linking St Albans Abbey-Watford Junction stations. In a report it commissioned the single track section of line named The Abbey Line was dismissed for a couple of reasons: train operator London Midland planned to introduce class 360/2 Desiros along the route which would mean building the section of line to a higher specification than if cheaper trains - class 313s for example - were to be operated; and a realistic journey time between the terminal stations is not short enough to be able to maintain a 30 minute headway in both directions.

• Record-breaking 90% performance reached. Rail operators and Network Rail claim to have hit the 90% average performance barrier, reputedly the first time in Britain's railway history this has been achieved. Performance had been heading towards the 90% mark in 2000 though then the Hatfield train crash occurred and performance immediately nose-dived and has never regained since... until now. Troubled operator First Great Western claims to have reached 94% average performance on some specific dates recently.

• ScotRail franchise extended by 3 years. First's ScotRail franchise has been extended by three years, the decision to do this has been strongly defended by the Scottish Parliament in the past week. It was put to Alex Salmond, First Minister for Scotland, that simply extending First's franchise was "rather shambolic and totally lacking in transparency" and why had the government "ignored the Auditor General for Scotland", who had not been informed of the Parliament's plans, which seems a little odd since the Auditor General is currently conducting an inquiry into the allocation of rail franchises in Scotland. Salmond responded by saying that all proper procedures had been adhered to.

• Kelly hints at more electrification. Ruth Kelly, Transport Secretary, hinted very strongly indeed that the potential for the electrification of existing railways seems a strong possibility. She said that the gap between those in favour of electrification and the government's own view was "not as wide" as many seem to believe it is, adding that electrification would probably make sense when applied to some routes.

Increased cost of diesel...

The local BBC News recently featured LEYTR member, East Yorkshire Motor Services (EYMS), who are now said to be considering fare increases following the huge price rise in diesel. The company currently pays an additional £40,000 per week, 48p more per litre than January 2007. Chairman of EYMS, Peter Shipp, commented: "We will have to look at fares. Quite simply we cannot absorb these sorts of costs." Although not being considered, the possibility of cutting services in marginal areas might have to be considered.

A video of the feature can be seen here.

Rapsons in takeover talks with Stagecoach

One of the major operators in Northern Scotland is currently in negotiations with Stagecoach with a view to its possible takeover. Staff at Rapsons have been informed although no further comment has been made by either company at this stage.

The company covers a large area, with Inverness as its base, and at its extremes covers Thurso and the Orkney Islands in the far north and Fort William on the West Coast. The Rapson Group comprises Rapsons Coaches, Highland Country Buses, Orkney Coaches and Causeway Coaches, companies serving mainland Scotland and the Orkney Isles. Rapsons Coaches also provide executive coach hire as well as operating some National Express coach services.

The origins of Highland go back to 1952 when Highland Omnibuses was formed out of a section of the former Walter Alexander operations. Initially, upon deregulation, Highland continued to enjoy a monopoly across much of its operating area. Competition started around Fort William with the arrival of Gaelic Bus. However, it was the competition in Inverness, the largest town in the Highland Scottish network, that was to prove controversial. Highland Scottish was the sole operator there and provided all bus services in and around the town. However, in May 1988 a group of ex-Highland drivers formed Inverness Traction Ltd, operating a fleet of leased minbuses in parallel to Highland's Inverness network. Highland's response to the competition was to cut fare levels well below the competition and increasing traffic levels by 60%. Competition between the two operators was fierce and with much bad will with each accusing the other of unfair behaviour.

Both companies suffered acute financial losses during the competition period, which ended when Inverness Traction went into receivership in April 1989. The services operated by Inverness Traction, and the minibus leases, were immediately taken up by an Aberdeen-based coach operator, Alexanders (North East) Ltd. However, the intense competition continued and Alexanders also fell into receivership in Novermber 1989. After a brief interval, the assets and services of Inverness Traction were purchased by the Stagecoach Group. Highland, perhaps aware it could not sustain competition against a national operator with a reputation for swift and successful competition, scaled down the level of service against the new operator. Soon after, Stagecoach would purchase the Inverness and Tain operations of Highland Scottish and become the dominant operator of Inverness area services.

In August 1991 Highland Scottish was sold to a consortium made up of Rapson's Coaches, and recently privatised Scottish Citylink, for £800k. In March 1993 ownership of Highland Scottish passed wholly to Rapson's.

In 2006, Rapsons bus drivers threatened to strike before voting by a majority to accept an improved pay offer from their employers. About 200 workers with Rapsons group came close to taking industrial action. The Transport and General Workers Union (T&G) had called on Rapsons to bring pay in line with rival firm Stagecoach.

HST Repaint

On 30 April, East Midlands Trains unveiled the first repaint of one of its fleet of High Speed Train class 43 locomotives. It has been named "T.C.B. Miller M.B.E." who, as Chief Engineer for Traction and Rolling Stock for the British Railways Board, had lead the design team at Derby Railway Technical Centre which produced the present day HST.

(Photo: Ron Cover)

Strikes called off

A series of threatened strikes by the RMT Union members in East Midlands Trains, which were to have taken place on 3, 10 and 17 May, have been called off. The dispute is essentially down to Sunday working where RMT staff are only required to work on a voluntary basis. This lead to a number of cancellations of Sunday services with EMT's predecessor, Central Trains, and the new company was aiming to introduce Sunday working as part of new employees contracts to improve reliability. The industrial action was called off following agreement of continued negotiations between the two parties.

A video feature from the local BBC News can be seen here.