Another Tube map

There are only a handful of lines forming the London Underground network that I've yet to complete - easily accomplished in a matter of hours I suspect - and in preparation for the trip to that there shiny London, I've been looking for new Tube maps. One I stumbled across only this morning, hot off the press:


It has more of a Harry Beck feel to it than other more geographically accurate versions I've seen, that's for sure. The Thames also reflects its natural shape.

It has been produced by Mark Noad to address problems people have using the original, iconic diagrammatic design. A recent study claimed a large number of people (tourists, presumably) travel greater distances between two points using TfL's official production than they should. Noad's map aims to be more spatially aware.

True geographical accuracy makes the Tube network look horrendous in map form, specifically in central London, for obvious reasons, while acres of space is given to a small handful of stations at the extremities. Noad's map could be seen as a compromise between this and Beck's design that TfL modifies and produces.

Have a look for yourself by viewing the new map in its entirety.

Adding in wheelchair accessible stations, Crossrail and Thameslink may not be as straightforward to a map like this though. That said, on the pdf version, zones have been nicely added. You may spot that Heathrow Express and Croydon's Tramlink are included, which aren't on TfL's. To this end using St. Pancras to Stratford International as a faster way between two points with Southeastern could be shown. A couple of things that are on TfL's but aren't on Noad's are the off-peak curtailment of Northern Line trains at Kenington isn't made obvious and that owing to the location of the interchange 'blob' at Euston, it isn't made clear that travel to King's Cross St. Pancras from the Northern Line's Charing Cross branch isn't possible.

A valiant effort, nonetheless.

TfL's latest version

Chesterfield upload

I had reason to visit the StagecoachBus.com website the other day, specifically to look for bus times for Services 43/44, operating between Chesterfield and Sheffield by Stagecoach. The StagecoachBus.com website is pretty easy to navigate and within seconds I located the timetable I needed.

I prefer to view the actual timetable online than see a computer generated bespoke timetable for the parameters I choose. Many train operators' websites build you a bespoke timetable for a specific journey and while this has many merits, isn't really for me. Luckily bus companies tend not to do this - though there may be merit in offering both types.

Expecting to find the Stagecoach-standard corporate timetable design, I was initially shocked to view the following:

Click to enlarge

Perhaps due to a printing problem or a tight deadline, Stagecoach in Chesterfield has uploaded the actual vehicle registration for the service in question. This is far clearer than the official timetable, with the company's corporate image on display. In fact, it's not dissimilar to the timetables produced by the excellent Derbyshire County Council.

It just shows how simple a timetable can look if it is produced in a certain way. It looks to have been produced on Microsoft Excel or a similar spreadsheet and manages to communicate very clearly the times of services between Chesterfield and Sheffield.

Trouble is, it's a 5-page document and isn't exactly handy for printing out and taking with you, though it probably costs less to print out than the full-colour version when it is eventually uploaded - which is probably what will happen eventually (probably sooner if someone reads this blog entry). It is also missing a route map and contact details, plus sample fares and has no ticketing promotions detailed. Breaking with tradition even more, absolutely nowhere in the 5-page pdf is the word Stagecoach mentioned.

You may spot that the timetable denotes the evening journeys that wont operate on Christmas and New Years Eves - information which certainly isn't shown as standard on other operators' timetables nationally so this offers more information than would otherwise be available to the public.

I hope they don't feel the need to replace it just yet.

Service 43/44 pdf (while it is available)

A gift

Many thanks to The Grammarian for the following:

Sirs, I offer you a gift to spread on the side of your Polish coach. It's the real deal, so Mr Souter will surely approve!


He was of course referring to our faux pas in the recent PolskiBus post, which came to light when a comment was received bringing this to our attention. He should have said that this was a large 'bloc' of stalk, of course, but we welcome the gesture nonetheless.

He also offered us some of this:


But that's fool-proof as it's spelt the same!!

A couple of years ago we were some one of these:


after this blog entry about Preston Bus. But that was a genuine play on words - bus drivers using their soles to keep the vehicles moving etc... We thought it was pretty clever at the time!!!

Many thanks all the same :-)

Curtain call for Derby?

News broke recently that the long overdue and delayed £6bn Thameslink Project will receive 1,200 new carriages, after the DfT awarded the contract to the Siemens and XL Trains consortium, who will assemble the units at the Siemens factory in Hebburn, Tyne & Wear. The first trains will enter service in 2015 and they will allow peak-time frequencies through central London to effectively double.

Around 300 of the 2,000 new jobs will be created in Tyne & Wear, as the Consortium will 'build, own, finance and maintain' the trains. Others will be at two maintenance depots, which are likely to be built at Hornsea (Haringey) and Three Bridges (nr Crawley).

It's a good news story, not least because it confirms that the government is willing to put its money where its mouth is and commit to supplying the required number of carriages needed to meet the much-vaunted benefits of Thameslink. But, scratch away the surface and this £1.5bn announcement is not as rosy as it could be.

While 2,000 new jobs should not be scorned, we understand the carriages will only be assembled at the German manufacturing plant in Tyne & Wear; most of the raw materials will not be sourced here. Consequently, fewer people are needed. The DfT could have awarded the £1.5bn contract to Bombardier, who is already *building* trains here in the UK, at a location that many would consider the home of the train manufacture: Derby. Not to be dismissive of those who will play a part in the Thameslink fleet's construction, Litchfield Lane in Derby is the last remaining train construction plant in Britain and employs vast numbers of skilled train builders.

For much of this year Bombardier has been turning out new trains faster than has ever been recorded in its 160-year history, with massive orders for TfL (Underground: 2009 Stock and S-Stock; Overground: Class 378 Electrostars; NXEA: Class 379 Electrostars; and Class 172s for London Midland and Chiltern). On average 100 carriages per month are being produced. Thameslink's 1,200 carriages would take Bombardier a little over a year to build.

We British taxpayers delegate to government how best to spend our taxes, though this is a decision that reaps very little benefit to the country as a whole. Once the bulk of TfL's orders have been completed, production in Derby will wind down as nothing on the same scale is forthcoming - not now the Thameslink order has been awarded to the Siemens/XL Trains consortium.

In the short term, we concede that Siemens must have made the better offer, ensuring taxpayers' hard-earned cash goes further, but in the long term if more skilled train builders are made redundant at Derby (c3,000 currently employed at Litchfield Lane) than are employed afresh in Hebburn (300 planned), the consequences could be far-reaching and costly.

Opening Soon!

A date has been set for the opening of the Cambridgeshire Guided Busway - 7 August 2011, following a delay of over two years.

Spring 2009 was originally planned but at last minute this was delayed until the summer of that year. This was soon put back again when the summer of 2009 arrived. Actually, the opening date wasn't just put back, it was postponed with no estimation given, owing to the work needed doing being so substantial.

The following February, it was revealed that BAM Nuttall, the Busway constructor, was being fined by Cambs CC £14k for each and every day that the scheme overran - at that time this amounted to 335 days, or a cool £4.7 million.

Flooding was seen as being the main problem faced by the contractor, while soil shrinkage in parts was causing concern for the County Council who believed this could force the Busway's road surface to fracture.


It has been an unmitigated disaster and has served to air caution on other local authorities who are contemplating a similar scheme. Rather than refer to the Cambs Guided Busway as the beacon, and how best to emulate it, it is seen as the problem child and visits to Longstanton and Swavesey by council officials from elsewhere are being undertaken to learn lessons of how not to construct theirs.

The sooner this former railway trackbed opens and buses begin running the better. It will be many years before the Busway is free from its problem start. Its saving grace, however, is the massive time savings those using the special buses purchased for the scheme (though all must have undergone two MOTs by now!). Anyone who has to commute along the A14 between Huntingdon, St. Ives and Cambridge will know what a huge difference the Busway will made to their lives.

More on PolskiBus.com

Following on from Friday evening's (now amended!) blog entry, there was one large element we omitted: Why did Brian Souter choose Souter Investments and not Stagecoach to begin the new Polish coach company, PolskiBus.com?

When you own the largest bus company in the UK, with world-wide business interests, you would surely use the knowledge, know-how, experience and expertise of that company to start a new venture in Poland. It's not as if Souter hasn't gone out on a limb with Stagecoach before, beginning Megabus as a operation to throw some ex-Hong Kong Leyland Olympians into the mix, to see what happened.

Stagecoach doesn't have a presence in Poland and so it could have been a positive way in which to introduce it. Operations here in the UK that do not use the Stagecoach corporate livery or the company name often carry a "brought to you by Stagecoach" vinyl beneath the operating name. In the case of Megabus, this was hurriedly added after that operation was formed in 2003, as it was seen as reassuring to new passengers. While this may not have the same effect in Poland, it would act as a subtle advertising tool.

Souter Investments said in its press release that it had been keeping an eye on Poland for some time. The manner in which coach companies do business there may not favour the large multi-national. With a portfolio of businesses worth £400m, Souter Investments is anything but small.

There may be unpalatable risks involved with the new venture in Poland that Souter thinks he best shoulder, rather than Stagecoach. Or the potential benefits may be massive and he wants to grow Souter Investments. There may be other investment opportunities spied within the country, as it emerges into a key European partner, and Souter wants 'in' from the start.

PolskiBus.com could be a pawn in a larger future expanse.

Megabus........... Poland-style!

You have to hand it to Brian Souter, co-founder and chief executive of Stagecoach Group plc, he knows how to make a news story. Seemingly out of the blue, the multi-millionaire's own investment company has revealed plans to enter the Polish inter-city express coach market, with a brand new venture, employment for 100 people and some very swish coaches, starting Sunday 19 June.

PolskiBus is based in the Polish capital, Warsaw, and will operate eight different routes throughout the country (serving 16 Polish cities), some of which will extend to other European cities (Berlin, Bratislava, Prague, Vienna). In a move not dissimilar to the Megabus network, headline fares starting from 1 zloty* (similar to Megabus' £1 or $1) are being advertised. Yield management is coming to the Eastern Bloc!

This really is an impressive news story for anyone interested in the coach industry. Love him or loathe him, Souter is very capable of putting his money where his mouth is! The fleet of eighteen TD921 Van Hool Altano over-decker coaches with 70 seats (all 14.5 metres long) have been bought outright and been painted in a very striking red livery, with the PolskiBus.com fleet name. They feature free wi-fi, reclining (red) leather seats, toilet and plug-in power sockets. This kind of kit would imply that a slightly different type of clientèle is being pursued to that of Megabus. I'd go so far to say that they are the Greyhound equivalent in Poland.

Former Stagecoach London MD Roger Bowker is heading up Souter Investment's Polish venture and said that in addition to the likely travellers such a venture would attract, business professionals and retired folk are also being targetted. It's worth pointing out that Poland's attitude to coach travel is like the UK's was a couple of decades ago - very little stigma is attached.

While Stagecoach's Megabus has Syd, PolskiBus has Ziggi, a seven-foot stork as its mascot.

Souter Investments has a growing portfolio of businesses, together worth £400 million. It soon becomes clear that purchasing 18 new coaches outright is not as big a deal as first thought.

Other companies forming part of Souter Investments include:

- Mana Coach Holdings (New Zealand)

- Howick & Eastern Bus (New Zealand)

- Argent Energy (bio-fuel producer)

- Alexander Dennis (Falkirk, Scotland)

- Fullers Group (majority stake in the Aukland-based ferry business)

- Istanbul Deniz Otobusleri - "IDO" - (Turkish ferry business, owned as part of a consortium)

Commenting on the decision to start PolskiBus.com, Souter Investments chief executive Andy Macfie said: "PoskiBus.com is an example of an investment where our transport expertise, combined with excellent local management and our pool of experienced transport consultants can add significant value. The model is based on successful and fast growing transport businesses operating in the UK, USA and Canada, adapted for the Polish market."

* - plus one zloty booking fee

Chicken & Egg

On this evening's regional Look North news programme, a report was sent in from Rawcliffe in East Yorkshire, a location whose railway station saw annual patronage of 252 passengers during the 2009-10 financial year. Of all the stations in the LEYTR area, it is ranked second-to-bottom, only being outdone by Kirton Lindsey in Lincolnshire for fewer passengers (220).

Train operating company Northern Rail has spent a total of £12,000 here and at Snaith station (2,574 passengers p/a) fitting cycle racks and CCTV to what a local councillor has claimed are 'ghost stations'. Scarborough councillor Nick Harvey made a Freedom of Information Request to ascertain the total spend and believes that the money would be better spent on larger stations that attract more passengers so that a greater number of local residents could cycle there.

However, the initiative that Northern embarked upon, was to encourage patronage at these least-used stations, by improving infrastructure there: the addition of cycle racks being one example. A government grant was made available and as so often with grants of this type, these strings are attached. The train service Snaith and Rawcliffe receive is nowhere near as 'impressive' as that received by Bridlington, for example, so patronage is likely to be lower as a result. If Councillor Harvey thinks £12,000 is a lot of money, he would have a nasty surprise at the cost to add an additional train to the timetable, in the hope of growing patronage.

How do you grow patronage at these smaller stations? What comes first? In these stringent times it is more prudent to improve the infrastructure for locals in the hope that this might have a positive effect. In the LEYTR area, for the period of 2009-10, the number of stations that saw growth was in a minority (a situation reflected nationally), but Rawcliffe was one of these that bucked the trend, seeing an increase of 23% to be precise. It was ranked 8th in our list of stations recording the most growth.

We think it a little ironic that a councillor should make a song and dance about what he considers to be a waste of public funds. How much would East Riding of Yorkshire Council have paid for the same work to be done at Snaith and Rawcliffe? Rest assured there won't be much in it, if at all. The average council pays out around £3k to construct an accessible bus stop kerb. In Lincolnshire, it cost more to make the bus stops along the route length of Service 100 (Lincoln-Scunthorpe) accessible than it did for Stagecoach to splash out on five new buses to work the route.

In the scheme of things, £12k would get you four raised kerbs at four bus stops or a number of cycle racks and CCTV at a couple of railway stations. The fear of crime is always reported as being far greater than the number of crimes committed and CCTV - either love it or loathe it - can help address these fears. Investment has to come first and hopefully growth will follow. £12k is absolutely nothing to spend on minor improvements to a station.

As for the age old question, in a recent episode of comedy show QI, Stephen Fry said that the answer was quite simple: the chicken had to come first. Eggs don't lay themselves.....