Saturday Variety

 Crisis In Cambridge?

Above is Nik Johnson, lately Labour Mayor of Cambridgeshire. He was quite keen on buses, aiming to increase the spend year on year.

But young Nik got deposed at this year's Mayoral elections. His successor is ...

... cheery chappie Paul Bristow.

But young Paul is from the Conservative Party. Graciously, he has promised to maintain bus funding at the present level. Which means in real bus route subsidy terms, that the lolly available for buses will now reduce year on year.

That's inflation, folks.

This has provoked some local concern.

The article goes on to explain.

Labour has committed to franchising for the County but it looks like conservative policy is less enthusiastic,

Should something as socially and economically important as Public Transport be at the whim of party politics? Will the whim of Cambridgeshire's current commercial operators be replaced by an equally vacillating policy depending on the colour of rosette worn by the Mayor?

And where does that leave Manchester if the rosette changes from red ...

...  to light blue at the forthcoming battle for the Mayorship?

Maybe Nige will paint the Manchester buses pale blue?

Thanks For Non News

Positive news for Franchising in South Yorkshire has found its way into on-line news feeds ...

... and we are not going to tell who the shortlisted " competitors are.

More Non News

Bet he didn't ride all the way from his home! That would be all the way from Windsor Great Park to London's Guildhall for an Earthshot Prize event.

More On-Line Daftness

And it is computer generated daftness about daftness.

fbb would challenge any decorating expert to paint a straight band across their house, barely balanced on a wheelbarrow cum steps pushed by a scantily-clad young gell.

But, apparently, the pair are employed by a developer to paint red bands on similar properties elsewhere ...

... in this case built on an Alpine precipice. The step ladder has been specially adapted to have one flight of steps longer than the other making it useless for its designed purpose

Total Idiots posting garbage on-line!

Through Ticketing

Interesting?

When fbb, in student mode, travelled to Bruxelles to learn French (he had just been appointed as a French teacher to 8 and 9 year olds), he caught a train from home in Northampton to Euston. He crossed London by Underground to Victoria.

Here he went to the Continental ticket office and purchased a large paper ticket printed on light brown paper.

It was all very basic and nobody looked at fbb's passport during out and return journeys except the UK border officers on his return!

The ticket carried him by BR train from Victoria to Dover; by steamer to Calais; by SNCF to Lille and by SNCB to Bruxelles. "One Journey, One Ticket"

This was in 1966.

fbb's memory is a bit fuzzy but he does remember that at Dover Marine ...

... and at Calais Maritime ...

... the ferries parked alongside the station. It was a short walk from train to boat and vice versa.

So what's new?

Eurostar is, of course easier but ticketing is a mess by comparison!

Which One Would You Buy (1)?
Just under £400 quid ... or ...

... £84.50 for a "Railroad" versi9n? 

The latter is, of course, a "Special Offer".

Which One Would You Buy (2)?

The above is second hand. Below is in special offer for a new unit ...

... reduced from £429 to a modest £343.

They are, externally, the same model but the expensive one makes a sound like a Class 158 diesel unit. 

The cheap version makes a sound like a model train!

  Next Variety blog : Sunday 5th July