Bank Holiday Delights [1]

But when, historically?

Another gem from the fbb coal measures is this guide book to the Island. It is undated and the information contained within its poor quality pages is very mixed. The hovercraft gets a mention and the only railway is from Ryde to Shanklin; so mid sixties looks a likely period.

But were there five Island weeklies by then? Of these only the County Press survives today.

Everyone (well, almost) would enjoy a round the Island coach tour and three companies have advertisements.

Shotters had their base in Shanklin ...

... with a red and cream livery.

Moss Motors were kings of Sandown ...

... with a fleet that was always superbly turned out.

In Ryde, Paul's Tours (later merging with Moss) ...

... graced the sea front with their brown (maroon?) and cream colours.

All the tour companies displayed their wares on bright sign-boards at the various terminals ...

... with samples still on display at the Isle of Wight Bus Museum.

All of this business has disappeared now, although the name "Moss" was revived by Southern Vectis for no apparent reason. The whole concept looked very strange to a dyed-in-the-wool Islander ...

... as applied an ex London red double decker allocated to schools work. Under a new contract with the Isle of Wight council, all schools work is now branded as "Vectis Blue" and has super smashing new vehicles for the kiddies to enjoy!

Kindly investing £5.8 million of council taxpayers money!

Anyway, back to our nostalgic guide book tomorrow.

 Next Bus Blog : Monday 6th May 

Cynicism Surrounds Sapphire [2]

A look at the Arriva-Sapphire web site.

fbb has previously commented on the swathes of clutter that seem to overwhelm modern web sites, often making it harder and harder to excavate the information the user might actually require. This site is a classic of its type. Pictures and headers whizz across the screen with hardly long enough to read the text ...

... and often resulting in corrupted images as above. And this is a picture of Rossett Church as delivered repeatedly to fbb's screen.

Agreed, fbb's broadband is rather narrow, but, even so, this sort of wobble does not inspire confidence.

We have already seen some of the patronising content in yesterday's blog (read again)

Surely ALL buses should be punctual ...

... and hopefully ALL buses will be safe!

A "no quibble guarantee" sounds splendid but what exactly does it offer.

"Dear Mr Arriva, I did not enjoy my ride from Rossett to Wrexham, please can I have my money back?" There's no detail of the charter or its provisions on the web site.

   Sapphire will use drivers who have had additional   
                           customer care training                      

Shouldn't ALL your drivers deliver good customer care?

But at least you can buy your ticket on-line ...

... but not singles or returns, only day, weekly or longer. Indeed, nowhere does the Sapphire site tell you what you might have to pay for a single journey. Perhaps single fares are on sale at a Sapphire premium price?

And, if you do seek to telephone for fares information ...

... it will cost you dearly and such information is simply not available at weekends, arguably when casual users might be looking to take a trip to Chester. Of course, you have to spend even more to contact Traveline for timetable information ...

... and, to add insult to injury, to comment, complain or query the sparkling bus between Wrexham and Chester by post, you write to Luton; where else?

This simply does not equate to Premium customer care.

But geography isn't Arriva's strong point. The web site is ready to lure excited potential passengers to experience all four proposed Sapphire routes and there is a helpful map to remind web-surfers where these services operate.

Durham has moved to Darlington, Leicester to Derby; but it is only a diagram, after all. But surely even a low grade GCSE georgraphy candidate could use an atlas and see that Arriva's Wrexham has moved to near Montgomery in mid-Wales. And is that Aylesbury or Oxford that has been air-lifted to obliterate Windsor?

And talking of maps ...

Arriva's leaflets (and the main company web site) offer good, clear maps for each timetable; this for our particular service 1:-

But the premium Sapphire site does not have the premium map. Instead it offers ...

... a google map overlay or a pointless line diagram ...

... inexplicably turned upside-down with north at the bottom. But then, if the web designers don't know where Wrexham is ... ?

For fbb, Arriva's on-line sparkle is a bit on the dull side.

It will be interesting to see how the passengers react. Bet they really enjoy all the stop announcements in English and in Welsh. There are at least 45 on the service 1!

Many of them appear to be announced twice; that might well be 180 stop names. What a pleasant travelling experience!

 Next Bus Blog : Sunday 5th May 

Cynicism Surrounds Sapphire [1]

Magnificent crystal ...

... or marketing con?

Arriva has launched a premium service, Sapphire. It is initially to be used to upgrade one inter-urban route in each of four operating regions – the North West, the Midlands, the North East and the Shires & Essex. The buses will have high-backed e-leather seats ...

... (in a 2+1 arrangement on the upper deck) and wi-fi.

The first Sapphire upgrade was introduced this week, with nine refurbished ADL Enviro400s operating on service 1 between Chester and Wrexham.

Michael Morton, MD Arriva Wales

There will be 21 refurbished double-deckers for services between Oxford and Aylesbury and between Leicester and Oadby in the summer, while the fourth Sapphire route, between Durham and Darlington, will get 11 new VDL SB200/Wrightbus Pulsars in the autumn. All of the services will have a minimum daytime 15-minute frequency.

Mark Yexley, operations and commercial director for Arriva UK Bus, says: “We felt the time was right to introduce the Sapphire brand. It will certainly offer our customers something different and we hope will tempt more people to try the bus as a result. We’ve deliberately selected key routes on our network that offer a potentially longer journey time, so that customers have more time to take advantage of the free wi-fi, or to simply enjoy sitting on comfy leather seats.”

So what is really special about an Arriva Sapphire service? Back in the days of the great Great Britain Bus Timetable, the 2000 edition duly recorded Arriva Cymru route 1 as running every 15 minutes Monday to Saturday and every hour on Sundays.

Today the route runs every 12 minutes Monday to Saturday and every 20 minutes on Sundays.

Improvements all round. Mind you, the information is less than easy to find on Arriva's hard-to-fathom and hard-to-use web site. Google offers ...

... which leads to not a single timetable.For such luxuries, you need to go to ...

... and then you can find the service 1: with no mention of its Sapphire status! So there doesn't appear to be any change in the timetable. In addition to the leather-seated refurbished vehicles, you get a logo using letters with missing bits which would be marked "poor" from a five year old.

Perhaps the travelling experience offers something new?

How do I catch a Sapphire bus?

Go to one of the Sapphire bus stops along the route and hold out your hand as the bus approaches. This signal will let the driver know you want to get on the bus. When the bus stops simply step aboard - our easy access buses make it easy even if you have a buggy, shopping trolley or wheelchair. Click here to find out more. [and below is the "more" you find out!]

Helpful hint : how to catch a bus

Thanks, Arriva. But isn't that what I do with every Arriva bus route; with every bus route from every bus company? Patronising or what? Do I need to climb some steps to get to the upstairs seats, or is there a lift? Will the Sapphire driver take me right to my front door? Are refreshments available on board? Is there a dress code for passengers? Where is the toilet?

Maybe we can find out more by looking on the special Sapphire web site ...

... not easy to find unless you know! And don't get mixed up with this one ...

... because the locations may be further away than you think.

Indeed, they are in Australia!

More from Sapphire tomorrow ...

 Next Bus Blog - Saturday 4th May 

Not Bored at Watford [4]

We have a Cunning Plan

Thanks to the many Baldricks that make up local authorities, there is a much bigger plan for Watford Junction Station that would go some way to removing the problems that the current "refresh" scheme may have created. This would alter the "front entrance" yet again.

We now have a bigger bus station with eight stands; a self contained taxi rank with U-turn on the station side of the car park tunnel and, to add richness and delight to the commuting experience, we have a notable yellow blob outside the doors to the booking hall. This, according to the legend, is to be a piece of "public art" or a fountain. Deep joy!

Closer examination of the cunning plan reveals some red dotted lines which form a "pedestrian spine" which, being interpreted, means a "walking route" which leads through the car park tunnel ...

... which, if fbb has read the plans aright, will be bereft of cars.

Which brings us neatly to the main feature of the cunning plan. This is Penn Road which leads off St Albans Road just to the north of the road bridge over the main lines. It provides access to the Staples and Homebase stores, but ...

... just beyond the fence behind the red and blue recycling bins is Watford Junction station car park. The proposal is to smash a brand new road through here, over the track of the St Albans branch line, then to the left of the concrete plant and eventually joining up with the mega-road that links the town with the M1.

Off this new road will be vehicular access to the station.

There will be two multi-story car parks [A and B], beautiful to behold according to the planners ...

... short stay parking [C] and the much improved bus station [D].

Certainly, if this were ever to happen, it would solve most of the problems of the old Watford Junction, and, indeed, the newer revised version referred to in earlier blogs.

Reading the Buchanan plan, there are a number of unanswered questions. Will people be happy to get from their cars to the station via the creepy former car tunnel? How do things like "footbridge to platform 4" (shown from the revised bus station) tie up with ticket barriers and the increasingly overbearing supposed need for "security".

And how does all this fit in with the tram?

Well, despite the enthusiasm of the local rag, nothing tram-like trundled to St Albans in 2012! But the proposal is still, as they say, on the table.

The Proposals

Hertfordshire County Council (HCC) and The Department for Transport (DfT) want to increase the frequency of services on the local rail line between Watford Junction and St Albans Abbey stations (the ‘Abbey Line’). The organisations are currently working together with Network Rail to develop a scheme to enable this to happen.

The proposal is to convert the Abbey Line to light rail, which means that the line will run a tram-like service rather than traditional heavy rail. This will bring significant benefits to the travelling public; in particular a more frequent service and a timetable that is easier to remember.

How It Will Work

Under the proposals, responsibility for the line would transfer to HCC, so it would become locally operated and accountable. The DfT would transfer to HCC the money that would otherwise have been paid to London Midland, who currently operates the service.

The new services will use the same railway track and overhead power lines as the existing service. It will need different vehicles, which will have to be procured, and potentially some modifications to the line’s infrastructure and power supply.

The basic requirement of the scheme is that services between Watford Junction and St Albans should run at least half-hourly. However, it may be possible to run them even more frequently than that, and/or with extended operating hours.

Hmmm? As the current service is run every 45 minutes as a self contained single track  "siding", considerable infrastructure alterations will be needed for a half hourly service, like passing loops and significant signalling provision. Likewise "using the existing overhead wires" may sound OK, but trams don't usually work on 25,000 volts!

There are further more speculative proposals to extend the line into Watford Town Centre which would make a huge difference to the plans for the Junction station, possibly removing the need for a massive overbridge on the new road. At the St Albans end, an extension via the cityy centre and on to the City station on the Midland Main Line would be a sensible option. fbb quotes from a County report:-

One approach is for the DfT or HCC to review the options and evaluate the best in terms of voltage, type of tram, position of the passing loop etc. This would allow the specifying authority to give a clear specification to potential bidders and potentially optimise for future expansion for limited on-street running. The preferred alternative approach is to ask the bidders to work out their preferred options.

Dear readers, don't hold your breath!

St Albans Branch 1912 : Bricket Wood station

 Next Bus Blog : Friday 3rd May 

Not Bored at Watford [3]

See "Not Bored at Watford" [2] (read again)

 It's tough on taxis, they claim 

As a result of the revamp, 3 taxis can wait on the left of the car park access road, drive forward through the tunnel, turn in the car park and wait in a a second 3-taxi layby near the station exit. This, say the lads, will lead to delays and possible accidents as unwary potential customers run across the car park access road to get a response from a snoozing driver.

 Whatever happened to the short stay car park? 

Action needs to be taken to discourage drivers from dangerously dropping off passengers outside Watford Junction Station, the town’s elected mayor has said.

Mayor Dorothy Thornhill called on London Midland trains, which runs the station, to improve signage to its new car park to encourage motorists to use it. The mayor’s comments come after she said residents had contacted her about the dangerous situation developing on Station Road outside the station since its redevelopment.  

As part of the works the old short-stay parking bays, which were accessible near the station’s entrance in Station Road, were removed.

taxis, buff colour : buses, pale purple : short stay, pink

Woodford Road is one way right to left from short stay.

These were replaced by a new car park further down past the station’s bus area. However the new car park is only accessible from Woodford Road, which is a one way road and one way in the "wrong" direction against the flow of most of those wishing to park.

The result has been that many drivers collecting or dropping people at the station have been stopping in traffic in Station Road instead.

Mayor Thornhill said: "Drivers are just chucking people out in the main road. They (London Midland) have to improve the signage and drivers have to get used to using the short term car park. We need to make sure this brilliant investment London Midland has made is not spoilt by small things that irritate the hell out of people." 

Not quite the sophisticated style of speaking that one might normally associate with her eminence the Mayor? Or perhaps it is? The temerity of her asperity negates the status of the office!

 Bus station : manoeuvering menace? 
The old bus station had three parallel lanes; two with bus stands and a third for vehicle "layover".

The new layout has the stands located "in the round"; three (Nos 1, 2 and 3 above) as previously and three facing in the opposite direction. There is a central "lane" for waiting buses to doze peacefully until their next turn of duty.

This means that buses waiting on the stands adjacent to Woodford Road will have to do one and a half circuits of the bus station tho get in and out. And does the architect really think that buses will be easy to jiggle into and out of the central parking area. Interesting times and the occasional bent bus seem likely!

 Angle of Incidence Incidents 
This one comes from No. 3 son's personal observation. Because the forecourt area slopes down to the one remaining entrance and exit door to the booking hall (there used to be two), the glazing reflects everything.

This means, says No. 3, that you can easily collide with exiting commuters. The comfy (?) stone seats are easy to trip over if your concentration is less than ideal after a day's stressful labour. Not clear from the photographs is the unnecessary semi circle of hefty bollards; a response to unjustified paranoia that Watford political extremists might drive their explosive-filled vehicle into the building.

Presumably, being typical plegmatic Brits, the dutiful residents of Watford will soon adjust to the revised plans and all will work tolerably well.

But what Watford Junction really needs is a completely new station!

And there are plans ...

 Next Rail Blog : Thursday 2nd May