Worrying Wobbles in Weston [1]

The Perils of Privatisation : The Traumas of Tendering

A reminder : Bus companies are businesses, there to make a profit for their shareholders. They are no different from Tesco, BP, BT or Bert Thrubley Builders Ltd. They have no responsibility to "provide a (loss-making) service to the public", because, if they fail to make a profit (or at least break even), they will cease to exist. So routes that don't make money are unacceptable. If the Local Authority considers that a bus service is essential for the community it may invite companies to participate in a competitive tender and thus, if successful, receive payment from the authority to boost its income. The money comes from council tax revenue, that's you and me.

Weston-Super-Mare has a very low low tide ...

... causing some jokers to refer to it as Weston-super-Mud (including fbb, shame on the grumpy old man!). The town gained much national and international publicity when the not-long-previously refurbished Grand Pier pavilion perished in a plethora of pyrotechnics in 2008.

It has been splendidly rebuilt after a successful £30 million compensation-cum-insurance claim ...

... and must now be one of the poshest piers provided anywhere in the UK.

Weston had trams; of which fbb was entirely ignorant!

The Weston-super-Mare Tramways operated a fleet of up to 16 standard gauge single and double-deck tramcars on a route totalling 2.92 miles from Birnbeck Pier (top) to The Sanatorium (bottom) with a spur via the railway station to a depot in Locking Road. This tiny "system" opened in 1902.

Competition came in the form of motor buses. Local operator Burnell was taken over by the Bristol Tramways Company in 1934, and other services in the town were operated by the GWR's road motors. An agreement was soon reached with the Bristol company to close the tramway in 1937.

Ultimately the Bristol Tramways Compnay realised that it did not run trams any more (the City network closed in 1941) and eventually renamed itself Bristol Omnibuses in 1999. It had previously been privatised and traded as Badgerline and Cityline ...

... which became First Bus after a merger with Grampian (Aberdeen Corporation) in 1995. Most local services in Weston-super-Mare have traditionally been run by First and its predecessors; indeed, First is still the major operator in and from the town.

Following the pattern of past principles, the Fearnley crowd have withdrawn from some town services which have gone out to tender. Three of these have been won by Webberbus [4/4A, 83 and 85] ...

... and one by Crosville [16].

It takes quite a few mental and omnibological gymnastics to cope with the idea that a company called Crosville runs buses in Weston. But it is not the original Crosville or anthing remotely connected with it.

The owner (and enthusiast) simply liked the name and the Tilling green vehicles and discovered that it was still available on the Companes' House List.

Bakers Dolphin ...

... runs the 121 to Bristol Airport and Bristol as previously blogged (read again) and hops happily haround nearby settlements with the 66.

Both these routes are tendered by the local authorities.

fbb has oft opined that it is short-sighted of a major operator to pull out of less/non remunerative parts of an established network because that allows competitors to gain a foothold. Similarly, Local Authorities are, effectively, obliged to accept the lowest tender which can lead to reliability problems and service failures. So the local paper ...

... reports that there is "touble at't mill" with Weston's buses.

So who is in trouble? Is Crosville castigated? Is Bakers Dolphin banished? Is Webberbus facing wipeout? Or is Mr Fearnley sent to stand in the corner?

Tomorrow may bring the answer ...

 Next Bus Blog : Monday 25th February 

St Pancras to St Margaret [3]

My bus, my bus; my kingdom for a bus!

fbb has arrived at Leicester station and is seeking a bus to get his tired and aching limbs (and, hopefully, the rest of him) across Leicester centre to St Margarets bus station for his onward journey to Groby. See "St Pancras to St Margaret [2]" (read again). The PlusBus poster tells him to go to stop RS4 and catch any one of these.

But there is no stop RS4!

Oh dear!

A while back, in "Buses" magazine, a man called Rose (surname rather than given!) from FWT** wrote an impassioned article extolling the virtues of his cunning plan to re-label all the bus stops in Leicester centre. fbb is not sure whether this project extended to the Station; but if it did, no-one has told Plus Bus.

The stop in question is lettered "EG" (and not RS4) but did appear to be appopriate for the five services on the PlusBus poster. And almost immediately an articulated green service 80 arrived ...

... fbb boarded and was unceremoniously turfed off with a "we only go the Charles Street" from the driver.

Oh dear!

What now? Trembling with fear, fbb tried to examine the huge frame of detailed information at the stop.

But the print was so small, the frame set so high and fbb had foolishly forgotten his stilts; meaning that reading any detail was impossible. Reflections from outside the shelter made it even worse. But there was one of those dreaded spider maps:-

Unlike Plus Bus's offering, his showed the previously identified routes (47, 80, 81, X3 and X7) as running to Charles Street and not to St Margarets.

Oh dear!

Only the X27 was shown as serving St Margarets on its way to Loughborough. So fbb decided to wait for an X27. With no timetables displayed at all, and not even a departure list, what else could be done?

It would have been a very long wait from fbb's arrival at the stop at 1425 ...

... until the only X27s (actually X27Es) departed from there at 1720 and 1730. It was a schoolday, though.

Oh dear!

An innocent fbb might well have now given up and set off to walk. Everything seemed to contrive to obfuscate and  befuddle. Certainly the people who installed these misleading (and just plain wrong) notices have not the faintest idea how utterly useless their efforts have been. What is the use of putting up lots of detailed lists with no readable guide as to how frequent the services are?

Rather than walking, fbb decided to stop being innocent and go back to relying on his knowledge. Services 47 and 48 run every 15 minutes between St Margarets bus station and South Wigston, a suburb to the south of the City.

The 47 enters the city via the station and continues to St Margarets, whilst the 48 runs in the opposite direction. This information was simply not provided at the station or the stop. Having completely failed to obtain what he needed to know in "innocent" mode, fbb can be forgiven for despairing of all parties concerned. fbb's 47 sped him to St Margarets in plenty of time for his bus Groby-wards, passing the 80 at its Charles Street terminus on the way.

Arriva, you are missing out on revenue. Tell Plusbus to get it right, then put a huge notice on the stop: "Bus 47 to St Margarets" with departure times and see the £1 fares roll in.

Note the height of the information frame with the bottom at average head height; maybe fbb should have stood on the seats? Almost certainly, no-one at Arriva will read this but, if they do, here is another question. As fbb sped his merry way to Groby, he saw this advert on the No. 28 bus.

Every 10 minutes from Groby (or is it Leicester?) to Nottingham seems a fantastic service. And only £2.50. Please send full details, so fbb can blog with boundless enthusiasm.

Oh dear! Indeed!

 **from the FWT company web site:-

But obviously not in Leicester

 Next Bus Blog : Sunday 24th Febuary 

St Pancras to St Margaret [2]

As usual, it's easy when you know how!

Once upon a time Leicester had three railway stations; Central (left), Belgrave Road (top right) and London Road (bottom right). Of these, only London Road remains but now called simply "Leicester". A fourth terminus, West Bridge closed in 1928.

Midland Red built its main bus station just outside one of its garages opposite St Margaret's church.

Interstingly (?) this later picture (below) had the buses running from East to West whereas the old shot (above) shows vehicles running from West to East. A quirk for a Leicester expert to resolve!

For its day, St Margarets was the height of opulence! It was replaced in 1985 by a new facility provided, not by the bus company, but by Leicester City Council. In the true spirit of transport integration it is just about as far as you could get from the railway whilst remaining, nominally, in the City centre.

So, imagine an elderly, somewhat arthritic and certainly overweight pensioner arriving by train and seeking to go forward to, say Groby, by bus. See "St Pancras to St Margaret [1]" (read again). This old crusty has been told to take the bus from St Margarets and, after a tiring journey is disinclined to walk. In any case, for the purposes of this blog, he doesn't know the way.

Try the Station enquiry office. Is there one?

It turns out that this unlabelled room is the booking office and presumably the only source of human information. There was the inevitable queue, but whilst waiting, fbb espied a Plusbus display. Bingo!

There was a plan of the station showing stops RS1, RS2, RS3 and RS4 ...

... which was both helpful and encouraging. And there was a list showing (hooray hooray) ...

... buses to St Margarets bus station. It gets better all the time.

Leicester Station has recently had a major facelift and the old dark and dismal "carriage road" has been turned into a bright and respectable entrance and exit with adjacent taxi and drop of and pick up point. It is quite splendid. Here are some Leicester glitterati showing us all just how wonderful it is.

So, according to Plusbus's little map, it is just a question of leaving the building; crossing the road onto that triangle of pedestrian peace and there we should find stop RS4.

Unfortunately the Plusbus map people have never been to Leicester; thus the diagram is wrong and shows the bus stop in the wrong place and on the wrong bit of the road junction. Never mind, they have tried; or maybe they are trying! But at least we can check if it really is labelled RS4.

So fbb went to have a look. Bet you can't guess what he found?

 Next Bus Blog : Saturday 23rd February 

St Pancras to St Margaret [1]

A horse, a horse. My kingdom for a horse!

King Richard III has been much in the news recently as the oft-disgraced monarch has spent much of his death in a car park at Leicester. (Small black dot above) At the same time, his cry of desperation, according to Will Shakespeare, is somewhat ironic in view of the current foodie crisis! Undaunted by fears of imminent death  from minced nag, fbb chose to enjoy a "burger" on his recent foray north for an "overnight" at Leicester, prior to enjoying the Sheffield Motor Bus Centenary.

So to sustain him on his enforced safari through the corridors of Kings Cross St Pancras underground station ...

... (into which labyrinth many innocent travellers have disappeared, never to be seen again) fbb visited the Fine Burger Company.

£9 for burger and chips was a bit more than Macdonalds but fbb's lunch was much more substantial and might well be called a meal. The chips were by far the most delicious chips every eaten by himself. Fine it very much was.

Most of us have forgotten that a "burger" was originally a "Hamburger Steak" and nothing to do with ham!

The hamburger (steak); a ground beef patty between two slices of bread, was first created in America in 1900 by Louis Lassen, owner of Louis' Lunch in New Haven, Connecticut. There have been many rival claimants and some still  cite the origin of the hamburger in Hamburg, Germany with its invention by Otto Kuase. However, it gained national recognition at the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair when the New York Tribune namelessly attributed the hamburger as, "the innovation of a food vendor." It is (and always was, a good way of making the tougher bits of the cow (or horse!) more edible.

But back to the train journey! And what a delight!

Far less claustrophobic than those Voyagers, Pendolinos and Meridians, because you could easily see over the seat backs. And really quiet; conversation was easy and you could hear all the announcements without the accompaniment of underfloor engine roar.

And, bliss of bliss, you could lower the window in the vestibule door and get some real fresh unconditioned air. Naughtily, despite dire warnings, you could peer out and see where you were going ...

... utterly fascinating on the approach to Leicester station. The train seemed well maintained; indeed there was a notice on one of the doors telling you just that (?).

Hopefully so was the rest of the train!

And, talking of maintenance, there appeared to be some sort of locomotive at each end with all the gubbins easily accessible, not skulking away under the floor. That must make life easier for the men in white overalls.

Was fbb on some trial run of a prototype of the diesel version of the much maligned Inter-City Expess Train project? Would passengers be enjoying this massive improvement in ambience throughout the network?

No chance!

Because fbb was travelling on an old (over 30 years old, in fact) High Speed Train, developed in the 1970s.

You just forget how stonkingly good the HST was and still is. Why not build a lot more?

Your author does not like the draconian restrictions of pre-booked cheapo "Advance" tickets, but when carefully managed, they do save cash. fbb's ticket to Leicester was on a Nottingham bound train and these are usually HSTs. But travelling from the Island, the bit of the journey on SouthWest Trains has no time or seat-booking restriction, so fbb could leave earlier (even during morning peak), travel cheaply (£13.50 single with OAP railcard, Portsmouth to Leicester including the cross-London Undergound) and still have time for a relaxing lunch at St Pancras.

But there remains one tricky part of the journey. His overnight stop was c/o long-time chum David who lives at Groby, an ancient village (now suburban dormitory) some 5 miles north-west of King Richard III's extended resting place. And the bus leaves from St Margarets Bus Station.

With pre-planned slack in his schedule, the brave, bespectacled and balding one decided to play the innocent and attempt to cross Leicester by bus.

Of which more tomorrow.

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STOP PRESS

News just in that First will be making the brochure for the Centenary of the Motor Bus in Sheffield available on-line. See yesterday's blog (read again)

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 Next Bus Blog : Friday 22nd Febuary 

100 Glorious Years : Extras

 Some items held over from the Sheffield Bus Centenary Blog

 Another fbb bludner 

In his piece on the history of Sheffield's first bus route (read again), fbb reported that the one man route used 6-gang hand-operated "Ultimate" ticket machines. This was complete drivel! Greenland Garage's OMO services were initially equipped with electric driven TIM machines, something like this one:-

Thanks to several good Sheffield folk (equipped with both brains and memory) who sorted the old fellow out!

 Bob the Bus Conductor 

A particular delight on returning from the ceremonial ride to Lodge Moor was to be greeted by Bob Hallam, former conductor at Herries Depot, in full Sheffield Transport Department uniform.

Very smart indeed; and many happy memories!

 Fearnley's Got the Plague 

Or should that be "plaque"? After the formalities at Sheffield's Town Hall, there was a brief presentation ceremony when Giles received a smaller version of the ownership lettering from today's vehicle in Bus No 1 livery.

The manager then was, of course Giles' grandfather. There was no record of how the youngest Fearnley (Archie Robin, great grandson) felt about the day!

Not a lot?

 Darren's Response 

Pictured with Giles (above) is Darren Sentance, painter from Rotherham depot, whose tireless efforts created both special liveries. fbb had a chat with "The Lad" who was effusive of his praise of the New Look for First's senior management. Under the "Ancien Régime" there was a permanent current of fear, Darren said, and staff were simply bullied into submission and silence.

The Lad's view of Fearnley's philosophy indicates a dramatic change. "We can use our initiative without fear of getting the sack," he told fbb, "and our views and ideas are welcome. It's like working for a different company!" If any of our blog readers doubt the change in First Bus, just listen to Darren. And GRF himself was nowhere to be seen; neither did Darren know of the life-long friendship between GRF and fbb.

 Crosspool Comments on-line 

Crosspool is one of the suburbs served by route 51 and a representative of their Community thingy travelled with the bus. She talked to fbb, somewhat mystified as to his enthusiasm and knowledge (occasionally flawed!) on the route's history. On their web site (read here - but may have changed if you come late to this blog) she has provided a link to fbb's blog ...

... and, inadvertently, a rear view of the old codger's balding pate!

Fame at last!

 Brilliant Brochure 

And, to complete the most magnificent day, all invitees were given a superb souvenir booklet; 20 pages, landscape format and in full colour. The content was in the form of a potted history of Route 51 showing vehicles and timetable information for each decade (or thereabouts).

Again it is all credit to First for paying the bill and to those experts that contributed such a wide selection of material.

For new and occasional blog readers, for whom today's snippets may be relatively meaningless, the full story of Sheffield's Centenary Celebrations can be followed by clicking on these headings in the "blog archive" list to the left of this page. The relevant posts are:-

Fat Bus Bloke's on the List!
Bus One; What Fun!
The Fifty-One, unchanging one
Rich and Resplendent Repaint
100 Glorious Years

 Next Bus Rail Blog : Thursday 21st February