Passenger Transport 248: September 3

YEARS 2011 | 2021

ISSUE 248 3 SEPTEMBER 2021

NEWS, VIEWS AND ANALYSIS FOR A SECTOR ON THE MOVE

‘Governments need to get real’ - Stagecoach

Launching group’s new sustainability strategy, boss Martin Griffiths called for ‘radical behaviour change and incentives to reward the right choices’ Stagecoach has issued a blunt warning to governments to turn warm words on greener travel into practical actions that achieve “radical behaviour change”.

Publishing its roadmap to becoming a carbon neutral business by 2050 - Driving Net Zero: Better Places to Live and Work - this month, Britain’s biggest bus and coach operator said national and regional governments needed to address “contradictory policies and mixed messaging” over climate change action.

“The country will not deliver on its ambitions by grand strategies or technology change alone,” said Stagecoach chief executive Martin Griffiths.

“We need radical behaviour change and incentives to reward

ADL HYDROGEN ORDER Alexander Dennis Limited has been chosen to deliver the first vehicles of a new, zero-emission hydrogen bus fleet for the Liverpool City Region. The 20-strong fleet of ‘H2.0’ second-generation hydrogen vehicles will be directly purchased through the Liverpool City Region’s Transforming Cities Fund, and, like the new trains for the Merseyrail network, will be owned by the city region. See full story on page 11.

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the right choices to make net zero a reality. We need to be more honest about the scale of the challenge and the changes we will need to make to how we live now.

“Governments need to get real and stop cherry-picking the easy wins. We urgently need practical changes by national and regional government to address contradictory policies and mixed messaging currently being sent to citizens.”

“We need to be more honest about the scale of the challenge” Martin Griffiths

Griffiths called for an end to the “ludicrous” situation where some clean air zone plans “effectively tax bus passengers” but do nothing to address diesel cars.

He continued: “Our current tax system and approach to road management puts cars first and is directly resulting in higher fares for people doing the right thing and choosing greener bus travel.”

“The biggest opportunity to address climate change and protect our communities from extreme weather, poor air quality and the road traffic gridlock ... is not from electrifying Britain’s transport system. It is from incentivising the country to switch from cars to greener and healthier public transport and active travel.”

STRATEGY: PAGE 11

NEWS

RMT threatens strike action across network

04

Union opposes ‘savage proposals’

INNOVATION & TECH

Arriva offers its first MaaS solution

13

Group launches app in the Netherlands

COMMENT

‘A27 - a billion pound act of vandalism’

14

Norman Baker on road building

COMMENT

‘It’s time to swap Teams for trains’

16

Alex Warner on business travellers

CAREERS

Scheduler awards returns

23

CitySwift-sponsored prize is back

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CONTENTS

PASSENGER TRANSPORT PO Box 5496, Westbury BA13 9BX 020 3950 8000 editorial@passengertransport.co.uk

Stagecoach is right to speak out on climate action The folks at Stagecoach have a reputation for giving forthright opinions that other groups shy away from (but often agree with in private).

That was the case this month when Britain’s biggest bus and coach operator took a swipe at Robert Jack the mis-match between government rhetoric on Managing Editor climate change and the lack of practical actions.

It did so while launching a new sustainability strategy of its own.

The debate about climate change has altered. Very few now deny the need to respond, the debate is about how we respond before it is too late. Given the magnitude of the threat it is surprising how little governments have done to equip us with data that informs us where we make the greatest reductions to our own carbon footprints.

Compare this to all those graph-laden coronavirus briefings.

Dangerous myths can prosper in this vacuum, such as the idea that electric cars are a panacea. Decarbonising the tailpipe and otherwise carrying on as before won’t get us to net zero. The truth is that zero emission cars still have more emissions over their entire life-span than buses and coaches. Stagecoach is therefore right to call for “radical behaviour change and incentives to reward the right choices”.

Other industries, notably car manufacturers, have much to say for themselves as they attempt to don green halos. The passenger transport sector can genuinely claim to be part of a credible net zero solution, so when governments are falling short it must speak up.

HAVE YOUR SAY Contact us with your news, views and opinion at: editorial@passengertransport.co.uk PASSENGER TRANSPORT editorial@passengertransport.co.uk forename.surname@ passengertransport.co.uk Telephone: 020 3950 8000 Managing Editor & Publisher Robert Jack Deputy Editor Andrew Garnett Contributing Writer Rhodri Clark Directors Chris Cheek, Andrew Garnett, Robert Jack, George Muir, John Nelson OFFICE CONTACT DETAILS Passenger Transport Publishing Ltd PO Box 5496, Westbury BA13 9BX, UNITED KINGDOM Telephone (all enquiries):

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address. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in whole or in part without the publisher’s written permission.

Printed by Cambrian Printers Ltd, The Pensord Group, Tram Road, Pontllanfraith, Blackwood, NP12 2YA © Passenger Transport Publishing Ltd 2021 ISSN 2046-3278 SUBSCRIPTIONS HOTLINE 020 3950 8000

IN THIS ISSUE 22

PROJECT AIMS FOR COVID EXPERIENCES

The Omnibus Society is inviting bus industry operators, employees and passengers to share their experiences during the pandemic.

All the submissions will be stored as a resource at the Bus Archive for future generations to view.

ORGANISATION

PAGE

Alexander Dennis 1, 11, 22 Alstom 5 Amazon 9 Arriva 13 Arriva Merseyside 11 Avanti West Coast 5 Ballard 11 Campaign for Better Transport 5 CPT (UK) 11 Denbighshire County Council 6 DVSA 7 East Midlands Railway 4 First Essex 9 FirstGroup 22 Go-Ahead Group 13 Go-Coach 9 Greater Anglia 5 HS2 5 Imberbus 7 London Overground 9 Metroline 9 Metrolink 8 Omnibus Society 22 Oxford Bus Company 7 Passenger 13 RMT 4 Safeguard Coaches 13 ScotRail 4 Somerset Passenger Solutions 22 South Western Railway 4 Stagecoach Group 1, 11 Stagecoach Highlands 7 Stagecoach Merseyside 11 Transport for London 8, 9 Transport for the North 11 Transport for Wales 6 Unite 8 Voith 11

11

CPT TELLS TFN: ‘MODAL SHIFT IS KEY TO NET ZERO’

18

DEFINING THE TRANSPORT HIERARCHY

21

CAN WE REALLY AFFORD HS-£200BN?

Responding to Transport for the North’s consultation on its upcoming decarbonisation strategy, the Confederation of Passenger Transport has called for modal shift from private car use to public transport to be prioritised in a bid to reach net zero.

The latest Highway Code update will reflect a new road user hierarchy but what does this mean in everyday reality? “It isn’t clear where buses and coaches fit into the hierarchy,” says Nick Richardson. “Will they be deemed more important than cars?”

Great Minster Grumbles: Our Whitehall insider imagines what’s going on inside the minds of the mandarins at Great Minster House, home of the DfT. “Continuing with the project is a litmus test of this government’s commitment to the levelling up agenda.”

REGULARS NEWS ENVIRONMENT INNOVATION & TECH COMMENT GRUMBLES CAREERS DIVERSIONS

03 11 13 14 21 22 24

3 September 2021 | 03

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NEWS ROUND-UP

RMT threatens strike action across network As ScotRail and South Western Railway each reveal a slimmed down vision for their future networks, the RMT rail union is going on the offensive INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS

Widespread industrial action across Britain’s rail network looks increasingly likely after the RMT union said it would be stepping up its campaign against what it terms is a “a cynical and opportunist wave of post-Covid cuts to jobs and services” across the network.

The union saysthat it expects that “savage proposals” for service revisions being drawn up by both ScotRail and South Western Railway will be mirrored across the rest of the network.

It follows continuing industrial unrest over the summer. At the weekend ScotRail workers voted to continue their strikes every Sunday in a dispute over pay for rest day working. Meanwhile, at East Midlands Railway strikes look set to continue every Sunday in a dispute over the introduction

SWR plans to slim down its network from December 2022

of Class 360 electric multiple units. Senior conductors and train managers at EMR have also been striking at weekends.

However, the proposed cuts at ScotRail and SWR have drawn the further ire of the union.

ScotRail’s ‘Fit for the Future’

Pre-Covid timetable would cost £30-40bn ScotRail claims burden would fall on taxpayer ScotRail says restoring its prepandemic timetable would result in trains operating 26 million more vehicle miles each year “for little customer benefit”.

The train operator made the comments as it launched its ‘Fit For The Future’ plans for new timetables from May 2022.

It says its proposals would offer a new, better performing,

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timetable of around 2,100 services per weekday. While broadly similar to the current network, ScotRail admits that in some areas there will be significant changes.

It says on a number of routes across Scotland significantly more seats were being provided than were required for the number of passengers travelling.

plans contain proposals for a new timetable from May 2022 that would see the train operator provide 2,100 services each day, down from the 2,400 services before the pandemic.

ScotRail has been running just over 2,000 services per day while

“For example, under five and a half million passenger journey miles were completed on a typical weekday, which was just 23% of the available number of seats,” added the train operator.

“In other words, seats were empty for 77% of the distance that was travelled.”

It adds that restoring the prepandemic timetable would also come at a significant cost to the taxpayer - of £30m to £40m each year. Meanwhile, it adds the proposed timetable would also improve reliability.

pandemic restrictions have been in place. It claims the planned new timetable offers “the foundation to encourage a return to public transport following the pandemic”.

“Most customers will find the number of calls at their station and the destinations served are similar to today,” it added.

Meanwhile, SWR has launched a consultation on plans to reshape its network from December 2022.

It claims its plans will still deliver capacity at 93% of pre-Covid levels and improve significantly on the current timetable, backed by the introduction of new Class 701 EMUs on the Reading, Windsor and London suburban network.

“The result will be a more robust train service across the SWR network that meets new travel patterns as we emerge from the pandemic,” added SWR. But RMT general secretary Mick Lynch, said it was “crystal clear” to the rail union that the planned cuts were “just the tip of the iceberg as cynical employers use the cloak of Covid to smuggle through the decimation of jobs and services”.

He continued: “Not only do these planned cuts fly in the face of the government’s own statements on future rail usage they also make a mockery of their green agenda as they will force more cars onto the road at the expense of environmentallyfriendly rail travel.

“RMT will not sit back while this carve up of the rail network is cooked up in company boardrooms. We will be stepping up our campaigning and the union has moved onto an industrial war-footing as we recognise exactly what is at stake.

“If it means national industrial action on the railways to stop this carnage we are more than ready for that.” www.passengertransport.co.uk

01/09/2021 16:55

Campaign groups call for rail fares freeze July inflation details prompt government to defer rail fare hike FARES

Campaigners have called for a rail fares freeze after the government delayed an announcement on next year’s rail fare increases.

The annual increase in regulated rail fares is usually determined by the previous July’s Retail Prices Index measure of inflation.

This year’s RPI, announced to be 3.8% by the Office for National Statistics on August 18, suggested that fares could rise by 4.8% under the RPI+1 formula. This would have led to the largest fares increase since 2012.

However, the Department for Transport said no decision had been made on next year’s fares and that it was considering “a variety of options”.

The move was welcomed by the Campaign for Better Transport, which has called for a price freeze.

“We welcome the news that the government is reconsidering the annual RPI-linked fare rise to help encourage more people back to public transport.” said chief executive Paul Tuohy.

“The railway is crucial to the economy and will play a key role in a green economic recovery, so we want to see rail passengers given the same break as drivers have had with the fuel duty freeze. We’re urging the government to freeze fares for next year to help increase passenger numbers and boost the economy, as well as reducing carbon emissions, air pollution and congestion.”

Tuohy added that capping rail fares at their current level could be just the first step in a rail recovery plan, but he said the

government needed to go further to encourage modal shift.

He continued: “We want to see fares reform expediated, investment to ensure all communities have access to the rail network and a shift in the balance of transport funding away from roads and driving and towards public transport.”

Neil Middleton from the campaign group Railfuture added: “It isn’t the fare that determines how much passengers, overall, contribute to the railway - it is the fare multiplied by the number of passengers that matters.

“At a time when there are so few captive passengers for the railway, with business meetings that can take place on Zoom, and ‘Work from Home’ as the routine, the reduction in demand from an increased price easily leads to an overall loss of revenue”.

HS2 EASTERN SPUR FACING AXE? More rumours surface about future of branch HS2

GREAT ANGLIA’S NEW FLEET ROLL OUT Greater Anglia has introduced new Class 720 EMUs on its West Anglia services. The train operator is currently in the process of introducing 133 of the five-carriage trains with 25 now in service. Some are already in passenger service on the Great Eastern mainline. www.passengertransport.co.uk

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Further leaks from the government suggest that HS2 Phase 2b to the East Midlands and Yorkshire could be delayed or even scrapped.

Speculation has been mounting about the future of the planned branch for the last year ever since the then newly-appointed HS2 minister Andrew Stephenson promised to bring forward legislation to bring high-speed rail into Manchester, but without mentioning Leeds, as soon as practical.

Now reports suggest the branch could be axed in order to save £40bn

on London’s roads

IN BRIEF

PENDOLINO REFURBISHMENTS Avanti West Coast has begun a £117m project to refurbish its Pendolino train fleet. The project will see all 25,000 seats replaced, the conversion of one First Class carriage on each of the 35 11-carriage Pendolinos to Standard Class, a new Café Bar, better lighting and new carpets.

Manufacturer Alstom will oversee the refurbishment at their new depot in Widnes.

HIGH SPEED TURTLE Avanti West Coast has unveiled a new advertising campaign to encourage people back to rail. Spearheaded by Turbo, a rollerblading turtle, ‘Feel Good Travel’ launched in the same week the train operator reintroduced extra services on its Manchester, West Midlands and North Wales routes. The new campaign includes a 60-second television advert featuring Turbo whizzing around on rollerblades.

from the overall cost of the project.

A DfT spokesperson emphasised that no decisions have been made regarding the delivery of Phase 2b and the delayed Integrated Rail Plan would clarify matters.

“The Integrated Rail Plan will soon outline exactly how major rail projects, including HS2 Phase 2b and other transformational projects such as NPR, will work together to deliver the reliable train services that passengers across the North and Midlands need and deserve,” they said.

The bill for High Speed 2 (HS2) phase 2b’s western leg is currently scheduled to be deposited in Parliament in “early 2022 or sooner if possible”.

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NEWS ROUND-UP

FUTURE PLANS

Operators large and small at last week’sa launch of 1bws

North Wales seizes pandemic opportunity

The Welsh Government’s Bus Emergency Scheme 2 has given the confidence for the launch of a new multi-operator ticket in North Wales NETWORKS

Emergency bus funding during the Covid-19 pandemic has unlocked the door to a radical simplification of bus ticketing in North Wales.

Previously passengers were faced with choosing from a plethora of tickets specific to operators or to certain geographical areas. Now a new day rover ticket, branded 1bws, covers 27 different bus operators and all but one of the region’s regular bus routes, including Fflecsi demand-responsive ones.

The price, £5.70 for adults, is expected to attract new people to the bus as well as encouraging previous passengers to return.

At the ticket’s official launch in Rhyl last week, managers revealed that the initiative could not have been launched in such a short time were it not for the Welsh Government’s Bus Emergency Scheme 2 (BES2), which covers the shortfall 06 | 3 September 2021 PT248p06-07.indd 6

between operators’ revenue and costs until July 2022.

For an initial period, 1bws revenue is kept where it falls, rather than being apportioned in line with the journeys made by 1bws holders. Before the pandemic, it would have been difficult for every operator to sign up to a new scheme on this basis because of the risk of losing revenue.

For example, some of the rural operators might have been concerned that leisure travellers would predominantly buy 1bws tickets on Arriva buses, when starting their journeys in the main towns before using other

“One of the reasons given by people not to use the bus is the uncertainty on tickets”

operators’ buses to reach the countryside. For Arriva and others in the main settlements, a concern could have arisen around residents of North Wales buying 1bws tickets from independents and completing their journeys on trunk bus routes into major centres such as Chester and Wrexham.

This summer, however, operators accepted a system based on “revenue where it falls” because any shortfalls which emerge will be made up through BES2. This is unlikely to be a sustainable arrangement, but the local authorities aim to create a revenue apportionment system next year, using passenger data from the first six months of 1bws.

Each 1bws ticket has a QR code which users scan when boarding each subsequent bus.

At the launch, Brian Jones, Denbighshire County Council’s lead member for transport and environment, said more innovations would follow, and

The first results of the Welsh bus network review are due to emerge this autumn, in the form of proposals for future services in each of the six North Wales council areas. The process is being replicated in the other regions.

Transport for Wales has been working with local authorities to devise blueprints for future bus networks in each region. It started the process by commissioning Arup to produce suggestions for how networks could be reorganised. TfW said this was high-level work, intended to challenge traditional thinking.

The six area plans for North Wales are being designed to take account of cross-boundary travel demand. TfW will subsequently seek input on cross-border services, such as Flintshire and Wrexham to Chester, and from bus operators.

work was already under way on weekly and four-weekly versions of 1bws.

“One of the reasons given by people not to use the bus is the uncertainty on tickets,” he said. “The new 1bws ticket will take that away. It will make the bus network far more accessible and easier to use. This ticket is also clear evidence of the strong partnership that exists between our bus operators and local authorities. Working together, we can achieve a lot more.”

Officials are optimistic that the sole commercial route where 1bws is not valid will join the scheme once data-driven revenue apportionment is in place.

The creation of 1bws was assisted by David Blainey, of The BusMan Consultancy, and

by Transport for Wales, which provided support for the ticketing and back office systems. www.passengertransport.co.uk

01/09/2021 16:55

“I want to ensure that this important function is as effective as possible”

Vere launches review of traffic commissioners Move follows blistering attack by former DVSA boss REGULATION

The government has launched a review of the function of traffic commissioners. It aims to provide ministers with a robust assessment of the health and effectiveness of the system.

Last year Gareth Llewellyn, the then outgoing chief executive of the Driver and Vehicle Standards Agency (DVSA), launched a blistering attack on the traffic commissioner system at a hearing of the Transport Select Committee (PT235).

Llewellyn told MPs he was of the view that TCs were no longer needed, branded them “anachronistic”, and claimed that passing their role onto DVSA

would save “millions and millions of pounds”.

It appears that ministers have listened and the new review will specifically probe whether the role is still needed, and if the current TCs are carrying out their functions “effectively and efficiently”.

Ministers are also seeking views on whether: The support provided by DVSA and, specifically, the Office of the Traffic Commissioner (OTC) is adequate; The current OTC DVSAprovided support and TC arrangements best support the delivery of these functions; The OTC support continues to be provided by DVSA, or would be more effective if separated, given DVSA’s enforcement functions and the TC role as

independent regulators; The effectiveness and appropriateness of existing governance, accountability, assurance, and intelligence sharing arrangements; and The appropriateness of delivering additional functions.

“Traffic Commissioners play a key role in road safety, including helping ensure that people who operate HGVs and coaches are reputable, that there is fair competition between operators and that public inquiry proceedings are fair,” said transport minister Baroness Vere.

“I want to ensure that this important function is as effective as possible, which is why I have launched a thorough review.”

The recommendations of the review are expected to be published next spring.

GOOD NEWS FOR AIRLINE

Passenger numbers now at highest point since Covid PATRONAGE

Oxford Bus Company has reported resurgent passenger numbers on its Airline-branded coach link between Oxford and Heathrow and Gatwick Airports.

The operator says the number of passengers travelling has more than doubled since the so-called ‘Freedom Day’ when travel restrictions to many destinations were relaxed. Passenger numbers are now at the highest point since the pandemic started, as residents take overseas holidays, go on business trips, and return to working at the airports.

“It is great to see more and more people returning to our Airline services,” said Oxford MD Phil Southall. “It’s also encouraging to see activity levels at the airports increasing and we have seen some of our customers who work at the airports returning to work after almost 18 months on furlough.”

NEW BUS FLEET FOR ORKNEY

Stagecoach wins in quality led tendering round NETWORKS

RETURN TO IMBER A total of 24 Routemasters old and new, plus vintage RT-types, took to Salisbury Plain on August 21 for the Imberbus event. Unfortunately, last year’s event was cancelled as a result of Covid and while this year’s event was not as busy as 2019, in excess of £12,500 was raised for charity from 1,600 visitors. www.passengertransport.co.uk

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New contracts for bus services on Orkney have commenced which will see Stagecoach, which has won the bulk of the new contracts, introduce 34 new vehicles.

While the Perth-based group has won the ‘mainland’ public bus network, school transport routes have gone to the group and several smaller operators. School services in Eday, Stronsay and East Holm will be re-tendered as no bids were received.

The tendering process was notable as it saw higher weighting towards quality over cost, a move the council admits has increased budgets.

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NEWS ROUND-UP

TfL announces plans to replace Tramlink fleet Reliability issues start to impact on original CR4000 trams ROLLING STOCK

Transport for London has moved forward with plans to replace the original Bombardier CR4000 trams on the London Tramlink network.

The fleet was built between 1998 and 1999 at Bombardier’s Vienna factory and the trams are based on the K4000 design created for the Cologne Stadtbahn in the 1990s. A total 23 of the 24 vehicles remain in service and they have been refurbished twice since Tramlink services commenced in 2000.

However, TfL claims the fleet has been experiencing declining reliability in recent years. The situation has grown so acute they now have “one of the lowest state of good repair categorisations”

across TfL’s rolling stock fleets.

Cologne last year announced its own plans to replace its K4000s.

As part of the plans for new rolling stock, FirstGroup subsidiary Tram Operations Ltd, which operates the system, has surveyed the Tramlink network to ensure TfL has the best understanding of the infrastructure constraints.

A study to ascertain the current tram market offerings has also

CR4000 fleet now over 20 years’ old

started. TfL said this will inform the main procurement activity, which is due to get under way later this year. “In June, we started the contract associated with these activities, including the market study and surveys, with the aim of completing [these studies] in the autumn, ahead of starting the formal procurement exercise before the end of the year,” added TfL. “The output of these initial activities will help inform us of the latest tram models available and identify the next steps regarding infrastructure works to accommodate the new units.”

Meanwhile, works are progressing on the 12-vehicle strong Stadler ‘Croydon Variobahn’ tram fleet. Delivered between 2011 and 2016, they are now being upgraded with additional CCTV cameras to improve driver visibility.

on London’s roads

IN BRIEF

METROLINK FREQUENCIES...

Metrolink this week restored a six-minute frequency on the core Bury to Altrincham corridor as part of a phased return to more frequent services. It is due to be followed by the reintroduction of a six-minute service between East Didsbury and Shaw and Crompton from September 6. Peak time services between MediaCityUK and Etihad Campus will be reintroduced in the coming weeks.

A temporary 12-minute networkwide service was introduced in early August following a rise in coronavirus-related staff absences. ...BUT FACES STRIKE ACTION The Unite union is balloting members employed at Metrolink for strike action in a dispute over pay. Staff have been offered a pay increase of 0.3% for January to March 2020, followed by 0.7% to April 2022. The union labelled the offer as “derisory” and a real terms pay cut.

WHITECHAPEL REINVIGORATED

Expansion work at East London station completed There are two new platforms for Elizabeth line services

STATIONS

Work to expand Whitechapel station in east London has been completed ahead of the opening of the Elizabeth line.

The work has seen a new ticket hall open, step-free access to London Underground and London Overground platforms introduced and the historic station entrance from 1876 on Whitechapel Road reopened to the public.

The new station concourse has a distinctive green roof that aims to enhance biodiversity.

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The work has seen the original 1876 station entrance restored

The green roof has been planted with sedum plants

www.passengertransport.co.uk

01/09/2021 16:55

Defining the transport hierarchy. Page 18

Buses outpace Tube in patronage revival TfL reports public transport use is increasing in London PATRONAGE

The latest statistics show that patronage on London’s public transport network has now breached the halfway mark of its pre-pandemic levels.

Transport for London said it had seen a steady increase in use across the network over the summer, and is preparing for further rises this month when as the new school year starts and more offices reopen.

Stations in the City and Canary Wharf are also starting to see patronage increasing. August 12 was the busiest day at Bank station in the City since the pandemic began, with more than 50,000 entry and exit “taps”.

OVERGROUND PLANS MOVE ON Enhancements and a new station are on the agenda NETWORKS

Transport for London has revealed it is looking to enhance facilities are two London Overground stations.

The projects at Hackney Central and Imperial Wharf have been approved and will be delivered in partnership with Network Rail, the London Borough of Hackney and Arriva Rail and funded by the DfT. Hackney Central station will see a new second entrance on Graham Road and an additional footbridge to ease congestion, improve interchange with Hackney Downs station and improve accessibility in response to growing passenger www.passengertransport.co.uk

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While this is still only around 30% of pre-pandemic footfall, this is already double April’s level of 15%. Canary Wharf’s peak came on August 19 when more than 45,000 people passed through the station.

There are also encouraging signs of recovery in the West End, with Oxford Circus now regularly seeing more than 100,000 entry and exits during weekdays and on Saturdays, around 50% of the numbers using the station before the pandemic. TfL also reports that daily ridership to and from Heathrow Airport has continued to grow as more countries open up to foreign travel.

The figures broadly follow the latest statistics published by the government. It reports that weekday patronage on London Underground passed the 50%

mark on a weekday for the first time since March 16, 2020 on August 13.

Reflecting the seeming leisurebased recovery of patronage, weekend footfall on the Tube continues to outpace weekdays, with figures bouncing back to between 50 and 60%.

But London’s bus network is seeing a faster recovery. Weekday patronage there has been in the high sixties and early seventies since early July. Again there is a stronger performance at weekends where patronage reached 74% and 75% on the weekend of August 2122, the most recent weekend where data is available.

TfL says its ‘Welcome Back’ marketing campaign and mayor Sadiq Khan’s parallel ‘Let’s Do London’ campaign, have contributed to the revival.

numbers. Cycle parking and the public realm will also be improved.

At Imperial Wharf station, a new entrance will be connected to the northbound platform, enabling a one-way system for passengers to alleviate congestion.

Meanwhile, the East London Line Enhancements Programme is developing concept designs for enhancements works to support housing growth along the East London line. These works are to be funded by the Housing Infrastructure Fund and Developer contributions via a Grant Determination Agreement.

The plans include a new accessible station entrance at Surrey Quays; an entirely new accessible station between Queens Road Peckham and Surrey Quays called Surrey Canal station; additional train stabling

sidings; and an upgrade to the traction power system.

Passive provision was made for a new station at Surrey Quays where when the East London line extension was constructed in the early 2000s, although funding issues have inhibited progress on construction of the new facility.

The detailed design and build stage for these projects is expected to commence in early 2022.

Surrey Canal station would serve new housing developments

on London’s roads

IN BRIEF

AMAZON’S BUS NETWORK The opening of a vast new Amazon fulfilment centre near Dartford in Kent has seen the launch of a dedicated new bus network to serve the facility, which offers no on-site parking to staff.

Kentish independent operator Go-Coach is operating a new 24-hour bus route connecting the facility with Dartford and Gravesend via the Fastrack bus rapid transit network. The service operates every 15 minutes between 5.30am and 8am and 6pm and 8pm with a half hourly service outside these times.

A further, more limited service links Woolwich in south east London with the site. First Essex holds the London Service Permit for this route.

BUS GARAGE TO CLOSE Metroline is scheduled to close Alperton Garage next week. The London operator announced in 2019 it had sold the site in north west London, which is adjacent to a Piccadilly line station, to a developer for £25m (PT222).

Telford Homes plans to construct three residential tower blocks on the site, with a mix of ‘build to rent’, ‘London affordable rent’ and ‘shared ownership’ flats.

REMOTE SIGN-ON PROBE Transport for London has commissioned independent research into the growing use of remote bus driver sign-on, where drivers can start their shifts away from their home garages.

It is understood there has been growing trade union unrest at the introduction of these schemes by several London bus operators.

TfL says it has commissioned the research “so that this practice can be examined in more detail”.

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ENVIRONMENT

Stagecoach plans to go carbon neutral by 2050 Sustainability strategy is ‘plan to deliver better places to live and work’ STRATEGY

Stagecoach this month launched a new long-term sustainability strategy. Britain’s biggest bus and coach operator aims to decarbonise its business by around 70% by 2035, and 100% by 2050.

Stagecoach’s strategy - Driving Net Zero: Better Places to Live and Work - aims to help create a greener, smarter, safer, healthier and fairer country. It sets out plans to achieve this by leveraging the power of public transport to address climate change, support post-Covid economic recovery and boost prosperity across the UK. The plan will see investment in new zero-emissions fleets and other green technologies over the next 15 years to reduce the company’s impact on the planet, plus initiatives to cut waste, boost recycling and conserve water.

Stagecoach aims to decarbonise its business by around 70% by

LIVERPOOL’S HYDROGEN FLEET First vehicles could be delivered as early as 2022 HYDROGEN

With the metro mayor Steve Rotheram having set a target for the Liverpool City Region to become net zero carbon by 2040 at the latest - at least a decade before national targets - a new batch of 20 next-generation hydrogen buses will be an important addition to the region’s existing fleet.

Following a competitive tendering www.passengertransport.co.uk

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2035 and have a zero emissions UK bus fleet by that date. It follows a 14% reduction in Stagecoach’s carbon emissions between 2014 and 2019, supported by investments in LED lighting, intelligent building heating control systems and renewables.

In addition, Stagecoach has confirmed plans to sign up to the global Race to Zero campaign and has also started working towards setting science-based targets for ratification by the Science Based Targets initiative, consistent with the 2015 Paris Agreement to limit global warming to 1.5°C by 2050.

Other new key environmental targets include: Purchasing only 100% renewable energy for Stagecoach buildings and fleet; Aligning energy management

Martin Griffiths

systems with the international standard ISO50001 by 2027; Diverting 95% of waste from landfill by 2026 and 98% by 2031; Reducing resource use by further digitalising systems; and Progressing a climate adaptation programme to risk assess and protect facilities.

Stagecoach’s new sustainability strategy also includes a package of investment in its employees and measures to build on the company’s annual contribution to the UK’s economy and communities, independently assessed as £1.6bn a year before the pandemic. It includes a commitment to help transform diversity in the transport sector by ensuring women make up at least 40% of the company’s leaders and 25% of the wider workforce are from ethnic minorities by 2026.

Griffiths said: “This is far more than a climate change strategy. It is a plan to deliver better places to live and work in the towns and cities we are proud to serve across the country.”

process, Alexander Dennis Limited was chosen to supply these buses.

They will be owned by the city region.

Powered by a Ballard fuel cell power module through the Voith Electrical Drive System, the Enviro400FCEV buses are designed to be more energy efficient and cover greater distances between refuelling.

These vehicles will also feature wireless phone charging and internet access, increased capacity for wheelchair users, and audio and visual next stop announcements.

The buses will initially serve the region’s busiest route - the 10A

between St Helens and Liverpool city centre, jointly operated by Arriva and Stagecoach.

Subject to final agreement of the project plan the first vehicles could be delivered as soon as 2022.

The hydrogen bus project is a key part of the metro mayor’s ‘Vision for Bus’, which commits to using the powers available through devolution to build a better, more reliable and affordable bus network. Broader plans also include the building of hydrogen refuelling facilities, which will be the first of their kind in the North West, due to begin later in the year.

“This is far more than a climate change strategy”

CPT TELLS TfN: ‘MODAL SHIFT IS KEY TO NET ZERO’ ‘Incentivise people to swap their car journeys’ DECARBONISATION

Responding to Transport for the North’s consultation on its upcoming decarbonisation strategy, the Confederation of Passenger Transport has called for modal shift to be prioritised to reach net zero goals.

The Committee on Climate Change forecasts that by 2030 we need to see around one in 10 car journeys taken by bus instead to remain on track for net zero by 2050. CPT argues that a key factor deterring people from catching the bus is unreliable journey times, and measures that keep buses out of traffic, including bus only roads, traffic signalling and priority at junctions, are essential. It is also calling for the introduction of Clean Air Zones that include cars and road pricing and congestion charging schemes.

CPT’s regional manager Andrew McGuinness commented: “To reduce carbon emissions from transport we need to prioritise encouraging people to choose greener modes of travel, such as the bus.

“Measures that keep buses out of congestion and improve bus journey times will make people feel confident that they can rely on the bus to make their journeys on time. We must also incentivise people to swap their car journeys for one by bus, which can be done by introducing policies that charge car users, such as road pricing schemes and ensuring that Clean Air Zones include cars.”

CPT’s response to TfN’s consultation on its upcoming decarbonisation strategy also highlighted that the draft decarbonisation strategy failed to acknowledge the benefits of coach travel.

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01/09/2021 16:56

INNOVATION & TECHNOLOGY

Arriva offers first MaaS solution with glimble Multi-modal app was developed in partnership with tech provider Moovit after winning two Dutch pilot projects - but has pan-European potential MOBILITY AS A SERVICE

Arriva has added a smart mobility app to its public transport offer in Europe with the launch of ‘glimble’, a travel platform designed to connect passengers to multiple modes and operators of public transport, shared transport and micromobility in the Netherlands.

It is Arriva’s first Mobility as a Service solution in Europe.

MaaS provides a passengercentred approach to mobility, by making it easier to combine different modes when planning, booking and paying for a journey.

Arriva has developed the app in partnership with journey planning technology provider Moovit. The app has the potential for a wider roll-out in other parts of Europe, where data sharing agreements and systems exist.

The development of ‘glimble’ came after Arriva Netherlands was awarded two pilot projects by local authorities in the Netherlands to trial MaaS

BUS PASSENGERS ABANDON CASH Only 23% of Go-Ahead’s bus users pay with cash TICKETING

Three quarters of passengers now pay digitally when they board Go-Ahead’s buses outside London.

The proportion of cash payments has dropped from 53% in August 2018 to 23% this month. The figures exclude London buses, which stopped taking www.passengertransport.co.uk

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Anne Hettinga, Arriva

have also introduced e-scooter trials. These initiatives have provided greater modal flexibility for people to move across cities.

The glimble solution brings all these options together and allows Arriva to look beyond its own operations and provide integrated, multi-modal journeys.

“With this platform, we are set to become a leading mobility provider,” said Anne Hettinga, Arriva Group board member and managing director of Arriva’s operations in the Netherlands.

“In a world where everyone is constantly on the move and

cash altogether in 2014, but include services at Go-Ahead’s nine regional bus companies across England which run nearly 3,000 buses.

The switch has accelerated in 2020 and 2021 as the pandemic triggered a shift away from cash across the economy. Cash payments UK-wide fell by 35% in 2020, having previously been falling by 15% annually.

Go-Ahead is rolling out ‘Tap On, Tap Off’ technology, enabling passengers to tap their cards at the

beginning and end of their journey and be automatically charged the correct fare (capped at a daily limit).

The number of ‘Tap-On, Tap-Off’ transactions topped five million this month at Go-Ahead’s bus fleets in Brighton & Hove, Crawley, Southampton, the Isle of Wight and Gateshead. Currently covering 30% of Go-Ahead’s buses outside of London, the company aims to have 60% of buses installed with Tap On, Tap Off by the end of next month.

solutions. Seven pilot projects in total were awarded, but Arriva was the only public transport company among the recipients.

During the pandemic a number of European cities invested in new infrastructure to encourage cycling and walking, and some

“With this platform, we are set to become a leading mobility provider”

connection and accessibility is essential, we need to be adaptable and nimble. Our glimble brand has started its Arriva journey in the Netherlands, but we know it has pan-European appeal - and potential - and we are starting to explore this in countries where the necessary data sharing agreements exist.”

The functionality also incorporates accessibility features, such as screen reading for low vision users, talkback and voiceover capabilities. The app also identifies wheelchair-accessible routes and stations, while also calculating step-free journeys. For those with hand-motor disabilities, glimble is designed with optimised menus and buttons.

Other functionality due to be added to the app includes parking locations and a search capability for electric car charging points.

Several mobility providers can be found in the app for a number of different modes including shared car hire, demand responsive transport, scooters, taxis, tram, rail, ferry, bus and bicycles. Arriva expects to add more and more carriers to glimble in the coming months and plans to expand to include Belgium and parts of Germany, from the Netherlands, to make crossborder journey planning and payment more efficient.

MYTRIP MILESTONE UK public transport app and website provider Passenger has announced that Guildford-based Safeguard Coaches is the 50th operator to sign up to its national app and website solution, myTrip.

Passenger CEO Tom Quay said: “myTrip has been a lifeline for many smaller operators who were impacted by the pandemic, bringing their services up-to-date.”

3 September 2021 | 13

01/09/2021 16:56

COMMENT ROAD BUILDING

NORMAN BAKER

A27 - a billion pound act of vandalism

The proposed new dual carriageway between Lewes and Polegate reveals the flaws in the government’s £27bn road building plan As the COP 26 event in Glasgow approaches, greater scrutiny than usual is rightly being paid to the government’s environmental promises and, more pertinently, their actions.

The pledges and targets have won plaudits, yet they have also served to highlight the widening chasm between rhetoric and reality.

Mind the gap.

Nowhere is this more stark than with the juxtaposition of their positive decarbonisation strategy on the one hand, and their hideous £27bn road building programme on the other.

Is this really a good look for Britain ahead of Glasgow?

No doubt when Philip Hammond as chancellor announced in 2016 this massive splurge of new roads, he would have regarded this both as a good investment for the country, and a vote winner. Actually, it is neither.

Mind you, Philip always was very pro-car.

In his first week as transport secretary back in 2010, he astonished officials, and amused me, by asking why cars had to give way to trains at level crossings. Why couldn’t trains give way to cars instead?

The current transport secretary Grant Shapps has put all his chips on new technology saving the day, and asserts that this will allow us to carry on as normal, travelling where and when we want, building new roads, and all with no downside. This is disingenuous at best.

Leaving aside the fact that a switch to electric does nothing to reduce congestion, an entire zero emission road fleet is decades away, and 14 | 3 September 2021 PT248p14-15.indd 14

in any case will still generate pollution through the manufacturing process, and through harmful run-off from tyres and deposits from brake dust, a hitherto neglected but not insubstantial problem. Ask any water company.

It seems the Conservatives have learnt nothing over the years. The seminal 1994 report by the Standing Advisory Committee on Trunk Road Assessment (SACTRA) proved beyond any doubt that increasing capacity on an existing corridor merely serves to attract extra vehicle traffic that previously did not exist, perhaps diverting it from rail or bus.

You need only look at the Birmingham area which over decades has had more road construction than almost any other part of the country, and where today’s traffic jams are as bad or indeed worse than almost anywhere else.

Or consider Newbury, given a hugely controversial bypass in the 1990s to relieve the town centre, except that it was not long before traffic levels in the town centre were soon back to where they had been, plus of course a whole lot more on the bypass.

Or look at the ever-widening M25 and its ever more frequent occurrences of traffic at a standstill.

That all aside, there is another huge

“Grant Shapps has put all his chips on new technology saving the day”

downside to road building, and one which is irreversible and cannot be offset by technology.

This is the damage to the natural environment.

But rather than talk in the abstract, I want to throw the spotlight on one proposal in detail, not because it is uniquely bad, but because the sorts of issues it throws up can be found in many of the schemes currently under consideration by Highways England, or whatever they are called this week, on behalf of the government.

I refer to the proposed new dual carriageway between Lewes and Polegate on the A27 in East Sussex. It is a stretch of countryside I know well as it falls in the constituency of Lewes which I represented for 18 years.

The highway engineers have come up with three possible routes for a new dual carriageway between the towns, all of which go through beautiful South Downs, including even a section of the supposedly ultra-protected National Park.

A new offline road here would involve slapping down 163 acres of concrete, and that’s not counting the 14 or so new accommodation bridges or underpasses for farmers, plus new roundabouts and slip roads.

Moreover, precedence suggests land taken “temporarily” for construction works may in practice also be lost for ever. The section used in about 1986 to base works for an earlier straightening scheme east of Lewes remains covered in tarmac to this day.

This road would also bring new constant noise pollution to what is, along much of the proposed stretch, still an oasis of calm and tranquility. If you don’t believe me, check out this video from local pressure group SCATE: https://bit.ly/3kBUKSo It would also have a highly damaging effect on local flora and fauna.

Pristine countryside lost to concrete cannot be recovered. It is lost for ever. Do we really want to see this special section of the South Downs sacrificed to the motor car?

A new road brings an even more permanently damaging prospect - as sure as night follows day, new roads bring new housing. Developers would relish the prospect of a new road between Polegate and Lewes which they could build up to.

Perhaps those Conservative councillors who have been so bullish about a new road might begin to think twice about the wisdom of this, www.passengertransport.co.uk

01/09/2021 15:43

“Climate change requires a handbrake turn now, not an answer in 2050” faced with the loosening of planning controls that their government is pursuing, and the huge unpopularity of this in electoral terms, as witnessed by the recent sensational loss of the hitherto very safe parliamentary seat of Chesham and Amersham to the Lib Dems.

But can the damage to the natural environment be outweighed by other gains?

I recall a visit I made as transport minister to a Midlands town to meet various councillors and businessmen (and they were all men).

When are we getting our new road, they demanded. We have been campaigning for it since 1938! I had to explain that it was not a matter of Buggins’s Turn, and the reason countless governments of different colours had refused to fund the road was that it made no sense to do so, economically, environmentally or socially.

This same knee-jerk petulant protest can be found amongst many in Eastbourne who want a new motorway-style dual carriageway cut through the Sussex countryside, a proposal already rejected a number of times.

The alleged benefits in their eyes, insofar as these can be discerned at all, would appear to be twofold. One is that such a road would help the economy of their town.

The second is that it would reduce accidents.

Both arguments are flawed.

Evidence from across the country shows that when you build a road with more capacity into a town, there is as much likelihood of it pulling business out than attracting it, particularly if that town’s economy is less than vibrant. When the M4 was built to Wales, a lot of businesses felt they could relocate to the Reading area from where Wales could now easily be served.

Similarly, when the A23 was dualled down to Brighton, businesses like Royal Mail felt they could operationally relocate to Gatwick.

In terms of safety, the last time I checked the road with the worst accident rate in East Sussex was the A259 from Polegate to Hastings. Yet those same siren voices in Eastbourne never seem to mention this, nor the serious accidents that occur on the dual carriageway stretch of the A27 between Lewes and Brighton.

In fact, during my time as the local MP, I secured a good many safety improvements to the existing Lewes-Polegate road that significantly reduced the accident rate, such as islands at junctions and reduced speed limits.

I don’t really believe these alleged safety www.passengertransport.co.uk

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View of the A27 from Mount Caburn

concerns are what is driving the call for a new dual carriageway. But then that is more respectable than the real reason which is simply that these petrolheads want to put their foot down and knock a few minutes off this journey time rather than be stuck behind a car travelling at 45mph.

Nor does it bother those clamouring for a new motorway-style dual carriageway that this road would cost taxpayers a billion pounds.

A thousand million pounds!

As the local MP, I persuaded Southern to cut by a third their season ticket prices on the parallel railway between Eastbourne and Lewes.

The result? A big upturn in those who switched from car to train, so many in fact that Southern actually made a small profit from the move.

Meanwhile, the A27 had a little less traffic. Cost to the taxpayer? Zero. Cost to Southern? Zero.

To bolster this further, I had two bespoke signs erected along the A27 bearing the logo “Eastbourne to Lewes 20 minutes by train”.

Here was helpful advice for motorists whose car journey between the two points would often take much longer than this, (and still would do if their desired new road were built).

The one at the Eastbourne end was vandalised.

Some people don’t like the facts. It was, of course, quickly reinstated.

In any case, is this really the time to be ploughing ahead with such projects? The

pandemic has fundamentally changed travel patterns, with much more home-working now established and unlikely to be fully reversed.

Just how reliable now are the traffic forecasts that Highways England has used to justify their controversial plans?

And climate change requires a handbrake turn now, not an answer in 2050. There is an immediate gain to be had by promoting modal shift from road to rail, as the Welsh government has begun doing.

Along the A27 corridor, there is considerable spare capacity, both in existing rolling stock and in terms of train paths on the parallel railway. Why not cut fares drastically and get people to switch to rail? Of course there is a cost to that, but it is a tiny fraction of the one billion pounds a new dual carriageway stretch between the two towns would cost. And it would leave the pristine South Downs intact for future generations to enjoy.

If the government wants environmental credibility, it needs to ditch the bulk of its £27bn road building programme now.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Norman Baker served as transport minister from May 2010 until October 2013. He was Lib Dem MP for Lewes between 1997 and 2015.

3 September 2021 | 15

01/09/2021 15:43

COMMENT

ALEX WARNER

It’s time to swap Teams for trains

The rail industry must radically rethink its proposition to business customers in order to lure them out of their online bunkers What’s strange is how quickly people have changed! I’ve noticed a few times recently some bemused looks from industry folk when I’ve explained, often as a reason not to have a Teams call with them, that I’m otherwise engaged, ‘out and about’ doing my work. I could be mystery shopping, taking a training course, or simply meeting like-minded folk in coffee shops, hotel foyers, visiting offices, model railway shops or at county cricket grounds. People make comments or give disdainful looks that suggest I’m eccentric and quirky, or just plain weird.

The problem nowadays is that many industry professionals are simply unable to comprehend that the working day does not have to consist of an endless cycle of online calls, many of which are just held for the sake of it. Without having a pointless Teams meeting, they fear that they simply have no purpose in life, and a gap in their schedule means they are no better than someone bunking off work. What about time needed to reflect, to write up documents or just to plan ahead? And with all this nonsense comes the poor etiquette, such as folk loosely saying ‘shall we get on a call?’ as if that is the solution to everything - inviting a whole load of people together, many of them hangers on, just because someone is incapable of thinking for themselves, taking accountability and making a decision. And what about that cardinal sin of sending out a Teams Invitation without checking that people can actually make the date and time you have suggested, as though 16 | 3 September 2021 PT248p16-17.indd 16

your availability is all that matters, and everyone else’s diary must surely be free? I just treat these kinds of requests with the contempt they deserve and ignore them.

This enslavement to working behind a computer on calls all day and shunning the public transport system that is our livelihood is the ultimate case of ‘biting the hand that feeds you’. If this is what our sector’s friends are like, you wouldn’t wish to meet its enemies.

One consolation is that if railway managers A radical reinvention is needed

are disinclined to travel for the same reasons as others, then they should be well placed to understand the changes required to entice business customers back.

Although I’m trumpeting the virtues of my own routine of spending almost the entire week ‘out and about’, I’d be lying if I said it was a great experience. There’s a litany of frustrations for a business customer - high fares, poor Wi-Fi, rubbish on-board catering and a lack of decent facilities at stations to make a quick pre-journey call. Meanwhile, railway staff are all too often being municipal in their approach and not going the extra mile to appreciate those of us who have shunned the home computer to pay their wages. I have, however, noticed an improvement in the demeanor of frontline staff in the past year, even if there’s still room for improvement.

The Rail Revenue Recovery Group (RRRG) is working stoically on efforts to attract customers back to rail, and I hope it is working on business customers. There needs to be a campaign to extol the virtues of using the network for meetings and in particular the benefits of social interaction to do business, rather than relying on these formulaic, wretched Teams calls. The industry - probably the RRRG, Network Rail or ultimately GBR (as the scope of the new National Rail Concessions will relegate the train operators to automated subservience), needs to focus on creating workspace at stations to make it easier to do calls, have meetings and entertain clients in a decent setting as part of their working day.

Business folk should have to search for a coffee shop close to a station or hotel foyer for meetings, as they make the most of their travels round the network. There should be warm, welcoming facilities on stations with serene, confined areas to log on for a call and fairly luxurious surroundings to meet over a coffee, with a plush toilet close by. Of course, the TOCs will claim that there are First Class lounges or office spaces that can be rented, but these are only at the big Inter City stations and they are fairly minimalist as well and lacking cozy nooks and crannies for private meetings.

They also rely on all attendees having a valid First Class ticket. The industry must realise that for many (sadly) the prospect of travelling by rail for a face-to-face meeting is fairly unpalatable - so the ability to have the right facilities to do business as part of the journey www.passengertransport.co.uk

01/09/2021 15:59

“Rail industry professionals need to get off their backsides, and lead by example” is a ‘given’ if we are to get them back. Access to lounges and other equivalent facilities should therefore be provided at no extra cost.

On-board refreshments are also important.

Catering was going down the pan, even before the pandemic, but Covid has almost been carte blanche for TOCs not even to feel embarrassed about the most half-hearted approach towards providing refreshments.

I genuinely wouldn’t book a First Class ticket on any Inter City operator under the assumption that the complimentary nosh would be either no good or not available at all, particularly at weekends. Where else would you pay a premium expecting refreshments for them to simply not materialise?

Even where it isn’t included as part of the ticket, the trolleys that make a cursory visit through the trains are almost always staffed by some poor apologetic employee looking embarrassed by the fact that 10 minutes into the journey (sometimes, as I experienced last week, one as long as four hours) all that is on offer is a packet of peanuts, a can of cider, one ploughman’s sandwich and 10 BLTs (I am yet to find anyone that actually eats a BLT sandwich). Don’t train operating companies realise that when weighing up whether it’s worth the hassle of travelling the length and breadth of the country, these irritations stack up. Would a lazy professional who genuinely prefers sitting in their study at home opt for a packet of Quavers or the ability to shuffle into their kitchen and eat a culinary selection of varied haute cuisine? It’s not hard to see why the errant and indolent choose the easy life.

Of course, even before the pandemic, societal changes were moving in a direction that suggested traditional ways of doing business were likely to change. Yet, as a sector, to an extent, we didn’t help ourselves.

Anyone who genuinely believes that the seats on some of the new rolling stock that has entered service in the past three years are more comfortable than their predecessors is as deluded as my son predicting Champions League football for Crystal Palace next season.

If the seats were not bad enough, the view is even worse - I had a four-hour trip last week with the family, with seats reserved next to grey upholstery and without the slightest view of a window! Worse still, we even had to book our Super Saver ticket on another TOC which operates miles from where we were travelling www.passengertransport.co.uk

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because the TOC itself wasn’t showing that fare (only a rail ‘regular’ such as I would have had the nous to do this).

In terms of stations, I’m not convinced the quality has improved as much as we might have expected during the past couple of decades. Few have made simple changes to reflect societal needs. Simple stuff is required such as putting plug sockets in waiting rooms, improving the quality of Wi-Fi and better, more visible integration with other modes.

Today’s generation wants seamless, instant onward travel, and not to grope around to find some grubby bus stop or wait in the rain at an obscure taxi pick-up area.

Talking of taxis, how many cab firms undermine the overall experience at a railway station with their decrepit offices and scruffy ‘controllers’ grunting as you appear and ask apparently dumb questions? Many taxi premises are closed out of core hours, as they co-ordinate their movements remotely and yet they don’t even put a sign on the door to tell customers; you arrive off a train and your heart skips a beat on seeing a taxi office but it is just shut and you’ve nowhere to turn. Back in the day, the presence of a taxi firm on a station was seen as a force for good in propagating feelings of security for customers (and even providing information regarding train services). These days are, in the main, sadly gone.

Catering at stations is also hit and miss the major stations, of course, have the usual national chains and many of the smaller ones have local providers that offer a decent service.

Unfortunately, the pandemic and the lower numbers of customers travelling by train has meant that many of these have shut, never to return. For those that still exist, their selection of stock is so reduced, they make the train’s on-board trolley seem like a veritable source of imaginative delights. Look out also for the ‘Scores on the Doors’ hygiene rating stickers at food outlets on stations.

Many don’t display them, which is generally code for them having achieved a feeble score.

As for toilets, well, I come back to the choice between home or ‘on the move’ - would you prefer your downstairs bathroom with its stash of old copies of Passenger Transport, or some freezing cold, facility with mold on the mirror, yellow and black masking tape closing off most of the sinks due to Covid and a cubicle that has a broken bog seat and a gut wrenching reek

of ham sandwiches at the best of times? Once again, it’s the small differentiators that add up when it comes to a meeting that potentially could be done from home (though far less effectively in my view).

Finally, when it comes to fares, the sector is not unreasonably obsessed (as it has been for years) on ‘simplification’, but it neglects the fact that for a whole generation or two, it has taken absolute liberties with business customers.

Fares have been eye-watering on peak-time trains when folk need to travel to meetings and the industry just shrugs its shoulders, thinking that the big corporate employers won’t even notice how much they’re spending.

Now, rail has received its just deserts and in the case of business customers, it’s not a case of simplification that’s needed, but the cost of travelling needs to be exponentially reduced.

All in all, the industry has got to give serious thought to the proposition that it is offering to business customers, because this is the area that requires most radical reinvention.

A national marketing campaign won’t do the trick - it also needs regional experts within the sector working with local businesses to forge partnerships, travel schemes and incentives to use the train. Unfortunately, the clout of the TOC commercial director, closest to the local market, is declining to almost subterranean levels, so, unless we reverse this, don’t expect too much success on that front.

For starters though - and I make no apologies for restating this like the most broken of records - rail industry professionals need to get off their backsides, out of their houses and lead by example. Or, at the very worst, decline those stupid, pointless Teams meetings and instead sit in your office at home and just have some quality time reflecting on why you won’t travel. Use all of these perceived impediments to making a rail journey for a meeting as the inspiration for plotting a future customer proposition that will get you back on-board. And whilst you’re doing so, please don’t act as though I’m a social misfit because I’m out and about doing my business.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Alex Warner has over 28 years’ experience in the transport sector, having held senior roles on a multi-modal basis across the sector

3 September 2021 | 17

01/09/2021 15:59

COMMENT HIGHWAY CODE

NICK RICHARDSON

Defining the transport hierarchy The latest Highway Code update will reflect a new road user hierarchy but what does this mean in everyday reality?

The Highway Code has been an established rulebook for decades, being updated in response to changing technologies and lifestyles. It is thought that despite there being millions of copies around, it hasn’t been read by the majority of road users since they completed their driving test. The latest incarnation, according to the Department for Transport, will have a new emphasis, that of the road user hierarchy. This concept bubbles up from time to time but now seems to have become DfT policy.

Unfortunately, perhaps because of the role of the Highway Code as guidance or advice rather than having legal standing of its own, many road users don’t appear to take much notice of it in theory or out on the roads. Bus and coach drivers witness this all the time with Rule 223 in particular being universally ignored - under a buses, coaches and trams heading ‘Give priority to these vehicles when you can do so safely, especially when they signal to pull away from stops’. Most of the time other road users make a special effort to do the opposite, although there are cultural differences in different parts of the country.

In the West Midlands for example, giving way to buses seems to be more commonplace.

Some of the rules are basically common sense in that, taking the above example, a bus or coach is rather bigger and carries lots of people so should naturally have priority. There are other aspects that are routinely overlooked such as Rule 8 which states who does what 18 | 3 September 2021 PT248p18-19.indd 18

at a junction: ’When crossing the road, look out for traffic turning into the road, especially from behind you. If you have started crossing and traffic wants to turn into the road, you have priority and they should give way (see Rule 170)’. This is a far cry from ‘accelerate and use the horn’, but erosion of the rules is evidently a by-product of evolution.

Priorities in practice In notable contrast, the DfT now wants to put pedestrians at the top of the ‘hierarchy of responsibility’ which becomes manifest in more priority on pavements (more properly ‘footways’) and when crossing or waiting to cross the road. This will be interesting because pedestrians are unlikely to test the

hierarchy by stepping out in front of a moving vehicle. Cyclists are also going up the agenda but this may create more ambiguity and further polarise those road users that support cycling and those who would like cyclists exterminated. The apparent change of heart at DfT will take a while to be acknowledged by all road users but it is a step - quite literally - in the right direction. This can be manifest in street design, for example, continuing the footway on a main urban road across minor junctions to give the impression that cars shouldn’t really be there and emphasising that they are not the most important road users.

Here we have to deal with some of the problems and perceptions. Referring to people who walk as ‘pedestrians’ and people who ride cycles as ‘cyclists’ dehumanises them. Referring to them as people who walk or cycle is far more acceptable. Compare this, for example, with ‘the elderly and disabled’ which means people who are older or disabled, not simply labelling an apparently disadvantaged group. Placing the emphasis on people rather than a category of road user would be much more helpful, not least because people who drive cars are also likely to be walking or cycling at some stage.

There is a role for physical infrastructure and signing but also education and cultural shift and we have managed to get to a societal pinnacle in which car users are top of the pyramid, for now at least.

Relative significance It isn’t clear where buses and coaches fit into the hierarchy. Will they be deemed more important than cars or goods vehicles? This

Referring to people who ride cycles as ‘cyclists’ dehumanises them

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is the problem with hierarchies in that more prominence for one category pushes another downwards. Being at the bottom of a hierarchy is not a good place to be. However, applying such an approach to the Highway Code is one thing but translating this across all aspects of transport is another. For example; should First Class train passengers be regarded as superior to Standard Class users? A glaring hypocrisy emerges through the contrast between what highway authorities publish as policy and what happens in reality. All of them will use rhetoric about encouraging bus use but do a limited amount to achieve it; some will even mention restraints on car use on the understanding that they won’t have to do anything about it just yet. Think what would happen if such policies were enacted. There would be no pavement parking (although areas such as Cardiff are testing this), traffic signal crossings would default to the green man until traffic starts building up and anyone stepping out at a junction would be immune from danger. This extensive policy failure often emerges because what seems like a good idea at the time is met with incredulity and resistance from those who would be disempowered (car users). Sadly this reflects central government’s largely inert behaviour over many years.

Policy or funding?

We can then test policy against budgeting. No elected representative will vote against road safety measures, but apart from that, many are hardly committed to their own policies.

One councillor for a highway authority was prosecuted for driving his Range Rover at 90mph through an urban area on the pretext that a constituent needed help. Apart from having the law restrict his driving career, he was nominated for the authority’s passenger transport committee on the grounds that he would better understand the needs of the travelling public and became something of a laughing stock. Many elected members are well informed and committed but there are still ranks of old-school councillors defending the rights of the motorist at the expense of everyone else. Taking this literally, we can illustrate the problem. Decisions about budgeting are often difficult and can be painful.

Limited resources mean that choices have to be made, not all of them popular. Road maintenance has taken a beating in many www.passengertransport.co.uk

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It isn’t clear where buses and coaches fit into the hierarchy proposed for the revised Highway Code

“Being at the bottom of a hierarchy is not a good place to be” areas with the unfortunate consequence that new buses are shaken to bits as they negotiate potholes, damaged drain covers and worn out road surfaces. Apart from safety schemes, funding for anything that reduces traffic speeds is scarce, despite demonstrable benefits.

However, experience tells us that features that make motorists slow down are met with incredulity, especially from those that collide with them because they are going too fast.

The whole budget question is key. If any policy is meaningful, then it should shape spending. We know that this isn’t always the case locally but perhaps the DfT should set a good example. However, it doesn’t, due to government’s vain efforts to please everyone and the Treasury’s grip on the spending reins.

To be fair, we have seen large sums set aside for active travel improvements and some

respectable figures earmarked for bus service improvements, although much of this is for new buses rather than supporting new services. In an unusual era in which it has been raining cash, restricting spend on certain areas is hardly justifiable. In contrast, we have vast sums directed towards road schemes and budget-busting HS2 with the bus sector being on the receiving end of a fraction of that amount, welcome though it is. Will we see the funding programme rearranged to accord with government’s own policies? Almost certainly not. It would appear that moving from the motorists’ dominance to understanding of the needs of everyone else will take some time.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR Nick Richardson is Technical Principal at transport consultancy Mott MacDonald, a Director of the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport (UK) and Chair of PTRC Education and Research Services Ltd. In addition, he has held a PCV licence for over 30 years.

3 September 2021 | 19

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COMMENT

WANT TO KNOW MORE? Visit Portland’s fuel forum page: portland-analytics.co.uk/fuel-forum

OIL MARKET REPORT

£

PORTLAND FUEL ANALYTICS - SEPTEMBER 2021

Covid boom time for petrochemicals

2020 and 2021 have been boom years for the global petrochemical industry, with its products assisting the fight against Covid It would be “stating the bleeding obvious” to say that the pandemic has seen both winners and losers in the business world. Clearly those James Spencer in leisure and hospitality Portland have been severely battered, whereas those involved in food delivery and online retail have never been busier. The oil industry has been no different, although overall, there have probably been more losers than winners. Exploration companies were hit for six by last year’s low prices, refiners continue to face existentially challenging low margins and fuel retailers are still waiting to see a full recovery in demand. However, one oil related sector that has ridden the storm impressively over the last 18 months is petrochemicals.

The petrochemical business is responsible for a myriad of different and complex materials that span almost every industry in the world, from food to fertiliser, medicine to cosmetics and agriculture to construction. At its heart are two key polymers - polyethylene (which is often used in liquid form) and polypropylene (which is the main component of plastic), and the one thing we can say about the Covid pandemic is that it has ensured demand for both these products has sky-rocketed! Over 60 million plastic (and disposable) face-masks have been used every day in the UK in 2021, whilst globally that figure was more like 4.3 billion face-masks daily, along with 2.1 billion disposable plastic gloves.

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The key component to all this plastic manufacture is the little known (outside the industry at least) product of naphtha.

One of the first products to fractionate in the distillation process (ie, very light), naphtha boils off the refinery stack at around 180 degrees. Its characteristics are mostly similar to gasoline (it can be used as an octane enhancer), but it is rarely used for conventional energy combustion. Instead, it is sent for petrochemical processing as both a feedstock and a blending component for the manufacture of plastics, pharmaceuticals, dyes, fertilisers and (increasingly) hydrogen.

When the pandemic struck in early 2020, demand for naphtha fell thorough the floor (along with every other refined product) and prices hit rock bottom accordingly - in April 2020, the traded naphtha price fell below $140 per tonne around eight pence per litre (ppl).

However, as demand for single-use medical equipment, home-testing kits and online food and product packaging began to soar, so naphtha prices responded. Overall demand for certain plastic resins increased by over 350% in the second half of 2020 and by June, naphtha prices had already more than doubled to $360 per tonne (20ppl). Since then, demand for

“The reality is that around 90% of plastics end-up in landfill (or just dumped)”

naphtha has shown no sign of slowing up, with prices topping $660 per tonne (37ppl) in the second quarter of this year.

No surprises then that 2020 and the first half of 2021 have turned out to be absolutely bumper years for the global petrochemical industry. Global profits rose from $340bn in 2019 to over $500bn in 2020. As demand for plastics continued to strengthen (up 25% in 2020 vs 2019), producers were able to pass on the increasing costs of naphtha to ever more frantic buyers. Meanwhile, refiners were left ruing the fact that one of the few products making them any money, was only accounting for circa 5% of the crude oil yield (ie, 100 litres of crude gives five litres of naphtha). Even increased product runs for high concentration hand sanitiser and disinfectants (greater naphtha content) couldn’t help the basic refining conundrum that 95% of other (non-profitable) crude oil products still needed to be got rid of…!

The story of petrochemicals in the pandemic is an interesting one, particularly when it comes to plastics. Prior to 2020 and with good reason, the world was railing against the industry and single use plastics specifically.

The reality is that around 90% of plastics end-up in landfill (or just dumped), with no chance of ever being recycled, upcycled or decomposed. But in a world turned upside down by the pandemic, these products have become unlikely saviours in the battle against Covid-19. It makes for an environmentalist’s bad dream, but in the midst of a global crisis, no government anywhere in the world was too bothered about the sustainability of their plastic purchases. They just needed container after container of the stuff, because it was central to every single process involved in dealing with the virus.

Which takes us neatly to the overall decarbonisation agenda. Getting rid of fossil fuels for combustion is one thing, but getting rid of fossil fuels in their entirety is a completely different scale of challenge. This applies at any time, let alone in the middle and aftermath of a crisis. When it comes to plastics, there is simply no other material on earth that can be produced at such low cost and such scale, and yet is so effective and useful in so many different ways. And if the world wants plastic, then what will we do with the remaining 95% of the crude oil barrel…? www.passengertransport.co.uk

01/09/2021 16:57

COMMENT

GREAT MINSTER GRUMBLES

Can we really afford HS-£200bn?

Our Whitehall insider imagines what’s going on inside the minds of the mandarins at Great Minster House, home of the DfT

Perhaps inevitably, the political war of words over the future of HS2 is building up nicely as we edge closer to the time when ministers must take decisions on its future as they finalise the Integrated Rail Plan. It comes as absolutely no surprise that the Treasury wants to scrap the easterly leg of HS2 from the West Midlands to Leeds. Mind you, if I was the chancellor of the exchequer I think I would be pressing to scrap the entire project and fill in the holes in the ground that have already been dug as part of Phase One. Let’s be clear. This is a grotesquely expensive project and I am sure will cost close to £200 billion if built in its entirety - and completion won’t be until around 2040 at the earliest.

Does it really make sense to blow £200bn on a scheme whose business case looks marginal even though a positive cost/benefit ratio is claimed. You could do an awful lot to improve rail connections both east-west and northsouth for a fraction of the cost of HS2 and probably derive as many benefits as are claimed for HS2. Those politicians who claim that proceeding with HS2 as planned, including the easterly leg to Leeds, is a litmus test of this government’s commitment to the levelling up agenda need to think long and hard about how much levelling up could be achieved for a fraction of HS2’s heavy price tag.

Meanwhile, all the talk today is about cuts to train and bus services as operators seek to match service levels to reduced demand, and as the Treasury seeks to reduce the huge www.passengertransport.co.uk

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subsidy bill for supporting rail services. Put in that context, HS2 feels today like a hugely extravagant white elephant. Of course, many will say that we must still plan for the future, that there is a massive strategic need for HS2.

They will point to the objections to building the M25 and the Channel Tunnel, but can we imagine life today without either of these? No we can’t and without the M25 our roads in the south east would be permanently gridlocked.

In years to come perhaps we won’t be able to

“HS2 feels today like a hugely extravagant white elephant” The Treasury wants to scrap the easterly leg of HS2

magine life without Crossrail - a project which had a marginal business case even before costs ballooned. So I get the point about the need for strategic investment. But I question whether there would be a strategic case for HS2 if we first spent even a fraction of its budget on upgrading the existing rail network.

It just seems to be the wrong priority.

Meanwhile, with bus patronage said to be stuck at around 65% of pre-lockdown levels, I’m increasingly intrigued as to who is going to invest in the new green buses that the government is committed to - and let’s remember that it’s not just the 4,000 new buses that the government keeps on boasting about. There are some 40,000 diesel-only buses on England’s roads today, all of which will have to be replaced by a date yet to be announced as part of our net zero agenda.

We initiated a consultation on this back in March, but have yet to announce the deadline for getting these diesel buses off our roads.

This is a major investment programme but the bus operators no longer have the money to undertake it and nor do the local authorities.

Will it therefore have to fall to the government? Trouble is I just can’t see the Treasury putting its hand in its pocket for this, and we all know that current funding levels are totally inadequate to deliver the aspirations of the bus strategy anyway - as I have repeatedly pointed out since it was published. There’s a real conundrum here and I am looking forward to somebody stepping forward with a solution.

When you consider some of these issues, which are real and immediate - service cuts, major questions over the likely future demand for rail and bus travel, uncertainties over future working habits and much else besides - it seems crazy to me that so many MPs continue to demand that HS2 proceeds in its totality.

Mind you, there are as many MPs who protest that it’s a huge white elephant, and with a petition against HS2 having secured some 150,000 signatures (maybe more, I can’t quite recall) there is to be a debate on the project in the Commons in a week or so. Could be quite lively! When the final announcement on the Integrated Rail Plan is made at around the time of the completion of the Comprehensive Spending Review there are going to be some very happy, and some very disappointed MPs. The chancellor can’t please all of them all the time, poor chap!

3 September 2021 | 21

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CAREERS

Project aims to capture experiences of Covid The Omnibus Society has launched ‘The Covid Journey’ - a project to capture some of the bus industry’s stories of how lives changes in lockdown COVID-19

The Omnibus Society is inviting bus industry operators, employees and passengers to share their experiences of the pandemic.

The industry organisation is looking for personal stories; funny, moving, inspirational and everything in between, for a special project titled The Covid Journey. Everyday stories of how lives changed will be curated, alongside the more inspiring ones, such as witnessing local residents clapping on a Thursday as their local bus passed along their street - recognising the passenger transport sector as essential workers.

The challenges for bus and coach operators to survive and operate during the last year and a half have been significant, not just for companies, but also for the staff involved. Recognising this, the Omnibus Society is keen to capture all these experiences to create a record for future generations.

Launching The Covid Journey project, Omnibus Society president and managing director of bus operator Go North East Martijn Gilbert said: “The pandemic has had a massive impact on the world of passenger transport and the people who work within it. Transport’s key workers, and the companies they represent, have had to adapt to many challenges. This has driven change in many areas, including some positives, and there is no doubt a whole lot more to come, 22 | 3 September 2021 PT248p22-23.indd 22

Bus operator East Yorkshire thanked NHS workers by spelling out ‘NHS’ with buses last April

but now seems like a good time for us all to reflect on our work and to document and celebrate this.”

The Covid Journey project invites everyone to record their experiences during this period from the road passenger transport perspective. Operators and individuals alike are encouraged to share their experiences, be that from the viewpoint of a driver, engineer, scheduler, depot allocator or even passenger.

It is hoped to capture as many insights as possible to create a

unique Road Passenger Industry Covid Jigsaw.

For full details on how to contribute visit the Omnibus Society website at www.omnibus-society.org.

The Society is offering a first prize of £500 for the best submission and a second prize of £250. All submissions will be stored as a resource at the Bus Archive and will be available for those interested in looking back at this period of social history in the future. It is also hoped that a selection will be published.

“Now seems like a good time for us all to reflect on our work and to document and celebrate this” Martijn Gilbert

APPOINTMENTS SOMERSET PASSENGER SOLUTIONS Somerset Passenger Solutions, the joint venture between First Group and JJP Holdings to run passenger transport services for the project to construct the Hinkley Point C nuclear power station, has appointed Simon Mohammad as operations director.

Mohammad (pictured) was previously head of operations at First Hampshire, Dorset and Berkshire. The company says in his new role he will “support SPS and our teams as we move through our Covid and social distancing exit plans”.

ALEXANDER DENNIS Bus manufacturer Alexander Dennis Limited has announced two appointments within its UK and Ireland sales team.

Paul Leigh joined the business this week as sales account manager for London. He joins after 15 years with flooring specialist Altro in which he progressed from a manufacturing position to UK bus and coach key account manager, building strong relationships with operators and key stakeholders in the UK bus industry.

The newly-created role of UK and Ireland technical sales manager is filled by Chris Churchill, who has been with ADL for 11 years in a variety of roles.

He was most recently contracts manager for international sales projects. In his new position, Churchill will support bus operators and local authorities in the specification and implementation of low, ultra low and zero emission buses and their infrastructure.

www.passengertransport.co.uk

01/09/2021 16:15

“They worked miracles to recast timetables time and again”Alan Farrelly

Scheduler of the Year Award returns for 2021 The Joe Wood Scheduler of the Year, sponsored by CitySwift, will again raise awareness of the profession and its importance to buses SCHEDULING

The Covid crisis has challenged the capabilities of all bus company employees - not least the schedulers. Many regarded them as unsung heroes before the pandemic. However, the speed and ingenuity that schedulers have demonstrated since March 2020 has led to enhanced recognition of the vital role they play.

Recognition of schedulers and their important role has also been boosted by the inaugural Joe Wood Scheduler of the Year Award, which was launched by Passenger Transport and CitySwift, the specialist data engine that uses AI to improve bus network reliability and efficiency, last year.

The award is a tribute to Joe Wood, a widely respected young bus manager who died in 2019. Joe had worked in scheduling roles at Go-Ahead, Stagecoach and Reading Buses before joining CitySwift’s fast-expanding team.

He posthumously received the President’s Award at the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport’s Annual Awards for Excellence.

Despite disruption caused by the pandemic, Trentbarton’s Richard Sherratt was named as the first ever Joe Wood Scheduler of the Year last November.

After winning the prize, he said: “It’s nice to be recognised as the industry does not always appreciate the work that goes into getting the services ready and the bus to the bus stop.”

Sherrat, who has been in the www.passengertransport.co.uk

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industry for over 40 years after joining straight from school, said that 2020 had been very different from a scheduling point of view as a result of the pandemic.

“We had to cope with changes seemingly every week early in the first lockdown,” he said. “But it’s just one of those challenges; the work has to be done. The art of being a good scheduler is to go unnoticed. Like any job the trick is making the hard things look easy.”

The 2021 Joe Wood Scheduler of the Year competition is launching this month, providing a further opportunity to raise awareness of the work that is done by schedulers and celebrate leaders in the field. Commenting on the award’s return, CitySwift COO Alan Farrelly said: “As Richard Sherratt says, the art of being a good scheduler is to go unnoticed - but we don’t want them to go unrecognised!

“Schedulers help decide how

our cities move. They identify efficiencies that make public transport services a commercial success as well as more attractive and more affordable for users.

“Our team has been privileged to work with some great schedulers, but even we have been amazed by how they responded to the pandemic. They worked miracles to recast timetables time and again as service levels reduced and then returned. This year’s Joe Wood Scheduler of the Year offers an opportunity to celebrate this vital work.”

Submit your entry!

Nominations are now open for The Joe Wood Scheduler of the Year Award 2021 and the deadline for entries is October 8.

Details of how to apply can be found in the adjacent column.

The entries will be judged by an expert panel of judges from across the industry.

Trentbarton’s Richard Sherratt

“It’s nice to be recognised as the industry does not always appreciate the work that goes into getting the services ready” Richard Sherratt, winner in 2020

ENTER NOW! HOW TO ENTER Entries should be submitted in the following format: A. Case study of a new schedule (max 100 words) 1. How did the scheduler approach the project?

2. How did they increase reliability and efficiency (and by how much)?

B. Innovation in scheduling (max 100 words) 1. How does the scheduler’s methodology differ from standard scheduling practices?

2. How do they combine ‘traditional’ scheduling skills and knowledge with ‘modern’ technology and data?

C. The Covid experience (max 100 words) 1. How did the scheduler adapt their schedules during lockdown to allow for reduced patronage, reduced congestion, social distancing and the travel needs of healthcare and key workers?

2. What changes are they making to ensure aschedules fit new travel patterns and changes in passenger demand as we emerge from the pandemic?

D. Contribution to the wider business (max 100 words) 1. What impact does the scheduler have on the wider business?

2. Are they capable of mentoring and training the next generation of schedulers?

E. Why does the scheduler deserve to be Scheduler of the Year? (max 50 words) 1. Why does the scheduler deserve to be Scheduler of the Year?

EMAIL US Email your entries to editorial@passengertransport. co.uk - no later than October 8.

For enquiries, email the same address or call 020 3950 8000.

3 September 2021 | 23

01/09/2021 16:15

DIVERSIONS OLYMPIC LEVEL BUS SPOTTING

Not every electric car (driver) is perfect Very modern reason for delays to coach service The bête noire of many a bus and coach operator is badly parked vehicles, so spare a thought for all-electric Scottish express coach operator Ember.

One of the company’s electric coaches had arrived in Dundee after its run from Edinburgh, and the driver was all set to plug the vehicle in for a quick battery top up. Sadly, an electric car owner had had the same thought and rather hogged the parking area at Ember’s

Blooming marvellous!

‘TURF WARS’ AT ELY STATION

Greater Anglia staff at Ely station recently got green fingered for a competition that aims to delight passengers with flowers.

The ‘Ely Station Turf Wars’

xxx

dedicated charge point...

“Supremely unhelpful parking by this car in Dundee,” tweeted Ember.

“Fortunately our driver managed to disconnect the car and get the bus on charge but apologies if we’re a bit late for the next departure.”

competition saw 12 members of staff allocated to six planters and asked to get creative with their planting schemes.

Staff divided into teams of two and picked a planter and a packet of seeds to get them started.

They then had to come up with a team name and commit to caring for the displays for at least five months to the end of August.

Now passengers will vote for their favourite display.

The competition was organised by train dispatcher Jade Wilkinson. “I came up with the

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Fun in the sun

Tokyo’s Olympics and Paralympics have been something of a boon - for Japan’s army of bus spotters.

It seems the streets around the different venues have been teeming with people clutching their cameras. No, not in the hope of snapping Tom Daley doing a spot of knitting, but in the hope of catching some of the hundreds of buses brought into the city to transport athletes and officials.

“It’s not normal,” said one Tokyo 2020 official aware of the phenomenon. “Not normal at all.

Some of them are ... how do you say, geek? They are bus geeks.”

idea back in March when the station was looking a bit sorry for itself just coming out of the winter months,” she said.

“I felt like it would be something fun for the staff to get involved with during the lockdown when things were very quiet and would create a nice welcome for our customers when they could return.”

“Everyone has done brilliantly and the platforms are looking so much more attractive and welcoming as a result. I hope that passengers will notice them.”

A BIT OF CULTURE AT THE STATION With lockdowns and whatnot, there’s not been much on offer for culture vultures of late. But Network Rail in partnership with the Shadwell Ensemble, a musical theatre group based in East London renowned for making live performances accessible by performing in public spaces, decided to do something about that over the summer.

Throughout the second half of August the group have entertained (and wowed) passengers and station colleagues at Victoria and London Bridge stations.

And best of all there was free ice cream on offer to help audiences get into the spirit!

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