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ISSUE 266 3 JUNE 2022
NEWS, VIEWS AND ANALYSIS FOR A SECTOR ON THE MOVE
FirstGroup evaluates £1.23bn unsolicited bid
With DWS Infrastructure having secured control of Stagecoach, another private equity firm has made a move for bus and rail operator FirstGroup FirstGroup is evaluating an unsolicited £1.23bn bid from US private equity group I Squared Capital, making it the latest UK transport group to become a takeover target. The Aberdeen-based bus and rail group revealed last week that it had received “a series of unsolicited, conditional proposals from I Squared Capital”. The group’s board together with its advisers, is currently evaluating the latest approach, received yesterday evening, which provides for a cash component of 118p per share and a contingent right to up to a further 45.6p per share based on the outcome of payouts to the
GO-AHEAD FINDS FRENCH PARTNER New partnership formed to bid for bus contracts
The Go-Ahead Group and Groupe Lacroix & Savac have entered a strategic partnership to explore opportunities to bid together for public transport contracts in France. The partners will target the market for bus services in and around Paris, where the city authorities have begun a process of putting routes out to tender as state-owned EPIC RATP loses its monopoly in 2025.
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company after the sale of the USbased First Transit business and the net proceeds from last year’s sale of Greyhound. FirstGroup withdrew from North America and to focus on the UK. The company was last year embroiled in a battle with New York-based activist investor Coast Capital, which forced out its chief executive, Matthew Gregory. Meanwhile, UK bus and coach operator Stagecoach announced last month that German private equity group DWS Infrastructure had secured control of the company. The company’s shares will be delisted on or around June 27. The group’s co-founder, Sir
Brian Souter, will step down from his role as a non-executive director when the shares are delisted. Stagecoach and FirstGroup are the two largest bus operators in Great Britain (outside London), holding 26% and 21% of that market respectively. If the bid for FirstGroup succeeds, private equity groups would contol almost half (47%) of that market. FirstGroup is also the UK’s largest train operator, with four franchises (Great Western Railway, South Western Railway, TransPennine Express and Avanti West Coast) and two open access operators (Hull Trains and Lumo).
NEWS
TfL announces major shake-up of bus routes
04
Plans will affect around 78 routes
ENVIRONMENT
ALBUM seeks more time for bus transition
11
Operators not ready for zero emission leap
COMMENT
Rail unions striking the wrong note
14
Norman Baker on the threat of rail strikes
COMMENT Lacroix & Savac is an established operator in the Ile-de-France region with more than 80 years’ experience
Over-budget, overdue - I’m already over it
16
Alex Warner takes a ride on Crossrail
BRTuk
Projects aim to boost buses
20
West Midlands and Portsmouth in focus
01/06/2022 17:29
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01/06/2022 17:32
CONTENTS
PASSENGER TRANSPORT PO Box 5496, Westbury BA13 9BX 020 3950 8000 editorial@passengertransport.co.uk
Can private equity be good for public transport? A UK public transport group appears to be the must-have accessory for aspiring private equity groups this summer. Just days after Germany’s DWS had secured control of Stagecoach (having seen off a previously-agreed merger with Robert Jack National Express Group), US-based I Squared Managing Editor Capital swooped in with an unsolicited offer for FirstGroup. “FirstGroup is latest UK firm to fall prey to private equity plunderers,” declared financial website thisismoney.co.uk, suggesting that these firms are seizing the opportunity to grab a bargain while the public transport sector struggles to rebuild after Covid. The Stagecoach deal is a major shift in UK public transport, with the group’s co-founder, Sir Brian Souter, preparing to depart the board later this month.The board of FirstGroup are currently considering their offer and they may decide to reject it, but even then it seems likely that one of these groups will return sooner or later. Stagecoach and FirstGroup emerged triumphantly from the melee of the UK’s newly deregulated and privatised bus industry and, under the leadership of Souter and his opposite number at First, Sir Moir Lockhead, duelled with each other in the UK and abroad. But the era of deal-making and consolidation is over. The industry is mature and the trend is now towards a more collaborative approach - growing the overall market rather than simply growing your share of it. Let’s hope the “plunderers” have a nuturing side too. 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 OFFICE CONTACT DETAILS Passenger Transport Publishing Ltd PO Box 5496, Westbury BA13 9BX, UNITED KINGDOM Telephone (all enquiries): 020 3950 8000
EDITORIAL editorial@passengertransport.co.uk ADVERTISING ads@passengertransport.co.uk SUBSCRIPTIONS subs@passengertransport.co.uk ACCOUNTS accounts@passengertransport.co.uk Passenger Transport is only available by subscription. Subscription rates per year; UK £140 (despatch by Royal Mail post); Worldwide (airmail) £280 The editor welcomes written contributions and photographs, which should be sent to the above address. All rights reserved. No
www.passengertransport.co.uk
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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 2022 ISSN 2046-3278 SUBSCRIPTIONS HOTLINE 020 3950 8000
IN THIS ISSUE 13
DRIVER-LESS BUSES FOR GERMAN TOWN
18
GBR: ARE WE ON THE BRINK OF A NEW ERA?
24
TWO DIFFERENT PATHS FOR THE OIL MAJORS
25
IS IT STILL A ‘NATIONAL’ BUS STRATEGY?
Deutsche Bahn is putting two new autonomous e-shuttles on the road in the Bavarian spa town of Bad Birnbach. Booked via an app, these electric vehicles will transport passengers to their destination on-demand.
ORGANISATION
PAGE
Abellio London ALBUM Alexander Dennis Arriva Group Arriva London BYD Deutsche Bahn DWS Infrastructure First Bus FirstGroup First Glasgow First York Go-Ahead Group Go-Ahead London Groupe Lacroix & Savac GWR HCT Group I Squared Capital Kelsian Group McGill’s Metroline Network Rail Newport Transport Oxford Bus Company Passenger Rail Delivery Group RATP RATP Dev Transit London RMT Stagecoach Group Stagecoach London Stagecoach South Wales Sullivan Buses Switch Mobility Tower Transit Transport for London Transport for Wales Wrightbus
4, 5 11 11 10 4, 5 11 13 1 10 1 11 7 1, 7 4, 5, 7 1 6 5 1 5 13 4, 5, 7 6 8 7 13 6 1 4, 5, 7 6 1 5 9 5 7 5 4, 5 7, 8 10, 11
Heralded as a new era for the rail industry, will Great British Railways actually make any difference? “The transition to GBR needs the railway to regain its position as a vital contributor to Britain’s economy and environment,” writes Nick Richardson.
The oil majors have survived and prospered but are now heading in different directions - either sticking with oil or going green, writes James Spencer. “So which approach will win the day? Both represent quite a gamble”.
Our Whitehall insider imagines what’s going on inside the minds of the mandarins at Great Minster House, home of the Department for Transport. MPs are scrutinising the National Bus Strategy and the civil servants are starting to get a little jittery.
REGULARS NEWS ENVIRONMENT INNOVATION & TECH COMMENT OIL MARKET REPORT GRUMBLES DIVERSIONS
03 10 13 14 24 25 28
3 June 2022 | 03
01/06/2022 17:47
NEWS ROUND-UP
End of the road? Route 12 is one of 16 routes facing complete withdrawal
TfL announces major London bus shake-up
Plans would affect around 78 bus routes in inner and central London and see 16 completely withdrawn in response to Covid-19 emergency funding NETWORKS
Transport for London has announced a substantial shake-up of the capital’s bus network in central and inner London that would affect around 78 bus routes. It could also lead to the complete withdrawal of 16 routes. It claims the proposals to reshape the network follow the government’s requirement for significant savings from TfL and to “reduce service levels on London’s bus network” in exchange for emergency funding required due to the slump in patronage since early 2020 as a result of Covid-19. TfL’s current short-term funding deal expires on June 24. It said that without a sustainable new agreement it would then be required to reduce bus services further, by nearly 20%. TfL continued: “The government set a number of conditions before providing 04 | 3 June 2022 PT266p04-05.indd 4
emergency funding to enable TfL to keep operating, including requiring a plan setting out how to achieve significant financial savings and reduce service levels. This plan included reducing the
extent of the bus network by four per cent by 2024/25.” Proposals to achieve this reduction, by changing and withdrawing some bus routes have now been published. TfL will
THE LONDON BUS ROUTES TfL PLANS TO WITHDRAW Route 4 (Archway - Blackfriars) 11 (Fulham - Liverpool Street) 12 (Dulwich - Oxford Circus) 14 (Putney Heath - Russell Square) 16 (Cricklewood - Victoria) 24 (Hampstead Heath - Pimlico) 31 (White City - Camden Town) 45 (Clapham Park - Elephant & Castle) 72 (Roehampton - East Acton) 74 (Putney - Baker Street) 78 (Nunhead - Shoreditch) 242 (Homerton - Aldgate) 259 (Edmonton Green - King’s Cross) 521 (Waterloo - London Bridge) C3 (Clapham Junction - Earl’s Court) D7 (Poplar - Mile End)
Current Operator Metroline Go-Ahead London Go-Ahead London Go-Ahead London Metroline Abellio London Metroline Abellio London RATP Dev Transit London Go-Ahead London Arriva London Arriva London Arriva London Go-Ahead London RATP Dev Transit London Go-Ahead London
PVR 17 18 15 21 14 16 15 13 10 18 16 14 16 15 9 11
undertake a six-week consultation that will allow the public to comment on the proposals. Analysis of TfL plans by Passenger Transport suggest that the planned cuts equate to the removal of 238 buses from the network (see table). Of the major players, Go-Ahead London, the capital’s largest operator, would lose contracts for six routes with a total peak vehicle requirement (PVR) of 98 buses. Both Arriva London and ComfortDelGro subsidiary Metroline would lose three routes with a combined PVR of 46. Abellio London would lose two routes (PVR: 29) and RATP Dev Transit London, the joint venture between RATP Dev and Australian-owned Kelsian Group two routes (PVR: 19). The cuts would also affect nightbus routes with six routes also withdrawn - the N11, N16, N31, N72, N74 and N242. However, the plans would also see changes to some other routes in order to mitigate some of the planned withdrawals. For example, the ‘Red Arrow’ Route 507 service between Waterloo and Victoria stations would be extended to Fulham in order to mitigate the withdrawal of Route 11 between Victoria and Fulham. TfL says it has also worked to ensure that the bus kilometres removed from the network are in locations that already have a higher provision of buses. Passengers affected by the cuts can also make use of the ‘Hopper’ fare that allows unlimited changes between buses within a one hour period. At present around 19% of bus journeys in central London involve a change of bus. Under its proposals, TfL expects the proportion of passengers who would need to change buses to increase to around 24%. www.passengertransport.co.uk
01/06/2022 17:18
Over-budget, overdue - I’m already over it. Page 16
TfL heralds response to Elizabeth line opening One million journeys and 100% performance in Crossrail’s first week CAPACITY
The central core of the Crossrail project finally opened to the public on May 24 with Transport for London revealing more than one million journeys on the Elizabeth line were made between Paddington and Abbey Wood during the first week. A total of 260,000 journeys alone were made on the new section over the course of the first day of operations. Initial reliability of the new section proved to be good, with TfL revealing a remarkable 100%
THREE FIRMS FAIL TO MEET STANDARD Sullivan Buses and RATP firms struggle in TfL stats PERFORMANCE
Three London bus operators failed to meet their minimum performance standard according to the latest bus operator league table released by Transport for London. Covering the final quarter of 2021/22, which ended on March 31, Sullivan Buses, plus RATP Dev Transit London subsidiaries London United and London Sovereign, turned in performances below the minimum threshold for Excess Waiting Time TfL’s key metric for bus performance. At the other end of the table Arriva London South continued its dominance of the league table with an EWT figure of 0.44 minutes ahead of minimum standard. It means the operator has topped the table for every quarter in 2021/22. www.passengertransport.co.uk
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of services achieving the reliability standard on the second day of operations. “While long term performance will inevitably be slightly lower, the first few days of reliability reflect the additional resources in place to support opening and the work put in by the operations team,” added Howard Smith, TfL’s chief operating officer. The new section will remain closed on Sundays, with the exception of the Jubilee weekend, to allow work to continue on a series of testing and software updates in preparation for more of these intensive services. TfL has also confirmed Bond Street’s new Elizabeth line station
will also open to passengers later this year as work continues to complete the station. Direct services from Reading, Heathrow and Shenfield are expected to connect with the central section in Autumn 2022 when frequencies will also be increased to 22 trains per hour in the peak between Paddington and Whitechapel. Full services across the entire route are expected to be introduced by May 2023. Network Rail station upgrade works on the east continue at Ilford and Romford, although the latter has experienced delays with gaining acceptance of the fire strategy and design as well as other items to enable handover.
LONDON BUSES OPERATOR LEAGUE TABLE - EXCESS WAITING TIME Source: TfL (12 weeks to March 31, 2022) EWT MINIMUM STANDARD POSITION/OPERATOR (MINS) 1. Arriva London South 1.09 2. London General (Go-Ahead) 1.12 3. Abellio London 1.16 4. Blue Triangle (Go-Ahead) 1.02 5. Docklands Buses (Go-Ahead) 1.08 6. London Central (Go-Ahead) 1.20 7. Metrobus (Go-Ahead) 1.02 8. Metroline 1.14 9. Abellio West London 1.06 10. Tower Transit 1.10 11.. Arriva London North 1.12 11. Metroline West 1.11 Network Result 1.12 13. East London (Stagecoach) 1.10 14. HCT Group 1.06 15. Selkent (Stagecoach) 1.14 16. London Transit (RATP Dev) 1.22 17. Sullivan Buses 1.00 18. London United (RATP Dev) 1.11 19. London Sovereign (RATP Dev) 0.99
ACTUAL EWT (MINS) 0.65 0.77 0.83 0.71 0.79 0.90 0.73 0.87 0.81 0.85 0.89 0.88 0.92 0.95 1.03 1.14 1.22 1.01 1.29 1.31
Q4 EWT VARIANCE (MINS) 0.44 0.35 0.33 0.31 0.29 0.29 0.29 0.28 0.25 0.25 0.23 0.22 0.20 0.15 0.03 0.01 0.00 -0.01 -0.17 -0.32
IN BRIEF TfL COSTS REDUCE Transport for London says that in the fourth quarter of 2021/22 its total operating costs were £453m lower than budget at £6,478m. Underlying costs were £196m better than expected, driven by new efficiencies, cost reductions from lower bus performance payments, lower traction costs and rail maintenance costs. STAFF NUMBERS FALL Transport for London has revealed that staffing levels are just over 300 lower than prior to the pandemic despite the launch of the Northern line extension and ramping up Elizabeth line services. It adds it is facing a high number of leavers as a result of a competitive labour market. NEW DLR TRAIN TESTING Transport for London has confirmed that rolling stock manufacturer CAF is currently undertaking dynamic test running of the first of the new rolling stock for the Docklands Light Railway at its test track in Spain.
STAGECOACH BUYS LEA INTERCHANGE Tower Transit operation changes hands for £20m ACQUISITIONS
Stagecoach has announced it will pay £10m with a further £1m per annum payable for 10 years, subject to certain conditions being met, to acquire Kelsian Group’s Tower Transit bus operation in East London. The deal includes Tower Transit’s 11 Transport for London contracts, fleet of 150 buses and its Lea Interchange garage. Kelsian had already merged its Tower Transit operations in West London with RATP Dev (PT250). 3 June 2022 | 05
01/06/2022 17:18
NEWS ROUND-UP
Threat of national rail strike moves forward RMT members have voted overwhelmingly in favour of strike action that could lead to the largest industrial action by workers since privatisation INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS
The threat of the first national rail strike in decades moved forward last week after members of the RMT union voted overwhelmingly in favour of staging industrial action. The union balloted over 40,000 members in Network Rail and the train operating companies with 71% taking part in the vote. Some 89% voted in favour of the proposal for strike action. This included members at the infratsructure controller and 13 train operators. Members at Govia Thameslink Railway voted in favour of action short of strike. Since the result of the ballot was announced talks between the union and the rail industry
have continued. Network Rail warned that any industrial action now would be disastrous for the rail industry’s recovery from Covid-19 and that it would also hugely impact vital supply and freight chains. The infrastructure controller also warned that if it goes ahead, strike action would cost Network Rail around £30m each day, undermining its ability to afford pay increases.
“We urge the RMT to sit down with us and continue to talk, not walk” Andrew Haines
Network Rail chief executive Andrew Haines claimed the RMT had jumped the gun as “everyone loses if there’s a strike”. “As a public body we have been working on offering a pay increase that taxpayers can afford,” he added. “We continue to discuss this with our trades unions. We urge the RMT to sit down with us and continue to talk, not walk, so that we can find a compromise and avoid damaging industrial action. Rail Delivery Group chairman Steve Montgomery described the ballot result as “premature” and said he hoped the RMT would “behave responsibly” by seeking consensus on the long-term future of the industry. The union said this week that
it was continuing talks under the auspices of the Rail Industry Recovery Group (RIRG) to create a framework and structure for negotiations on all issues. RMT general secretary Mick Lynch said: “The matter will be considered again by the RMT National Executive Committee on June 7, when we will consider how to develop our campaign including the issue of setting dates for phases of industrial action. “Our participation in the proposed discussions does not mean RMT has reached agreement. The union has the same position as it always has - to seek job security with a guarantee of no compulsory redundancies; that any changes to structures, working practices, or conditions have to be agreed with our union, not imposed; and that our members deserve a negotiated pay increase that addresses the rising cost of living. “RMT will continue to make active preparations for a sustained campaign of industrial action while discussions continue.”
GWR honours Turing with ‘Trainbow’ livery GWR’s ‘Trainbow’ IET is named after codebreaker COMMUNITY
Train operator Great Western Railway has honoured World War Two codebreaker Alan Turing by including his name on its popular ‘Trainbow’ Intercity Express Train. Members of Turing’s family officially named the train at London Paddington station last week. The ceremony also saw the unveiling of GWR’s new ‘Trainbow’ livery celebrating the
06 | 3 June 2022 PT266p06-07.indd 6
Turing’s family participated in the ceremony
LGBTQ+ community. “It is an honour for us at GWR to name this Intercity Express Train after Alan Turing,” said GWR managing director Mark Hopwood.
PERRY BARR REOPENS The new Perry Barr railway station in the West Midlands reopened last weekend having taken just a year to completely rebuild. The modern accessible station stands at the heart of a rapidly changing Perry Barr and will be a key gateway for visitors to Alexander Stadium for the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games this summer. www.passengertransport.co.uk
01/06/2022 17:42
“Bus is a key enabler in connecting communities and has an integral role to play”
Scottish Bus Week celebrates industry Event highlighted contribution bus makes to Scotland CAMPAIGNS
Scotland was last week urged to get back onboard the bus during the first ever Scottish Bus Week. Delivered by sustainable transport charity Transform Scotland, in partnership with bus operators and CPT Scotland, the event aimed to be “an opportunity to celebrate bus and the role it can play as a solution to the biggest challenges we face”. “It is also a chance to show gratitude to those working in bus who provided essential services throughout the pandemic,” said the organisers. Scottish bus operators said the week offered a perfect opportunity for the whole
SCOTTISH LEZ PLANS CONFIRMED Four cities will see expanded or new schemes AIR QUALITY
Agreement has been reached for the introduction of Low Emission Zones in four Scottish cities. In Glasgow the LEZ there will be expanded to include other vehicle types beyond buses from June 1, 2023. In Dundee an LEZ will be established from May 30, 2024 with Aberdeen and Edinburgh following on June 1, 2024. The minimum emission standards for vehicles permitted within the four new LEZs will be Euro 4 standards for petrol vehicles and Euro 6 standards for diesel vehicles. www.passengertransport.co.uk
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sustainable transport sector to highlight the important role bus plays in many communities. “Bus is a key enabler in connecting communities and has an integral role to play in reducing congestion, cutting emissions and giving everyone an easily accessible means of travelling in a more sustainable manner,” said First Bus Scotland managing
Campaign acknowledged role bus workers played during pandemic
director Duncan Cameron. The event also won high profile backers. Scottish transport minister Jenny Gilruth said Scottish Bus Week was a “great opportunity to celebrate the many benefits of bus to our communities”. “Our buses have and will always remain one of our greatest allies in responding to the complex challenges we face - particularly on facilitating our just transition to net zero,” she said. “Whether it is improving air quality in our cities, tackling the climate emergency or providing accessible access to vital services - bus is very much at the centre of our National Transport Strategy. With more public transport trips made by bus than by any other mode bus has to be at the front of our green recovery.”
Metrodeckers off the road after fire Operators withdraw electric double deckers
Fire started in one Metrodecker at Potters Bar Garage
VEHICLES
Operators of the electric version of the MetroDecker produced by Switch Mobility last week withdrew their vehicles from public service following a fire that started in one of the type at Metroline’s Potters Bar Garage. The incident led the operator, plus Go-Ahead London, RATP Dev London and First York to temporaily withdraw their Metrodecker fleets. While First
York, Metroline and RATP Dev London have since reinstated their vehicles into public service, Go-Ahead London’s small fleet remains off the road. Metroline described the fire as an “isolated operational error”.
Phil Southall will be seconded for six months
GO-AHEAD’S BUS RESHUFFLE Southall seconded as Robinson secures role APPOINTMENTS
Go-Ahead Group has announced the temporary secondment of Oxford Bus Company managing director Phil Southall to the group as performance director for a sixmonth period. The group said the role will involve visiting operators within the group to help drive operational excellence. Southall’s secondment has seen the group make some temporary changes to the Oxford operation with Luke Marion appointed as interim managing director. He has been with the business since 2012 and most recently acted as finance and commercial director. Marion will retain responsibility for his former commercial brief with consultant Phil Lashford appointed as interim finance director. Service delivery director Paul Hennigan will also take on responsibility for HR matters while Southall is on secondment. Meanwhile, Go-Ahead has also announced Peter Robinson has been appointed as managing director, business development. He will have responsibility for activities including mergers and acquisitions. Robinson’s appointment follows Martin Dean’s move to become managing director of the UK regional bus business. 3 June 2022 | 07
01/06/2022 17:42
NEWS ROUND-UP
Upgrade work undertaken as part of the Core Valley Lines modernisation at Aberdare last year
‘Rampant’ inflation hits Core Valley Lines
Delays have hit the Welsh Government’s flagship South Wales Metro programme with inflation also starting to bite. Rhodri Clark reports PROJECTS
The Welsh Government has admitted that it and Transport for Wales do not know the final cost and timescale of the Core Valley Lines modernisation, but says it remains committed to the project. The work is the centrepiece of the South Wales Metro programme of public transport improvements and has a budget of £750m, including contributions from the UK Government and the European Union. Tram-trains, built by Stadler, were due to start passenger service by the end of this year. During the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, the Welsh Government obtained a sixmonth extension to the deadline from the EU, ensuring that the EU’s funding would be drawn down despite delays. The deferred deadline now appears to be unachievable. In 08 | 3 June 2022 PT266p08-09.indd 8
the Senedd on May 18, Welsh Conservative MS Natasha Asghar raised concerns about the cost potentially rising by tens of millions of pounds. She asked deputy climate change minister Lee Waters whether there were dangers of project delays. Waters replied that UK inflation hit the 9% mark in April. “Inflation within the construction industry is hitting closer to 30%, so any infrastructure project is being hit by increased costs,” he said. “That, I’m afraid, is inevitable, given the way that inflation is running rampant. “The Metro project is not immune to that, and costs will be impacted. We are looking at that closely to understand the implications on the speed of the deployment and the scale of the deployment. I met with the chief executive of Transport for Wales
last week to discuss this. We don’t have a clear picture - how can we, given the way that the state of the economy is moving? - of the final outcome of this, but we are committed to the Metro.” TfW has said the CVL modernisation is being re-baselined to take account of cost increases and delays. However, the process appears to be too late to cancel the additional infrastructure required for train frequencies to Cardiff from Aberdare, Merthyr Tydfil and Treherbert to increase to four per hour - double the frequency which was provided before the pandemic and before the Welsh Government committed to a policy of reducing travel. Rail infrastructure in Wales is not devolved and the Welsh Government has argued for many years that Network Rail’s Wales
and Borders Route receives less than its fair share of enhancement funding, based on the percentage of population or track. In 2020 ownership of the Core Valley Lines was transferred to the Welsh Government to enable the government to reintroduce vertical integration of track and trains. Waters told Asghar that the Metro position would be helped if the UK Government delivered Wales’ share of railway infrastructure spending. “If we had our share of the HS2 project, Wales would have £5bn into the block grant, which we would be able to draw upon. “I repeat my call to Natasha Asghar and her colleagues again to please join with us in a cross-party effort to make representations to the UK Government to do what the Tory-led Welsh Affairs Committee said was the right thing to do, which is to Barnettise the spend of HS2 to allow Wales to get our share of UK spend.” Two days later, on the eve of the Welsh Conservative Party conference, the party’s leader in the Senedd, Andrew RT Davies, said his group was now making the case for Wales to receive additional funding in proportion to the UK Government’s HS2 in England. He said the funding should be given to Network Rail, since the South Wales Metro problems showed that the Welsh Government could not deliver large infrastructure projects. The Barnett formula sets the pro rata increase in funding for devolved administrations whenever UK Government increases spending in England. Scotland is receiving many billions of pounds through the formula as a result of the spending on HS2, but the UK Government classifies HS2 as an “England and Wales” project, and no additional funding is therefore due to Wales. www.passengertransport.co.uk
01/06/2022 16:50
Poorly sited hospital set to gain bus link Welsh Government negotiates extension to new hospital NETWORKS
The Welsh Government hopes that one bus route will be extended next month to the new £370m Grange University Hospital, which it admitted last year was poorly located for access without a car. The 470-bed hospital was built on a greenfield site outside Cwmbran, replacing established hospitals. Newport Transport extended its Newport to Cwmbran service to the new hospital, but local politicians were inundated with complaints about the lack of public transport. Last autumn, deputy climate change minister Lee Waters said the hospital was a case study of “something we need to learn really and not allow this to happen again” (PT252). He added: “In this instance, it’s the Welsh
Government itself, it’s the NHS planning, that is to blame for creating a large trip-generating site away from public transport networks. And never again, I think, we should say that this be allowed to happen.” Last month, first minister Mark Drakeford said: “We’re in the final stages of finalising arrangements to introduce that new direct bus link to the hospital from Blackwood, Newbridge and Pontypool.” The service would begin in July as a consequence of a direct government contract. “The service will operate on an hourly basis throughout the day, and we will carefully monitor its effectiveness over the first six months,” said Drakeford. If agreement is reached, Stagecoach’s hourly Blackwood to Cwmbran service will be extended by about two miles to serve the hospital, which opened in November 2020. Asked why the service had not been extended
sooner, a Welsh Government spokesman said: “We have been working closely with Transport for Wales to look at opportunities to enhance east to west cross-Valleys bus links as part of our South East Wales Metro programme. “We identified an opportunity to introduce the proposed direct bus service from Blackwood to the Grange Hospital as a trial scheme about six months ago and have been working on the detailed proposals since then.” The amount of funding for the service extension was still being negotiated with the operator, he said. Funding would come from the government’s transport rather than health budget. While the new service will connect a string of communities to the hospital, significant parts of the hospital’s catchment area will remain without easy access. The government declined to say what other bus services to the hospital it would fund.
TfW EXPECTS TRAIN SHORTAGE Craven Arms collision means loss of two trains ROLLING STOCK
Transport for Wales rail services will continue to be impacted for the rest of 2022 as a result of a recent collision between a stolen mini digger and a train near Craven Arms. The incident caused major fire damage to two of the three Class 150 Sprinter units on the service. TfW says repairing the two units will take several months which could potentially lead to a shortage of rolling stock across its network. www.passengertransport.co.uk
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TfW says loss of two trains will make it far more challenging to provide additional capacity for busy services
CONCERN FOR INDEPENDENTS
Councils fear for future of smaller Welsh operators REGULATION
Council transport officers in Wales have voiced concerns over the future of small and medium-sized bus operators under the franchising system proposed by the Welsh Government. They also expressed unease about the possibility of local bus networks being planned centrally or regionally, rather than by people who possessed a detailed understanding of local communities. However, one officer, who did not wish to be named, said those present at a meeting with Transport for Wales last month had been reassured on these points. The White Paper proposes that buses will be franchised in all parts of Wales, but local authorities will be able to vary the size of contracts, to enable small operators to compete where appropriate. A relatively large proportion of Welsh bus services are currently operated by independents. The Welsh Government’s consultation on the franchising proposals is open until June 24. The officer who spoke to Passenger Transport felt that franchising in deep rural areas could create unnecessary bureaucracy, since the bus networks were already primarily, or entirely, tendered. He said some rural authorities had reduced their costs significantly by operating scheduled bus services themselves in recent years, following unsatisfactory tender outcomes. “We raised a concern about school buses and making sure there was some kind of interaction between public and schools services in rural areas,” he said, referring to the meeting with TfW. In some urban counties, as well as rural ones, combining the use of vehicles and drivers for schools and public scheduled services reduces costs. 3 June 2022 | 09
01/06/2022 16:50
ENVIRONMENT
Arriva announces Zero Emission Institute With an initial focus on buses, the new institute will accelerate group’s journey to net zero across Europe, working in partnership with authorities KNOWLEDGE SHARING
Arriva Group has announced the formation of a new Zero Emission Institute to accelerate its journey to net zero in partnership with cities and regions. Led by a team of experts in fleet planning, the Institute will be a hub of knowledge and expertise for passenger transport authorities and for Arriva’s business units, sharing pan-European experience and best practice in the roll-out of alternative fuels and transitioning fleets to zero emissions. This will help to build longer term decarbonisation strategies alongside transport authorities. Anne Hettinga, Arriva Group board member and managing
director of Arriva Netherlands is leading Arriva’s wider sustainability strategy across Europe. Commenting on the institute, she said: “This is a great moment for Arriva as it allows us to consolidate all of our expertise under one virtual roof. I feel proud of everything that’s been achieved already, but now we must look to accelerate decarbonisation in Europe and passenger transport
“It allows us to consolidate all of our expertise under one virtual roof” Anne Hettinga, Arriva
will be critical for this.” The institute plans to forge relationships and partnerships with a number of external organisations which will in turn build Arriva’s internal expertise and knowledge of the latest emerging technologies. Partnerships will include green energy companies, academic institutions, technological innovators, engineers, vehicle designers and manufacturers. Matt Greener, Zero Emission Institute director, said: “Sustainable passenger transport solutions are a critical component of the journey to net zero and partnership will be the key to achieving this. Governments, local authorities, operators,
manufacturers, academics, engineers and energy providers will need to come together to innovate and solve challenges to ensure a faster transition.” Arriva has operations in 14 European countries, more than any of its European competitors, each on different stages of the sustainability journey. The group has experience in different types of alternative fuel technologies and knows the challenges to enabling sometimes complex transitions which require new infrastructure. For example, securing the necessary grid capacity to fuel an electric vehicle depot can take years in some countries. The initial focus will be on bus fleet transition, but the institute will also be responsible for trains, buildings and processes. Arriva has already been involved in developing, trialling and implementing new hybrid train technologies in both the UK and the Netherlands. The institute will also support Arriva’s vision to help shape a future where passenger transport is the best choice.
First Bus appoints sustainability chief Isabel McAllister sees ‘massive opportunities’ APPOINTMENTS
LEICESTER TRIAL In partnership with Wrightbus, Arriva is trialling a fully electric Electroliner bus in Leicester. This marks an investment by Arriva of over £10m to introduce a fleet of 22 electric buses operating regularly in Leicester from 2023. This investment was made possible by the support of Leicester City Council in securing funding from the Department for Transport. 10 | 3 June 2022 PT266p10-11.indd 10
First Bus has appointed a chief sustainability and compliance officer. Isabel McAllister, who joins from Mace in the built environment sector, will oversee environmental, decarbonisation and fleet product development activities. Commenting on her appointment, McAllister said: “It’s a great time for the bus industry with massive
Isabel McAllister
opportunities post COP26; a once in a lifetime chance to change how people travel and to encourage more people to take public transport as we transition to zero emissions.”
www.passengertransport.co.uk
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“Our recommendation is not to set an end date for the sale of non-zero emission buses”
ALBUM pleads for time to make transition Operators need ‘greater clarity’ on shift to zero emission buses ZERO EMISSION BUSES
The ALBUM group of independent and municipal bus operators wants the government to resist setting an end date for the sale of non-zero-emission buses “until there is much more clarity about the best technology”. Responding to the government’s consultation on ending the sale of non-zero-emission buses, the group said that its members agree strongly that it’s vital to tackle climate change. However, they warn that zero emission buses bring much higher costs. They are more expensive to buy and need infrastructure to support electric or hydrogen refuelling. A statement published by
ALBUM this week said: “This means that financial support from central and local government is vital if we are to avoid higher fares or reductions in services, especially in the smaller urban and rural areas in which many ALBUM members operate. “The technology is evolving very quickly. It is not yet suited to longer routes or for the smaller depots and outstations that support many lower-frequency rural services. “Our recommendation is not to set an end date for the sale of nonzero-emission buses until there is much more clarity about the best technology; this was a key theme of the ALBUM Conference in April in Blackpool. Challenges have to be identified and solutions found. “We are sure that the government knows that this is a
tough problem; the focus for all bus operators is survival as we build back passenger numbers after the pandemic.” Between them ALBUM members operate over 5,500 vehicles: about 14% of the local buses operated across Great Britain. The collective size of the operating fleets of companies in which ALBUM members work, if taken as a single entity, would be Britain’s third largest bus operator. ALBUM policy advisor Tony Depledge commented: “We are keen to work with the government to scope the challenges and to identify solutions that will benefit the communities that we serve. The transition to a low and zero-carbon future brings many financial, operational and technical challenges.”
CALEDONIA IS COMPLETE Glasgow is now home to the UK’s largest electric vehicle rapid-charging centre after First Bus completed the major transformation of its flagship Caledonia depot. Pictured above: Scottish transport minister Jenny Gilruth with First Bus Scotland boss Duncan Cameron during a visit to the site last week to mark the completion of works, which will allow 150 electric buses to be charged at the depot at the same time - hailed as “a game changer”. www.passengertransport.co.uk
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IN BRIEF WRIGHTBUS GERMAN DEAL Wrightbus has signed a deal with German Bus operator Regionalverkehr Köln GmbH (RVK) to supply up to 60 Kite Hydroliner single deck buses. The buses will be the first integral left-hand drive vehicles that Wrightbus has made and exported since entrepreneur Jo Bamford bought the Northern Ireland-based bus builder out of administration in 2019. All of the buses will be fully built at the Wrightbus factory in Ballymena. The first vehicles will be delivered to RVK in 2023, with the remainder due in 2024. RVK, which operates bus services in Cologne, already has the largest fleet of hydrogen Fuel Cell EV buses in Europe. 1,000TH BYD ADL E-BUS Alexander Dennis Limited and BYD UK have delivered their 1,000th zero emission bus. The BYD ADL Enviro400EV double decker was part-funded by the Scottish Government and handed over to Stagecoach Bluebird in Aberdeen during Scottish Bus Week in the presence of Richard Lochhead, the Scottish Government’s minister for just transition, employment and fair work. Marie Connell, national account manager at ADL, said: “This milestone demonstrates the incredible pace at which the transition to zero emission mobility is now happening thanks to bus companies’ drive for innovation and government support.”
EV Milestone
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INNOVATION & TECHNOLOGY
Driverless on-demand buses for German town Two e-shuttles will operate free and flexibly-routed service AUTONOMOUS VEHICLES
Deutsche Bahn is putting two new autonomous e-shuttles on the road in the Bavarian spa town of Bad Birnbach. Booked via an app, these vehicles will now transport passengers to their destination on-demand. DB put Germany’s first autonomous bus on the road in Bad Birnbach in 2017. So far, it has carried more than 65,000 passengers and covered around 60,000 kilometres. The connection to the station via a scheduled shuttle service has improved the connection to the railway in particular. The two new vehicles will travel at a maximum speed of 18kmph, just like the existing shuttle. The shuttle service can be booked up to seven days in advance via the ‘Wohin-Du-Willst’
BAHRAIN’S BUS STOPS GO DIGITAL E-paper technology replaces paper timetables BUS STOPS
Bus users in Bahrain benefit from accurate arrival/departure times and an improved travel experience as a result of the country’s first ever electronic passenger information service. Replacing paper timetables, it incorporates Papercast® 13” solar powered e-paper bus stop displays to provide live accurate bus arrivals and other important information to travellers at the busiest stops in the central of Manama, Bahrain. www.passengertransport.co.uk
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app. More spontaneous journeys can also be booked three minutes before the start of the journey. Software from the DB technology company ioki calculates the optimal route for each journey. Requests are bundled into carpools to reduce the burden on roads and the environment. All journeys are free of charge. The DB mobility project behind the autonomous shuttles in the health resort is called “HEAL” (“Highly Automated Social Demand-Oriented Rural”). Project partners are RBO
Two shuttles will operate
A Papercast® 13” solar powered e-paper bus stop display in Manama
Regionalbus Ostbayern GmbH, the district of Rottal-Inn and Markt Bad Birnbach. The project is scientifically accompanied by a study team from the Chair of Public Health and Health Services Research (IBE) at the Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich. Within the framework of the accompanying research, possible changes in everyday mobility and social participation are to be observed. In addition, the health care situation is to be investigated and the social acceptance of digitalisation will be analysed. The DB technology company ioki provides the software for the booking platform and for communication with the autonomous vehicle. The specially developed technical interface thus enables the combination of autonomous driving and ondemand booking. The project is funded by the Federal Ministry of Digital Affairs and Transport.
MCGILL’S DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION Firm is using techology to encourage new users APPS AND WEBSITES
Scotland’s largest independent bus company, McGill’s, has launched the second stage of its ongoing digital transformation to inspire more people to use local bus services in partnership with UK public transport app and website provider, Passenger. The new website builds on the success of the McGill’s app, which was launched in collaboration with Passenger in 2018. The app has seen over 32,000 active users this month. McGill’s enhanced website will help travellers make informed journey choices, bringing public transport data to desktop and mobile browsers and introducing a new web-to-mobile eCommerce feature to purchase tickets via the website to access in-app. The website also provides up-to-date information to help plan journeys, including live bus tracking and disruption alerts. Travellers can also view individual vehicle features ahead of time, such as Wi-Fi and phone charging capabilities. Both the app and website are managed from one system Passenger Cloud - so operator staff can work efficiently and save time when processing updates for both platforms, making sure that important information is shared with customers in the most timely manner. Colin Napier, group operations director at McGill’s, commented: “Our new website forms a vital part of our mission to inspire more people in Scotland to use their local bus services in favour of their cars ... Sustainability is a core focus for our business as we’re on our way to having a fleet of over 100 batterypowered electric buses, so our new website launch complements our efforts to make public transport more appealing as a convenient, eco-friendly travel option for all.” 3 June 2022 | 13
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COMMENT
NORMAN BAKER
Rail unions striking the wrong note I want to see the jobs of rail workers protected and their pay enhanced, but the way to get there is by embracing change Now is the summer of our discontent, Made possible by the RMT. OK, less poetic than Shakespeare, but sadly more topical as we see the storm clouds of strikes gathering. We are facing the biggest national rail strike since 1982. The issues, it seems, relate to pay, pensions and conditions. In other words, just about everything. I have been using the railway a lot in the last month, from my house in Lewes to London, and further afield as well, such as to Liverpool last week. It is heartening to see the trains and stations bustling again. My trains from Lewes in particular seem markedly busier than they were pre-pandemic with hardly a seat free on eight-coach off-peak trains. On-peak, of course, the story is less rosy with many former commuters happy to work from home for at least part of the week. In addition, the inter-city first class business market has pretty much dried up which requires a big increase in off-peak leisure passengers to make up that shortfall in income. The world has changed and it is not reverting to its pre-2019 shape any time soon, if at all. There is a strong future for rail, but only if it adapts to the new reality. In my last contribution to Passenger Transport (PT264), I set out why the regime of engineering works needs to change to reflect changing travel patterns. What also needs to change are the working patterns of those employed in the industry. When workers are faced with inevitable 14 | 3 June 2022 PT266p14-15.indd 14
change, a common first reaction is to resist it. You can see that as far back as the beginnings of the industrial revolution and the introduction of the spinning jenny which reduced the number of cotton workers needed. On the railways, when steam gave way to diesel, there was a reluctance to let go of the firemen (the ‘f’ in ASLEF) and initially they were kept on in the cab, largely it seems just to keep an eye on the oil gauge. That was clearly unsustainable. An immediate issue today relates to rosters and the way weekend working has been treated. When those working conditions were set, the weekend, especially Sunday, was a dead time for travel. Sundays were days when shops were closed, sporting events did not take place, and you ventured out only for a walk or to go to church. We are now in a seven-day world, and rail is a seven-day operation. Indeed, some weekend days now rival weekdays for passenger levels. Under these circumstances, it is simply not tenable to treat weekend days as something special. Shop workers, those handling sporting
“The last thing we need is a strike that cripples the railway and chokes off the recovery”
events, doctors and nurses, and many more, they all work at weekends without 1950s-style supplements. Unions are important. Without them, pay and conditions for the average worker would be worse. The right to withdraw labour is a fundamental right in a democracy. Moreover, it is right to acknowledge that our railway workers kept the country moving during Covid while many others were sheltering at home, afraid to go out. And also that they have been subject to a pay freeze for a couple of years, and now inflation is roaring away. Yet the defence of workers cannot be the fossilisation of terms and conditions that were set long ago in a different world. I want to see the jobs of rail workers protected and their pay enhanced, but the way we get there is to embrace change, to win passengers for the railways, not to try like King Canute to hold back the tide. So the last thing we need is a strike that cripples the railway and chokes off the recovery in passenger numbers we have been seeing. Yet that, it seems, is what we are likely to get. We will from next week have strikes on the Tube, despite a very generous pay settlement having been reached. And yet Transport for London has proposed no changes to pension arrangements and has pledged that there will be no forced job losses. This RMT action looks increasingly like a strike in search of a cause. It was frankly depressing to hear Mick Lynch from the RMT on the radio the other day, almost revelling in the ability of the RMT to shut the railway down. His language, his evocation of the 1926 General Strike, his talk of class warfare, all sounded like a throwback to the early 1970s. I came away from that interview with the clear impression that what the RMT is proposing has a political dimension above and beyond the immediate issues for their members. ASLEF, on the other hand, seems to me to have a narrower and more laser-like focus, and is simply determined to get the best deal possible for its members, as any union worth its salt should. Indeed it has been exceedingly effective at doing so over many years, such that the train drivers in this country are among the best paid in the world. www.passengertransport.co.uk
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An eerily quiet concourse at London Victoria. It may well be that the chill of half empty commuter trains is proving a reality check for rail workers at TOCs serving the London commuter market
It was interesting to see the results of the RMT ballot. There was a lower turnout and much weaker support for strike action from those employed by TOCs serving the commuter market around London and indeed on Southern, which serves my town, there was a vote only for action short of a strike. It may well be that the chill of half empty commuter trains is proving a reality check for rail workers in those TOCs, who recognise the fragility of the railway’s finances and the need for change. If so, then they have a firmer grip on reality than their union bosses. Now I do not support this government, but in fairness it has to be recognised that they have poured billions of taxpayers’ money into rail to prop it up through the pandemic and are still doing so although fare income remains significantly down. They also cut fares through a ticket “sale”, which people like me were encouraging them to do. The government has, I think, a right to expect genuine discussions about changes to help put rail finances back on an even keel. And I certainly do not support this prime minister, whose general behaviour has been shoddy in the extreme. But the fact is that www.passengertransport.co.uk
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“A good future for rail has to respond to the needs and wishes of passengers today” he personally has been more supportive of putting money into rail than his chancellor who has a much less benevolent view towards rail. It seems likely the prime ninister may not last much longer and while that may well be justified, it has to be faced that any Tory replacement may well be less inclined to support rail than he has been. There are, unfortunately, quite a few leading Tories who would relish a bust-up with the unions and whose first instinct is to try to force rail workers by law to stay at their post. That of course would be a flagrant breach of the right to strike as well as being incendiary. More to the point, it simply would not work. Is the idea to force rail workers at gunpoint to turn up? And even if they did, what guarantee would there be that they would not simply refuse to carry out their duties?
There was a long article in The Times on May 28 headed “Union railmen stick up for Kremlin” which did a bit of a hatchet job on leading RMT officials. I wonder where the material for that piece came from? No, what we really do not need is a sequel to the miners’ strike of the 1980s, where implacable political positions were adopted, in that case by Scargill and Thatcher. Our rail workers deserve a decent pay increase, not least given where inflation is taking us. But in return they need to recognise that the goalposts have moved, and a good future for rail has to respond to the needs and wishes of passengers today, not those that existed pre-pandemic. Most of all, both sides need to recognise that inconveniencing the very people upon whom the future of the railway depends - the passengers - makes no sense at all.
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.
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01/06/2022 17:04
COMMENT
ALEX WARNER
Over-budget, overdue - I’m already over it The promises were broken but it’s hard to stay mad about the Elizabeth line now that it’s finally open. It really is magnificent
‘We got away with it!’ was the headline in the Metro two days after Crossrail opened, reporting on the comment by Martin Reynolds, who was Boris Johnson’s principal private secretary, that had come to light 24 hours earlier in relation to one of the many Downing Street lockdown parties. Reynolds’ remark could have been made by the bigwigs responsible for delivering Crossrail as the line opened last week to great fanfare and self-congratulatory back-slapping - and no hint of contrition about the monumental delays to the project completion and budget overruns. Never mind, like Boris we can move on quickly and yesterday’s news can become a distant memory and obliterated from history - if you can control the narrative well. That’s what I thought as, with my usual mid-life crisis cynicism, I made a proper ‘old school’ travel test on the Elizabeth line on Day 4 of its short life, primed to pick holes. Well actually, in fact, the experience was excellent and if you haven’t made a trip, you really must do so, whilst it is glistening, fresh and on the front foot and, dare I say it, before bad habits creep in. The wide, expansive subways leading to the platform at Tottenham Court Road, and indeed all of the central stations on the Elizabeth line, create a sense of occasion never felt before on a London Underground service. The platform announcer, a young, exuberant voice - it could have been me on the tannoy at West Hampsted Tube in my prime as a duty station manager on the 16 | 3 June 2022 PT266p16-17.indd 16
Jubilee line - was getting carried away wishing everyone a lovely journey and regaling the service benefits (“27 double doors, beautiful lovely full air-conditioning”) before telling us that “sharing is caring” and asking us to let customers off the train first. On the platform was a female member of staff - immaculately attired - but displaying more tattoos than Love Island’s Calum Best (who I had the pleasure of meeting last week, a story for another day). She was having the most beaming, enthusiastic
“It’s incredible, it really is and when you take it in, you’ll feel spellbound”
A quick selfie at Abbey Wood
conversations with customers. So too, was her colleague - all grins, eye contact and animated engagement as he chatted about the new service to each customer he passed on the platform. This felt like one of those paradisical ‘Delight the Customer Days’ I used to organise on Midland Mainline, that heavenly scenario, where everyone loves everyone and customers and staff are joined at the hip. There really was not much wrong on my journey and anyone who can look down the gangway of the train, all nine carriages - over 200-metres long - and see it twist, turn and drop at the front as it goes down a slope, and not be moved by what they see, cannot be a lover of railways. It’s incredible, it really is and when you take it in, you feel spellbound. However, in doing so, I couldn’t help reflecting that if Crossrail had been conceived post Covid, there’s surely no way it would have been given the green light. Will these carriages - which were fairly empty even in this novelty value inaugural week - ever see the crowds that the Central line which largely mirrors this route across London - saw in its prime? Try as I could, I just couldn’t imagine it, not even when services commence west of Paddington. As our train travelled beyond Liverpool Street, I couldn’t help feeling that since my teenage years and now into my fifties, Docklands and its immediate vicinity, appears to have prospered disproportionately in terms of railway development by comparison with the rest of London and certainly the rest of the UK. When our train pulled into Custom House, I shook my head - this being a location that transport planners seem to be obsessed with, a location that, not withstanding it being the home of the ExCel Centre and close to City Airport, seems to have its birthdays and Christmases all at once, every year. As societal changes crept up on us just prior to the pandemic and most certainly since, I wonder whether there genuinely is the demand for the railway that this corner of London now enjoys. Anyway, back to our journey and it was evident on station forecourts, platforms and gatelines on the route there were what looked like managers - with a different coloured hi-vis over their suits, sporting cheesy grins but appearing awkward. They were chatting among themselves, sometimes hands in pockets and when they did talk to customers they seemed initially frozen. When asked the www.passengertransport.co.uk
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“For those who earned the right to work on the creation of the Liz Line - I really do salute you” simplest questions (‘which way to Paddington, mate’), they opened up, with huge relief and gushing over the top smiles straight from the Walt Disney customer service text book. Mischievously, I was half-tempted to ask them the cost of a point to point ticket from Abbey Wood to Dingwell, whether a Network Railcard could be used for part of the journey and if the rumour was true there would be rail replacement running between Peterborough and Newark en route. That’ll test them, so too will the first hint of service disruption on Crossrail. Bring it on, I say. Chances are that managers and their directors will be back on their Teams calls at home after a fortnight and that’s the real challenge for Crossrail. It would be great if this Day 1 act of them being visible on the network either waiting for customers, helping them or just looking happy or posing for LinkedIn selfies, spawned a culture that normalised such behaviour, where being with customers is what it’s all about; the first instinct when they arrive at work. That for me would be a legacy that no other railway has achieved. How can we bottle the warm and lively announcer at Tottenham Court Road and preserve his enthusiasm once the initial gleam and gloss has dissipated, when the trains suffer teething problems, delays ensue and it’s a boring Tuesday night, or when he’s realised that his fabulous announcements haven’t earned him promotion? Will those managers on social media and their colleagues have such a spring in their step? When the reality of TfL’s perilous financial situation has an impact on those connected with the Elizabeth line, be it in pay freezes or a re-organisation, or when the scourge of a national rail strike finds its tentacles on the new purple route, or when the hoodlums are inevitably out late at night giving grief to the gateline staff at Abbey Wood. Or will the human nature realisation that the thrill of the chase, the joy of the journey in constructing and mobilising a new railway is far more fun than the daily grind ing reality of running it? The most testing times for leadership will kick in around a month or so from now, I reckon. This is where they will really earn their crust. My train approached Abbey Wood and I was trying to nitpick as I munched on my pack of Jelly Tots, whilst looking out the window in joyous balm. The Travelcard zones were faintly www.passengertransport.co.uk
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marked on the route maps above the seats and faint too were the on-board announcements. There was also no 4G signal. Meanwhile, face mask signs were everywhere despite that being so 2020/1 - a reflection perhaps of the time-warp in which these trains have resided due to delays in the project. Dwell times at stations also felt long and frustrating during the central section of the route. Indeed, faced with a choice, I may in future stick with the Central line which feels like it has greater momentum and is in more of a hurry between Tottenham Court Road and Liverpool Street. Sometimes hustle and bustle has more appeal than gracefulness. The only other hint of moans from me, apart from the gateline staff at Abbey Wood chatting among themselves and a very slightly peeled notice on the footbridge, was that, if anything, the journey was slightly too good, too clinical and it was also a bit chilly on-board. Maybe we needed some classic railway incompetence, if the only notes I could put in my pad, were scratches emerging on the carriage floor already and the female automated announcer calling ‘Woolwich’, ‘Warlitch’ (I kid you not have a listen, it’s bonkers that anyone thought it was appropriate to sign that off). At Custom House, my heart lifted when I saw a gaggle of trainspotters. It was like looking in the mirror at me in my glory years a naffer dress-sense than I have even now and a range of humongous camera lenses straight from the eighties. I didn’t think those existed in the digital age. They furtively paced down the platform to catch the number of the train and take another photo and suddenly I was overjoyed that traditional railway images were intruding on this otherwise glistening spectacle of modernity. And, at Abbey Road, further normality prevailed as a group of BTP officers were hanging round the platform en masse, carefree. Of course, it would be cruel stereotyping on my part to suggest this is the norm, BTP officers in groups and at places where there isn’t crime about to ensue, but this would be harsh on a day when I was clutching at straws to find stuff to grumble about. At Abbey Wood, I took a quick selfie. Everyone else is getting in on the act - have a look at social media and it’s full of folk doing it. I saw a few around me taking selfies on my trip - not transport weirdos like you and I, but normal people, young and old, male and female
and of different ethnicities too! Diversity and inclusion at its finest on our railway. Anyway, unlike LinkedIn, where everyone who has ever worked in the sector seems to be claiming next to their photos that they had a great hand in this masterclass project, I confess to not having had any contribution whatsoever. I think I once might have sent one of the trainers in my consultancy to do some courses very early on in the programme, but that doesn’t count - you won’t see a single reference to Crossrail on my CV. Crossrail, though, has been the work of some fine leaders in transport and good people - no rogues, cads or rotters but decent, likeable people and great professionals - Mark Wild, Steve Murphy, Nigel Holness, Mike Bagshaw, Andy Byford, Howard Smith, Mark Hopwood to name but a few. A word too for Mike Brown, who was Byford’s predecessor as TfL commissioner and got caught up in some negative headlines around Crossrail, but deserves plaudits for his contribution in bringing the vision towards reality. Let’s be honest, it’s like all these grandiose schemes, when they’re completed and we’re all enjoying the benefits, who really gives two hoots about what happened before? No one is saying ‘it took so long and cost so much’, just like when I shelled out nearly 300 smackers on my 1938 00 gauge, maroon-coloured, Northern line train for my model railway, the cost or the time it took to achieve route clearance never crosses my mind as it shuffles out of the depot and into service each day. It is what it is and who am I to pour scorn on the glory of those who history will show created a legacy for London and the UK railway? My journey back to Central London was equally impressive - not a single fault to find on this glistening new railway. If I had my time again, I’d like to have worked on this exciting and monumental project (if you’d have had me). ‘We got away with it’, well, yes, maybe that could have been the caption under the team photos on social media, but in truth, this was a job well done. For those who earned the right to work on the creation of the Liz Line - I really do salute you.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR Alex Warner has over 29 years’ experience in the transport sector, having held senior roles on a multi-modal basis across the sector
3 June 2022 | 17
01/06/2022 16:35
COMMENT
NICK RICHARDSON
GBR: Are we on the brink of a new era? Heralded as a new era for the rail industry, will Great British Railways actually make any difference to rail passengers? The transformation from hundreds of different organisations that comprise today’s railway to Great British Railways (GBR) has begun. Apparently, the current set-up is so complex that it is taking hundreds of people to find the route to the new arrangements. It seems that the railway has degenerated to the point at which no-one really understands how it all fits together, with the result that aggregating it into something coherent is proving difficult. It’s rather like the terms and conditions attached to any contract, local government funding or anything to do with pensions in that it is difficult to unravel let alone put back together in a new way.
Poor track record The big difference between Britain’s railways and railways everywhere else was the separation of trains and infrastructure. As was expected, this has been unhelpful because of the mutual dependency of trains and tracks. The infrastructure provider morphed from Railtrack to Network Rail and from private sector to public sector, the dividing line being defined by disastrous events that highlighted how the subsets of the infrastructure provider didn’t work together. Maintaining safety standards had taken a hit, something that should never happen on the railway. On top of this, we have seen the end of the franchising system, again punctuated by failure of several major franchises, the East Coast Main Line arrangements failing more than 18 | 3 June 2022 PT266p18-19.indd 18
once. The whole concept was fatally flawed but it has taken decades to do something about it. Overlooked elements include the freight operators which have done quite well considering the regime under which they work, open access passenger operators and the costly industry in itself that is rolling stock ownership. The first of these hinted at what might happen to the passenger side of the business with freight being split three ways, only for them all to be acquired by a single entity that immediately put them back together. The space for smaller operators has proved to be confined. Open access as a mantra for competition has seen some operators come and go with the remainder being owned by bigger groups. The notion that train operators would cheerily compete against each other showed an incredible lack of knowledge about how trains work. Instead, the franchised network was a series of monopolies punctuated by a few open access operators fighting their way into the system. Meanwhile, the rolling stock operators have been well placed to plough their own furrows, now resulting in a multiplicity of train suppliers and different types of rolling stock, some non-
“It might not be so great after all, the addition in the title being a hostage to fortune”
standard which has made them harder to offer in their later lives until the scrapheap beckons; the age of some of the rolling stock consigned for scrap is unimpressive.
Seeking better The objectives of GBR are entirely reasonable but it isn’t clear why the railway hasn’t always wanted better services for customers, reduced costs and clearly defined management. Meanwhile, government is of the view that users should pay a higher proportion of the costs, a sure way of not being inclusive and nothing like any other transport sector. There are new issues arising which will need to be addressed by the incoming regime. One is the whole question of local or central control, experience telling us that while some things should be determined centrally, having people who understand regional or local requirements are best placed to make decisions. This is compounded by devolution in which the combined authorities play a major role in progressing transport integration and coordinating services. At a larger scale, Northern Ireland’s trains are managed directly by the state, Welsh Government has Transport for Wales providing its train services and Transport Scotland now does the same for the Scottish Government. This inevitably leaves GBR covering England with a number of forays into foreign parts; GBR will need to cooperate with those adjacent to it. It might not be so great after all, the addition in the title being a hostage to fortune and a hint of the past when some railway companies boosted their prowess by being ‘Great’. After a while, the post-war British Railways became British Rail’and adopted its nowfamiliar logo, the ‘arrows of indecision’ as it became known. This is now widely applied under the guise of National Rail, an entity that doesn’t exist. From the funding famine of decades past, we now pour vast sums of money into repairing and upgrading the railway, introducing new signalling systems (not always compatible with each other), putting back some bits that have been lost for decades and acquiring large numbers of shiny new trains. The opening of Crossrail has taken thirty years of planning and engineering set against an overrunning budget and arriving three years later than intended. The rising costs of everything is a worrying trend. Britain is short www.passengertransport.co.uk
01/06/2022 16:36
IN ASSOCIATION WITH: www.ciltuk.org.uk Tel: 01536 740100 @ciltuk
The creation of Great British Railways was announced a year ago by transport secretary Grant Shapps
of some railway specialist skills and does make a habit of creating several new organisations when one would do. Cost increases mean that either more funding is needed or things stay as they are for longer. Given that planning for change takes a very long time, High Speed Two has been quick off the blocks but anything else as mundane as building a footbridge takes persistence and large amounts of cash. By the time there is a definitive answer, the costs have escalated so projects remain as remote as ever. It was accepted for decades that not all passenger services make a profit so it seems reasonable to assume that they won’t in future and to support them accordingly.
Combining public and private The influx of train operators has fallen away which says a lot about franchising. Some big players such as National Express are no longer interested, others have reduced their role and some have been pushed out or volunteered to give in. Ironically, overseas state railways have a big stake in the UK network; a lack of homegrown interest doesn’t bode well for GBR. www.passengertransport.co.uk
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The opportunities are undermined by a lack of interested parties due to high costs and high risks. The costs of bidding alone are high and the margins are not appealing. The experience of franchises that attract two bidders is hardly successful competition and some new contracts may not attract any bidders at all. The risks are huge, not just those related to the service specification. There are potential horrors such as strike action (the privatised railway remains vulnerable), weather resilience (exemplified all over the country, some with catastrophic consequences) and further pandemics destroying demand overnight. There isn’t much incentive for investors and innovation is likely to be stifled. The current operator of last resort (i.e. government) may be busy in the future. On the infrastructure side, there is much to be done but, as the electrification programme has shown, common sense tends to be smothered by the Treasury. Everyone wants a better railway on which they can rely and be proud. I asked the erstwhile South West Trains why, if they had replaced most of the rolling stock and re-cast
the timetable, couldn’t they provide a halfdecent service - inevitably no answer was forthcoming. GBR will only work if it is set up appropriately, has full accountability so that everyone knows their function in relation to everyone else and is backed up with capital and revenue funding commitments in an open way. It also needs skills and talent to bring out a sense of ownership. The old railway depended on the many years of experience of most of the staff and this should not be lost to new faces from outside with no railway background even if they bring new skills from elsewhere. The transition to GBR needs the railway to regain its position as a vital contributor to Britain’s economy and environment.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR Nick Richardson is Technical Principal at transport consultancy Mott MacDonald, chair of CILT’s Bus and Coach Policy Group and a former Chair of the Transport Planning Society. In addition, he has held a PCV licence for 35 years.
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BRTuk
Sprint at the heart of a car restraint revolution The first phase of the Sprint Bus Rapid Transit corridor in the West Midlands is almost complete, and it promises to change travel behaviour The second BRTuk Lunchtime Masterclass Andrew Garnett heard Deputy Editor from Tom Skidmore, senior development manager Sprint Bus Rapid Transit project at Transport for the West Midlands. He described Sprint, which will create a bus-based mass transit corridor between Solihull and Walsall via Birmingham city centre, as not so much a levellingup project, but as a bus priority scheme that aims to “level-up bus”. “It probably chimes with a lot of other people’s objectives when it comes to projects,” he said. “It’s about enabling residents to access more places within 45 minutes, improve satisfaction
and to get that shift from car to public transport.” Skidmore said Sprint was also about assisting with economic regeneration goals - creating improved bus reliability and shorter journey times meant easier access to jobs and services, said Skidmore. “If you have better access to jobs and services then you can be better linked to more jobs that are better suited to you and that means we can increase productivity and that leads to growth in the region and inclusive growth... When we say we’re improving bus priority, actually what we’re trying to achieve is more growth and a healthier, happier society.” He added Sprint was essentially a project built around three key elements - infrastructure, services and operation. “While there is
Bus priority key to success of Sprint Project has significant infrastructure interventions Extensive levels of bus priority are one of the key features of the Sprint Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project, according to Tom Skidmore, Transport for West Midlands’s senior development manager for the project. Speaking during BRTuk’s recent Lunchtime Masterclass on the project, he said TfWM was trying to achieve bus lanes
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along the length of the route. The first phase aimed to create some significant infrastructure interventions on the route between Walsall and Solihull via Birmingham city centre ahead of this summer’s Commonwealth Games, which will be hosted in the city. The £56m second phase has just been approved and it aims to deliver additional priority
a Sprint service that will run all the way from Walsall to Solihull, actually this corridor affects a lot more than that one route or bus,” Skidmore said. “There are around 200 buses that use [parts of] this corridor every day... You can’t just break it down as a Walsall to Solihull service. It means looking at the other routes too and making it all tie together.”
Integration is key
confirmed. “We are integrating the Sprint offer with the rest of the network. It didn’t really make sense that if you’re waiting for a Sprint bus and another bus arrives then you have to run to a different stop. Where there are shared sections of the route it makes sense to share stops. “At the start we perhaps overemphasised the Sprint service and the articulated vehicle being seen as Sprint. In reality, there are 24 Sprint buses and 200 other buses on this corridor and all of those other buses are going to get a lot of benefits [from Sprint]. That translates across to the public a lot better - we’re not just doing it for one service, but we’re doing it for a lot of other services that are not just coming from Walsall.”
Because Sprint is such a long route, some sections are more heavily used by existing conventional bus services than others. Speaking generally, Skidmore said this meant there were around eight other buses per hour using sections of Sprint corridor infrastructure. “Will they be able to use these stops? Yes, they will,” he
It’s a no to 24-metres
measures as well as zero-emission trambus-style vehicles. Skidmore said construction on the first phase was now largely wrapping up, but he highlighted two areas with significant infrastructure interventions. In the first a currently circuitous route near Walsall has been removed thanks to a contraflow bus lane that offers a far more direct routing. In the second example he highlighted a roundabout on Small Heath Highway where Sprint vehicles will need to turn
right when leaving Birmingham city centre. The solution was a 1km-long offside bus lane that then leads to a bus-only “throughabout” through the centre of the roundabout. Skidmore showed Lunchtime Masterclass attendees a video of a recent test using an articulated bus borrowed from Stansted Airport passing through this “thoughabout”. “As you can see, it gives us unprecidented levels of bus priority on a main road in the city centre,” he said.
On the vehicles themselves, Skidmore was joined by Angela Hosford, TfWM’s head of Sprint. She said that while the original ambition for Sprint had been to use 24-metre-long bi-articulated tram buses - in what would have been a UK first - discussions with central government over a derogation for their use had raised
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24 trambus-style hydrogen-powered vehicles will be introduced with the second phase of Sprint
some significant concerns. “They were really concerned about the precedent it would set,” she revealed. “The minute you start putting 24-metre vehicles on the network how do you then prohibit them from motorways or being allowed on other elements of the UK network? There were real reservations around that.” Hosford said TfWM had looked at what could be achieved with a 24-metre bi-articulated vehicle when compared to articulated vehicles of 18-metre length and concluded the articulated vehicles were the way to go. She continued: “Whether that is revisited in the future, well I think it’s bigger than us. I think it’s more for the DfT and the people there to decide whether that’s something they want to allow on the British road network.” Hosford added it was interesting how some authorities had placed greater emphasis on the vehicle than on the infrastructure. In others, the reverse was the case. www.passengertransport.co.uk
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“We’re trying to blend that and get the best of both looking at our own objectives of reliable journey times,” she said. “The vehicle is a really important part of that, so we want multi-door boarding so we can neutralise the boarding time. We want to regulate journey times and I think the vehicles are a really important part of that.” Skidmore added that all 24 Sprint vehicles, which will be powered by hydrogen, will be funded from the region’s ZEBRA zero emission bus funding allocation. While there are still some legal implications to be resolved, he said he was confident more details would be forthcoming soon.
Policy movement The different emphasis placed by the region’s local authorities with regard to vehicle versus infrastructure only highlights some of the challenges of a major project like Sprint. “It’s not easy, there’s a lot of delivery
“The purpose of road space reallocation and the projects around bus priority are to change behaviour” challenges,” admitted Skidmore. “We’re working across four local authority areas and they all have different types of politics.” However, he highlighted how the policy direction in the West Midlands was changing towards more sustainable travel options. The West Midlands Combined Authority is currently consulting on an update to its Local Transport Plan and Skidmore described the draft as very different to its predecessor. There is an emphasis on the climate emergency, active travel and a fairer society. Part of that is about driving down car dependency. Ultimately that means creating carrots and sticks that restrain car use by either physical or regulatory measures. Skidmore said this is leading to road space reallocation
and he highlighted some of the things Birmingham City Council are doing to restrict car use in the city centre. These include modal filters, bus gates and changing traffic movements. “The city centre is for walking, it’s for cycling, it’s for public transport,” he added. “Car trips are very much being pushed to the outskirts, so the priority is for active travel and public transport. “How does that affect the bus? Well, it means a lot of the things we want to deliver are actually easier to deliver... The purpose of road space reallocation and the projects around bus priority are to change behaviour. We need to be confident that we’re going to reduce car dependency and put a network in place that adopts those principles.” 3 June 2022 | 21
01/06/2022 16:36
BRTuk LUNCHTIME MASTERCLASSES
Portsmouth becomes bus strategy showcase Supported by £48m from the Department for Transport, the Bus Service Improvement Plan will fund new tickets, cut fares and speed up journeys The city of Portsmouth could become the poster child of the government’s National Bus Strategy for England. The city discovered in April that it would receive £48.3m to support the delivery of its Bus Service Improvement Plan - the second largest award outside of a combined authority area. This money will be used to help the city ‘Bus Back Better’ through a combination of new tickets, lower fares and bus priority measures. Peter Shelley, Portsmouth City Council’s rapid transit development manager, provided further details at the first of a new series of BRT uk Lunchtime Masterclasses earlier this month. He explained how the council was able to build on a proven record of effective partnership working with bus operators, neighbouring authorities and the Department for Transport. Fares are a central component of the BSIP and are expected to deliver some quick wins. Tap-on, tap-off ticketing will simplify and speed up travel. There will be lower fares for certain groups, valid on all First and Stagecoach buses. Reduced fares for young people will now be extended from those aged to 16 to those aged up to 19, and a new all-operator, family day ticket will be offered. Other new products include an all-operator, 90-minute ‘Hopper’ ticket and a cheap evening rover ticket valid after 7pm. However, Shelley said that the element of the BSIP that the 22 | 3 June 2022 PT266p22-23.indd 22
Department for Transport is most interested in is its new bus priority measures. This builds on the positive experience of the A3 Bus Priority Corridor (ZIP), which links Portsmouth with Horndean and Waterlooville in Hampshire. It opened in 2008 at a cost of £34.5m and Shelley revealed that it’s the only corridor in Portsmouth where bus times are quicker than they were 20 years ago. The BSIP includes 2.4km of new bus lanes, building on the 9.8km that are already in place. Existing bus lanes will be resurfaced to reinforce importance, and they
will be supported by new camera enforcement, dedicated bus lane civil enforcement officers and a tow-away scheme. A wider rollout of smart traffic signals will help deliver better bus journey times. “These can be really effective on a very confined network like Portsea Island,” Shelley explained. “And let’s be honest, they are less contentious.” These measures and others are expected to deliver a 10% reduction in bus journey times by 2025/26. Other enhancements in the BSIP include better stop design,
PORTSMOUTH CITY COUNCIL BSIP TARGETS
Journey time (versus present) Punctuality (buses on time) Passenger numbers Average passenger satisfaction
2019/20 100% of present 85% 12.0m 92%
Target for 2025/26 90% of present 95% 12.0m 95%
real time information at every bus stop, earlier morning journeys from 4.30am and late Friday and Saturday buses until 1am, and demand responsive transport. Shelley explained that he and his colleagues had consulted with residents to obtain a mandate for action. Offering advice to dealing with local politicians, he said: “Reflect the priorities that their residents raise with them, and change your proposals if needed. Keep them close. Don’t assume that because they liked an idea last year they will like it now. Learn from your mistakes. And no surprises - keep them informed every step of the way.” You would be forgiven for expecting such a comprehensive package of measures to deliver a surge in new users, but Portsmouth is only expecting passenger numbers in 2025/26 to match pre-Covid levels (12 million). In percentage terms, patronage is currently in the low eighties of what it was back then. “We worked closely with the operators on this,” Shelley explained. “We didn’t want something that was eye-catching but undeliverable and we’ve got a long way to go really to get back to 2019/20 targets. So we said the target is 100% [of pre-Covid patronage] and a stretch target is 110%.”
ABOUT BRTuk BRTuk has members from across the industry, including operators, promoters, manufacturers and consultants. It serves as an information hub and engages with all levels of government. Visit: www.brtuk.com There will be lower fares for certain groups, valid on all First and Stagecoach buses
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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 - JUNE 2022
Two different paths for the oil majors
The oil majors have survived and prospered but are now heading in different directions - either sticking with oil or going green The death knell of the oil majors (BP, Shell, Exxon etc) has been sounded many times. In the seventies, it was all about being eclipsed James Spencer by OPEC (Organisation of Portland Oil Exporting Countries). The nineties brought ‘Peak Oil’ and the exhaustion of oil stocks. Since 2000, focus has switched to the incompatibility of oil exploration with pressing environmental needs, whilst 2020 brought Covid and oil prices plunging into negative territory. Yet the majors have always survived and invariably bounced back to post enormous profits and thus face extra-ordinary levels of taxation (windfall taxes) as a punishment for being so successful (and resilient)! The ‘post-pandemic, pre-renewable’ major oil companies of 2022 are at a crossroads, with two very different routes to the future ahead of them. The first road sticks with - and possibly increases - oil and gas exploration. It looks likely that this path will largely be followed by the American majors (Exxon, Chevron), faced with significant shareholder scepticism as to the merits of “going green” and also having traditionally been the most efficient operators in the exploration sector. In their mindset, the Russian invasion of Ukraine has highlighted the fact that oil and gas still dominates the global economy. Moreover, it has sent western governments into apoplexy over boosting domestic production of oil and 24 | 3 June 2022 PT266p24-25.indd 24
gas, to avoid dependence on imports from unfriendly nations. These companies are also more than aware that whilst transport looks likely to rapidly decarbonise (thus reducing oil demand), that still leaves up to 50% of oil demand wrapped up in everything from concrete to contact lenses and clothes that have colour. In these sectors, demand for oil will stay robust and consistent. Taking a very different approach are the European oil majors (BP, Shell, Total) who have to deal with a very different public and a more environmentally conscious shareholder base. These companies are now falling over themselves to show their alignment with decarbonisation and both BP and Shell have announced their intention to achieve ‘NetZero’ by 2050. There have been a slew of acquisitions of everything from wind, solar and hydrogen power companies, through to battery manufacture and roadside electrical charging. The CEO of BP has even called on the UK Government to speed up the proposed ban on petrol and diesel cars (2030), a hitherto inconceivable public statement from the head of an oil company. It should be recognised that the European oil majors are not obliged to take this progressive
“So which approach will win the day? Both represent quite a gamble”
path. There is no legal mandate to do what they are doing and they have plenty of shareholders who may conclude that going green will not generate sufficient returns. Traditional oil companies have generated between 15-20% returns in upstream (oil and gas) exploration, whereas to date, large scale renewable projects have only generated around 5-10%. Most shareholders are keen on dividends from immediate profits and this “profitability gap” may drive more mercenary investors back to the more traditional modus operandi of the US sector (which they understand), thus leaving European majors with insufficient funds for the huge capital investments required for renewable energy projects. There are however, two major arguments that support the “European” approach. The first is that historical returns of 15-20% on oil and gas do not guarantee the same level of profits in the future. In fact, traditional energy projects seem unlikely to perform at these high levels in the face of tightened regulation and competition from ubiquitous renewable energy players. The second more cynical point is that the European oil companies are clearly hedging their bets in the short-term. No-one is shutting down hydrocarbon production, so revenues from oil and gas will continue for at least another 10 years. The logic given for this is that only the handsome returns from traditional energy projects can generate the kind of money required for massive re-investment in renewable energy. Plus of course, it helps pacify nervous investors… So which approach will win the day? Both approaches represent quite a gamble. If the world is still consuming massive amounts of oil and gas in 10 years, then the European operators will have disposed of their “crown jewels” unnecessarily. Equally, American producers are banking on the value of their oil reserves, which may never see the light of day in a cleaner and greener future. Needless to say, there will probably be no binary winners and losers in this particular battle. ‘Old-school’ fossil fuel extraction will undoubtedly bear fruit for at least another 10 years, whilst the European oil majors are in a perfect position to profit from the clear long-term growth opportunities that clean energy represents. One thing is for sure though, the dire predictions for the future of the oil majors are as misplaced now, as they always have been. www.passengertransport.co.uk
01/06/2022 16:36
“I think it’s clear that our witnesses will be given a pretty tough time”
COMMENT
GREAT MINSTER GRUMBLES
Is it still a ‘National’ Bus Strategy?
Our Whitehall insider imagines what’s going on inside the minds of the mandarins at Great Minster House, home of the DfT
Something tells me that we aren’t going to come out of the current Transport Select Committee inquiry into our National Bus Strategy smelling of roses. I’ve just read the transcript of the first evidence session on May 18, and I think it’s fair to say that the witnesses weren’t exactly complimentary about us. Councillor Tony Page, the deputy leader of Reading Borough Council, described us as “somewhat dilatory in meeting even reasonably fluid timetables” and that while we impose strict deadlines on authorities “the department rarely, if ever, reciprocates”. Ouch! But, to be frank, it’s a fair point. The witnesses were asked if the original specification for the preparation of the Bus Service Improvement Plans (BSIPs) “was not adequately clear without clarifications”. They agreed. They said there was a lack of transparency - and that there still is. Witnesses were asked if this department had the capability to administer the BSIP process. The committee was told that “there is room for improvement in the approach that has been taken”. I sense the witness was being polite! The department was accused of excessive micro-management over the whole BSIP process. And there was implied criticism that while the National Bus Strategy encouraged ambition with the BSIPs, a challenge that generally transport authorities rose to, this was not matched by the government with the level of funding provided - a point I have made for some time now. One witness moaned that “a www.passengertransport.co.uk
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number of decisions are a bit opaque”. And, finally, I was rather taken by a point made by one witness that actually we no longer have a National Bus Strategy anyway because less than half of the BSIPs that were submitted got any funding. An interesting point. It will be interesting to see what witnesses in future sessions have to say, but there is no denying that the witnesses from this first session hardly gave this department a ringing endorsement for the way the BSIP process was handled. The lack of funding to deliver on the ambition that the bus strategy encouraged is surely going to be a continuing theme. When this department finally appears before the committee I think it’s clear that our witnesses will be given a pretty tough time.
Meanwhile, we are heading for a national rail strike, and one which looks set to be widespread and potentially lengthy, with the general secretary of the RMT (who’s paid more than the prime minister by the way!) describing it as “the biggest rail strike in modern history”. I’m going to refrain from commenting on the merits or otherwise of the strike. All I know is that this strike could not come at a worse time for the industry. Just as the government and the industry are desperately trying to get people back onto trains - with some degree of success, at least with the leisure market - so the rail unions seem set to stop them doing so. There must surely be a real danger that if the consequence of the strike is that people who might otherwise use the railways stop doing so, demand therefore remains suppressed and growth does not materialise. Then the Treasury will surely assess future funding from a new and lower patronage base, with consequentially less funding available. I suggest the RMT needs to be careful what it wishes for. I can’t help but end with an observation on ‘partygate’ now that Sue Gray has published her report. Sounds like No 10 was quite a fun place to work during the pandemic, what with all those parties and leaving drinks! Working in No 10 must be like working in a pressure cooker, and in normal times one can understand the need for staff to let their hair down from time to time. But these were not normal times and the frequency of the parties does cause one to raise the odd eyebrow, given that the rest of the country was locked down. But here’s a thing. The prime minister has said he takes full responsibility for everything that took place on his watch. I had always thought that when a leader takes full responsibility for something, they also take the action that naturally follows from taking full responsibility they resign. By not resigning the prime minister is surely not accepting full responsibility and his expressions of humility ring hollow. Perhaps as a civil servant I shouldn’t express an opinion on this, although a few brave individuals did contribute to a Panorama programme on ‘partygate’ - wisely on an anonymous basis - and I thought that programme was almost more damning than Sue Gray’s report. The prime minister told the House of Commons that no parties took place and no Covid rules were broken. Both points are self-evidently untrue. I’ll leave it there. 3 June 2022 | 25
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CAREERS
General Manager System One Travel (Greater Manchester Travelcards Limited - GMTL) was created in 1994 in response to local customer demand for multi-operator, multi-modal transport ticketing options. GMTL is co-owned by Greater Manchester’s bus, rail and tram operators and Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM). Current turnover is c£30m (Covid affected). The Board are looking to work with TfGM to ensure that the scheme continues and adapts as the various stages of franchising are introduced over the next few years. GMTL has been a fast moving, ever developing, customer lead and focused organisation and is now looking for dynamic and enterprising administration, management, and development of its travelcard business, objectives, and strategies under the direction of the Board. The role will involve working closely with the GMTL Chair, Board, shareholders, and members, coordinating and delivering the day to day operational and business requirements including control of banking, suppliers (including legal, financial, and marketing) and contractors, reviewing business practice and commercial arrangements and performance whilst analysing commercial data to ensure the customer remains the central focus of the business. Applications are sought from suitably qualified individuals from any background (transport knowledge not essential but desirable) who can engage with multi organisations and partners developing customer focused products and expanding a multimillion-pound business.
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This role could be on a self-employed basis or through contract to a business organisation and will require a flexible approach to deliver the necessary guidance and control with ongoing commitment being based on the various tasks encountered and involved. Working from home or attending Company and associated meetings (mainly in central Manchester), the role averages 25 hours of working time per week, with some variability particularly at period end. A good degree of flexibility will be expected of the successful candidate. Contract payments are negotiable but expected to be circa £40k p/a renewable on a six-monthly basis. If you are interested in the role but would be looking for more, or less, hours per week (with consequent adjustment to contract payments), we would be interested to hear from you to discuss a work configuration that suits all parties. For a more detailed job specification or to explore the role further prior to application please contact: T G Roberts FCILT Consultant Director TGRL On behalf of Greater Manchester Travelcards Limited Email information requests and applications to tgrl@talktalk.net Closing date: 27th June 2022
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CALL NOW TO ADVERTISE 020 3950 8000 or email sales@passengertransport.co.uk
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DIVERSIONS
Southeastern wheels out the knitted queen Jubilee celebrations will not end in a tangle Train operator Southeastern is getting into the Platinum Jubilee spirit by decorating stations across the region - and not just with bunting. Alongside lots of Union Jacks and red, white and blue, the train operator has commissioned a life-size knitted queen which will visit several of the network’s stations over the Jubilee weekend. “Our team wanted to do our bit for our customers – to help them get in the spirit and enjoy the
Euston will never forget...
EUSTON SAYS A SAD FAREWELL
Network Rail last month paid a sad farewell to some veteran rolling stock after many years of faithful service. London Euston’s fleet of electric
Uncanny...
celebrations,” said Steve White, Southeastern managing director. “All of our staff are looking forward to celebrating the Jubilee and playing our part as customers make their journeys.”
passenger assistance buggies have been replaced after a lifetime of stellar service. During their 18 year life, the infrastructure controller has revealed, they have travelled to the moon and back all within the confines of the West Coast Main Line terminus. On average 87,000 passengers who need help getting to and from their train rely on the vehicles each year – that’s around 240 passengers every day. The first four buggies were introduced in 2004 with a further six added in 2010. It’s estimated
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WHEN TWO LOVERS MEET IN BARKING? c2c’s passengers will experience something a little out of the ordinary on their journeys as part of Essex Wildlife Trust’s 30 Days Wild campaign. It aims to challenge people to do one activity in nature a day throughout June in a move that aims to make them feel happier, healthier and more connected with nature. The train operator has partnered with the charity to give passengers a daily dose of nature by playing the song of the nightingale at local stations. Perhaps a case of a nightingale singing in Barking Station rather than Berkeley Square?
the fleet has made one million journeys between the main concourse and platforms over 18 years. With each trip around a third of a mile - it means they’ve ferried passengers and luggage over 330,000 miles between them - the moon is a mere 238,885 miles away from Earth. Now with a £200,000 investment, 12 new buggies have entered service in a move that will also reduce maintenance costs and slash breakdowns. Surely there must be a place in a museum for one of the old fleet?!
A rather undignified way to moo-ve
READING’S DAISY IS ON THE MOO-VE When a neighbouring school needed an animal for an event, Reading Buses recently came to the rescue. Daisy the depot cow, can normally be found protecting the operator’s biomethane gas terminal, but she was unceremoniously transported by forklift for a temporary holiday at the nearby Civitas Academy. “The school have offered to give Daisy a spa treatment which will include re-securing one of her horns and tidying up the paintwork while she’s there,” revealed Reading Buses marketing and communications manager Jake Osman. A story well worth milking... SEEN SOMETHING QUIRKY? Why not drop us a line at editorial@passengertransport.co.uk
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