The railway should cherish its enthusiasts
For a long time the railway shunted enthusiasts like myself into the sidings, but the revival of the Rail Riders Club shows that times have changed Railway accessory and clothing supplier Bufferbeam, obtained Trademark protection on all of the Rail Riders’ logos Back in 1993, I was interviewed for the last ever British...
Wrightbus delivers buses under new ownership
The first 36 units of a 55 bus order have been delivered to FirstGroup Left to right: Buta Atwal, chief executive at Wrightbus; Jo Bamford, executive chairman at Wrightbus; Jon Harman, head of fleet at FirstGroup UK Bus and John McLeister, sales and business development director at Wrightbus Wrightbus has completed its first...
Read our supplement: Scotland’s Buses 2019
Welcome to Scotland’s Buses 2019, a publication devoted to Scotland’s main mode of public transport. Buses make an enormous contribution to Scotland, carrying 388 million passenger journeys annually, providing the vital links that enable communities to function. This publication from Passenger Transport puts the spotlight on Scotland’s bus industry and its partners, celebrates their achievements...
Electric cars in bus lanes? N0 TH4NK5
Dismay at Department for Transport’s suggestion that electric vehicles with green number plates could get cheap parking and access to bus lanes Access to bus lanes and cheaper parking could be offered to motorists to encourage uptake of zero emission electric vehicles. This suggestion was put forward by the Department for Transport last...
Will LRT ever have traction in the UK?
The slow expansion of light rail in the UK does not seem to fit well with the need to address the challenge of climate crisis Midland Metro The UN Climate Action Summit in New York City at the end of September highlighted the need for urgent and comprehensive activity to address the...
Bamford on brink of deal to save Wrightbus
Following a breakthough in talks last week, a team has been resident in the bus manufacturer’s factory in Ballymena, preparing to restart production Frozen in time: A glimpse inside the dormant Wrightbus factory At the time of writing the last stage in lifting Wrightbus more or less intact out of administration was awaiting...
Mr Williams, I urge you to read this book
My friend John Nelson has drawn on his 50 years of experience to write an insider’s story of Britain’s railway through privatisation to the present day Hold the front page, Keith Williams, don’t press ‘Send’ on your review just yet. There’s a new book in town, Losing Track, written by one of the...
What is the scope for boosting bus use?
Our analysis of the ‘Intrinsic Bus Potential’ of local authority areas in England shows why we need a new deal for the bus “How much have we as an industry put into research and development in the last five years? We’re getting worse, not better, and we have to change that.” These...
What’s the strategy for Go North West?
It’s the question everyone is asking. So we asked Nigel Featham, the new boss of Go-Ahead Group’s Greater Manchester operation Nigel Featham joined Go North West a month ago after 10 years with Arriva Eyebrows were raised when it was confirmed in February that the Go-Ahead Group had agreed terms to acquire First...
Is this the sad end of a 73-year-old story?
A short time now exists for someone to lift Wrightbus out of administration, saving a valued supplier and hundreds of jobs The loss is being most firmly felt in Ballymena, where thousands of jobs have already gone At the time of going to press old established bus manufacturer Wrightbus was on the brink of...
It’s time we talked about modal shift
Modal shift to a revitalised public transport system is the way to deliver our social, economic and environmental objectives Road traffic levels increased by 29% between 1990 and 2018 while over the last five years the number of bus journeys taken has plummeted by more than 300 million Modal shift is the concept...
The price is right, the time is right