Issue 312 of Passenger Transport is published on May 3. Contents include: LEAD STORY Private TOCs on borrowed time Labour’s plan for Britain’s railways confirms intention to bring all franchised operations in-house NEWS Partnership at heart of new era for industry Headwinds see bus industry entering a...
Labour’s plan for Britain’s railways confirms intention to bring all franchised operations in-house Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer and shadow transport secretary Louise Haigh, pictured on a visit to Hitachi When the new South West Trains and Great Western franchises commenced on February 4, 1996, they became the...
Headwinds see bus industry entering a defining new phase Martin Dean According to Martin Dean, Go-Ahead’s managing director of UK regional bus, Britain’s bus networks are moving into a new and potentially unsettling era. Speaking at last week’s ALBUM Conference in Cheshire, Dean hypothesised that bus deregulation had...
Labour has hailed its new plan for Britain’s railway as ‘the biggest overhaul to our railways in a generation’ – but can it deliver? Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer and shadow transport secretary Louise Haigh You wait ages for a transport policy from Labour then two come...
Labour has promised to phase out all of Britain’s much maligned – often unfairly in my view – franchised train operators Labour is planning to nationalise the railway The headline that Labour is planning to nationalise the railway if they get into power didn’t really arouse me...
While Labour’s intention to repeal the minimum service levels legislation is clear, not much else is. We’ve heard little of substance Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves, the duopoly at the top of Labour I see that Germany has been hit by a wave of strikes by 90,000 transport workers affecting rail, bus...
There are times in the bus sector when some organisations and individuals appear embarrassed to be associated with bus travel It’s rare to stumble across a business or sector where you get that disconcerting vibe that those at the helm would deep down rather not be doing what they’re doing and would prefer...
With a general election drawing closer, shadow transport minister Simon Lightwood addressed bus and coach operators in London last week Simon Lightwood at last week’s CPT Conference An incoming Labour government would use simplified and extended franchising powers to grow public transport, and provide the sector with greater certainty. That was the message...
Scottish Government pledged £500m – but has spent only £26.9m As recently as last October, Scotland’s minister for transport, Fiona Hyslop, told Passenger Transport that the Bus Partnership Fund was “a key area of investment” Formally launched in November 2020, Scotland’s Bus Partnership Fund was hailed as a “landmark long-term capital investment of...
Edinburgh is a city where every kind of person uses the bus and where everyone owns their local bus company, Lothian Buses An initial fleet of 50 new Volvo BZL electric double deck buses will enter service in the spring It’s good to be in the warmth of the great value Lothian...
Walking is good for our mind and body, our environment and public transport. Hana Sutch of Go Jauntly wants to make it easy Hana Sutch set up Go Jauntly in 2018 I’ll be honest, before the pandemic I had zero interest in walking for fun. But then, apart from model railways and...
Claire Miles has indicated a new approach to bus franchising and wants to turn the page on ‘cultural and political baggage’ of Souter years Claire Miles is keen to cast aside Stagecoach’s “cultural and political baggage” The recently appointed chief executive of Stagecoach has expressed regret over the group’s confrontational approach to bus...
New service aims to woo motorists to rail with faster journeys FirstGroup said the venture would form part of its Hull Trains open access business FirstGroup has revealed it has submitted an application to launch a new, faster open access rail service between London and Sheffield via the East Coast Main Line. It...
The latest ORR figures on rail usage are surprisingly good because the railway suffers from brakes on progress. Here are five of them Rail usage is up 14% year-on-year Industry, politicians, and civil servants will doubtless be taking some quiet satisfaction from the upward trend in rail usage reported by the regulator,...
Happy New Year to you all. To ring in the new dawn, here are some of the things I hope to see or fear we will see in 2024 Bring back NRPS! Remember the National Rail Passenger Satisfaction Survey (NRPS)? It was a very simple, quarterly customer survey with a decent sample size....
The UK Bus Awards 2023 presentation ceremony took place in London in November, and you can read all about the Gold, Silver and Bronze winners in this official Souvenir Brochure. Click on the image below to view The Big Book of Big Winners 2023. If you are viewing the site on a tablet or...
London’s buoyant retail and hospitality sectors has spurred public transport recovery in the capital. Outside of London, bus groups reveal ‘very encouraging’ year-on-year passenger growth of 5-10% Bus use is up by 8% in London The festive period has brought encouraging signs of continued recovery in public transport passenger volumes. Transport for London...
Let’s have some detail from Labour