Read our supplement: The ALBUM Report 2024
Welcome to The ALBUM Report 2024, a publication from Passenger Transport devoted to Britain’s independent and municipal bus companies. Returning for an eighth year, this year’s report also incorporates the Conference Workbook for the ALBUM Conference 2024, hosted by Warrington’s Own Buses at Carden Park Hotel on April 23-24. We hope you find it an...
Out now: Issue 311 of Passenger Transport
Issue 311 of Passenger Transport is published on April 19. Contents include: LEAD STORY Labour vows to fast-track bus franchising Party says that its plan will allow 250 million more bus passenger journeys a year, but ‘it will require no additional central government spending’ NEWS ‘Franchise your bus network to save money’...
Labour vows to fast-track bus franchising
Party says that its plan will allow 250 million more bus passenger journeys a year, but ‘it will require no additional central government spending’ Labour launched its plans in the West Midlands. Left to right: Angela Rayner, Richard Parker and Louise Haigh Labour has promised to help local authorities to introduce bus franchising...
West Mids frontrunner pledges bus franchising
Polls suggest Labour’s Richard Parker will win mayoral election Labour’s launch event was hosted by National Express West Midlands Labour’s candidate in next month’s West Midlands mayoral election has pledged to bring bus services back under public control if he wins power on May 2. The Labour Party chose the West Midlands as...
Elizabeth Line order could plug Derby gap
Order for 10 new trains could solve Alstom order desert Harper (right) met Alstom CEO Henri Poupart-Lafarge this week Rolling stock manufacturer Alstom has confirmed that it is in “intense discussions” with transport secretary Mark Harper about the future of its Derby plant and a potential order for additional rolling stock for the...
The albatross and the elephant
The Scottish Government’s Fair Fares Review has grabbed headlines but it cannot address the biggest transport challenges The launch of the £500m Bus Partnership Fund in 2019. It has now been paused BY Paul White “Continued delays to the updated climate change plan and further slippage in promised climate policies mean that the...
Metroline wins £422m Bee Network growth
London subsidiary of Singapore-based ComfortDelGro has won four Tranche 3 bus franchises in Greater Manchester, boosting its size by 30% Metroline’s contracts are worth £422m and comprise a total of 232 services, 420 buses and over 1,350 employees Metroline has been revealed as the big winner in the third and final round of...
Rail re-nationalisation is ‘tragedy’ – Whitehorn
Former Virgin executive Will Whitehorn tells Lunch with Leon podcast why he believes that Britain’s railway is ‘back in a mode of managed decline’ Whitehorn says there is no doubt that Virgin’s tenure of the West Coast route was a success Will Whitehorn, a close colleague of Sir Richard Branson throughout the nineties and much...
Pigs don’t fly but taxis are taking off
There’s nothing new about the concept of avoiding traffic by travelling overhead, but flying taxis could take this to another level What impact will air taxis have? Congestion: here is an issue to unite everyone from the extreme petrol heads through to the greenest environmentalist. Nobody benefits from this, not the motorists...
Survey shines light on customer views
The Your Bus Journey survey of bus users by Transport Focus provides insights and a league table we should all care about Levels of bus users satisfaction were high in East Yorkshire Who was surprised by the Transport Focus ‘Your Bus Journey’ scores? I certainly wasn’t and felt faintly reassured by the results...
Revolutionising suburban transport
The Grand Paris Express is potentially the most important and transformational urban mobility project underway in Europe The Grand Paris Express transport project I was in Paris, France for the Autonomy Mobility World Expo conference late last month. As an addition to the conference I was able to book a guided visit...
Happy campers are potential bus users