Buses Magazine 2021-11 (800).pdf

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800
MILESTONE MAGAZINES REVISITED
ISSUE
THE
WORLD’S
BIGGEST
SELLING
BUS
MAGAZINE
Issue No.800
November 2021
Price £5.25
www.keybuses.com
STAGECOACH
BID
NATIONAL
EXPRESS
ENTERS
TALKS
Fond farewell to Harris
Brighton & Hove MD’s career
First details of Volvo’s BZL
New global electric range revealed
NOVEMBER 2021
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Ensignbus Wright StreetDeck 177 (LX71 AOM)
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HUGO HO
2
www.keybuses.com
November 2021
SPECIAL
FEATURES
30 MARTIN HARRIS
Outgoing Brighton & Hove / Metrobus
director discusses career
38 BUSES ISSUE 800
A look back over 100-issue intervals to see how
the industry has changed
44 LEADING ARRIVA
Paul O’Neil’s ambitions to create the best bus business
in the UK
52 ACROSS WALES
The second part of the T2 journey must contend with
Covid-19 regulations
58 SHOWBUS 2021
Some highlights as the live event returns for 2021
REGULARS
05 COMMENT
Motorist Madness
06 NEWS
National Express in talks to acquire Stagecoach;
Stagecoach strikes spread; driver shortage worsens; petrol
crisis disrupts bus services; Volvo reveals first details of BZL
electric; Wrightbus builds new single-decker demonstrator;
Equipmake teams up with Beulas to offer EV double-decker;
£10m deal gives First control of SPS; Arriva gives up on
Guildford; Rotala’s Diamond electrifies 11-year-old MAN;
Obituary: Cyril Kenzie; vintage exemptions for Portsmouth
Clean Air Zone; Newport begins inter-city electric bus
operation; Western Greyhound wholly wound up
19 INSIDE TRACK
Manager walkabouts
20 GLOBAL NEWS
Munich to test convoys of driverless buses; Nobina opts for
more electric buses; Free bus pass for Germans who give
up cars; Switzerland gets first eCitaro with charging rails;
Arrival secures first order
22 LOOK IN ON LONDON
Mayor announces all new London buses will be zero
emission; RATP shuffles fleet; passenger data confirms
impact of Covid lockdowns; frequency cuts continue;
Croydon and Sutton changes confirmed; Tower Transit and
RATP merge operations
26 SUBSCRIPTION OFFER
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to your own address
28 MILLAR’S TALES
Loughborough’s extra door wasn’t for Lily; another fine ale
from Leyland; pots of passengers on the 291; Golden Tours
in Whitby
50 PICTURE VIEW
Red School Runner in Helton
60 PAST & PRESENT
The Western way
61 FENTON FILE
Riviera-bodied Quest 80 C-type
62 YOU WRITE
Milestone issue; Covid precautions; Blackpool going online;
Choice of information; mixed messaging; service regulation;
conflict on buses; Britain’s quirkiest bus route; Bristol times
four; Arriva on the continent; service failure at steam show;
fourth restoration at Lathalmond
66 PRESERVATION UPDATE
Return of the South Hams country squeeze; Devon General
remembered in Tiverton; Tin Lizzie in action at FoKAB
weekend; Badgerline boss brings his Transit to Weston;
Crosville Cub reborn for Beamish visitors; Epping Ongar
date for Blue Triangle Leyland National
72 FLEET NEWS ENGLAND & WALES
Compiled by John G. Lidstone
84 FLEET NEWS SCOTLAND
Compiled by Sandy Macdonald
91 FLEET NEWS IRELAND
Compiled by Paul Savage and Ian Molloy
92 REVIEWS
Books on South Yorkshire Transport and Mainline, bus
stations in Britain, London buses, GVVT, Scottish Tramway
&Transport Society and Dinky
Stagecoach East Scotland Scania
N230UD Alexander Dennis
Enviro400 15621 (SF10 CAA)
operating route 99 in Dundee.
JOHN YOUNG
November 2021
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COMMENT
MOTORIST MADNESS
with
JAMES DAY
T
his issue is the 800th edition of
Buses,
which we’re celebrating
with a look back over some of the
milestone issues of the past. You
will find that feature beginning on page
38, examining the highlights of each of the
centenary issues and how the industry has
changed. Should such an exercise be done
in the future, I’m sure a look back on this
rather eventful month will be interesting – a
possible Stagecoach takeover, new vehicle
developments, a continuing national
driver shortage and a so-called petrol crisis
dominate the news.
Hopefully by the time this magazine is
published, the petrol panic buying will be
over and done with. If nothing else, it has
been a good opportunity for operators to
promote their services as an alternative to
the forecourt queues and drama, securing
some more patronage. This assumes they
can fuel their buses of course.
As I write this, I’ve just returned from an
enjoyable visit to the Wrightbus factory in
Ballymena, where I met much of the senior
leadership team and took a closer look at
the company’s production lines and new
developments. Keep an eye out for it in the
December issue of Buses.
However, one observation I made on
the other side of the Irish Sea was that
the scenes of madness at petrol forecourts
in England were not taking place at all.
Both of the taxi drivers who ferried me
between Belfast International Airport and
Wrightbus remarked that they had seen
almost no difference in Northern Ireland
and found the scenes on the mainland
utterly ridiculous. Every petrol station we
passed had prices which were normal,
and a sight I hadn’t seen in over a week – a
petrol pump with no car beside it, which
was not blocked off by traffic cones or a ‘do
not use’ sign.
I arrived back in Stansted and took an
Alexander Dennis Enviro200 shuttle bus
to collect my car from my hotel. Many
travellers were waiting, some with bulky
luggage, and there was not nearly enough
room for all of them. As we departed the
coach station from bay 19, I saw at least 20
passengers forced to wait it for it to return
in about half an hour.
This could be normal – it may be a time
of day when many flights arrive in close
succession – but as we approached the hotel,
I saw cars pouring out of a petrol garage
forecourt, the queue reaching almost to the
nearby roundabout to access the hotels and
In Kingston, a sign warns of delays to bus services due
to the disruption caused by queues at petrol stations.
GAVIN BOOTH
blocking much of the road. This was at 21:30
in the evening.
Thankfully the bus got through thanks to
no oncoming traffic at the time, but I imagine
the rather grumpy driver had been struggling
to keep up the service’s frequency, finding
the roundabout snarled up even worse than
this on most journeys. Perhaps he’d had an
earful from people concerned about missing
their flights, or from people waiting almost
an hour for their bus after landing because of
overcrowding.
What struck me as I drove past the line of
cars, now blocking the entire carriageway
from the roundabout to the fuel pumps,
was that people have not considered simply
travelling on a different mode of transport.
Instead, they have chosen to fill their cars
even when not necessary ‘just in case,’ or
fill up additional containers with fuel, or
even pour petrol into plastic bags and load
them into their car boot (if a video doing the
rounds on social media is indeed from this
country or this ‘crisis,’ I cannot be sure).
Why not just leave the car on the drive for
a few days, take the bus even if it’s not quite
as convenient, and wait for the madness to
cease, avoiding any opportunistic fuel price
increases in the process? These people might
be surprised by how good their local bus
service is.
Above all, it shows the battle bus operators
face to win over many motorists, in England
at least. Many seem so stubbornly attached
to their cars that they are willing to endure
absurdly long queues, inflated prices and the
mockery of people from elsewhere, rather
than leave them at home.
People have not considered simply travelling on
a different mode of transport
www.keybuses.com
5
November 2021

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