BusAndTrainUser

In my Inbox Saturday 6th December 2025 Another month’s round up of emails readers have kindly sent me…. ember shakes up the coach hire market Roy kindly drew my attention to further expansion by em…

The blog that readers kindly write for me….

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When a three minute journey becomes a 20 minute diversion Thursday 4th December 2025 Like many towns and cities, London is plagued with roadworks often necessitating road closures and consequent diversion and disruption to bus routes. BBC London contacted…

Just one of the challenges faced by bus operators and disruption experienced by passengers.

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25 Places with two stations: 24 Bradford Tuesday 2nd December 2025 We’re nearly at the end of this year’s fortnightly series, but have no fear the 25th place to be featured in a couple of weeks is a rather special one and next…

Even the City of Culture has two stations.

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Seen Around Saturday 29th November 2025 It’s time for another round up of month end miscellany including items I’ve spotted during November’s travels but not featured over the last month̵…

November’s round up of miscellany.

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Connecting Glastonbury to the rail network Thursday 27th November 2025 Castle Cary railway station has long been famous as the bridgehead for the annual Glastonbury Festival. Thousands of festival goers travel by GWR and SWR trains to and f…

Will catching the train to Glastonbury become a reality?

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The bus station becoming a community park Tuesday 25th November 2025 Folkestone’s long standing Bouverie Square bus station is no more. After 50 years public service it closed at the end of September to be converted into a town centre comm…

A ‘Brighter Future’ for Folkestone?

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It’s No 1. It’s Britain’s Quirkiest Bus route. Saturday 22nd November 2025 All this year, month by month, I’ve been counting down Britain’s Top 10 Quirky Bus Routes and today I can finally reveal the prized holder of the coveted top…

Revealed. Britains Quirkiest Bus Route.

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A ride on the M40 (not the motorway) and the DB1 Thursday 20th November 2025 You don’t have to spend long in Bury St Edmunds bus station to appreciate the variety of bus operators serving the town. Stephensons and Mulleys are frequent visitors…

Riding the M40 (and DB1).

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Oxford’s bold Congestion Charge move Tuesday 18th November 2025 Oxfordshire County Council took the bold step of introducing a three month “Temporary Congestion Charge” for motorists who drive through six camera points in …

Charging ahead in Oxford.

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25 Places with two stations: 23 Farnborough Saturday 15th November 2025 Farnborough’s another station pair I hadn’t included in my original list for this series, thinking that with North Camp close to Farnborough Main and Farnbor…

One of this station pair is a true hidden gem.

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York Station Gateway is coming soon Thursday 13th November 2025 It’s not just Great British Railways (GBR) “coming soon”, so too is a “Gateway” scheme to improve access to York railway station. Whereas n…

It’s all change outside York railway station.

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BusAndTrainUser Verify Tuesday 11th November 2025 It’s been a while since I looked into the veracity of media reporting but recent positive headlines extolling the completion of a ‘Bus Rapid Transit’ sc…

How rapid is Reading’s “Bus Rapid Transit”?

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Thames Valley toe treading Saturday 8th November 2025 Earlier in the year I reported on interesting developments in the Thames Valley bus network some of which arose following tender contracts won by Go-Ahead owned Carousel …

Reading between the lines of new routes in Reading.

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The Price Is(n’t) Right Thursday 6th November 2025 Taking day trips by train north from London always brings home the huge inconsistency of rail ticket pricing, especially if you want to leave the capital around 09:00 to …

Let’s talk rail fares.

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In my InBox Tuesday 4th November 2025 Welcome to a new blog feature where from time to time I’ll share some messages and emails readers have kindly sent me so they benefit from a wider audience. Good new…

A selection of recent emails blog readers have sent in.

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Seen Around Thursday 30th October 2025 Another end-of-the-month round up of unblogged observations from October’s travels. More from Kernow First up are a couple more observations from Cornwall. It was great t…

More month end miscellany.

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Beaulieu Park: Britain’s newest railway station Tuesday 28th October 2025 2025’s been a fairly quiet year for new station openings – only Newsham and Blyth Bebside on the Northumberland line have been unwrapped for passengers –…

VIP spotting at Beaulieu Park.

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Deregulated buses anniversary weekend: Part 2 Sunday 26th October 2025 Today’s the day. Imagine the excitement exactly 39 years ago today, Sunday 26th October 1986, as the new deregulated regime for Britain’s buses outside of Londo…

It’s not ‘private’ or ‘public’ that matters, it’s ‘dedication’ and ‘passion’.

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Deregulated buses anniversary weekend: Part 1 Saturday 25th October 2025 Tomorrow marks the exact day 39 years ago, Sunday 26th October 1986, when Britain’s buses were deregulated outside of London. To mark this anniversary – as by the t…

As the sun sets on the deregulated era ….let’s take stock to mark this anniversary weekend.

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WESTlink’s back in the news Thursday 23rd October 2025 West of England Combined Authority’s WESTlink branded DRT was in the news again earlier this week after the local BBC news featured a locally based transport campai…

Doubts about DRT?

No surprise there.

24 hours with TrawsCymru Tuesday 21st October 2025 Transport for Wales (TfW) staff invited me to speak at the TrawsCymru Operator Forum held in Wrexham on Tuesday and Wednesday last week. It was the second year such an eve…

Taking a look at TrawsCymru with those involved in running it.

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25 Places with two stations: 21 Wrexham Saturday 18th October 2025 Wrexham is another place with two stations that initially didn’t make it on to my list of intended visits for this fortnightly series. Along with Colchester, which also h…

The novelty of this city having two stations very close together got a mention on Radio 4 this week.

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Route 768 makes a comeback Thursday 16th October 2025 West of England Combined Authority’s (WECA) extensive WESTlink branded DRT scheme saw an interesting new development last month – the addition of a fixed bus route …

The DRT that runs to a fixed route and timetable.
Now that’s a novelty.

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Behind the scenes at Northern’s Customer Contact Centre Tuesday 14th October 2025 Knowing the frustrations I’ve experienced claiming Delay Repay over the years with Avanti West Coast and GWR, when I met up with Alex Hornby during the summer he kindly of…

Meeting the staff who determine Delay Repay.

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Britain’s Top Ten Quirky Bus Routes 2: West Ferry Point to Cape Wrath Saturday 11th October 2025 Now, this route really is a Bucket List Must Do. Except it’s probably one of Britain’s most challenging bus routes to take a ride on. The service only runs in…

It’s the second most unusual bus route to be found in Britain.

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New DLR trains – at last Thursday 9th October 2025 The two words “at last” have become all too familiar in a heading when it comes to blogging about new trains entering service in Britain, and these latest CAF …

Welcome to the B23s (in 2025).

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Compare and contrast: two new express bus routes Tuesday 7th October 2025 Both TfL and Brighton & Hove Bus Company introduced a new high profile express bus route last week. It was interesting to take a ride on both to compare and contrast. T…

Comparing and contrasting two new express bus routes.

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25 Places with two stations: 20A Epsom and 20B Ewell Saturday th October 2025 Here’s something a little different for this fortnightly series. A place which has two names with each enjoying the presence of two stations. As you can see from the …

A town with two stations that’s located right next to a town with two stations.

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Go-Ahead goes in for the kill in Kernow Thursday 2nd October 2025 There’s never a dull moment in Cornwall’s ever changing bus scene. In recent times we’ve seen……First Bus show no interest in its Cornish operations, running ageing second …

Developments in Cornwall.

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Seen Around Tuesday 30th September 2025 Another month end so here’s more miscellany I’ve spotted on my travels over the last few weeks but not blogged about. Gatwick Express takes over Eastbourne I…

Another month’s worth of miscellany.

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