One of the most thorough discussions of the pros and cons of free buses in a North American context.

I travelled by local bus from London to the Cotswolds for under £40 Wending his way from the city to the countryside on the UK’s local bus network, Gabriel Stewart found an authentic slice of Cotswolds life, away from the crowds

More of this kind of travel writing please.

“On the whole, travel by public bus was a joy.”

“En route to Little Compton in Warwickshire, I found myself the sole passenger on the bus and the driver told me she was happy to drop me anywhere, as long as it was safe to do so”

And it's done! 6 days, 9 provinces, 6 time zones, and 20 buses later, we've made it to the end of the Trans-Canada Highway!!!!! Thanks so much to everyone who followed along on this insane adventure across this amazing country!

People lacking good public transport more likely to feel lonely, UK study finds Research finds correlation between car dependancy and loneliness, particularly in rural towns

Interesting new study from @smfthinktank.bsky.social finds a correlation between car dependency & loneliness, particularly in rural towns.

This might be due to there being “fewer ways to reach others” and space given to cars creating “barriers in what might have been walkable neighbourhoods.”

This is a brave endeavour considering the current state of bus connectivity between provinces:

Brighton & Hove where I am currently living just received $29m of capital funding for transit from the UK government, spread over four yearshttps://www.gov.uk/government/p... St John's received almost double that in 2024 - mostly to electrify its network. But... www.stjohns.ca/en/news/fund...

This sounds very much like St John's Council, most of the Transportation Commission and Metrobus management itself...

Transit leaders here in Canada could learn from this - for starters, we should be regularly benchmarking and trying to improve our transit systems' inclusivity too!

Equally applicable to the Canadian federal government and provincial and municipal governments across the country.

The draft plan for Metrobus' electrification called for just four fully electric buses this year and 49 by... 2032. And it's clearly not even keeping to that schedule.

We're still big fans of buses, but if you believe it takes light rail to get passengers on board, maybe this lower cost construction technique has a role to play!

When Driving Is Not an Option

Today is International Day of Persons with Disabilities. For those in the transportation ecosystem, drop some coins on fellow @islandpress.bsky.social author @nondriver.bsky.social “When Driving is not an Option”.

islandpress.org/books/when-d...

How Did This Suburb Figure Out Mass Transit? Transit ridership is off the charts in Brampton, Ontario, despite its typical low-density suburban layout. Here’s how the city got residents to get on the bus.

Brampton, ON (pop 700,000) has 226,500 bus riders on an average weekday. How? Simple. The core bus network runs every five minutes and secondary routes run every 30 well into the late evening. Ridership went up 288% (!) between 2004 when they started and 2018 www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

It looks sturdier and more comfortable than anything on offer in Newfoundland!

Here in St John's it's not even that people fight against these things - many just don't fight for them. The status quo is so poor people need to take an interest in better transit now before they discover they are no longer comfortable driving and don't want to have to nag their friends and family.

Terrible. But also here in Newfoundland and Labrador a reminder we don't have a publicly supported, scheduled, inter-community bus service at all! (unless you count the meagre local St John's/Mt Pearl/Paradise route)

@transportaction.ca @transportactionatl.bsky.social

As populations across the Atlantic provinces continue to age, we need to make sure that our elderly don't feel they have to keep driving if they want to stay active and independent without avoid forcing friends and family to act as chauffeurs

Wow - UK-focused but much will surely be applicable to 🇨🇦 as well - topics include transportation poverty, disabled people's access transport needs, a just transition for transit and more. Downloading now!

A train decked out in Christmas red and white, snowflakes, candy-cane colours etc.

In case you needed a city-making smile. A #Christmas metro train in Warsaw, Poland decked out for the holidays, shared by @adambielitz.bsky.social.

How you create a #CityOfSmiles.

The city's budget was also passed today. Still no sign of the two-years-overdue Metrobus growth plan. Financial support from the city was raised 2.8% from last year... making it still $837,670 lower than 2023 - a 5.6% decrease inc inflation while the service is suffering from its own success...

It's a 🎄miracle! Metrobus announced a new bus route 33 - an express between the Village Mall, Avalon Mall and Memorial University. Not until the new year, not on weekends or in the evenings but better than a lump of coal! www.metrobus.com/33/33details...

When NL negotiated in 1988 the shutdown of the railway in exchange for road improvements, we were promised we'd "always have passenger services comparable to those provided in the rest of Canada". Roadcruiser had 25 buses and carried 161,000. Its successor DRL runs two coaches a day, without subsidy

Oakville bus fleet on track for 50 per cent electrification by 2026 Oakville, Ont.'s electrification plan includes putting 74 electric transit vehicles on the road in two years — out of a bus fleet of 135

🍁🔋 Oakville, Ontario, will soon roll out another dozen-plus electric transit buses—putting the municipality on track to electrify 50% of their 135-vehicle fleet by 2026.

"It really is exciting to be a part of the transition," says Oakville's transit director. #onpoli #EV

Halifax Transit's first three electric buses to carry passengers are on the streets today! Metrobus has eight hybrid buses which are just arriving on the roads but it looks like our first four fully electric buses will be four years away...
www.halifax.ca/transportati...

Canada Games 2025 will offer free transit for anyone with credentials or tickets to games. But many of our existing buses are already overcrowded, even in summer. Metrobus and St John's haven't publicly discussed even the added resources needed to cope today www.2025canadagames.ca/media-centre...

Toronto unveils smart charging solution for electric transit bus fleet The Toronto Transit Commission is collaborating with PowerON, BetterFleet and ABB to optimize charging for its electric bus fleet

🇨🇦🔋⚡️Toronto is now home to one of Canada's largest transit fleet charging systems.

The smart-charging solution—complete with overhead 'pantograph' and plug-in chargers—will optimize energy costs for the transit operator's 100-EV (and growing) fleet.

#onpoli #cdnpoli #EV

Poor 🛤️maintenance by CN in NB is a key reason Via Rail's Montreal to Halifax 🚊 takes 5 hours longer than it did in the 90s - limited to 30km/h in places! It's the only transit link between the Maritimes and the rest of 🇨🇦. Tell the Federal Government to step in! www.ourcommons.ca/petitions/en...

Wish we had any of these datasets available in Canada

If council believes (as it seems to) they can ignore the dismal state of the buses, and that bus users will just continue to put up with it quietly, the fact that this group now has more than 700 members after just two weeks should be a wakeup call.
www.facebook.com/groups/93122...