Monday 11th February 2019 I’m a great fan of the TrawsCymru high profile long distance bus routes crisscrossing the Welsh nation. They compliment the rail network and provide some great conne…| BusAndTrainUser
Sunday 29th June 2025 A bumper bundle for this month’s round up of previously unblogged travels and sightings from the last four weeks, so let’s get straight into them with more autonom…| BusAndTrainUser
Tuesday 10th September 2024 As the mood music from Government turns up the volume of “local communities put back in the driving seat”; “new powers to take back control of local bus serv…| BusAndTrainUser
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 London brought to an end 53 years of tight supply side regulation through the requirement for bus operators to hold a Road Service Licence for each... Continue Reading →| BusAndTrainUser
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…| BusAndTrainUser
Sunday 1st June 2025 Horray it’s June; so that means Sunday blogging is back as the BusAndTrainUser.com enhanced summer timetable kicks in for the next three months from today. I’ve been meaning to…| BusAndTrainUser
Tuesday 8th October 2024 Apparently I’ve become renowned for being “anti-DRT”. I can’t think why! Let me clarify. From a professional standpoint, DRT is a complete waste of public money – alm…| BusAndTrainUser
Tuesday 3rd October 2023 Transport Focus has just published its interim report on this year’s ongoing research into bus passenger satisfaction while the report by the University of the West of Engl…| BusAndTrainUser
Friday 24th February 2023 I couldn’t round off a week of travelling on new bus routes without a ride on the very latest DRT scheme which started on Monday in Kent. (New blog subscribers are w…| BusAndTrainUser
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…| BusAndTrainUser
Tuesday 13th February 2024 Barry Docks isn’t the only location with a troubled Transport Interchange. Just before Christmas, the Central Bedfordshire town of Flitwick finally saw buses begin using …| BusAndTrainUser
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…| BusAndTrainUser
15 posts published by BusAndTrainUser during February 2024| BusAndTrainUser
15 posts published by BusAndTrainUser during March 2024| BusAndTrainUser
Thursday 4th January 2024 My very first work experience as a fresh faced management trainee almost fifty years ago was a placement in the schedules office at Belle Isle bus depot in Wakefield where…| BusAndTrainUser
14 posts published by BusAndTrainUser during January 2024| BusAndTrainUser
Wednesday 2nd December 2020 Arriva Click began a new DRT (Demand Responsive Transport) venture on Monday thanks to funding provided by house builders Redrow and Henley Camsland who, along with othe…| BusAndTrainUser
8 posts published by BusAndTrainUser during October 2025| BusAndTrainUser
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…| BusAndTrainUser
14 posts published by BusAndTrainUser during September 2025| BusAndTrainUser
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 with a fixed timetable. Quite a novelty for a DRT obsessed Authority. Being on the WESTlink database from my previous rides, I was intrigued to... Continue Reading →| BusAndTrainUser
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 offered a visit to see Northern’s Customer Contact Centre in Sheffield which deals with Delay Repay. As you can imagine, I jumped... Continue Reading →| BusAndTrainUser
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 the summer and passengers need to first take a sporadically timed tiny passenger ferry boat run by one ferryman, Mr Morrison,... Continue Reading →| BusAndTrainUser
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 built trains for London’s DLR network are no different. The first of the 54 trains was unveiled to the media by Mayor... Continue Reading →| BusAndTrainUser
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. TfL’s much hyped route BL1 began on Saturday 27th September providing a quicker alternative for passengers travelling by bus between... Continue Reading →| BusAndTrainUser
Saturday 4th 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 map below, Epsom and neighbouring Ewell are one continuous urban sprawl in Surrey and famously resisted being included in Greater London on... Continue Reading →| BusAndTrainUser
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 hand vehicles in a dreadful state transferred from other parts of the country… … allowing the rising star that was Western Greyhound… …to steal... Continue Reading →| BusAndTrainUser
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’ve featured the mess that is GTR’s train branding in previous roundups, but, noticing Gatwick Express liveried trains out in force in Eastbourne station (above... Continue Reading →| BusAndTrainUser
Saturday 27th September 2025 The London Transport Museum Friends held another country bus route recreating day on Tuesday and I was lucky enough to get a sought after ticket and take a ride on board. It follows the wonderful day in June 2024 when route 386 was recreated between Bishops Stortford and Hitchin and another,... Continue Reading →| BusAndTrainUser
Thursday 25th September 2025 Welcome to another blog about another bus route numbered 11 and where we head to Nottingham. Interesting developments at award winning bus company Nottingham City Transport (NCT) this month saw managing director David Astill warn staff of tough times ahead following disappointing financial results for year ended March 2025. “The company... Continue Reading →| BusAndTrainUser
Tuesday 23rd September 2025 I topped off last week’s epic ride on ember’s route E11 by sampling two very contrasting bus routes also numbered 11. One in the glorious Cotswolds and the other in Nottingham Today’s blog describes the former with Thursday’s featuring the latter. And this is not just any route 11. It’s a... Continue Reading →| BusAndTrainUser
Saturday 20th September 2025 I didn’t originally have Worcester on my list for this series by dint of the 2020 opening of Worcestershire Parkway making it a three station city. However, after lobbying from my Worcester based friend and former bus industry colleague, Iain Macbriar, who quite rightly pointed out Worcestershire Parkway is in Worcestershire... Continue Reading →| BusAndTrainUser
Thursday 18th September 2025 Scotland has two National Parks: Loch Lomond & The Trossachs and The Cairngorms. I enjoyed an absolutely brilliant day on Tuesday sampling two of Britain’s most scenic journeys – one across each National Park. If you enjoy a scenic bus and coach ride, I heartily recommend adding these two to any... Continue Reading →| BusAndTrainUser
Tuesday 16th September 2025 This post was going to be about my journey last Thursday on bus route LC6 which runs four times a day between Coalville and Hinckley Operated by Centrebus with one bus on behalf of Leicestershire County Council, the route was introduced on 26th August providing a north-south link between these communities... Continue Reading →| BusAndTrainUser
Saturday 13th September 2025 Obviously it just had to be in the Top 10 and very much deserves the coveted top three billing as an absolute sure fire example of Britain’s Quirky Bus Routes. It is of course the annual outing for Wiltshire’s very special bus route, the 23A, which has been providing a quirky... Continue Reading →| BusAndTrainUser
Thursday 11th September 2925 Catching up on last week’s developments with a look at three more new bus routes which began on 31st August/1st September…. First up is a new link between Leigh-on-Sea …| BusAndTrainUser
Tuesday 9th September 2025 As mentioned in recent blogs, last week saw a number of changes to bus routes in Powys, not least significant surgery to the TrawsCymru network through the county. Wherea…| BusAndTrainUser
Sunday 7th September 2025 Blog reader Natasha recently got in touch to suggest I visit Chartwell House in Kent and sample the options to travel there by bus. Situated down a country lane (called Ma…| BusAndTrainUser
Saturday 6th September 2025 For this continuing fortnightly exploration of places with two stations I’ve visited Bicester in Oxfordshire famous for one of its two stations unusually being ren…| BusAndTrainUser
Thursday 4th September 2025 Before today’s blog – thanks to blog reader and avid Metro reader, John, here’s a quick “you’re not going to believe this” from TfL a…| BusAndTrainUser
Journeys around Britain by bus and train| BusAndTrainUser
Tuesday 31st January 2023 Message to email subscribers: I am very sorry some subscribers didn’t receive Saturday’s blog and quite likely today’s too. I have raised this issue with…| BusAndTrainUser
Tuesday 2nd November 2021 It’s taken over six months longer than planned but after a £26 million upgrade and four of the five ‘new’ two-coach trains delivered it’s good to see the Island Line up an…| BusAndTrainUser
Tuesday 1st February 2022 As expected the southern section of Cambridgeshire’s guided busway between the railway station and Addenbrooke’s Hospital and Trumpington closed yesterday for …| BusAndTrainUser
Saturday 23rd March 2024 I still call it St Pancras even though it gained its International suffix back in 2007 and if you want to buy a ticket from a ticket machine to travel there you have to kno…| BusAndTrainUser
Tuesday 4th April 2023 This week sees the controversial withdrawal of many tendered bus routes within the West of England Combined Authority (WECA) area and their replacement with an extensive DRT …| BusAndTrainUser
Tuesday 18th July 2023 Go-Ahead Group’s Metrobus is the latest bus company to roll out a small fleet of hydrogen powered buses. It follows First Bus in Aberdeen, National Express West Midland…| BusAndTrainUser
Sunday 13th August 2023 As explained in last Sunday’s blog about route 99 in West Sussex, the other stalwart of semi-flexible rural bus routes to succumb to a technology upgrade and expansion…| BusAndTrainUser
Monday 7th January 2019 It’s all happening in Guildford this week. Stagecoach South introduced a fleet of nine ADL Enviro 200EV electric buses on the Guildford Park and Ride services today wh…| BusAndTrainUser
13 posts published by BusAndTrainUser during April 2024| BusAndTrainUser
Wednesday 17th April 2019 One of London’s best bus routes started up again today for the summer season. Route RP1 runs on Wednesdays from 17th April until the end of October. It runs outside …| BusAndTrainUser
Tuesday 21st January 2025 They say the railway’s byzantine fare structure is going to be sorted when Great British Railways (GBR) finally gets up and running. But that promise is like Billy B…| BusAndTrainUser
Saturday 18th January 2025 Leicestershire County Council introduced a raft of changes to its subsidised bus network in the Melton Mowbray area from 5th January including major renumbering of bus ro…| BusAndTrainUser
Thursday 16th January 2025 Today’s blog is dedicated to Adam Trimingham, probably the most superb journalist who’s ever worked in the regional newspaper industry and a truly wonderful, …| BusAndTrainUser
Tuesday 14th January 2024 It’s good to see Merseyside’s Mayor Steve Rotheram provided funding for the reintroduction of the limited stop bus route between Runcorn, Widnes and Liverpool …| BusAndTrainUser
Saturday 11th January 2025 Welcome to a new blog series featuring towns and cities around Britain which, by a quirk of history, are blessed with having two railway stations on different lines servi…| BusAndTrainUser
Thursday 9th January 2025 In the current era of BSIP funding for exciting new developments you don’t find many brand new bus routes being introduced on a purely commercial basis these days, b…| BusAndTrainUser
Tuesday 7th January 2025 Biggest news on the Changing Hands front this week is of course the start of the third and final tranche of Greater Manchester’s Bee Network from Sunday when Metrolin…| BusAndTrainUser
Saturday 4th January 2025 There are quite a few recent developments on the DRT front to catch up on so here’s an update to keep blog readers informed. ting begets TIGER As reported in my year end r…| BusAndTrainUser
Thursday 2nd January 2025 Welcome to the first blog of the New Year which is my monthly look back at things that caught my eye during the past month’s travels not previously covered in posts.…| BusAndTrainUser
Thursday 28th November 2024 Readers may recall a blog in August describing an unusual situation north of Bedford where competition had broken out between Grant Palmer and Stagecoach on a bus route …| BusAndTrainUser
Thursday 21st March 2024 Bus passengers travelling along the coast road between Brighton and Eastbourne are enjoying superb comfort from the brand new buses now entering service with Brighton &…| BusAndTrainUser
Tuesday 12th March 2024 I paid a visit to Somerset last Wednesday to investigate an interesting development in that county’s bus scene. Both Somerset and North Somerset Councils have used some of t…| BusAndTrainUser
Saturday 10th August 2024 All is not well on a rural bus route in Bedford. As you can see from the above headlines in last week’s trade press (Route One) and the Bedford Today online news web…| BusAndTrainUser
Wednesday 24th April 2019 It’s been a long wait with some well over a year late, but finally an avalanche of new trains is entering service; well one train has. First off the blocks is the mu…| BusAndTrainUser
Sunday 11th August 2024 I’m a child of the mid to late 1950s and early 1960s and as regular blog readers will know, growing up in the fairly affluent north London suburb of Winchmore Hill my early …| BusAndTrainUser
Tuesday 16th January 2024 It’s timely to have a DRT update. Firstly to Hertfordshire where the HertsLynx service based on Buntingford in ‘North & East Herts’ introduced in Sep…| BusAndTrainUser
Thursday 1st February 2024 The infamous £3 million Barry Docks Transport Interchange, which opened last year without any buses, can now proudly boast it has at least one bus route enabling passenge…| BusAndTrainUser
Thursday 8th August 2024 My recent post about The way ahead for buses and trains attracted a large response of more than 80 comments. I’m sure not every reader reads through every comment, pa…| BusAndTrainUser
Tuesday 6th August 2024 This summer school holiday has seen three new bus routes hit the road in Kent. First up, commencing on Saturday 20th July, is a free shuttle bus on new route 51 connecting F…| BusAndTrainUser
Sunday 4th August 2024 London Transport Museum’s programme of behind the scenes tours of disused parts of the Underground gained a new tour last week featuring Holborn. I was fortunate to secure a …| BusAndTrainUser
Saturday 3rd August 2024 Welcome to the second of only two bus routes numbered 100 in Wales which, as mentioned last time, are both to be found in the south. This one is in Barry in the Vale of Gla…| BusAndTrainUser
Thursday 29th September 2022 Nottsbus On Demand It’s been a few weeks since we’ve seen a DfT funded DRT launch but two more have recently hit the road including one in High Wycombe this week and an…| BusAndTrainUser
Thursday 1st August 2024 Welcome to another month’s miscellaneous matters. Those little things I spotted while travelling around during July but not so far blogged about ……. and f…| BusAndTrainUser
Sunday 28th July 2024 Nottinghamshire County Council has expanded its DRT scheme for the third time. Thanks to the DfT’s Rural Mobility Fund, NottsBus On Demand began back in August 2022 oper…| BusAndTrainUser
Thursday 25th July 2024 Here’s what King Charles III read out in his speech to both Houses of Parliament last Wednesday: “A Bill will be introduced to allow local leaders to take contro…| BusAndTrainUser
Tuesday 27th February 2024 A fortnight ago I explained in the blog about Flitwick’s Transport Interchange that Stagecoach was withdrawing its hourly route 2 between Bedford and Flitwick after…| BusAndTrainUser
Saturday 20th July 2024 We’re in south Wales for this ride on one of Britain’s 26 bus routes numbered 100. It’s one of only two route 100s in Wales and both can be found close to Cardiff. This 100 …| BusAndTrainUser
Thursday 22nd February 2024 I’m counting down Britain’s (aka London’s) top ten busiest railway stations according to the Office of Rail and Road (ORR), and after last month’…| BusAndTrainUser
Saturday 27th January 2024 A new monthly blog series for 2024 kicks off today, taking a look at Britain’s Top Ten Busiest Railway Stations. Except without giving away any spoilers, as well as…| BusAndTrainUser
Saturday 8th June 2024 It seems a good idea to complete the trio of bus routes numbered 100, all operated by the associated bus companies of Centrebus, Chaserider and D&G Bus, by taking a ride …| BusAndTrainUser
Saturday 25th May 2024 After last time’s wander from Syston to Melton Mowbray it’s the turn of the second of three route 100s operated by associated companies CentreBus, Chaserider and D&G Bus.…| BusAndTrainUser
Saturday 30th March 2024 I took a ride on the busy inter-urban route 100 linking Manchester and Warrington on its very last day as a commercial operation by Go North West – last Saturday, 23r…| BusAndTrainUser
Saturday 20th January 2024 Metrobus 100 between Crawley and Redhill Second in this years fortnightly series featuring all Britain’s 26 bus routes numbered 100 brings us to another busy cross county…| BusAndTrainUser
Saturday 6th January 2024 A new year heralds a new fortnightly series of BusAndTrainUser blogposts. And for 2024, instead of another A-to-Z, I’ll be featuring all Britain’s bus routes n…| BusAndTrainUser
Friday 14th June 2024 It’s some time off completion but my visit to Cardiff and the Valleys the weekend before last confirmed work is well in hand to transform the area’s rail network into a modern…| BusAndTrainUser
Tuesday 16h June 2024 TfL introduced the final route change in its Central London Bus Review at the end of last month – the extensive proposals launched and consulted on during the summer of …| BusAndTrainUser
Sunday 14th July 2024 This delightful paperback book by Gray Lightfoot was published earlier this year and if you fancy a funny, irreverent, down-to-earth honest account of what it’s like to be a b…| BusAndTrainUser
Saturday 13th July 2024 I’m back on the the top ten countdown of Britain’s Busiest Railway Stations and at Number 5 it’s Victoria where Southern and Gatwick Express meet Southeastern in a div…| BusAndTrainUser
Thursday 11th July 2024 It’s been ages since I’ve explored the four branch lines off the Great Western Main Line between Paddington and Reading, so I put that right on Saturday taking a…| BusAndTrainUser
Tuesday 9th July 2024 Two very different new bus routes began operating on Sunday and I’ve taken a ride on both. First up, thanks to Bus Service Improvement Plan (BSIP) funding, is a cross-city lim…| BusAndTrainUser
Saturday 6th July 2024 Time for another exploration of one of Britain’s 26 bus routes numbered 100. And this time I’m back in the Home Counties taking a ride on Red Rose Travel’s route between Ayle…| BusAndTrainUser
Thursday 4th July 2024 It’s just over three weeks until Arriva’s exit from High Wycombe (along with Aylesbury) so I decided to pay a visit to see what the company will be leaving behind…| BusAndTrainUser
Thursday 27th June 2024 It was back in December 2017 Secretary of State for Transport, Chris Grayling (remember him?), gave the formal go-ahead for the £23.4 million Blackpool Tramway extension fro…| BusAndTrainUser
Saturday 22nd June 2024 We’re at the halfway stage on this fortnightly odyssey of all Britain’s 26 bus routes numbered 100 so I thought I’d celebrate by taking a ride on my local route 100 in West …| BusAndTrainUser
Sunday 16th June 2024 I’d read about Gloucestershire Council’s plans to spend £33 million on a Transport Hub at Arle Court in Cheltenham, so while I was wandering around the country on my recent Ra…| BusAndTrainUser
Saturday 18th May 2024 It’s a measure of the impact of the Elizabeth line on London’s public transport that yet another station that sees purple trains calling has a place in the Top 10…| BusAndTrainUser
