A search for optimism

Something of a busy week as you might imagine and Thursday night was the annual Confederation of Passenger Transport dinner.

Guest of honour was Norman Baker, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Transport who admitted to having gone rather pale when earlier his officers had told him there had been a reshuffle. Of course it wasn't a Ministerial reshuffle but the appointment of Giles Fearnley as our Managing Director Bus at First.

But the shuffle is rather more extensive since Giles has been Chairman of CPT - a post he has had to relinquish. And so at our CPT Council meeting yesterday morning we hurriedly persuaded outgoing President Steve Whiteway of Epsom Coaches to stay on another year and incoming President Ian Morgan of Trent Barton to become Chairman instead. Thus Ian made his planned speech at last night's dinner in a capacity he hadn't expected 24 hours earlier.

Ian made some very strong points to the Minister as the industry faces a 'perfect storm' of regulatory shock and serious reductions in funding.

He reminded the Minister that we are attempting to run our businesses whilst waiting for the forthcoming outcomes of the Competition Commission Inquiry. We are also running them into the new financial year when revised arrangements are coming into force for the carriage of concessionary pass holders. The Government had produced new guidance which the local authorities can follow or not as they choose. Responsibility therefore falls on those authorities all of whom are receiving significantly smaller grants from Government. This will lead to lower levels of compensation for concessionary pass holders as well as significant reductions on tendered bus services, school transport and other areas.

Peter Shipp, Chairman of East Yorkshire Motor Services Group, has already stated clearly and publicly, that the reductions in funding his companies will suffer exceeds their normal annual profit.

Service cuts are inevitable. Some local authorities are already talking about no supported services at all. And for service cuts to be effective from the start of the new financial year the deregistrations will have to be with the Traffic Commissioners by 4th February - that's next week. However, not all operators can do this either as very many local authorities have yet to agree with operators the levels of funding and the appeal mechanism can run on for many months. There is, therefore, considerable levels of uncertainty.

More than one pundit has observed that whilst the Coalition Government may keep its promise to retain the free pass for entitled people, there may, for many people in rural areas, well be no bus services on which to use them.

The Minister recognises these challenges and in his response he reminded us that all areas of society are suffering cutbacks as the Government seeks to reduce the deficit. And indeed the bus industry is well known for its resourcefulness and resilience. How it deals with all this will make 2011 a very interesting year indeed.



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New MD for First UK Bus

We have announced today the appointment of Giles Fearnley as Managing Director Bus (UK, Ireland and Germany).

Giles has considerable experience in the passenger transport industry in both bus and rail.

In 1991 he led the management buy-out of Blazefield Holdings which operated bus networks principally across Yorkshire and Lancashire. He remained as Chief Executive for two years following the Group’s sale to Transdev plc in 2006. As one of the founders of Prism Rail PLC, which operated four passenger rail franchises in the UK, he was appointed Chief Executive in 1997 and led the Group prior to its sale in 2000. Most recently he served as Chairman of Grand Central, the open access operator.

He is currently Chairman of the Confederation of Passenger Transport, having been a past President of the organisation. He is also past Chairman of the Association of Train Operating Companies. Since 2001 he has chaired Journey Solutions, the bus and rail industry initiative to promote integration and also chairs Greener Journeys, the UK bus and coach industry’s campaign to promote modal shift from cars to buses and coaches.

Giles starts with us on 1st February and together with very many in the organisation I am  delighted to have him join us.

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HST125

Tim O'Toole, me, Sir Moir Lockhead and Peter Hendy pose
with the newly-named power car at Paddington

I am writing this aboard a First Great Western HST125 which was this morning named "Sir Moir Lockhead OBE" after our founder and former Chief Executive.

In a carefully guarded secret plan, Sir Moir and Lady Audrey Lockhead were brought to London's Paddington Station this morning where we had the unit already on platform 1.

Sir Moir was completely surprised when 50 or so guests arrived for the ceremony and then doubly surprised when he saw the train named after him! After introductions by the current CEO Tim O'Toole and FGW MD Mark Hopwood, Clive Burrows gave a short speech outlining the parallel great achievements of Sir Moir and the InterCity 125 fleet, the latter having achieved some 8 million miles and still going strong.

After the launch Sir Moir and the guests were taken on board the train for a commemorative journey along the Great Western Main Line and in a loop via Westbury returning to London. Aboard Sir Moir was presented with a scale model of an HST formation bearing his name and he also received, as is tradition on FGW train-naming ceremonies, a third nameplate to keep at home.


After the event the train was due to form the 1545 service to Swansea so should by now be in regular service and was, at least when we left it, with the power car bearing Sir Moir's name at the London end.


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A small place in history

A nice airport - loads of space and almost no people!

I think I inadvertently took a small place in a history book yesterday.

I was on the panel at the Local Government Association conference yesterday "The Future for Buses". It was a dangerous place to be. Nearly 100 local government planners, officers and politicians with just me as the operator plus also the Chairman and Operations Director of CPT for support.

A very good debate in which I hope I reiterated that we are all in favour of growing public transport demand, increasing quality and encouraging modal shift and that every minute and pound we spend arguing about it between us is really a tragic waste that could so easily be redirected. Giles Fearnley, for CPT, also put the case forward very powerfully.

Anyhow I left mid-afternoon and headed to Dublin where we had our own Aircoach Board Meeting today and also a meeting with the new National Transport Authority for Ireland.

Now for some time now we have witnessed the construction of Terminal 2 at Dublin Airport. As has been recorded Michael O'Leary at Ryanair has been campaigning for a 'low cost' terminal which he was happy to finance and run.

This new Terminal is far from what he envisaged and is of high quality, with many new facilities and bristling with technology.

I had the opportunity of a look 'behind the scenes' last year and before Christmas Etihad's one flight a day started using the Terminal. Then yesterday, progressively, Aer Lingus started to move their flights from about lunchtime and so my own flight from Heathrow came to the new terminal.

I think (and I don't know for sure) that mine was the first Heathrow flight to dock and having been sat near the front and ready to spring, I was amongst the first off and certainly in the lead by the time I was at immigration.

So maybe, and who knows (or cares!), I was the first Aer Lingus passenger, the first UK passenger, oh maybe the first First employee, to arrive at Dublin T2.

I came back that way today and experienced the surreal and very temporary benefit of being one of a handful of people using an airport terminal designed for thousands. No queues at check-in, security, the shops or even the gate. Oh well, not for long!

You are hearing a glowing report of Dublin T2 and well done Dublin Airport Authority. But just to say that public transport (including taxis) is not quite so well served and the buses and coaches have been relegated to a not-well-signed and cold outdoor location. It does feel as if public transport is a poor relation at this magnificent new facility. Very sad to see airline passengers handled so well until they seek to complete their 'end to end' journey which we know is so important. Moreover it is public transport than brings so many of them in and for whom the provision of roadspace and car parking would be so expensive if it didn't.

I'm hoping for an improvement here as things develop and this important public transport hub makes the transition from road to air more seamless in the process.


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Telling where we go

Capital Citybus 238 demonstrating its full rear blind display

Comments back from my last blog have highlighted the use of printed destination blinds on our latest addition to the Green Line fleet against the electronic ones fitted to just about all of the new buses supplied nationally outside London, including to First.

This always produces much controversy but at the risk of repeating what I have said elsewhere here are my views:

I favour proper printed destination blinds because they can deliver very accurate letter and number shapes in an infinite range of typestyles and sizes, plus also an equally infinite range of colour combinations. Done properly (and I admit this hasn't always been the case), they conform to the well-understood typographic conventions including kerning (where the extremities of one character sits inside the natural gaps of others). These are known to register well with people reading them taking into account that people actually recognise word shapes and layout before they can naturally focus on the actual letters themselves.

Electronic displays have their upsides - they are cheap and quick to amend and there are no mechanical elements to go wrong. They are also difficult to set badly! However despite really good progress they cannot yet match the crisp clarity that printed material can. That being said it does feel as though near-print quality is not far off.

Printed blinds also continue to manage to make the distinction of separating our "official" information from much of the other clutter on the front of buses (adverts and so on).

A big step forward with conventional blinds has been the ability for them to be electronically tracked - this has meant for much better alignment, and the ability to control the side and rear ones simultaneously. I know this has added a new degree of potential failure but modern equipment is increasingly reliable.

Over 12 years ago I did experiment with a prototype system to have the same information at the back as at the front (pictured above) but sadly in those days the reliability was poor. It is much better now I am glad to say.

Pressure by the operators to improve things has been matched by the manufacturers - notably McKenna Brothers who have invested in all the equipment necessary to deliver the highest standard of printed blinds and ever-improving electronic ones as well. This is a great example of where the manufacturing side has listened and responded to the needs of the customer. And at the same time they also have great personal customer service too, led by Vin McKenna himself.

Take a look across at their website for the range of their products.

http://www.mckennabrothers.co.uk/

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"Nunhead Garage.....put your money in...."

In my last blog on Monday I mentioned our resident Obsolete Fleet conductor, Harry Cook.

A former Croydon Corporation tram driver he converted to motorbuses and in due course, as a senior and permanently affable man ended up one of the high quality staff chosen as a driver to be in charge of London's first minibuses - Ford Transits - in 1972, in his case from Stockwell.

At retirement age, Harry was called into the Stockwell Garage Manager and thanked for his 40 years' service, 250 private hires to his credit, never sick, never late, and no complaints.

Sharp as ever, Harry brought out the Croydon Corporation takeover agreement which provided for all its employees to be retained for as long as they were fit and capable. Despatched to Chiswick he passed a driving assessment, and to Baker Street to pass his medical - they had to keep him on.

By the time he was 69 or so he indicated his intention to retire from driving, so was thanked for his 44 years' service, 255 private hires, never sick, never late, and with no complaints - as the Garage Manager said "we will miss you"

"Oh no" he said cheerfully, "I said retire from driving - I want to go conducting!" (Which he did).

Eventually with pressure from the Trade Union he did indeed leave Stockwell to come and work for us. He was exactly the right person to work 'on the back' of ST922 where his cheery disposition was a hit with tourists.

But his work ethic was astounding for a man in his 70s. Every morning he would open up Nunhead Garage and check all the buses for oil and water. He would sign in all the staff and send them out on time. Then he would go out on ST922 and work the first half of the duty on route 100. During the lunch break he would come to our office at 17 Air Street, balance yesterday's takings (all coin of course) and take them to the bank. Then he would work the second half of the duty on route 100, go back to the garage, see everyone in, lock up and go home.

Seven days a week.

In about 1979 he achieved another first. Route 74Z between Baker Street and the Zoo was doubled in frequency and used two buses. They were to be one-man operated with two AEC Regent Vs we bought from Devon General (507 and 508 RUO). However they weren't quite ready so we used two D9s instead.

Sadly we only had one conductor so Harry would travel to Baker Street on the first bus, collect the fares and send it off. He would then board the second bus, collect all the fares until he got to near Lord's cricket ground. Then he would get off, cross the road and catch the first one on its return journey! Back to Baker Street and start again. And to give you an idea the journey was about 7 minutes' long so that shows you how intensively he was working.


Thus he conducted two buses simultaneously for a whole day - probably the first and last time a London bus conductor ever did such a thing! The only change was that for the afternoon he worked from The Zoo end southbound, with the peak flow, rather than from the Baker Street end.

He lived a very long and happy life. He put this down to his smoking of Capstan Full Strength cigarettes which he believed warded off all possible germs and diseases. He also wore his London Transport cap at all times - he considered it a passport to international recognition and free travel.

A work ethic we rarely see today, and one which we really miss, of course.

And as for today's title. Well you have to remember there were no mobile phones, and calls from staff were generally made from public callboxes. You dialled the number, and when it was answered there were rapid pips whilst you inserted coins. Once enough money was paid then you were connected. Many of our old staff will remember Harry's voice as he said "Nun'ead Garidge.....put yer money in....."

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The Birmingham Routemaster

This is another nostalgic holiday blog and is about the Midland Red D9 - a vehicle which I came across professionally at Prince Marshall's Obsolete Fleet.

Seven D9s had been purchased and converted to open top for operation on the Round London Sightseeing Tour. Initially this was done by basing them at Stockwell Garage, but in due course they were replaced by convertible open top Daimler Fleetlines from Bournemouth. The D9s moved to Nunhead Garage which was rented by Obsolete Fleet and were operated by our own staff.

The D9s had something of a parallel history with the Routemaster. Midland Red also designed and built its own vehicles at the time and the D9 was its integral double-decker designed for low weight and fuel economy. It has been called the 'Birmingham Routemaster' although it was rather less sophisticated and more spartan than the London model.

One important difference was that the power assistance for the brakes and steering had no Routemaster accumulators to store energy. What you got was what the engine was delivering at the time. That did mean you could get going the moment the engine was started, without waiting for anything to build up. And on interurban work they had powerful brakes and light steering. However that lured you into a false sense of security. In city traffic after a good brake application, the bus slowed and when you applied the same force this time the assistance had more or less dried up. And if now a motorist or pedestrian got in your way the brake pedal was rock solid, you used every ounce of your strength and grabbed for the very robust handbrake which came back many clicks.

If you banged your elbow on the cab window you knew you had as much handbrake effort as there was as well.

Steering was equally uneven. As you turned a corner, if you were less than firm with your actions part way through the assistance dried up and once again you found reserves of your own strength to avoid disaster.

No little wonder the Stockwell crews soon lost their enthusiasm for them especially since internal documents describing them to the Trade Union said they were "broadly comparable with the RCL".

They were very reliable in operation - mean miles between failure in the 10,000+ range which is many times more than we enjoy today and their main weakness was in the electrics which we rather made worse when we removed the roofs and exposed the upper deck floor to the elements.

I very much remember by first outing on the RLST with one. A quick explanation by garage staff and off I went. I recall being very tired at the end of the day!

A more traditional bus operation was also provided by D9s. London Transport's own staff shortages meant that the seasonal enhancement to London Zoo was provided instead by us with a D9 outstationed at Guards Coaches in West London. We went to Wandsworth each day to collect a conductor.

In time we bought a further three D9s and used them as closed tops. We also bought the stock of Midland Red spares and kept these amazingly reliable vehicles going for many years. A number are preserved including one of our open toppers.

I always thought they looked better after conversion - those side windows were made by cutting the main side windows in three and using the tops and bottoms. And the front windows could open - not that there would be any point!

(And unlike the Marshall-refurbished Routemasters which look like they can but can't!)


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