Recent content by pjnathanail

Thank you for the feedback on the fares review. It was a significant piece of work, and very difficult to get right in one go, but the fare cap played a large role in the decisionmaking. We have different ages for young people because different local authorities do different things - in Norfolk...

The reality is that the economics of operating any bus company of any size and ownership structure / operating model is hugely challenging at the moment. That’s why we’re seeing smaller operators close down, either in a planned or unplanned way, and larger operators close depots and divest...

To save duplicating work, I would advise waiting to update the Central Connect Essex / Suffolk network until August, as further service changes in that area, yet to be put into the public domain, are planned. For information, all bus services operated by Konectbus, Flagfinders, Simonds and...

A more comprehensive bus service between the Woottons and Queen Elizabeth Hospital was proposed to be tendered by Norfolk County Council (presumably using BSIP funding), and pre-tender engagement sessions were held with a number of bus operators. The introduction of the Loop 44 (which presumably...

In a similar vein, many years ago, I drove an Optare Solo from Nottingham to Ely, calling Grantham, Peterborough. It was one of those sunny Saturdays where everything had gone wrong crewing wise and Control were taking anything with seats and wheels. Far too long to spend on a Solo really, but...

It depends! At some smaller operators / depots, drivers are trusted to choose their own bus / take whatever is at the front. There are often reasons for specific buses being allocated to certain routes however, which include managing their mileages, engineering reasons (e.g. keeping a bus...

Suffolk in fairness have a strong team of officers in their transport team and have exceptionally close integration of the local bus network and the statutory home to school network, with the latter supporting vast swathes of the “commercial” local bus network. They were always going to be on...

M40 is funded using Bus Service Improvement Plan (BSIP) money hence the signage on the bus. Rightly or wrongly participation in the National Bus Fare Cap is not a requirement of accessing BSIP monies.

Interesting query for those more knowledgeable than me! Travelled this morning from Marks Tey to Stratford. Was running a little late for the train, so got on board, and purchased ticket on the LNER app after I boarded. After about five minutes, ticket inspector asked to see ticket and Railcard...

That makes more sense. Their new SCC funded work appears to be directly negotiated BSIP wins, not work tendered out to all, so I think this is a fair point. It is a consistent source of frustration for all reliable operators when an operator which is less reliable picks up work and then doesn’t...

Rail replacement work for Konectbuses will pretty much always be overtime, I would imagine, because they don't do regular private hire work, so their rotas won't have scope for colleagues to do ad hoc work within the normal work allocation. As others have said up-thread, many drivers will agree...

Diss to Bury St Edmunds is erroneously the 40/A, when it should be the 70/A. The 88 Halstead to Colchester is now wholly the preserve of Konectbuses (Go Ahead) following First's recent service withdrawal. Central Connect now run between Stansted Airport and Braintree (route 333) alongside the...

Yes. https://www.central-connect.co.uk/passenger-promise

You may well be correct. There are very few independent bus operators remaining, but those that do are either fairly large (40+ buses - think Grant Palmer, Lynx etc) or operate a mixed bus / coach fleet. There are operational challenges of running bus and coach together, particularly as the...

The Ipswich School contracts have not been lost to Central Connect or Simonds. Ipswich Buses previously operated the Ipswich School services as a subcontractor to Kura, who held the main transport contract for the school. Kura lost that contract to Studentsafe earlier in the year, but the actual...