Recent content by Polo Mint

Attention to detail has always been a problem with First. In my opinion they are better than Stagecoach in Manchester and are far more reliable, but have an older fleet, paint peeling off vehicles and sometimes tatty seats. I wonder whether they should have gone with local identities, like...

First Bus still have an ageing fleet compared to Stagecoach and other large groups. It wouldn't be too bad if old buses were refurbished and repainted, but they are often a mess and an uncomfortable experience. I'm not sure whether reducing the fleet age would have an impact on profitability...

London Midland appears to be an odd franchise to me with a network of West Midlands regional services, commuter services in Hertfordshire/Buckinghamshire and semi-express WCML routes. Hopefully devolution means the West Midlands region gets its own dedicated local franchise with local control...

Would it make sense to have some limited stop services to Keighley, Shipley and Skipton, with some services operating further north to Carlisle and Lancaster? Of course we need to wait for the new Northern Rail rolling stock.

Hello, There has been lots of conversations about a fully nationalised railway system in the United Kingdom, particularly since election of Jeremy Corbyn as Labour leader. What would be the best way to structure the railway system? Labour have ruled out the return of British Rail, but...

Yes some TPE services cater to commuters, but a decent Northern Rail could cater to regional commuter demand I would hope. Saying that though even Virgin West Coast deals with commuter traffic at towns like Wolverhampton and Macclesfield. Perhaps electric HST's could be used in the longer...

Hello, Is it possible for the Trans Pennine Express to have High Speed trains in the future? I currently feel the current fleet of rolling stock is highly unsuited to the network they serve for a few reasons. They are small (3 or 4 carriages long) and every time I have used the services...

Thank you for your responses. I didn't realise trains would be so frequent on those lines. I thought many of the stations would have been built for the Metrolink service, but it appears as though nearly all of existed when the train was operating. I assume most trains (except the fast train...

Hello, I have a few questions about the Bury and railway lines prior to them being converted into the Metrolink tram operation. 1. Which types of trains used to operate these services? Wasn't the Bury line already electrified so it must have used some kind of EMU? Did Altrincham use...

Thanks for your replies. So it in the future we may be seeing a half hourly Manchester-Salford-Bolton-Westhoughton-Wigan route (it may call at locals stations like Farnworth?) with an EMU. Then 2 Southport-Wigan-Atherton-Manchester services, with the Kirkby service using this line as well...

Hi, I have a few questions about the Northern Rail services from Manchester (Victoria/Piccadilly) to Southport. I see there are 2 trains from Manchester to Southport. One operates from Victoria (via Atherton), and the other operates from Piccadilly (via Bolton). Which of the two...

According to another forum the First Manchester 'big announcement' were some management changes and Dukinfield (Ashton/ First Pioneer) becoming a satellite depot of Oldham. I do believe the Bolton depot will be operating the services down the Leigh/Atherton guided bus way, even though the...

What has replaced them? B10's?

If First were to sell two very profitable depots then it may raise cash in the short term, but down the line would deprive them of income for future investments, Not to mention First finished disposing of their depots some years ago. I thought Bolton made a lot more money than Queens Road...

To quote this lady on her video to the Daily Mail: Well if there's nobody on the bus what is your problem then? And to suggest that a size of a bus can cause an increase of burglars is ridiculous. I would love these College pupils to read the article and use it to wind her up in the future...