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In today’s connected world, it is becoming increasingly common for people to look at other sources of income in addition to their main jobs. From affiliate marketing, writing a blog or selling art online, the possibilities are endless. What side hustles do forum members here have, regardless of...

I must have been living under a rock for the past few years since I am still the proud owner of an iPhone 6s, while most of the world has moved on with more modern, up-to-date models. I can remember when the 6s launched almost a decade ago and how popular it was with Millennials and Generation Z...

I have a week off work in the middle of February, which by lucky coincidence will also be during the period of the upcoming rail sale. As I need to be in North London the following weekend, I was thinking of taking a short solo break somewhere within the Home Counties, like Milton Keynes or...

By that, I mean any driverless train, bus or tram without any other member of staff on board. We know widespread adoption of driverless vehicles is some way off yet, but progress in recent years has been rapid. I reckon at some point this century, we will see some sort of completely driverless...

One of many places I have never been but would like to visit at some point is the Normandy coast in France. Its fame for hosting the D-Day landings on its purposely named beaches brings with it global appeal, and thus is very popular with tourists. I expect it will be even more so this year with...

Inspired by a post on another thread about the former Calais - London Eurostar journey, I’m wondering how many train journeys there are around the world which takes less than an hour and cross a time zone, hence the illusion that you arrive ‘before’ you leave if you are travelling westbound...

Found this clip which aired in an episode of Last Week Tonight with John Oliver from a month ago, depicting Henry the Green Engine as a disproportionately long freight train narrated by Matt Berry. (Warning - contains strong language!) I have to say I have always been a huge fan of Matt Berry’s...

With last month’s landslip at Bonchurch and emergency roadworks on Ocean View Road in Ventnor blocking 2 of 3 access roads into the town, a local resident shares his view on what could be next for Ventnor, with a suggestion of restoring the railway line into the town...

The landscape of Britain’s motorway services has changed significantly since the first were opened alongside the early motorways of the 1950s and 1960s. Back in the day, they were owned by the government who leased sites out to private operators by tender (a bit like the rail franchising...

Yesterday evening, the landscape of the Isle of Wight changed forever following a major landslip a few metres from the A3055 Bonchurch Road. https://www.countypress.co.uk/news/23980675.isle-wight-bonchurch-landslip-near-ventnor-sees-gardens-collapse/ To make matters worse, the road to Wroxall...

In today’s world, the only competitive rail route from London to Bournemouth passes through Southampton Central, therefore any blockade at or west of SOU necessitates a replacement bus service. Before the Beeching Axe however, it would have also been possible to route a train from London to...

HS2, despite being renowned for its cost overruns and delays, is actually progressing relatively quickly compared to a lot of other British megaprojects. The first proposal for such a concept was drawn up in 2010, and it only took another ten years before shovels finally hit the ground. Compare...

Was listening to BBC Radio 1 this evening, and somewhat to my surprise, the following narration was featured in the classic essential mix: “Let me explain what you’ve just heard.” “A Banking Engine, one of the three that work Shap in busy times, went into position at the rear of a freight that...

With an ever increasing demand for housing and a need to provide sustainable transport options, are there many existing under-utilised stations, excluding those in AONBs, national parks etc, where a brand new garden settlement could be built? For the purposes of this thread, I’m only including...

Just wondering what the maximum design speed is that a guided busway could be built to, and the highest speed that legislation would allow. I’ve heard that guided busways can theoretically be built to allow operating speeds of 90-100 mph, but they use ordinary road signs to legislate speed...

There have been numerous threads on how driverless vehicles will signal the end of local bus operations in the UK. While it’s inevitable that some bus use will be affected as more people switch to an autonomous car (the mode’s been in decline for decades anyway), I’m sure there will still be...

Open access operators, unlike DfT TOCs, are constrained by the need to be profitable, in addition to limited track capacity and rolling stock. This means that many OAO routes run to an irregular timetable with large gaps in departures. While OAOs need to ensure each service makes them money...

HS2 is the country’s biggest rail infrastructure project to date, and while that might be a lot of track to add to the UK’s rail mileage, the current age of cost cutting has meant that other potential rail projects have had to be sacrificed for it, most notably Crossrail 2 and a dedicated...

With contactless payment now widespread across bus operators, it is interesting to find how different operators are implementing the technology in different ways. Go South Coast for example has separate readers for boarding and alighting, with the fare calculated based on location of the bus...

The East London Line ceased to be a Tube line in 2008 since it was closed to allow for extensions north and south, but when it reopened in 2010 it became part of a new brand called London Overground. While this brand has become hugely successful by creating an orbital railway around inner...