East Anglia Bus Scene

[Wawanesa]

The BBC has a video of the crash occurring. I can only think that the driver had a medical episode.

 

[stuart81]

Oddly seems most of First's Vulcan Road services aren't tracking on bustimes since the service change yesterday although the 20 / 21 isn't either which I assume is still at Roundtree Way.

 

[borage]

Oddly seems most of First's Vulcan Road services aren't tracking on bustimes since the service change yesterday although the 20 / 21 isn't either which I assume is still at Roundtree Way.

Alas not that odd – a few different services around the country that changed yesterday have the same problem. I think they needed to remember to tick something in Ticketer portal to include the new routes in the SIRI-VM (Service Interface for Real Time Information – Vehicle Monitoring) feed.

 

[gingerheid]

There's a consultation regarding the Tiger routes around Cambridge (spoiler: the orbital services will still be doomed and flawed)

https://cpca-yourvoice.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/Cambridge-City-Proposal.pdf

The revised proposals are in and they're quite reasonable compared to the original set: CPCA proposed bus service revisions

 

[Wawanesa]

Thanks for highlighting that report, it contains a lot of interesting statistics that you don't often get to see.

 

[gingerheid]

Thanks for highlighting that report, it contains a lot of interesting statistics that you don't often get to see.

Yes - some of the numbers are really interesting!

I was particularly interest to learn (via the T1, T2 & T3) the price range of keeping a double decker bus on the road for a certain number of hours a day.

It made me feel hopeful for franchising. It's clear that Stagecoach are very expensive, but that understandably other operators are nervous about not wanting to take the risk of overexpanding while trying to compete with them.

It's also interesting to see how franchising could interact with sort of almost profitable services. Tendering encourages the provision of a minimum level of service with the minimum outlay, but buses become more attractive the more of them there are. Legally the T1 probably shouldn't exist; it really is very close to a competitor to the B. Bus companies have gone to court for less. However it's really doing quite well if you consider that the infrequent timetable and lack of multi-operator season tickets makes it quite flawed. If it was a proper part of a busway network then I feel that, at worst, it wouldn't lose any more money if it ran every 20 mins (especially after Stagecoach cuts its slower services). Better still, I think that it running every 20 mins would also help make the A & B more attractive!

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

Yes - some of the numbers are really interesting!

I was particularly interest to learn (via the T1, T2 & T3) the price range of keeping a double decker bus on the road for a certain number of hours a day.

It made me feel hopeful for franchising. It's clear that Stagecoach are very expensive, but that understandably other operators are nervous about not wanting to take the risk of overexpanding while trying to compete with them.

It's also interesting to see how franchising could interact with sort of almost profitable services. Tendering encourages the provision of a minimum level of service with the minimum outlay, but buses become more attractive the more of them there are. Legally the T1 probably shouldn't exist; it really is very close to a competitor to the B. Bus companies have gone to court for less. However it's really doing quite well if you consider that the infrequent timetable and lack of multi-operator season tickets makes it quite flawed. If it was a proper part of a busway network then I feel that, at worst, it wouldn't lose any more money if it ran every 20 mins (especially after Stagecoach cuts its slower services). Better still, I think that it running every 20 mins would also help make the A & B more attractive!

That's an interesting take on things.

You're not bothered that it was the same people who will be responsible for franchising that have put forward moneypits like the T2 or the T12?

And if you think that it's expensive having deckers on certain routes, the T12 is over £200k for running a minibus on a restricted schedule.

 

[Kartenga]

FlixBus will be operating a new route from 15th September 2026
Ipswich - London

Does anyone know which company is running it on their behalf?

 

[gingerheid]

That's an interesting take on things.

You're not bothered that it was the same people who will be responsible for franchising that have put forward moneypits like the T2 or the T12?

The T2 is indefensible.

I feel that places like Earith and Sutton are places that fit better into a franchised network than a fragmented one where competition isn't supposed to be happening.

And if you think that it's expensive having deckers on certain routes, the T12 is over £200k for running a minibus on a restricted schedule.

I meant that Stagecoach's deckers are expensive compared to Whippet's.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 14 Sep 2026 ==

FlixBus will be operating a new route from 15th September 2026
Ipswich - London

Does anyone know which company is running it on their behalf?

It's a Central Connect Yutong

 

[Camb]

My takeaway from this is wondering how long this cafe will stay open...

4 months, it is due to close next week -

Café Connect Co.

We’re sad to share that we’ve made the difficult decision to close Cafe Connect Co. in Colchester. Although our time here has been short, we’re grateful to everyone who’s popped in for a coffee,...

www.facebook.com

We're sad to share that we've made the difficult decision to close Cafe Connect Co. in Colchester.

Although our time here has been short, we're grateful to everyone who's popped in for a coffee, shared a kind word or supported us along the way. Thank you for welcoming us and being part of our journey.

We will remain open until closing on Tuesday 29th September.

Our Norwich cafe at the bus station remains open as usual, and we'd love to see you there.

 

[Russel]

4 months, it is due to close next week -

Café Connect Co.

We’re sad to share that we’ve made the difficult decision to close Cafe Connect Co. in Colchester. Although our time here has been short, we’re grateful to everyone who’s popped in for a coffee,...

www.facebook.com

Predictable. Especially given the cafe was tucked away with little visible signage outside to indicate it's presence.

Set up to fail.

 

[Wawanesa]

Unfortunately the the only connection that the location had with buses was that it is where the Eastern National(later First) garage used to be. The vast majority of bus passengers don't go near Queen Street these days. As has been said, it was tucked away at the back of a shared occupation building so you really had to search it out. When I went there and placed my order, I was told that they didn't accept cash, so they lost that business.

The cafe at Norwich is a long running operation so will no doubt continue.

 

[essexjohn]

I wouldn’t read too much into that. the driver trainer probably just fancied going somewhere different. I can remember back in 1990 seeing a Southend Transport driver trainer bus in Melbourne Farm Estate in Chelmsford. It was their Leyland Titan PD2 or PD3

Maybe coincidence but Arriva will be running a new service 62A/B through Southchurch from 25 October.