Thoughts from Southwestbus

Some thoughts on the Somerset County Council BSIP , published in mid-October which I've shared with the Somerset Bus Partnership .  "To use the words of Yes, Minister there are some very courageous ideas contained within the BSIP. It almost reads like a wishlist of very expensive things which stand no chance of ever taking place, thus permitting SCC a free pass to continue the indifferent attitude they have toward public transport in the county. Most notably, the use of electric buses. This is laudable, and to be commended but there needs to be consideration of the whole life costs of the vehicles themselves. In addition there is the additional premium these vehicles will attract, compared with purchasing Euro 6 diesels. Buses are written down over a 10-15 year lifespan, and the batteries on these electric vehicles will not last as long. So, around 7 years (halfway) through the life of the vehicle, those batteries require replacement. That won’t be the concern of th...

Almost a month since the last post, and we've been busy with new buses arriving, and the first of 10 'toy Borismaster' buses. More on those in another post.  I've mentioned, before, about my influences in the industry and much of it is down to one man, who gave me a summer job back in 2004 which began my career in the industry.  Sadly, a couple of months after I moved on to do year 2 of my transport degree at University he passed away. But he left an impression on me which never has left. This tribute appeared on the company's website not too long after the funeral and I saved the page not long after. That was fortunate, as the company went into liquidation just over 10 years ago.   Whenever I'm in the village I always pop into the churchyard and have a chat with Charlie.  " Charlie Hookway, died on Tuesday 30th November 2004. He was 53 and had been involved with the family business since he left school at the age of 14, in 1966. Charlie joined his...

    Every August, an abandoned village on Salisbury Plain opens up to the general public.  Imber was populated until the middle of World War II when the inhabitants were evacuated by the Government. According to the Imber Church website , military activity began on the plain in 1897 and from 1927 onwards the War Office began buying up farmland, completing that process in 1932. The land was then leased back to the farmers until WWII.  The Army permit access to the village on a small number of occasions during the year. Since 2009, there has been a bus service, provided by London Routemasters and a supporting cast of other vehicle types linking the village with Warminster. Prior to the bus service, access was only possible by private car. What began as a small scale operation, needing 4 buses has mushroomed into an operation needing 28 vehicles in 2019. The 2021 event has been a little smaller in scale, with 25 vehicles in operation on a route from Warminster to Imber...

Whilst I'm a keen non-follower of current affairs, especially when it concerns our 'Government' and their sponsored mouthpieces in the form of the mainstream media one cannot help observe the recent announcement about a new National Bus strategy. This, upon further examination is not a reintroduction of the Leyland National, just as the final example are withdrawn from our railways but a more exciting passage of a new bus strategy adopted by our 'Government' as our 'Prime Minister' (he who invented an entirely new bus for London to solve a problem that never existed which has cost £15m more than otherwise would have been spent on conventional vehicles).  As John Cash wrote in the Autumn 1996 Buses Focus article on Yelloway - the one certainty about new legislation is that it ensures the passage of the next piece of legislation.  No, there is new money available to improve bus services across the UK. £3bn in fact. On a recent holiday to Cumbria the local radi...

Over the summer, well the three weeks of excessively humid weather we call summer, we've been creating a network map and town services maps for the towns we operate buses in.  The network map and Bridgwater town map were created on the first May bank holiday (which was very sunny, liquid variety so conducive to indoor pursuits) and it's taken me two and a half months to get round to sorting out the Taunton and Yeovil maps. All have been created in MS Paint 3D, which is a sort of upgrade on the original MS Paint. I guess, with some finance and proper artistry software you can produce really accurate maps which set new standards of cartography.  Whereas, we aim for a new low each time.   Over the years Southwestbus has been operating, we've had a number of hand drawn maps which don't really pass muster as a professional looking piece of publicity. The network has expanded and contracted over the years, but we're now running the final form of the network and we don...

As we've bumped along during the summer, we are almost at September and with it the final piece of the jigsaw with our mainline service, the 15 which runs between Wellington, Taunton, Bridgwater and Burnham on Sea.  In some respects the route mirrors the original WebberBus commercial bus service launched in 2007 that saw them diversify into providing local bus services. Originally that service ran between Musgrove Park Hospital, Taunton and Bridgwater before extensions to the service saw it go to Highbridge and Burnham on Sea, and later still, Wellington and Rockwell Green.  The county's main hospital wasn't linked by a through bus, you had to get the 21 and change buses in the Town Centre, so the route offered a link that didn't exist. This arrival managed to wind up First to the point they retaliated, though their retaliation merely served to encourage WebberBus to expand onto another service, the 28 which they operated as an 18 in 2009. Their route was targeted at lo...

Here's something I've also sent in for the MBF Journal, which is in the queue waiting for the opportune moment to print. The editing comes courtesy of Yorkshire Area Secretary John May, but the words and photos are my own.  Hopefully it lifts the lid on why there's so many Routemasters in the fleet.  Click on the photos for a larger view.  "My interest in Routemaster buses goes back 15 years when I conducted some of them during a summer job in Cornwall. In my first job after graduating from University I conducted some of the fleet of Classic Bus North West on weekend hire work before I relocated to the South East when I joined Stagecoach as a bus scheduler.  Up until I conducted RMs I never really 'got' the fascination the enthusiast world has with them. Now, there are around 30 Routemaster buses in my Southwest Buses model fleet.  They are generally ones that have a personal connection for me and use identities of buses I've conducted.  Most of them have...