Thoughts from Southwestbus

Sadly for both of you who read this blog I'm sitting here on Christmas Eve in a reflective mood. I've just spent a week hacking up my lungs with a bronchial cold and now have a functioning voice again. As opposed to the exceptionally poor Darth Vader voice I can do when full of cold.  I've got Radio 2's Pick of the pops blasting out and I'm starting to type as Michael Jackson's 'Thriller' is in full flow. This afternoon's choices are 1983 and 1995, both fairly decent years for music.  Christmas 1995 was the Wonderwall christmas, where Oasis had their hit high up in the charts. However it wasn't a no 1 - which is why the Channel 4 'Greatest Number 1 singles' compilation and programme doesn't include it, but instead has 'Don't Look Back In Anger' from April 1996 as the sole Oasis record on the compilation.   See, my useless knowledge extends beyond the world of buses.... :D  What have we achieved in 2022? Well, we've be...

Today marks the 25th anniversary of the founding of my first 'proper' bus fleet, Blue Bus.  It ran under my control from 15/11/1997 until July of 2008 when I sold it to Pilgrim Travel  and entered the thrilling world of 'retirement'. This lasted less than 12 months as my present fleet was established in May 2009, initially operating in Kent and East Sussex (where I worked at the time) before moving to the non existent county of Wessex. Later in 2010, operations settled on Bridgwater in Somerset, where we continue to this day. Blue Bus began life under an odd set of circumstances. During my childhood I attended no fewer than five schools thanks to the losing of my special needs statement file by Somerset County Council. This meant I was denied the support I should have had through school and consequently my memories of that time are best left behind a firmly bolted door. I went to two primary schools and was probably happiest at the second. I was sad to leave people who ...

A recent project here has been destination boxes.   We have a lot of Routemaster buses in our fleet. This is in the most part an indulgence but the vehicles themselves have a role similar to that of coaches, and we undertake a lot of private hire work with the buses across an area spanning the length of the M5 from Bristol down to Exeter.  We're the only ones offering such vehicles in the model world for this sort of work.  Not quite all of the fleet, but 98% of them.  Some of our Routemaster fleet are Oxford or Seerol castings. These differ from the EFE and most recent 1/76th entry - by Corgi OOC in the late 2000s. Despite being much hyped on it's introduction the model comes with a number of issues.  The two OOCs in our fleet. The East Midland one has personal connections, with a Mansfield destination. I saw a lot of Mansfield learning to drive a bus and on the day I finally passed my PCV. We have two in the fleet here. Of all the castings of the RM bus, ...

With things a little more certain on the bus service side we have been able to invest in some new buses for that side of the operation.  This will take two forms.  Optare Solo SRs for smaller vehicles and ADL Enviro 400 MMCs for larger vehicles. The larger vehicle investment means we'll have a replacement double deck fleet to filter through the operation, us having a number of school and college services. The dual purpose seating with these vehicles also means they can be used on railway replacement work on weekends, meaning they get full use throughout the working week.  The Solos are a belated purchase. For a few years now, there's been no 'new diecast small bus' on the market. The Enviro 200 is no longer sold as a new vehicle and there has been no releases by NMC for a number of years. There is promised an MMC version of the Enviro 200, but that was announced in 2018 and it is now 2022. Suffice to say, were they available, we'd have a few of them as 'larger...

 On two fronts..... The local elections took place in May and Somerset is to become a unitary authority from 2023. This will mean the dissolution of the county and district councils from that date. The election was won by the Liberal Democrats, the stench of Conservative control over 13 years and their continued national failings finally coming home to roost!  During the last liberal administration, Somerset enjoyed something of a supportive approach towards bus service provision. Most of the positives were undone once the Conservatives came to power in the name of austerity.  Also announced during the summer was the results of the BSIP funding. Whilst Somerset hasn't got the £150m it asked for, it has received £12m. This will translate into enhancements for most of the county.  So from September 2022 we're introducing: Evening journeys on the 37 - and a doubling of the Sunday/BH timetable to hourly. Additional journeys will run M-Sats in the peaks meaning the PVR ri...

So today's post is something of a backtrack in our global plans.  Previously, we've discussed the improvement overall of our fleet and the new vehicle investment which has taken place during 2021. We thought things might improve in the medium to longer term with local buses and with private hire work, and this was the foundation, if you like, of the investment we were making.  The signs are not encouraging. The county council where we operate has submitted what is a 'very ambitious' BSIP bid for £160m and then some. The chances of that being awarded in full are somewhat slim given their historic disinterest in supporting a bus network in the county.  The modern bus and coach world makes extensive use of finance for new vehicles. It is the only reasonable way you can get in large numbers of vehicles to meet the various 'requirements' of operating in the modern world. There are a few operators sufficiently rich enough to write cheques when they buy new vehicles, s...

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...