THE WAR ON TERROR and some unfortunate bus
spotters
Pete Waterman, the man behind Kylie Minogue’s early hits, who is
also a railway buff, is outraged by reports that two Austrian
tourists in London were harassed by the police for photographing
railway and bus stations.
Klaus Matka, 69, and his son Loris, 15, were stopped by
community support officers (PCSOs) as they took snaps of
double-decker buses in Walthamstow, east London, and told that
they were breaking the law.
“We
were forced to delete all pictures that included any transport,”
said Mr Matka, “even pictures of the new underground station in
Vauxhall, which is a modern sculpture. I understand the need for
some sensitivity in an era of terrorism, but isn’t it naive to
think terrorism can be prevented by terrorising tourists?”
The
police have admitted the Matkas were questioned by PCSOs but
deny they were forced to delete pictures.
However, Jenny Jones, a member of the Metropolitan Police
Authority and a Green party member of the London assembly, has
pledged to raise the incident with the Met chief, Sir Paul
Stephenson.
Producer Waterman said the force should be “embarrassed” if the
allegations were true. “This strikes me as a couple of PCSOs
being far too officious. If it was a crime to take photos of
buses or trains, I’d be in jail by the end of the day,” he said.
“What saddens me is you put a uniform on some people and they go
absolutely barmy but these people are supervised so this kind of
thing should not happen.
“I
know there is currently an extraordinary level of security
alerts but we’ve had these alerts since the end of the war. What
is considered public domain for Google Street View must also be
considered public domain for bus or train spotters.
“It’s a strange hobby, granted, but what should be highlighted
here is the complete overzealousness of semi-officials.”
My
readers may remember that Gavin Francis had taken pictures in
Whitehall, which included the gates of Downing Street without
any hindrance and yet on our recent trip to Aylesbury a local
bus driver took great exception to my taking a distance shot of
his bus.
It
does seem that it is not the police who object but subsidiary
elements such as PCSOs and Traffic Officers, witness my episode
on the M40 overbridge at junction 5, who busily involve
themselves in such matters. I wonder why?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Driver attacked by mob at High Wycombe bus station
A bus driver was assaulted and robbed by a mob lead by a woman
whom he had earlier refused to allow to board his bus.
As he went to meet a fellow driver at stand 1 at about 2.20pm on
Friday, May 29th, the
driver
was surrounded by a group of five men and the woman at High
Wycombe bus station in Bridge Street, They started pushing
him and then went through his pockets and stole £50 in cash.
The Carousel driver was first attacked by the woman after
refusing to let her onto the A40 heading from Uxbridge to High
Wycombe, since the company does not allow food on its buses. She
threw her drink at him and punched him in the face several
times, leaving him with cuts and bruises.
Oh dear, what is the world coming to. It is not unusual to
receive abuse from passengers when they are refused boarding if
they have hot food. The use of mobile phones and musical
equipment such as iPods and
MP3
players, sued constantly and with high volume is another risky
area for drivers.
Stansted Transit
closes its doors but council keeps the services running
Twenty-one bus routes
going through places
like Bishop's Stortford
and Harlow are going to
keep going despite the
company who runs them
closing down.
It seems that other
companies such as Excel
are stepping in at short
notice.
Routes serving areas
including Maldon,
Takely, Bishop's
Stortford, Saffron
Waldon, Colchester,
Chelmsford and Harlow
were under threat when
Stansted Transit
announced it was closing
down last Thursday.
Essex County Council
have stepped in and are
going to keep them
running as normal until
a new company is found
later this summer.
Services 1, 5, 7, 7a,
9/10, 11, 14, 17, 18,
21, 71c, 73a, 118, 133,
301, 306, 317, 318, 319,
247 and 392 will run
according to their
normal timetables and
school bus services will
work on as normal, too.
The new fleet for the
Oxford tube -
first sight!
Rumours have been running
around for several months now about a new fleet for the
Oxford tube and at last I can reveal the first details and
pictures of these superb coaches. I received the following press
release from Stagecoach relating to this new investment.
STAGECOACH INVESTS £9M IN NEW GREEN FLEET FOR EUROPE’S MOST
FREQUENT EXPRESS COACH SERVICE
·
26 double-decker coaches ordered for Oxford Tube link to London
·
Cleaner Enhanced Environmental Vehicles deliver low emissions
·
Fully accessible coaches feature wi-fi, GPS tracking and CCTV
·
State-of-the-art coaches being manufactured by Van Hool in
Belgium
Stagecoach
announced today that it is investing more than £9m in an entire
new fleet of vehicles for its Oxford Tube network, the most
frequent express coach service in Europe.
The fleet of
26 new Van Hool Astromega double deck coaches – each costing
more than £350,000 – is being built in Belgium.
Oxford
Tube runs a 24-hour service every day of the year with coaches
running between Oxford and London up to every 10 minutes at peak
times.
The new
greener coaches are fitted with DAF EEV (Enhanced Environmental
Vehicles) engines that have even lower emissions than those
required by the Euro 5 standard coming into force later this
year.
A Selective
Catalytic Reduction (SCR) system uses a constant feed of urea
solution to destroy the harmful Nox, delivering a more efficient
operation of the engine, reduced diesel consumption and lower
running costs. Combined with a passive soot filter, it means the
vehicles will be even cleaner than those fitted with compressed
natural gas engines.
Passengers
will be able to email and access the internet on the move
through the wi-fi systems on the coaches.
The 87-seat
vehicles, which have two staircases, are also equipped with
toilets, air conditioning, reclining seats, generous legroom,
seatbelts, power points for laptops and mobile phones, GPS
tracking, and CCTV for personal security.
Deliveries of
the fully wheelchair accessible fleet start at the beginning of
July and will be complete by early October.
Martin Sutton,
Managing Director of Stagecoach, said:
“These new state-of-the-art coaches will be among the cleanest
and greenest on the road in Europe.
“The Oxford
Tube fleet covers 3.4 million miles every year and we want our
customers to continue to experience high quality, greener
smarter travel.
“This is the
third complete fleet replacement for the Oxford Tube we have
undertaken in 10 years and it is evidence of our commitment to
investing in Europe’s premier express coach service.”
The Oxford
Tube fleet travels the equivalent of nearly three times around
the globe every week and has the capacity to carry more than
6,000 passengers a day.
Oxford
Tube services run up to every 10 minutes between Oxford and
London – stopping at Lewknor, Hillingdon, Shepherds Bush,
Notting Hill, Marble Arch and Victoria.
A secure
e-commerce website,
www.oxfordtube.com, allows customers to book single, return
and period tickets online as well as access timetable and
service information.
Oxford Tube
also supplies complementary newspapers on its early morning
commuter services.
The first fifteen of the new
fleet of Van Hool TD927 Astromegas are being given fleet number
and registration seen in the table below. Not that the T**UBE
cherished registrations are retained and will be applied to the
first five of the new coaches. the next four on the build line
in a total order for 30 coaches will be for Megabus and the
remaining eleven coaches for the tube are expected
to be ready for entry into service on 1st September on 59
plates.
|
50201 |
T40UBE |
|
50202 |
T44UBE |
|
50203 |
T50UBE |
|
50204 |
T55UBE |
|
50205 |
T60UBE |
|
50206 |
OU09FMY |
|
50207 |
OU09FMZ |
|
50208 |
OU09FNA |
|
50209 |
OU09FNC |
|
50210 |
OU09FND |
|
50211 |
OU09FNE |
|
50212 |
OU09FNF |
|
50213 |
OU09FNG |
|
50214 |
OU09FNH |
|
50215 |
OU09FNJ |
Note that as with the latest M A N single
decks, Oxford registration have been sought for these coaches.
I am pleased to
provide readers with a foretaste of things to come following a
pleasant day that I spent riding up to the London and back on
the first coach of the line for the tube. This arrived late on
Sunday evening and after route proving trials will return to
Belgium at the end of this week for final completion. Readers
will note that the coach was running on Belgian trade plates and
will not be licenced until later this month or early July.
However keep your eyes open for the next two days as the coach
will be running trails between Oxford and London. It will, of
course, not be in revenue service.
The first coach seen this morning, 8th June, at Thornhill Park &
Ride. M. Crowe.
A classic shot I believe, the new coach at Victoria Coach
Station, London on the afternoon of 8th June. M Crowe.
I
hope to publish a comprehensive article on these coaches later
this week.
Another first for
Stagecoach Oxford
With the withdrawal of the
final Vario still in service with Stagecoach in Oxfordshire, the
company became the first within the group to achieve a
complete easy access wheelchair accessible fleet, including
its London coach fleet.
New Brookes Bus by
Oxford Bus
The newly
awarded contract for Brookes Bus awarded to Oxford Bus from July
1st gets an airing today with the release of a dedicated web
site.
http://www.oxfordbus.co.uk/main.php?page_id=207
Northbound M40 out of London subject to major
delays 1st to 3rd June
Major problems were caused to traffic using the northbound M40
last week. This was caused by subsidence in lane 3 which
resulted in repair and resurfacing works westbound between J1A
M25 and J2 Beaconsfield. On Monday evening (about 19.00) Trevor
Wilson reports that he crossed the A40 at the Gerrards Cross
traffic lights and there was a westbound queue as far as one
could see which included on Oxford tube. On Tuesday morning
around 09.00 Trevor travelled inbound on the M40) on this
section and noted one Oxford tube sitting in the outbound
motorway queue.
"So some Oxford tubes were diverting and some not."
comments Trevor. I am sure that most coaches from companies
using the M40 did divert but it seems there were no dot matrix
indications on the M25 of the severity of the problem.
A trip on the NEx 737 by Ian Brown
Following the report above on the problems last week on the M40
and the continuing road widenings on the M25 between junctions
16 and 18 I thought the report from Ian Brown following his trip
on the 737 to Oxford was relevant.
Ian writes
"On the last Thursday in May I went on my once-in-a-while 737
trip Hemel to Oxford. The driver on this one (1120 ex HH) went a
route that none of the others have taken when I have travelled,
i.e. out past Hemel Station, into Box Lane, Bovingdon, past The
Mount Prison, into Chesham, along a dual carriageway and a U
turn and then to Great Missenden, Prestwood, eventually into
Hughenden Road, High Wycombe.
A rather tortuous route with roadworks, single line traffic,
dodderers etc. However, full marks to driver. He made it into HW
2 mins late.
One of the things that always fascinates me is the number of bus
drivers that must be employed in Oxford. Where do they get them
from? Do all the NX drivers live locally? I know that you live
at Stokenchurch. Even that must add to your day, your driving
and your costs. I once spoke to a First NX driver who lived in
west London/Heathrow area, drove from there to Northampton to do
their 707 to Heathrow and Gatwick and back and then drove home
to w London. It makes me wonder whether it is
financially/physically worth it for NX, the driver and First to
do this?"
Interesting
questions and one which will no doubt have its reasons for those
involved. In my own case it takes just under 20 minutes to our
depot, a journey of around 15 miles. The rates of pay in Oxford
are some of the best in the country perhaps answering the
question on how far some drivers travel. I would suggest that a
journey of 20 minutes before and after ones duty is not
excessive and not dissimilar to some more locally based drivers.
As to the routing
taken, I do use this route myself when driving the 737 and
generally arrive in Wycombe or in reverse in Hemel on time, not
always the case when using the motorways. I always advise the
passengers what I am doing and find most are happy to see a bit
of countryside and arrive on time. Indeed when using the
motorways coaches can run up to one hour late, not very helpful
to passengers wanting to get to the airport for a flight.
I hope
this answers some of the points raised by Ian?
The road works in Headington
are almost completed now
The lengthy
roadwork in Headington are more or less complete now with only a
few items of tidying up to complete. The pictures below, taken
on June 1st, give
some idea of the current situation.
Pictures by M. Crowe.
The
M40 sees yet another accident causing delays
My daughter called me last week on
Wednesday afternoon saying
"Dad, there's been a really loud bang on the motorway, thought
you might like to see what's what?"
Living next to the M40 we do hear
quite a bit but from what she said the bang was louder than her
TV and so I duly went round to the overbridge. Well, one car
only which had spun around after hitting the central reservation
but the number of police cars and fire engines plus an ambulance
suggested much worse. Matters cleared quite quickly and the
motorway got back to normal within 30 minutes or so.
Dave Stewart has kindly reminded us of the upcoming Ridgeway Run
2009. This will be next Sunday (14th June). It is the
annual HCVS's (Historic Commercial Vehicle Society) 25th
Anniversary 'Ridgeway Run'.
This run usually attracts a fair amount of commercials (historic
lorries, vans, etc) and some historic buses - usually about
twenty. Dave will be taking part again with Routemaster RM737.
The route is around 50 miles long, so takes about two hours in a
bus.
Dave writes
"The route is from Henley Railway Station car park, where the
Mayor greets participants, via A4155 to Marlow, B482 via Lane
End to Stokenchurch, down the winding hill of the old A40, then
along the B4009 via Chinnor to Longwick Road roundabout, on to
the A4129/A4010 through Princes Risborough (**see note), then
A4010 (that is via Stoke Mandeville Station and Wendover Road)
into Aylesbury, going round the west side of the town (i.e.
Friarage Road and Gatehouse Road to Bicester Road), A41 through
Waddesdon, on through the village on A41 for about one mile
then a right turn and to Quainton Road Station (admission
prices to the Bucks Railway Centre do apply).
(**) some high double-decks may have to divert through Askett
due to the low(ish) bridge on Longwick Road,. Risborough.
It is not a cavalcade as such, that would cause traffic problems
all the way, this run is more of a leisurely affair spread out.
Vehicles are due to depart Henley between about 9am- 10am, so
would pass Marlow (from approx 0915), Stokenchurch (from 0935),
'Risborough (from 1000), Aylesbury (from 1020) to Q/Rd (from
about 1030). Bear in mind that many historic commercial
vehicles are slow and there are some hills, so those times are
likely "first passes" with last vehicles a good hour later!"
Many thanks to Dave Stewart for the details and the timely
reminder. I look forward to readers photographic contributions
and reports on the event.
More details can
be found at the Buckinghamshire Railway Centre web site:
http://www.bucksrailcentre.org/
I also found a web
site with pictures from the 2007 run which may be of interest :
http://rides.webshots.com/album/559491884tkypDK?start=12
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Preston Bus takeover probe
http://www.lep.co.uk/news/Preston-Bus-takeover-probe.5316609.jp
The takeover of Preston Bus by bitter rival Stagecoach will
be investigated amid fears it could drive up prices.
The Office of Fair
Trading (OFT) has announced it has referred the £6.4m
takeover completed in January to the Competition Commission
for further investigation.
It said it was concerned the deal could "result in higher
prices or decreased service quality to local bus users".
OFT senior director of mergers Amelia Fletcher said:
"Stagecoach and Preston Bus were very close competitors, as
demonstrated by the so-called 'bus wars' that took place in
Preston prior to the acquisition.
"This merger has removed competition between them and the
OFT is concerned that this may have a negative impact on
price and service levels for bus users."
It added that it "could not rule out" that another bus
operator would have come in to buy Preston Bus if it had
gone into administration rather than agreeing a sale to
Stagecoach.
David Costley-Wood, of finance firm KPMG which advised
Preston Bus on the deal, told the Evening Post in March that
there was interest from operators First and Arriva, but said
the firm was only "two or three months" from going out of
business.
Chris Bowles, managing director of Stagecoach North West,
said it was "very disappointed" the OFT had referred the
takeover.
Geoff Cunliffe comments
"It
has been rumoured that something was going on. They'll have
to be quick because a substantial number of ex Preston
vehicles are now in Stagecoach corporate livery, although an
East Lancs-bodied Trident in full Preston livery operated
the Preston-Lytham-Blackpool service this last week."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Go Ahead in the North East by Ben Stoves
Considering the
links with Oxford Bus through common ownership of the Go
Ahead Group and various buses now with OBC, I thought
readers might be interested in the article sent by Ben
Stoves. Ben asks "As
seen in your last two issues, I have noticed the two Plaxton
Presidents from Oxford have had their front ends painted up
for Park & Ride. This must be a Go-Ahead thing as Go North
East did exactly the same with our Angel Service. I have
attached a few pictures for your self and viewers of your
site to enjoy. Could you please ask your Oxford
Enthusiasts to send you any pictures of the interiors of the
Tridents that were transferred from Go North East as I
believe they may have been modified in some way."
The Un-refurbished Interior of our Trident Plaxton 3887
NK51UCP This was off the road for a long time due to a
serious fire believed to be arson and I think they have done
a grand job of getting it back to full working order.
This is a Trident now with Oxford 3881 NK51UCH at the
Seaburn ally months before they departed for Oxford I
believe this one to be 902 R2OXF. I was sad and
shocked to see most of the batch leave for Oxford.
This is a Trident now with Oxford 3895 NK51UCY in
Chester-le-Street Before its transfer to Oxford - I believe
this one to be 909 R9OXF.
Recently refurbished Trident President 3889 NK51UCS Branded
for the Angel service 21/22 operating service 34A This is a
very rare picture as the Angel buses rarely stray from
21/22.
From my last post to you this is the finished Yellow Bus
livery used by Go North East. All contract work such as Work
Services , School Services and Private Hires employ these
Yellow Buses.
From my last post this vehicle is now Pink working on Angel
Service 21/22 this is due to the popularity of the service
All Single Deck Scania Omnicitys have moved to Percy Main to
run Coaster Services with Most Coaster Tridents Moved to
Chester Depot To Work Angel Services.
The Angel Services are now run by Double Deckers making it
an All Double Deck Route, Buses running this service are
Plaxton Presidents, ELC Lolyne , B7TL Gemini.
The ELC Tridents are very unreliable and are expected to be
replaced by vehicles from London. Rumours have it they will
be Presidents and Vikings (Like Carousel ones) .
A lot of these Dennis Marshals Ex London have been sold as
they were only on loan.
Here is a picture of 3885 NK51UCN before refurbishment and
repaint into Angel Livery here you can see only the front of
the vehicle has been painted. This is the same as Oxfords
P&R Tridents.
Dennis MPD 514 X514WRG painted for Wallsend Links services.
I think it looks rather nice for an MPD.
Dennis Trident ELC Ex Coaster Branding, seen working the
Angel Services.
One of the Scania Omnicity's recently branded for Coaster
Service 1/2 these used to be Angel until ELC Tridents
replaced them.
These EVLs have only just arrived from London and as I
mention above are from the same batch as the Carousel
acquisitions.
Many thanks to Ben
for that interesting article. I look forward to pictures of
the EVLs when they enter service.
Pictureview - seen in Oxford, London & Stokenchurch
Gavin Francis found this "hotelbus" in
Oxpens and I checked out the company web page which, although in German, gives
some interesting information about this novel idea.
The company is based near the Austrian border : -
http://www.hotelbus-reisen.de/
Gavin Francis also took this picture of a visiting Neoplan Skyliner II
from Germany dressed in a very colourful livery.
The driver was just a bit too quick for Gavin to get a front view. Once again
the location is Oxpens, Oxford.
A Shearings Euro Tourer caught in Oxpens in the heady days of May.
Picture by Gavin Francis.
Travellers Choice are based in Carnforth, Lancashire and operate on behalf of a
number of tour operators including Travellers.
This Volvo/Jonckheere coach, an 09 plate, is seen unloading in St Giles. Picture by Gavin Francis.
The Temsa full sized coach is only seen in small number in the U.K. but well
know Gloucestershire operator Castleways produced this rather smart coach
seen in Oxfordshire recently by Richard Sharman, The black and gold
livery suits this coach rather well. It carries a 58 plate - YJ58FGO.
An interesting picture showing a rather special coach in the Eddie Brown fleet
with cherished registration. We haven't seen this one in Oxford
but I'm sure it may visit us sometime. It is a Neoplan Starliner, often
associated with companies such as Ellisons, providing team transport for the top
football clubs.
http://www.eddiebrowntours.com/vip.html
Picture by Gavin Francis.
A bit of a surprise that after many years of keeping a low profile for military
buses and coaches, this appears to have changed.
This Plaxton coach carrying soldiers from Buckingham Palace has been given
striking branding.
Pictures by Gavin Francis.
Many readers may not seen or appreciated the task involved in replacing a coach
windscreen.
Gavin Francis was in Victoria Coach Station last week to capture the
moment when The Amsterdam service needed attention.
This is a two man job and on doubler deckers is even more challenging.
I noticed amongst those pictures taken by Gavin Francis one a Jonckheere
leaving VCS in London.
The registration is very close to one on the 08 plate delivery to Plastow's of
Oxford.
I wonder if it was luck that Plastow's managed BYP?
A week ago many thousands of Everton supporters made the pilgrimage to Wembley
to see their team take on Chelsea in the Cup.
Anthony's Travel of Runcorn, with their Neoplan Transliner CB06ANT,
stopped off for lunch at Stokenchurch before completing their run from the North
West.
Sadly for these supporters we now know the result. Picture by M Crowe.
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