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Warwickshire County Council have posted details of the April 2023 Stagecoach changes on its website: -

     https://www.warwickshire.gov.uk/news/article/4050/stagecoach-warwickshire-timetable-changes-april-2023

Most of it is a copy of a recent Stagecoach Midlands' news item, but it also mentions that "National Express Coventry have now agreed to extend their 20 service to serve Bedworth and George Eliot Hospital from Saturday 15th April."

I look forward to seeing what this actually means.  Will at least some journeys on 20 currently terminating at Bedworth (Wootton St) be extended over the current Stagecoach 55 route to George Eliot Hospital (and perhaps Nuneaton), or will the existing Nuneaton journeys be rerouted via the hospital instead of Hill Top?

Yes, it's true folks!

Today's West of England Notices and Proceedings contains an application for a PSV Operator Licence by The Cotswold Brewing Company Limited.  One of the directors of that company is one Jeremy Clarkson.

I've checked Companies House and Wikipedia and it is definitely that Clarkson.  Who'd have thought he'd ever want to operate a bus?

(For chapter and verse, see West of England N&P 2858 for 02/06/2022.  The application is on page 8 (licence no PH2056975 R).

Has anyone else noticed that the 1425 Coventry - Rugby service 85 journey is double deck on schooldays?

I discovered this thanks to bustimes.org, and I gave it a go recently.  Enviro 400 4775 came out of Wheatley Street garage to operate the journey and it was a good, quick and scenic run through lovely villages like Brinklow and Pailton.  Much better for me than the usual Enviro 200s!

The reason it is double deck is because its capacity is needed on its next journey, the 85S service from two Rugby Schools to Coventry.  I believe that Travel de Courcey did the same when it ran the service, because I once saw a TDC Trident arrive in Rugby on a 585 one schoolday a few years ago.

The 85 journey includes a reversal in the village of Monks Kirby, as does the 85S.  Is this the only in-service NX Bus double deck reversal?

Warwickshire County Council has announced £1.366 million funding to provide electric bus charging infrastructure in the county, initially for buses to be used on services into and out of Coventry.  It's the second item of funding in this article: -

   https://www.warwickshire.gov.uk/news/article/1712/county-council-approves-over-6-4m-funding-for-countywide-projects.

The article contains interesting information, although I wonder if it is 100% accurate - particularly the sentence "the County Council, Coventry City Council and Transport for West Midlands put forward a partnership Expression of Interest focused on replacing 325 cross boundary buses with an all-electric specification".  Should this really be 325 buses altogether, including cross boundary buses?

Still, it's good news.

A thank you to NXWM for sending several heritage livery vehicles to Wythall last Sunday, 6th October, for the WMPTE 50 event - and to the drivers and any other staff who went with them.

It wasn't a day of rest at the museum for them either, as most buses were on the road at some point doing "happy hour" Wythall - Maypole shuttles in tandem with preserved buses.

Good to see NXWM and staff once again strongly supporting an enthusiasts event.

Some of you may recall that some bus chiefs (such as Brian Souter of Stagecoach) have talked about the threat that Uber could be to urban bus services.

The BBC News website has this article about how Uber has become the 'operator' of choice for a few towns in the USA: -

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-38252405

In particular, note that in one town local politicians "realised" that in lightly-populated areas it was cheaper to subsidise Uber journeys by 50% than it was to extend a bus route, and that another town "has all but done away with public transport altogether, instead subsidising all Uber trips in the town by at least 20%".

Could it happen here?  Not in exactly the same way.  Our Freedom of Information Act and other legislation would not allow Councils here to allow Uber to keep public-funded transport usage figures confidential, and the Disability Discrimination Act would prevent disabled people from being left behind.  Also, some Councils have stopped subsidising buses altogether, so wouldn't have funds for an Uber operation.  But I expect Uber could well be looking at how to provide some similar kind of operation in the UK that would comply with our laws.

This happened to me yesterday lunchtime in Corporation Street, Birmingham.  The X51 I was riding on found itself in a queue by the Law Courts, with a policeman stopping the traffic.  I wondered if it might be waiting for a prison van until a helicopter started to loom large, presumably an Air Ambulance leaving the Children's Hospital.

Fortunately the hold up was only a few minutes, and Enviro 4734 was a good bus for making up lost time.

Who would like to share with us more spectacular or strange-but-true delays?

I decided to try out Stagecoach X15/X18 from Coventry to Leamington and back on Saturday - a high speed double deck run along the A46.

I was surprised to find the fare was only £3.70 (adult) return.  For the record I had Tridents both ways rather than the Scanias I was hoping for, and delays at the Stratford end affected timekeeping,  but it was well worth the money! 

Has everyone seen the news - placed on Network West Midlands' website only yesterday - that the Birmingham City Centre changes will now take place at 11 pm on Saturday 21st July?

Although departures after 11 pm "will be leaving five minutes later than scheduled to give passengers sufficient time to find their stop", this has got a be a recipe for confusion after a Saturday night on the town.  It's as if someone deliberately wants this to get off to a bad start.  I hope the City Council and Centro are braced for complaints and bad PR over this.

Does anyone know why the powers-that-be can't wait until start of service on Sunday morning?  The Network West Midlands website gives no explanation.

I've been looking at NXWM's news item mentioning the Birmingham City Centre bus stop changes from 22 July - http://nxbus.co.uk/west-midlands/news/birmingham-city-centre-changes.  Among the points it makes are: -

"The new stops will also help buses run on time. At present traffic rules mean we must leave as soon as the bus is loaded, making it hard to make up time if we are delayed on the way into town. In the new arrangements, buses will be able to wait (slightly) until the departure time, helping make services more reliable – and there will often be a bus waiting when you arrive at your stop."

Up to now I've been sceptical about the Connected City idea, as it seemed to simply be a way of making the best of a bad job (i.e. buses having to get out of the central area).  But if some recovery time will be possible in town, and there are enough bus stops for the services using them, this just might be a good idea.  It will be the end of a tradition going back to Birmingham City Transport days, but that's fine by me if it works.

What does anyone else think?