Jim Long & General Round Up

There is only one place to start today, the sudden passing yesterday of Ipswich enthusiast James Long, known as Jim. I didn't know Jim that well, but we met a couple of times at Ipswich depot and got on like a house on fire. Jim was always happy to share information and pictures, and was a slave to detail. Ipswich will be empty without him, not only for his knowledge and enormous picture archive, but from all accounts for the man he was. Our thoughts are with Jim's wife, Eve and his family right now, and I urge you all to read long time friend Grahame Bessey's tribute to Jim on East Norfolk Bus Blog by clicking here. 

I have good news for people living between Bungay and Great Yarmouth. I think. Maybe - it's all a bit confusing right now so here goes. Having won the new tender to operate the 80/81 between Diss and Yarmouth it appears Anglian found something amiss and handed the tender back. So Simonds were awarded the tender, which was to be operated in conjunction with Borderbus. Ok so far? Now since then there have been further developments. Anglian have let it be known they are going to be operating the 81 between Bungay and Yarmouth on a commercial basis - I have even seen the proposed timetable - however have yet to register it on VOSA. This has not impressed Borderbus who yesterday registered the 580 between Bungay and Yarmouth, again on a commercial basis, to commence on August the 15th. In the meantime Norfolk CC have once again issued a tender for the route as the smaller villages still have to be served. I'm told all will be resolved in the next couple of weeks but it's certainly not dull right now!

Now for the latest on Ipswich Park & Ride. Ipswich Buses seem determined to mix the residents of Chantry and P&R passengers from Copdock together on the 13, running 9 buses an hour that won't bunch at all of course. Madness is all I have to say. As for Martlesham I am led to understand the current idea is that the 66 won't touch the P&R site as first thought. Instead the 63/4/5 will serve the site every haf hour, with a "short" service running in between to give a basic 15 min service in the same way Konect are changing Postwick P&R in Norwich to accommodate the 7. Of course by time next January comes all this will have changed again but it's always interesting to see how things develop.

I had a pleasant surprise yesterday en route to Woodbridge. For the first time I saw VA479 on an Ipswich route that wasn't the 66. Wickham market was the place and by luck I had to catch it to Woodbridge so got a couple of decent photo opportunities.

VA479 pulls into Wickham Market Square

VA479 loads up in the sun at Woodbridge

It then became rather a who's who of the Ipswich fleet, as both the excel fronted B7rle's, 69426/8 appeared in quick succession. These fronts still look the business, and whoever came up with the idea should be congratulated, shouldn't we Sam!

69428 at Woodbridge

Followed by 69426

And then to cap it all a very smart Van Hool tri-axle coach unloaded a lot of tourists to amle the delights Woodbridge has to offer. CT63 CCT was new to Chandlers Coaches of Westbury, Wiltshire in 2013.

Chandlers Van Hool CT63 CCT at Woodbridge

 As I expected getting bookings on Suffolk County Council's much vaunted Connecting Communities is a bit of a joke. No one seems to know where their buses go and when. One operator has even stopped accepting Concessionary Passes using a vehicle size loophole, and SCC have apparently approved this. The Government giveth and the Council taketh away. This is typical of how it hss been so far. On Friday I have to get to Lowestoft on what is certainly not a pleasure visit. So not being able to get to Wangford anymore to pick up a bus to Lowestoft I rang up and tried to book to Halesworth. Sorry that's in the restricted zone - we can't take you there. Area 51 I presume. You'll have to go to Darsham and get a train. Ookay so be it, but I was confused as the drivers had told me they were going to Halesworth. So I rang again yesterday to double check. Yes, Halesworth is in the restricted zone. I am aware of that but is it all day Fridays? Oh no you're right we can take you there. Finally! So then I thought I'd really push my luck and book the new Pathfinder bus, operated by Beccles and Bungay Community Transport. "Hi, can you get me from Halesworth to Wrentham please?". "Sorry we only go there on Mondays........" In the name of all that's holy can we have the 62 back please!

And speaking of the 62, part of the route was replaced by the 60H, and Anglian have released the latest well thought out timetable for that route starting in late July. Did I say well thought out, sorry I didn't mean that. I meant another timetable designed to drive people off the route so it can be scrapped once and for all - do they think we are stupid?

When the 62 was scrapped last April and the 60H introduced passengers living in the Dukes drive area were upset as they would no longer have a bus to Beccles, despite many of them using the 62. They had to catch an 88 to Halesworth town centre then get on the 60H. That wasn't too bad as it connected fairly well - the 88 dropped them off at 1045 for the 1050 to Beccles, and returning there was about a 12 min wait to get back to the estate. No more. There is a bus from Halesworth to Beccles at 0933, so before any connection from Dukes Drive, and not another one till 1208, which gets in from Beccles just AFTER the bus back to Dukes Drive. Yet another giant middle finger to loyal passengers who must wonder what they've done to deserve it. Don't be silly - of course the 88 doesn't connect at Bungay for the 80 to Beccles! Oh well there's always Connecting Communities.....

Cock Up On The Communications Front

I had one of my regular trips to West Sussex the other day, to the eye hospital. For me the travelling is all part of the day, and I always look forward to it, although there is always the knowledge that everything can go belly up in a split second. And so it proved.

A good journey down, a productive hour taking videos at East Croydon, including completely missing an approaching new Thameslink Class 700 as I was focused on a 377 on an adjacent platform - most embarrassing - and a productive hospital appointment. In fact too productive as I was in with the consultant for ages discussing possible new avenues to explore, and that made getting back to London in time for my train back to Suffolk a bit of a rush.

However I made it to Liverpool St for the 2000 with around 15 mins to spare. Searched for the platform on the departure board, only to see it displaying that most dreaded of all platforms - platform cancelled. Deep joy - apart from anything else I would have to let the person picking me up from Darsham know that I would be late, but no real worries. Until I couldn't get hold of her. Never mind I'll keep trying - let's make sure the 2100 is running as I'd rather wait the extra time in London than on Ipswich Station. So having checked the midweek engineering work posters and seeing the 2100 terminated at Ipswich I tweeted Greater Anglia and asked them if the 2100 was running, only to be told that the 2100 was terminating at Colchester and I'd have to change. That would mean missing the last connection up the East Suffolk Line so another swift change of plan and I caught the 2030 out of Liverpool St and that's where the real fun began.

We got as far as the Olympic Stadium when we stopped. And waited.

Now people take the mickey out of us enthusiasts but there are times being one comes in very useful. Being a supporter of Railcam I get access to live running diagrams, so I quickly pulled up the Stratford diagram to discover we were stuck behind an empty train, which had stopped for no apparent reason as the line was totally clear in front of it. Cue the Conductor on the PA: "I'm sorry for the delay to this service tonight, which is being caused by congestion in the Stratford area". Excuse me? At the very point he made that announcement there was not a single train in Stratford Station, and in front of the empty train our line was clear to Ilford. Anyhow the empty train decided it had had sufficient rest and off it went, us following in its wake and that was the end of the excitement.

Until we got to just outside Maningtree where we stopped again at a signal instinct told me we shouldn't really be stopping at unless there were problems ahead. I pulled the diagram up again and sure enough a freight train was in front of us going nowhere fast. According to its schedule it had been there for around 20 mins. I told the people around me what I had seen and as I told them the PA crackled into life again confirming that indeed the freight train in front of us had failed, not just failed but had run out of diesel. Those locos have 1,400 gallon tanks. It had run out. We were stuck behind it. So we were told a rescue loco (known in the railway world as a "thunderbird") would be sent from Ipswich and drag the freight train out of the way.. No time scale was estimated.

Thanks to my Railcam diagrams I was able to see when the thunderbird left Ipswich, and follow its progress to the failed train. In the meantime the poor Conductor kept making announcements saying that they didn't know how long this was all going to take and in the meantime we would reverse back to Colchester. We started reversing as the thunderbird was within half a mile of the train it was rescuing. I was able to keep people in my coach updated far quicker than the conductor was.

To cut a long story short the thunderbird did its job  we got moving again, and I was treated to a taxi home from Ipswich, which Freightliner will end up paying for, arriving home some 2 hours later than planned. The person picking me up was contacted in the nick of time and stood down and all's well that ends well.

However it got me thinking. I'm pretty sure I was the only person on that train, crew included, who knew exactly what was going on. At first I thought the Conductor was lying through his teeth about Stratford, but if that is what control told him what reason would he have not to believe them. Now you hear time and time again that one of the main complaints about rail travel is lack of information when things go wrong. I got really irate when we were told the 2000 was cancelled due to an "earlier incident". What incident? What happened? The day before we had been told extremely quickly in graphic detail of the tragic mass shooting in Orlando. Yesterday the news broadcasters couldn't wait to tell us how poor Jo Cox was murdered in broad daylight. Yet Greater Anglia think we aren't grown up enough to know when someone has been hit by a train. It's not industry standard by the way - both Virgin Trans and Great Western say what the incidents are and treat their customers as grown ups. I found when I was a Conductor that if you tell people exactly what's going on they will accept it. People get a lot more irate a lot quicker if they are kept in the dark or treated as if they aren't entitled to know. That's a poor policy.

But the bigger question remains. If I could pull up on my phone wthin seconds the diagram of where we were and work out what was going on why couldn't the crew? Are we still in the days where the train crew have to call supervisors or signallers to find out what's going on? That's tortuous as for obvious reasons the very people you are trying to contact are busy trying to sort the situations out. I remember being berated by a passenger one evening when she complained I hadn't given any information out, when I was pacing up and down the platform on my phone trying to get the informatin she wanted to know. Of course then she compounded the situation by asking "Why haven't you made an announcement telling us you have no information" I very nearly turned into John Cleese as I explained that if I was making announcements saying I had no information I couldn't be on my phone trying to get information to announce!

But surely the crew should have access to the same diagrams I do, so information can be quickly ascertained, or at least a rough idea so passengers can be kept informed. If I was Greater Anglia I would be a bit embarrassed to know a passenger knew what was going on before my crew did. Perhaps all train crew should have access to Railcam and the diagrams. It is something I will be researching further as anything that improves customer communication has got to be a step in the right direction.

Optare Metrodecker Final Review

As promised here is the report of my in service ride on the Metrodecker, which has recently been on loan at BorderBus, and my final conclusions. If you haven't read the first post on the demonstrator you can do by clicking here

I met with the Metrodecker at picturesque Wangford, just off the A12 not far from Southwold. A gloriously sunny morning tested my new phone camera to the limits and I'm pleased to say it passed!

Optare Metrodecker YJ65 EPU at Wangford

As you will have seen from my first report I was impressed by the ride, and so settles into my usual front nearside seat upstairs and settled down for an expected enjoyable trip to Norwich. If you look through the top deck windscreen you will notice a rather wide pillar after the short front nearside window. I first thought this would be an issue as it was dead level with my shoulder, but no, if anything it was a bonus and I could have easily nodded off had I been so inclined.

I also mentioned that acceleration was smooth, and not savage enough to throw people down the bus. This again was the case, and I found acceleration from bus stops pleasant and not unduly sluggish. However, that is all well and good for passenger comfort, but not necessarily good for timekeeping. Because the Metrodecker lacks the extra poke when needed it means gaps you could take advantage for in other vehicles at roundabouts etc you can't on the |Metrodecker, and this is an issue I think Optare need to examine. With increasing amounts of traffic on the roads buses need to be more nippy off the mark when needed and the Metrodecker is certainly not that.

It also lacks power going up hill. As we climbed out of Thurton on the A146, which lets face it is hardly a mountain, the Metrodecker lost power like an old Fleetline. I checked with the driver when we got to Norwich if he had had his foot to the floor and he confirmed he had. So the conclusion has to be the Metrodecker lacks torque, which is an issue with Euro 6 engines, but needs to be addressed.

Apart from that I have no complaints whatsoever about the ride. No rattles, comfy sears with more than adequate leg room, smooth braking with no screaming retarders, and just as quiet at speed as at low speed. Sort the power out and there is a truly excellent vehicle in the making. I was racking my brains to think of a similar ride from the past, and I kept coming back to the old Olympian coaches. Yes the ride was that good.

However a chat with the driver at Norwich revealed issues a passenger wouldn't necessarily notice. Take another look at the pic above. I was delighted to see the pillars at the front were nothing like the width of the Streetdeck. However they are actually wider at the bottom than the top and this has an impact on driver's vision. The driver said he had never driven a bus with so many blind spots, and even with a side camera which with so many cyclists around now has to be a good thing, there is a panel behind the doors which makes pulling out at an angle very difficult. Looking through my pics I haven't got one that shows it perfectly, but this one gives the general idea. Imagine you are the driver having to look behind the doors for approaching traffic. The driver also mentioned the dash and steering column were not able to be adjusted, and this is also something Optare need to look into.

Even when doors are closed there is quite a blind spot behind them

One thing I mentioned, and indeed compared were the stairs. I felt a difference immediately I climbed them and measured them against one of the Presidents at Borderbus. They are the standard 9 inches. However the driver told me that one thing he had noticed was the school children had taken much longer to get down the stairs than they did on the Presidents, and some had commented that the stairs on the Metrodecker were steeper. If kids have more problems on these stairs then older, less supple passengers are going to have real troubles, which again will affect timekeeping. I was glad it wasn't just me though, as I made a big point about the stairs on the trial run we went on.

Optare's parent company, Ashok Leyland have insisted that all issues are ironed out before the bus goes into mass production, which is why they are asking for feedback from operators (and I hope bloggers). I think this is an admirable way of doing things, and is certainly better than releasing a vehicle, making a quick buck then years later when everyone has had enough making 300 changes before you finally get a half decent vehicle. Yes the Metrodecker has some issues, but they shouldn't be too difficult to rectify, and we were unable to test for things such as interior light reflection in the windscreen due to the time of year, or how it performs in high winds being so light. I confess in the past I haven't been Optare's greatest fan, but get these issues sorted out, and in my view the Metrodecker will be the best double decker available on the market.

I got off at Norwich, took another pic that my old camera would have really complained about, and wondered when I would enjoy a ride on a new bus as much again.

The Metrodecker gleaming in St Stephen's St, Norwich

Simonds and Borderbus to share 80/81

It has been confirmed to me that following the return of the tender for operation of the Diss - Beccles - Yarmouth 80/81 by Anglian Bus, from September the route has been awarded to Simonds, who will operate the route in conjunction with Borderbus. More details will follow in due course.

Apparently Anglian are denying to their staff that they have returned the contract.

Andrew Pursey and Anglian

After some comments that appeared on the blog earlier today, making insinuations of malpractice at Anglian in the period before its sale to Go-Ahead and personal remarks dorected at Andrew Pursey I feel it is important to clarify a few facts so individuals can decide if it's really worth carrying on this vendetta, which could lead to some potentially damaging legal situations if not stopped.

When Anglian was sold to Go-Ahead, after the compulsory due diligence procedures had been satisfactorily completed, the company was not owned by Andrew Pursey but his parents. They had built the company up over many years and had reached the time to retire, indeed Mr Pursey Snr was in ill health and sadly did not live long enough to enjoy the fruits of his labours. Andrew Pursey stayed on as operations manager but did not enjoy working for a big company and decided to leave, forming Borderbus from scratch in the time to come.

Andrew's parents sold Anglian to give their family financial security for generations to come - and I defy anyone to say they wouldn't do the same given the opportunity.

So I would advise those people making false accusations and insinuations against Andrew Pursey and his family to think very carefully before carrying on with it. Andrew Pursey has never owned Anglian Buses. I would also add that I have not written this on the request of Andrew Pursey, indeed I have not been in touch with him since the comments were posted.