The Big Interview: Malcolm Robson Ipswich Buses

25 years ago I was driving for Boro'line - formally Maidston Corporation - out of their Crayford depot operating services in South East London - Bexleyheath/Woolwich/Eltham areas. When I started we had, in true Maidstone Corporation style, a truly eclectic mix of vehicles - Leyland Olympians, Nationals, Volvo Ailsas, Scania 113 deckers, and a fleet of Leyland Atlanteans on loan from Ipswich Buses. I loved them, the bucket style drivers seats could have been moulded on my portly shape, and it was real driving. The best day;s overtime you could get would be to take one up to Ipswich to be swapped over as Ipswich still maintained all of them. Happy days, and it was the memories of that which inspired me to move up to Ipswich when I was lookng to relocate some 8 years ago now.

Ipswich 85 Leyland Atlantean WRV 85L at Bexleyheath Station while on loan to Boro'line  Pic by Andrew Ha's reproduced under CCL

And so I thought it was about time I went back to Constantine Rd to see if it jogged any memories. I wrote to Malcom Robson, Managing Director of Ipswich buses and asked if he could spare time for an interview and look round the depot. The response couldn't have been more enthusiastic and positive, and so today I arrived pretty excited.

It turns out that Malcolm Robson joined Ipswich Buses around the same time I was driving them in London so he is approaching 25 years in the job now. Malcom is a Yorkshireman, who cut his bus teeth in Hull, and as I like the dry Yorkshire sense of humour I recognised an almost mischievous twinkle in his eye when he was talking about certain things. I felt at ease immediately.

I have long been a fan of Ipswich Buses - their vehicles are always immaculately turned out and have a fresh smell to them I have never encountered elsewhere. Not a single bus in their fleet has hard seats - even the Scania Omnidekkas have soft seating - which makes them unique in that respect. I liked the new livery straightaway and Malcolm told me a couple of interesting things about the livery. I knew the purple and green were the colours of Suffolk County Council from my library card, but they are also not just the colours of Wimbledon, but the colours of the Women's Suffragette Movement! He did confess though that he prefers the hybrid livery used by the reserve P&R buses, so just for him here is one of the them - an aforementioned Scania Omnidekka

One of the hybrid liveried Scania Omnidekkas with sky blue replacing the purple

Now the bad news. If you are waiting for me to start shouting things like "exclusive" and "big news" then you are going to be disappointed. There are no plans for any new vehicles in the foreseeable future, no new routes, although the Felixstowe Sunday trips will return next year, and everything is ticking over very nicely thanks. The E200's were offered at such a decent price he could hardly say no, which was history repeating itself as the East Lancs Darts were bought at a bargain price too, the only reason they are there. So what did we talk about if there are no new routes or vehicles coming?

Well I like my facts and figures, and I'm happy to say I came away with plenty of them. As a Concessionary Pass holder myself I have long said I would be happy to pay say £25 a year for mine as long as the money was ringfenced to provide more buses during evenings and on Sundays. That would create jobs and get people going out spending money in the general economy, something that was pointed out only today by greenerjourneys.com - that for every one pound spent on funding bus passes it creates £2.87 spent in the general economy. However it's not that simple. Malcolm told me that in 2008 IB received £1.20 for every Concessionary journey taken. 6 years later that has fallen to 93p. It has been calculated that to get back to the 2008 level the 19,000 pass holders in Ipswich would have to pay £50 a year, and that's before extra money is generated for new services, which obviously those paying would want to see.

IB41 Volvo Olympian M41 EPV. Happily at least one of these Olympians is going to be bought privately for preservation

Now for some more stats. Only 22% of journeys in Ipswich are made by fare paying passengers, which seems a little unfair as they bear the brunt of any rises, and can't vault from bus to bus like Concessionary pass holders. I repeat my appeal to Suffolk County Council to get everyone round the table and launch an integrated ticket - which Malcolm told me is number two on the list of wishes of passengers behind punctuality. 40% of journeys are made by children/students and 38% are passes. Quite interesting but surely the target must to be to get that 22% higher. Over to the strategists for that one but if you don't speculate you don't stand a chance of accumilating, so trial and error on new routes must be considered to take the bus network not just back to past areas but new ones too.

Ipswich buses did just that when they launched the X3 to John Lewis in Ravenswood, an area that is still being developed. After an initial rise in passenger numbers of around 74% in the first few months after the route was launched it is still rising at a rate of 17%. That is qute an achievement, and backs up what this blog has said since its conception, that new routes are preferable to passenger poaching off existing routes. The passengers are out there, it just needs the right services going to the right places at the right times and the right prices. Not an easy nut to crack all the time but it seems IB have done it with the X3.

To mechanical stuff now, and I was told that the P&R Optare Versas have been fitted with a cooling system that claimed to have a dramatic saving on fuel consumption. I got the impression that claim was met with a little distrust, but it has proved to be successful. A fuel efficiency saving of 10.3% successful to be precise. Apparently the same systen can be fitted to Scania Omnicity's, which are notoriously thirsty, so three of them at Ipswich are being done.

Scania Omnicity YN56 NVC being fitted with a fuel saving cooling system

The good thing about guided tours is that you find out things that no one ever has mentioned before. This is my favourite fact of the day. Optare Spectra 60 P442 SWX is named "Delight". It's not unusual for an IB bus to be named, but the reason behind this name is really sweet (pun intended). This Optare started life in Turkey as a Left Hand Drive vehicle, and was converted back to RHD when brought back to these shores. So IB decided to name her "Delight" to reflect her Turkish past. Told you it was sweet and they have a dry wit in Yorkshire.

IB 60 "Turkish" optare Spectra P442 SWX in the bus wash at Constantine Rd

And that's really about it. Ipswich Buses is a company that is happy with its lot at the moment. They aren't under pressure to poach passengers, or start loads of new routes, or find new ways of increasing revenue. They are under the control of a knowledgeable, shrewd and welcoming man who knows how to look after his brass but isn't afriad to try new things - the use of the open topper in normal service earlier in the Summer was a masterstroke in my book, and was the sort of spontaneity that is truly lacking elsewhere. I felt extremely welcome at Constantine Rd this afternoon, and have been invited to contact them at anytime. not that I'll need to as things are on a very even keel there.

My thanks to Malcolm Robson and his staff for such an enjoyable chat and tour, and look forward to more chats in the future. I liked Ipswich Buses 25 years ago and absolutely nothing has done anything to change my mind now.

EATM End Of Season Gala 2014

For the first time this year I was able to get out of my village on a Sunday and so off to Lowestoft for the annual End Of Season Gala at the East Anglia Transport Museum. That's the good news. The bad news is the camera on my new phone decided to pick this day to lose all itrs sharpness so my apologies for the poor quality pictures - I am currently having a monumental struggle with EE to get something sorted.

So after parking up at Lowestoft Station I waited to see what would come round the corner to take me to the museum. I wasn't disappointed when EATM's own Bristol Lodekka FL6G (formerly B) 557 BNG pulled into the station.

Bristol Lodekka FL6G 557 BNG at Lowestoft Station

I couldn't help thinking as we made our way to the museum that this 52 year old vehicle gave a decidedly better ride quality than most new deckers do. The seats were more comfortable, not a rattle to be heard and it was quieter all round.

So we got to the museum and I was immediately greeted by Sam and Kieran from Norwich Buses. Nice to meet you at long last, Kieran and I look forward to many chats in the future. I also spied Des Speed on traffic duty and went up to have a word with him, while noting E400 33423 had pulled up operating the Park and Ride service. Never one to miss an opportunity to take a pic of this magnificent vehicle I did so, then finally, after ten and a half months of blogging, got my first chat with Chris Speed, Business Manager of First Eastern Counties, who was driving the aforementioned mobile work of art! This was good news. Chris now knows I don't come equipped with horns and pointed ears, and I now know Chris is a really likeable, friendly guy who I look forward immensely to getting to know better even if his art appreciation is a little lacking! I spent a really productive and pleasant hour chatting to Chris while doing a couple of circuits on the P&R, discovered some revelations about his opinions on certain things which I'm not going to reproduce here, and no matter what happened for the rest of the day knew that my journey had been worth it. Good to meet you at long last, Chris.

I know, I know, but she just won't look the same in X1 colours. Note the destination screen which did scroll to say "museum" too!

I then met a gentleman who quite simply is a God in the bus world. Syd Eade has encouraged me from the word go with this blog, and is always prepared to supply pics and words of support when asked and finally we got to meet. He was with his simply amazing Leyland PD2, co-owned by Daniel Peart and Richard Alger, and my only regret of the day is that I didn't get to ride on it as other things took up my time. Syd, we are planning a drink at some point in the near future and I can't wait. Darn it that bus looks good inside and out! Syd kindly sent me a pic of their baby operating a dusk journey which looks better than anything I took on the day so it gives me pleasure to publish it here. Those were the days, Syd!

Syd's Leyland PD2 PBJ 2F looking great with lights on

 Another trip round Lowestoft was called for, this time on London Country RT3125. Beautifully restored I would happily ride on these any day, and judging by the looks we got from those who saw us pass by I'm not the only one. Funniest moment of the day was when two ladies made a dash for a bus stop thinking we were in service - shows not all passengers take notice of what colour the bus is!

RT3125 KXW 234 about to load up. Just wow!

I then spent the afternoon in the company of Roy from East Norfolk Bus Blog, who took delight in revealing the recent page views for bhis blog. Roy, I'm not jealous in the slightest, but it is a goal to aspire to! Also with us for a spot of lunch was Colin White, joint editor of  Eastern Transport Collection Society. A pleasure to meet you, Colin. You can learn so much from people like Colin, who have dedicated their lives to public transport, and the younger enthusiasts would do well to get to know the likes of Colin, who can impart much knowledge, tips and wisdom.

After looking round the museum with Roy, including a long chat with the owner of the newly painted Eastern Counties Leyland National featured in Sunday's News Round Up, where we were joined by Chris Speed which sparked a discussion on how all 4 Eastern Counties liveried buses (the National, Greenway, Bristol and VA479) could meet up for a one off photoshoot, it was time to end what had been a very worthwhile and productive day. I was hoping to go back to Lowestoft on Syd's PD2, but that was swapped for a Midland Red dual purpose Leyland Leopard,which brough back more memories than you can shake a stick at. I used to travel on these machines regularly as a boy going home from school courtesy of Maidstone & District, and very nearly bought one myself 20 odd years ago. That fell through but the ride on this old girl was just brilliant. Unfortunanetly my camera had just about given up the ghost when I took the pic, which is so annoying.

My thanks to EATM for putting on such a great event, and to everyone I met during the day, those I already knew and the people I met for a first time it was a pleasure to see you all, and here's to ShowBus in a couple of weeks.

Midland Red Leyland Leopard GOH 357N at Lowestoft Staion

GA Delays 8/9/14

1/9/14

Points failure at Witham leads to multiple cancellations and delays, including buses bteween Witham/Braintree and Marks Tey/Sudbury

2/9/14

Signal failure at Stratford means morning peak chaotic. These were the cancellations listed as of 0830 with only the 0624 ex Norwich being a train fault so presumably the 1810 ex London will be caped too yet again.

06:24 Norwich to London Liverpool Street due 08:23

08:06 London Liverpool Street to Ipswich due 09:26

08:13 London Liverpool Street to Southend Victoria due 09:14

08:17 London Liverpool Street to Clacton-On-Sea due 09:45

08:20 London Liverpool Street to Shenfield due 09:03

08:30 Chelmsford to London Liverpool Street due 09:11

08:36 London Liverpool Street to Colchester Town due 09:49

09:14 Colchester to Colchester Town due 09:21

10:00 Walton-On-The-Naze to Colchester due 10:52

10:00 Colchester Town to Colchester due 10:07 

Delays mid PM at Chelmsford due to another signal fault 

Track circuit failure at Manea causing delays between Ely and Ipswich

1810 LON - NOR not caped but Class 321 operated

3/9/14

Signal fault at Stowmarket causing delays of 10 mins on main line and cancellations on Bury line

09:35 Colchester Town to London Liverpool Street due 10:43 (due to train fault)

10:00 Ipswich to Peterborough due 11:39

10:44 Cambridge to Ipswich due 12:02

11:50 Peterborough to Ipswich due 13:28 

0920 Ipswich - Cambridge terminated at Stowmarket

PM services severely disrupted due to person hit by train at Forest Gate. Many cancellations and delays of over an hour.

4/9/14

Safety inspection of track between Maryland - Forest Gate means slow runing and 10min delays

1330 Nor - Liv St terminated at Ipswich due to train fault. 1600 return journey caped.

A bus became wedged under a bridgeat Battlebridge closing the Wickford - Soiuthminster branch for several hours

2028 Felixstowe - Ips cancelled due to level crossing barrier probs

5/9/14

1900 Lon - Nor forced to shunt out and back into Ipswich due to a signal fault

1930 Nor - Lon delayed at Stowmarket due to train fault on Class 321's (dragging brakes)

6/9/14

Trespass incident at Wood St means services to and via Chingford delayed, diverted and cancelled for several hours

7/9/14

Signal fault at Witham delays trains by up to 20 mins

Acle bridge has weight restriction placed on it meaning no loco hauled services through Acle to Great Yarnouth for up to 6 weeks

Observers will note that once again the huge majority of delays were the responsibility of Network Rail, although not even they can control bus decapitations or suicides.

Weekly News Round Up 7/9/14

First of all apologies for the lack of posts this week. I had a life for once!! Actually I don't mean that but I did have company down here all the way from Scotland and so my time was dedicated to that, although that didn't stop me dragging her on a gas bus (very impressed, more with the driver than the bus it has to be said) or keeping up to date with what's been going on so here goes.

First

Returning to Ipswich this week were B7tl 32490 and B7rle 66987. No pics yet but hopefully later this week when I get down there. Ex Colchester 66985 has now gone to Rotherham. Scania 65630 has gone to Colchester, and B7rle's 69532/3 have also gone to Essex as reported last week, although 69532 was seen on a Chelmsford route Friday so not quite sure where they have ended up.

The X1 is still full of surprises. Last week it was Olympians, although after chatting to a VIP today at the East Anglia Transport Museum Gala I will be staggered if we ever see another Olympian on the X1 again. This week I was in the right place at the right time to see former X1 Gemini 37572. Having just transferred to Lowestoft from Yarmouth she was back on a Yarmouth route, although as I now understand it there ARE some Lowestoft workings on the route as some of the E400's are based there. Anyway as Lowie Geminis aren't booked to work the route it was still worth noting.

Ex Yarmouth Volvo B9 Gemini 37571 back on the X1 on Friday

Speaking of Ex Yarmouth deckers I saw another one yesterday in Wickham Market - this time Volvo B7tl ALX400 30888. Although still technically on loan to Ipswich it is unusual to see her on anything else but the 66, so it must have made a change for her to have a jaunt out in the country. Bring your own seat cushions though!

30888 posing at Wickham Market on the 64 to Saxmundham

Last week it was reported that 5 Olympians were coming down from Bolton to supplement the Bernard Matthews Contract fleet. I got all excited over that. Well apparently that may not be happening as no one knows about it where it matters - ie management! Watch this space and if I hear anything else I'll let you know. Also I need to make a correction and apology. A couple of weeks ago I was adamant that ex Lowestoft SLF Dart 43489 was going to Braintree and rubbished suggestions it was going to Clacton. I'm delighted to tell you I was completely wrong and it went to Clacton, so my apologies to those I doubted. Still think it will end up at Braintree though.........

Elsewhere

Very little to report this week. Anglian's Rackheath depot closed and the route 53 transferred to Konect, with what we were led to believe were all the Optare Versas too. However two of them appear to have remained, AU11 EPE/F and have been seen on the 87 this week. One of them was doing the P&R at the Transport museum this afternoon with First's iconic 33423 the other. Incidentally I didn't think the poll regarding the repaint of 33423 would be nearly as close as it was, so clearly a 3 line whip went out at First getting people to vote! That's my theory and I'm sticking to it!

Borderbus have announced a new 146 timetable from November. No details have been confirmed but the clever money is on new afternoon journeys currently missing on schooldays as the route has been more successful than expected. That can only be good positive news for the local bus industry as a whole and shows that an original route, albeit covering parts of existing routes, can be more successful than just carbon copying competitor's routes.

Greater Anglia have been victims of yet another horrendous week for Network Rail, although even NR can't be blamed for suicides and bus decapitations. More on that tomorrow.

Blog News

It is a big week on SB&TP so keep checking in. Tomorrow will have the weekly Greater Anglian report, Tuesday the report from the Gala day I attended today at EATM, and Wednesday I have an audience with the boss of one of the region's top operators. All will be revealed on Wednesday but I have a feeling it's going to be a good one.

Wot More Eastern Counties?

Typical isn't it! You wait ages for a bus to be painted into Eastern Counties Post Office red and then two come along in a month. A few weeks ago you'll remember I got all excited about a Leyland National that appeared outside my window having her bottom cleaned at Whincops yard. She looked like this..........

LS274 having seen better days

Today at EATM I didn't recognise her until her owner recognised me and pointed out what I was looking at! What a transformation! She looks amazing, and it is all the work of a couple of blokes who like buses, and to be honest you can't tell the difference between that and the paint job VA479 got at Rotherham. LS274 is hopefully going to ShowBus - mechanical issues permitting, and it would be great to see it together with VA479. Respect guys, you can be really proud of yourselves. Sorry the pic isn't as top quality as it should be. Hope my camera hasn;t given up afetr 3 weeks!

Just Wow! What a transformation to LS274.

 

Greater Anglia Delays 1/9/14

It's actually a bit unfair to call them GA delays as to my knowledge not a single major delay has been down to GA this week. The overunning engineering works have been rightly well documented, and some credit must go to Notwork Rail for holding their hands up and saying it had nothing to do with GA despite an idiot MP saying GA should lose its franchise over it.

Apart from that the signals at Ipswich have been causing problems all week, freight trains have been dropping like flies, blocking lines at Chelmsford, Ingatestone and Stratford. A bridge was struck by a road vehicle at Needhan Market, the swing bridge at Oulton Broad got stuck open on Saturday, crippling the East Suffolk Line, and yesterday signals failed vat Great Yarmouth causing major delays. Sadly there have also been two fatalities, at Romford and Gidea Park which cause no end of delays.

I doubt anyone reading this blog is as breathtakingly ignorant of Railway operations as Douglas Carswell MP but I think it's worth outlining the general rule of thumb for who is responsible for delays on the Railway. Basically if it moves it's down to the operating company, so the trains themselves and passengers while on the train. If it doesn't move it's down to Network Rail (except swing bridges and level crossing barriers which move but are clearly infrastructure).

The best way to compare it is say you have hired a coach. If the road you want to go down is closed is that the fault of the coach company? Of course not, and there are many reasons a road can be closed - roadworks, RTA, unsafe building, someone threatening to jump off a bridge, adverse weather etc. However if the coach breaks down, or the driver doesn't turn up then it's clearly down to the coach company. Well the same applies on the railway. Greater Anglia pay Network Rail to use the tracks. If a train is delayed or cancelled due to reasons down to NR then compensation is paid to GA. If a train fails then the operating company pay a fine. The same applies if the delay is passenger related for whatever reason. There are teams of people whose job it is to work out the cost of delays, and I have seen a 3 min initial delay in SE London snowball into over 1200 mins of knock on delays to other services. Every second does really count!

There is one grey area though - if a passenger sadly dies on a train it is the Operating Company's responsibility and the delay(s) will be down to them. If  passenger gets off the train and jumps under it when leaving the station it is down to Network Rail as the passenger is technically trespassing on the Railway, and Railway security is Network Rail's responsibility.

So, Douglas Carswell and others - next time your train is delayed remember that just as you can't drive a car down a road that isn't open, neither can Greater Anglia operate a train down a track that's closed. Let's hope for a better week this week.