The formation of The Coach Travel Group from seven of the coach industry’s heavyweights is only a mild surprise, given the mergers and buy-outs we’ve already seen, notably by Go-Ahead. I suspect it comes after two very good trading years which have been long overdue for the coach industry, though tempered by costs rising at […]
The backlash against Low Traffic Neighbourhoods being implemented increasingly in our cities are, perhaps, the first gasps of anguish at major change. Most LTNs involve closing one end of a residential road so that it cannot be used as a ‘rat run’ by through traffic. The theory is that residents can access the street – […]
Plaxton, as a coach brand, possibly faces a long road back to production should it decide, in 2026, that it wants to build coaches again. Alexander Dennis has already announced the news that, as from this year, coach production in Scarborough has been suspended for two years, for the perfectly sound reason that it has […]
The problems faced across the passenger transport industry in its battle to recruit and retain drivers aren’t easily resolved. “I believe the coach and bus industries are still faced with a legacy image of ‘the bus driver,’” says Mark Williams, Editor of Bus & Coach Buyer and a veteran of the industry for 35 years. […]
It was a pleasure to be at the CPT’s 50th anniversary conference, and not only hear a range of excellent speakers (reported in this issue) but to see the launch of the CPT’s Bus and Coach Manifestos. During the lunch break, I’d normally scout the delegates for old friends but I was lucky enough to […]
A deep frost had lingered in the Chiltern valleys, jewelling the hedges with sparkling frost and icing the fields white. Frank Capstick stood outside the office in his trademark sheepskin coat and trilby, the vapour from his coffee and his breath pluming in the air as he looked across the fields towards Denner Hill. Two […]
Exactly the form that PSVAR takes when the Minister finally decides next year is uncertain, but my strong feeling is that it will be a compromise which benefits very few people, least of all wheelchair users. There’s a solid case for wheelchair accessibility for rail replacement services and express coaches, as truly public […]
Rather belatedly, I discover that my own council tax bill now includes a £12 ‘precept’ ring-fenced for bus service support. This happened in January, around the same time that I was extolling the virtues of the idea, put forward by the mayor. A Mayoral General Precept can be applied by some combined authorities to raise […]