Scottish Government has awarded funding to aid bus operators in upgrading their ticket systems to accept contactless bank payments. Up to 23 operators are set to benefit from award. The Smart Pay Grant Fund has seen £447,850 awarded from the Scottish Government and European Regional Development Fund. the money is estimated to provide a contactless […]

Dear Luke I’d just like to briefly take issue with some points made by your interesting article about mayoral powers. The general point that co-ordinated services can help meet needs more efficiently is one I’d agree with, but this doesn’t have to be as part of a franchised system; I think some LAs have forgotten […]

German manufacturer Continental has received the first interoperability certificate for a smart digital tachograph. Germany type approved the model just before Christmas. This important step makes equipment available for fitting to coaches that will be put on the road after 15 June this year, the introduction date for mandatory fitment of smart tachos on new […]

In our feature about HCT in relation to Section 19 licences, Dai Powell asks the question: ‘What’s the problem we are trying to solve?’ It is easily answered: unfair competition. The evidence has been there for years. I have met minibus operators who have lost half their work to CTOs who have bid at commercially […]

Tachographs fitted to coaches are about to undergo the biggest revolution since the introduction of the first generation of the digital versions in 2006. Those instruments proved ridiculously easy to bypass and, since then the enforcement authorities have been playing a game of catch-up, with the fraudsters usually maintaining a decisive lead. While tacho fraud […]

HCT Group is spreading the social enterprise model in the bus and coach sector. It has made its first ever acquisitions of commercial operations this year and is converting them to its own social enterprise business model. It has also runs a successful programme to get ex-offenders into bus driving. Despite this success, the company […]

Stagecoach Midland Red South, its directors and some of its senior managers have been called to a Public Inquiry in Birmingham later this month, as a direct consequence of the Crown Court judgement last year, when Stagecoach was fined £2.3m. The company had faced an unlimited fine over a crash in which its “fatigued” 77-year-old […]

In 2019’s New Year’s Honours list, Joan Aitken, Traffic Commissioner for Scotland, was named an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE). She was given the accolade for services to the Scottish transport system and road safety. She retires later this month. Stagecoach co-founder Ann Gloag has been made a Dame Commander of […]