HAGGiS Adventures HAGGiS Adventures was started in Glasgow in 1993 by a dynamic team of three Scottish brothers following a visit to New Zealand. They established a backpacker travel company that broke the mould. Their aim was to offer fully guided trips that allowed intrepid young adventurers to really discover Scotland, with the best, most […]
My last vehicle launch of 2013 was TfL’s new BYD e-bus and at the press lunch that followed it Isbrand Ho, General Manager BYD Auto Europe, said that now was ‘the Kodak moment’ for the European bus manufacturing industry. It was a reference to the once all-powerful film manufacturer’s refusal to take seriously the threat […]
Enhancing its profile Despite sharing a building, MasterPart is a separate company to Johnson Bros and is effectively a tenant, hiring space from the operator’s premises. The storerooms it is hiring have been well stocked, filling up considerably since my last visit, a sure sign of an even busier operation. This facility is proving big […]
Renewed bus stations There are two separate bus stations in Ipswich a relatively short walk apart. The Tower Ramparts site is used predominantly by Ipswich Buses and First, while the Old Cattle Market site sees buses from both companies as well as the independents among them Galloway, Carters and Simonds. Real time information equipment has […]
The Friends of King Alfred Buses’ annual Winchester Buses Running Day has become a New Year’s Day institution over the past 30 years. What started in 1983 with just two buses, a King Alfred Leyland Tiger Cub and a former Paris bus offering a free service, developed until over 30 buses and coaches were providing […]
On 18 December, following consultation with the finance company that underwrites its VOSA financial standing and invoice discounting facilities, a decision was made for Classic Bus North West Ltd (CBNW Ltd) to suspend trading. The routes being operated on the CBNW Ltd licence were therefore suspended, affecting services 80 (Blackpool-Poulton-Preston) and the Red Rocket Express […]
One of the simple measures of the strength of a country’s economy is the number of tower cranes and new multi-story buildings under construction. Istanbul is booming and spreading on both sides of the Bosphorus. A new rail tunnel link has just been opened under the waterway, and a third bridge will be built to […]
Operators of all sizes are invited to enter their technicians in the IRTE Skills Challenge as the event returns for its fourth year of competition. Pioneered by IRTE (Institute of Road Transport Engineers), one of the most respected names in UK transport, it is aimed directly at technicians from the bus and coach industry. It […]