Uncategorized Archives - Transport Focus

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New Street views: rail passengers have their say

Our rail user survey provides a unique insight into people’s attitudes towards their latest train...

You want more, happier bus passengers? Here’s the Poole recipe

Ingredients: Local authority commitment – political and financial. Being a ‘unitary’...

Wales: a taster of the rail challenges for the next government

In just over four weeks there will be a new government elected in Wales. No doubt the future of the...

Passengers as part of the decision-making process

Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART), out in San Francisco, is currently procuring new rolling stock....

The Great Easter getaway

Today sees half of all Britain’s drivers taking to the road as rail passenger numbers drop during...

Getting the money you are owed

“Our first priority remains to get you to work on time, but if we fail we will make sure we give...

Signals for a passenger-focused future for our railways

The body that looks after our railway infrastructure - Network Rail and its predecessors - has had...

Going Dutch to tackle roadworks in England?

Our own research tells us that road users want better management of roadworks. Given the expected...

‘Are you OK?’: mental health and transport

For a long time in my twenties I could not use the tube. Having been ill while travelling, coming...

‘All-lane running’ or, in other words, ‘no hard shoulder’

Imagine. A dark, wet and windy Sunday night on the M25. This is the relatively new, somewhat oddly...

Operation Stack: what do HGV drivers think?

You may remember the summer and the pictures from Kent of lorries parked up the M20 as...

All washed out

Throughout January we have seen three significant stretches of the rail network out of action due...

“There’s nothing better than getting on the platform and seeing...

“You always need somebody. There’s nothing better than getting on the platform and seeing...

Changing bus timetables and services

We all build our lives around the predictability (or not) of whichever mode of transport we are...

Rail commuters feel the pressure: passenger verdict in

28,000 rail passengers recently gave us their views on the journey they had just completed: the...

Streetcar we desire

It’s a vicious circle. Cambridge’s historical city centre streets are often too narrow for...

Smart ticketing here we come

Started reading a book about the Glencoe massacre on the train. A used ticket makes a handy...

Patient as passenger?

Interesting note from the Worthing and Adur public transport group. Patient transport services have...

Boosting bus passenger’s views on value for money: multi-operator...

The annual ritual of the rail fares rise in January is not echoed in the bus world. Fares change...

Open data: driving more buses on time?

Good use of data to drive debate about improving bus services. Bristol City Council has put quite a...

New year wishes

Passengers returning to work on Monday may well find their fares have gone up. In some parts of the...

Look North!: Northern and TransPennine franchise awards

Transport Focus puts a lot of effort, on behalf of passengers, into the franchise...

Back to the future – trains for freight and passengers

One of the many drivers of the high cost of railways is the low level of use of many of the main...

Is it time to get more creative with our bus stops?

There’s been a lot of talk about making train stations destinations in their own right for...

Rail fares 2016 – passengers want a more reliable railway

The annual festive ritual of the rail fare rise announcement is upon us. Not as painful as in...

Boosting bus user satisfaction in the West Midlands

It’s not glamorous. It’s not in the headlines. It’s not cutting edge. But it really matters....

Beeching in reverse?

Dr Beeching’s report and the subsequent railway closures has always struck a chord. Seems to be a...

Driving the Manchester ‘box’

There’s no one better to guide you around the Strategic Road Network (SRN) than a Highways...

Bag magic – makes them disappear

Colleague of mine used the Bag Magic service that Virgin offers, to help with luggage on her way to...

Buses to and from Oxford Parkway

New 500 bus looks good and adds to choice GoAhead has put on a new bus between Oxford city centre...

Standing at bus stop in the rain…

Quite helpful to be reminded about the experience of bus travel for some users…. standing at a...

Quality contracts and bus franchising: where next in the north east and...

We are holding a conference next week looking at transport to, from and around the north east of...

A nation of road users

Who thought you would read a blog from me about handbags? But believe it or not you aren’t going...

Which way should a bus stop face?

Interesting story from Glasgow last month – bus passengers are complaining about new bus stops...

Next day delivery?

Wanting to understand more about the user experience of the Strategic Road Network, we have been...

Driving over the Pennines and back

As part of our getting to know the Strategic Road Network tour, Guy Dangerfield and I ventured over...

Season tickets stuck in the dark ages

With many more people working flexibly these days, season tickets on rail need to start reflecting...

A clear, flexible way to fill capacity in transport systems…

It will be very interesting to see how car sharing develops. However, BlaBlaCar looks compelling...

Orange roadwork signs

You may well have seen them somewhere. The new orange roadwork signs that are sprouting up on a few...

Decked out decks

How do we encourage people to start taking the bus? Reading Buses boss Martijn Gilbert is hoping to...

Tolling along the M6

Visited the team running the M6 toll road in the West Midlands. While this stretch of road is not...

Bath line closure

So, two weeks on from the end of the six-week line closure to the east of Bath in preparation for...

What an odd way to treat a customer. Rail Unpaid Fare Notices in the news...

We've had a number of complaints in our postbag about how Unpaid Fair Notices are dished out on the...

Can public transport ever offer an effective choice? Transport Focus...

This somewhat provocative title has prompted around 50 user groups, government officials and people...

The new London Bridge emerges

Yesterday I went around the building site that is London Bridge station with a number of MPs from...

A glimpse of the future? Seeing Vivarail’s rebuilt Tube trains…

We have done a lot of research into what passengers want to see from new and refurbished trains:...

Once again we find ourselves asking: are (rail) fares fair?

Passengers tell us that value for money is one of their biggest priorities. We also know that, for...

On patrol: keeping people moving on the A38 in Devon

As part of getting to understand what it is like to use the major roads in England that make up the...

Gainsborough stations – essays in neglect

Gainsborough is a town of some 20,000 people in Lincolnshire. Only 13 or so miles from the A1, road...

Getting more buses on time

We have just finished our round of bus punctuality seminars: North east - Leeds 16 June West of...

The Night Riviera – asleep on the move…

First ever time on the sleeper train down to Cornwall from Paddington. As the station gradually...

Great offers on CallConnect bus this August

With cuts to budgets making local authorities reconsider their spending, some areas are moving away...

Operation Stack: Plan B?

Planning a trip down the M20? Anyone with Continental road travel plans or who lives in Kent will...

Worrying about snow when the sun is out?

Here at Transport Focus we’ve been talking about wind, rain, snow and storms at the height of...

Bath time! Digging in investment on the Great Western – how are...

The noise from the announcements about the delays and budgets on the rail investment programme has...

It’s getting local – campaigning for bus services

From Frome in Somerset to Worthing people are getting restive about changes to bus services. This...

Northern Electrics

In the midst of all the understandable frustration about the delay in electrifying more routes in...

When darkness falls…seeing overnight roadworks in action

We are building our capacity and capability to represent users of the English Strategic Road...

Bus punctuality seminars – getting the number 110 on time!

Last week saw a really successful bus punctuality seminar in Leeds. The traffic commissioner for...

How do the UK’s roads measure up?

Many venture their opinions about how the UK's roads compare to our Continental neighbours. The...

Big win for passengers

As I wrote in my blog a few weeks ago Transport Focus has been pushing for some time for delayed...

Hard Grind: boosting bus punctuality

It’s not glamorous. It’s not newsworthy. It’s just hard work and attention to detail. We know...

Restriction advised

I recently bought my Manchester to Sheffield train ticket at Manchester Piccadilly station. We were...

Rings a bell? Bus driver initiative in action

As our research shows, and as we all know, staff can make or break a journey. Particulary true on...

When’s the next bus? Timetable problems for Stagecoach East Kent

Knowing when the bus is coming, or at least having a vague idea, is a pretty obvious passenger...

We are mucking you around, so we will charge you less…

The bus industry can sometimes seem so much more passenger focused than the railways. Here is a...

Strike! Lessons learned?

Following the collective sigh of relief that followed the suspension of the planned rail strike and...

First and Stagecoach buses in Sheffield: Part Two

When looking at transport in and around Sheffield I jumped on the Stagecoach-run 120 from Royal...

A voucher is not compensation!

We have lobbied for some time for rail compensation to be paid in cash and not vouchers – with...

First and Stagecoach buses in Sheffield: Part One

Looking at transport in and around Sheffield. Took the First Bus run number 22 from Commercial...

Take a trip back in time?

A colleague noted this advertising campaign raised eyebrows on Twitter recently. It’s not true...

Transport user priorities

When the new Government is taking future transport decisions there are some clear priorities...

London Midland value for money

Value for money on the way to Birmingham. It's interesting looking at London Midland’s fares to...

Supertram?

First ride ever on the Sheffield Supertram. Took the blue line out from Fitzalan Square to Birley...

So, what does a punctual bus service look like? Featuring “We hate...

The Senior Traffic Commissioner (STC) has just published her revised, statutory, guidance on bus...

Spotlight on disabled passengers

We have changed how we ask rail passengers with disabilities to describe themselves. The new...

What sort of driver are you?

We probably mostly think we are pretty good – it’s others who are the problem potentially? Our...

Smart ticketing outside London: the Norfolk ‘holdall®’

Good to see smart ticketing schemes really getting off the ground outside London – with more...

The great Easter getaway

Wheelie bags everywhere, tourists abound and piles of Metro newspapers left untouched in Tube...

Transport Focus is live!

Our name has changed but our passenger work continues alongside our growing work representing the...

Bus Passenger Survey gets to core of what passengers want

“Reduce journey time. 30 minutes is tiring.” “Less heavy use of brakes by the...

The acid test

Last December I posted a series of blogs about the early problems at London Bridge with the words:...

Paperless by the end of the decade?

Interesting articles in the press earlier in the week about Patrick McLoughlin’s comments on...

How should one behave on a bus?

Given how much time we all spend commuting it has always struck me as a very under-researched...

Good news on CallConnect bus passenger numbers

I blogged sometime ago about the CallConnect service. Rising passenger numbers using this bus...

Tram/train/bus – which do passengers prefer?

Results from the next Tram Passenger Survey are in. We asked passengers using the systems in...

Bus passengers – what do they think of their services?

Over 47,000 bus passengers from around England (outside of London) have had their say in the latest...

It’s official – we now represent users of the Strategic Road Network...

The Infrastructure Bill has now received Royal Assent and is law. Exciting times as we take on this...

Everything you need to know about Smart ticketing in five minutes

Speaking today at the Smarter Travel conference in Birmingham. Interesting speaking format –...

Lost property – a case study of a very joined up railway!

Take an early start after a sleepless night with sick children and what do you get? A lost...

Fresh thinking from Tunbridge Wells

It’s not often in transport that you come across a plan that genuinely takes you back. However,...

Passengers have their say

The latest National Rail Passenger Survey is out today. The headline figures mask, as ever, wide...

Its official – latest rail passenger survey out next week

It will be interesting to see what rail passengers have to say about their train services as the...

Take the bus – see more of Devon?

On the evening of Friday 9 January, a colleague took a bus from Exeter to Winkleigh, a village in...

Staring into the crystal ball – what next for rail passengers?

Predicting the future is always difficult and guesses are usually wrong. How many retail analysts...

London Bridge problems

A very, very frustrating time for passengers as they return to work, pay more for their tickets and...

How did we do?

It seems traditional at this time of year to look back and pick out the highlights of last year....

Fare rises

Yes, it’s that time of year again – back to work and fare rises. No-one likes prices going up...

Merry Xmas

A thank you to all those staff who have made public transport work in the last year. Some of you...

Boxing Day blues?

Looks like buses and coaches will be taking up the slack on Boxing Day outside London when there...

All quiet on the London Bridge front?

My Sunday trip down to Sevenoaks much better. Despite the bay platforms being closed, due to the...

Margate mystery

While the headline grabbing statistic is that Waterloo is Britain’s busiest station as you work...

A dark, wet and cold night: a perfect time to try an unfamiliar bus route

Emerging from Tunbridge Wells Hospital last week having just visited my dad I started to work out...

Bus shelter ad income – funding better services?

Interesting presentation from Poole Borough Council about how they have a contract with Clear...

The Euston-St Pancras/King’s Cross trudge

Getting to and from Euston to St Pancras is horrible. I know that it is not a mass experience but...

What next for East Coast passengers?

So, the pundits were wrong. A Stagecoach/Virgin bid is successful after all. The headlines, even...

The Little White Bus – the Big Society in action?

Much debate at the moment about how to ensure rural areas have some transport provision as local...

The battle for space – wheelchairs v buggies

The two most fiercely contested bits of space on Britain’s transport system must be the...

‘Welcome to London Bridge’…or not

At the risk of stretching the interest of regular readers I must return to the rebuilding at London...

A sign is a failure, but…

Stepping off the train at Birmingham New Street you are walking into a live, large building site....

Gamekeeper turned poacher?

British Transport Police does a lot of good work in keeping us all safe as we move about the...

Return to London Bridge

It was with some trepidation that I embarked on my regular journey to Sevenoaks following my last...

Interesting bus stats? Yes!

The Department for Transport has caught the ‘infographics’ bug. The latest bus statistics are...

The only way to get to Essex?

A slick presentation from c2c confirmed early news. The new ‘Essex Thameside’ franchise which...

Good Deed Feed – staff and fellow passengers make it different!

In the midst of the often gloomy news I enjoy reading the Good Deed Feed in the Metro. Lots of...

Bus drivers as the key driver of satisfaction?

My research colleagues do a lot of work finding out why those passengers who say they are satisfied...

Bus passenger voice boosted!

Bus passengers across England (outside of London) are having their say. The autumn 2014 wave of our...

Branch line Britain: catching passengers’ views

Our National Rail Passenger Survey is answered by about 63,000 passengers across Great Britain. It...

Information Pride on the buses?

Getting information about services into passengers hands, especially when they are changed, is...

Ring for a bus? Dial-a-ride bus drives change

The debate about rural public transport will continue. Providing scheduled bus services to a thin...

When is rail performance good enough?

A question we often get asked. Bit difficult for a consumer organisation to answer as we cannot...

That’s the way to do complaints!

A friend of mine missed her train back up to London as the branch line service from Falmouth was...

Snatching victory from the jaws of defeat: East Midlands Trains does the...

Avid readers of my blog will recall my piece on visiting prospective universities by train. My...

Centro nibbles away at fares information

Good to see Centro, the transport authority in the West Midlands, boosting fares information. We...

Do you trust your train company?

Is this a relevant question? Surely as long as they get your there safely and on time does trust...

‘The whole nine yards…’

An odd phrase, but often used in the retail world about the difficulty of delivering a consistent,...

Seasonal migrations – visiting university by train…

Every year, around about this time, a strange, seasonal, large-scale shift takes place in the...

Rainy day, dream away

Buses get a lot dirtier when it rains, passengers can’t see out of the windows and discarded...

Remembering the effects of severe weather

As we experience this balmy July weather, it is hard to remember that the country experienced such...

Bus fare war: market failure or animal spirits?

First recently took over the 41 route from Manchester to Sale via the universities with brand new,...

Will the timetabled bus arrive?

This was the dilemma faced by a colleague earlier this week. She wanted to travel from Bewdley in...

The results are in! Rail passengers have their say…

Over 27,000 rail passengers throughout England, Scotland and Wales have voiced their opinions on...

What do car parking charges tell you about the state of the world?

There is a big open-air car park opposite our office building on Store Street in Manchester. It is...

Tram, tram tram

Got a chance to try out the new Edinburgh tram. The trams themselves are smart and quiet. Ticket...

A brighter Edinburgh Waverley station

The difference is noticeable the moment you step off a train, as I did early today. The station,...

How are you getting to the Commonwealth Games?

A spotlight will be on Scotland this summer as a million spectators head to the Commonwealth Games...

WiFi on buses: passengers love it!

My colleague in Manchester writes: “I’ve been seeing a big increase in Wi Fi on board...

How late is late for bus passengers?

The Senior Traffic Commissioner issues guidance to bus operators and authorities about how to run...

Darwin and passenger information: what is the connection?

Darwin is normally associated with evolution in the natural world. But his name is being linked...

Paws for thought?

Having your ticket checked on the train usually results in a squiggle, a round hole punch, or...

A close shave?

A recent Sunday trip provided a salutary reminder of how easily you can get into trouble for having...

All change?

Having just spent four months in the USA on an unpaid career break it feels good to be back at...

Key moments of the last five months

I am now reflecting on the past five months as I prepare to hand back the chief executive’s reins...

We have now added trams to our passenger surveys

It is now a week since we published our first Tram Passenger Survey. The week before, we...

Consumer Rights Bill

Legislation known as the Consumer Rights Bill is currently passing through Parliament. It will...

Affectionate names for places

We all develop alternative – and sometimes affectionate – names for places. So it is with...

Transfer of rolling stock

Back in December Anthony blogged about the daily crush faced by many First TransPennine Express...

Promoting passengers’ refund and compensation rights

Good to see today’s push from the Office of Rail Regulation (ORR) and Passenger Focus to properly...

Fare evasion on Northern Rail

It’s not often that Rochdale is the topic of a Passenger Focus blog, but I was interested in...

Acting Chief Executive’s first blog

Hello and welcome to my first blog as the Acting Chief Executive of Passenger Focus. Anthony Smith...

Tewkesbury Parkway? Capacity again!

The excellent Ashchurch, Tewkesbury & District Rail Promotion Group Round Table is holding...

TransPennine squash

TransPennine is crowded and a victim of its own success. It has the highest seat occupancy rate of...

Bristol bus passenger focus

Back in July we held a Board event in Bristol. On the back of this event we received an invitation...

Appy? Great rail apps out there, but do passengers know?

Are passengers using apps on a daily basis? The latest in our series of work on smart ticketing is...

More bus fare drops – First Bus in the Plymouth area

Good to see First Bus, among other bus companies, really thinking about how they can keep younger...

East coast delay dribble

Up to Leeds and back twice in two weeks. First journey: on the way up signal problems around...

When even a free, new bus is not value for money!

Manchester City Council sponsors a very handy free bus service that takes people from Manchester...

Arriva Trains Wales – moving in the right direction?

Passenger Focus is holding a conference, public board meeting and stakeholder reception in Cardiff...

Oxford bus company – pretty good

Caught the number 13 from John Radcliffe Hospital into Oxford last week. Overall, pretty...

Sweating the assets: Greater Anglia train condition

Passengers should take their litter with them. However, check out the state of this Greater Anglia...

The storm: how did they do?

Well there was no doubting the clarity of the Met Office message – it was going to be...

First Class?

Bit of a media flurry about the continuing existence of First Class sparked by a re-run of comments...

East Coast helps cut through the fares jungle

East Coast has recently introduced something that we’ve been going on about for ages. On the...

Bus fare drop shock!

As our recent work on value for money on buses showed us (to be published later this month), you...

Birmingham New Street station’s new information points

The new station is slowly emerging and starting to look good. Passengers seem to like the new...

Striking the right note in announcements

Tricky this - one person's funny, is another’s irritation. I think passengers like staff to be...

Liverpool trials scrapping bus lanes

The news that Liverpool City Council has voted for a nine-month suspension of the City’s bus...

Funky bus?

Some bus companies have made real efforts to brand their buses, paint them imaginatively and market...

Bus Passenger Survey: biggest and best ever!

After a sustained period of work from colleagues with bus operators and various transport...

Bus mystery?

Some bus companies have made real efforts to brand their buses, paint them imaginatively and market...

Sponsored time!

Interesting to note that all the clocks on the Spanish high speed rail system are sponsored and...

Safety first

Took opportunity while in Cordoba in Southern Spain this summer, with family, to visit the train...

Hop on the Number 10: Norfolk Green shines

I spent the Bank Holiday weekend in glorious north west Norfolk. The family went on train to...

Visible staff: CrossCountry cleaners and the First Capital Connect ghost...

All of our research confirms a number of basic facts. Passengers like seeing staff around to...

Are buses on time?

Outside of London it is quite difficult to know. Not much performance information is out there...

The Office of Bus Regulation?

Recent government investment in bus services, through the Better Bus Areas scheme and smart...

Good news on fares for Sheffield’s young people

News is out about a young people’s £2 day ticket for unlimited tram and bus travel in Sheffield....

A bridge too far? Controversial plans for York

The council in York has made a brave decision. For a six-month trial period from 27 August the...

Speaking toilets – you heard it here first!

A good contact of ours gave us the following report. I was travelling back from Carlisle yesterday...

How easy are ticket barriers to use?

This is a subject that arouses strong feelings. But what do passengers think? We asked passengers...

Waterloo meets its Waterloo?

Hot rails – it’s that time of year again. A problem that occurs on all railways during hotter...

Bus passengers (or the lack of them) – the nub of the problem?

Bus passenger numbers outside of London are falling. There are wide regional variations, but the...

How to get things changed – a good case study

The community rail movement has been effective in harnessing energy behind some rural and...

East Midlands Trains and Trent Barton buses show how to ease the pain of...

Passengers will welcome the large amounts of investment now going into the railway. However,...

Boundaries matter – getting cheaper rail fares

Value for money is going to continue to dominate many issues as the recession continues to affect...

Passengers and the Spending Review

Now the dust has settled on last week’s announcements on the Spending Review and infrastructure...

Countdown to better information?

Some of the rail industry’s passenger information systems are getting a makeover. It has always...

The Voice

The results are in. Passengers have spoken. The latest wave of the Passenger Focus rail National...

Right ticket? Wrong ticket?

So rail passengers now have to not only make sure they get the right sort of ticket to the right...

Advertising works?

There is an old adage that: "Half of advertising is effective, but it is not clear which half,"...

Passenger Power! Give passengers the vote?

Good launch yesterday for our Passenger Power! campaign. We introduced our latest research on...

Booming TransPennine

Spent a very useful morning with Nick Donovan (managing director of First TransPennine Express)...

Hull Trains: I finally get to give them a go

Hull Trains are a small operation running, as you might guess from the name, direct services to and...

London Bridge: the mother of all rebuilds

The last few years have seen a number of successful rebuilds of major stations while services are...

To Donny and beyond…

How have I managed it? All my life I have never been to Doncaster. So last week provided a good...

Top French railwayman bares all!

Guillame Pepy, the chair of SNCF the French railway operator, was the after dinner speaker at a...

Bus snobs and digital consumers

Interesting article on confused.com that picks up on our Bus Passenger Survey and poses the...

Public transport and ethnicity

Not a subject that is often discussed. The public transport industry often knows little about who...

Reserve and go. The way forward or a recipe for friction?

Value for money and affordability are real issues for passengers. Cheaper Advance fares are liked...

Recycle it!

On Friday I blogged it was a shame the train companies don't advertise the fact they...

Dirty trains/dirty passengers

As the rail National Passenger Survey (NPS) enters its 12th year you can start to see some of the...

No more exact fares only!

“Exact fare only.” This slightly unwelcoming message is still one that many bus passengers face...

A perfect storm on a sunny day

I was at Gatwick Airport station last Sunday. A person under a train at South Croydon caused...

Clapham Junction is bursting!

Latest station use figures confirm what passengers have known for some time – Clapham Junction is...

Small can be beautiful – C2C and its passenger focus

Down to Southend on a bitterly cold day for an opportunity to see c2c in action. Even if you...

The alchemy of good bus service provision or the Norfolk effect?

I recently had a good look at bus services in Norwich guided by Tracy Jessop, the very capable and...

Falling off the cliff face – dealing with devolution and common sense

We Brits seem to have a funny relationship with devolution. Open the paper one day and you will...

Beeching: 50 years after

There has been much coverage this week of the 50th anniversary of the publication of the Beeching...

The great Easter getaway

The annual great Easter getaway impending gridlock story seems to have been muted this year....

Slow train coming? New rail franchise timetable and processes announced

Passengers today are probably more concerned about whether their train is on time and they are...

So-called bus rapid transit passengers’ scores raise interesting...

Bus rapid transit featured for the first time in our Bus Passenger Survey. Both the Cambridgeshire...

Shining happy passengers? Value for money and driver attitudes key

The results of the latest wave of our Bus Passenger Survey are out. 22,000 bus passengers across 20...

Passenger Power – should passengers decide who keeps franchises?

Imagine. Peter Fahy commutes every day from Fleet in Hampshire to London Waterloo. Peter travels...

Orange tickets – and lots of them!

Partly as a result of the pressure we have been exerting there are lots of changes in the pipeline...

“Honey, I sold the car!”

Something wasn’t and then it is. One day a consciousness does not exist and then, the next day it...

Rail v Air – who wins?

Friends often say: "How can the train be more expensive than the plane?" Odd question really –...

Animal spirits in evidence in Glasgow?

Lots of evidence of investment in Glasgow’s buses. First’s spending drive has produced lots of...

Devo max? Turning the clocks backwards or forwards?

On the concourse of Blackfriars station there are two clocks, almost next door to each other. They...

9% fare rises! For bus passengers…

While much attention is lavished on rail fare rises, big rises are happening on the buses. New...

Bliss was it in that dawn to be alive

So said Wordsworth about something else, but I often feel like this when I get a seat on the Tube....

Bus passengers have their say… Soon!

The autumn 2012 wave of the Passenger Focus Bus Passenger Survey will be launched by Norman Baker...

As good as new?

One of the companies that owns trains and then leases them to train operators, Eversholt, has taken...

Cardiff Bus – smile please!

I took a Cardiff Bus service from Cardiff Central down to the Bay earlier this month. The...

The scores are in – what do rail passengers really think?

The autumn 2012 wave of the rail National Passenger Survey is out. Over 30,000 passengers have...

Fares: 2 for 1 deal now?

The media interest in the annual New Year fare rise story showed no sign of abating this year....

The wrong sort of snow?

If you were attempting a car journey at this time of year you would probably leave some extra time...

The right sort of snow?

The Monday morning rush hour is a good test of any system, especially when a bit of snow is...

Rail fares capped at top and bottom end – now what about the middle!

Do you remember the £1000 rail journey story from last year? A journalist had found out that a...

Preston bus station to go? But do bus passengers care?

Having an ‘iconic’ building in your town can be a curse. The listed-building status can slow...

Balham ‘Gateway to the South’?

Balham, near where I live, was not the ‘Gateway to the South’ for the last couple of weeks. As...

20:20 rail vision? Transport Select Committee report

The Transport Select Committee has now published its report from the Rail 2020 inquiry. In among...

Data mining (and undermining?) – punctuality figures

More ‘on-time’ train performance data came out recently. The on-time results for each train...

Ongoing London Midland problems

Trains are still being cancelled by London Midland due to staff shortages. Despite assurances the...

Resigned to fare increases?

Are passengers shocked and outraged over the January 2 fares rises? Probably not. More likely just...

Rain, rain rain

Travelling up to Newcastle recently was extraordinary. North of York the railway sits on an...

East Coast fresh thinking

A wise man came from the East (Coast) and had a sensible idea… Those of you using busy trains...

Bus fares going up

An enormous amount of attention is focused on rail fare changes – less so on bus...

Third-class service?

Passenger Focus is a consumer organistion. Consumers benefit most where there is keen choice and...

All clear on the Tyne?

Spent a very useful day seeing some of the transport operations in and around Newcastle. Certainly...

Shock news – bus fares drop

Fares tend to go in one direction – up. So it is great to hear that First Bus in Manchester have...

Season ticket prices for 2013 – buy now to save money

Rail season ticket prices for 2013 are now out! Many passengers are facing rises that will feel...

Right here, right now

Standing inside an all new electric powered bus did make you feel like the future had started to...

Whither West Coast?

Listening to Chris Gibb, the MD of Virgin Trains, at our recent public board meeting was very...

Boxing day blues – should the trains run on December 26?

This one is a hardy perennial. Every year there's lots of chat in the press about the lack of rail...

Crystal ball gazing

Interesting debate at the launch of the Go-Ahead/Passenger Focus look into the future passenger...

Is age important?

Do younger passengers have any different needs to the rest of us? We have been doing quite a bit of...

Magic bus(es)?

Dropped in to the annual Euro Bus Expo held at the NEC in Birmingham. While the basic bus remains...

Crystal ball time – what do passengers want from any new high-speed line?

Predicting the future is notoriously tricky. Learning from the past is probably the soundest...

Information, information and more information!

Our research keeps on finding that passengers seem to have an insatiable appetite for information....

Changing bus timetables – approach with caution

A change in a bus service (or a train service for that matter) causes uncertainty for us...

Reading – visible signs of change, but are passengers on board? | ...

Going through Reading yesterday it was good to see the new station emerging. Also evidence of the...

Keep me on the train!

That was the main conclusion from our recent work about how passengers want engineering works...

Time travel? Has the future arrived?

Both the bus and rail industries tend, often understandably, to concentrate on the short term....

Passengers, the West Coast and confidence

Many of we passengers are habitual creatures. We build our lives around train services and want and...

Great bus advert!

Most public transport adverting is based around getting over information. Very few ads are produced...

Investment, investment and investment

What struck me about the whole Olympic park was the thoroughness and scale of the investment. This...

Post-Olympic blues

Yes, I admit it, we were addicted. Having failed to get any tickets for the Olympics we applied for...

Gimme shelter

The major changes to bus services in central Birmingham, done to accommodate the tram reaching...

Happy Birthday Chiltern Mainline – but how can you make the party bigger?

On Wednesday, on a spur of moment, I took a Chiltern train for meetings in Birmingham. Caught a...

Welcome to the new Secretary of State for Transport

Congratulations and welcome to Patrick McLoughlin, the new Secretary of State for Transport. Mr...

English and Welsh bus passengers limber up to have their say

Passenger Focus’s Bus Passenger Survey (BPS) is going into action again in this autumn with...

Train or tram: do passengers care?

Yes, they probably do if the tram offers a better service. It is interesting coming through Mitcham...

The disappeared

Local authorities are facing unpleasant choices. Faced with significant budget cuts, statutory...

Total transport

The historian Arthur Marwick famously stated that total war is a great accelerator of social...

Britain’s railways can be very expensive and….very cheap

Facts about how railway in different countries really compare are hard to come by. Experience shows...

The moment of truth approaches

Regulation of rail fares is a good thing. In the absence of much competition it affords some...

New trains, space to breathe?

The announcement about the new intercity train contract being signed is, of course, good news....

Not enough competition? Better to have no services at all!

Strange goings-on in North Devon. First, who run many of the services there, wish to pull out and...

Franchises to go?

Franchising is a popular way to do things. McDonald’s, London buses and my local dry cleaner all...

Competition… Red in tooth and claw?

As a consumer organisation we are generally pretty in favour of competition. Often it produces the...

Young people and buses

There is a lot of talk at the moment on understanding more about young people and buses. Younger...

Big money, big plans…

Today’s big rail spending announcement by the Government is good news for passengers. Our...

Yes, I missed the train…

You know what it is like. You know exactly when you need to leave home for certain journeys. St....

New buses for a very diverse population

Seeing some of National Express’ new buses in Birmingham recently was a very welcome sight. The...

All change in Birmingham

On 22 July 2012 one of the biggest upheavals in British bus services starts to take place. With the...

A, B, C, D, E, F, …. U

Travelling back from Birmingham on a hot afternoon was not a journey I was looking forward to. ...

Passenger Focus refreshes website

Take a look. We have refreshed our website with two aims in mind. Firstly, to make it more...

Dazed and confused

I like to think I have a vague clue when it comes to booking railway tickets. So checking some...

Off to Brum…

I'm going to Birmingham today to meet with National Express West Midlands and National Express...

Ticket to ride?

Passenger Focus published today a major investigation into the passenger experience of Unpaid Fares...

Tatty Trains Contest

Wow, I thought I had seen some tatty trains in my time, but a journey last Saturday on a Greater...

King’s Cross in action

So, how is the ‘new’ King’s Cross faring? On a busy Thursday evening a number of things...

Eye of toad, leg of newt? What is the recipe for good buses?

Thamesdown, the main local bus operator in Swindon won the Bus Operator of the Year award in 2011...

Rail fares – have your say!

Don’t forget to get thinking about your response to the Department for Transport’s consultation...

Lego bricks

Recently heard a fascinating talk by a continental IT systems provider who are relatively new to...

Office of Rail Regulation or Department for Transport: you choose

The Association of Train Operating Companies (ATOC) has recently been moaning that the Department...

FA Cup triumph

The FA’s decision to shift the time of the FA Cup Final to 5.15pm follows in a long line of...

Towards fair fares?

The recent Government fares consultation makes a number of important and welcome statements. The...

Along the right lines?

The Government’s Command Paper on rail published yesterday outlines the Government’s commitment...

London calling

Devolution is all the rage. It is likely some rail powers will be marked up in a forthcoming...

The strange death of rural buses? Part one

There is much on-going debate about providing value for money, useful bus services in rural areas....

Lots of good news shock – a festive fairy tale?

Good news does not travel but December saw some really good things happening. 12 coach trains are...

Tatty train update

Following an earlier blog about Southern’s tatty trains I went down to Selhurst depot to see the...

Once a lifetime?

Well, that is something that has never happened before. A short journey to Cambridge ended up...

I have a dream

One day every city and town will have bus services like this. Yesterday went on the recently opened...

Stars in standard class!

You have seen star in a reasonably priced car on Top Gear. Now for the rail version – stars in...

Attention to detail

The then managing director of Cross Country trains, Chris Gibb, once told me he spent 20...

Swift ticketing

Oyster is good but used my ‘electronic’ passport for the first time coming through immigration...

More in hope than expectation?

Interesting that the chapel at Heathrow airport is co-located with the bus station. Are they trying...

Airtrack? No, but Oyster-tastic!

Rare journey to Heathrow. Not that easy getting from South West London to Heathrow – the now dead...

Save the planet!

An off peak return to Reading –a pretty simple, standard ticket you might think. If you pre...

Irony?

A big dirty noisy belching high speed train called? … Environment Agency!

How long can it last?

1310 Birmingham New Street to London train. Midday for goodness sake should be quiet? Standing room...

Manchester tram trim

Had a quick nose around the new tram line to East Manchester. Looks really good. All overhead wires...

Reading or not

Getting to Reading always baffles me. Trains from Paddington go to Cornwall, South Wales, Bristol...

Intercity?

Among all the hype about the new high speed line between London, the Midlands and the North one...

Big Rail Two?

Britain’s railways are attracting more passengers again and all the long-term predictions show...

Hop on the bus, but maybe not in MK?

Why don’t more people use buses? We don’t do a lot of work on non rail use as the trains are...

Snatching success from the jaws of defeat, or not

How rail companies handle disruption, as seen in the recent snow problems, can be really boosted or...

Bright spots of the British transport system – the North London Line

Dalston Kingsland is a very cramped station. The day I used it the customer information system was...

Bright spots of the British transport system number 3467 – the East...

Finally tried out the revamped East London Line – it really is very, very good. The trains...

Palace of varieties?

Now the London Overground uses Crystal Palace as one of it terminals even more life has been...

Neat and tidy

It’s been a long time since I headed south from Balham towards Crystal Palace through Streatham...

A tale of two stations

Greenhithe station in North Kent is one of the first of Network Rail’s ‘kit’ modular...

What do we want? Information! When do we want it? Now!

What do we want? Information! When do we want it? Now! The traditional rallying cry of all...

Clapham Junction

One of my great hopes if that, one day, I can catch a train at a massively improved Clapham...

Learning to love the bus stop

Our report on why people don’t use buses in Milton Keynes is out tomorrow – done jointly with...

Passengers snowed under?

This is the third tough winter in a row. Last year we had the Garnett enquiry into Eurostar’s...

Give us back our weekends

What is going on with the Underground. On Saturday, trying to get to the Railfuture re-openings...

Three chairs…

Very odd sight on bridge embankment on west coast. Three black plastic chairs lined up to face...

Give me a reference/bright spots of the British Transport System part 345

Rail ticket on departure machines are great. Have used them hundreds of time, always worked, avoids...

Ardwick in bloom

An eleven year effort to spot a passenger on Ardwick station continues with no success. However,...

Shiny new buses

The slightly ratty free minibuses in Manchester have been replaced by shiny, new, diesel/electric...

C2C to West Horndon

Fenchurch very quiet at lunchtime – this is a really peaky railway. Good services – modern...

Notter Bridge bus stop

There is still lots of work to do to improve the bus passenger experience. The picture below...

Tried using c2c ticket machine

Fenchurch Street BR? What is BRRR? Zones 12 & 56? What happened to 3 and 4? Good thing is that time...

Heat, light and power on the Underground

We all know the Underground is hot, very hot. In the summer it can be close to unbearable. What...

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