The Anonymous Widower

The Green Shift: Zero Emission Buses Could Lure Millions Onto Public Transport

The title of this post, is the same as that of this press release from Go-Ahead Group.

December 10, 2022 - Posted by | Energy, Hydrogen, Transport/Travel | , , , , , , , , , ,

13 Comments »

  1. Best way to attract people onto buses is to have a competitive fare system like you receive in London. I live in Surrey and the fares horrendous as im not of bus pass age yet. Im less than a mile from station and its 2.70 oh and buses packin at 2000 as well. So basically only oaps and school children use them.

    Comment by Nicholas Lewis | December 10, 2022 | Reply

  2. Could the fact that Class 710 have about 50% more seating than the Class 172 and have more standing room have anything to do with it?

    Comment by fammorris | December 10, 2022 | Reply

    • Possibly, but the 172s were always pretty packed.

      But it’s a 67 % swing.

      Comment by AnonW | December 10, 2022 | Reply

  3. Don’t get me started about buses and Surrey, I live in Guildford where Arriva walked away from their contract and Stagecoach have tried running a pared down service using drivers with no route knowledge and who are being shipped in from London and Swindon.

    Comment by fammorris | December 10, 2022 | Reply

    • One of my friends used to run one of the bus concessions in London (Not Arriva or Stagecoach) Very interesting to talk to, but I suspect running a concession was a very draining job. He’s now on a gap year round the world.

      I think the problems in London could be down partly to the electricity network, not being strong enough to support all the capital’s needs. Khan makes it worse by not producing a hydrogen policy.

      Looking at the spec for the latest Wrightbus hydrogen bus with my friend, it shows that they are far superior than electric, when you want to run a real service.

      London and I suspect, a large number of bus companies have a driver shortage.

      On the Underground, a proportion of the drivers are couples and TfL shift patterns are arranged to be parent friendly. This helps with the driver shortage. If you have long-range buses, you could probably make much better use of your buses and run better schedules.

      I was scheduling container ships in the early seventies and there was always problems.

      Perhaps we should have driverless trams and trains, as they’re the only ones that can be safely automated.

      Comment by AnonW | December 10, 2022 | Reply

  4. Here in Manchester Stagecoach introduced hybrid buses in 2012 and battery buses in 2019. In this picture: –
    https://www.alamy.com/manchester-piccadilly-bus-station-stagecoach-buses-at-the-bus-stops-including-the-new-green-livery-centricas-electric-vehicle-image452751205.html
    you can see traditional diesel buses in old and new livery, a hybrid bus (dark green) and a battery bus (lime green).

    Imminent re-municpalisation of the buses has already driven First out of Greater Manchester, Stagecoach hiked fares pre-emptively and Arriva now only run five routes.

    Comment by R. Mark Clayton | December 11, 2022 | Reply

  5. First got out of London’s buses, when Hendy put some professionalism into TfL.

    I was on a Manchester bus ten years ago and I was surprised at the harassment the driver got from youths mainly after the money. So I remarked to the guy next to me, that it was disgusting and we never saw it in London anymore.
    He turned out to be a bus union rep and said that they’d been asking for something like Oyster, as since it’s been on the buses in London, it’s cut attacks on staff.

    So has Manchester got contactless ticketing on the buses yet?

    They also need decent bus maps like London, so visitors can find their way around the city.

    Are Manchester’s buses two door, like London’s as this speeds up loading and unloading especially with wheelchairs and buggies.

    I was on a London bus recently where there were two big buggies in the wheelchair space.

    A guy in a wheelchair needed to get on.

    Because the wheelchair ramp is in the middle door, the buggies didn’t have to pass the wheelchair on the bus.

    The driver put the ramp down.

    The buggies were wheeled out to wait for the next bus, as the pushers knew the rules.

    The guy in the wheelchair was pushed in.

    The ramp was raised and off we went.

    It should be the law, that all buses should have two doors and a middle ramp.

    Most of London’s single deckers are also two door.

    It stops arguments.

    Comment by AnonW | December 11, 2022 | Reply

  6. Could you point me to a ‘decent’ London bus map?

    Comment by JohnC | December 12, 2022 | Reply

    • I was annoyed when TfL stopped producing physical maps showing all bus services running in Greater London and replaced them with their Spider Maps that you can find online on the TfL website. The only replacement map that seems to be close is one privately produced. It’s on sale online at https://www.busmap.co.uk/downloads
      and at the London Transport Museum, Covent Garden Piazza, London WC2E 7BB – Tel : 0343 222 5000

      Comment by fammorris | December 12, 2022 | Reply

  7. The spider maps at individual bus stops are best, but they’re not always there and they can be a bit variable under Khan. They are available online.

    https://tfl.gov.uk/maps_/bus-spider-maps

    If I’m going to an area, I don’t know, I often search Google Map for where I’m going and find the bus stop I need.

    I then look up the bus routes at the stop and see where they connect to the Underground, Overground and railways.

    Comment by AnonW | December 12, 2022 | Reply

  8. Poor old Khan, he gets the blame for everything. BTW I hardly think that Hendy, whose previous job before becoming Transport Commissioner for London, was as Managing Director for First Buses London and South would be the one to cause First Bus to leave London. First simply realised there were easier ways of making a profit by exploiting the unregulated part of the bus market.

    Comment by fammorris | December 12, 2022 | Reply

  9. Yes, if he gets so involved with the day to day operations of TFL as to include decisions about bus maps I’m surprised he has the time for anything else. My request to be pointed to a ‘decent’ London bus map was a bit facetious as I know the Greater London bus maps are no longer produced by TFL. Spider maps are all very well (if a particular location has one) but do not replace the former and are even less useful since the last redesign. Thanks for reminding me about Mike Harris’ website. I need to get the latest version of his bus map as my current copy is pre-covid.

    Comment by JohnC | December 12, 2022 | Reply

  10. […] The Green Shift: Zero Emission Buses Could Lure Millions Onto Public Transport […]

    Pingback by The Green Shift: Zero Emission Buses Could Lure Millions Onto Public Transport – Ascension Tecsol Global Division of Faith Management Solutions 501c3 | December 18, 2022 | Reply


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