Buses back on Bath Street?

Ilkestoninans are to be consulted by Erewash Borough Council on whether or not buses should run through the pedestrian zone on Bath Street in the town centre.

The move follows exploratory talks with trent barton which considered the feasibility of sending our rainbow 2 (Cotmanhay – Ilkeston – Nottingham) service up the Bath Street hill between the Albion Centre and the Market Place.

Despite local campaigning, buses were excluded from the pedestrian zone in 1994, since when the town has visibly declined.  The latest casualty has been the closure of Morrisons Supermarket in the Albion Centre – a significant blow for a town which once even boasted its own Marks and Spencer.   Many traders fear that Ilkeston has become a town of two halves now that there is no public transport from the Albion Centre to the Market Place on such a steep hill.

Head of Communications Melvyn Hopwood said:

“I very much doubt that the 1994 decision to exclude buses would be made in these days of more enlightened public transport thinking.

“One thing for is for sure – bus travel in Ilkeston fell by over 20% overnight when the pedestrian zone opened and buses were excluded from the town centre.  Since then a number of key bus routes have perished (the 25 being the latest) – and our success has come more from taking people away from Ilkeston to Nottingham or Derby. That’s OK, but people don’t tend to make longer journeys as frequently as shorter ones – so we’d prefer to see a healthier demand for the town centre.

“We welcome this approach from the council.  Work would have to be done to make sure that the rainbow 2 could get through safely and without obstruction – almost certainly this would need to be a contract between all parties.

“But before any of that, we have all agreed that buses can only return to Bath Street if it is the majority wish – so the consultation will be an interesting study.

Get real!
Turning Point a farce – City told

Trumpeted as a major breakthrough for public transport in Nottingham, the Turning Point scheme cost a lot of money and caused misery during its construction.  So has it helped public transport?

Well the answer from our operations team is a resounding ‘no’.

Graham Price, Brand Manager for rainbow 1 sums up the frustration:

“It can take as long as 12 – 15 minutes to get from Victoria to the top of Parliament Street in the afternoon peak. We should be well past Western Boulevard in that time.

“The so-called access-only zone is just packed with illegal vehicles, mainly cars.  Try this test:  spend 5 or 6 minutes at the bottom of Milton Street any time of day and count the through cars.  You’ll see about 20.  That’s over 200 per hour and well over 2,000 per average day."

“So a scheme which promised wonders for buses is making things worse for us.  It cost the taxpayer a fortune and it is falling apart for want of a small layout on enforcement.  The approach signing is poor too – it almost encourages motorists in.  The access road needs to be carpeted in a different colour to prohibit unauthorised entry. The signs need to be crystal clear.

“And the supreme irony is that Red Arrow can often get through Nottingham so much more quickly because it actually takes the authorised car route!”

Not taking no for an answer, we have made our case right up to senior level at the Council.  Director of Service Delivery Jeff Counsell said that the City had promised better things later on when new decriminalised enforcement powers became available:

“That’s as may be”, said Jeff, “but it’s not much use to us when we are getting jammed up every day.  And you can bet that they wouldn’t let this happen to the tram. Bus users deserve much better treatment than this.

“They are parading this scheme as a success when it is little short of a farce. We will press on for action.”.

Road layout and signing in Milton Street doesn’t do enough to discourage infringement.

Bus priority? rainbow 1 is held up yet again

Hit for sixes
Customers love new brand

Over 450 customers from the new sixes routes took part in a recent survey to measure how well the new brand had been received.

The sixes were born last Autumn when 12 new single-decker buses in a striking caramel livery entered service our routes linking Derby with the Derwent Valley.

In an independent study conducted by Research and Marketing Associates, customers were given every chance to say what they didn’t like about the change as well as anything they thought was an improvement.

One of the most revealing findings was just how much people liked the new design and livery.  In fact the interior design of the new buses was people’s top improvement of the relaunch, scoring an impressive 73% customer vote. The sixes caramel livery was in close second with 70% whilst the comfort of the ride came next at 67%.

Timetable design is usually controversial, but in this survey 57% of those surveyed thought that the timetable had changed for the better and only 10% thought that it hadn’t.

A crucial part of the relaunch, advocated by the team of drivers, had been using the shorter, ring road route on the way out of Derby, missing out the congested City centre.  This was one of the proposals which we tested very carefully in pre-launch consultation, when Brand Manager Brian Reaney manned phones and email to gauge people’s views on our proposals.

The research proves the new route to have been a good call. 59% of people said that it was a change for the better against just 12% who felt otherwise. Value for Money in overall terms was perceived by customers as having improved by 6% since the last research was done in autumn 2004.

On the negative side, Derby itself was seen as being at a low ebb.  The Full Street terminus for the sixes was seen as a change for the worse by 45% against only 37% who felt otherwise.  Derby was by far and away the most frequently-chosen destination on the sixes, but it is also clear that redevelopment work in the city has been responsible for a temporary reduction in travel.

Commercial Director Ian Morgan said:

“There is evidence of this study that people are putting up with the temporary upheaval in Derby and look forward to travelling more when the work is done.  Our new route out of the city and the relaunch itself has clearly gone down well. This speaks volumes for the detailed consultation work that we did beforehand.

“It’s unusual to get things like livery design scoring at higher levels than more fundamental needs like comfort – but the sixes livery and its promotional material have clearly made a favourable and dramatic impact. Its true to say that the new colour scheme does not suit all tastes and some of our own staff (usually men) have said that they don’t care for it. But its our customers views that count and they clearly like it. Of course two-thirds of our customers are women”.

Cashless bus travel edges closer

Satellite-driven smart card ticketing is set to make trent barton bus travel a whole lot quicker and easier.

A working set up of the TOTO (touch on, touch off) Smart Card system, tailor made for our use, is soon to be demonstrated by German manufacturers INIT.

TOTO is a travel card which you top up with money in advance, from a sales outlet or on line.

Then when you travel by bus, you simply hold the card in front of a reader when you get on and do the same again as you get off – you don’t even need to take it out of your wallet.  The machine uses satellite (GPS) technology to work out where the bus is, and charges you the right fare for your journey – deducting discounts for regular travellers.  A screen shows you the transaction details.

Thanks to an industry study tour, trent barton has learned from a similar project already operating in Singapore that the technology can be made to work reliably – and offers tremendous benefits to bus customers, because it greatly speeds up transaction times, leading to better timekeeping and reliability.  What’s more, every smartcard customer can be offered individual loyalty discounts to match their travel patterns. Within two years, almost 9 out of every 10 Singaporian bus transactions is by ‘ezCard’, journeys are quicker and it can now be used for retail purchases as well as a discount and membership card. The advantage of not having to find cash for every bus journey is much appreciated by users – and of course it can be paid for and topped up by credit card.

Bus fares normally go in 10p multiples to allow for the fact that too many fares and change-giving are time consuming.  But with smart cards, the fares (and subsequent increases)can be priced to the penny.

If the test-bench trial is successful, TOTO could be up and running on a major trent barton route within a year.

The case for congestion charging

You can have as much quality public transport as you like, but it will still grind to a halt in gridlocked city centres unless there are also controls on car use.

A good case study can be found on the other side of the world in Kuala Lumpur and Singapore.

Both have modern and plentiful public transport systems comprising thousands of good quality buses, trains, trams – even a monorail.

But the KL streets can grind to a halt for hours at a time at the drop of a hat, whilst in Singapore you can set your watch by the buses, trams and trains.

The difference is that there are no motoring controls in KL, but in Singapore, road charging has been in place since 1998.  Today, no vehicle is allowed in unless fitted with a meter to automatically deduct the congestion charge.

So the motorist has a choice as to whether to drive in the busiest places at the busiest times – and there is a cost for doing so.  Public transport is a cheaper option – and has reaped the massive benefit of reliable timekeeping thanks to clutter free streets.

In KL, much like most other big cities, your journey is a lottery – there’s no saying when you’ll get there – or sometimes, if you will at all!

Did you know?

trent barton buses cover around 18 MILLION miles every year.

That’s a lot of rubber on the road…but like most bus companies, although the wheels belong to us, we don’t actually own a single tyre!
This also means that when we put buses on the secondhand market after a few years in front line service – the tyres aren’t ours to sell.

We leave it to the experts.  Our tyres are supplied, checked, maintained and replaced under contract by the manufacturers themselves.

This costs us just over 1.7p per mile, which sounds like cheap motoring -until you do the maths!

Maggie and Ian keep it at Langley Mill

Record-breaking Maggie Fox has broken through even further by taking Driver of the Month in March and two commendations in April.

This puts rainbow 1’s Maggie straight back into contention for the title which she has already won twice and was runner-up for in 2005.

Ian Grebby kept the honours at Langley Mill for April, receiving a certificate and £100 cheque for his good work on route 21. Ian is no stranger to the awards platform either – having also been a previous runner-up for the Driver of the Year title.

March commendations went to Derby drivers John Saint and Anthony Quinn – and to Steve Allwood and Gary Mellors from Langley Mill.

Stuart Wardle and Bill Hayes from Broadmarsh joined previous Driver of the Month Paul Storey from Langley Mill on the April commendations list.

Special commendation for Kevin

Broadmarsh driver Kevin Allen kept a cool head when he spotted trouble ahead on his late night bus to Bingham one Tuesday in May.

A serious accident had just happened ahead of him on the A52, so quick-thinking Kevin positioned his bus to help prevent further mishap, summoned the emergency services and made sure that his customers had alternative transport safely home.  Kevin even provided taxi fares for those who needed them.

His good work has earned him a personal letter of commendation from Director of Service Delivery, Jeff Counsell who said:

“The trent barton reputation as a caring, professional company can only be enhanced by Kevin’s actions.  We’re proud of him”.

Dave and Glen slip into something comfortable…
…and raise over a grand for charity

Many an entertaining story of what trent barton people get up to in their spare time has appeared in these newsletters before now.

For Dave Richardson and Glen Gregory from Broadmarsh, Thursday April 16th was a matter of having their hair permed and slipping into women’s clothing before parading in front of 150 people at the Bestwood Road Sports and Social Club.

In an Easter pantomime performance of Cinderella, Dave took the role of Gertrude and Glen played Buttons.

Their good work helped to raise over £1,000 for the Nottinghamshire Royal Society for the Blind.

Suits you sir.  Dave (left) and Glen in their best frocks.