New buses for Exeter park and ride

A brand new fleet of buses, with leather seats, are operating on the three Exeter park and ride routes from today (Monday 14 December). The thirteen new buses, which carry individual liveries for each of the three park and ride services, have been acquired by Stagecoach South West for two and a half million pounds, with a grant from Devon County Council of seven hundred and twenty-five thousand pounds, which was awarded for exceeding growth targets for public transport passenger numbers. The number of customers using the three Exeter park and ride services has increased by eighty-five per cent over the last five years to over one and a half million individual journeys.

Go-Ahead passenger numbers and revenue increases

Go-Ahead, which owns Plymouth CityBus and Wilts and Dorset in this region, has announced that revenue growth for the company’s bus operations (excluding Greater London) for the twenty-seven weeks to 2 January 2010 is expected to have increased by over seven per cent, which is largely attributable to a five per cent increase in the number of passengers - increased demand has come from both fare paying customers and from concessionary card holders.

Arriva train revenue up

Arriva has announced that passenger revenue for the CrossCountry franchise has increased by 2.1 per cent for the first forty-eight weeks of 2009 – for the thirteen weeks ended 12 December passenger revenue had increased by 6.1 per cent. Arriva states that the revenue growth at CrossCountry and cost savings will be insufficient in the current year to offset the decline in franchise subsidy payments. Passenger revenue growth at Arriva Trains was seven per cent for the first forty-eight weeks of this year.

Torbay Council saves money

First Devon and Cornwall has now agreed to provide the Torbay bus services 64 and 65 (Torbay Hospital – Wellswood via Torquay town centre) without financial subsidy – the two routes had been subsidised for the last five years. Torbay Council was previously paying the bus company eighty-nine thousand pounds a year for the provision of these two bus routes which are operated by two vehicles.

People

Chris Irwin, the chair of TravelWatch SouthWest and vice-chairman of the European Passengers’ Federation, has been appointed as the new chair of the committee of the European Rail Agency (ERA), which is responsible for financial, budgetary and staff-related issues. The ERA, which has over one hundred staff and which is based at Valenciennes in northern France, is responsible for creating a more competitive open market for rail through enhancing the cross-border compatibility of national systems such as rolling-stock, information technology and signalling, and for developing a common approach to safety throughout the European rail network.

And finally,

First Bristol have appealed for people to donate waste cooking oil to ensure that a bus, powered by bio-diesel fuel and nicknamed ‘Chipper’, can continue operating on services within the city – the bus has been operating on one hundred per cent bio-diesel made from waste cooking oil for the last six months, following a conversion costing one thousand pounds.