Plymouth CityBus preferred bidder named

Plymouth City Council has named Go-Ahead as the preferred bidder to acquire a hundred per cent shareholding in Plymouth CityBus, which is currently owned by the local authority – the final decision on the proposed sale will be taken at a meeting of the full council on Monday 30 November. Plymouth CityBus currently has four hundred and eighty-five staff, a fleet of one hundred and eighty vehicles and an annual turnover in excess of fifteen million pounds. The city council announced in September that it had already received bids for CityBus which were ‘well in excess of ten million pounds’ – the amount of the Go-Ahead bid has not been disclosed, but is expected to be revealed before the council meeting.

First Great Western January 2010 fares changes

First Great Western (FGW) customers face increases of up to sixteen per cent in the prices of certain unregulated fares from Saturday 2 January 2010. Regulated fares, which include season tickets, are linked to the retail prices index and will decrease by 0.4 per cent. Anytime fares will increase by up to 4.3 per cent – for example, the standard class anytime return fare between Bath Spa or Westbury and London Paddington will increase from one hundred and forty-eight pounds to one hundred and fifty-four pounds. The super off-peak and off-peak single fares will increase by up to 16.2 per cent – for example, for standard class single journeys between Pewsey and London Paddington the off-peak fare rises from eighteen pounds and fifty pence to twenty-one pounds and fifty pence and the super off-peak fare rises from fifteen pounds and fifty pence to eighteen pounds. FGW is also withdrawing the ten per cent discount, introduced last September, for purchasing ‘Advance’ tickets for journeys on the company’s train services, which are booked through the FGW web site.

Three South West winners at the UK Bus Awards 2009

There were three winners from South West England at the UK Bus Awards 2009:-

Independent Operator of the Year

Winner: Western Greyhound

(Western Greyhound was also the runner-up for the UK Bus Operator of the Year award)

Shire Operator of the Year

Winner: Transdev Yellow Buses

Young Manager of the Year

Winner: Christina Ratcliffe (Stagecoach South West)

Wareham station crossing

Proposals for a new footbridge at Wareham railway station have been supported by Network Rail – there have been nine near-misses at the current pedestrian crossing this year and eighty incidents during the last four years. The former gated level crossing was closed over twenty years ago when the railway was bridged by a new road, built without any provision for pedestrians. The provision of closed-circuit television, audible announcements and the presence of either a British Transport Police officer or a security attendant has failed to deter misuse.

Council supports re-opening of rail line

Torridge District Council has decided to support the re-opening of the railway line between Barnstaple and Bideford, which was closed in 1965 – the Council has decided initially to seek the backing of Devon County Council and North Devon District Council for the proposal.

People

Paul Furze-Waddock, who led the FirstGroup bid for the existing Great Western franchise, is leaving the company to become the Business Development Director of Virgin Trains.

And finally,

Any ‘Advance’ tickets booked for journeys with First Great Western through the company’s web site currently should have an extra ten per cent discount automatically applied – this discount was not applied to any Advance tickets purchased with a Railcard from Tuesday 13th October to Monday 9th November inclusive!