Plymouth ‘bus war’?

Plymouth CityBus have today (Monday 28 July) extended the company’s service 26 between Plymouth and Saltash to serve the Latchbrook housing area, in direct competition with First Devon and Cornwall ‘Ugobus’ route 1A.

The municipal bus operator has previously commenced new bus services in Barne Barton and Saltash, in direct competition with First Devon and Cornwall – these two communities were previously unserved by Plymouth CityBus.

Will First Devon and Cornwall retaliate? – or is the company’s management ‘distracted’ by the recent Truronian acquisition?

Travel plans for railway stations

The Association of Train Operating Companies (ATOC) has announced that travel plans are to be drawn up for three railway stations in South West England in attempt to encourage customers to arrive by non-car modes – the three stations are Bristol Parkway, Digby and Sowton and Truro.

Feasibility work is to be funded by ATOC, Passenger Focus and the Rail Safety and Standards Board, with the objective of implementing the agreed measures from April 2009.

South West Trains to install more automated gates

South West Trains has announced that automated ticket gates will be introduced at Bournemouth and Salisbury railway stations between September 2008 and May 2009.

Traffic Commissioner takes action against South West operators

First Hampshire and Dorset has been fined £25,080 by the Traffic Commissioner for the Western Traffic Area, Sarah Bell, for poor punctuality and reliability. The operators licence of Roselyn Coaches has been suspended for fourteen days from Friday 1 August 2008 to Thursday 14 August 2008 inclusive.

South East Dorset Multi-modal study

Consultant Atkins has been selected by a partnership of councils and government agencies, including Bournemouth and Poole unitary councils, Dorset County Council, the Highways Agency, Government Office for the South West, South West Regional Assembly and South West Regional Development Agency, to undertake a multi-modal study to identify a long-term strategy and identify a package of improvements for South East Dorset – it is expected that the study will be completed by the end of 2009.

Rail Community Officers deployed in the South West

A new team of Rail Community Officers (RCOs), trained jointly by the British Transport Police and South West Trains, will be based at Bournemouth to enforce railway byelaws and to provide support and assistance to customers and staff to ensure that travelling by train is as safe as possible.

Transport-related multi area agreements

Bournemouth and Poole unitary authorities, together with Dorset County Council, have become the first councils in South West England to sign a transport-related multi-agency agreement (MAA) with the Government.

MAAs are intended to give councils greater freedoms in return for pledging a local partnership approach to tackling key challenges.

And finally (1),

The North West Rail Campaign, established in 2003 by a consortium of public and private stakeholders, is advertising for a Campaign Director, to work two and a half days per week for an annual salary of £30k.

And finally (2),

How long does it take a bus operator to update timetables on the company’s website? – more than six months, if the bus operator is Wilts and Dorset. Revised timetables were introduced on Wilts and Dorset services 26 (Salisbury – Hindon/Shaftesbury via Tisbury) and 27 (Salisbury – Shaftesbury via) from 7 January 2008, but the company’s website is still stating that ‘this information is being updated’, over six months later!