Council approves sale of Plymouth CityBus

Plymouth City Council has approved, by a majority of seven votes, the sale of Plymouth CityBus to the Go-Ahead Group plc for cash consideration of twenty million and two hundred thousand pounds – completion of the sale is now scheduled to take place on Tuesday 1 December.

Consultant claims that one-operator towns have better bus services

The public transport consultancy, Reseaulutions, has claimed that many towns and cities in the South West of England with a single dominant bus operator appear to enjoy higher levels of service than those locations where two or more operators compete for business – these conclusions arose from a study of bus timetables and National Statistics population data, which analysed walking distance from a bus stop with the frequency of service provided. The study took no account of the impact of competition on fares charged in the locality. Reseaulutions also calculated average bus speeds using the timetable information with route planning software – Barnstaple had high average midday bus speeds, while Exeter and Taunton had bus speeds of below fourteen kilometres per hour.

Treasury puts ‘Kickstart’ on hold?

There are media reports that the Treasury is reviewing the twenty-five million pound ‘Kickstart 2009’ initiative as part of the current review of government spending. The Department for Transport invited bids in January 2009 from local authorities in the South West of England for funding for new or enhanced bus services - bids had to be submitted by the beginning of July and it had been expected that the successful applicants would be announced by 16 December.

CrossCountry seeks economies

The CrossCountry train operating franchise is working on a number of initiatives to reduce costs as revenue growth is approximately twenty-five per cent of the forecast increase at the time of the franchise bid – CrossCountry does not qualify for revenue support from the Department for Transport (DfT) until 2011. CrossCountry has re-let the company’s onboard cleaning contracts and will take catering in-house from next month, following the termination of the current out-sourcing contract with Rail Gourmet. CrossCountry is currently in dispute with Bombardier over the price of diesel fuel for the company’s Voyager trains.

Westbury recycling depot approved

Wiltshire Council has approved the planning application from Network Rail to establish a track recycling depot at Westbury – it is expected that the new facility will recycle up to one hundred and ten thousand concrete sleepers per year and thirty thousand tonnes of rail per annum. Westbury will supply ‘second-hand’ materials to infrastructure projects undertaken by Network Rail in the South West of England. The new facility at Westbury will have one thousand metres of sidings and five acres of concrete hard standing.

Approval for final sub-regional transport studies

The Department of Transport (DfT) has now approved the sixth sub-regional transport studies proposed by South West Councils as part of the ‘Delivering a sustainable transport strategy’ (DaSTS) programme – the sixth approved study is for Bristol, Bath and Weston-super-Mare. The Dft had previously given agreement to five sub-regional studies for Cheltenham/Gloucester, Exeter, South East Dorset, Swindon and Taunton.

People

Charles Belcher, who was managing director of the former train operating company, Wessex Trains, has been appointed to the board of the open access operator, Grand Central.

And finally,

First Great Western is operating a revised timetable on the railway line between Liskeard and Looe on Thursday 17 December, in connection with the Looe Torchlight Parade – the company’s web site advises customers that ‘these alterations to the scheduled timetable are due to essential engineering works being carried out on the railway line’!