Bus Drivers Fined for Using Wrong Side of the Road

I've previously blogged about motorists using bus lanes illegally and I'm sure we've all had a nice, self-satisfied 'tut-tut-tut' about it.

Take the bus lane in Stoke-on Trent, the abuse of which resulted in 5,600 car drivers receiving penalty tickets, and which was eventually scrapped by the council. I blogged about that one on 21 February, but I've come across others, too.

Like Leeds, where they've had to roll out special CCTV cameras to encourage motorists keep their cars out of the city's bus lanes.

Now, all of this might be construed as being slightly anti-motorist and I have to admit that it certainly looks that way. So I was slightly relieved – and tickled, frankly – to come across a tiny snippet on the This Is Nottingham news website.

If nothing else, it demonstrates that bus drivers are every bit as human as other motorists.

Local police, it seems, have had to warn the city's bus drivers about travelling up the wrong side of a street in the city centre. And it's clearly not a one-off incident.

Police officers were told about this particular problem by members of the public who presumably have witnessed it ad felt compelled to complain. The police have also been speaking to local businesses.

In fact, and this will probably bring a flush of pleasure to all you Jeremy Clarkson's out there, the police have even issued fixed penalty notices on two occasions to bus drivers using Friary Lane in an incorrect fashion.

They have now warned bus companies to make sure their drivers are using the correct side of the road. As if you'd normally have to!

Quite why these drivers are using the wrong side of the road is not mentioned, so I'm now watching out for a bus driver backlash. I'll keep you posted.

Minister Criticised at Bristol Bus Improvements Launch

He was meant to be coming to Bristol to signal the completion of a £79m project to revolutionise bus transport in the city. Instead, he found himself walking straight into some difficult questions about spending cuts.

Transport Minister Norman Baker MP was in Bristol today to help launch a major project which has provided new bus priority lanes, 120 new buses and almost 1,000 new and improved bus stops, many with electronic information displays. The scheme is intended to reduce congestion and improve services for commuters and shoppers.

His department had stumped up almost half the cash with local councils providing the rest, and he might have thought that today's little photo opportunity would be a good chance to show off something positive which the coalition government was doing.

But almost from the start he was having to fend off criticism that his government's cuts were pushing up prices. To be fair, his timing wasn't brilliant.

Next month, the cost which bus companies pay for their fuel will increase dramatically, principally because the government is cutting the Bus Service Operators Grant. The practical effect of that, reckons Justin Davies, regional managing director of First Bus (South West and Wales), is that their fuel costs will rise by 27% effectively overnight.

“We have to be able to recover an element of that price rise in the prices we charge,” he said, acknowledging that fares will inevitably rise.

"We have all seen the price of petrol and diesel going up at the pumps, all we are doing is reflecting those price changes. It's an economic commodity fuel, we have to pay as much as everybody else."

Mr Baker defence sounded familiar. His government, he said, had inherited "a very difficult economic situation from the previous administration", something which government ministers seem to announce frequently and with great regularity. It may be true, but it's beginning to sound lame and a little desperate.

He also said that they'd given 18 months notice of the bus service operators' grant being reduced which he reckoned, rather bizarrely, was sufficient notice to enable bus operators to incorporate the grant cut 'without putting up fares or cutting services'.

Quite how a bus company is meant to absorb a 27% increase in fuel costs without either putting up fares or reducing services wasn't outlined by Mr Baker – but I reckon most bus companies would absolutely love to know the answer to that one.

Bus Firm To Take Legal Action Against Passenger

A bus company has decided to take legal action against a teenage passenger after he was let off with a police caution after assaulting a ticket inspector.

Local press reported yesterday that Edward Cabot (67) was left with a severe black eye and a gash to his head after being punched by a 16-year old boy. His glasses were also smashed in the incident.

The assault happened while the former RAF Military Policeman, who is currently receiving treatment for leukaemia, was working on the Norfolk Green school service in Spalding earlier this month.

The incident started when a teacher travelling on the school service asked the teenager to stop swearing.The teenager carried on being abusive and the teacher told him to get off the bus. The boy then threw a punch which knocked Mr Cabot to the floor.

The boy has since been banned from travelling on all Norfolk Green buses.

The incident was reported to Lincolnshire Police who later decided to let the teenager off with a caution. However, this has so infuriated Norfolk Green that they say they are now planning a private prosecution against the teenager, and are also intending to contact the Independent Police Complaints Commission.

Richard Pengelly, operations director for Norfolk Green, said: “We are disgusted by the police’s reaction to this.

“It seems like the boy has got off scot-free. There was 50 or 60 school children and a teacher who witnessed what happened.

“If a driver or inspector had shouted at a pupil, or assaulted someone, then they would rightly be suspended and action taken.”

“The other children on the bus were marvellous and have written cards to Mr Cabot asking him not to judge all the children like this one boy,” he added.

“When he is better we are hoping that Mr Cabot will be able to go on the school run again to see everyone who helped him.”

While normal Norfolk Green buses are fitted with CCTV cameras on board, the one used by Edward was not.

Lincolnshire Police declined to comment.

Firs Bus Manchester Hit With Massive Fine

After its mauling by traffic commissioner Beverley Bell last month, First Bus in Manchester has now been hit with a £285,000 fine because of its poor time-keeping.

I've previously blogged with the news that First Manchester was summoned to appear before the commissioner in February after an investigation by the Vehicle and Operator Services Agency (VOSA) last year into the company's time-keeping.

It transpired that VOSA's inspectors had been monitoring more than 860 bus journeys in Eccles, Swinton, Worsley, Royton, Trafford and Stalybridge in January and February 2011, and they discovered that some 26 per cent of those buses turned up either late or early.

Bus operators are required to ensure that 95 per cent of their services are no more than one minute early or five minutes late. Under section 155 of the Transport Act 2000 a traffic commissioner is allowed to impose a fine of up to £550 per vehicle on firms that fail to hit that 95 per cent target.

Now, the region’s traffic commissioner has hit the firm with a fine of more than a quarter of a million pounds Beverley Bell after the company was a revealed to have one in five of its buses not running on time. Overall, the company's compliance rate across Greater Manchester was 82.5 per cent.

"The main reason I imposed the penalty was because the operator hadn't done enough to make sure these services ran on time," she said.

"This monitoring was over 12 months ago and yet, as at today's date, the operator was still trying to put measures in place and I didn't think that was enough done quickly enough."

The commissioner said that she could have fined First Bus up to £500,000 but had decided on £285,000 in view of the work it had already done to improve services.

She wanted First "to show over the next three to six months that it is operating properly - and if it isn't, it'll have to come back and see me again".

Clearly a lady not to be messed with....

Bristol Passengers Offered Underwhelming Promise

When is a ‘customer promise’ not really a customer promise?

Bus passengers in Bristol could soon be finding out that it is precisely the sort of customer promise which is now being offered by First Bus.

To help sweeten the pill of their latest fare increases, the company has made a promise to its customers that their bus journey will be free of charge if the bus is more than 20 minutes late. Sounds good, doesn’t it?

Er, well no, not really. Look a little closer and you’ll find that the offer is not quite as generous as it first sounds.

To begin with, it is beholden on the customer to prove it was the company’s fault the bus was not on time. That might not be easy. And then First would only accept liability if their bus failed to arrive because its driver didn’t turn up for work, or the bus had suffered a mechanical breakdown.

In addition, it would not be liable for delays caused by Bristol ’s heavy traffic. Or by road works or road closures. Or bad weather. Or vandalism. Or security alerts. Or industrial action.

Oh, and it doesn’t apply to concessionary pass holders either.

Doesn’t sound quite so good now, eh?

First Bus reckon that their generous new promise “… reflects its increasing confidence in its ability to operate buses more punctually and reliably than ever before”. However, given their offer’s many and complicated limitations, ‘confidence’ is not a word that springs readily to mind. There may be good reason for this.

In January 2011, the Traffic Commissioner levied a fine of £40,000 on First Bus for running late buses. That followed a £50,000 in 2007 and a massive £100,000 in 2005. The company has an unfortunate history of running late buses, so its confidence might justifiably be fairly low.

And when you look a little closer, you’ll find that First Bus are actually legally required by the Traffic Commissioner to ensure that their buses are no more than five minutes late without reasonable excuse anyway – which is way, way above the level of punctuality promised in their ‘customer promise’.

Perhaps it is no surprise that First Bus’ customer promise is being introduced on Sunday, April 1 – April Fool’s Day. But who is the fool?

Well, it might just be First Bus, if their ‘customer promise’ proves to be as big a public relations car crash as it looks set to be. You only have to think about the number of angry passengers who make a claim only to discover that, for any one of a dozen reasons, their claim is not valid to work out that people might feel a little let down by the company’s promise. And that’s bad for business.

Any PR consultant worth their salt will tell you that consumers who receive great service will generally sing your praises to four other people – but will report bad service to at least ten. The imperative to get it right, and rescue it quickly if it goes wrong, should be overwhelming. Again, ‘overwhelming’ is not a word that readily springsto mind. Underwhelming, perhaps…

Local councils aren’t impressed, either. First Bus’ avowed confidence ‘…in its ability to operate buses more punctually and reliably’ has got at least something to do with the £78 million which local councils have invested of bus priority measures in recent years as part of its Greater Bristol Bus Network. That money was spent to get more people onto buses by making bus services more reliable and, in return, it was hoped First would drop its fares.

Yet later this month First Bus will be putting up fares for all day, single and return fares for adults and children.

I reckon First Bus might have a tough job ahead of them. And it’s not likely to get any easier.

Hitler Alive and Well and Living in... West Fife?

Bus drivers sometimes come in for a fair amount of stick – often unfairly. And there’s no denying that nobody likes a surly or belligerent driver.

It’s not often that inspectors come in for a load of stick, though. So I was a little surprised to come across a story about a bus inspector whose demeanour has led to him being referred to either as ‘that inspector from 'On the Buses' (Blakey, I think they mean) or Hitler.

Strong stuff.

This all comes from the case of a six year old from West Fife who apparently was left in floods of tears when the bus inspector – or Hitler, as parents now apparently call him – demanded the little girl’s bus pass.

The incident happened as the kids got on to the bus and, according to one angry mum: "This inspector said to them, 'Where's your pass? If you don't have your pass tomorrow, you'll have to pay. If you don't pay, you won't get on the bus.'

"It was the manner he said it,” she said “It was a totally unacceptable way for him to behave.

"I had just persuaded Amy to start using the school bus and now she's saying she doesn't want to go back on it.

"People like that shouldn't be anywhere near kids if that's how they're going to behave. We don't need Hitlers terrorising young children.

Parents then questioned whether it was a waste of resources putting an inspectors on a bus to check six year-olds bus passes.

Now the school is involved, as well as the local council and Stagecoach, with everybody no doubt trying to take the heat out of the situation and figure out exactly what went on. Whatever happen now, there won’t be any winners.

It’s probably a minor event in the great scheme of things, and its entirely likely that the inspector was not intending to be deliberately intimidating or offensive. Parents are want to be protective of their charges and rightly so, and some can occasionally misconstrue other people’s – especially people in uniforms – intentions. I’m a parent myself – mea culpa.

But this case also underlines how quickly – and possibly unfairly - a reputation can be damaged. Stagecoach will no doubt be ensuring that this particular inspector’s duties keep him busy elsewhere for a while.

Sculptor To Put Bus On Art Gallery Roof for Olympics

One of the most memorable moments in bus-related cimematic history looks set to be celebrated this year as part of Britain's Cultural Olympiad.

"Hang On A Minute Lads, I've Got A Great Idea" is an artwork by Turner Prize-nomininated sculptor Richard Wilson inspired by the 1969 Michael Caine caper movie 'The Italian Job'.

The art installation pays homage to the movie's cliff-hanger finale - where the gang's getaway coach is left balancing on the edge of an Alpine ravine – in a very real sense.

Wilson is to put a bus on the roof of the Grade One-listed De La Warr Pavilion in Bexhill-on-Sea, East Sussex - though instead of blue as in the film, this bus will be painted... (wait for it) in the British team colours of red, white and blue.

Is someone having a joke? Well, probably not - even though comedian and actor Eddie Izzard, who just happens to be Honorary Patron of DLWP, is the exhibit's principal sponsor.

“2012 is the year the Olympics & Paralympic Games return to the United Kingdom and I think this is a perfect time to hang a large bus off the edge of a building in a seaside town,” says Eddie.

“As a huge fan of the classic film “The Italian Job”, I am proud to be the Principal Sponsor of artist Richard Wilson’s 'Hang On A Minute Lads….'.

“By the end of 2012 I would hope that the word goes out from our country that not only do we run excellent world events, but also we balance coaches on the edges of buildings like no one else ever could”.


'Hang On A Minute Lads, I’ve Got A Great Idea…' opens to the public on 7 July 2012 as part of the London 2012 Festival, a 12-week nationwide celebration bringing together leading artists from across the world with the very best from the UK.

And you know you're going to want to see it...!