Abellio Shows High Opinion Of Poles

Bus operator Abellio seems to have ignited the fury of several of the tabloids after it was revealed that the company had flown bosses all the way to Poland in search of drivers for its London buses.

The Daily Mail criticised the company – which, it pointed out, is subsidiary of the Dutch state rail operator – for turning to Poland to recruit 51 London bus drivers when almost two and a half million Britons are currently on the dole.

Abellio claimed it could find no suitable candidates in Britain – though an insider at the firm reckoned to have known several fellow drivers who had been interviewed and turned down for the jobs.

And another anonymous driver told The Sun, “The Routemaster will soon be back in the capital. What a shame if British drivers miss out on the chance to drive it.”

The combination of much-loved British transport icon and 'migrant steals British job' story was one the tabloids obviously couldn't resist and poor old Abellio took a bit of pasting. For it's part, the company said that it's trip to Poland was simply to '... supplement recruitment in the UK' and they successfully recruited 51 experienced bus drivers there.

'We are not aware of any occasion where a suitable candidate has been turned away,' they added, suggesting that they'd felt the British candidates they'd previously turned away had simply not been up to scratch.

All of which prompted the usual inflammatory statements about migrants 'stealing' jobs from British workers. The Daily Mail seized the opportunity to quote figures suggesting that 160,000 Britons have missed out on paid employment because the work was taken by 'foreigners', and that according to 'experts' every four migrant workers who come to the Britain from outside the EU leads to one British job being lost.

As ever, the truth in one form or other will be in there somewhere, though I suspect this probably says more about the challenge of living in London on a relatively low wage and little affordable housing. How anyone manages to live there I just can't understand – but I can understand how a British family might baulk at the kind of sacrifices they'd be required to make just to allow their husbands or wives to drive a London bus.

And I doubt whether even the Daily Mail has an answer to that one.

First Reveals A Worrying North-South Divide

We may not quite be in economic recession, but these are still troubling times for many of Britain's bus operators.

First Group are the latest to broadcast their woes after they announced this week that they are to withdraw all their bus services in Bury St Edmunds from March this year.

The bus operator announced its intention to cease running all services in the town because they have not been 'commercially viable' for some time. The company points to a reduction in their Bus Service Operators Grant as one reason for their decision.

First's Bury St Edmunds depot will close at the end of March and staff will be offered alternative employment at First’s Ipswich depot.

Its problems in the south of England are nothing to the challenges the Aberdeen-based company says it is facing in Scotland and Northern England – where 60% of the company's non-London revenue comes from. This week, First Group blamed a weak economy and lower consumer spending in the north for what it says is growing evidence of a north-south divide.

As well as falling consumer spending, the company has also been hampered by poor market conditions which have made the sale of major assets such as bus depot sites much more difficult.

First will no doubt be cheered by the view across the Atlantic, though, where their American school bus business continues to show promise and where their Greyhound inter-city coach operation is continuing to show modest growth.

Chinese Whispers As Arriva Turns East

Arriva’s announcement that it was intending to work alongside Chinese bus builder King Long to develop new buses must have come as a bit of a shock to British manufacturers.

Competition between the three main British bus builders is already intense, so the propsect of an existing major client helping a new foreign rival to enter their market must have made unwelcome news.

It’s also a slightly odd decision, according to some. Chinese buses have tended to be a less sophisticated than their European counterparts, they say, and while the Chinese seem to use all the right bits, they somehow still manage to produce vehicles which are a shade less than the sum of their parts.

Mind you, they said exactly the same about the Japanese back in the early 1970’s, and about Skoda a lot more recently than that. And look where they are now.

So what’s in it for Arriva? Well, their explanation is that while most of their fleet currently comes from British and European manufacturers, they are keen to evaluate the potential of King Long in other markets. The company seems anxious not to alienate British and European manufacturers – but the sub-text is clearly that Arriva is looking for cheaper buses and they might not be averse to going all the way to China to get them.

King Long have clearly spotted an opportunity, too. This is a massive bus manufacturer but one that is well aware of its limitations. They understand that to support any expansion into the European market, they would need to improve both build quality and mechanical reliability to meet European expectations. A working relationship with Arriva would give King Long some valuable insights into what a European bus operator was looking for and, potentially, enable them to substantially raise their game.

So will we see Chinese buses bearing the Arriva livery on British roads anytime soon, as they already do in Malta? Well, probably not - not unless King Long find a way of producing Euro-quality buses cheaper than the Europeans.

But whose to say that, in time, they won’t…

Only Two British Bus Builders Left – So What?

When Leeds-based bus manufacturer Optare handed over the reins of their own company to the Indian manufacturer Ashok Leyland, there were some who were ready to see this as further evidence of Britain's apparent inability to invest in British industry.

You can see their point. The past thirty years have seen the extinction of a host of familiar bus marques - AEC, Bristol, Daimler, Duple, MCW, Leyland to name but six. Commer has gone, so has Foden, in fact Britain's motor industry as a whole is a mere shadow of its former self. All the Leyland brands – Morris, Austin, Riley, Wolseley, Vandan Plas and the rest - have vanished, and those that remain are either in the hands of the Germans (the Mini), the Chinese (MG Rover) or the Indians (Jaguar and Land Rover). Honda, Toyota, Peugeot and Nissan all build cars in Britain, but Ford doesn’t anymore.

So this latest off-shoring of British industry thanks to Ashok Leyland's canny acquisition last week of a further 50% to add to its existing 25% stake in Optare means that there are now only two major wholly-British bus manufacturers left – Wrightbus and Alexander Dennis.

But is this a bad thing?

Well, not for the Optare workers it's not. After months and months of uncertainty, the executives and the workers on the shop floor can both now see some semblance of financial stability and, blessed with owners who have clear international ambitions, the Optare team are probably expecting new orders, and plenty of them, to shortly follow.

For its part, Ashok Leyland have said they will be seeking to help Optare to improve its productivity by sourcing materials on a global basis – something which comes as second nature to a global company like Ashok Leyland - and through investment in new models.

And Indian investment in the UK automotive sector is certainly nothing new. Take Tata, for example, who have been quietly and efficiently running Jaguar and Land Rover for some time now. There's been not the slightest hint of the asset-stripping, only good and careful business, confirming the view that Indian investors are generally content to take a longer term view of their investments. And hurrah for that.

For the moment, the Optare website is snugly nestled on the home page of the Ashok Leyland website. They seem proud of their acquisition. I don't expect that to change any time soon.

All told, I have the distinct impression that Yorkshire-built Optare buses are going to be around for quite a bit longer...

No Desire for StreetCars in York

With bendy buses now expunged from the capital by its Conservative mayor, it seems that a Labour-controlled city a little further north is now seeking to do the same with its bendy buses – only this time, its operator may be fighting back.

York City Council voted last May not to renew its five-year contract with First for the Number 4 service, which operates between the University and Acomb using the articulated and slightly space-age Wright StreetBus vehicles – and referred to in York as ftr's. Instead, the Labour administration - who only came to power last May – stated that they will seek alternatives for the cross-city service, the implication being that the ftr's will suffer the same fate as London's unloved Citaro artics.

Not necessarily, says First. Their regional managing director Dave Alexander insists that First and the council have been privately discussing a range of possible alternative uses for ftr in York, and that nothing has been agreed yet. The company is aware of the Council's lack of enthusiasm for the bulky vehicles, but points out that First does not require permission to operate them in the city and any decision to do so (or not) will be there's and there's alone. So there.

The company also warns that removing the ftr from York could only be done at the cost of 60 local jobs – all of them voters, presumably - before finally taking a bit of a swipe at the council for blabbing about discussions that First considered to be private.

Now, few people would argue that the undeniably-glamorous ftr is not exactly purpose-made for medieval York. The ftr is meant to be a sleek high-volume rapid transit vehicle but the city's tight and twisty streets put a serious crimp in that. In fact, evening and Sunday services are generally operated by conventional buses with better fuel economy than the heavier ftr's.

But is the end in sight for York's bendies? Well, probably not. First's other fleet of bendies – including Citaros - continue to give good service on the city's park and ride services and its possible that if nothing else then the ftr's might in time find work there.

Whatever happens, though, it seems First certainly won't be giving in without a fight.

Bus Plus Car - But Without the Car

Bus operator Go North East's latest initiative seems to resurrect the whole concept of integrated transport - but in a wholly new and unexpected way.

No, they are not through-ticketing with the Tyne and Wear Metro or timetabling to complement Stagecoach or Arriva services. Instead, they are giving their passengers the chance to experience life without a car - but without actually having to be without a car.

Go Ahead's Key Lifestyle promotion offers a useful 15 per cent discount on all bus fares and, in addition, includes free membership to Commonwheels, a vehicle hire firm with cars that can be hired for as little as 30 minutes at a time. This means if you really have to use a car then you can get one - but you only have to pay for the time you actually drive it.

Free membership is worth £25, plus you get another £25 worth of driving credit on top. With typical hire rates being about £4 an hour, that should give you enough for a couple of free hires.

And if you don't fancy driving, Go Ahead will give you free membership of Newcastle’s self-service bike hire system Scratch Bikes instead. This is similar to London's public bike sharing scheme and again is worth £25. In addition, Key Lifestyle members also receive a discounted rate on the two-hour rental fee, which means it would cost just 20p to complete your journey by bike.

This is a neat and imaginative scheme which seems to be pressing all the right environomental buttons. What the take-up will be is anyone's guess, but it seems to offer the best of three worlds. I like it.

Will it be enough to persuade the petrol heads to abandon their Type-R's and their four-by-fours? Perhaps not. But it clearly offers normal people a few more options – and it might even persuade some that they don't need to own a car all.

Putting You On Hold

Well, the book of the trip - tentatively called 'Bus Stop Britain' -is written, but unlike the bus journey on which the whole thing is based, its much too long. So, we are now into a period of re-writes and edits and I’m now intending - well, hoping anyway - to have the whole thing completed by the summer.

But that’s the easy bit. Actually getting it published is an altogether different proposition. Children’s author Terry Deary reckons that only 2% of all the manuscripts submitted to publishers ever see the light of day, so the chances of ‘Bus Stop Britain’ being accepted by a publisher seem no better than 50 to one.

However, I know from your comments that many of you are straining at the leash to read the story of my bus journey from Land’s End to John O’Groats, so I can only hope that I can happen upon a publisher who is equally keen to see it in print.

In the meantime, I’ve decided to update my blog with some of the many bus-related news stories that come my way. When I first decided to write my book, I began sourcing bus-related news stories from all around the world, with the result that my email inbox is now habitually full of them.

So I’m going to start picking out some of the more interesting ones, the odd ones and the downright bizarre and posting them to this blog. I hope you enjoy reading them.

Well, at least it will give you something else to read whilst I try to finish this darned book…!