Category Archives: Site news

There was a time when public transport musings found their way onto my hillwalking blog but that has changed for a few years now. A posting regarding being crammed into a Transpennine Express train while travelling to and from Edinburgh was the catalyst for that alteration and this outpost on the web came into being when I decided that a not so pleasant travel tale didn’t belong on there.

While that may have been how things happened, there are more than enough public transport rants to go around so that isn’t what I am trying to do here. Yes, there will be constructive criticism where it’s needed but I also to share the good stuff too. After all, those battling congestion in the cars on busy roads could do with knowing that there might a valid alternative.

An ulterior motive has come into being too. The current economic malaise and a diminished public exchequer is having an effect on subsidisation of and investment in public transport and not in a good way in many places. With that in mind, I want to try in my own small way to share the bus and train travel options that are out there as well as any developments, either positive or negative.

With that backdrop, I plan to continue sharing latest happenings and experiences, telling about things as I find them. Complementing those dispatches are  directories of places on the web where public transport information is to be found. They include journey planning services along with local councils and other transport authorities along with bus and train companies. Complementing all that lot are lists of rural, urban and interurban bus services, and their timetables, that you may find useful.

It looks as if we might be living in more interesting times at the moment and there’s a sense that public transport funding needs defending too. The Campaign for Better Transport is doing its bit but it cannot act alone either. Seeing the outcome of the Forestry Commission controversy should be some cause for hope when it comes to fighting for what is needed. Of course, if we don’t know what’s there, then we’ll never know what we are losing and that’s one of the reasons why I keep up this website. It’s a time for vigilance, methinks…

It’s been a year since this edifice was begun and occasional contributions have sputtered in here from time to time. Though economic conditions have been challenging, there haven’t been too many setbacks for public transportation yet. However, 2010 could see changes with an expected change in the U.K.’s government and what that might bring. Everywhere you care to look, there are sirens wailing about the need for cuts in public spending but let’s hope that doesn’t have to go too far. Largely, bus and train operators do their job well but that will could be tested in the not too distant future. My only hope is that any rough edges already seen won’t become rougher; it would be a pity to lose the progress that has been made over the last few years. Fighting to keep what’s been gained might become unavoidable but let’s see how it goes.