Post by jackh on Dec 22, 2008 16:21:58 GMT 1
It only feels like yesterday that we were moving to the end of 2007 and moving in 2008. But this year is nearly coming to a close.
And what a remarkable and surprising year 2008 has been, especially within the transport industry.
The industry has faced some large hurdles within the last 12 months due to the rise in the cost of fuel during the summer. But most recent of all, the economic downturn across the World. This has resulted in operating companies having to raise fares to cover increased operating costs. It has even resulted in companies folding over the spiraling costs. The major casualty been Excel airline company.
Initially, it looked like that land based transportation would be resilient to the economic downturn. However it has proved otherwise with National Express East Coast making redundancies withing the company and of course, the decision made by First UK Bus to centralise the management of the West Yorkshire bus business. This in the hope to reduce operational overheads which would in turn, reduce the burden on fare paying passengers.
The transport industry still has much to gain though as some people will switch from private transport onto public transport. However, companies will have to work at luring people onto buses and trains. Stagecoach looks to be the company who is set to achieve the most growth through the recession.
Looking at the bus industry, it has been an eventful year. The main surprise was that of Centrebus' entrance into West Yorkshire through the surprise takeover of Stagecoach's Huddersfield depot which looked like Arriva was set to buy. Then their second acquisition of Teamdeck. This making Centrebus the second largest operator in Huddersfield.
Another surprise takeover was Transdev's acquisition of Top Line Travel and subsequently the takeover of Veolia's bus operations in York which was managed by TLT's Peter Dew. By this point, it looked like no acquisition could appear to be simple!
This year had also seen the introduction of the controversial nationwide free travel scheme for people over 60 and the disabled. Many operators were worried over the rates of reimburse from the Government.
There has also been losses in the industry close to home. First of all came South Yorkshire Motors closing down overnight. Then later on in the year, Red Arrow of Huddersfield and Lyle coaches of Batley. All of them struggled to face the increased fuel bills.
We had also seen the sad loss of Brian Crowther, the owner of Black Prince of Morley. An enthusiast himself, he will be missed by all.
On a more positive note, it appears the tide has started to turn for the fortunes of Arriva Yorkshire. The much delayed Darwen Olympuses finally entered service in the spring. However the major news was the vacant MD post being filled by Nigel Featham who was behind the revamp of Warrington Borough Transport.
Heckmondwike has benefited greatly this year by Arriva's investment in new buses with the new B7RLEs for the 254/255 and the new Enviros for the 268.
Arriva also started to embark on a refurbishment programme of the Alexander ALX300s including a repaint, back rebuild and internal refurbishment.
Over to West Yorkshire's largest operator, First. Of course, the major news from them is the centralisation of management as already mentioned which sees Dave Alexander from Transdev to head the company.
First have continued to invest in the area with just under 50 Geminis entering service in Bradford along with the much awaited upgrade of the buses used on the Scott Hall road corridor in Leeds. Over in York, more single deckers have entered service in the city on the 6 service along with an upgrade on the Park & Ride services.
The highlight for Transdev Blazefield will be winning the City Bus Operator of the year award at the UK Bus awards for the Keighley & District operations. Transdev have also continued with their modest investment in new buses seeing 8 new single deckers for Keighley and making Coastliner a complete decker operation with the arrival of 10 Geminis.
In the rail industry. It sees the new rail franchises completing their first year of operation. Cross Country are well into their repaint programme and have improved capacity on their route through the area.
Grand Central have now overcome their teething troubles with problems over rolling stock which had caused significant unreliability to their services. However, they're looking to expand further.
For Northern, we have seen changes to the network with the new hourly Nottingham Leeds service which has increased capacity between Nottingham and Sheffield and Sheffield and Leeds.
Capacity has also been improved on the Caldervale Line with faster journey times on some trains and improved links created with the extension of the Leeds, Brighouse, Hebden Bridge train to Manchester Victoria.
Looking towards 2009, there is more to look forward to. More new buses entering service from Arriva and First. Both of which will be run by the rising stars on the industry.
Metro will be making advancements on their proposals for transport inprovements in the county. However, all of this is dependent on Transport Innovation Funding which looking across the Pennines in Manchester, the public have rejected the TIF proposals which would come with a peak time congestion charge. Could this see plans scrapped for TIF proposals in West Yorkshire.
Here at Travel West Yorkshire, we will be here to discuss the oncoming challenges that the industry face in the future along with continued improvements being made.
The forum it self has undergone a few major changes in the past twelve months. Back in July, under SYT Forum ownership, the forum was renamed to West Yorkshire Transport Forum with a host of changes made. The main one being it closed off and only registered members can view the boards. This was highly successful in attracting new members who were previously just guests.
Five months down the line, the decision was made for West Yorkshire Transport Forum to become seperate from the SYT Group. On November 1st, the forum was renamed back to Travel West Yorkshire and to be under full control from Craig and myself.
Finally, I would like to take the opportunity now to wish all members a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. At the same time, I would like to thank members for their continued input on the forum and for the new members who have joined us this year, thanks for joining in and contributing. Keep it up! Afterall, it is you, the members who make the forum and determine its success.
Jack Hollington
Forum Owner
And what a remarkable and surprising year 2008 has been, especially within the transport industry.
The industry has faced some large hurdles within the last 12 months due to the rise in the cost of fuel during the summer. But most recent of all, the economic downturn across the World. This has resulted in operating companies having to raise fares to cover increased operating costs. It has even resulted in companies folding over the spiraling costs. The major casualty been Excel airline company.
Initially, it looked like that land based transportation would be resilient to the economic downturn. However it has proved otherwise with National Express East Coast making redundancies withing the company and of course, the decision made by First UK Bus to centralise the management of the West Yorkshire bus business. This in the hope to reduce operational overheads which would in turn, reduce the burden on fare paying passengers.
The transport industry still has much to gain though as some people will switch from private transport onto public transport. However, companies will have to work at luring people onto buses and trains. Stagecoach looks to be the company who is set to achieve the most growth through the recession.
Looking at the bus industry, it has been an eventful year. The main surprise was that of Centrebus' entrance into West Yorkshire through the surprise takeover of Stagecoach's Huddersfield depot which looked like Arriva was set to buy. Then their second acquisition of Teamdeck. This making Centrebus the second largest operator in Huddersfield.
Another surprise takeover was Transdev's acquisition of Top Line Travel and subsequently the takeover of Veolia's bus operations in York which was managed by TLT's Peter Dew. By this point, it looked like no acquisition could appear to be simple!
This year had also seen the introduction of the controversial nationwide free travel scheme for people over 60 and the disabled. Many operators were worried over the rates of reimburse from the Government.
There has also been losses in the industry close to home. First of all came South Yorkshire Motors closing down overnight. Then later on in the year, Red Arrow of Huddersfield and Lyle coaches of Batley. All of them struggled to face the increased fuel bills.
We had also seen the sad loss of Brian Crowther, the owner of Black Prince of Morley. An enthusiast himself, he will be missed by all.
On a more positive note, it appears the tide has started to turn for the fortunes of Arriva Yorkshire. The much delayed Darwen Olympuses finally entered service in the spring. However the major news was the vacant MD post being filled by Nigel Featham who was behind the revamp of Warrington Borough Transport.
Heckmondwike has benefited greatly this year by Arriva's investment in new buses with the new B7RLEs for the 254/255 and the new Enviros for the 268.
Arriva also started to embark on a refurbishment programme of the Alexander ALX300s including a repaint, back rebuild and internal refurbishment.
Over to West Yorkshire's largest operator, First. Of course, the major news from them is the centralisation of management as already mentioned which sees Dave Alexander from Transdev to head the company.
First have continued to invest in the area with just under 50 Geminis entering service in Bradford along with the much awaited upgrade of the buses used on the Scott Hall road corridor in Leeds. Over in York, more single deckers have entered service in the city on the 6 service along with an upgrade on the Park & Ride services.
The highlight for Transdev Blazefield will be winning the City Bus Operator of the year award at the UK Bus awards for the Keighley & District operations. Transdev have also continued with their modest investment in new buses seeing 8 new single deckers for Keighley and making Coastliner a complete decker operation with the arrival of 10 Geminis.
In the rail industry. It sees the new rail franchises completing their first year of operation. Cross Country are well into their repaint programme and have improved capacity on their route through the area.
Grand Central have now overcome their teething troubles with problems over rolling stock which had caused significant unreliability to their services. However, they're looking to expand further.
For Northern, we have seen changes to the network with the new hourly Nottingham Leeds service which has increased capacity between Nottingham and Sheffield and Sheffield and Leeds.
Capacity has also been improved on the Caldervale Line with faster journey times on some trains and improved links created with the extension of the Leeds, Brighouse, Hebden Bridge train to Manchester Victoria.
Looking towards 2009, there is more to look forward to. More new buses entering service from Arriva and First. Both of which will be run by the rising stars on the industry.
Metro will be making advancements on their proposals for transport inprovements in the county. However, all of this is dependent on Transport Innovation Funding which looking across the Pennines in Manchester, the public have rejected the TIF proposals which would come with a peak time congestion charge. Could this see plans scrapped for TIF proposals in West Yorkshire.
Here at Travel West Yorkshire, we will be here to discuss the oncoming challenges that the industry face in the future along with continued improvements being made.
The forum it self has undergone a few major changes in the past twelve months. Back in July, under SYT Forum ownership, the forum was renamed to West Yorkshire Transport Forum with a host of changes made. The main one being it closed off and only registered members can view the boards. This was highly successful in attracting new members who were previously just guests.
Five months down the line, the decision was made for West Yorkshire Transport Forum to become seperate from the SYT Group. On November 1st, the forum was renamed back to Travel West Yorkshire and to be under full control from Craig and myself.
Finally, I would like to take the opportunity now to wish all members a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. At the same time, I would like to thank members for their continued input on the forum and for the new members who have joined us this year, thanks for joining in and contributing. Keep it up! Afterall, it is you, the members who make the forum and determine its success.
Jack Hollington
Forum Owner