Go North East bus provider launches bus tickets on your mobile

Go North East bus service provider which operates 660 buses and coaches providing local transport services have introduced as brand new mobile ticketing system which will enable smartphone users to pay for their travel online and display their e-ticket on their phones.

The North East bus and coach transport operator, which transport 72 million passengers every year, has teamed up with the Corethree platform to provide the electronic ticketing facility for bus and coach passengers. The e-tickets will be compatible for use on a wide range of smartphones including iPhone, Blackberry, and Android.

The tickets must be displayed to the driver on the passenger’s phone when boarding each bus or coach service. A number of anti-fraud checks have been put in place to prevent fraudsters taking advantage of the new electronic ticketing service. The multi-layer solution uses colour, words and moving digital water marks to distinguish the genuine e-tickets. A number of elements will also change on the tickets on a daily, hourly or even weekly basis to combat any attempts to replicate the bus fares.

The transport operator already offers a mobile app to allow passengers to access bus and coach timetabling, locate nearest bus stops and live service updates via mobile devices.

The mobile ticketing system is due to come into play on February 8th on Go North East bus and coach services.

TopShop’s double-decker bus stunt in Oz

Retailer TopShop have launched free double-decker bus travel service in Melbourne to help promote the opening of the new branch in Australia, and get shoppers through the doors. A traditional double-decker bus, more commonly seen on the streets of London where the TopShop’s flagship store is located, has been given a TopShop makeover to advertise the new store’s opening down under.

Customers can ride on the TopShop double-decker bus for free, with a timetable of the bus’s routes available in store and also online. As well as dropping off and collecting customers from the new TopShop store, the bus also runs along routes in other parts of the city taking passengers to popular spots including the beach and a nearby open air swimming pool.

As an extra incentive to encourage passenger onto the TopShop bus, the retailer is giving away travel tickets to each passenger that boards with one in every ten of the first 300 tickets issued winning an instant prize or a TopShop gift card of up to $500 value. In-keeping with the London theme, the travel cards are designed to look like the Oyster Card, the electronic travel ticket used by commuters in London.

Regular updates about the TopShop double-decker’s route in Melbourne are being made on the retailer’s Twitter and Facebook pages. The free bus is expected to run until February 24th.

Titanic coach tour launches in Belfast

A themed coach tour through the city of Belfast in Northern Ireland swung into action for the very first time this weekend. The Titanic Explorer will allow visitors to take in the different parts of the city which helped in the creation of the world famous ship, the Titanic.

While the story of the Titanic and its tragic demise on its maiden voyage is well documented, the story of ship’s creation which started in Belfast is not as well known and so this brand new bus tour will seek to educate visitors on the birth of the ship that was dubbed “unsinkable”.

The Belfast coach tour is a collaboration between the Titanic Walking Tours and Belfast City Sightseeing who have joined together to create a hop on/ hop off coach tour taking in all of the different areas of the city which contributed to the creation of the Titanic.

Starting off from Belfast City Centre, the bus tour takes in a number of locations which are significant to the maritime history of the city including the H&W Drawing Offices, SS Nomadic, Thompson Dry Dock, the Northern Ireland Science Park  and the Titanic Belfast Visitor attraction which is due to open in March. The experience of the tour will be enhanced with the use of character guides in full early 1900’s costumes who will lead the sightseeing bus experiences.

Regular Titanic bus tours will commence in February.

Coach holiday company in Gloucestershire calls in the administrators

A Gloucestershire based coach travel company, Phoenix Travel, went into administration late last week with the immediate loss of 20 jobs. The coach holiday provider specialised in the provision of coach transportation for ski holidays, coach tours and also river cruises.

The organisation was rescued by two of its former managers back in 2008 when the coach holiday company, known then as Travelscope, was on the brink of collapse. Darren Parris and Anu Desai formed Phoenix Travel when they rescued failing Travelscope, however just four years after the company was saved from the brink of disaster, it appears the troubled firm has finally come to the end of road with the administrators being called in to wind down the company’s affairs once and for all.

At the time of Travelscope’s collapse in 2008, the company blamed a cancelled cruise for pushing the business into financial difficulty. 250 people lost their jobs as a result in 2008, and 12,000 holidays had to be cancelled.

While the picture is not expected to be as severe this time around as it was in 2008, 20 people were told they’d lost their jobs with immediate effect on Friday and would receive no pay. The administrators are currently working at the business, however there’s no news as yet on how customers who’ve booked coach holidays with the company will be affected.

Any Phoenix Travel customers who are currently aboard on one of the trips organised by the travel provider will receive a return transfer home, the Civil Aviation Association has confirmed.

London bus stops to get Olympic inspired art

Bus stops in London are getting an art make over ahead of the Olympic Games this summer. As part of a special art commission, selected bus shelters will be decorated with changing displays on the roof, with 30 bus shelters in 20 London boroughs already boasting these innovative displays.

Mark Titchner is the artist behind the latest bus shelter art project in which motivational slogans and phrases are being flashed up on the top of bus stops. Commands including, “If you don’t like your life, you can change it” and “Act or be Acted Upon” are being displayed on the roofs of bus shelters so those travelling on the top deck of London buses can look down and read the phrase.

There are 31 different motivational statements in total which are being changed on a daily basis on the bus shelter displays so commuters will see a different one every day they pass the same stop. The system is controlled by curators via the internet who change the displays at different times of the day and on different routes. The idea is to give passengers a thought to take with them on their journey, the Turner Prize nominated artist revealed.

While a number of professional artists are involved in the creation of the art for the London bus shelters, the public can also get involved via Bus Tops, where the people can submit their ideas and suggestions for use as art displays on the shelters.

The project is part of a wider programme of 12 public art commissions rolled out throughout the rest of England, also Northern Ireland, Wales and Scotland.

New London Routemaster bus showcased in the city

A prototype of the new Routemaster style double-decker bus received a preview in Golders Green last week ahead of the bus’s official debut scheduled for next month.

Around 500 people took to the streets in Golders Green in North London to see the “Boris bus” as it’s been nicknamed, up close for the very first time. An eclectic mix of people including students, tourists and local councillors turned out to give the new double-decker the once over and deliver their opinion on the re-mastered Routemaster last Friday.

The American tourists who’d arrived to view the new addition to London’s transport network were given a talk on the history of the original Routemaster before boarding the new version for a guided tour.

A technical consultant from Transport for London was also on hand to offer information on the new eco-friendly bus and to answer any questions from the people who’d arrived to look over the double-decker.

The new Routemaster features two staircases to allow easy access up and down from the top deck, as well as the original open back platform which was one of the distinguishing features of the original Routemaster.

The first new double-decker London bus is due to appear on London streets on February 20th and will operate on the number 38 bus route between Victoria and Hackney.

Bus driving Santa raises money for charity in Scotland

Until last Christmas, bus driver James Wallace was a regular face on the First bus services in Musselburgh, Scotland, and regularly dressed up as Santa over the festive period, much to the delight of his passengers. However after suffering a health scare, the 44-year-old had to call an end to his driving days.

However he wasn’t about to let this Christmas go by without donning the red and white suit and beard and getting back on the bus to bring some Christmas cheer to passengers, and also raise some money for charity.

This year James has had some help from a fellow Santa and an elf who have also been riding on the number 13 First bus route to help raise fund for the Down’s Syndrome charity, CHAS, as the 44-year-old bus driver’s daughter is affected by the condition as so it is a cause which is very close to his heart.

The Christmas crew alternate between the number 13 service and the Megabus route between Edinburgh and Dundee and Edinburgh and Perth. James has been driving his bus dressed as Santa for four years now, and since making a full recovery from his health scare, he saw no point in not carrying out his annual fundraiser.

The group are hoping to beat last year’s total when they raised £700 for the charity, and with several days still to go until Christmas and £500 already in the pot, the bus driving Santa’s look likely to exceed their target.

Coach hire firm one step closer to achieving its expansion goal

Runcorn based coach hire providers, Selwyns, are another step closer to achieving their goal of expanding its client base in the North West after completing the takeover of Manchester based coach operators, Haytons, last week.

Selwyns hope to increase their turnover by 50% following the acquisition of Haytons in a bid which is believed to have cost the long running company £4 million. Along with the fleet of 25 coaches, Selwyns also take on 70 new staff, many of which were the original management team at Haytons, including the drivers, senior managers and engineers.

The Manchester based company’s former head quarters in Gorton will continue to operate under the new leadership of Selwyns and will form a separate division of the company.

Having provided private coach hire services throughout the North West for the past 40 years, Selwyns has succeeded in generating a firm client base in the region. While the established company admitted the last few years since the credit crunch hit have been challenging, thanks to their strong client base and position, they’ve been able to take advantage of opportunities that their rivals may have not been able to fulfil most recently.

Selwyns say they have identified a number of opportunities and markets they hope to target over the next 12 months which will be aided following the acquisition of Haytons and the manpower and vehicles the takeover brings with it.

The coach travel company now boasts a work force of 250 people with bases in three different locations including Runcorn, St Helens and now Manchester.

Coach holiday operator gets taken over by new owner

Troubled coach holiday operator, Crusader Holidays, has succeeded in securing a new owner after the company went into administration at the start of the month. Motts Leisure Ltd, based in Buckinghamshire, has been named as the new owners of the coach travel provider, and are already pulling out all of the stops to ensure all planned coach tours go ahead.

Essex based Crusaders Holidays who operated out of their Clacton-on-Sea office, announced the winding up of the business earlier in December after coming into financial difficulty. Luckily, Crusaders Holidays were affiliated with Bonded Coach Holidays which meant that all monies paid by customers who had booked with the company prior to it going into administration would be safe.

This message has been reiterated by the new owners who say that no customer will lose out financially, and that they are working extremely hard to ensure all scheduled tours can go ahead as planned, or customers will be issued with a refund.

The new owners said they’ve faced issues getting some of the planned tours up and running as a handful of the hotels involved in the holidays had cancelled the Crusaders reservation after news reached them of the company’s problems, however Motts Leisure say they are working hard to overcome difficulties such as this.

Bosses at Motts Leisure who took over have just taken over Crusaders Holidays say they hope to retain all of the staff left at the company after the firm went into administration and that they also plan to continue to operate part of the business from the operator’s original offices in Clacton, Essex.

Prior to going into administration, Crusaders Holidays had been providing coach tours throughout the UK and parts of Europe since 1974.

Sleeping coach driver woken by school pupil who saves bus ride from disaster

A 17-year-old school pupil saved a recent bus trip from disaster after he woken the driver after he noticed the 65-year-old had fallen asleep while behind the wheel.

The incident occurred in Tacoma, Washington, during a routine school bus trip on which 17-year-old Emmanuel Williams regularly travelled. The pupil said he had noticed the driver was periodically closing and opening his eyes for short spaces of time while driving the school bus full of children, but when the student noticed the bus started to veer across the road, he quickly jumped to his feet and ran to the front of the bus to rouse the driver who had dozed off.

The moment the watchful teen leaps to his feet, grabbing the steering wheel and simultaneously waking the driver from his sleep, was captured on the CCTV camera installed on the bus.

Luckily the driver snapped awake and quickly regained control of the school bus, averting disaster. The bus travel company say they are investigating following the report of the near miss on the school route, however they added that the 65-year-old bus driver in question has an impeccable driving record without a single incident or accident reported in the 8 years he’s been with the company.

The travel firm say the bus driver in questioned has been put on leave while the matter is investigated. The bosses say they are looking into whether the driver’s drowsiness was caused by medication or a health condition.