A Redline bus caught fire today at the old Bus Station in CMK today..
Pictures used with permission from MKFM
Going by the flames in the first picture it seems they were very lucky that there wasn’t more damage done to the Bus Station/Buszy
There has been unconfirmed reports that the bus had mechanical issues earlier in the day, but of course that could be something completely unrelated.
It’s all going on in Olney!
Arriva announced that they were cutting part of the Route 1, With the service now terminating at Newport Pagnell, Which left the Newport to Olney/Lavendon section unserved.
As is normal in these kind of situations, MK Council looked at a Contracted route which was awarded to Redline who started their 21 service.
Redline Dart at Olney – Photo copyright of “mk_tom” on Flickr
The route Runs from Lavendon to CMK via Olney, Newport Pagnell and taking a slightly different route through MK that the Arriva 1
But what makes this route change interesting is that another Bus Company, new to our area, has started a commercial route of their own from Olney to CMK and onwards to Buckingham and Steeple Claydon.
Meridan Bus Dart on service 321 at Newport Pagnell. Photo copyright of “lucas.d410” on Flickr
This route is run, according to the MKC Timetable Guide by Britannia Bus Ltd, But the buses (and their facebook page) seem to be operated by Meridan Bus.
Note: After a bit of research before posting this blog entry it seems that one is owned by the other
So, now you’ve got a Tendered service that’s almost competing with a commercial service, which obviously isn’t allowed… What will happen?? Who know’s!!
I don’t know enough about the legal side of all these events, But if Brittania/Meridan extend their route to Lavendon then I think they’ve got a pretty good case!
I do feel that Redline, Through no fault of their own have been kinda landed in the middle of all this, How they would be compensated would be anyone’s guess!
Who’d of thought the quite parts of Rural Bucks/MK would end up with such an interesting bus service!
I plan to give both the 21 and 321 a trip over the weekend to see what these new services are all about. I do think Brittania/Meridian need to decide which company name is operating their new route, as some members of the public may be confused on who’s running what, But that’s purely a personal opinion, nothing more.
Today saw various Service and stop changes in Milton Keynes.
The latest MK Council Travel Guide can be downloaded here or picked up from Council Offices, Libraries and the Arrive Mkube office in CMK
Route 1:
Revised route and timetable. Journeys will not serve Granby and will terminate at Newport Pagnell. For replacement services to Olney and Lavendon see services 21 and 321. For replacement service to Granby see service 19
Route 2:
Revised stops at The Point, Central Milton Keynes
Route 4:
Revised stops at The Point, Central Milton Keynes
Route 5A:
Replaced by changes to route 5 and new route 6.
Route 5/6:
Replaces routes 5/5A via Fullers Slade and Stony Stratford
Route 7:
Revised timetable
Route 8:
Revised timetable.
Route 11/11A/12/12A:
Revised route and timetable
Route 13:
Revised stops at The Point, Central Milton Keynes
Route 17:
Revised timetable
Route 18:
Revised route and timetable
Route 19:
Revised route and timetable. Journeys to operate via Granby and extended to Milton Keynes Central Rail Station. Evening and Sunday journeys operate to Bradville via Bradwell Common and Heelands
Route 21:
New route operated by Redline, between Central Milton Keynes to Lavendon via Newport Pagnell and Olney. Please note that services will depart Milton Keynes Central Station from stop Y3, and not stop Y5 as displayed in the timetable below and in the updated Milton Keynes Travel Guide.
Route 23:
Revised stops at The Point, Central Milton Keynes
Route 24/25:
Revised route and timetable.
Route 28:
Red Rose now operating this service on Sundays and Public Holidays, in addition to Mondays to Saturdays
Route 30/31:
New operator, Red Rose, minor revisions to timetable
Route 33/33A:
Revised timetable with new terminus in Northampton and revised stops at The Point, Central Milton Keynes
Route 37:
Revised route and timetable. New operator, Vale Travel.
Route 40:
Revised stops at The Point, Central Milton Keynes
Route 41:
Revised termini in Northampton and Bedford.
Route 50:
Revised stops at The Point, Central Milton Keynes
Route 51:
New Monday to Friday lunchtime shuttle between Tilbrook and Kingston.
Route 52:
New route between Milton Keynes Hospital and Bedford via Central Milton Keynes and Cranfield
Route 80/X80:
Revised stops at The Point, Central Milton Keynes
Route 89:
Revised timetable with new terminus in Northampton. Revised stops at The Point, Central Milton Keynes
Route 99:
Revised stops at The Point, Central Milton Keynes
Route 101:
Replaced by route 321.
Route 150:
Revised timetable
Route 197:
Revised timetable. Please note that service 197 also operates a return journey from Biggleswade to Central Milton Keynes on Saturdays. Services on Saturdays depart from Biggleswade at 0912 and from Central Milton Keynes (The Point, stop H3) at 1400, and do not serve Toddington, Henlow or Langford.
Route 300:
Revised stops at The Point, Central Milton Keynes
Route 321:
New route operated by Britannia Bus Ltd, between Olney and Steeple Claydon via Newport Pagnell, Central Milton Keynes, and Buckingham.
Route 602:
Revised route and timetable
Route 603:
Revised route and timetable
Route 605:
Revised route and timetable.
Route 607:
Revised route and timetable.
Route 673:
Aylesbury schools service, not previously included.
Route 750:
New Aylesbury schools service.
Route C1/C10:
Revised route and timetable.
Route N5:
Service withdrawn. Partially replaced by additional journeys on routes 5 and 6.
Route X4:
Revised timetable with new stops in Northampton.
Route X5:
Revised timetable.
Route X7:
Revised timetable with new stops in Northampton.
Route X31:
Revised timetable.
Well I’m going to be doing a 15 mile bike ride round Milton Keynes on the 9th September in aid of Cancer Research UK.
Gonna be pretty interesting to see if I even make it round haha, But I’m hoping people will sponsor me to do it!.
If you would like to sponsor me you can do so at http://virginmoneygiving.com/jamo 
Well the Olympic Torch came to Milton Keynes today, and at the last minute, Metro Matt and I decided to go have a gander.
Wasn’t the most amazing experience of my life, But was good to be able to say I’ve seen it.
another quick update from me.
As I’ve posted many times on here before, I’ve thought about seperating my blog into two seperate blogs, One for buses and one for personal stuff. Each time I’ve thought about it it’s kind of gone to the back of my mind as soon as I begin to realise what a pain in the arse its going to be to do….
So I’ve now decided not to seperate it, But leave it with you the reader to decide on what you see.
At the top of the screen in the green bar, You can now choose to just see bus related posts, or no buses at all 🙂
If you are not fussed or like reading both types then just come here as normal 🙂
Training progresses at LM with me now doing my on the train training, Currently working through my route knowledge which I’m finding tough in places but plenty of revising at home seems to be doing the trick!
On the bus side, News reaches me of plans for a N5 night bus in MK from mid July, Once I have more details I’ll post here.
Not much else been going on, Sold my Macbook Air as I just could get on with it for £750 on ebay and used the money to buy me a nice new windows Laptop, some decent headphones, iPhone dock and still have some money left over!
Well I think I can finally reveal that I will be leaving Arriva Shortly and moving to the Railways.
My current job is being made part time due to costs, So I think that this new position has come about at just the right time!
I shall be moving to London Midland (successful references permitting) to be a Senior Conductor (Guard) which I’m really looking forward to.
My blog will still continue and still be mainly bus orientated. Once I have left the company I will no longer have to be so restrained on what I write on this site.
I have a number of people that will still be informing me of goings on, route changes, day to day stuff on the road etc, So as a reader there should be no change apart from a bit of extra Train related stuff.
News reaches me that a bus jam involving quite a number of buses took place in Lower Ninth Street in the City Centre this evening about 1800. Looking at the picture I think it’s safe to say there will have been some disruption to most routes. Seems a bus broke down in the single lane section and couldn’t be moved/rolled out the way.
Some bus services will be changing from 22nd April 2012 within Milton Keynes. Below are some general details, I’ll link to timetables once they are all available.
1 NEWTON LONGVILLE or FENNY STRATFORD -BLETCHLEY – CMK – NEWPORT PAGNELL – LAVENDON or CRANFIELD
• This service will be simplified to run only between Bletchley, CMK, Newport Pagnell and Lavendon.
• Fenny Stratford will be served by MK Council Service 18, operated by Z&S International during Monday to Saturday daytimes.
• Newton Longville will be served by revised Service 32, running under contract to Buckinghamshire County Council.
• The section of route between North Crawley and Newport Pagnell will be provided by MK Council Service 37, operated by Soul’s.
• The direct service between Cranfield and Milton Keynes will be provided by Grant Palmer Passenger Services service 45
2 WESTCROFT – OXLEY PARK – CMK – WILLEN -NEWPORT PAGNELL
• This service will be re-routed between Newport Pagnell and CMK to serve Redhouse Park. It will also be re-routed to run directly from Grange Farm to Westcroft Centre.
• Oxley Park will be served by revised Service 8.
• The frequency of Service 2 will be increased to run every 15 minutes for the main partof the day on Mondays to Fridays and Arriva will run the weekday evening journeysunder contract to MK Council.
3 CMK – MONKSTON – KINGSTON- WAVENDON -WOBURN SANDS
• This service will no longer run.
• Woburn Sands will be linked to Kingston and CMK by Platinum 300, running up to every 30 minutes on Mondays to Saturdays and hourly on Sundays.
• The Open University and Monkston will be served by newMK Council contracted Services11/12, operated by Z&S International.
7 BLETCHLEY – SHENLEY – CMK – GREAT LINFORD -OAKRIDGE PARK – NEW BRADWELL – WOLVERTON
• There will be minor changes to the Sunday timetable to improve reliability.
8/8A WESTCROFT – SHENLEY BROOK END – CMK – KINGSTON -KENTS HILL – WALNUT TREE – CALDECOTTE – BLETCHLEY
• This service will be simplified to run as a one-way circular service between Kingston and Walnut Tree, Browns Wood and Old Farm Park.
• The route will be extended from Westcroft Centre to offer a simplified and improved service to Oxley Park.
• Arriva will run all journeys on Mondays to Saturdays and during Sunday daytime.
• The section between Kingston, Browns Wood, Walnut Tree and Bletchley will be replaced by new Service 9.
• Caldecotte will be served by new MK Council Services 11/12 operated by Z&S International
• Service 8A will be withdrawn and replaced in Walnut Tree, Browns Wood and Old Farm Park by Service 8. In Kents Hill and Highgate Over it will be replaced by new MK Council Services 11/12 and revised 17operated by Z&S International
9 KINGSTON – WALNUT TREE – BLETCHLEY
• This new service will replace Service 8 between Kingston, Walnut Tree and Bletchley, running hourly for the main part of the day on Mondays to Saturdays.
30/31 BLETCHLEY – STONY STRATFORD – WOLVERTON -WILLEN – NEWPORT PAGNELL
• There will be a number of adjustments to the timetable for these services.
32 BUCKINGHAM – CMK – MILTON KEYNES HOSPITAL -BLETCHLEY – BUCKINGHAM
• This service will be revised to run from Buckingham Tesco and Buckingham Centre to CMK, Bletchley and Newton Longville. The route will run in both directions and not as the current circular service.
• Some journeys will run via Maids Moreton and Burleigh Piece to replace Service 32A.
32A BUCKINGHAM TOWN SERVICE
• This service will no longer run, being partly replaced by Service 32.
51 WINSLOW – BLETCHLEY
• This once-a-day service will no longer run.
PLATINUM 300 MAGNA PARK – KINGSTON – CMK
• The frequency will be increased to run every 15 minutes on Mondays to Saturdays between MK Station and Coachway/Kingston and will be extended to every 30 minutes to both Magna Park and Woburn Sands.
• On Sundays this service will run every 30 minutes to Kingston and hourly to both Magna Park and Woburn Sands.
There are no changes to services 4 and 5
Other services in Milton Keynes:
11/12 Caldecotte – OU – Kents Hill – CMK
· New service operated by Z&S International replacing part of the 3 and 8A
45 Cranfield – Coachway – CMK
· New service operated by Grant Palmer replacing part of the 1 and 17A
I know I haven’t posted a lot lately, but there has been a lot going on in the background.
I hope to be able to tell you more soon, but there are some exciting changes happening with the blog, and with me. In the meantime there may be a lack of posts while the changes take place (one of them could be pretty big!). More details soon hopefully!!