If I ever suggest to go for a walk along the boundary line on a wet, windy and muddy day, tell me to do one! ??
Category Archives: Milton Keynes
The other job
I can’t remember if I’ve mentioned my other ‘job’ on here before, (It’s been a long time since I posted with any sort of regular pattern), but the Vending Machine business is slowly taking off. It’s been a busy 12 months with the number of sites/machines doubling and updating the whole fleet of machines with Credit/Debit card readers.
Well the business has taken another turn with the purchase of a bigger van…. Meet Vernon the Vivaro!
Showbus 2015
So, today we’ve been to the yearly bus rally, Showbus.
I took one of our electric Streetlites, 5007.
I have to say this is probably one of the poorest organised Showbus events I’ve been to. We were lucky with “only” waiting 40 minutes to get parked up, some buses had a three hour wait!
There seem to be quite a number of buses getting stuck in the soft ground too. If it’s held at Woburn Abbey again next year I think I’ll give it a miss…..
Anyway, 5007 did us well and only used 30% charge for the whole day. 🙂
and to end the post, here’s a picture of Professional Matt eyeing up an ice cream van ?
Bus Fire in CMK
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.
Route 321 – vanished! (For now)
Well this afternoon has been interesting.
With almost no notice, Meridian Bus seem to have suspended their 5 day old route 321!
No explanation given so far, and their website has no mention of the route at all. Rumours on Facebook range from a engineer that’s phoned in sick to the Redline service 21 not charging fares for this week.
MK Council are advising passengers on the City Centre to Olney section to catch the 21. Passengers for the Buckingham end of the route I’d suggest either the X5 or 32.
Route 321 & 21 start
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.
Changes to Bus Stops in CMK
The main City Centre stops by The Point had a bit of a switch around on Sunday with services stopping at different stops in an attempt to stop some of the congestion, Mainly caused by the out of town services unable to pull into the stop outside McDonald’s properly and then blocking the road…
Picture of coach not quite fitting on the old stop at McDonald’s Copyright of MK_Tom on Flickr
Below is the new map and stopping arrangements.
April Service Changes
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.
What’s wrong?
What’s wrong with the bus in this Advert then?
Merry Christmas
Evening all,
Just a quick Merry Christmas to you all, hope to update the blog a little more often in 2014, with bus and personal stuff… I’ve been severely bad at updating the past year.
