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

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

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.

 

 


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