The more astute visitors to this site will have noticed there hasn't been much here over the past month. The reason for this is I have moved house (and web host) and I thought I'd take the opportunity to make some changes while I was offline.
I've moved from Chiswick in West London to Colchester, a migration partly motivated by rising property prices in London. A spin off from this move is that I have become a regular bus user for the first time in almost fifteen years (the length of time I've held a driving licence). Yes I admit it - I've spent far too much time looking at buses and very little time riding on them.
When I purchased my annual season ticket to the big smoke, I discovered that not only could I add an all zone travelcard but also bus services within Colchester. I haven't yet determined whether this is just First Eastern National buses or all of them (although an Arriva driver was happy to accept my pass recently even though he claimed never to have seen one before).
There are some familiar sights bus wise in Colchester. The Volvo B6s on my local route (the 66, operated by First Eastern National) originated with First Capital and arrived in Britain's oldest town not long before I did. Arriva Colchester (whose depot is about 10 minutes walk from my house) have a number of ex-London Metrobuses that can be seen roaming the streets on a regular basis.
I had a shock on my first morning's commute, catching the first 66 from Old Heath to the North Station. When passengers alighted at stops, they thanked the driver! This was a provincial habit I had forgotten (despite spending 22 years riding on Maidstone & District) - it occurred to me later that perhaps Londoners don't express their gratitude as they generally get off through the centre doors, although I can't remember conductors receiving much thanks on my old route (the 94 from Acton Green to Piccadilly Circus).
The other thing I noticed about First Eastern National's B6s and Darts is that there isn't much room between the seats. The London United Dart I caught a couple of weeks back on the 391 seemed positively luxurious by comparison. However, the generally friendly attitude of the drivers compensates for this (with the notable exception of a B6 driver during the first week who shot past my stop despite only having 4 standees). In the middle of the evening peak, an Arriva Colchester Olympian pulled up at the North Station and promptly closed the stop. Fortunately, the First Eastern National B6 that arrived some thirty seconds later ignored the bin bag over the flag and picked up the waiting passengers. Some fifty yards or so further on, the B6 pulled up at the temporary stop and the driver leaned out of his cab and announced to the passengers that this would be the stop until further notice.
I was stunned. Are London bus drivers this helpful? I don't remember Maidstone & District drivers being quite so polite and helpful, or Greater Manchester ones for that matter (the last place where I was a regular bus user). Perhaps it's a Colchester thing?
The two main bus operators in Colchester seem to co-exist peacefully. Both have their merits, First Eastern National with their rail integration FastCard pass and Arriva with a simplified fares structure. The buses are generally well turned out (even Arriva's Metrobuses) and there doesn't appear to be any aggressive stunts at shared stops.
Colchester doesn't have Countdown but has made a creditable attempt at real-time information, bus stops in the Town Centre and the North Station having electronic displays showing the times of the next departures. One could almost be in London, except that on Sundays, my local 10 minute frequency route becomes a two hourly service. It's fortunate that I can walk to town (or as a last resort, take the car). Nevertheless, I think I'm going to like it here.
Nigel Chatfield