Public Transport News for Milton Keynes

January 2009 Fares Revision

Traditionally most local rail fares are increased in January. There are also minor fare revisions in May and September.

Last year local off peak fares were increased in January and again in September resulting in a record increase of approximately 11% over the whole year.

2009 is off to a good start with no increase to local off-peak fares. So the price of London Travelcards and fares to Northampton and Watford are unchanged. Even better the LondonMidland fare to Birmingham is actually reduced from £14.60 to £14. This is particularly welcome given LondonMidland's restoration of hourly through trains to Birmingham.

Of course it remains to be seen whether the current fares will be held throughout 2009 or whether there will be an increase at the time of the next fares revision in May.

An updated list of popular day return fares from Milton Keynes is available here.

Simplification

Newspapers and television have devoted much coverage to fares simplification. In truth there has been very little change to the range of fares available. Some ticket names have changed. Strictly speaking, a Cheap Day Return is now an Off-Peak Day Return.

In most cases the rules about which trains you can use and the times when you can travel have not changed.

Season Tickets

Unlike off-peak tickets, local season ticket prices did not increase in September. Last year they increased by around 4.7%. This year the price of an annual London Travelcard from Milton Keynes increases by 6.5% - once again ahead of the general rate of inflation.

It is also worth pointing out that season ticket prices from Milton Keynes to London are identical to those from Wolverton.

A word about First Class. Most regular commuters probably feel that they pay too much for a standard season ticket without contemplating an extra £2,200 a year for First Class. However, for anyone requiring a short period season ticket, perhaps for the purpose of attending a course, the extra expense may be worth thinking about. First Class does not only give access to more comfortable seating; on Virgin trains there is complimentary tea, coffee and newspapers plus access to the First Class lounge at Euston which offers refreshments and shower facilities. However, if you do plan to use Virgin trains check with the timetable that suitable services are available - very few Virgin trains now call at Milton Keynes during the rush hour.

Stagecoach Changes to Ticket Range 2008

Background

For many years Stagecoach has sold one day Explorer tickets and longer period Goldrider tickets that were valid not just on local routes but right across its bus network in Southern Britain (with a few exceptions).

The Stagecoach network in Southern Britain is made up of a number of local companies. For example, Stagecoach services around Milton Keynes are provided by Stagecoach East. Services in Oxford are provided by Stagecoach Oxfordshire. Each company set its own prices for Explorer and Goldrider tickets but accepts other Stagecoach company tickets even though they may be sold at a different price.

Internet Sales

During 2008 Stagecoach was keen to introduce more online ticket sales. It launched a website to sell period tickets on behalf of all its local companies.

Unfortunately selling these tickets online presents a new problem. Given that each company sets its own price, there is nothing to stop a customer buying online from the cheapest company and then using the ticket somewhere else in Southern Britain. This could result in companies with the cheapest tickets receiving more than their fair share of the online revenue.

Geographical Changes

To avoid the problem of customers living in a more expensive area (e.g. Northampton) buying online from a cheaper area (e.g. South Wales), Stagecoach decided to redesign its ticket range.

From 2008 its Goldrider period passes will not be valid across Southern Britain. Instead each Stagecoach company will have a ticket valid on on its services and perhaps some neighbouring routes.

In the interests of simplicity it was thought a good idea to align day ticket validities with period passes. Therefore it was planned that Explorer tickets would no longer be valid across Southern Britain.

Re-think

Fortunately there has been a further re-think and it has now been agreed that the Explorer day tickets can continue to be valid across Southern Britain - subject to a few exceptions. It also seems that the boundaries for the period Goldrider tickets may be more generous than first envisaged although no details have been confirmed yet.

Other Changes

The re-vamp of the ticket range was accompanied by changes to the names of some ticket types. In particular, the one day Explorer is being re-named Dayrider Gold. As indicated in the previous paragraph, the Dayrider Gold (Explorer) will be valid across Southern Britain except in Devon and excluding the Oxford to London Express service. Premium fares will be charged on the X5 service (Oxford to Cambridge), any passenger carrying an ordinary Explorer or Dayrider Gold ticket will be required to pay a £1 supplement on the X5.

The Goldrider is renamed Megarider Gold. These period tickets will not be valid across Southern Britain.

Due to escalating fuel costs during early 2008, many Stagecoach companies chose to increase fares alongside these changes. A case of less for more.

Complications

So what are the areas covered by the new Megarider Gold period tickets?

According to the Stagecoach Megarider website, a Stagecoach East Megarider Gold is only valid on the buses of Stagecoach East (although another part of the Stagecoach website defines a more generous area).

This is likely to be confusing for passengers as most Stagecoach buses have the same livery whether operating in Perth or Plymouth - so it is no good simply looking at the bus. Even the name of the operating company does not help much. For example, the X5 bus from Oxford to Cambridge via Milton Keynes is not operated by Stagecoach Oxfordshire nor is it operated by Stagecoach Cambridge, in fact it is operated by Stagecoach East.

It seems inevitable that, until Stagecoach do some more work on clarifying boundaries, drivers, managers and customers will be confused about where they can use these tickets.

Note that a new 4 week Southern Britain pass will be sold online (not on the bus). It is not available for periods shorter than 4 weeks.

Any reader who is unhappy about these changes could try complaining to the Marketing Manager at one of the following addresses.

Milton Keynes, Bedford & Northampton Area
Stagecoach East
Rothersthorpe Avenue
Northampton
NN4 8UT

Oxfordshire Area
Stagecoach in Oxfordshire
Horspath Road
Cowley
Oxford
OX4 2RY

Swindon Area
Stagecoach West
3rd Floor
65 London Road
Gloucester
GL1 3HF

Cambridge Area
Stagecoach in Cambridge
100 Cowley Road
Cambridge
CB4 0DN

Stagecoach 1 Week Pass valid across Southern Britain will be replaced by a more local ticket.

Stagecoach Ticket

Revamp of Arriva Bus Routes

Arriva, the operator of some of the longer distance bus routes from the city, is making some of the most significant changes to its MK network for many years.

From 3rd September 2007, the X66 MK to Dunstable service is replaced by a new route, 70, which links MK to Leighton Buzzard, Dunstable, Luton centre and Luton Airport. The 70 runs every hour and provides an alternative to the VT99 express service between MK and Luton. However, the 70 has a journey time of 1 hour and 50 minutes to Luton Airport while the VT99 journey is only 50 minutes. Another operator is launching route X31 from MK to Dunstable and Luton, so there will be a lot of competition between MK and Luton.

Further changes are due on Monday 17th September when the Arriva X15 service to Aylesbury is replaced by new service 100. This is a faster journey taking only 50 minutes from CMK compared with an existing journey time of 64 minutes.

Detailed timetables for all of these routes can be found in the new edition of MK Council's Long Distance Services leaflet. Download a copy from the council's website here

Service 100 heading towards Aylesbury

Fast bus to Aylesbury

All Change for MK Metro

MK Metro, operator of the local yellow minibus fleet, was taken over by Arriva in February 2006.

Bus operations in Britain are dominated by a few large transport companies (Arriva, Go Ahead, Stagecoach and First). Milton Keynes was unusual in having its own independent bus company.

The big companies run most of the buses in neighbouring towns – Arriva in Aylesbury & Luton; Stagecoach in Bedford & Cambridge; Stagecoach/Go Ahead in Oxford and Stagecoach/First in Northampton. Contrary to the belief of some, local councils do not usually own bus fleets. However, Milton Keynes Council does pay for many evening and Sunday services.

Arriva & MK Metro buses in Station Square

Arriva & MK Metro side by side in Station Square. MK retains its yellow buses for now.

History

MK has not always been served by minibuses. Anyone living in MK during the early 1980s will remember that MK was served by a fleet of conventional single and double decker green buses owned by the National Bus Company. In those days buses did not normally run into the estates but stuck to the grid roads.

On 26^th October 1986, following de-regulation, the National Bus Company was broken up and overnight a new fleet of minibuses took to the roads of Milton Keynes. The early days of minibus operation were a shambles. In theory, buses were supposed to zip around the estates really quickly with only a 6 or 7 minute gap between services. In reality the timetable was completely unrealistic and was soon abandoned in favour of a timetable more like that of today.

Milton Keynes Citybus (as it was called in 1986) was later taken over by a Cambridge Company (Cambus) and then, in 1996, sold to Stagecoach.

Stagecoach had ambitious plans to replace the ageing minibus fleet, indeed new vehicles had been earmarked for Milton Keynes when the competition authorities decided that Stagecoach had too many operations in one area (Bedford, Cambridge, Northampton, Peterborough) and ordered it to sell MK Citybus. The new vehicles were never delivered and the company was sold to millionaire Julian Peddle who renamed the operation MK Metro, introduced the now familiar yellow livery and set about a more gradual program of investment than Stagecoach had planned.

Facts & Figures

MK Metro owns 120 vehicles and employs 260 staff.
MK Metro's annual turnover in 2005 was £8.6 million.
Arriva paid £5.6 million to acquire MK Metro.
Arriva operates 6,000 vehicles and employs 30,000 staff in bus and rail operations across Europe.
Arriva's annual turnover for 2004 was £1,800 million and profits were £112 million.

Sources: Arriva press release and financial statements

The Future

Arriva was contacted in March regarding its plans for Milton Keynes. While not giving much away, some interesting points were made.

It seems that it is the intention to retain MK Metro as a separate entity and not to absorb it into neighbouring fleets. Also there are no plans to re-brand the MK fleet with an Arriva identity. This is fairly unusual as most of the big bus groups are quick to stamp their identity on new acquisitions (with the exception of London where branding is regulated).

There is a recognition that MK Metro does some things particularly well and that these should be preserved and not changed for the sake of the change. In areas where there is scope for improvement, Arriva believes that the resources of a big group will be better placed to tackle these.

In recent years MK Metro has benefited from significant investment in new buses. Arriva gave an assurance that it has no intention of swapping new MK vehicles with older vehicles from other Arriva fleets.

Any bus operator in MK has to respond to the challenges posed by the grid road system. Should it operate buses into the estates which takes passengers close to home but at the expense of slow and sometimes uncomfortable journeys over the traffic calming humps? Or does it run faster journeys direct along the grid roads but with a longer walk from the bus stop to home? Arriva has agreed that it needs to look at this issue to see if the balance is right in MK. However, it does not have any immediate plans for big timetable or route changes.

Finally, Arriva states that "Milton Keynes is a growing city and we see this as a fantastic opportunity to provide first class bus services in a vibrant new city." It is certainly reassuring that Arriva recognise the great potential for bus services in MK. In a few years time Milton Keynes residents will be able to judge if Arriva has made the best of its opportunity.

United Counties bus. Older residents will remember these buses which were common in MK prior to 1986.

Prior to 1986, Milton Keynes was served by full size buses operated by United Counties (a subsidiary of the National Bus Company).

PLUSBUS in Milton Keynes

PLUSBUS has been available in Milton Keynes for a number of years and during that time has been steadily improved. The scheme was originally intended to cater for visitors to Milton Keynes. It has now been extended to cater for Milton Keynes commuters and rail trips commencing from Milton Keynes.

Visitors

Visitor's to Milton Keynes can add one day's unlimited bus travel in Milton Keynes to a Milton Keynes rail ticket for only £2 (the usual discounts for children and railcard holders are available). Just ask for Milton Keynes PLUSBUS when buying a rail ticket to Milton Keynes.

Commuters

Milton Keynes PLUSBUS can be added to a Milton Keynes rail season ticket or Travelcard. This gives unlimited Milton Keynes bus travel. Click here for season ticket rates.

Day Trips from MK

PLUSBUS is now available for passengers starting their journey in Milton Keynes. So it is possible to add local Milton Keynes bus travel to a One Day Travelcard or any other rail journey from Milton Keynes. The extra cost on top of the rail fare is only £2. These tickets have to be purchased from the station; they cannot be purchased on the bus.

Which Buses?

Virtually all Milton Keynes bus operators should accept PLUSBUS within the boundaries of the new city and Newport Pagnell. MK Metro, Arriva & Stagecoach are participants as are the smaller companies that run evening and Sunday services for the council. Testing has shown that MK Metro drivers have excellent knowledge of the PLUSBUS scheme. Experience with some of the other operators is a bit more sporadic because drivers encounter the tickets so rarely and internal communications within some bus companies seem to be very poor.

Other Schemes

Most British towns and cities now offer PLUSBUS. Visit the PLUSBUS website to check whether a scheme is available for the town you plan to visit.

Some nearby schemes that might be of interest include:

Birmingham £2.00
Coventry £2.00
Northampton £2.00
Watford £2.50

Internet Tickets

If you buy a cheap advance purchase rail ticket over the Internet or over the phone then you are may not be offered PLUSBUS as an option. However, if you take your rail ticket along to any station and show it to the ticket clerk you should be able to buy PLUSBUS separately.

X5 History

The Stagecoach East flagship route from Oxford to Cambridge via Milton Keynes was launched in September 1995. It was a bold move by Stagecoach to introduce a brand new long distance route with services running at hourly intervals late into the evening every day of the week. The buses had a similar specification to National Express coaches but there was no need to book in advance and the fares were cheap.

During the first year of operation passenger loadings were light and some buses ran around empty. Fortunately, Stagecoach kept its nerve and passenger loadings gradually increased proving that there is a demand for a service that is fast, frequent, inexpensive and comfortable.

In 1999 the service was adjusted to serve Oxford rail station as well as Oxford bus station. This gave Milton Keynes passengers access to the rail network in west and south-west England without the need to travel via London and without the need to pay for expensive 'via London' fares.

New European driving regulations forced a review of the X5 route in April 2007. In order to keep the service economic it was decided to withdraw the extension to Oxford rail station. Thanks to heavy traffic in Oxford city it is often a quicker to walk from the bus station to the rail station than travel on the bus. For anyone travelling without heavy luggage, the X5 still provides a viable connection to the rail network at Oxford - it is approximately a 10 minute walk from Oxford bus station to the rail station.

An X5 heading along Midsummer Boulevard towards Oxford in 1995
1995

Fares

The success of the X5 is no doubt in part attributable to a policy of very flexible & competitively priced tickets. An all-day Explorer ticket covering the whole X5 route and many other routes in southern Britain can be purchased on the bus. A couple of years ago this was priced at only £5.99 and a family ticket was sold for £7.99. Sadly these tickets are no longer so cheap - even so the current prices remain reasonable compared with other modes of transport. For details of current tickets, read the bus page.

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