Chris White

Chris White has again condemned First Capital Connect after the major collapse in service last night.

Chris said: ‘The initial problem stemmed, it seems, from the incompetence of Network Rail. Not for the first time their weekend engineering works were botched meaning that Monday saw a breakdown.

‘But as ever FCC made a bad situation worse:
- passengers were not provided with accurate and up to date information: staff disappeared so that questions could not be answered
- FCC wrongly told people that trains terminated and started at West Hampstead. Hundreds of people were diverted to West Hampstead only to discover that this was not the case (and that the trains they were trying to board were already full)
- the habit of running four coach trains – bad enough in normal circumstances – reduced the entire system to chaos when those trains were delayed into the rush hour.

” I call again on the Government to strip this wretched, greedy company of its franchise so that our railways are no longer under the First Group cosh.’

Bus users in St Albans and surrounding areas will see a number of innovations being launched this month under the Network St Albans banner. Network St Albans is a partnership between bus and rail operators and local organisations including St Albans City & District Council and Hertfordshire County Council.

On Sunday 15 January the St Albans BUSnet ticket will be introduced. This is a new multi-operator bus ticket that allows unlimited travel on any bus, regardless of operator, throughout the Network St Albans area. Daily or weekly tickets can be bought on the first bus used, and is valid on any other bus service within the zone(s) purchased.

To support the launch of the ticket, Network St Albans has produced a handy pocket-sized guide to all bus services in the area, with helpful maps, and includes information on the St Albans BUSnet ticket fares and a map of the three travel zones. This guide is now available from the Civic Centre, tourist information centres and libraries in St Albans and surrounding towns.

To coincide with the launch of St Albans BUSnet ticket, Hertfordshire County Council is introducing a new style of timetable display which is customised to each bus stop, initially in St Albans but will be rolled out across the county over the forthcoming months under the county-wide Intalink brand. Unlike traditional timetables, the new displays list all of the departures from each stop, providing succinct and clear information and will significantly reduce the amount of timetables displayed at bus stops.

Another county-wide development which bus users will see introduced during the early part of 2012 is ‘real-time’ information displayed on the many departure screens across the county. This information will also be available on the Intalink website and on mobile phones using the Intalink phone App.

Stephen Joseph, Chair of Network St Albans and Chief Executive of Campaign for Better Transport said: “St Albans and the area around it has very high levels of car use and congestion: these initiatives are the first stage in giving people real and attractive alternatives for some car journeys. Further measures, including more frequent city bus services and cycle paths, are on their way and will help people and the city to move around more easily and at lower cost.”

Attempts by the taxi trade in St Albans to seek an increase in fares were turned down by district councillors last night.

Chris commented: ‘They wanted to reintroduce the supplements for carrying more than two passengers, which had been removed last year as part of the agreement to increase fares. They argued that because the January 2011 fare increase had put passengers off, there needed to be a compensatory fare raise. Understandably, councillors found this argument difficult to follow.’

Councillors also rejected a request to make the external livery less clear, to allow for advertising.

Chris commented: ‘It is vital for the safety of passengers that it is absolutely clear whether or not a vehicle is a taxi. Because so many vehicles in St Albans are saloon cars, it is especially important that the existing livery is continued and not reduced to being a small badge towards the rear of the vehicle.’