Last month I said I would use my June column to cover London. Many coach operators tend to avoid it if they can, while others embrace the challenge of finding somewhere to park there.
But first, a postscript on coach parking in May. The intrepid UK Coach Operators Association (UKCOA) Director of Operations Stephen Spendley visited Bourton-on-the-Water recently while on holiday.
He says that although the village is well geared-up for visitors, it was surprising just how crowded the area felt. It must be quite overwhelming to live there among the constant activity. Stephen can understand the frustrations of coach operators but recognises the difficult balance to find a solution that benefits everyone.
So back to London. It is true that several dedicated coach bays have been lost over the years. But there are still parking places available, both on street and in coach parks, if you know where to look.
Transport for London (TfL) has a dedicated page for coach drivers on its website at go.route-one.net/5400. I would highly recommend that if you are sending a coach into London, you have a plan of where it will set down, pick up, and park – and a plan B for parking if your plan A location is already full.
A few other hints for travelling into London:
- It is permissible for coaches to set down and pick up on bus stops on red routes, but not necessarily at any other bus stops
- Please pay the appropriate charge if parked in a bay. Not paying registers the space as not being used, and eventually it could be repurposed by the local authority responsible for that section of road
- Please switch off engines if parked. Many buildings on the first floor or above are either offices or residential units. We have already lost some coach bays in London due to persistent idling.
The four trade bodies (the Coach Tourism Association, the Confederation of Passenger Transport, RHA and UKCOA) regularly meet collectively with TfL, and work continues to establish new coach set down/pick up and parking locations. However, with the large number of bodies that need to be consulted, these do take time.
Andrew Wickham
I want to end with a personal tribute to Andrew Wickham, Managing Director of Go South Coast, who died in May.
I worked very closely with Andrew when he was Service Quality Manager at Go-Ahead London General and I was Planning and Performance Manager for South-West London at London Transport in the late 1990s.
This was the time that we had all the buses we needed on the road, but performance (or quality) was a challenge! We were tasked with improving the performance of some of the key trunk routes in South London.
Andrew was diligent and left no stone unturned to make improvements, whether they were scheduling solutions, a careful study of ‘pinch points’ on routes where delays were commonplace, or working alongside local authorities on physical changes.
He was absolutely dedicated to doing whatever he could to improve delivery of bus services for the customer. I remember the removal of a parking bay sandwiched between a bus stop and a set of traffic lights making a huge difference to the performance of one bus service.
Andrew was one of those managers who could see the big picture but never lost the attention to detail when and where it mattered. He was a lovely guy and a pleasure to work with. I will miss him very much. My sincere condolences to his family, whom I know he adored.
