On Wednesday, 19 July 2017 18:38:40 UTC+1, michael adams wrote:
I've just travelled on a bus route between Dartford and
Gravesend run by Fastrack on the way out and Arriva Kent
on the return and at the end of every pair of seats
a plug socket was set into the side of the bus.
Switched sockets on Fastrack and plain sockets on
Arriva each with a small sticker - caution 240v supply.
Nobody appeared to be taking advantage of this facility
boiling kettles, making toast etc. Is this just for
charging phones ? The journey time on Arriva is about
31 mins.

Should I just get out more ?


michael adams

Many commercial operators outside London are buying new buses fitting with power sockets and also usb charging points. Some buses are also being refurbished with some or all of these facilities plus posher seats, "coffee shop" style flooring and bus stop / real time info. I was out and about on buses outside London at the weekend. The Brighton and Hove bus I used had stop information displayed inside the bus - similar to TfL's I-Bus. A Metrobus vehicle I used at Crawley had usb charging points and wifo. Another Metrobus vehicle also offered wifi. Both of these buses were older spec so weren't all "bells and whistles".

New buses for Arriva, Stagecoach, Go Ahead and Transdev Blazefield in different parts of the country have all incorporated these "whizzy" features over the last couple of years. Look for "Sapphire" or "Max" Arriva buses or Stagecoach Gold, route 36 and Coastliner for Blazefield and various different branded routes with Go Ahead subsidiaries like Metrobus, Brighton and Hove, Go North East and Oxford Bus Company.

The reason for all this largesse is to try to attract younger travellers addicted to their technology plus some motorists who would perhaps prefer to use travel time for work purposes rather than drive. London is a very, very long way behind on these sorts of things although the electric buses on the 507/521 so have at seat usb points. Only small issue is that these buses are configured to carry large numbers of standees so there are few seats and most journeys are short length so you'd do well to get 5 mins of charging! TfL have said they may experiment with different "features" on some routes but there is no great "commercially driven" push to get bums on seats despite falling bus usage in London.

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Paul C
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