I took this photo today, on my daily walk. I don’t normally come this way, but I had to pop into Eurochange to pick up some Croatian money. This is a historic photo. How so? I’m stood on Bath Road, just along from the Royal Bath Hotel, both so named because once upon a time there were some Victorian baths just behind that white wall. But they were knocked down decades ago, so they are not what makes this photo historic.
Many years later, at the end of the 90s, a controversial square block of a building went up, housing an IMAX and a bunch of food and entertainment outlets. It was ugly, blocked the sea views and everyone hated it. It went bust within a couple of years and then sat there for nearly a decade. Then it too was demolished.
This photo is historic because it contains a pair of buses. Yellow Buses, which have proudly carried residents around Bournemouth for a hundred and twenty years. More than a century of service. That’s quite impressive. Mrs P sometimes catches a Yellow Bus to work. Alas, at the beginning of the week, Yellow Buses went into administration.
There were comforting sounds that there was a potential buyer, but yesterday they announced a significant cutback of their services. And today the news broke that there would be no saviour. They’d gone bust. And the final Yellow Bus dropped off its last passenger and returned to depot just over half an hour ago.
Happily, the other bus company in Bournemouth is taking over a few of the old Yellow Bus routes, including the one Mrs P uses. Truth be told, I’m not convinced I’ve ever actually ridden on a Yellow Bus. And now I never will.
The Mexile 
I’m a big advocate of public transport subsidies . There are too many people who should not be driving themselves to start…
The people who can’t afford cars or are past the age when they should be driving are legion, kids going to school and work, people with broke down cars, the poor in general. Being able to ‘get there’ can be the difference between holding a job and the dole.
Public transport makes our world work better, if it can’t pay for itself, I’ll be happy to chip in, it helps too many to save a few bucks on such an important service.
Here where I live , we have buses a person can call up for a ride that are paid for by our property tax bill . Not convenient by far but it is there and I happily vote the tax every time it is up for renewal.
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I’m also a big advocate of public transport subsidies, and a beneficiary too. Pre Covid, the railways cost £15 billion a year to run, with ticket sales bringing in about £10 billion in revenue. I don’t know the exact sums today, other than that the outgoings haven’t really decreased by any significant amount, but the income certainly has shrunk. Footfall.is about 75% what it was. Which sounds bad, but actually hides the true problem. Leisure travel is back to 100% of pre pandemic levels. But only 55% of the commuters have returned, and they pay far, far more for their tickets. I wouldn’t be surprised is revenue was at less than 2/3 of previous levels.
Cutbacks and closures are on their way. As are strikes and protests. Interesting times, and the sooner they are done with the better.
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