More meetings

It has been a busy couple of weeks for evening meetings, so much so that I have been to busy to write about them until now, and even then I am cheating about writing about three at the same time.

The latest Kingston Area Travellers Association (KATA) meeting was the usual friendly update on anything to do with public transport in the Kingston area.

Most of the talking was about buses (timetables, routes, vehicles, stop, incidents, etc.) because of the interests of the people there and that is where most of the action is at the moment.

Of particular interest to me was the news that the 65 and 371 routes (the two I use the most) are both going to get new vehicles in the Summer.

I have managed to avoid BCSA Executive Committee meetings since resigning as Secretary some time ago but I still get invited (because I run their website and do a few other useful things) and I finally relented and went to one.

The subject matter of the ExCo meetings are fairly dry, e.g. budget and arrangements for the AGM, but there is wine too. And sandwiches.

I came away from the meeting with just one minor action (which I have not done yet), which is something of a record for me. Normally I weaken quickly when asked to do something boring and volunteer quickly when there is something interesting to do.

Public Services, particularly Education, are a passion so I was seduced by the prospect of a talk on The 2020 Challenge for Public Services by Rt Hon Liam Byrne MP. It was a big let down.

The speech was well informed and packed full of historical context and examples but the vision for the future was blurred at best. All we got was "we must move power into people's hands."

This government's record on devolution of power is a mess: we have regional government for Scotland, Wales and (to a lesser extent) London, but not for the regions; some powers have been devolved where this makes no sense, e.g. choice of hospital; other decisions have been devolved to avoid making politically difficult decisions, e.g. abolition of grammar schools; and where powers have been devolved it is almost always to bodies like local authorities which are no more responsive to citizens than central government it.

There are lots of questions on moving power into people's hands that could have tackled but, like a typical politician, difficult questions were avoided and the vacuum was filled with spin and waffle. Not impressed.

KATA quarterly meeting

December's KATA meeting was enlivened by the availability of draught Black Sheep but subdued by the chairman's health which means that he has to contribute less to the society that he formed and has led for 17 years.

We are looking at how we cope with this, if we can, and, from experience, I suspect that I will be putting my hand up to volunteer for doing more than just running the KATA website. KATA continues to be a very useful organisation that promotes the interested of the broad spectrum of public transport users (e.g. as opposed to a bus users group) and publicises information about transport services. I hope that we do carry on.

Most of the discussion at the meeting was about buses. This is not unusual as there are a large number of routes through Kingston, the services keep changing (usually for the better) and many of our members made the livelihoods working with buses.

The most recent changes to bus services involve the somewhat unromantic S3, K4 and X26.

While some aspects of the future of KATA are less than certain, there will be another quarterly meeting in March and I am looking forward to being there.

KATA quarterly meeting

Kingston Area Travellers' Association (KATA) meets informally once a quarter to chat about anything to do with public transport in the Kingston upon Thames area.

A lot of the conversation at the last meeting revolved around buses as we heard the latest news about, and discussed the implications of, changes to bus routes and timetables, positioning of bus stops, location information displayed in buses (the new iBus system), problems with access ramps, and freedom passes.

The reason for this is understandable as the bus service locally has improved dramatically over the last few years with more routes, more buses per route and an increasing number of 24 hour routes.

Sadly, we were less optimistic about the future now that the man responsible for most of these improvements, Ken Livingstone, is no longer Major of London and has been superseded by Boris Johnson (BoJo).

Talking about buses

Kingston Area Travellers' Association (KATA) meets once a quarter, usually in the Druid's Head in Kingston Marketplace, for an informal chat about buses, bus stops, trains, fares, and anything else to do with public transport in Kingston upon Thames and the surrounding areas. These discussions complement the detailed information in the excellent KATALOG newsletter (this alone justifies joining KATA).

Last night we talked about a range of things including the new iBuses (these announce the next stop), national Freedom Passes, changes to bus routes, bus times and bus furniture, London Overground livery and getting to/from Heathrow.

I always enjoy these two hours talking to other public transport enthusiasts, particularly as the other people there know far more about the subject than I do.

Kingston Area Travellers' Association

I have been a member of Kingston Area Travellers' Association (KATA) since it was formed in 1991 as I am a passionate believer in, and heavy user of, public transport. I have not owned a car for some years (since I gave my IBM company car back at the end of its four year lease) and have never thought seriously about getting another one.

Public transport in London is pretty good and getting better, particularly the buses which are growing in numbers of routes, frequency of service and hours of operation. The train service from Richmond to London is very good too with a frequent and fast service. All this means that I don't have to think about which bus or train to aim for in the morning as there are plenty.

Good as this is, Prague was better! In the mornings I had as many as three buses in a minute and the buses took me to Zelivskeho which was a stop on the metro and tram routes. The metro only had three fairly short lines but the trains were very fast so you can get into the town centre quickly. The trams meander more so the whole city is well served and so getting around is simple.

I use public transport on holiday (no hire cars either) and I am particularly fond of the trams in Bratislava and Riga and the trains in Denmark, Germany and The Netherlands.

Hopefully the increasing investment in public transport in London (partially funded by the Congestion Charge) will make things even better here and give us a transport system worthy of one of the world's major cities.