Cover picture: Preserved in the allover sand livery that typified an era of Coras Iompair Éireann buses in Dublin is D464 (464 ZD), a 1972 Leyland Atlantean PDR1A/1 with Metal Sections body assembled by CIÉ to its own unique design in its Spa Road works. DARREN HALL

Contents

NEWS
OFT studies the bus market; First embarks on economy drive; Wright looks at job cuts; bus/tram merger mooted for Edinburgh; NatEx axes its double-deck coaches
BUS PEOPLE
Plaxton MD goes in Alexander Dennis restructure; graduates advance at Arriva and First; new SYPTE directors; an appreciation of Ambrose Fox
INSIDE TRACK
And the winner is…Swiss urban public transport
GLOBAL NEWS
German-owned Pan Bus wins work from Arriva; gains for Scania; Indian joint venture challenges world market; record year for Daimler Buses
IN LONDON
The latest tendering results; quality checks miss hard seats; the Watford retreat; first hybrid Tempo enters service
MILLAR'S TALES
A foolish idea for a Manchester congestion charge; 20 Years Ago: Drawlane buys Crosville; a Hannover record; humanist ads in Belfast
BUSES BRING IN DOUGH FOR BAKERS
How a Staffordshire coach operator has grown bigger in buses
FREE TRAVEL
We look at the impact of free oap travel in England and Wales
SERVICE EXTRA
Diversionary tactics that make no sense
STAGECOACH X5: THE CROSS-COUNTY CONNECTION
The strengths and weaknesses of the Oxford-Cambridge coach link
SOUTHDOWN, SETRIGHTS AND SARNIES
A management trainee of 50 years ago remembers an iconic operator
PICTUREVIEW
30 Years Apart: Irish contrasts
FENTON FILE
Just in time, Mike Fenton finds the only two-door Alexander Ultras