It's not every day theres a TV Crew on your bus...

...but there was today. Having just got settled in my seat on the 350 in Barton this morning and having decided to catch on some textbook reading (boring, but it needed doing and the bus is an ideal place to do it), a reporter and cameraman from BBC Look North got on at Barton Station. Rather surprised to say the least, but it made my bus journey far more interesting than reading a textbook all the way to Hull.

What you probably want to know is why the BBC were filming a bus journey? The answer is the Humber Bridge Tolls. As has been widely reported locally the Bridge Board want to increase the tolls. The BBC were attempting to cover the story from the perspective of less car drivers using the bridge, and more people using the bus instead. The Bridge Board have cited reduced usage and therefore reduced revenue as a reason for their proposal to increase crossing prices.

Within the piece prepared is the official announcement of the 350 going half hourly. You can see one version of the report here - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/7884002.stm This version was shown on the 6.30 bulletin. The 1.30 bulletin had a very different report with more footage from onboard the bus.

A nice bit of publicity for the bus, and a general good story for public transport. Plus it highlighted the very important issue of bridge tolls. Now I await the new 350 timetable. Going by the VOSA application, the change date is Monday 23rd March.