Sinatra Fan Retires After 42 Years in Bus Industry

John Kevill hangs up clipboard after 42 years in the bus industry

Yes, he did it his way: Driving Examiner John Kevill, retiring from Stagecoach Manchester on the 31 March. Image courtesy of Tangerine PR Ltd, 2017.

After 42 years of working for Greater Manchester Transport and its successors, John Kevill is hanging up his clipboard for good. For drivers who began their career on the Hyde Road skid pan or the Bennett Street training centre, Mr. Kevill is a familiar face.

My Life in the Company of Buses: Dukinfield and Bus Deregulation: Part 31, 2016

It’s in the air 

So far, 2016 has been an impressive year for me on a personal level. I have settled in my present position and am enjoying the new, more central surroundings. With a move from its previous HQ near Piccadilly station, my employer is closer to Salford Central and Manchester Victoria stations. Not least some sublime eateries and (inevitably), branches of Starbucks Coffee, Subway, Greggs, and a McDonalds on St. Ann’s Square.

My Life in the Company of Buses: Dukinfield and Bus Deregulation: Part 30, 2015

In the eye of the storm 

Sadly, my stint in Bredbury only lasted till the 30 January. In one way, it meant being free from the worst excesses of the A560. Then I existed on bits of work to avoid the DWP’s weaponised regime on unemployed people. This meant a brief return to Oldham (for odd copywriting and coding jobs), and the possibility of S.V. going it alone as a freelancer.

My Life in the Company of Buses: Dukinfield and Bus Deregulation: Part 29, 2014

The storm after the lull 

By 2014, I was working elsewhere in Greater Manchester. This time in Stockport (well, Bredbury to be precise), so most of my observations of the bus scene were biased towards the 330 route. The Young Auties’ pass proved to be a godsend for peak hour journeys and the odd journey to West Yorkshire.

My Life in the Company of Buses: Dukinfield and Bus Deregulation: Part 28, 2013

An uneasy peace 

One of the fringe benefits of working in Oldham was getting in touch with the Rochdale and Oldham bus scene. Compared with the uneasy peace of the Dukinfield scene, 2013 was an interesting year. Professionally for me, it was a mixed year with an appalling second half.

My Life in the Company of Buses: Dukinfield and Bus Deregulation: Part 27, 2012

Throw those displays wide, one year like this would…

In 2011, East of the M60‘s 26 part series, My Life in the Company of Buses finished at (quelle surprise) 2011. The original series of posts were written to document the first 25 years of bus deregulation. Both on a personal level and in relation to the bus scene in Dukinfield.

With 2016 marking the 30th anniversary of bus deregulation, East of the M60 thought it was the done thing to bring the saga to 2016. A lot has happened in the five years since October 2011. Not always for the better.

A week after I completed the original saga, I was on one of these Workfare type jobbies. In 2011, getting more than two weeks free labour out of you was (and remains) unethical. Being on the same placement six months later with no job at the end, unforgivable. Had East of the M60 met its maker in 2012, this fellow may have followed suit and become a ‘success’ in the eyes of the then Home Secretary.

Instead, I am here to start the next parts of My Life in the Company of Buses. Sit back, relax, and take the next bus to 2012.

Oh No, More Lost Bus Routes of Greater Manchester: The Not So Perfect Ten

Another ten lost bus routes of Greater Manchester

Another Lost Bus Route and a lost operator: the 239 when operated by SpeedwellBus. (Slated for a future episode of Lost Bus Routes on this blog).

It has been a while since East of the M60 had a Lost Bus Routes of Greater Manchester round up. Without further ado we brandish our SaverSeven and board any of the following routes:

In Pictures: Non-Standard GMT and GM Buses Liveries Through the Ages

A photographic look back at some of the non-standard liveries used by Greater Manchester Transport and GM Buses up to 1996

For many persons, the standard Greater Manchester Transport livery is either the Mancunian White and Metropolitan Orange of 1974, or 1981’s mainly orange version with a brown skirt and white upper deck roof. Though most of them sported the standard liveries for their respective periods, there was a small number often due to more specific purpose (i.e. training vehicles or open-top buses), or route branding (as seen on the Express routes and 200 services).

Here’s a small number of them.

Typography On The Buses: Greater Manchester’s Buses (1966 – 2011)

Typographic styles used by Greater Manchester bus operators since the 1960s.

Technological advances and the need to present a modern outward image saw greater use of typographic styles over the last 50 years or so of bus operation. For the most part of the 1970s and 1980s, Helvetica was the dominant style on Greater Manchester’s buses, from publicity to indicator blinds. It may be overly simplistic to name the typefaces used by SELNEC, Greater Manchester Transport and so on; for the purpose of this post, there is reference to the font itself and a bit of background history.

My Life in the Company of Buses: Dukinfield and Bus Deregulation: Part 26, 2011

iGo with TfGM’s Subsidised Routes at Greater Expense to Glossop Than I Did Two Years Ago 

For me and the bus network, 2011 is proving to be a difficult year, with Greater Manchester’s councils, the newly formed TfGM and myself strapped for cash. Myself through redundancy, the first two by savage cuts imposed on the North of England by the ConDems.

Other than that, I have tried to keep my bus miles to a maximum, partly to keep in touch with the vagaries of Greater Manchester’s bus network. This has had the dual effect of getting myself out of the house and enabling me to hone my photography skills.