STUFF BY ME WEEK-ENDING 4 APR 2010

The going rate for bus travel is, I reckon, about half the price of the going rate for train travel.

I've taken the nightbus to Edinburgh on occasion (it's the latest form of public transport to leave London each day that still has you in the Scottish capital in time for breakfast), and a standard full price National Express ticket works out at less than half the standard class off-peak train ticket. Both bus and train companies offer discounted tickets of course, but from a brief glance at current offers, even there coach travel works out quite a bit cheaper than going by train.

This isn't surprising, of course, because I think everyone would agree train travel is much more agreeable than travelling by bus. For starters, trains are almost always faster, and on long journeys often nearly twice as fast as going by road. Even on the modern trains designed to squeeze more seats into every carriage, you get more leg and elbow room on a train than a coach. And, if you wish, you can have use of a table, and on many long-distance trains a power point and WiFi for your laptop.

On long train journeys you can get up and walk around, buy snacks from the buffet car, eat hot food, drink hot drinks, and, if you wish, consume a little alcohol (most of which is banned on buses). Train toilets may not be glorious, but they are a whole lot more usable that the little portaloo stuck at the back of a National Express coach, and I think, generally, those prone to travel sickness will find bus travel more traumatic than moving by train (I certainly can't read for long periods when moving by road, but have no such problems on trains).

The only positive I can think of for long distance bus travel is that you get at least one service station stop. If, like me, you rarely leave London Zone 1/2, there is still something strangely exciting about a service station complex - especially in the middle of the night - with all its strange shops and cafes and coin-operated machines and vibrating chairs. I think that excitement maybe, in part, subconsciously influenced by the fact I only ever went to service stations as a child when we were on our way to a holiday abroad. But even if you don't find service stations in the slightest bit exciting, if you're a smoker these pit stops come in handy, smoking now being banned from the minute you enter a railway station, until you exit the station concourse at your destination.

But cigarette breaks aside, I think we'd all agree that train travel is generally better than bus travel, and maybe even twice as good, which possibly justifies train companies charging twice as much for their tickets. But what about when the train companies shunt their passengers onto those tedious rail replacement bus services?

I'm writing this blog in the lovely (if slightly damp) Suffolk countryside, in the town of Woodbridge, a 90 minute train journey from London via Ipswich. On a normal day getting here would involve an intercity from London Liverpool Street to Ipswich, then twenty minutes on a local train to this little riverside town (I have a feeling there is even a direct service at certain times of the day). But this Easter, exactly like last Easter, when I made the same trip, it involved a bus ride to Ingatestone where you could pick up the intercity train, because of engineering work on the line near Stratford. Last year the bus went from Liverpool Street, this year I had to tube it to Newbury Park to pick up the coach. All in all, it added about an hour to the trip.

Actually, the journey all went rather smoothly, partly because so few people were making it with me that there was plenty of room on the bus, which helps given the aforementioned crampedness of coaches (I also got the fire door seat which, few people seem to realise, always has much more leg room then every other seat on the bus). But that's not the point.

The point is this. If the value of bus travel is just 50% that of train travel, when a train company shunts me onto a coach, why aren't I getting a 50% discount on that portion of the journey? After all, if Tesco are out of a premium product so I have to buy the economy line equivalent instead, I wouldn't expect to still pay the premium price. Why no pro-rata discount from my train operator?

Perhaps if train firms were forced to adjust ticket prices to account for the fact some or all of a journey is being made using an inferior form of transport, there'd be more of an incentive to keep replacement bus services to the minimum. Because it seems to me like the modern rail industry now just accepts that every weekend and bank holiday half their trains should be kept in sheds, passengers should be piled onto buses, and customers can either accept being ripped off or bloody well get in their cars.

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STUFF I DID THIS WEEK
So, this week I went to a shindig at parliament. Why, you might ask? Well, Feargal Sharkey was having a party, and it would have seemed rude not to go.

The event, to launch a new report by Sharkey's UK Music trade body, which calls for more support for the music business from political types, took place in the Terrace Pavilion, which is basically a low-rent conservatory stuck on the back of one of the world's grandest and most important buildings. Still, it was right by the river, and in the shadow of the great building itself, and, given the history of the place, you couldn't help being slightly in awe of it all, even if the room actually being used felt a bit like the function suite at a Harvester.

It was a strange evening all round. I'd foolishly expected it to be all the usual suspects from the music world. But, while the big cheeses from all the music industry trade bodies were there, and a handful of musicians were along to play, and journalists from our rival music biz media were in attendance, there was a high number of senior politicians in the house too (well, it is their house I suppose). Obviously it's their support Feargal is looking to ensure, hence the location and all the MPs on the guest list.

Still, it made for a slightly surreal night out. A bunch of young musicians and their mates, the only suit-wearers in the music trade, and a load of slightly smug politicians on their home turf. And in amongst it all, Chris and Andy from CMU desperately resisting the temptation to mumble sarcastic critiques of everything around them. Still, it was nice to be invited, and it will be interesting to see how Sharkey's big report is responded to once the new government is in place come May. 

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STUFF I WROTE THIS WEEK
A round up of some of the news stories and articles I wrote for UnLimited's media in the last seven days...

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MUSIC BUSINESS STUFF...

UK Music launch 'Liberating Creativity' [CMU Daily 29/03/10]

Diversification to continue at HMV: Bring on the catwalk [CMU Daily 29/03/10]

BMG buy Cherry Lane [CMU Daily 29/03/10]

Syco appoint new CEO [CMU Daily 29/03/10]

The Orchard, revenues up, but loss overall [CMU Daily 29/03/10]

Warner buy two production music catalogues [CMU Daily 29/03/10]

Bradshaw remains hopeful DEB will become law, with Tory assistance [CMU Daily 30/03/10]

UK Music tell government: "It's over to you" [CMU Daily 30/03/10]

Idol firm may be bought [CMU Daily 30/03/10]

MU back complaint over Jersey tax loophole [CMU Daily 31/03/10]

Lib Dems want DEB to be held off until after election [CMU Daily 31/03/10]

Sony and Universal possibly bidding for EMI USA licence [CMU Daily 31/03/10]

EMI to merge bands in new bid to cut costs [CMU Daily 01/04/10]
(this was CMU's April Fools story written by me and Andy Malt)

Born To Be Wide stage special day of music-biz seminars in Edinburgh [CMU Daily 01/04/10]

MusicTank to consider future of album [CMU Daily 01/04/10]

Sharkey calls on government to back Live Music Bill in closing days of parliament [CMU Daily 01/04/10]

The music business week in five - Friday 2 Apr 2010 [CMU Daily 02/04/10]

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COPYRIGHT STUFF...

Final Oink case dropped [CMU Daily 30/03/10]

Publisher sues EMI over royalties [CMU Daily 30/03/10]

Newzbin lose interesting copyright case [CMU Daily 31/03/10]

Innocent infringer claim rejected in file-sharing case [CMU Daily 01/04/10]

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DIGITAL STUFF...

Spotify aiming for third-quarter US launch [CMU Daily 29/03/10]

Merlin have reservations about Virgin download proposal [CMU Daily 30/03/10]

Spotify US launch not definitely third quarter [CMU Daily 30/03/10]

RealNetworks lay off staff [CMU Daily 01/04/10]

Guvera launches in the US [CMU Daily 01/04/10]

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POP COURTS STUFF...

Prince ordered to pay €2.2 million for cancelled Dublin gig [CMU Daily 29/03/10]

Jacko estate confirm no widow [CMU Daily 29/03/10]

Jackson Senior's lawyer says Conrad Murray guilty of murder [CMU Daily 01/04/10]

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GENERAL MUSIC STUFF...

War Child auction off BRIT-related stuff [CMU Daily 29/03/10]

Beyonce not pregnant, OK? [CMU Daily 29/03/10]

Girls Aloud to record next albums as a four-piece? [CMU Daily 29/03/10]

Jacko's drugs bag had eleven containers of propofol [CMU Daily 30/03/10]

Libertines to reform for Reading [CMU Daily 30/03/10]

Liam G tops Q best frontmen ever poll [CMU Daily 31/03/10]

Jacko bodyguard dismissed by Jackson family [CMU Daily 31/03/10]

Green Day go back to basics [CMU Daily 01/04/10]

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MEDIA STUFF...

6 fans rally outside Broadcasting House: "Leave us alone" [CMU Daily 29/03/10]

Five owner talking to C4 about possible partnerships [CMU Daily 29/03/10]

Feargal backs 6 and Asian Network [CMU Daily 30/03/10]

Lords committee call for more clarity on digital radio switchover [CMU Daily 31/03/10]

Men & Motors closes tomorrow [CMU Daily 31/03/10]

Johnston take down their experimental paywalls [CMU Daily 01/04/10]

Ronnie Wood gets Absolute show [CMU Daily 01/04/10]

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PR STUFF...

PR Week name top ten entertainment PRs [CMU Daily 29/03/10]