Buses Magazine

[Andyh82]

I wasn’t entirely sure what forum to put this in as it’s a publication but not a railway one.

Has anyone noticed how since the new editor took over it seems to have repositioned more towards the industry market rather than the enthusiasts end it used to be, presumably competing with the industry magazines

Adverts are more likely to be for industry supplies than previously and there has been an increase in ‘business’ articles

If you take out the business articles often about workshop equipment or systems, and all the regular features like fleet news there is probably now only about two stories that are enthusiast focussed

 

[duncombec]

Yes, sadly so.

It's hard to know whether this is the editor fitting the publisher or the publisher fitting the editor, but James Day did previously work for an industry magazine (Coach & Bus Week, CBW, off the top of my head). There have been some very clear choices favouring industry figures, not least the very easy ride given to the then MD of Arriva in the "response" article a year or two ago.

The editing itself also leaves a lot to be desired: there have been numerous occasions where articles are incomplete or have sections missing, either through editing or photograph placement, and this is neither noticed at the time nor corrected in the next issue. The letters pages seem to be shrinking, and the curation thereof little more than slapping text into columns - in the last few months, letters have sometimes been split over three columns, or over pages, because there has been a lack of interest (or lack of time?) to make sure they are presented nicely. As examples, see the letters from John Owen, James Prince and Stephen Parry in the September issue.

At a quick flick through, there are 22 pages of adverts on the "text pages" of the September issue (so not including the inside covers), which is more than the 18 pages of fleetnews (which used to make up the majority of the magazine decades ago!), along with a couple of extra half-page adverts on "article" pages. That may be helping pay for/subsidize the magazine, but how many people look at them in depth?

 

[danorak]

I think new editors do take a little time to bed in. I remember being decidedly underwhelmed by Alan Millar's early issues when he took the helm from Stephen Morris.

Recent editions seem to be settling down a bit. The Metrobus article that was under the 'business' banner seemed pretty standard Buses fare. I won't complain about a healthy amount of advertising given what we know already about the vulnerability of printed publications.

As for letters, I do like reading them but can see why an editor might choose to reduce the space allowed for them. Too often they can become a home for the same tired old hobby horses. And the same conversations are moving faster online. When I started buying Buses, in its pre-A4 days, you might only get half a page of letters some months if that! That said, the letters section in Classic Bus really adds something.

 

[Buzby]

As I recall, this title was available to view online on Readily before being pulled last year - I think the publisher feels only the industry will be able to support it (with advertising) and it became less relevant to my interests. Indeed I stopped reading it in 2022 for this very reason!