Leon and the wheelchair crew have to carefully work out the route the bus has to take, and then chose at which stop to get the wheelchair on. The van has then to follow the bus at a discreet distance, no mean feat in itself, and at a pre-arrange point pick up the wheelchair, once the bus stops. Following a constantly stopping and starting bus in an unwieldy van is not easy, believe me.

The buses themselves are no real problem on this route, as they are all low liners and getting wheelchairs off and on should present no problems. We will catch up with the wheelchair crew at the 4 p.m. report, so watch this space for further details.

Steve Ramsey and Philip Lockyer are on a number 71 bus heading for Throckley when I phone them up. In between the phone losing the signal and breaking up, we manage to cobble together a report. The congestion is chronic at Throckley, and consequently the traffic is all backed up, something to do with roadwork's I presume. That will mean that the timetables will be awry.

Stevie and Phil are keen and so far they have completed 60 questionnaires. Stevie seems to think the questions are a little too simple for most people and we are not getting any real problems with people answering the questions. It seems once people know what the survey is all about they are only too keen to help out.

The technology is giving us problems, with the mobile phones are breaking up, and losing the signal several times. The connections on the WAP's are slow taking 7-8 minutes to load the graphics, but the pictures are generally good. The crew is now off to Throckley 1st school now where they have an appointment with a horde of school children.