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Post by www.buseireann.ie on Feb 9, 2012 19:27:23 GMT 1
Seems that from April 1st, Bowers and Trent will at last be officially known as High Peak! We'll have to see what livery they use.
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Post by MetrolineGA1511 on Feb 19, 2012 1:39:31 GMT 1
Ironically, most Trent Barton red buses have a similar livery to red Bowers buses! Furthermore, the green Excels on TransPeak have a similar livery to D&G route 118 in Buxton.
Will we still be able to use ZigZag Plus tickets on route 199 and others in Buxton?
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SF07
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Post by SF07 on Feb 19, 2012 13:23:10 GMT 1
Ironically, most Trent Barton red buses have a similar livery to red Bowers buses! Furthermore, the green Excels on TransPeak have a similar livery to D&G route 118 in Buxton. Will we still be able to use ZigZag Plus tickets on route 199 and others in Buxton? Hopefully that will get announced closer to the date. I would have thought that they should be available on the TP to connect with Trent Barton services in Derby and Nottingham. 199 would probably be a separate day ticket with the other High Peak services. According to the Derbyshire County Council website, services 185, 186, 199 and TP will transfer from Trent Barton to High Peak along with all Bowers services. This should include the 394 service from Glossop to Stepping Hill, which was taken over by Bowers in January following Speedwellbus going out of business. Was rumoured that it would be taken over by another company at the end of March but the latest report is that it will continue as a Bowers/High Peak service. www.derbyshire.gov.uk/transport_roads/public_transport/news_notices/bus_service_changes/default.asp |
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SF07
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Post by SF07 on Mar 20, 2012 11:51:36 GMT 1
News from Trent Barton about High Peak. The zigzag range of tickets will not be available on High Peak with new tickets set to be introduced. A Peak Plus ticket is available on Trent Barton, High Peak and TM Travel at £10 (or £5 with a zigzag ticket), although not available to Stockport, Manchester Airport or Manchester city centre or south of Matlock.
The livery is set to be similar to Centrebus with blue and orange.
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Post by mollman on Mar 21, 2012 16:50:53 GMT 1
I'm glad Transpeak will be keeping it livery, however it is time that new vehicles were purchased for this service.
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Post by MetrolineGA1511 on Mar 25, 2012 0:34:42 GMT 1
I live between Stockport and Manchester, and am going to Derby and Nottingham next week. I had already decided to come home via TransPeak to Stockport on a ZigZag Plus ticket. So it is just as well I timed it for next week and not a week later!
Yes Mollman, it would be appropriate for TransPeak to gain new buses, preferably with coach or leather seating in view of the long distance covered by the route.
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Post by SCH117X on Mar 30, 2012 23:01:46 GMT 1
Web site live www.highpeakbuses.com - standard awful Centrebus web site which will come as a shock to any one in the area that was use to the TB site. |
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Post by X212HHE on Mar 31, 2012 16:54:34 GMT 1
Web site live www.highpeakbuses.com - standard awful Centrebus web site which will come as a shock to any one in the area that was use to the TB site. Yeah definitely a Centrebus website going by the photo of a Huddersfield bus on the homepage |
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SF07
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Post by SF07 on Mar 31, 2012 18:37:55 GMT 1
Web site live www.highpeakbuses.com - standard awful Centrebus web site which will come as a shock to any one in the area that was use to the TB site. Yeah definitely a Centrebus website going by the photo of a Huddersfield bus on the homepage Same style website as main Centrebus. And it does look like a bus from Huddersfield on the website, pictured in Glossop, so should be a 951 service. Certainly does lack a bit of professionalism that you might get from the bigger operators, but at least it has a website, where has Huddersfield Bus/White Rose/K-Line have to do with the Metro website. Shame there's no fare information on the website for anyone planning to use the 199 or TP. |
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Matty
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Post by Matty on Mar 31, 2012 19:30:06 GMT 1
Looks a nice website.
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Post by Burnside on Mar 31, 2012 23:56:00 GMT 1
As long as it has all the relevant information, then does it really matter?
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Post by SCH117X on Apr 3, 2012 21:56:36 GMT 1
From reports elsewhere the changeover has gone not too smoothly with TrentBarton tickets still being issued due to problems with altering the ticket machines. The TransPeak has been chopped into 4 separately registered and numbered sections and on the very first day (a Sunday) they managed to turn this out www.flickr.com/photos/psbusdriver/7035584003/ and vehicles are running around in tatty stripped branding form - no nice neat rebranding like Transdev York did with Pullman vehicles. |
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Post by dwarfer1979 on Apr 4, 2012 8:33:45 GMT 1
Web site live www.highpeakbuses.com - standard awful Centrebus web site which will come as a shock to any one in the area that was use to the TB site. Yeah definitely a Centrebus website going by the photo of a Huddersfield bus on the homepage And once they have repainted some vehicles into the new High Peak livery in Orange with fleetnames I'll get up there and take some photos and change the one on the website. It is a Huddersfield Bus Company Solo in Glossop on the 951, it is the closest to correct livery/location (and since it has Centrebus names not HBC slightly more appropriate). Of course the big difference between the Centrebus site and Trent Bartons is a couple of grand in developer costs (at the best - the Centrebus site costs around £100 to buy the names & then it is maintained in-house), it's got pretty much everything customers need for a fraction of the cost. Peak Plus is I believe £6 (or £5 for a holder of Zig-Zag or, I think, a holder of a ticket from outside the area on a High Peak service such as Manchester or Nottingham), so cost is unchanged for passengers off Trent-Barton services onto the Transpeak whilst cost is reduced for passengers who want to use both High Peak services & TM Travel services in the Peak District (you would previously have had to have used a more expensive Derbyshire Wayfarer). I could comment on the fun we've had with the transfer but won't as I like my job, but suffice to say that whilst TrentBarton are a really good bus company, has anyone seen a website for Notts & Derby or any acknowledgement that TrentBarton has any sister/associated companies in the area (like TM Travel for instance)? |
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Post by SCH117X on Apr 4, 2012 20:34:41 GMT 1
I do not think it should cost anything to improve the web sites, just some better use of basic web page coding - why the numerous Click entries on the High Peak timetable page for instance which for all of the Transpeak services take you to the same pdf. The sheer amount of text on the main pages which could be better spread across two or more using larger font for the less well sighted and bolder headings. A website that is very good is that of Norfolk Greens www.norfolkgreen.co.uk and they are not one of the big companies. |
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jc
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Post by jc on Apr 5, 2012 20:02:50 GMT 1
I could comment on the fun we've had with the transfer but won't as I like my job, but suffice to say that whilst TrentBarton are a really good bus company, has anyone seen a website for Notts & Derby or any acknowledgement that TrentBarton has any sister/associated companies in the area (like TM Travel for instance)? I was quite surprised that they didn't integrate TM Travel with trent barton around Buxton - I was kind of looking forward to seeing tb-style 'Transpeak 2's or 'Cherry Bakewell's in Sheffield. |
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swfcforever
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Post by swfcforever on Apr 6, 2012 15:52:20 GMT 1
From reports elsewhere the changeover has gone not too smoothly with TrentBarton tickets still being issued due to problems with altering the ticket machines. The TransPeak has been chopped into 4 separately registered and numbered sections and on the very first day (a Sunday) they managed to turn this out www.flickr.com/photos/psbusdriver/7035584003/ and vehicles are running around in tatty stripped branding form - no nice neat rebranding like Transdev York did with Pullman vehicles. Due to th vehicle on the Transpeak 4 in the photo was a Step-Entrance vehicle, does it mean no fares were charged, or has the Trent-Barton policy changed recently, or does it not apply to High Peak? |
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Post by westyorkshirebus on Apr 7, 2012 23:20:08 GMT 1
Unibus NC Paladins have been fairly regular on the Transpeak for years, they have become even more regular lately since the B10M coaches were reduced.
It's obvious who is the sleeping partner in the High Peak operation. It's obviously going to be run on a day to day basis as a Centrebus style operation from the look of it.
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Post by MetrolineGA1511 on Apr 8, 2012 0:07:56 GMT 1
Indeed, I have seen buses on routes 199 and TransPeak carrying legal lettering for Bowers Coaches based at CentreBus' Leicester address. So it looks like becoming a CentreBus subsidiary trading as High Peak but legally named Bowers Coaches.
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Post by stevieinselby on Apr 8, 2012 0:10:38 GMT 1
As long as it has all the relevant information, then does it really matter? Why do something badly when it isn't difficult to do it well? Why bother with web 'design' at all, why not just list all the timetables in plain text? A website is part of a company's branding, and part of its communication strategy. It's a relatively easy part to get right, and to do professionally. It's accepted that small bus companies probably haven't got the resources or expertise to have a top-notch website, but a major national operator like Centrebus really ought to be able to put together something better than what they have - particular for West Yorkshire! It isn't just a question of "is all the information there" (and the answer to that is "no it isn't", there's lots of information that I would consider essential for a bus company's website that isn't there), it's also a question of how easy it is to find and understand, and whether it gives passengers confidence in the company or whether it presents them as a fly-by-night cowboy operator who can't be trusted to run buses properly. |
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Post by westyorkshirebus on Apr 8, 2012 23:46:40 GMT 1
I was in Derby & Nottingham yesterday and the only Transpeak I saw was a Unibus NC Paladin with Bowers Coaches legals.
A new timetable has been produced in A5 size, in what may be Centrebus house style (but green). It was available in Derby Bus Station but no sign of it in Trent Barton's office in Nottingham Broadmarsh, just like their other associated bus companies, they are treating it like it doesn't exist.
There may be a Skyline 199 version available in Manchester.
Have High Peak actually put their fleetname on any buses as yet?
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Post by dwarfer1979 on Apr 10, 2012 9:26:53 GMT 1
As long as it has all the relevant information, then does it really matter? Why do something badly when it isn't difficult to do it well? Why bother with web 'design' at all, why not just list all the timetables in plain text? A website is part of a company's branding, and part of its communication strategy. It's a relatively easy part to get right, and to do professionally. It's accepted that small bus companies probably haven't got the resources or expertise to have a top-notch website, but a major national operator like Centrebus really ought to be able to put together something better than what they have - particular for West Yorkshire! It isn't just a question of "is all the information there" (and the answer to that is "no it isn't", there's lots of information that I would consider essential for a bus company's website that isn't there), it's also a question of how easy it is to find and understand, and whether it gives passengers confidence in the company or whether it presents them as a fly-by-night cowboy operator who can't be trusted to run buses properly. A couple of points: 1. The High Peak website isn't actually finished yet, it is still under-construction and hasn't been publicised anywhere yet (our standard web hosting has had to be moved recently which delayed the preparation of this site as the main one had to moved as well and we wanted to make sure the new system was any good before shifting/starting other sites). 2. You asume that there is some professional design involved, there isn't. Apart from the cost of paying for the address and hosting it is zero cost, the website is entirely run internally so there is very limited design skills and the layout is basically the standard available layout from the Microsoft hosting service we use (which can be managed by the lay-person) so basically your text based website but better designed because that is the standard option available. 3. Centrebus may be a 'national company' but we are a very low-cost operation, it is the company niche (so the website reflects the company ethos of low-cost) and enables Centrebus to provide services others can't afford to and at lower prices than other area operators. The team that handles registrations, schedules, publicity and complaints for the entire company consists of 5 people based at Leicester (none of whom are design specialists and all of whom have other roles that are the more dominant part of their jobs). We could go for a wizzier, more designed website and hire the people/organisations to handle that but we would then have to put up fares or cut back services where they could no longer carry the head office costs of the extra resource needed to provide the supposedly more professional image, I know which option I prefer. 4. Personally I find the Centrebus website design much easier to navigate that other bigger bus groups, Stagecoach & Arriva's both require more pages and pull-down menus to get to a position to find the service and I have experienced difficulty finding a timetable for a service I know runs because the site has got me down the wrong cul-de-sac. I also can't see a great deal missing that I would want to know from the centrebus.info site (our main one which is pretty much complete). There are bugs in the new Microsoft hosting that weren't on the old site (it's Microsoft what do you expect - they say they are fixing them) but I find it a pretty good site. There is a plan to bring the West Yorkshire information onto the new national info site now we have moved over to a single site (the basic problem was why pay for an individual site when Metro provide most of the information for free anyway - it's something I have been pushing for but it has never been a priority due to the Metro provision) but we need to get things like High Peak finished and working properly first. As far as I know any Trent-Barton policy on quality doesn't apply to High Peak but I doubt it ever applied to the TransPeak as a Unibus Paladin B10B running on the TransPeak wasn't unnusual under Trent control so basically no change there. |
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Post by stevieinselby on Apr 10, 2012 21:18:23 GMT 1
First off, I should say that while I may have been critical of Centrebus' website, I'm not holding any others up as paragons of excellence either. Probably the closest I've seen to a bus company website that ticks all the boxes is Metrobus' previous site (I'm much less keen on its recent reincarnation) – not far behind are the Transdev Harrogate and Coastliner sites, although even there, there are a number of things I don't like, and some points that have regressed from previous versions. Arriva are starting to get the right idea, but the technical implementation and local details leave a lot to be desired. First is certainly not that great. Transdev groups are pretty good but not perfect. EYMS does some things really well and some things really badly. With smaller operators, it's pretty hit and miss as who they've hired as to whether the site is any good, but usually it isn't. 1. The High Peak website isn't actually finished yet, it is still under-construction and hasn't been publicised anywhere yet (our standard web hosting has had to be moved recently which delayed the preparation of this site as the main one had to moved as well and we wanted to make sure the new system was any good before shifting/starting other sites). Fair enough – if there are still things to be ironed out before it goes live then ignore any criticism I made of those things! It's a difficult one. I respect Centrebus for trying to be self-sufficient, and I recognise that it can't be easy when your hold business model is predicated on being able to run more cheaply than the other major operators. Managing the website in-house gives you more freedom, more control and probably allows you to be more responsive rather than having to rely on someone else's schedules. Certainly, getting outside or extra staff in will cost a lot more. But you don't have to go down that route. A bit of extra training for existing staff can be much cheaper, and some fairly simple things can be effective in making the site look more professional. It's little things like ... on Centrebus South, some things that leap out at me are that you've got your main body text in four different styles (Trebuchet 'normal', Trebuchet with the lines squashed together, Trebuchet at a smaller size, Arial). You've got text underlined – it's standard practice on the web that only links get underlined, for headings you use bold or larger text. It says "Click here" all over the place, but you're better off making the call to action into the clickable link, eg "Visit our ticket shop", "Join our travel club", people will understand they have to click on it. None of that is rocket science – I don't mean that to sound patronising, and I'm not trying to belittle what a small team of non-specialists have achieved with next to no resources – what I mean is that I'm sure you could find the resources to fix little things like that, without needing to go down the route of an all-singing all-dancing whizz-bang-wallop website that does cost serious money. In terms of what I would say is missing – top of the list would be maps and route searches. Obviously if you don't have route or network maps produced already, and you're trying to keep your costs down, then that's probably going to be something that goes by the wayside, but nevertheless I would say that, where resources permit, network maps are a key element of an operator's website. While your listings do give a good idea of the route each service takes (and does this in better detail than plenty of other sites), they're a bit cumbersome to read through. A few things that you could do that could help people to find the right timetables would be: - put the names of the main towns in bold – consider the difference between:
Nottingham - Tollerton - Stanton on the Wolds - Nether Broughton - Melton Mowbray - Ashwell - Langham - Oakham
and
Nottingham - Tollerton - Stanton on the Wolds - Nether Broughton - Melton Mowbray - Ashwell - Langham - Oakham
- highlight routes that run frequently/at least every hour so that they stand out
- consider creating extra pages for main towns, eg from what I can see, there are 15 routes serving Melton Mowbray, but when they're spread throughout the 36 routes serving the whole of Leics, it's easy to find some, but harder to find them all. Having an additional page (or an additional table on the same page) just listing those routes to MM would make it easier for passengers.
On a positive note, I like the design of the timetables in the Northants section – this looks like a newer design than a lot of the others, and it's much cleaner and more readable – I hope this is the template you'll be using for new timetables elsewhere! Even if you still link to the timetables published by WYMetro, rather than re-creating them in-house (which I agree would be unnecessary duplication), having information about tickets, company news, your Twitter feed etc, is all stuff that isn't available on WYMetro. I understand why it hasn't been a priority up until now, but I hope that once things have settled down with the new site and High Peak, your West Yorkshire divisions will start to make a showing! |
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Post by dwarfer1979 on Apr 11, 2012 9:07:47 GMT 1
I'll pass on your feedback to the girls looking after the website so they can take it on board.
Maps are always a little tricky, a lot of timetable designers don't do map design as it requires a different skill set so it can be a little complicated to get those (we don't have any seperately). In fact our old designer was unable to design maps, though our new supplier is, though in a fairly simple style.
The new style on the Northamptonshire ones you mention is basically an extract from our designers of our printed publicity (they are basically our new, recently adopted, style from our new designers) and when we receive these they will be used for the web, the more basic design is that produced from our scheduling system which we can print off immediately we have designed the timetables so can be up as early as we need to (the designed ones tend to arrive much closer/after the change date even if the printed versions were out in time). As we get more printed publicity on our new style, more of the timetables on the website will switch over to this more attractive style. As an added bonus as part of the new style publicity a number of our area books also have maps which should also be appearing on the website (though may require a design change as we have never included maps before).
We did have selected seperate town pages when we had seperate websites but as we have expanded it became harder to tell which site customers should be using so we have merged onto one site which then needed some rationalisation to help make it easier to manage & navigate, though, of-course, once this has bedded in we can review things and see what improvements can be made to the site.
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SF07
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Post by SF07 on Apr 12, 2012 11:36:22 GMT 1
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Post by northernlightbulb on Apr 12, 2012 18:32:59 GMT 1
Just out of interest can anyone provide a list of all the current Centrebus depots across the uk? Just curious as I don't really know much about them outside of West Yorkshire.
Grateful in advance.
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