Year two is in the bag, here's my second annual report on the experience of commuting on Aireline. As last year, here are some facts and figures to start off.
Aireline branded Optare Versa242 - 16 Journeys
243 - 14 Journeys
274 - 17 Journeys
275 - 17 Journeys
276 - 17 Journeys
277 - 29 Journeys
Keighley Bus Company livery Optare Versa240 - 46 Journeys
Volvo B7TL/Wright Eclipse Gemini402 - 109 Journeys
403 - 102 Journeys
2763 - 4 Journeys
2764 - 1 Journey
Volvo B7RLE454 - 4 Journeys
1823 - 1 Journey
1843 - 1 Journey
1846 - 1 Journey
1849 - 5 Journeys
Volvo B7TL President2701 - 2 Journeys
2704 - 1 Journey
2708 - 3 Journey
2713 - 1 Journey
2716 - 21 Journeys
Attendance - For the second year running, no morning journey I went to catch was missed over the whole year. Evening journeys were harder to gauge as the move to a frequency of every twenty minutes did result in a bit of bunching from time to time. I can't say I noticed a departure actually missing but did see a worrying trend of late buses turning at Park Row and not serving the bus station. I don't have a problem with this in the main, before Christmas especially this was understandable due to the problems on Boar Lane and these alterations were well advertised on Twitter. I've seen it happen however on other occasions though, even last week when a late running 3.55 turned early with no such publicised warning. This is a real problem as the new 4.15 departure is Versa operated and already leaves Leeds with a standing load as it is, this bus trying to cram Bus Station and Headrow passengers for these two departures onto the one bus is not feasable!
Grade - B+Punctuality – Morning journeys all turned up on time, arrival times in Leeds generally very good but queues at Kirkstall Bridge and along Kirkstall Rd continue to make some arrivals into Leeds late, the later the service, undertandably the more congestion is encountered and the more variable arrival time is. Evening journeys are still badly affected by traffic in Leeds City Centre, a new problem for this year is the installation of the fairly lightly used cycle lanes installed. Further delays at Kirkstall, Rodley & Greengates are nothing new and with major roadworks due to start at Greengates shortly I worry I may not complete another full year of travel. Arrival times at home still vary wildly. As reported last year there is virtualy nothing Transdev can do about these delays with the exception of drivers making sure they are on stand at Leeds Bus Station on time to load passengers instead of waiting in the lay over bay until a minute before departure and then leaving 3-4 minutes late. No breakdown on any journey I travelled on. -
Grade - CQuality – This is hard because the first part of the year I travelled mostly on Gemini's with sufficient space for passengers to breathe, a comfortable ride and apart from water ingress on 402/403 very good quality. The second part of the year was spent on new workings which are predominantly Versa's, the morning journey is just fine but the 16.15 afternoon departure, after a quiet start, has now been discovered by a lot of passengers and as mentioned before is standing room only. This is not comfortable, especially when delayed by traffic, brings memories back of how bad the 16.35 used to be before it was converted to double deck operation. Regrettably it is unlikely any such upgrade will save this working as this bus also works the short 14.35 to Greengates having run dead from Keighley so I can't imagine it would be cost effective to send a decker. Credit to Transdev for added the extra morning bus and increasing the frequency in the evenings but these are sticking plaster solutions to a lack of capacity generally. The Streetdeck demonstrator from 2018 did not provide the desired upgrade but at least we got 2763 and even 2764 for a week. It's a shame 2764 did not stay for long as on the one journey I did travel on it there were audible comments from other commuters regarding how nice it is. -
Grade C-Technology – Wi-fi and USB ports are becoming a minimum requirement for new buses but need to be maintained. Usage limits on Aireline feel to be very restrictive, I'm not a big user, no videos etc, but with a commute in excess of 2 hours per day, find that my daily limit is exceeded well before my journey home is complete. USB ports at individual seats are now more often out of action than not although this is not a criticism of Transdev alone, bus companies do like to advertise this facilty on launch day but do not appear to want to maintain them correctly, or maybe do not have the expertise to do so? I don't really know where we are with next stop announcements on Aireline, the screens are nearly always working but the volume varies from quiet to non existant these days. Contactless is still personally my biggest bugbear, the boarding times seem so slow for every paying passenger these days, I'm convinced it's so much quicker when I pay for my weekly ticket using cash but then I do try to have exact money available. After last years report Transdev have given me what I asked for and provided real time tracking on their app, Hurrah!! It's a game changer for me. Whether sitting at my desk at work or having a pub crawl I now know exactly when my next bus is going to show up, Bravo!!!
Grade – BAppearance - Aireline branded buses domniate daytimes, very rare to see anything else other than Versa 240 or maybe a Gemini in weekday daylight hours. No incorrectly branded buses really ever appear on Aireline routes although when the double deck vehicles appear in rush hour and on Saturdays they are obviously only in Keighley Bus Company or Pride of the North colours.
Grade – AStaff – The one thing that struck me recently about the drivers is the turnover. I can only think of three or four of last years regular drivers who are still driving Aireline on a regular basis. I'm not sure the latest crop are as welcoming but if they are new they may just be concentrating really hard on what must be a demanding route to drive. I guess if I'm finding the experience harder, they must be too. The overall level of compentance seem still to be very high and there's have been no collisions, amazing through the Leeds City Centre roadworks.
Grade - AValue for Money - It's £18.00 now for a Leeds 7, so still very good value for money, interesting that the price rise came a couple of weeks after First's price rise, was it necessary, coincidental or opportunistic? I know overheads rise but it would be nice to feel that it is necessary rather than the result of keeping up with the Jones. Value for money was proven to not be my most important criteria regarding travel at Christmas when I abandoned the bus for a week on the train at the height of the gridlock problems in Leeds City Centre. It was ultimately more important for me to spend time with my family, and not be sat on the bus, even at the additional expense.
Grade – A+
Overall conclusion – I have found the journey length more tiresome this year and an upgrade in capacity is desperately needed. As almost everyone has been saying since they were introduced, the Versa's are not suitable for this service. I do find it strange that a company such as Transdev who are always tweeting about route growth bought vehicles which included no scope to accomodate any additional passengers. Alex Hornby said on this very forum previously that this route was not a very profitable route. It cannot be the Leeds end which is the problem so maybe they need to look a little closer at special offers on the Keighley to Shipley section to make that profitable and return us to double decks as standard. As far as journey times are concerned Leeds Council/Metro need to think more about bus travellers. Just one example is the way Wellington Street has been ruined by the installation of those cycle lanes. There are not 70 cyclists riding down that road for every bus full of passengers but we have all been seriously inconvenienced. I will say that the issue I had with the Willow Road timing point is no longer a problem as the bus now almost never reaches this stop in the 20 minutes allowed. If you push 50 people off the bus I would suggest more than 90% of them will move to cars and so add to the congestion.
Final Grade - CImprovements for 2020/21 – It was very apparent to me over 2019 that Gemini's 402/403 are very reliable buses on this route, almost always in service every weekday despite being 15 years old. If we can't have new double deckers I think I'd be happy to give 3601-3612, at the same approximate age, a shot to solve this problem. They may now be too old for the fast running City Zap/Red Express routes but may be more reliable on the stop/start work of Aireline. Obviously this could be scuppered if the Leeds LEZ scheme finally comes into force.
It may also now be time to stop the amount of bus traffic around Leeds city centre, it seems luidcrous to me for buses from Airedale, Wharfedale, Halifax & Bradford to fight their way across to the bus station instead of terminating at Infirmary Street/Park Row. Ditto with routes from Castleford and East Leeds clogging up the centre to terminate in the west of the city. A free shuttle bus should be provided by Metro between the two ends of the city via the main shopping areas paid for by the financial benefits of less congestion and the reduction in polution involved in having stationary buses sat in traffic.