|
Post by stevieinselby on Jul 5, 2015 18:49:43 GMT 1
Personally I think they lt looks hideous especially on 33883 and distracts away from the destination board.. Well that might be your opinion but I doubt very much the mass majority of the general public share your view. My first thought was the same as Basher's ... the bright pink is really garish, but it is so much brighter than the LED board in daylight that it did make it harder to read the destination. I also questioned the wisdom of "up to every 10 minutes or better", which seems to translate as "at some frequency or other" ... but not really appropriate to give people the hope of a turn-up-and-go frequency on buses doing the Wetherby run, which is only ever half-hourly at best.
|
|
|
Post by stevieinselby on Jun 27, 2015 12:58:46 GMT 1
Abit more info regarding the 13A Arriva will operate. It will start at Morrisons Foss Island and operate via Holly Bank terminating in Acomb. I suppose that's good for passengers going to Morrisons and the shops around there, but it seems a shame not to join it to the 24/26/27 group so that ALL buses to/from Fulford could run through to the railway station.
|
|
|
Post by stevieinselby on Jun 26, 2015 22:50:34 GMT 1
The government says it will delay or cut back a number of modernisation projects planned for Network Rail. Wow, no-one saw that coming – a government promising unprecedented public expenditure in a time of austerity leading up the election, and then dumping the lot immediately after. It's a good job I'm not a cynical person...
|
|
|
Post by stevieinselby on Jun 26, 2015 17:40:19 GMT 1
And then after all that, the leccies WERE taken out of service today, pending further investigation.
I was amused to read the press article that referred to them as "electronic" buses...
|
|
|
Post by stevieinselby on Jun 26, 2015 6:55:18 GMT 1
Unfortunately with all the accuracy / consistency we can expect from local rags these days " A spokesman for First Transport has told The Press the remaining 11 electric vehicles will remain in operation." and " .It is not yet clear whether the remaining vehicles will continue to operate following this incident." Thats clear then! Yes, they updated the article several times over the course of the afternoon. Initially, it wasn't clear whether the remaining vehicles would continue in service, but when First did clarify the situation, that was added at the top but the line further down was left in. So a bit stupid, but not as completely stupid as it first appears.
|
|
|
Post by stevieinselby on Jun 24, 2015 23:38:10 GMT 1
Arriva are making a couple of minor changes to the 42 and 415 timetables:
- taking out the timing point at Fulford Church, so outbound buses now have 15 minutes (20 in the afternoon peak) to get from Piccadilly to Designer Outlet where they will wait for time if they are running early. This seems like a real retrograde step, given that it doesn't allow them to get home any quicker, and the number of people who get off on Fulford Main Street or at the Designer Outlet is relatively low - what this means is that people getting on in Fulford are now going to have to get to the stop a lot earlier to catch the same bus, leaving Piccadilly at the same time and arriving at their destination at the same time, because the traffic is so unpredictable that on some days the buses can do the journey in 8 minutes instead of the scheduled 15.
- adding a new journey at 0005 on Saturday. This is nonsense. Their current timetable shows an 0005 running on Sunday but no other days. Now OK, if you're going to be pedantic about it, the journey that runs an hour later than 2305 on Saturday is technically 0005 on Sunday (although it makes much more sense to think of it as 2405 on Saturday). I could accept that if they showed the 0005 at the start of the Sunday timetable, but no, they show it at the end. So it really does look like they currently run a midnight flyer on Sunday night, and they are now introducing one on Saturday night as well. I've not actually used these buses, but I would bet a pound to a penny that they are actually running a Saturday night midnight flyer now, and they are adding in a Friday one (which there used to be, a few years ago). Why is it so difficult to get that right in the timetable? (Probably for the same reason that according to their own timetable, all buses that run on Saturday and Sunday run on bank holidays, meaning the 415 has 6 buses an hour. They've done this on other routes as well. Does no-one proof-read anything these days?)
Oh yes, and even more bizarrely, according to the NYCC timetable, the new "Friday night but technically Saturday" midnight flyer does not call at Escrick or Barlby (although it does call at Riccall), even though it takes exactly the same length of time to travel between the stops as the current "Saturday night but technically Sunday" bus, which does call at Escrick (obviously, there's no way to avoid it) and Barlby.
|
|
|
Post by stevieinselby on Jun 20, 2015 16:25:48 GMT 1
Will that see the service split between Arriva and Connecions if Connexions are running the 13 and Arriva 13A. As far as I'm aware the 13 will be every 30 minutes Haxby - Copmanthorpe, so the 13A may just be City - Holly Bank - Acomb, possibly linked in with the existing 24/26/27. That would be my guess. Stonebow/Piccadilly to Acomb via Holly Bank is about a 1 hour round trip, so it could be tied into the same set using one extra bus, which would then have the advantage that all buses on the 26/27 would run through to the station. Not sure why it has to be run as 13A though, when it would make far more sense to revert it to the 16, which has traditionally been the number for years (before Metroisation, even), as the new service won't have anything in common with the Haxby–Copmanthorpe service, and the duplication of numbers will only serve to confuse passengers.
|
|
|
Post by stevieinselby on Jun 18, 2015 23:07:19 GMT 1
|
|
|
Post by stevieinselby on Jun 18, 2015 20:52:53 GMT 1
I seem to remember there being a fallout between First and the University a few years ago (resulting in the Unibus being awarded to York Pullman). So I take it relations between the two parties have improved? It was at the time when the Heslington East campus opened, and First said that they were not interested in extending their route from Heslington Hall to the new campus (may have been partly because they didn't have enough ftrs to run the extended route), which was why the contract was awarded to Pullman.
|
|
|
Post by stevieinselby on Jun 18, 2015 0:03:44 GMT 1
Great news for people wanting to visit the North York Moors over this summer! EYMS have already started running their Moorsbus service, but from the start of next month Arriva are launching two services, and they will all run on Sundays and bank holidays to the end of September. So from then, we will have: - a bus running from Hessle, Hull and Beverley via Pickering to Danby, and back.
- a bus running from Darlington and Middlesbrough via Guisborough and Danby to Pickering, and back
- four buses each way between Pickering and Danby, including one each way extended to Great Ayton
- a bus running from Saltburn via Redcar, Guisborough, Great Ayton, Stokesley, Northallerton, Thirsk and Sutton Bank to Helmsley and back (two journeys each way between Thirsk station and Helmsley)
- a bus running from Helmsley via Rievaulx Abbey, Chop Gate and Stokesley to Great Ayton and back
- a total of two buses each way from Great Ayton and Stokesley to Helmsley
- two-way connection between the Bilsdale and Blakey buses at Great Ayton at lunchtime.
- two-way connections between the Saltburn–Helmsley and Teesside–Pickering buses in the morning and evening
- two-way connections with 128 from most journeys at Helmsley and Kirkbymoorside/Pickering
This looks like a really positive step, so spread the word, and let's hope that the services can be successful enough to continue.
|
|
|
Post by stevieinselby on Jun 16, 2015 23:55:36 GMT 1
They have got a mix of 08-reg Geminis, 11-reg Gemini 2s, 62-reg Gemini 2s and an 05-reg Gemini on loan from Harrogate. I couldn't tell you off the top of my head if there are still any B7RLEs or B10BLEs running on Coastliner routes ... I know I have seen them in the last few months, but the last few weeks? I'm not so sure ... Check that ... this photo shows an 07-reg B7RLE in use on Coastliner earlier this month. I can't see any other photos of single-deckers since the start of the summer timetable, but that doesn't mean there haven't been any!
|
|
|
Post by stevieinselby on Jun 11, 2015 21:13:51 GMT 1
EYMS have been running SL15ZGP on the X46 for the last couple of days – this is a Wright StreetDeck and looks like it's a demonstrator, it's not in EYMS livery!
|
|
|
Post by stevieinselby on Jun 10, 2015 22:19:32 GMT 1
Thinking about it, that could be the achilles heel for Connexions unless unless First Day & period tickets are valid on both operators. Otherwise I would have thought they would need to compete quite aggressively (very cheap fares, 20 min or better frequency from town to Huntington) to attract enough patronage to make it work? Don't forget that there is the 'All York' ticket, not much more than a First Day (£4.50 compared to £3.80) that covers all buses within the city boundary. I would be staggered if there was any interavailability of tickets beyond that – not least because a large part of the reason for needing the 13 is that it serves places other First routes don't go. Copmanthorpe will not see any First services – Connexions will be competing with Transdev there. Across Haxby there are areas that are half a mile or more from the #1 where people won't consider it a choice. If you're travelling from Haxby or New Earswick to the Foss Islands or Stonebow area, you've got a bus that takes you straight there or a long walk. With a lower cost base and lower profit requirements, there's a good chance that they can make this route work where First couldn't.
|
|
|
Post by stevieinselby on Jun 9, 2015 17:23:43 GMT 1
PB1003659/45 - HARROGATE COACH TRAVEL LTD T/A Connexionsbuses, SECTION 3, SOUTHFIELD LANE, TOCKWITH, YORK, YO26 7QPRegistration AcceptedStarting Point: Haxby, West NooksFinish Point: Copmanthorpe, Station RoadVia:Service Number: 13Service Type: Normal StoppingEffective Date: 02-AUG-2015Other Details: Monday to Saturday (except bank holidays) Connexions will be running the 13 every half-hour between West Nooks and Copmanthorpe, with all buses running via Flaxman Croft to and from Cop., after First deregistered the service. I've not heard what, if anything, is happening for Holly Bank, maybe Transdev could do something with the dead time on the bus used for the 36?
|
|
|
Post by stevieinselby on Jun 2, 2015 18:48:27 GMT 1
|
|
|
Post by stevieinselby on Jun 2, 2015 18:47:18 GMT 1
Registration for a 490 service from M Travel has appeared on VOSA today: PB1064235/27 - M TRAVEL LTD T/A M TRAVEL LTD, VANGUARD YARD, CARR WOOD ROAD, CASTLEFORD, WF10 4SB Registration Accepted by SN Starting Point: Sherburn in Elmet ( Low Street) Finish Point: Pontefract Bus Station Via: Ferrybridge Service Number: 490 Service Type: Normal Stopping Effective Date: 01-JUN-2015 Other Details: Mondays to Saturdays 3 return journeys per day Interesting, given that that appears to pretty much duplicate what Utopia are running 6 times a day. Unless this route maybe runs via Monk Fryston, Hillam and Burton Salmon, which Utopia misses?
|
|
|
Post by stevieinselby on May 27, 2015 23:46:07 GMT 1
In 2003, the X46 between York and Hull took 1h37/1h45 (depending on which direction you were travelling in).
Over time, that journey time has been extended and extended.
The new timetable launched this week has buses taking 2h02/2h15 - that's up to half an hour longer on a journey of about 2 hours.
Over the same period, the Coastliner 843 has added just 10 minutes on a longer route, the 93 has been extended by less than 5 minutes, and the 121 does the journey in exactly the same time. So how has the A1079 got so bad that off-peak interurban journeys take 25% longer than they used to?
|
|
|
Post by stevieinselby on May 26, 2015 23:11:04 GMT 1
Not sure why it's "unlikely" ... it's a low-floor Transdev-owned bus. That's about the limit of how picky they get about vehicle allocation! I think you'd have to get as far as an EV Solo before it counts as "unlikely"
|
|
|
Post by stevieinselby on May 26, 2015 19:29:08 GMT 1
Wonder if they will attract custom, it would be ironic if Transdev managed to make a go of the route when it was Blazefield that axed it as a commerial route despite promising to improve it. Always wondered if it would be more successful if marketed correctly with the historic places en route (Aldborough, Newby Hall, Ripon) and more so if it was extended to Fountains Abbey. I agree that extending the route to Fountains Abbey, even if only a couple of times a day, could prove a successful synergy to attract more passengers, and given the very long layovers at York, it could easily be accommodated within the existing vehicle allocation. Blazefield may have axed it as a commercial service but it currently garners £225k/yr in subsidy from the council, so it's quite a different proposition now. But the latest proposals, for April next year, are to reduce the subsidy by more than 50% and to take the service in-house using 16-seater minibuses. This would see the route cut back to Poppleton Bar P&R rather than York city centre, and reduced to 3 journeys each way to/from York plus another 3 between Ripon and Boroughbridge. It would be a real shame to see what was not long ago an hourly service cut back so drastically and we can all predict the impact it would have on ridership. Part of the problem with the 142/143 may be that it just takes too long to get from York to Ripon, which I'm sure will put people off. With a fast bus on Sunday doing the journey in comfortably under an hour, but the weekday journeys taking 1h15–1h25, you can't help but feel that a quicker journey might encourage more people to use it – maybe have some journeys sticking to the main roads and some journeys serving all the villages off the main road.
|
|
|
Post by stevieinselby on May 25, 2015 9:34:12 GMT 1
How far do you want to go with this?, Not taking small children into a newsagent's, just in case they catch a glimpse of a top shelf porn mag?. I recall a couple of years back, seeing an advert on buses proclaiming "some people are gay, get over it" and thinking, even though homosexual's are in the minority, what would be the outcry if a counter advert read "most people are straight, get over that". The reason that top-shelf magazines are on the top shelf is precisely so that they are out of eye-line of children. If a significant minority of gay people were trying to deny straight people basic rights and were trying to legalise and legitimise bullying and discrimination against them, that advert might have been justified. As far as I'm aware, that isn't what's happening, which is why there is no need for that advert. The "Some people are gay" adverts did not feature anything that could reasonably be considered offensive, risqué or inappropriate for children to see, so there was nothing untoward in having them displayed publicly. That's where it's different from the "Ride me" adverts, which could very easily be argued to be inappropriate for public consumption.
|
|
|
Post by stevieinselby on May 24, 2015 19:39:52 GMT 1
Does the 44 still attract funding from the Uni, or does being 'preferred bus provider' simply mean you run the campus shuttle and get access to the Ron Cooke Hub/Lakeside Way, rather than being 'relegated' to the interchange? I've always assumed that it meant they got funding to cover the cost of free travel within the campus area, but that is just a guess...
|
|
|
Post by stevieinselby on May 23, 2015 22:20:02 GMT 1
Think the 4 may be becoming a City - Acomb service, as the University service is apparently being numbered the 66. Buses have run through from Acomb to the university since at least 1998 and probably long before ... it would be a shame to see that link severed ... not least for my friends who are in the process of buying a house in Dringhouses on the basis that it's on a bus route to the university (where they both work)!
|
|
|
Post by stevieinselby on May 23, 2015 18:43:48 GMT 1
I don't get the "6–7 minutes" frequency ... that makes it 9 buses per hour. Nothing wrong with that for a turn-up-and-go service ... but are they going to continue all of those buses through to Foxwood and Acomb? If so, that's a huge increase in service that I can't really see being justified by passenger numbers ... but if they aren't then it's going to lead to some more awkward splits. Maybe a third of buses will terminate at the station, a third will run straight through, and a third will wait for a few minutes and then run through.
|
|
|
Post by stevieinselby on May 22, 2015 23:33:28 GMT 1
Needless to say Connexions are squealing all over their twitter account about the improved 6; Transdev being a bully running 5 mins in front of them, they seem to forget they started the bus war in Harrogate by running 5 mins in front of the 770. I can only see two tweets from them about it – hardly a gross overreaction or "squealing all over their twitter account"! To be fair, the timings on the X70 were chosen to tie in with the pre-existing 412/413 timetable between Wetherby and York – so that when they started running it as a through service from Harrogate to York, they could do it without changing the times of buses between Wetherby and York, either theirs or Eddie's. I don't think the times were deliberately set to be 5 minutes ahead of the 770, that's just the way it came out. While Connexions have certainly taken up an aggressively competitive line at times, speaking as a disinterested party with no axe to grind either way it does seem that Transdev have been the bigger bully on many occasions. Connexions did subsequently try to get the X70 spaced more evenly with the 770, but Transdev responded by changing their times to be just ahead, on some flimsy and nonsensical pretext about improving reliability. Transdev have improved the 1/a/b/c and 36, but the majority of their other commercial routes have declined over recent years (the 2A went 12 > 20 > 30, the 3 went 12 > 15, the 6 went 20 > 30 > 40 and suffered a much shortened route), and many of their subsidised routes withered on the vine. Connexions have launched new commercial services at improved frequencies compared with the subsidised services that went before, and have maintained services in the face of falling subsidy better than many larger operators. If some slightly aggressive competition is the price that we pay for seeing those improved service and a reduced draw on the public purse then that seems like a fair trade-off to me. No, it's not all one side one way, or the other. Both companies have done some good things, and some that they should possibly be less proud of. We get that you don't like Connexions, but there's no need to be continually badmouthing them at every opportunity – you need to accept that they are not the spawn of the devil, they are not out to destroy Transdev, but they are trying to make a living and co-exist alongside Transdev while running some services that Transdev couldn't be bothered to run because they weren't profitable enough for them.
|
|
|
Post by stevieinselby on May 20, 2015 7:47:46 GMT 1
They certainly seem determined to ensure that no-one uses the bus to get to a normal 9-5 office job. They've cut almost every journey which arrives at a main centre before 0900. I'd guess that'll make it a lot less likely that many routes have any chance of ever returning to being commerically viable. I'm fairly sure NYCC decided last time round that they weren't going to subsidise services more frequent than every 2 hours, yet here they are running (for example) 5 service 57s towards Boroughbridge in the space of 4 hours 25 min. Likewise with the 142 between Boroughbridge and Ripon, it's broady the frequency of a decent service (an extra departure in both directions!) but with inadequate hours of operation for commuters. Of course in most instances it's simply an exercise in cutting existing service levels. While NYCC don't want to subsidise a service any better than 2-hourly, if they are using minibuses then the seating capacity is being cut by at least 50%, so the timetable has to recognise this - hence why the Skipton town services were increased back to hourly. And when that higher frequency allows efficient use of a single vehicle it can be cheaper than running the same number of journeys spread out over a longer period. At one time, councils were keen to make rural bus services sustainable and commercially viable, but now with even those services costing councils heavily through ENCTS, some at least are doing everything they can to run those services into the ground and wilfully make them as difficult to use as possible. But hey, that's what the people voted for, so this is what they get as a result.
|
|