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Post by stevieinselby on May 11, 2015 10:47:42 GMT 1
Pennine D15 was parked up in Horton-in-Ribblesdibble yesterday, with the destination board showing "Pennine Motor Services (1925–2014)", but I didn't see why it was there or if it was being chartered.
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Post by stevieinselby on Apr 30, 2015 21:45:40 GMT 1
I really don't understand the 4 ... why is such a frequent service is needed in the mid afternoon and early evening, but nothing at all for the rest of the day?
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Post by stevieinselby on Apr 19, 2015 14:26:22 GMT 1
I had the chance to ride Arriva's new buses on the coast yesterday, and mostly I was very impressed.
First of all, a 64-reg MAX B9TL, which was very nice to ride in and made light work of Cloughton Bank and the hill out of Robin Hood's Bay ... much better than the Omnicities and B7TLs I have experienced on that route in the past. It seemed like all the buses running to/from Middlesbrough (ie the all-year-round buses) were all MAX B9TLs, but the summer-only services running between Scab and Whitby only were Temsa Avenues or the ex-London 51-reg B7TLs.
Then at Whitby we switched to a 14-reg Sapphire Streetlite, which was very comfortable (although the Wi-Fi didn't seem to be working properly), but the lack of power was very noticeable as we crawled up Lythe Bank. I'm warmer to the idea of Streetlites being used on fairly major interurban routes than I was before, but I still think that a route as hilly as the coast road between Middlesbrough and Whitby needs something with a bit more grunt.
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Post by stevieinselby on Apr 2, 2015 6:46:20 GMT 1
I find this interesting as there is currently already a 653 service from Otley to Bradford via Guiseley, so be interesting see what happens. it looks to me as though it has been registered as "653,(X53)" since they started running the route back in 2009, so I think anyone looking for major changes is probably getting their hopes up too high. after all, it is just "amend timetable", not "amend route and timetable".
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Post by stevieinselby on Mar 27, 2015 10:11:00 GMT 1
Pulsar 1450 is in Selby, and is running on the 415 today - anyone know if this is a permanent move?
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Post by stevieinselby on Mar 20, 2015 22:51:22 GMT 1
Am I right in thinking that, when they lost the 72 contract (back) to Arriva a few years back, D&D could just about manage a 2 hour round trip on the 70 using 1 bus? They certainly cut out the detour via South Parade in Northallerton and ran via Ripon bypass to try and shave off a few minutes. Now it looks like they're having to interwork the 70, 72 and 29 Darlington - Richmond. The optimal Ripon - Darlington running time is 1h 56min. In the early 2000s, which was when I started to pay attention to buses in North Yorkshire, Arriva were interworking the 70 and 72. The 2003 timetable for the 70 has a 66 minute journey time between Ripon and Northallerton. Buses had a 1 minute layover in each direction at Northallerton, 14 minutes at Darlington and 4 minutes at Ripon. Dales & District have extended the layover time at Northallerton, so maybe they found it was insufficient to keep the service reliable. With so much slack in the timetable for the 29 (only takes 40–45 minutes each way), it makes a lot of sense to spread the load so that 3 buses can comfortably keep to time across the three routes than one bus having a lazy day on the 29 and then two buses running around like headless chickens trying to maintain a tight timetable on the 70 and 72. Going further back to 1979, buses from Darlington to Northallerton interworked with buses to Bedale, taking 1h15–1h25 each way. Buses between Northallerton and Ripon took a smidgeon over 1h10 each way. Buses had a long layover in Ripon – possibly interworking with other services although I can't figure out what. (PS - not sure what period you're referring to – in the early 2000s, Arriva ran the 70, 72 and 73 – Dales & District took over all three routes in 2006. I'm not aware of a time in the last 15 years when those routes have not been run by the same company.)
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Post by stevieinselby on Mar 19, 2015 17:09:18 GMT 1
Are these enhancements a commercial by the operator or with a council subsidy. If it is a subsidy from NYCC I wonder where the money has been found when it was not available around this time last year when Pennine announced it's closure. The 580 part of the Monday to Saturday service and the whole of the Sunday service are being run commercially. The 581 is still subsidised Monday to Saturday. Not sure what impact this change would have, because NYCC will no longer subsidise a route to run any more than every 2 hours, so it may be that if KLCH are looking to run hourly then it could become entirely commercial. Well done to KLCH for showing the vision and putting in a bit of investment, something that Pennine were sorely lacking. Next step - take over the 567 and run buses from Skipton right through to Kendal :-)
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Post by stevieinselby on Mar 18, 2015 23:53:30 GMT 1
70 Northallerton - Ripon Dales & District 13 April 2015Journeys 1105hrs Northallerton - Ripon & 1510hrs Ripon - Northallerton will no longer operate. Change of route omitting Thornton le Street and Thornton le Beans except journeys 0725hrs Ripon - Northallerton & 1735hrs Northallerton - Ripon. Timing changes on some journeys Odd - there is no 1105 from Northallerton - it's 0955 or 1200. There's an 1105 from Ripon, but I can't believe they would take out two buses in one direction and none in the other. Also odd that there's no mention of the Leeming 53, which according to D&D they are not running from 13 April.
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Post by stevieinselby on Mar 12, 2015 22:27:32 GMT 1
An all-white Enviro200 was running on the 180-family today, KX58GUU.
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Post by stevieinselby on Mar 10, 2015 22:49:47 GMT 1
It looks like posturing to me ... I can't see any way that First would have permission granted to run London—Edinburgh services under Open Access. Apart from adding direct trains between Stevenage and Morpeth/Edinburgh, it doesn't allow any new journey opportunities, as there are direct trains already between every other pair of stations under the proposal, and that is not a significant enough part of the plan to decide in its favour.
Every other Open Access operator has provided significant new journeys that were not possible on direct trains before (or in the case of Hull Trains, a major increase from the one direct train that there was already), and even then there were lots of negotiations needed around ensuring that they were not going to abstract passengers from existing franchise services. This proposal is quite clearly intending to abstract a large proportion of its passengers from existing Virgin East Coast and Arriva XCountry services, and so will be completely inadmissible.
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Bus stops
Mar 10, 2015 0:00:52 GMT 1
via mobile
Post by stevieinselby on Mar 10, 2015 0:00:52 GMT 1
The thing about hail and ride is a bit of a red herring. Buses don't stop at a stop unless passengers are waiting to get on/off, or it's a timing point and they need to wait for time. Where a stop is only used by one route, it's obvious that any passengers waiting will want the bus that comes along next - but where the stop is used by multiple routes, passengers should indicate to the bus driver if they want to get on, so that he can stop if he needs to or carry on if he doesn't.
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Post by stevieinselby on Mar 9, 2015 11:33:50 GMT 1
Pride of the Dales 74, Dalesbus 873 (Stephensons & Transdev Keighley) and Dalesbus 874 (Arriva) have to use single-decker buses because of the arch at Bolton Abbey.
Other routes across York and North Yorkshire: Leeman Road bridge: First York 2 & 5; Reliance 19 & 30; Stephensons 29 & 31 Castle Howard arch: Stephensons 181 & 183 Naburn bridge: Arriva 42, Utopia 42-2 Stainsacre bridge: Coastal & Country 94A Various railway bridges: Coastal & Country 99/EVH
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Post by stevieinselby on Mar 3, 2015 0:07:17 GMT 1
Any reason why the 268/268A are only shown to be operating between Dewsbury and Bradford when the 268A was extended to Wakefield last month. Likewise, X25/225/254/255 no longer reach Wakefield same goes for 253 are VOSA always out of date like this? What usually happens is that an operator registers route numbers 1/2/2A as running from X to Y, and that then forms the definitive title for that registration. They can withdraw the 1, extend the route from Y to Z, cut it back from X to W ... but the registration title is generally not updated to reflect this when the operator posts the changes as variations. Only if a route is cancelled and reregistered as a new service will the end points and service numbers be updated.
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Post by stevieinselby on Feb 28, 2015 23:32:32 GMT 1
Yesterday morning I saw Ex Stagecoach 16859 N859??? Parked in Tadcaster bus station is this a Harrogate coach travel or Just travel one as not seen it before "N859vhh volvo olympian alexander is at Connexions Buses as well as R252LGH a Northern Counties one." www.facebook.com/officialbusstation/posts/434665360014454
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M Travel
Feb 26, 2015 8:31:40 GMT 1
via mobile
Post by stevieinselby on Feb 26, 2015 8:31:40 GMT 1
Interesting to note the revised 49 route from tomorrow extending to Brackenhall all week, not just Saturdays and running via Low Ackworth in both directions. I hope the new timetable is accurate! Looks like the 489 has been changed to support this. I am not a fan of the 487/498/489 timetable as it seems very all over the place and confusing. I don't think there's anything massively wrong with the timetable itself, although it is a bit odd having different routes running on a Saturday - the biggest problem with it is Metro's utterly incompetent presentation of it, which makes it look far worse than it is.
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Post by stevieinselby on Feb 24, 2015 18:47:07 GMT 1
It will be £3.60 I think, which is the standard single fare from airport So apart from not allowing passes, they're not charging a premium for the night services? That could be useful. ENCTS only covers 0930-2300 (or is it 2330?) on weekdays, so not accepting it on night buses is normal practice - but as there is no morning peak time limit at weekends, does that mean they will accept passes from 0001 on Saturday to 2359 on Sunday? Or is there an overnight cut-off on weekends in the rules of the game?
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Post by stevieinselby on Feb 13, 2015 23:40:33 GMT 1
This is a forum on buses isn't it I just want to talk about buses. So what if I did not use my own pics or took any. All we should care about are the buses and may I just say people can keep their privacy can't they they don't have to tell strangers who they don't know. I am also getting told off for getting the bus model wrong, i appologise as it was canteen rumors as the mmc was a demonstrator an I got carried away but no need to be interrigated like that next time Yes, this is a forum for people to talk about buses - people in the industry and enthusiasts alike. But we need people to be honest, so we know who is trustworthy and reliable. If people are claiming to work for a particular bus company and to have inside information then it is reasonable to ask them to back that up - either with a track record of accurate 'predictions' or with some evidence that they genuinely are in the know. If people are claiming to have inside knowledge but refuse to back that up, and have a track record of giving information that is somewhat flaky, they shouldn't be surprised when they get accused of making it all up. If you work in the industry and don't want to have your identity made public, that's absolutely fine and entirely your choice - but if you do that then you forfeit the opportunity to have other people believe you have inside knowledge. Pick one, you can't have it both ways.
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Post by stevieinselby on Feb 13, 2015 23:33:16 GMT 1
I called in to the consultation meeting today and spoke to a couple of the guys from First York, and it seems like the newspaper has put two and two together and made Mt Snowdon. First are not, at this stage at least, proposing any particular changes or reductions. They are a little concerned about a few services, particularly in the Acomb area, and are looking to review what people want from the services so that they can try to make the buses more attractive and bolster passenger numbers. Sure, in the longer term if they can't grow the ridership at all then it may mean minor reductions in service, but that isn't on the cards at the moment.
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Post by stevieinselby on Feb 12, 2015 1:36:30 GMT 1
Look at the York area. The First operation appears to be an isolated unit within the First empire surrounded by East Yorkshire, Arriva and Transdev along with a number of independents. I wonder wether the consultation will end with a decision to pull out completely following a sale to another operator as happened in London and the Edinburgh area a couple of years ago No chance. The P&R in York is a very lucrative contract, which is why they have fought so hard to keep it. The core routes are profitable. They have invested in the fleet over recent years, and although it still needs a bit more money put into it over the next few years it's not in bad shape at all. Why does it matter that it isn't continuously joined to other First networks? First run nearly 75% of all buses in York (based on their 94 departures per hour from the city centre), followed by Transdev on 13% and Arriva on 7%. The others are very minor players. If you look at just the suburban network, discounting interurban services, then it rises to nearly 90%. That's the opposite of the case in Edinburgh, where they were being progressively squeezed out by Lothian – while they may have lost market share slightly over the years, they are still very much the dominant operator in York and they would be mad to sell it.
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Post by stevieinselby on Feb 10, 2015 22:25:14 GMT 1
It strikes me as pretty stupid from First to go public and say "We're thinking about cutting services back, please complete our consultation", when there is NO proper information about what the proposed cuts entail, and not asking anything remotely relevant in the consultation that will help them to determine the impact of any cuts.
I can understand that some of the core services may need to be reduced slightly – even if they are reined back to every 15 minutes, that's not a bad service, and probably a better fit given the number of people using them in the daytime, although it will be disappointing if that is what happens.
It would be a great shame if the 5 is cut back to City Centre—Strensall only, given that it's only 3½ years since they introduced the 15-minute service to Acomb via Leeman Road, and only 1½ years since they told the council to get rid of the subsidised service running parallel to it. Maybe they could go back to the previous plan of having a half-hourly service to Acomb, but this time keeping it running via Leeman Road, with other buses terminating in the city centre.
Surprising that there is any scope for cut backs on the 12 and 13, I wouldn't have thought either route would cope well with only 1 bus an hour (except the Copmanthorpe and Holly Bank branches, obviously) ... especially if the main routes to Acomb, Haxby and Huntington are being reduced as well.
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Post by stevieinselby on Feb 3, 2015 19:19:10 GMT 1
I am at a loss to understand how North Yorkshire County Council can refuse to accept the ENCTS on routes that start and finish in West Yorkshire(800/818/820/821/823/825) or any other routes that start or finish in other councils area(Lancashire or County Durham). I would have thought that any travel prior to entering or after leaving the NYCC area would be free using the ENCTS and pay for the journey within NYCC area. Any comments would be appreciated as I have such use of a pass. Any journey originating outside North Yorks is fine, you swipe your pass in Leeds and Leeds CC pays for it. But you can't use your pass on the return - and you can't use your pass where the registration is split within North Yorks. So while the 800, 812 and 875/884 are registered as continuous services, not all of them are. So someone coming from Darlington would have to pay from Richmond.
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Post by stevieinselby on Feb 2, 2015 19:06:48 GMT 1
And the results are out!
NYCC have seen sense, and routes that are year-round variations of Monday to Saturday services are being kept in the ENCTS scheme. Most routes that don't run 52 weeks a year and don't resemble regular services are being excluded (from 1 April), which is disappointing but not a great surprise, and I can fully understand why they have taken that decision. Some routes were not surveyed the first time round, so will be kept in for the time being but there will be further work done to determine whether they should stay in permanently.
Staying in ENCTS 855 (Garsdale - Hawes) 856 (Northallerton - Hawes) 872 (Burnley - Skipton - Grassington) 75 (Harrogate - Skipton - Malham on Saturdays)
Staying, with further review 873/884 (York - Ilkley - Skipton - Malham) 874 (Ilkley - Buckden) 898/899 (mid-week services from Bradford) M3/M4 (Guisborough - Pickering)
Removed from ENCTS 800 (Leeds - Hawes) 812 (York - Grassington) 818/820/821 (Dewsbury - Richmond) 823/825 (Selby - Upper Nidderdale) 830/831/832 (Richmond - Lancaster) 881 (Malham - Settle - Ingleton)
No mention on that list of 564 from Hawes to Sedbergh, 810/811 from Burnley to Settle or 826 from Darlington to Richmond - but I assume they will be removed from ENCTS as well.
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Post by stevieinselby on Jan 31, 2015 8:52:31 GMT 1
That did look like a spectacularly numptyish place to turn round. Could he not have used the entrance to the car park? Or just reversed back a bit so the he wasn't going to clout any signs?
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Post by stevieinselby on Jan 29, 2015 8:48:32 GMT 1
TBH none of our single deck buses are brilliant only 1451 is and its gone BI maybe selby and castleford have better buses than the enviros The only singles in Selby are the Enviro 200s, a handful of Darts (261 could well be the only one there at the moment, not seen its mates for a little while now) and the 4 Solo SRs that are dedicated to York - not a whole lot!
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Post by stevieinselby on Jan 27, 2015 10:21:56 GMT 1
Should of sent a enviro200 instead of 230 as they rattle all the time at least that was ok on 42 as easy around some places on that route 230 was NOT OK on the 42 - it's a route where a lot of people are on the bus for 30-45 minutes, on badly surfaced country roads doing 40mph (although better buses can get closer to 50mph). The ideal sort of route for a heap like that (apart from the route to the scrap heap) is something like the Selby town service - pottering slowly around residential streets with most people only on it for 10-15 minutes. I don't know what kind of services it is likely to be working in Dewsbury but if they are similar to that then it is the best of a bad job.
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