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Post by biroguy on Apr 6, 2018 17:05:13 GMT 1
My disappointment with Arriva Northern continues, what planet are their management on? Not content with wrecking the morale of their staff we now have phase two of their penalty fares programme! My own perspective on the Harrogate line in the past 2 years has been declining standards, the only thing Arriva are good at is putting up fares. The notion that one unreliable ticket machine per station constitutes the abolition of paying in cash unless you have "Promise to pay voucher" is daft!!! Many people don`t have smartphones and don`t wish to use apps. Last week we were left waiting on a dirty old ScotRail DMU whilst the guard tried to work out how to close the doors! The driver had to help her.
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Post by biroguy on Mar 28, 2018 8:52:37 GMT 1
The new May 2018 timetable will see some changes to the original plan. North Bradford Electrics. Leeds - Bradford Forster Square calling at Kirkstall Forge (hourly on Sundays as present, plus introduction of half-hourly service Mondays to Saturdays). Bentham Line. Trains will mostly run Leeds - Morecambe to a new timetable. Due to a shortage of diesel units, many improvements are postponed until December 2018. Are the Harrogate line 15 minute services postponed too? Glad to see a half hour service at Kirkstall Forge and provided by the Bradford trains.
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Post by biroguy on Mar 18, 2018 10:28:41 GMT 1
The attitude to the use of 7 could be as a result of Alex Hornbys experience with Wellglade . For example two different 9s cross Trent Bridge in Nottingham, one a Kinch (Wellglade) service to Loughborough and the other a NCT service to West Bridgford. Historically service numbers clashed over Trent Bridge for decades as their was a NCT/West Bridgford 14 and a Barton 14 to completely different destinations. People were directed to catch a service by reference to the operator(s) and/or colour(s) and finally the route number or destination. Potential problems arouse after 1986 as their was for a short period two completely different blue East Leakes. Obviously with todays multi coloured route liveries and possibility for misallocation referencing a colour might be dangerous but red 7 and stripey white 7 may enter the lingo! It will certainly be interesting! Especially as First are ditching stripey white for green and red citywide! Transdev may have to paint their buses white to avoid confusion.
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Post by biroguy on Mar 16, 2018 8:03:55 GMT 1
I notice that the 70/71 are to become "simply 7", as we already have the "super 7" corridor run by First in Leeds then passengers could become confused. Metro should get their act together and prevent operators running duplicate numbers in the same city.
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Post by biroguy on Mar 16, 2018 7:57:31 GMT 1
It will be interesting to see how the new trains work on this route with the doors at the end of the carriage. It will definitely cause delays to boarding and unloading. The last trains on this route to have that layout, the 158`s, were a nightmare.
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Post by biroguy on Mar 8, 2018 11:21:32 GMT 1
I just cannot see the colour branding of routes working at all in Leeds!
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Post by biroguy on Mar 4, 2018 20:55:18 GMT 1
I noticed a Scotrail livered 158 in service at Leeds yesterday. That will be 158871 How many 158`s are coming from Scotrail and when are likely to see 170`s?
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Post by biroguy on Mar 4, 2018 12:03:00 GMT 1
I noticed a Scotrail livered 158 in service at Leeds yesterday.
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Post by biroguy on Mar 2, 2018 10:00:35 GMT 1
Purely talking livery to be fair. Blue instead of purple and pink any day. Local liveries like it was with bradford traveller....on any buses! The Bradford blue looks stunning on the Gemini in heritage livery.
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Post by biroguy on Mar 2, 2018 9:58:56 GMT 1
Why would you spend no doubt many millions ripping something up that is already in place? I expect that will be the question when the proposal gets debated by LCC and hence won’t happen. The A64 isn’t one of the key corridors so that one will stay, and Bradford isn’t part of the scheme due to not being in Leeds, so that one will stay. One of the reasons quoted for axing the A61 guideways is to provide bus lanes instead that could be used by Transdev!!!
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Post by biroguy on Feb 28, 2018 22:58:14 GMT 1
LCC are proposing to abandon the A61 guided busways by 2021 and replace them with conventional bus lanes. This proposal is part of the "Connecting Leeds" corridor improvements for doubling bus usage in Leeds by 2028.
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Post by biroguy on Feb 28, 2018 11:25:36 GMT 1
MMC400`s on the X84 have all kinds of issues, seldom are they all out on the X84 with other buses standing in.
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Post by biroguy on Feb 17, 2018 8:54:00 GMT 1
Interesting comments from the Northern Customer Experience manager in Rail Magazine suggesting they may have to ditch Sprinters sooner than they thought as "customer perceptions" will go up when the new trains arrive.
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Post by biroguy on Feb 8, 2018 16:30:48 GMT 1
I thought the red stripe was part of the route branding and will be different colours depending on the route. The red stripe is for Otley Road services 1 and 6. The branding will be quite discrete unlike Pulse.
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Post by biroguy on Feb 6, 2018 18:55:26 GMT 1
I did wonder as the first batch on the X84 have been having issues when I`ve been on them, mainly the interior lights flashing or even going off altogether.
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Post by biroguy on Feb 6, 2018 17:55:26 GMT 1
What`s happened to the second batch of Mmc`s for Park and Ride services?
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Post by biroguy on Jan 14, 2018 13:56:25 GMT 1
The new Streetdecks have been rejected on quality grounds, lot`s of teething troubles.
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Post by biroguy on Jan 7, 2018 21:02:20 GMT 1
3 Volvo B7LA/Wright StreetCar bendybuses - 19005 & 19027 (both in hyperlink 72 livery) and 1 in unidentified ftr livery - have left Bramley depot for PVS in Barnsley in last 24 hours. last one would either be 19012/14/20/22 Whole lot gone for scrap sadly,it would have been nice to have preserved one. Pictures now on flickr of them being cut up.
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Post by biroguy on Jan 1, 2018 18:36:17 GMT 1
Big article about First Leeds in YEP today, 104 new buses this year for the city. 44 in March followed by another 60 later in the year.
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Post by biroguy on Dec 10, 2017 10:27:18 GMT 1
The driver only franchise requirement has been handled very poorly by Arriva, their public relations spokeswoman never actually puts across in the media that it is a DFT requirement! Instead she comes across all high and mighty inflaming the situation further. Then there`s the reality that most of the Northern fleet will actually be cast off`s from elsewhere and never suitable for driver only operation anyway. Sprinters/158`s will still run the majority of the network indefinately. On the subject of penalty fares, if they haven`t given the correct amount of notice then the lawyers of affected passengers will have a field day. I pity the guards on trains who will have to deal with confused passengers, having to get a "Promise to pay voucher" before boarding! This is all rather tragic and reflects badly on the notion that you should leave the car at home and go by rail. Can we have Alex Hynes back?
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Post by biroguy on Dec 8, 2017 20:30:28 GMT 1
It is a real shame that Northern had gone from the "No Growth" franchise to a real success story under Alex Hynes, I was at the launch of Arriva Trains North and I`m frankly disappointed at where we are at now. We hear about new trains but my main concern is that Arriva don`t seem to care about their staff. DB the owner of Arriva have big issues in Germany with staff morale, regular strikes. They were booted off the Tyne & Wear Metro by Nexus before the end of their contract. I`ve been upset by the brutal tactics at Leeds Station fining people who were queueing to buy tickets, usually women in their twenties. As a staunch rail user I`m dismayed by what is going on.
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Post by biroguy on Dec 8, 2017 8:59:58 GMT 1
Staff morale has collapsed, bad public relations in the press. Local MP has raised questions in parliament about them being stripped of the franchise, ticket machines that dont work, penalty fares. The list is endless! New rolling stock from Spain that is unable to work in unison! I had high hopes of Arriva, I was at the launch. Hugely disappointed with them so far.
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Post by biroguy on Dec 6, 2017 22:17:02 GMT 1
Arriva Northern are doing a fantastic job of wrecking the franchise so far, the words Arriva and Trains together stand for poor service, everything they`ve run on rails has got worse!
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Post by biroguy on Dec 1, 2017 22:23:13 GMT 1
Travelled on 32467 tonight on route 1, making some disturbing creaks and groans from the chassis and bodywork. Should it be in traffic? We had to get by a dead 58 plate B9 marooned near the University. New buses cannot come soon enough!
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Post by biroguy on Nov 24, 2017 9:09:55 GMT 1
The new arrangement is rather cumbersome having to reach through the screen to touch the scanner, light years behind London with the oyster touch in readers.
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