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Post by justpassingby on May 13, 2014 15:50:08 GMT 1
Seems that they're now running out of Station Coaches' place in Batley.
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Post by justpassingby on May 6, 2014 14:34:08 GMT 1
I doubt very much Arriva will put a bus on between Cleck and Batley via Hecky, in response IF they do extend the X81 from Batley to Cleck via Hecky, for at least 2 reasons 1) years ago when 226 withdrew the link between Cleck and Batley, cos it now went Halifax-Dewsbury instead of Leeds, Arriva put the link back in after 3 months by extending 221 Leeds-Heckmondwike to Cleck past Spen Baths cos passengers said they needed a bus to Batley from Cleck, 9 months later, they withdrew it cos it wasn't financially viable when there was only one person for Batley on it once in a blue moon 2) Sgi on a Community Transport Licence only need to give 14 days or so notice, Arriva or anybody with a normal Standard Licence, need to give 56 days notice to register or change a service And you can see why people have issues with SGI. Because these permits have reduced waiting notices they can get away with more stuff than Arriva or any other operator could. I don't even think these permits need financial standing either, they are literally running buses cheaply with the condition that they are non-profitable. Take a look at how Section 22 permits work, you'd be surprised about them. A lot of companies aren't happy with these "community bus companies" because if they went for tendered work they can easily undercut standard operators due to the reduced costs required. Supposedly SGI have tried to get tendered work but haven't won anything yet. The company should have taken the more legitimate approach, but then again you probably wouldn't see them run all these buses. If SGI had focused on a few buses then things could have been better, instead they just look at whatever Arriva is running, run unusual timetables and give it a shot. If it doesn't work out, they change it weeks later because they can do that. I don't mind new companies as it gives variety and it's interesting to see how they turn out, but this one is certainly different than the others.
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Post by justpassingby on Apr 30, 2014 5:42:17 GMT 1
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Post by justpassingby on Apr 27, 2014 19:58:33 GMT 1
I think they take a bus off from the 284 for the 184. If there's no buses in the opposite direction, maybe it's an error on Metro's end? Happened before.
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Post by justpassingby on Apr 23, 2014 7:39:10 GMT 1
Apparently full service will be restored later in the week...perhaps the hired in buses may imply that they've went and bought what is needed but are waiting on them getting prepared and delivered?
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Post by justpassingby on Apr 21, 2014 21:44:34 GMT 1
I'm just waiting for them to buy an Optare Excel...then you know how clueless they are.
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Post by justpassingby on Apr 20, 2014 21:00:26 GMT 1
Nothing wrong with using filling stations...they'll have fuel cards. Just got to pay them.
If they want to keep running they just have to sort themselves out...why waste all that money on rental buses for example? What is their obsession with "free return travel" - just don't offer returns at all and get people to buy their day tickets instead which are still cheap. It's supposed to be a non-profit community interest company but they still need money to cover costs.
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Post by justpassingby on Apr 17, 2014 20:36:35 GMT 1
They won't be coming back. I'm sure the Traffic Commissioner will put an end to them.
If they want to run bus services, they need an actual standard license and follow the rules on them (giving notice, financial standing, etc). You'll find a lot of companies are having bother with these "community bus companies" getting these permits and being able to run operations at lower costs and affect the standard license holders due to the different rules in place.
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Post by justpassingby on Apr 12, 2014 22:25:35 GMT 1
So they're losing money. It's not like they can make money given their Community Interest Company status and running operations using Section 22 Community Bus permits rather than getting an actual full standard license. Unfortunately these permits seem to be more relaxed in rules compared to standard licenses so I'm sure the likes of Arriva aren't pleased how SGI can operate if they can start, change and stop services with less notice.
Isn't this the company who stupidly does "free return travel" and having most of their fleet rented out including Plaxton Primos which are well known to be unreliable? The StreetLite's registration indicates it's from Mistral so they haven't bought that either. So instead of costly payments to the leasing companies they could have been more stable by going down to the likes of Ensignbus and just getting some cheap Darts that don't cost an arm and a leg yet would still do the job. Maybe then they'd actually be able to pay their workers before they walk out.
I'd say this should be a wake up call to SGI to get things sorted out if they want to keep running, but are they actually interested or do they just want to disappoint anyone who actually wants to use their services?
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