joseph
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Post by joseph on Nov 21, 2021 9:23:20 GMT 1
An unusual day's travelling and walking in all sorts of ways recently. Caught a train from Cottingley to Huddersfield, then changed onto the 901 up to Ripponden. Walked from there to Baitings Dam via the road as wanted to do a hill section as part of a longer circular walk. Found it strange seeing CT Plus doing the 587, but passenger numbers on the 3 journeys I saw were reasonable heading to/from Rochdale.
Shortly before Baitings Dam, I decided to divert down a country lane, as saw a sign post advising of a path to Baitings Dam. However, got to a rather strange feeling farm complete with barking dog and distressed horse kicking at a door and thought sod that, so stuck to the main road lol. From the dam, I took a back road down to Commons, on that road I noticed a number of home made signs by a very grumpy farmer in that area who has made extensive use of old lids to warn visitors of this and that, e.g. one said 'don't let your kids walk on the wall' with others telling visitors not to enter x or take your litter home. You get the feeling he's very fed up and doesn't like visitors, but he seems to own quite a lot of land as the signs stretched from just past Stones on the A58 to the top of the hill on that back road, personally if I owned that much land I'd be thinking of how I can rent it out to visitors lol.
Anyway, got to Commons terminus, and guess what, the shelter has been vandalised by local scroats! Now, having some knowledge of Rishworth New Road, I know it's not exactly safe for walking on, quite why local councilors haven't installed a footpath on the urban stretch is laziness on their part, and do they seriously expect local lout to stick to 20mph? Factor in the bus service needing to pass an on coming vehicle, and large tractors using that road and it's quite an unsafe road for pedestrians when you think about it. So, I took Pike Hills Road down to Booth Wood Reservior, then used the grass verge on the A672 which after a short stretch becomes a tarmac path back to Ripponden. Whilst waiting for the bus in Ripponden around 4pm, I've never come across so many louts, two of which were smoking in the shelter, it really felt like Halton Moor in the sticks lol.
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Post by driver6540 on Nov 21, 2021 22:49:29 GMT 1
An unusual day's travelling and walking in all sorts of ways recently. Caught a train from Cottingley to Huddersfield, then changed onto the 901 up to Ripponden. Walked from there to Baitings Dam via the road as wanted to do a hill section as part of a longer circular walk. Found it strange seeing CT Plus doing the 587, but passenger numbers on the 3 journeys I saw were reasonable heading to/from Rochdale. Shortly before Baitings Dam, I decided to divert down a country lane, as saw a sign post advising of a path to Baitings Dam. However, got to a rather strange feeling farm complete with barking dog and distressed horse kicking at a door and thought sod that, so stuck to the main road lol. From the dam, I took a back road down to Commons, on that road I noticed a number of home made signs by a very grumpy farmer in that area who has made extensive use of old lids to warn visitors of this and that, e.g. one said 'don't let your kids walk on the wall' with others telling visitors not to enter x or take your litter home. You get the feeling he's very fed up and doesn't like visitors, but he seems to own quite a lot of land as the signs stretched from just past Stones on the A58 to the top of the hill on that back road, personally if I owned that much land I'd be thinking of how I can rent it out to visitors lol. Anyway, got to Commons terminus, and guess what, the shelter has been vandalised by local scroats! Now, having some knowledge of Rishworth New Road, I know it's not exactly safe for walking on, quite why local councilors haven't installed a footpath on the urban stretch is laziness on their part, and do they seriously expect local lout to stick to 20mph? Factor in the bus service needing to pass an on coming vehicle, and large tractors using that road and it's quite an unsafe road for pedestrians when you think about it. So, I took Pike Hills Road down to Booth Wood Reservior, then used the grass verge on the A672 which after a short stretch becomes a tarmac path back to Ripponden. Whilst waiting for the bus in Ripponden around 4pm, I've never come across so many louts, two of which were smoking in the shelter, it really felt like Halton Moor in the sticks lol. Unfortunately Joseph, that seems to be the way of the world nowadays, today's "yoofs" seem to have no respect whatsoever for rules and regs and the law in general. in today's society ,as courts don't seem to view antisocial behaviour like cannabis smoking in public, shouting obscenties and openly urinating in public places like bus shelters etc as anything other than minor petty crimes, they get away with it. Sounds like the best bit of your day was boarding the train at Cottingley.
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Post by sharksmith on Mar 5, 2022 21:08:27 GMT 1
First real day out post covid took me around Bradford and Leeds on a FirstDay chasing the new Streetdecks of which there were only six out and about today.
Home - Bradford 613 Volvo B9TL/Wright Eclipe Gemini 37730 Bradford - Thornbury X6 Wright Streetdeck 35232 Thornbury - Bramley 508 Volvo B9TL/Wright Eclipe Gemini 37505 Bramley - Meanwood 91 Volvo B7RLE/Wright Eclipse Urban 66738 Meanwood - King Lane P&R 51 Volvo B9TL/Wright Eclipe Gemini 37680 King Lane P&R - Leeds 7A Volvo B5LH/Wright Eclipse Gemini 2 39230 Leeds - St James Hospital 42 Wright Streetdeck 35287 St James Hospital - Leeds 16 Wright Streetdeck 35630 Leeds - Armley 72 Wright Streetdeck 35646 Armley - Bramley Town End 16 Wright Streetdeck 35631 Bramley Town End - Dawsons Corner 72 Wright Streetdeck 35649 Dawsons Corner - Bradford X6 Wright Streetdeck 35661 Bradford - Bingley 616 Volvo B7RLE/Wright Eclipse Urban 69320 Bingley - Shipley 622 Volvo B9TL/Wright Eclipe Gemini 37501 Shipley - Home 633 Wright Streetlite 63282
I know there are a lot of First and Wrightbus haters out there but all of the buses I travelled on were clean and well maintained, apart from 35646 which on it's fourth day out already had a torn seat on the upstairs front seats. You can't really blame that on First though, maybe blame it's day on the 626 yesterday whilst meeting Bradford folk for real, although it's not been into a really rough area yet! It did soldify my opinion, that for passengers the Streetdecks are really nice buses, out of the seven I travelled on, only 35661 had a slight rattle from the upstairs emergency exit. All the others were smooth, silent and comfortable, even the older examples. I'll hold my hand up and say I've never driven one, so I can't speak from the drivers seat point of view. Compared to the rattle boxes that ADL produce though, as a passenger, there's no comparison. I will admit that the Streetlite of the day sounded like a skeleton in a washing machine with it's emergency exit really noisy!
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Post by MetrolineGA1511 on Apr 24, 2022 7:37:24 GMT 1
Yesterday, Saturday Aril 23rd, was Huddersfield & Wakefield. My trains between Heaton Chapel and Huddersfield were Northern class 323, TPE Nova loco-hauled stock, TPE class 802 and Northern class 769. My buses were all Arriva or Transdev Team Pennine, marked A or T, as follows:-
319 Huddersfield via Berry Brow - T 572 261 Heckmondwyke - A 0409 229 Huddersfield - A 1980 FTB Huddersfield via town centre - T 729 D1 Clayton West, Springfield Avenue - T 743 X1 Wakefield - T 1408 122 Ossett - A 1024 127 Horbury - A 1511 (Honest, just like I was about my trip on Easter Monday 28.3.16!). 231 Huddersfield - A 1071
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joseph
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Post by joseph on Jan 21, 2023 23:05:51 GMT 1
Todays massive trip didn't get off to a good start from Leeds, nor continue very well in Sheffield for that matter lol. 08.11am Cross Country service to Worcester Parkway via Sheffield delayed, not showing a platform either so went for the 08.04am Northern Express Nottingham service to Sheffield, that set off 10 mins late roughly although made up a bit of time but still got to Sheffield a good 8 minutes or so late.
I went for the 09.40am service 218 to Bakewell, only to find that pass me at 09.27am just as I was crossing the road into Sheffield Interchange! It defo must have been that as no bus at 09.40 turned up and there were no roadworks to be found, nor hold ups on the route to Bakewell when I got the 10.10am bus. That bus was a bashed about, boneshaking ex Notts and Derby Scania complete with old paint work, it was a was busy bus too and so ran late, arriving into Bakewell just after 11.15am. My original plan was to get the 11am Transpeak to Buxton, but the earlier 218 running early/not showing buggered that up, so ended up catching a slightly late running 12 noon Transpeak to Buxton. The bus on the Transpeak was a very powerful E200 with what sounded like an upgraded engine.
When I got to Buxton, I had a half hour break before getting a slightly late running 13.05 199 to Manchester Airport. This was a 2013 plate Merc Citario, but to be blunt despite a nice interior this bus had seen better days, still had some power but the engine sounded quite rough and seemed a bit on the tired side at times, I'm not sure how long these have been doing this route but it's defo a knackering route with lots of fast running, e.g. down the A6 bypass in Chapel as well as the motorway section.
At Manchester Airport, I decided to sample the tram network to the Trafford Centre, you've really got to know where to change as it's at random stops like Cornbrook where you change for Trafford Centre rather than in central Manchester as I first thought. On the way back, for Victoria you have to change at Deansgate Castlefield as trams don't go through to Central Manchester stops from the Trafford Centre, and it takes a bit of working out as some don't stop at Victoria. When I got to Victoria, I waited on platform 4 for a train back to Leeds, now a late running Stalybridge train was also due in at 4 just a minute behind the one for Leeds. Guess what, just 3 minutes before my train was due, there was a platform change announcement over the tannoy meaning a scramble with several others to platform 3, bearing in mind on the destination board it was obvious for a good few minutes there was a clash of trains because of a late running Stalybridge train, couldn't this announcement have been made earlier?
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Post by adam on Feb 22, 2023 21:35:33 GMT 1
Took the opportunity of the £2 fares to take a lovely 4 hour trip through Northumberland on the X18 yesterday from Newcastle to Berwick
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Post by peppy89 on Apr 2, 2023 4:50:46 GMT 1
I am hoping to try the x99 from Inverness up.to thurso then onwards to John o groats starting g from Leeds on the megabus to edinburgh then change onto the citylink,then conin back to edinburgh then the 253 to Berwick then the x18 to Newcastle
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mattb7tl
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Post by mattb7tl on Apr 6, 2023 22:01:07 GMT 1
Used the 508, after the changes… I believe that the change had an opportunity to do some good but it seems disastrous... The destination boards are displaying Farsley & Kirkstall… Passenegers were completely unaware of the frequency reduction as well as the changes. Including bus stops in Leeds. A group of old people stormed off the bus at New Pudsey, they were unsatisfied to say the very minimum. First REALLY needs to start learning how to communicate with their customers. Transdev annoys you with on board announcements for a month when they’re due to make changes, while spamming your social media feed with constant reminders. First…? They’ve probably posted about these changes three times!
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Post by Bradford Traveller on Apr 7, 2023 0:52:05 GMT 1
Used the 508, after the changes… I believe that the change had an opportunity to do some good but it seems disastrous... The destination boards are displaying Farsley & Kirkstall… Passenegers were completely unaware of the frequency reduction as well as the changes. Including bus stops in Leeds. A group of old people stormed off the bus at New Pudsey, they were unsatisfied to say the very minimum. First REALLY needs to start learning how to communicate with their customers. Transdev annoys you with on board announcements for a month when they’re due to make changes, while spamming your social media feed with constant reminders. First…? They’ve probably posted about these changes three times! 508 was still showing the routing via Farsley on Google maps this week.
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joseph
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Post by joseph on Apr 7, 2023 7:34:26 GMT 1
Used the 508, after the changes… I believe that the change had an opportunity to do some good but it seems disastrous... The destination boards are displaying Farsley & Kirkstall… Passenegers were completely unaware of the frequency reduction as well as the changes. Including bus stops in Leeds. A group of old people stormed off the bus at New Pudsey, they were unsatisfied to say the very minimum. First REALLY needs to start learning how to communicate with their customers. Transdev annoys you with on board announcements for a month when they’re due to make changes, while spamming your social media feed with constant reminders. First…? They’ve probably posted about these changes three times! I'd have loved to see those angry free loaders storm off, I'd have shouted after them they're the reason why routes get cut lol! As for publicity for these changes, all bus stops have been scrolling about service changes and where to find them for a good week before the change, and changes to the 9 and 508 have been plastered all over community Facebook groups, people need to start keeping an eye on what goes down in their local community, and looking up at the notices! Why should First have to spend time and resources publicising changes when they have a website where it just needs putting once. Just because many people in this country are too lazy doesn't mean First has to go all out every way possible to ensure everyone knows what's happening.
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WYBS
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Post by WYBS on Apr 7, 2023 9:33:17 GMT 1
Used the 508, after the changes… I believe that the change had an opportunity to do some good but it seems disastrous... The destination boards are displaying Farsley & Kirkstall… Passenegers were completely unaware of the frequency reduction as well as the changes. Including bus stops in Leeds. A group of old people stormed off the bus at New Pudsey, they were unsatisfied to say the very minimum. First REALLY needs to start learning how to communicate with their customers. Transdev annoys you with on board announcements for a month when they’re due to make changes, while spamming your social media feed with constant reminders. First…? They’ve probably posted about these changes three times! I'd have loved to see those angry free loaders storm off, I'd have shouted after them they're the reason why routes get cut lol! As for publicity for these changes, all bus stops have been scrolling about service changes and where to find them for a good week before the change, and changes to the 9 and 508 have been plastered all over community Facebook groups, people need to start keeping an eye on what goes down in their local community, and looking up at the notices! Why should First have to spend time and resources publicising changes when they have a website where it just needs putting once. Just because many people in this country are too lazy doesn't mean First has to go all out every way possible to ensure everyone knows what's happening. A lot of elderly people aren't as likely to spend all day scrolling through Twitter & Facebook and actively researching bus changes. Also not every bus stop has a realtime display. I think the best way to inform of service changes is to put a4 posters inside buses and give automated announcements over the P/A (if such equipment is fitted). Though knowing First, this announcement would probably still play months after said service change date. Also it's not elderly people's fault that routes get cut. It's whoever made the decision that they should have free passes. If pensioners were suddenly offered free shopping at ASDA, would you turn it down even though it would hurt the profibility of their stores?
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Post by deerfold on Apr 7, 2023 10:13:16 GMT 1
Used the 508, after the changes… I believe that the change had an opportunity to do some good but it seems disastrous... The destination boards are displaying Farsley & Kirkstall… Passenegers were completely unaware of the frequency reduction as well as the changes. Including bus stops in Leeds. A group of old people stormed off the bus at New Pudsey, they were unsatisfied to say the very minimum. First REALLY needs to start learning how to communicate with their customers. Transdev annoys you with on board announcements for a month when they’re due to make changes, while spamming your social media feed with constant reminders. First…? They’ve probably posted about these changes three times! I'd have loved to see those angry free loaders storm off, I'd have shouted after them they're the reason why routes get cut lol! As for publicity for these changes, all bus stops have been scrolling about service changes and where to find them for a good week before the change, and changes to the 9 and 508 have been plastered all over community Facebook groups, people need to start keeping an eye on what goes down in their local community, and looking up at the notices! Why should First have to spend time and resources publicising changes when they have a website where it just needs putting once. Just because many people in this country are too lazy doesn't mean First has to go all out every way possible to ensure everyone knows what's happening. The reason ENTCS passes harm routes is because the scheme isn't properly funded. That's not the fault of pensioners. Why should First publicise service charges? They don't have to, unless they want passengers to know about changes to their service without being annoyed when the first they know of it is when their bus doesn't turn up when expected. How often should people check their website? Should they realise they have to look in the Halifax section to see about a change to their route in Kirkstall?
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Username
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Post by Username on Apr 7, 2023 10:22:08 GMT 1
Rather than having free passes I think Pensioners should get the half fare discount.
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Post by deerfold on Apr 7, 2023 12:17:47 GMT 1
Rather than having free passes I think Pensioners should get the half fare discount. Why? Which party do you think will rock the votes by suggesting this?
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Username
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I need to get my eyes checked, I've just seen a Streetlite and my eyes are burning
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Post by Username on Apr 7, 2023 19:10:46 GMT 1
Rather than having free passes I think Pensioners should get the half fare discount. Why? Which party do you think will rock the votes by suggesting this? The reason why is because it affects their local routes as companies such as First usually chop routes that don't make money even if people like pensioners use them a lot. That's why they were going to get rid of 616/9.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Apr 7, 2023 20:26:36 GMT 1
Why? Which party do you think will rock the votes by suggesting this? The reason why is because it affects their local routes as companies such as First usually chop routes that don't make money even if people like pensioners use them a lot. That's why they were going to get rid of 616/9. & What happens if you remove the free travel for pensioners and it just ends up reducing passenger numbers even more? Some won't be able to afford bus fares at one end of the spectrum & the other end you'll have them that will return to their cars. One of the reasons 616/9 was going to get the chop was because passenger numbers are down including ENTCS passes, so pensioners are not using them as much as they did previously. After years of paying their taxes I don't think it's fair to say they are 'free loaders' (if anything that title belongs to the students that get free M-Cards off colleges) - Maybe rather than blaming Pensioners for the poor funding instead blame the people who provide the poor funding.
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Post by stephen01 on Apr 8, 2023 12:40:22 GMT 1
Why? Which party do you think will rock the votes by suggesting this? The reason why is because it affects their local routes as companies such as First usually chop routes that don't make money even if people like pensioners use them a lot. That's why they were going to get rid of 616/9. Actually i think you'll find since we had the massive lockdowns the elderly are now scared to venture out even for medical appointments before i'm accused of talking rubbish it's a true fact and i come across it daily basis through work with Patient Transport Service. ENCTS Passes can affect routes though as the return for them monetary wise is pitiful as it's only a couple pence per card. Independant Operators like Ross Travel & Station Coaches charge ENCTS passholders £1 to travel with there passes before 0930 Monday-Friday. Even pay return for M-Cards are just as poor.
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Post by deerfold on Apr 8, 2023 18:23:15 GMT 1
Why? Which party do you think will rock the votes by suggesting this? The reason why is because it affects their local routes as companies such as First usually chop routes that don't make money even if people like pensioners use them a lot. That's why they were going to get rid of 616/9. Will that produce more money for the routes? Depends how it's funded and how much it reduces travel...
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Post by MetrolineGA1511 on Aug 27, 2023 9:22:23 GMT 1
Yesterday, Saturday August 26th, I did Bradford & Keighley.
I prefer to let Leeds wait for the electric buses and Halifax wait for the refurbished bus station to open. I even booked a coach to Bradford (before the rail strike was announced) so that I avoided a train stopping at Halifax.
Anyway, my itin with buses marked F for First and T for Transdev was as follows :-
633 Shipley - F Streetlite 63427 A3 Otley - T Versa 292 X84 Ilkley - F Streetdeck 35554 62 Keighley - T Solo SR 152 K9 Victoria Road - T Volvo B7TL-President 2716 B2 Keighley - T Eclipse 1752 K4 Bingley - T Mellor Strata 50 619 Saffron Drive - F Volvo B9TL-Gemini 37669 618 Bradford - F Eclipse 69570
Some progress compared to 2021 was that the Transdev ticket readers did recognise my Daysaver issued by First.
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WYBS
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Post by WYBS on Aug 27, 2023 10:31:07 GMT 1
Yesterday, Saturday August 26th, I did Bradford & Keighley. I prefer to let Leeds wait for the electric buses and Halifax wait for the refurbished bus station to open. I even booked a coach to Bradford (before the rail strike was announced) so that I avoided a train stopping at Halifax. Anyway, my itin with buses marked F for First and T for Transdev was as follows :- 633 Shipley - F Streetlite 63427 A3 Otley - T Versa 292 X84 Ilkley - F Streetdeck 35554 62 Keighley - T Solo SR 152 K9 Victoria Road - T Volvo B7TL-President 2716 B2 Keighley - T Eclipse 1752 K4 Bingley - T Mellor Strata 50 619 Saffron Drive - F Volvo B9TL-Gemini 37669 618 Bradford - F Eclipse 69570 Some progress compared to 2021 was that the Transdev ticket readers did recognise my Daysaver issued by First. Ticket scanning has become a lot better since the 'Mayor's fares' were introduced. Plus it's great that a MetroDay is now £4.50 as it was getting too expensive before hand.
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joseph
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Post by joseph on Aug 30, 2023 21:29:19 GMT 1
So todays massive out and about started off on Whitehall Road next to the Ring Road where I caught the 255 to Halifax changing there for the 587 to Rochdale. The seats on the Team Pennine B9 need removing and replacing with something a lot more comfortable for such a lengthy route, 55 mins sat on upright hard seats with no leg room isn't fun.
So whilst in Rochdale I thought I'd have a quick look round, toilets all shut in the bus station for a start so had to seek out a pub with a blind barman, managed to get around the issue of 'you're not a customer so you ain't using the toilet' by following a large group in and pretending to be with them for the first few seconds whilst sussing out where the toilets were. Rochdale itself by the way is having a make over, it's trying very hard to be posh but it's got to do something about the massive street drinking and drug taking issue first.
I then got a rather noisy 464 Versa to Rawtenstall, those buses really have taken a battering underneath. After a bit of time in small Rawtenstall (not worth going to unless you want to visit the railway) I took the 483 to Bury. This bus I suspect was an ex Blackpool Transport Centro that clearly had seen better days, it looked to have been a basic refurb as the seats were refurbished but very basic, and some internal bits looked on the cheap and nasty side with bits looking to be about to drop off when on the move, it rattled a lot too. Mind you, this wasn't as bad as the next 2 buses.
So, after a quick walk round Bury, which by the way is still as impressive as ever shopping wise, I took the Trax 467 to Rochdale. I should have took another bus as this bone shaking rattle fest gave me a headache, especially the fire door. Yes you've guessed it it was a Streetlight, and not a delightful one either! Still not to worry, I knew my next bus back to Halifax would be a lot less noisy, except it wasn't. I had 69306 and either the roads around Calderdale are a four letter swearword or this bus was because I have had better times on an Arriva mini E200, that's how bad this bus was. It made my final bus, a VDL Gemini on the 255 sound like heaven.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 14, 2023 23:13:52 GMT 1
After being able to get a £1.10 return to Sheffield in the recent Northern Rail sale I've just come back from a day around The Peak District. Bit of a mixed bag with a number of issues arising but luckily not missed a connection.
After arriving in Sheffield on time at 8:30am I got some Breakfast & headed for the 9:05am X17 departure from Sheffield Interchange to Matlock,being Stagecoach Chesterfield MMC No.11118 that was new to the route in 2018. Whilst the Interior has held up well with working USB Ports (WIFI still offers you to log in before getting a covid message explaining the WIFI has been turned). I Do think the route has taken it's toll on them as whilst it held speed down the bypass to Chesterfield, on the hills upto Matlock it at some points came down to a crawl. Hopefully Stagecoach get a final new order for this route in before the 2030 cutoff date as this route would be a nightmare to attempt electric operation with the current offerings.
Once arriving in Matlock it a fairly quick change onto Hulleys Optare Solo No.6 to Ashbourne on route , A Nice nippy bus that made small work out of the various hills around the Dales. Whilst the interior could do with some TLC (mostly the back row of seats) on the whole it was a decent journey on a 14 year old bus.
After arriving in Ashbourne,this was where the first issue arrived in the shape of the 11.55 High Peak 442 to Buxton, with it turning up best part of 40 Mins late due to a breakdown, with a very apologetic driver. Once onboard she asked me & the 1 other passenger our destinations as she would be skipping most villages (only serving 1 to drop off the other passenger). The bus i caught for this journey was Solo No.290 what suffered an issue with it's water tank explaining the delay & whilst the driver doing all she could it felt fairly underpowered especially compared to the Hulleys example on my previous trip. I was certain when we left Ashbourne I would miss my TP connection in Buxton as it had planned for a 5ish connection at Sylvan Park but due to the direct route was able to make the connection at Buxton Market Place with a few minutes to spare.
The next bus i borded was High Peak Citaro 809,one of the Ex-Yourbus examples in the fleet, with the interior still looking as smart as i remember with Yourbus back when they was almost new although was sounding abit rough but nothing too bad as we made our way down to Bakewell. I Did spot another Citaro on the TP (an UID Skyline branded one) - does anyone know if they having issues with the branded E200s for the TransPeak? Once arriving in Bakewell I Decided on having a late lunch before then deciding on getting the 172 due to Matlock at 14.41.
The 172 is a nice scenic route but I Wouldn't be surprised if it was possibly the most hated out of the Hulleys network for it's drivers. The bus it's self (Solo SR 13) was another nippy bus with the driving taking advantage when he could to really shift along before ending up in Stanton On Peak dead on School kick out time. To be honest the Driver deserved a medal getting around the various parked & moving cars,with at one point both us & the local school Transit Minibus being stuck by 1 car & going by our drivers reaction this seemed an almost common thing. I've seen on flickr the 172 has sometimes had larger vehicles so I'd assume they skip Stanton as I was surprised at times the SR made it through!
After arriving in Matlock I decided to take a walk down to Matlock Baths, before then catching what should of been the 16:20 TransPeak to Bakewell but was running approx. 10 Minutes late, with it being Citaro 809 once again.
Once in Bakewell I Managed to grab something to eat before most places shut for the night & as I had time before my booked train home, taking the scenic route 257 back to Sheffield what ended up throwing up some surprises along the way.
Hulleys E400 No.5 was waiting once I arrived at the bus stop, with the bus driver asking my destination as he couldn't guarantee the bus would make it to Sheffield due to a coolant issue & would be calling into the Garage along the way to 'have a quick fiddle' with it. Once we got going I quickly learnt that despite its former life in London this bus could also shift decently as well, being possibly one of the quickest E400s I've been on (the fast still being the Arriva NE batch used on the Alnwick services) Interior wise it was fairly standard for an Ex-London E400 with it having one of the better single door conversion jobs I've seen. After a quick 5 Minute trip into the Baslow depot we was off & seemed to be running fairly well making up most of the time the detour took, until we hit Crosspool on the Sheffield boundary & arrived to the sight of firefighters & ambulances blocking the road due to what looked like a fairly major RTC. After around 20 Minutes of the driver being on the phone to the depot working out a diversion route (as most roads in that are have low hanging trees) we found one to take us out onto First Sheffield's 51 route, afterwards being a fairly quick ride down into Sheffield Int, with still around 15 Minutes left to make my booked train home.
Overall it was a nice day out seeing the various bits of countryside, plus seeing some of the demands needed of a driver in areas like this. As i was slightly nervous over Hulleys recent reputation I was pleased all ran mostly to time (& most delays for Hulleys was outside of their control). It does make me wonder if they deserve the recent reputation they seem to have gained as outside the Breezer/X57 mess they seem to be still a fairly reliable operator that have been able to find ways of keeping their vehicles powerful enough for the fast moving roads despite the age of some of them.
Next time Northern do a sale I might have to try & get some multiple returns to have a few different visits to Derbyshire & Nottinghamshire as it's been a few years since I properly explored both.
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mattb7tl
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Post by mattb7tl on Sept 17, 2023 0:06:13 GMT 1
I absolutely had to share this experience. As the colder seasons approach, I decided to try my luck again and get the outdoor routes (370s + 328) moved into the bus station.
I talk about this issue a lot, quite the pet peeve. Always a common complaint you would hear at bus stops and sometimes even local pages. Definitely needs sorting out...
As well as a complaint, I took quite a while to write the email doing my absolute best to explain how my suggested changes would benefit them and help them to increase patronage. I couldn't actually believe my eyes after recieving the response.
Completely ignored the complaint, suggestion, and potential solution. In fact, responded with a message completely unrelated to my complaint. I mentioned cancellations ONCE the rest of the email was largely focused on the mentioned issues. They also replied at 12:25 pm..! (yesterday) Suggesting to me they outsource their support team. Common among large companies, but not in the bus industry. Found that quite surprising. Other than being a little butthurt getting completely blanked and having no real thought put into my complaint, I found it quite hilarious and thought it would be funny to share
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Post by MetrolineGA1511 on Mar 3, 2024 23:10:42 GMT 1
So, yesterday, Saturday March 2nd, I made it to Brighouse & Halifax.
I travelled from East Didsbury to Brighouse to sample TfW class 197s and use TPE on the diversion via Brighouse.
Anyway, my itin was as follows :-
Walk to East Didsbury
TfW Manchester Piccadilly - class 197/1 Free Bus 2 Victoria - Go NW 49111 TPE Brighouse - class 802
E4 Barkisland - South Pennine YF23XXB 562 Sowerby Bridge - Team Pennine 89 579 Halifax - First 37365 502 Illingworth Road - Team Pennine 1715 522 Halifax - First 69372 563 Royal Calderdale Hospital - Team Pennine 192 501 Halifax - First 33877 549 Brighouse - First 69564
TPE Manchester Victoria - TPE class 185 Walk to Piccadilly TfW East Didsbury - class 197/0
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Post by sharksmith on Mar 16, 2024 23:07:24 GMT 1
60A to Kirkstall - Transdev Keighley B9 2792 91 to Bramley - First Leeds Electroliner 63590 14 to Leeds - First Leeds Electroliner 63571 5 to Osmondthorpe - First Leeds Yutong 68806 163 to Garforth - Arriva ADL Enviro 400 MMC 1954 163 to Castleford - Arriva ADL Enviro 400 MMC 1966 189 to Wakefield- Arriva Optare Versa 795 110 to Leeds - Arriva Streetdeck 1562 60 home - Transdev Keighley B9 2792
First time I've ridden the 60A variant of Aireline, I was quite surprised at how many passengers we collected on that part of the route, good to see.
Of the next three electric vehicles all performed very well with the Electroliners just shading the Yutong, probably due to that new bus feel. All had very good acceleration, maybe too good in places with passengers lurching around if not sitting down quickly enough at stops.
After that, the day went downhill with Arriva Yorkshire living up to their poor recent rating today.
Both MMC's performed as all of this type I have ever ridden seem to, uncomfortable ride quality and rattles and squeaks galore. Had a brand new Stagecoach Manchester one the other month which was just as bad. Lovely looking buses but that's all they have going for them.
The first driver in particular must have been having a really bad day as he was driving so aggressively that I felt I needed to break the journey up to avoid arriving in Cas with whiplash.
He also only just avoided an accident of his own making when a car pulled out on him with admittedly little care. Putting his foot down to get right up his rear, presumably to show his dissatisfaction, almost backfired when the car in question then slowed to make a right turn forcing extremely heavy braking being necessary.
As a professional he shouldn't let stuff like this get to him, honestly having driven buses for a living myself this kind of behaviour by car drivers is a regular occurrence and you just have to rise above it.
The second Arriva service was plagued by a group of 10 year olds swearing and vaping which obviously isn't Arriva's fault but shows what a battle bus companies have in providing a pleasant journey for their customers.
The Versa was decent enough, I was a little surprised at how quiet the 189 has become with only 8 passengers carried throughout the whole journey into Wakefield at 2 O'clock on a Saturday afternoon.
Getting out of Wakefield was the real issue with the 15.35 425 to Bradford sitting on stand well past it's departure time with no driver in sight after I believe the 15.05 had also been cancelled.
I left the huge Bradford queue for the 15.45 110 to Leeds, whose driver also didn't arrive until after it's scheduled departure time. I understand breaks must be taken but most buses I rode today were on time so you have to wonder if there is a reasonable excuse for drivers boarding buses so late? Maybe the duties need reviewing to ensure drivers can depart on time.
I think the 425 did eventually leave over 15 minutes late which explained why it wasn't one of the other four buses on the departure board which showed up as having been cancelled at around that time.
As I find almost every time I ride one, the Streetdeck on the 110 provided the most comfortable journey of the day, smooth and without any moans or groans from chassis or bodywork. I know this is an unpopular opinion but from a passenger perspective I love me a Streetdeck.
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