Service 301

[westyorkshirebus]

From observing operations occasionally I’m surprised they take any money on this service and I’m not surprised that they’ve reduced the frequency.

Whilst First are loading their buses on stand for five minutes, the Tiger drivers mostly stay on the back wall until the very last moment, before pulling in, realising nobody is waiting (as they’ve all got on the First bus) and then 10 seconds later reverse out and leave.

Very weak on road supervision I expect, drivers doing the bare minimum and not being encouraged to do anything else.

Also there are often missed trips as buses are swapped about, it’s obviously the bottom of the pile at Waterloo, as it’s the only service that is entirely duplicated by First, and I bet First would like it if all competition was so easy.

[Burnside]

I don't get over to Huddersfield often, so haven't observed Tiger workings on the 301, but it did strike me as a strange route to try compete with First over, with it's already frequent service.

[gledhill56]

319 and 324 are also duplicated by First 306 and 324 respectively so also presumably down the pecking order too.

[deerfold]

May 27, 2019 22:31:59 GMT 1 westyorkshirebus said:

From observing operations occasionally I’m surprised they take any money on this service and I’m not surprised that they’ve reduced the frequency.

Whilst First are loading their buses on stand for five minutes, the Tiger drivers mostly stay on the back wall until the very last moment, before pulling in, realising nobody is waiting (as they’ve all got on the First bus) and then 10 seconds later reverse out and leave.

Very weak on road supervision I expect, drivers doing the bare minimum and not being encouraged to do anything else.

Also there are often missed trips as buses are swapped about, it’s obviously the bottom of the pile at Waterloo, as it’s the only service that is entirely duplicated by First, and I bet First would like it if all competition was so easy.

That sounds about right.

My sister lives on the 301/2/3/4 routes so I catch them from time to time. I usually arrive on the train at Huddersfield and look up the next couple of buses whilst travelling. Even when I expect to get a Tiger bus to Golcar, I often get a First service as there's no sign of the Tiger before the next First one is due to go.

[dennisthemenace504]

It's the old case of 'an empty bus is a happy bus', the driver still gets paid, whether or not, they pick any passengers up.
Now, maybe, just maybe, if every operator, had say a commission scheme, in place, where, for every single or own company day ticket issued, the driver gets x% of that value, then, you'd find them on stand, on time.

They do pull on stand on time, WHEN they know, that they are being monitored by their own inspector, based at the bus station.