University change 398/399 Yorkshire Buses takeover

[nate58]

Rumours of the 398 huddersfield to storthes hall no longer been operated by first any truth to this?

[mattb7tl]

Aug 21, 2023 16:52:20 GMT 1 nate58 said:

Rumours of the 398 huddersfield to storthes hall no longer been operated by first any truth to this?

It's confirmed. It doesn't seem like anybody knows who's going takeover.
Stagecoach seems to be the biggest rumour, which hopefully isn't the case. I despise their bottom specification leaky gasket/quick release vehicles.

[Username]

Aug 21, 2023 17:02:52 GMT 1 wakeywakey said:

Aug 21, 2023 16:52:20 GMT 1 nate58 said:

Rumours of the 398 huddersfield to storthes hall no longer been operated by first any truth to this?

Yes, 398 taken on by Stagecoach Yorkshire from Wakefield Road depot, seen route training recently with an E200. Should be more info in the First threads.

Stagecoach is a rumor it's not confirmed. It will probably end up being some independent most likely.

[nate58]

So no stagecoach no first no bus from storthes hall to the university....ouch..

[dlspotter]

I would assume more that this service is going to be run, perhaps by a coach operator and that there will be more news about it before term begins, the university/Storthes accomodation provider hasn't posted anything on its website so I believe there will be some form of replacement.

[mattb7tl]

I didn't expect this it is Yorkshire Buses!
www.yorkshirebuses.co.uk/timetables

[nate58]

Now that i wasn't expecting...

[Deleted]

Excellent news, always nice to see a brilliant operator expanding, I hope this route is a success.

[westyorkshirebus]

Seems to be a reduced timetable than previously with no afternoon and only a very limited morning peak enhancement

I wonder how they will do driver changeovers?

[daveshipley1111]

Too big too fast !

[mattb7tl]

Sept 1, 2023 21:24:27 GMT 1 daveshipley1111 said:

Too big too fast !

Is it, or does it seem that way due to the amount of conversation and media attention?
This will bring them up to four routes, and not just any routes, decently used services. You don't see that among many independent companies.

[kendall17]

Sept 1, 2023 21:24:27 GMT 1 daveshipley1111 said:

Too big too fast !

Care to elaborate?

[daveshipley1111]

6 routes not 4.

Do they have enough buses to operate ?

Loans every other week suggests not.

Enough drivers ?

We hear not.

I wish them well but my opinion is they are going too fast without the proper growth in basics. It’s only my opinion but time will tell.

People are allowed to have an opinion and I believe this is an open forum to discuss things like this.

[Burnside]

Sept 2, 2023 8:57:06 GMT 1 daveshipley1111 said:

6 routes not 4.

Do they have enough buses to operate ?

Loans every other week suggests not.

Enough drivers ?

We hear not.

I wish them well but my opinion is they are going too fast without the proper growth in basics. It’s only my opinion but time will tell.

People are allowed to have an opinion and I believe this is an open forum to discuss things like this.

Of course, it could be seen another way.

The surprisingly large number of buses they've used briefly then either returned to whom they were borrowed from or sold on again could be seen as trialling various types to see which they prefer (and they seem to have settled on Scania's) early doors so as to have one less distraction from the day to day running, likewise, one would presume the Uni Contract is pretty much guaranteed income, which for a small company could be a lifeline.

I personally wish them the best, they seem to be doing things the right way and building a good reputation for themselves.

[Deleted]

I'm sure the good people of Yorkshire Buses have seen what not to do when starting a new company, i.e SGI or Yorkshire Line, as 2 examples, in the case of SGI, trying to compete with Arriva on every route that served Dewsbury!

Yorkshire Buses haven't done that, and they've built themselves a good reputation on their established routes. Also, their social media is by far the best social media I've seen from any bus company, they're personabile, keep people updated and apologise even when things don't go right, that's a sign of a great company, even though it's not their fault.

[deerfold]

Sept 2, 2023 8:57:06 GMT 1 daveshipley1111 said:

6 routes not 4.

Do they have enough buses to operate ?

Loans every other week suggests not.

Enough drivers ?

We hear not.

I wish them well but my opinion is they are going too fast without the proper growth in basics. It’s only my opinion but time will tell.

People are allowed to have an opinion and I believe this is an open forum to discuss things like this.

Where do we hear not?

I've not seen it mentioned anywhere.

[kendall17]

Sept 2, 2023 8:57:06 GMT 1 daveshipley1111 said:

I wish them well but my opinion is they are going too fast without the proper growth in basics. It’s only my opinion but time will tell.

People are allowed to have an opinion and I believe this is an open forum to discuss things like this.

Absolutely, just wanted to know what formed your opinion 👍

[Deleted]

Sept 2, 2023 8:57:06 GMT 1 daveshipley1111 said:

6 routes not 4.

Do they have enough buses to operate ?

Loans every other week suggests not.

Enough drivers ?

We hear not.

I wish them well but my opinion is they are going too fast without the proper growth in basics. It’s only my opinion but time will tell.

People are allowed to have an opinion and I believe this is an open forum to discuss things like this.

So sorry you clearly have been misinformed - we should have told you first!

1 - We have plenty of staff with 3 more currently going through driver training that are new to the industry.

2- The loans have been in place as we were expecting some vehicles to be made available back in March which for reasons outside our and the sellers control have only just come to market, we have mentioned previously if you had read the info we have settled on Scania as they suit or operational needs (reliable and heavyweight). Three more Scania double decks are currently being prepared in readiness for service on 398 and 399.

Possibly a good caveat is don't believe all you hear!
 

[driver6540]

Hmm, very interesting this. Last term the little Tarquin's and Olivia's who frequent the Storthes Hall complex had the luxury of clean modern reliable First E400's to travel on, but fast forward to this term and wow what an eye opener for them. clapped out ex-Scottish Omnidekka's already with 18 yr's service under their belt's, so poor even McGill's didn't want them. What a culture shock for them!.I wonder how long Yorkshire Buses will keep this contract once the inevitable breakdowns occur.

[WYBS]

Sept 3, 2023 22:06:10 GMT 1 driver6540 said:

Hmm, very interesting this. Last term the little Tarquin's and Olivia's who frequent the Storthes Hall complex had the luxury of clean modern reliable First E400's to travel on, but fast forward to this term and wow what an eye opener for them. clapped out ex-Scottish Omnidekka's already with 18 yr's service under their belt's, so poor even McGill's didn't want them. What a culture shock for them!.I wonder how long Yorkshire Buses will keep this contract once the inevitable breakdowns occur.

One thing that the 'Tarquins and Olivias' will definitely know is that your use of apostrophes is shocking!

[mattb7tl]

Sept 3, 2023 22:06:10 GMT 1 driver6540 said:

Hmm, very interesting this. Last term the little Tarquin's and Olivia's who frequent the Storthes Hall complex had the luxury of clean modern reliable First E400's to travel on, but fast forward to this term and wow what an eye opener for them. clapped out ex-Scottish Omnidekka's already with 18 yr's service under their belt's, so poor even McGill's didn't want them. What a culture shock for them!.I wonder how long Yorkshire Buses will keep this contract once the inevitable breakdowns occur.

As somebody who frequently used the bus route, losing the contract was nowt to do with vehicle quality.
If you were apart of the DIGS page, you'd see the mountain of valid complaints about controllable factors.
Drivers being removed from the service alltogether due to their appalling attitude. 
Skipping the ever so small number of stops. Leaving students stranded with bags of shopping usually for over an hour, despite making themselves very clearly visible, is simpily unacceptable.

[Deleted]

Sept 3, 2023 22:06:10 GMT 1 driver6540 said:

Hmm, very interesting this. Last term the little Tarquin's and Olivia's who frequent the Storthes Hall complex had the luxury of clean modern reliable First E400's to travel on, but fast forward to this term and wow what an eye opener for them. clapped out ex-Scottish Omnidekka's already with 18 yr's service under their belt's, so poor even McGill's didn't want them. What a culture shock for them!.I wonder how long Yorkshire Buses will keep this contract once the inevitable breakdowns occur.

Firstly let me provide you some background what the customer wants the customer gets, a fact apparently lost when the contract came up for renewal.

The customer was offered Euro 6 DB300's and chose the Scania's based on the cost, as every business knows in the current climate value for money and not paying for something they don't need. or indeed want.

If the current failure rate of First's Streetdecks is anything to go by, I think a Scania will piss over them hands down.

If you find a Streetdeck active in 18 years time, other than holding beans on a supermarket shelf, I'll happily retract this!

As mentioned below by a user (and borne out by a very good friend of mine whose son attends University of Huddersfield) the customer service ethos was sadly lost a long time ago, it take a customer a lot to push them to leave a supplier of over 20 years - so it clearly wasn't all roses in the garden whatever you might think, feel or believe. 

We are very proud of the way our team treat our customers- borne out by our customers;

this in today from people travelling on a 16 year Scania!


"Before we bought our house here we checked that there was meant to be a bus service up to Horsforth as I don’t drive and being nearly 80 walking up the hill is becoming more difficult for me . After much frustration with the No 30 bus I am so delighted and thankful that the Line 9 bus is coming onto the Horsforth Vale estate. Despite delays due to road works the drivers are polite, helpful and friendly
 So Hooray for Yorkshire Buses!"

There is a forward plan and you like everyone else will have to wait and see what occurs 


Shame so many comments on here are negative, ill founded and sometimes just childish sniping, hoping to get a rise!




 

[Deleted]

I wish you guys every success, ignore the haters. you guys are a breath of fresh air, you given a lot of people a lifeline with your services, the way you care your customers, social media, going door to door delivering leaflets, you guys are the most exciting thing in the bus industry in West Yorkshire, while most things are gloom and doom, you guys are different, you refreshing, a lot of the big companies could learn from you guys on how to do things.

I really really want you guys to succeed, just a shame some people on here are so negative.

[stephen01]

Sept 4, 2023 20:13:01 GMT 1 @wysteve said:

Sept 3, 2023 22:06:10 GMT 1 driver6540 said:

Hmm, very interesting this. Last term the little Tarquin's and Olivia's who frequent the Storthes Hall complex had the luxury of clean modern reliable First E400's to travel on, but fast forward to this term and wow what an eye opener for them. clapped out ex-Scottish Omnidekka's already with 18 yr's service under their belt's, so poor even McGill's didn't want them. What a culture shock for them!.I wonder how long Yorkshire Buses will keep this contract once the inevitable breakdowns occur.

Firstly let me provide you some background what the customer wants the customer gets, a fact apparently lost when the contract came up for renewal.

The customer was offered Euro 6 DB300's and chose the Scania's based on the cost, as every business knows in the current climate value for money and not paying for something they don't need. or indeed want.

If the current failure rate of First's Streetdecks is anything to go by, I think a Scania will piss over them hands down.

If you find a Streetdeck active in 18 years time, other than holding beans on a supermarket shelf, I'll happily retract this!

As mentioned below by a user (and borne out by a very good friend of mine whose son attends University of Huddersfield) the customer service ethos was sadly lost a long time ago, it take a customer a lot to push them to leave a supplier of over 20 years - so it clearly wasn't all roses in the garden whatever you might think, feel or believe. 

We are very proud of the way our team treat our customers- borne out by our customers;

this in today from people travelling on a 16 year Scania!


"Before we bought our house here we checked that there was meant to be a bus service up to Horsforth as I don’t drive and being nearly 80 walking up the hill is becoming more difficult for me . After much frustration with the No 30 bus I am so delighted and thankful that the Line 9 bus is coming onto the Horsforth Vale estate. Despite delays due to road works the drivers are polite, helpful and friendly
 So Hooray for Yorkshire Buses!"

There is a forward plan and you like everyone else will have to wait and see what occurs 


Shame so many comments on here are negative, ill founded and sometimes just childish sniping, hoping to get a rise!




 

Your team are doing a grand job and have done since day 1; Yorkshire Buses keep proving it's easy enough to adapt if you listen to the public and more importantly the regular passengers. Keep up the fab work.

[dwarfer1979]

Sept 4, 2023 21:27:33 GMT 1 PinkHours said:

Sept 3, 2023 22:06:10 GMT 1 driver6540 said:

Hmm, very interesting this. Last term the little Tarquin's and Olivia's who frequent the Storthes Hall complex had the luxury of clean modern reliable First E400's to travel on, but fast forward to this term and wow what an eye opener for them. clapped out ex-Scottish Omnidekka's already with 18 yr's service under their belt's, so poor even McGill's didn't want them. What a culture shock for them!.I wonder how long Yorkshire Buses will keep this contract once the inevitable breakdowns occur.

General rule of thumb these days is that the passengers aren't generally bothered about what type of vehicle they travel on. You could have the newest/highest spec buses on the road but if you're missing mileage, etc then that'll be what the punters will notice....

General passengers are bothered about the vehicle but only in terms of the quality, if you spend the time to keep an older vehicle up to standard then they won't really notice or care about the age of the vehicle but it is easier to keep a newer bus up to that standard. The difference is this is a Uni run and the students are less bothered about the quality as long as it turns up as there isn't really a lot of choice and I'm not sure they pay much for it personally (when I was there the payment for the bus pass was minimal & wrapped up in the rent so you never really noticed so it felt like it was free). When I was there we had ex-London Metrobuses that could barely climb the hill (I always preferred one of the Atlanteans turned up as they had better hill climbing) but no one commented or really seemed to notice as they generally turned up when you expected and got you there as you expected and the students were more focussed on other things. As long as the operator deliver on a service like this then no one cares or notices but get it wrong and they notice everything.