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Post by stevieinselby on Feb 12, 2015 1:36:30 GMT 1
Look at the York area. The First operation appears to be an isolated unit within the First empire surrounded by East Yorkshire, Arriva and Transdev along with a number of independents. I wonder wether the consultation will end with a decision to pull out completely following a sale to another operator as happened in London and the Edinburgh area a couple of years ago No chance. The P&R in York is a very lucrative contract, which is why they have fought so hard to keep it. The core routes are profitable. They have invested in the fleet over recent years, and although it still needs a bit more money put into it over the next few years it's not in bad shape at all. Why does it matter that it isn't continuously joined to other First networks? First run nearly 75% of all buses in York (based on their 94 departures per hour from the city centre), followed by Transdev on 13% and Arriva on 7%. The others are very minor players. If you look at just the suburban network, discounting interurban services, then it rises to nearly 90%. That's the opposite of the case in Edinburgh, where they were being progressively squeezed out by Lothian – while they may have lost market share slightly over the years, they are still very much the dominant operator in York and they would be mad to sell it.
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Post by stevieinselby on Feb 10, 2015 22:25:14 GMT 1
It strikes me as pretty stupid from First to go public and say "We're thinking about cutting services back, please complete our consultation", when there is NO proper information about what the proposed cuts entail, and not asking anything remotely relevant in the consultation that will help them to determine the impact of any cuts.
I can understand that some of the core services may need to be reduced slightly – even if they are reined back to every 15 minutes, that's not a bad service, and probably a better fit given the number of people using them in the daytime, although it will be disappointing if that is what happens.
It would be a great shame if the 5 is cut back to City Centre—Strensall only, given that it's only 3½ years since they introduced the 15-minute service to Acomb via Leeman Road, and only 1½ years since they told the council to get rid of the subsidised service running parallel to it. Maybe they could go back to the previous plan of having a half-hourly service to Acomb, but this time keeping it running via Leeman Road, with other buses terminating in the city centre.
Surprising that there is any scope for cut backs on the 12 and 13, I wouldn't have thought either route would cope well with only 1 bus an hour (except the Copmanthorpe and Holly Bank branches, obviously) ... especially if the main routes to Acomb, Haxby and Huntington are being reduced as well.
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Post by stevieinselby on Feb 3, 2015 19:19:10 GMT 1
I am at a loss to understand how North Yorkshire County Council can refuse to accept the ENCTS on routes that start and finish in West Yorkshire(800/818/820/821/823/825) or any other routes that start or finish in other councils area(Lancashire or County Durham). I would have thought that any travel prior to entering or after leaving the NYCC area would be free using the ENCTS and pay for the journey within NYCC area. Any comments would be appreciated as I have such use of a pass. Any journey originating outside North Yorks is fine, you swipe your pass in Leeds and Leeds CC pays for it. But you can't use your pass on the return - and you can't use your pass where the registration is split within North Yorks. So while the 800, 812 and 875/884 are registered as continuous services, not all of them are. So someone coming from Darlington would have to pay from Richmond.
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Post by stevieinselby on Feb 2, 2015 19:06:48 GMT 1
And the results are out!
NYCC have seen sense, and routes that are year-round variations of Monday to Saturday services are being kept in the ENCTS scheme. Most routes that don't run 52 weeks a year and don't resemble regular services are being excluded (from 1 April), which is disappointing but not a great surprise, and I can fully understand why they have taken that decision. Some routes were not surveyed the first time round, so will be kept in for the time being but there will be further work done to determine whether they should stay in permanently.
Staying in ENCTS 855 (Garsdale - Hawes) 856 (Northallerton - Hawes) 872 (Burnley - Skipton - Grassington) 75 (Harrogate - Skipton - Malham on Saturdays)
Staying, with further review 873/884 (York - Ilkley - Skipton - Malham) 874 (Ilkley - Buckden) 898/899 (mid-week services from Bradford) M3/M4 (Guisborough - Pickering)
Removed from ENCTS 800 (Leeds - Hawes) 812 (York - Grassington) 818/820/821 (Dewsbury - Richmond) 823/825 (Selby - Upper Nidderdale) 830/831/832 (Richmond - Lancaster) 881 (Malham - Settle - Ingleton)
No mention on that list of 564 from Hawes to Sedbergh, 810/811 from Burnley to Settle or 826 from Darlington to Richmond - but I assume they will be removed from ENCTS as well.
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Post by stevieinselby on Jan 31, 2015 8:52:31 GMT 1
That did look like a spectacularly numptyish place to turn round. Could he not have used the entrance to the car park? Or just reversed back a bit so the he wasn't going to clout any signs?
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Post by stevieinselby on Jan 29, 2015 8:48:32 GMT 1
TBH none of our single deck buses are brilliant only 1451 is and its gone BI maybe selby and castleford have better buses than the enviros The only singles in Selby are the Enviro 200s, a handful of Darts (261 could well be the only one there at the moment, not seen its mates for a little while now) and the 4 Solo SRs that are dedicated to York - not a whole lot!
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Post by stevieinselby on Jan 27, 2015 10:21:56 GMT 1
Should of sent a enviro200 instead of 230 as they rattle all the time at least that was ok on 42 as easy around some places on that route 230 was NOT OK on the 42 - it's a route where a lot of people are on the bus for 30-45 minutes, on badly surfaced country roads doing 40mph (although better buses can get closer to 50mph). The ideal sort of route for a heap like that (apart from the route to the scrap heap) is something like the Selby town service - pottering slowly around residential streets with most people only on it for 10-15 minutes. I don't know what kind of services it is likely to be working in Dewsbury but if they are similar to that then it is the best of a bad job.
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Post by stevieinselby on Jan 27, 2015 0:35:06 GMT 1
Selby are suppose to be keeping 230 for the new town service now and 708 as now passed its mot and will be in service today maybe on York schools 230 is now at Dewsbury depot Party time in Selby (Sorry, people of Dewsbury...)
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Post by stevieinselby on Jan 20, 2015 17:42:02 GMT 1
Saw a B7RLE on the 142 today, for the first time ever, Coastliner 1837. Front and side boards were showing the full destination but the rear one was just showing the number.
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Post by stevieinselby on Jan 20, 2015 17:36:03 GMT 1
I have seen today that York wants to use Pinch Point funding to widen the northbound A19 at the A64 junction, to provide 3 lanes approaching the southern roundabout and 2+bus on the link road between the roundabouts. They are also planning to make the northern loop of the southern roundabout (the bit that has to give way to traffic joining the roundabout) into a buses only section.
While these WILL do wonders for improving the punctuality and reliability of the 415, and the 7 and 18, completion of the works is still a long way off, and Arriva really are shooting themselves in the foot in the meantime.
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Post by stevieinselby on Jan 19, 2015 22:00:20 GMT 1
One aspect of the new timetable that strikes me as slightly bonkers is that they are allowing less time than they do now for morning peak journeys into York.
At the moment, buses leaving Selby between 0700 and 0800 on weekdays are allowed 47 minutes to York, and run as 416 missing out Designer Outlet. Under the new timetable, all buses from Selby are allowed 45 minutes to York, and all run as 415 calling at Designer Outlet (which the timetable reckons adds ~4 minutes to the journey, but could easily be more at that time of day). So the buses are expected to get to York 6 minutes quicker than at present.
BUT because I'm the sad kind of person that I am, I've kept a log of my arrival times into York in the three years I've been travelling by bus from Selby, and while there are more journeys on the 42, there are enough on the 415/416 to give meaningful data. And that data shows that in the morning peak, more than 20% of journeys have been over 10 minutes late, and the average arrival time has been over 5 minutes late.
This is going to have a catastrophic impact on punctuality, and with buses only having 5 minutes turnaround at Piccadilly before departing on a return journey to Selby (compared with 8/9 minutes now), reliability is going to go through the floor because buses will be starting their return journeys even later than they do now.
Unless there is some magic trick they have come up with to bypass the terminal queues on the A19, it seems pretty stupid to go for a huge glitzy launch of an improved service and at the same time to guarantee that punctuality and reliability will drop significantly from their already poor position.
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Post by stevieinselby on Jan 9, 2015 23:20:55 GMT 1
Ours are cleaned every night & because of the damp conditions & the gritters been out at night they are getting filthy within a couple of hours in the morning. A couple of hours? You have clean streets round your way One winter soon after I started commuting by bus, I used to moan about the state of the buses Arriva were running, and about the fact they were so filthy outside ... my main bugbear was that I couldn't see out of the windows very well, and particularly in the dark it was sometimes very hard to make out where we were. My moaning stopped one day when I got on a bus that was shining and sparkling and had clearly come straight from the wash ... and by the time I got off it in York 45 minutes later it was caked in crud and you could hardly see owt through the windows. When buses get that grubby that quickly, there's not an awful lot the operator can do to keep them clean all over!
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Post by stevieinselby on Jan 8, 2015 23:43:46 GMT 1
It's was there from 1730 ? No wonder it was all running fine by 8pm As we headed down the A19 near Riccall I did see orange beacons in the distance, which I think might have been the striken bus being towed back to Selby. I am sure that tow trucks capable of pulling 11 tonnes of double decker are harder to come by than tow trucks capable of pulling 1.5 tonnes of Peugeot, but that does seem like a long wait ... at least the bus was not in too obstructive a place.
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Post by stevieinselby on Jan 8, 2015 21:29:50 GMT 1
In all honesty, I cant see them timetabling it. Just fill up & go. City centre could be interesting on Saturday. Standstill anyone? Departures are supposed to be 05, 20, 35 & 50 for Transpennine and 30 for Cross Country, that's what will be displayed on the boards at least. I'd be more worried about accommodation for coaches at the other end! Given the problems there are around York station at the moment anyway, with Blossom Street and Queen Street down to one lane*, I foresee delays if lots of extra coaches are on the road too. At least it's a fairly quiet time of year for traffic, and there shouldn't be any problem with them waiting round Station Gardens, maybe even use that as the pick up point. * One lane is closed on Blossom Street outbound for gas main works. Common sense says that Queen Street should be designated as left lane for ahead and left, right lane for right. (Normally you can turn right from both lanes). The temporary road signs say that's what is happening. But on the ground, one lane of Queen Street is coned off so the entire traffic flow is in a single lane. Genius.
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Post by stevieinselby on Jan 8, 2015 21:19:15 GMT 1
AY02MAX on the back of a tow truck outside the Designer Outlet, pointing towards York. Don't know how long it's been there but credit to Arriva, the 2005 from York was on time and a MAX bus.
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Post by stevieinselby on Jan 7, 2015 10:05:00 GMT 1
On Arriva you can download a pdf and selectively print it, but its not obvious. Have a good look. Some sites often have a 'print friendly' link which should be adopted by bus sites Ray, that's exactly the PDF I have a problem with! Unles there's a hidden way to get the proper professionally produced PDF that I haven't found - all I can find is the computer generated monstrosity that is available for "main stops only" or "all stops" (seriously, who is going to want a PDF showing all stops, especially when it's set out that badly?), where you need three separate files and half a ream of paper, the typography is terrible, the layout is abysmal and in the case of the 415 it doesn't make the slightest bit of sense. If you've found a way to download the proper timetables then you're a hero!
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Post by stevieinselby on Jan 6, 2015 23:54:07 GMT 1
Regarding website timetables, getting them to print out is as you say a big issue. Metro used to put the PDFs on their website and now have a database driven thing. It's almost like going back to the early days of the Internet. Remember the first Metro website? The Station master journey planner? Exactly. Compare archived 415 timetable, which fits the entire timetable onto 4 pages of A4 and is easy to read, and which was static enough to be indexed by web crawlers, with the current one that takes 6 pages just for the Saturday times, requires three separate downloads to get the complete timetable in three separate files, looks crap, and is not available on a reproducible URL. Welcome to the 21st century, where everything on the internet is wonderful
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Post by stevieinselby on Jan 6, 2015 23:12:05 GMT 1
The time has come to axe the free bus pass and go back to a flat fare, probably 50p. As well as, or instead of...? In a lot of cases, especially on rural and interurban routes, the rebate that the operator gets for an ENCTS-holder will be more than 50p. So if you are suggesting that operators get a flat rate of 50p and nothing more for those passengers, then a lot of operators will lose out big time. That would pretty much guarantee the end of routes like Coastliner, or at least see their conversion into a series of short linked journeys (to get multiple fares off the same passenger) or express coach services (if they remained exempt from the scheme). Even if you are suggesting "current rebate + 50p top-up" (which under the current scheme is illegal for the operator to accept), that still significantly discriminates against long-distance operators, where the top-up might be a small fraction of the rebate, who would be in a much worse position than local journeys where the top-up might double their income. And think about the effect on passenger journeys. If passengers had to pay a 50p flat rate single fare, they would be even more determined to get their money's worth, so would be far more likely to seek out long-distance buses ... why pay 50p to go to the library in town when you can pay 50p and have a day out in Scarborough?
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Post by stevieinselby on Jan 6, 2015 23:02:29 GMT 1
If the same was to happen in WY I could see the likes of Arriva, First etc printing their own timetables, Arriva already print the ones for Selby but what about the smaller ones would they even bother! The irony is that Arriva have all their timetables produced in a nice, professional looking leaflet ... which they used to put on their website. Now, in yet another misguided "improvement", you can't get this proper timetable, but just some database-driven monstrosity that is badly presented, wastes massive amounts of space (useless for printing), only covers one direction and one period of operation (eg weekdays, Saturdays etc) at a time, gives incorrect information for bank holidays, and in some cases (eg 415) gives complete burbling gibberish that has quite clearly never been so much as glanced at by an employee.
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Post by stevieinselby on Jan 6, 2015 21:58:10 GMT 1
Got my first ride of a Solo SR on the 42 tonight (3051). A few observations... - not a hint of rattle, don't know if that's just because the buses are new but it's nice while it lasts
- but awful resonance shaking the bus whenever the engine is idling, not good in town
- the ride seems very firm, so you can feel every bump and cat's eye in the road
- no idea what it's like at full chat because the traffic was light and the driver wasn't pushing it
- the driver was being very cautious on tight corners, but may just be unfamiliarity with the vehicle
- 'talking bus' announcements are less annoying on interurban routes with widely spaced stops than on urban routes, but are less useful, because they never actually tell you where you are! The stop name never tells you what village you are in, rendering them less than helpful for people unfamiliar to the area
(but credit to them for having the 42 programmed in and recorded onto the system)
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Post by stevieinselby on Jan 1, 2015 21:02:30 GMT 1
Even though the government would have shut the Settle and Carlisle Railway, and the private sector has made it economic, there are plenty of people think it would be better in state hands Whoa, hang on ... once British Rail realised the depth of feeling against closing the Settle & Carlisle, and committed to keeping it going, they did a lot to transform it and turn its fortunes around. I remember travelling the line in pre-privatisation days (early 90s?) and it was clear that it had had investment and was thriving. I don't know if you have any figures for its current financial status, but as Northern Rail gets a subsidy (per passenger mile) that is more than three times that of any other operator, it's hard to imagine that the Settle & Carlisle is actually turning a profit these days, even if it is in much better shape than it was 35 years ago.
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Post by stevieinselby on Jan 1, 2015 19:14:14 GMT 1
Just been looking at the new 412 timetable. On Monday to Friday the journeys via Thorp Arch continue to run, however on Saturday only the afternoon journey runs! I would say this is typical of how bus services have gone in North Yorkshire in the last few years, but with Thorp Arch of course being in West Yorks it appears nobody here has questioned this either. Is there that much demand for travel to Thorp Arch on Saturdays? The 174, 770/771 and 923 don't serve the trading estate on Saturdays, so it looks as though the 412 only does to give a consistent timetable, rather than have the bus run 10 minutes earlier from Bickerton onwards on Saturdays, which passengers could be confused by when the rest of the timetable is the same 6 days a week with just the one exception on the morning journey to/from York. (BTW, hardly "new", that is the same timetable that has been in place since April 2014!)
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Post by stevieinselby on Dec 30, 2014 23:00:36 GMT 1
www.yorkpress.co.uk/news/11690826.York_bus_services_face_the_axe_under_council_cuts/City of York Council is proposing to make cuts to its bus subsidy, with a potential requirement of thirteen passengers per journey. According to the article this is likely to lead to the cancellation of the "16a and 17" – which is intriguing as there is no number 17 running in York – and reductions to the subsidised services on the 10 (evenings), 11 (Sundays), 13 (Sundays), 14 (evenings and Sundays), 20 (daytime), 21 (daytime) and 36 (daytime). Given that York will have kept Sunday services running for 4 years longer than North Yorkshire, if cuts have to be made then the Sunday services on the 11, 13, 14 and 16a seem like reasonable sacrifices to make. I'm not sure that I could say the same for Mon–Sat daytime services on the 20, 21 or 36, or the evening services on the 10.
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Post by stevieinselby on Dec 27, 2014 2:34:54 GMT 1
Completely agree with you although getting the balance right must be a difficult task and will vary depending on the route. Coastliner is unique given their network but perhaps they would benefit from how CrossCountry schedule their trains where key stations often have around 5 minutes dwell time to help recover from delays. However on high frequency routes excessive dwell times are unnecessary and the focus should be more on creating even spaces between buses. As regards drivers trying to make up lost time most of the large operators now have some device to monitor the driving standards so not sure if this would affect their score? While Coastliner is unusual, it is not unique - EYMS have routes that are similarly multi-centred, and The 36 of course. With regard to drivers being monitored by a spy in the cab, this is where we need to be smarter. Yes, the automated box may be able to give some information on how good a driver's driving is, the process as a whole needs to take into account punctuality as well. I don't know what factors those boxes look at, but I do know that the absolute worst driver at Arriva Selby in terms of giving passengers an uncomfortable ride is also the slowest, and is pretty much guaranteed to arrive late unless there is no other traffic on the road and hardly any passengers. The roughness comes partly from jerky steering and partly from uneven foot pressure, but it is utterly awful and hasn't even got the saving grace of being quick.
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Post by stevieinselby on Dec 27, 2014 0:47:25 GMT 1
northernerI agree that optimistic timings are good ... up to a point. What you really need is optimistic running times and then pessimistic layover times, so that the return journey can start on time 95%+ of the time. Or if one terminus is near a depot or major bus station/terminal point, you may get away with less layover time IF you have spare buses and drivers that can be deployed at short notice to cover for a late incoming vehicle. That is all well and good where you are looking at routes that run between at most two major centres, where the congestion is likely to be limited to one point on the journey. It gets more difficult when you've got a long route like Coastliner, where a delay on the way into York would make the bus late for the rest of its journey all the way to Scab if you used the same principle of optimistic timings, so you need to cut a little bit more slack in the running times. A real skill to develop in drivers is to get them to drive according to the punctuality. When traffic is flowing freely, drive a bit more steadily so that you don't arrive at timing points early and then have to sit and wait, if you get it right, a lot of passengers won't realise you were sandbagging and could have got there sooner. But if you're running late, drivers need to be able to put their foot down to make up time, without passengers feeling they are ballast in a racing car. Some drivers just don't seem to have that skill, and I've not seen much evidence of operators following the principle of continuous improvement and trying to make drivers who have already passed basic competence better.
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