D&G Bus

[knutstransport]

RE: D&G Bus

(15/04/2021 11:05)Rick Hunter Wrote:  The problem was 53 and 54 getting front end damage coming off the speed bumps in Alderley park.

Howards ran one of their Enviro 200s over the speed bumps at Alderley Park on numerous occasions and I guess they didn't have any issues as that bus remained the regular vehicle for the 27.

Strangely, High Peak had issues with one type of Solo on those speed bumps after they started running their reduced frequency 27 service using Solos, when previously the contracted service had used the council owned Wright Cadets.

Although, Arriva must have found the bumps OK for their Solo SRs.

It would sound like the sensible thing would be to keep 53/54 at Crewe and then it doesn't matter if one of the 130 vehicles isn't a Solo.

Quote:There are normally 2 spares at Wincham, one of which is usually a Solo.

Looking at bus times today the only Solos not in service are Adderley Green vehicles. Also looks like 120 has moved from Wincham to Crewe since yesterday evening, which may mean 122 is the only spare at Wincham (unless 30 or 154 took the place of 120.)

[knutstransport]

RE: D&G Bus
D&G have another passenger survey on their site. The same basic questions as usual, which route do you use, where do you board and alight, what times do you travel, how often do you travel and any comments about 'our buses'.

[mikestone]

RE: D&G Bus
Two more routes, operated by Select, have been introduced covering the Eccleshall-Stone portion of the 14 and additional journeys between Stone and Barlaston.

[knutstransport]

RE: D&G Bus
Out of interest I was trying to find out if the T reg Versas used to have different registration plates and I noticed a strange anomaly in that on vehicleenquiry.service.gov.uk vehicle 35 is now showing as a multi-coloured vehicle, which is probably correct given with the advertising vinyls there's more yellow than red. However, the ex-Bournemouth vehicles are still showing as yellow. Seems strange there's an update for 35 due it's advertising vinyls but not for the Versas which have been red for quite a while now.

[SK15 GZG (Moderator)]

RE: D&G Bus

(28/04/2021 16:56)knutstransport Wrote:  Out of interest I was trying to find out if the T reg Versas used to have different registration plates and I noticed a strange anomaly in that on vehicleenquiry.service.gov.uk vehicle 35 is now showing as a multi-coloured vehicle, which is probably correct given with the advertising vinyls there's more yellow than red. However, the ex-Bournemouth vehicles are still showing as yellow. Seems strange there's an update for 35 due it's advertising vinyls but not for the Versas which have been red for quite a while now.

They've had the T-TYB plates since they were first registered

[knutstransport]

RE: D&G Bus
Noticed the 07:30 Knutsford to Altrincham 88 service leaving Knutsford around 40 minutes late this morning, according to bustimes it was only 4 minutes late arriving in Altrincham and the driver didn't try and miss out any sections to make up time.

Looks like all the vehicles were very late out of Wincham depot this morning with the 07:45 Macclesfield to Handforth 130 not running.

[Rick Hunter]

RE: D&G Bus
The drivers couldn't get in the yard at Wincham so the earliest buses out were very late. Most did complete the mileage albeit very much delayed. The 07.45 from Altrincham was over 30 mins late

(08/05/2021 08:52)knutstransport Wrote:  Noticed the 07:30 Knutsford to Altrincham 88 service leaving Knutsford around 40 minutes late this morning, according to bustimes it was only 4 minutes late arriving in Altrincham and the driver didn't try and miss out any sections to make up time.

Looks like all the vehicles were very late out of Wincham depot this morning with the 07:45 Macclesfield to Handforth 130 not running.

[knutstransport]

RE: D&G Bus
I'm sure the 56 reg Enviros at cursed if they go to Wincham. 53 reappeared on the 88 route yesterday. This morning it looks like it had to be substituted at Macclesfield with 141 talking its place and not leaving Macc until 09:4609:33, by that time it should have been in between Knutsford bus station and Mobberley. Although it did manage to do Macclesfield to Altrincham in 65 minutes without taking any short cuts.

[iMarkeh]

RE: D&G Bus

(26/05/2021 10:19)knutstransport Wrote:  I'm sure the 56 reg Enviros at cursed if they go to Wincham. 53 reappeared on the 88 route yesterday. This morning it looks like it had to be substituted at Macclesfield with 141 talking its place and not leaving Macc until 09:46, by that time it should have been in Mobberley. Although it did manage to do Macclesfield to Altrincham in 65 minutes without taking any short cuts.

Goes to show how much padding is in timetables really. Macc to Knutsford done in 30 minutes. Scheduled for just over 50. Knutsford to Altrincham being done in 45 minutes vs 70 scheduled. When things go wrong, this padding is very good but for the 99% of times when things go right, it's no wonder passengers see buses as slow when a journey is timed to take so much longer than needed.

[knutstransport]

RE: D&G Bus

(26/05/2021 10:48)iMarkeh Wrote:  Goes to show how much padding is in timetables really. Macc to Knutsford done in 30 minutes. Scheduled for just over 50. Knutsford to Altrincham being done in 45 minutes vs 70 scheduled. When things go wrong, this padding is very good but for the 99% of times when things go right, it's no wonder passengers see buses as slow when a journey is timed to take so much longer than needed.

Just noticed the tracking shows times of 09:33 and 09:46 on Mill Street in Macclesfield and then no tracking for a big section, so it may have left Macc at 09:33 and the tracking doesn't confirm it did serve the hospital but it definitely served Longridge, Chapel Lane, Wilmslow station and Morley Green.

If it had been a normal pre-COVID day and it had ran at the correct time then there would have been more traffic around Macclesfield, Radbrooke Hall and Wilmslow but still no need for the amount of padding there is. It's almost like D&G plan times to allow for their being accidents on the Motorways every day resulting in more traffic on the A roads. It's fair enough to have time between finishing one journey and starting the next to allow for things like that but having a bus sat at Knutsford bus station for a while, then having it sat at Wilmslow Bank Square for a while on a normal basis is a bit much.