JPT Bus Company

[P528LND]

RE: JPT Bus Company

(19/12/2012 11:39)Polo Mint Wrote:  It is a shame because as soon as they entered the route First offered the £2.50 Daysaver and turned ultra reliable on the route (pre-road works).

It had to be at least a year after JPT started running the 17 that First dropped their fares. It's when JPT started actually picking up on their service, attacking the Rochdale stretch and increased to every 10 minutes between Middleton and Manchester that First saw the competition as deadly serious. First's reliability on the service though, I must say, stayed more or less the same - and that was good. I was always very impressed with the quality of service on the 17/18.

(19/12/2012 11:39)Polo Mint Wrote:  As First pretty much matched fares and offered double the frequency with bigger and more modern vehicles then noone had much incentive to go on JPT, I certainly ddin't want to get on a tiny Enviro 200 with people coughing all over me.

At this point people will have started to take JPT less serious as their buses just weren't up to scratch. I completely agree here, MPD's, mini Enviro200's and Primo's just didn't suffice on a trunk route that they were supposed to be giving a big image to.

(19/12/2012 11:39)Polo Mint Wrote:  Of course JPT obviously have to compete on almost every commercial route they operate, but replicating major companies routes seemed dangerous. Maybe they should have gone down Hollin Lane and then up Bolton Road then up to Rochdale.

It wasn't the Rochdale run that they were competing on properly, I think really it was just to bring their image to another town that. They never would have made much money on that corridor anyway because people often travel across town there, so need a First/System One Ticket. It's the same story for Oldham - there can never be good competition here until some companies introduce cross-town services.

(19/12/2012 11:39)Polo Mint Wrote:  As mentioned earlier Borshaw seems like a possibililty, route 64 is hardly an ideal link to Manchester, or potentially the Cheetham Hill Road corridoor has some opporunities.

The 64 route needs a lot of work doing to it in my opinion - areas served by that route anyway.