First Manchester

[Mayneway]

RE: First Manchester

(15/07/2014 20:48)Dentonian Wrote:  I'm guessing by "TFGM" in these instances, you mean the Ashton Bus Station Manager. Where commercial services are concerned, passing complaints to the Operator initially is the correct procedure. Whilst technically wrong, I can also see the temptation not to get involved where passengers are dropped just outside the Bus Station - unless it is compromising your attempts to make tight connections. Otherwise, its like complaining that a bus dropped you off 50 yards after an on-street stop because the stop was illegally obstructed. Dropping off on private ground well away from the bus station is more serious - and one wonders why Gala Bingo management have not complained! As for failure to run a journey at all; not only is it more serious again, but it will be dealt with by a completely different department for whom service compliance is a major part of their job. So I would expect it would be taken very seriously.

My main issue with buses alighting outside of the bus station has always primarily been safety. I once witnessed a First 348 alighting outside the bus station in the afternoon. A large group of school kids go off and walked directly infront of the bus into two lanes of busy traffic. Its always been my opinion that the bus station is there for the picking up and alighting of passengers. It's sheltered from the weather, it's lit up in the dark and is protected by a quite expensive CCTV system (so I'm told) and is manned by TFGM staff - all at the expense of the taxpayer, so it's a bit disappointing that lazy drivers choose to alight away from the bus station, and that the powers that be choose to do nothin about it.

When I first raised the issue with TFGM they confirmed that the area ouyside the bus station was extra layover space so shouldn't be used for alighting, they then identified that three operators were doing this - Speedwell, Stagecoach and First and passed my email and concerns onto the operators. I received a very positive email back from Stagecoach (AZ ops manager) stating that no stagecoach buses should alight there and and any drivers caught dong it would be disciplined. Speedwell pulled out of Ashton soon after and eventually I recieved a letter from First claiming my comments had been passed onto the depot manager ( yet to this day they still alight there).

But getting back to my main point. If TFGM award First a contract to run a bus service between A and B then it should run from A to B, not 50 yards short of B! But I would have thought TFGM would have been able to insist a tendered service did terminate in the bus station as probably stated in the actual contract.