D&G Bus

[Rick Hunter]

RE: D&G Bus
With the 11.45 from Chester being a Solo it's just likely the working you turned out for had failed en route and the Solo was the replacement. Breakdowns can and do happen unexpectedly and unfortunately that results in journieys failing to run. Circumstance beyond control of the company. The 12.40 from Northwich must surely be 31 as I doubt they have 2 vehicles carrying the same fleet number.

(23/03/2019 23:09)Bevan Price Wrote:  Got a poor impression of D&G today on my first trip on the 82 since they replaced Arriva. The 10:40 ex-Northwich failed to appear, leaving several passengers to wait over an hour for the 11:40 departure with Enviro 200 no. 32 (SL64JGU) .
They found an unidentified Solo for the 11:45 ex-Chester (normally the return working of the 10:40 off Northwich), which was running about 20 minutes late when we passed it.
32 (SL64JGO) worked the 12:40 Northwich - Chester & 13:45 return.

[knutstransport]

RE: D&G Bus

(23/03/2019 23:57)Rick Hunter Wrote:  With the 11.45 from Chester being a Solo it's just likely the working you turned out for had failed en route and the Solo was the replacement.

Given D&G have been known to use Solos (28 and 35 seater), Streetlites and 8.8m Enviro 200s on the 82 I wouldn't automatically think a Solo on the 82 is because a larger bus failed.

I think there's actually 5 possibilities I can think of:
1. As you described - the Solo was sent out as a replacement.
2. The Solo was the bus that failed and a mechanic was called out who fixed the problem but a service went missing while that was taking place.
3. Another bus broke down and the Solo was taken off the service it should have been working to rescue the stranded passengers, meaning it was out of position.
4. There were no problems with the vehicles and it was actually a staffing issue
5. A road closure meant a service couldn't run or had to be terminated short.

[knutstransport]

RE: D&G Bus

(21/03/2019 13:38)iMarkeh Wrote:  Hale Barns has the circulars as well in the evening. Albeit not very often but they are still there. Surely there is another route which could be done where passengers will be more likely to use it.
I am surprised that TFGM haven't gone down the same road as Warrington with Logistics North and Airport City, putting in special works buses. Fund them for a very short time and they eventually become commercial and help to increase public transport passenger numbers by a heck of a low for such minimal work and effort.

I think the revision is down to convenience. D&G have an 88 contract and a 288 contract so they can easily be revised to do what TfGM have come up with, without any re-tendering. If Howards had won the 88 contract or if MCT had retained the 288 I wouldn't be surprised if TfGM had come up with a completely different idea.

I think someone at TfGM has a strange idea about why and when TfGM should be subsiding services. When Arriva re-routed their Trafford Centre to Altrincham service to be more direct, there was no need for an evening service to match the daytime one, as the route just duplicated other services, yet TfGM awarded a contract to MCT to do just that. Then when Arriva changed the route back, TfGM changed the evening service back!

[knutstransport]

RE: D&G Bus

(23/03/2019 07:20)Brickmill Wrote:  I'm not sure if Airport City don't contribute towards some of these extensions beyond the Airport Interchange and there is a soon to be expanded Local Link for Logistics North but TBH why should Council Tax payers contribute towards serving multi billion pound companies (Amazon?) when the budget is stretched as it is. Besides aren't these Delivery companies one of the main reasons for the decline in commercial bus services?

Remember Airport City isn't just Amazon and that a service going to Airport City might end up (either purposely or not) other significant sized workplaces e.g. Waters Corp in Morley Green or Royal London in Wilmslow.

The Hut Group are set to move from Gadbrook Park, Northwich to Airport City (if they haven't already started doing so.) Now you could say they should fund a bus from the Northwich area to Airport City but if some of their employees live in places like Winsford, Knutsford, Lymm etc. why would they go to Northwich to get a bus back in the opposite direction? Then if you had a few DHL workers living in Northwich, why shouldn't they be able to catch the bus? If it's funded by The Hut Group for their employees it's unlikely DHL or Amazon employees could use it.

[Brickmill]

RE: D&G Bus

(24/03/2019 15:36)knutstransport Wrote:  Remember Airport City isn't just Amazon and that a service going to Airport City might end up (either purposely or not) other significant sized workplaces e.g. Waters Corp in Morley Green or Royal London in Wilmslow.

The Hut Group are set to move from Gadbrook Park, Northwich to Airport City (if they haven't already started doing so.) Now you could say they should fund a bus from the Northwich area to Airport City but if some of their employees live in places like Winsford, Knutsford, Lymm etc. why would they go to Northwich to get a bus back in the opposite direction? Then if you had a few DHL workers living in Northwich, why shouldn't they be able to catch the bus? If it's funded by The Hut Group for their employees it's unlikely DHL or Amazon employees could use it.

The Amazon bit was Logistics North.

[Rick Hunter]

RE: D&G Bus
I now know for certain it was a staff issue. Someone failed to turn in. While every effort is made to run the 82 with the bigger Enviro200s sometimes if one is unavailable then a Solo has to go out on it.

(24/03/2019 09:29)knutstransport Wrote:  Given D&G have been known to use Solos (28 and 35 seater), Streetlites and 8.8m Enviro 200s on the 82 I wouldn't automatically think a Solo on the 82 is because a larger bus failed.

I think there's actually 5 possibilities I can think of:
1. As you described - the Solo was sent out as a replacement.
2. The Solo was the bus that failed and a mechanic was called out who fixed the problem but a service went missing while that was taking place.
3. Another bus broke down and the Solo was taken off the service it should have been working to rescue the stranded passengers, meaning it was out of position.
4. There were no problems with the vehicles and it was actually a staffing issue
5. A road closure meant a service couldn't run or had to be terminated short.

[Bevan Price]

RE: D&G Bus

(23/03/2019 23:57)Rick Hunter Wrote:  With the 11.45 from Chester being a Solo it's just likely the working you turned out for had failed en route and the Solo was the replacement. Breakdowns can and do happen unexpectedly and unfortunately that results in journieys failing to run. Circumstance beyond control of the company. The 12.40 from Northwich must surely be 31 as I doubt they have 2 vehicles carrying the same fleet number.

Sorry, my typo - the 12:40 was 31.

[knutstransport]

RE: D&G Bus
From the impression they give it seems D&G are more bothered about not using anything larger than a Solo on the 88/89/188/288/Handforth Dean workings than they are about doing their best to ensure 82 workings are operated by 10.8m Enviros.

[knutstransport]

RE: D&G Bus
A change to the 82 has been accepted by the TC but it's not effective until 8th July!

[iMarkeh]

RE: D&G Bus
I think it will just be fine tuning times. I do think a later trip would be good to see from Northwich to Chester. I think there could be some demand for a later return trip as well. Shame that they are timed up the way they are as loads of oldies are at the bus stop in Tarvin but let the 82 past as it goes at 09:21 and they get the 84 10 mins later. I would say a good 10 pax could be gained by the slight retiming but I know they like to be friendly with Arriva.