Arriva North West - Winsford Depot

[Redmikey]

RE: Arriva North West - Winsford Depot

(05/01/2017 19:01)motormayhem1 Wrote:  It will just be the short 130 to dtart with till Macclesfield get more drivers then the longs will follow eventually but if i remember correctly it should be towards the end of january

Don't the shorts interwork with the manchester runs?

[Olympian]

RE: Arriva North West - Winsford Depot

(05/01/2017 19:16)33109 Wrote:  Cheers for that MM. Hopefully their recruitment drive will attract more drivers, macc have got at least 3 new drivers I've seen.

I'd guess in a short while the strata demonstrator will be going to winsford too.

Think the demonstrator might have been at Winsford already, I saw a white minibus with an led display on the Davenham bypass heading towards Winsford one evening before christmas, it didn't click that it might be an arriva bus coming back empty from Northwich.

[33109]

RE: Arriva North West - Winsford Depot
Sounds like it has been already then, shame we can't keep it as it'd got a really smart interior & seems quite nippy too. Plus being just a tiny bit smaller than a solo makes it ideal for getting through tight spots.

But then again there's the issue is it is a small bus so wouldn't have the capacity we need tbh. What we could really do with is something like an adl enviro 200 dart single decker. Need that for when a gemini is off the road for whatever reason & if there isn't anything spare decker wise from winsford it's really a big struggle using a solo on the 38 even during the day when it goes quiet it can be a mega tight squeeze getting everyone on!

[M60lad]

RE: Arriva North West - Winsford Depot
As far as I'm aware yes the short 130s do interwork with the longs at the moment as I know one of the drivers on the roster, so not to sure how their going to work them with Macc drivers doing the shorts and Wythenshawe drivers doing the longs

[33109]

RE: Arriva North West - Winsford Depot
IMHO I'd imagine they'll work it as MM suggests. Recruit more drivers & then once up to bigger staffing levels take over the whole route.

[33109]

RE: Arriva North West - Winsford Depot
Safe to say that the strata demonstrator definitely ain't been a hit over in macc. It's been working the weston & moss rose circuits most of today & a driver said he'd had to leave 8-10 people behind on a weston estate trip due to it only being a 22 seater.

[knutstransport]

RE: Arriva North West - Winsford Depot
I don't know the driver mentioned here but I'd thought I'd share this story as others probably do.

Quote:A TERMINALLY-ill bus driver was given a boost after being asked to go on a tour of his depot with one of his young passengers.

Colin Clapton, 60, originally from Northwich but now living in Holmes Chapel, was diagnosed with two aggressive brain tumours in August.

The popular bus driver, who says he decided not to have major brain surgery, has been off work ever since but he is always in the thoughts of his regular passengers.

Colin has been a bus driver for 25 years, covering Northwich in recent years.

Before that he served in the British Army for 17 years.

“I enjoyed every day as a bus driver,” he said.

“There were so many nice people who helped towards that and have kept me going.

“I remember all the lovely people who used to get on my bus and make my day, give me a lovely smile, tell me I did a good job and appreciate what I was doing.

"I thoroughly enjoyed my job.”

Since stopping work Colin said he has been inundated with get well cards.

One of his regulars, Katrina Lumsden, sent a heart-felt letter to Colin written by her son, Kian Hamilton, saying how much he missed him.

Kian, who attends Weaverham Forest Primary School, is a huge bus enthusiast, so much so that Colin has his own special nickname for him.

“I call him Professor Kian,” Colin said.

“He knows so much about our industry.”

Colin said Kian is polite and courteous, and praised his mum for bringing him up well.

Katrina, 42, said: “We go on the bus all the time.

"When Kian was a couple of years old Colin started giving him high fives when he’d come on the bus.

“As he’s got older and he’s learned to speak he knows him as Colin.

"He’ll get on the bus and will be like ‘alright Colin’, and high five him.

“They’ve always had a good relationship.

"Colin knows all of his passengers by name.

"Kian loves him to bits.”

Last month, Arriva arranged for Colin to go on a tour of their Winsford depot with Kian, aged nine, from Weaverham.

Colin said: “Even though I haven’t been to work in five months now, I went to the depot in my uniform.

"He loved that day and wrote a touching letter afterwards, saying thank you.”

During the tour, Colin gave Kian one of the ‘Employee of the Month’ certificates he has been awarded during his time as a bus driver.

“I am proud of that,” Colin said.

“I hope Kian grows up and keeps that for the rest of his life.

"I know he will treasure that. It made his day going round the depot.

"He loves buses so much.”

Katrina said Kian thought the tour was ‘amazing’.

She said: “One of the guys at the depot gave him a model bus and Colin gave him one of his certificates, which he got framed and it’s on his wall.

“I just think it’s amazing they have this really good relationship.

"He knows all my kids by name. Kian just loves him.”

She added: “What's happened to Colin is really sad. Kian is devastated."

Colin is one of seven children, and has two children of his own, a son and a daughter, and seven grandchildren.

http://www.northwichguardian.co.uk/news/...passenger/

[Lynx]

RE: Arriva North West - Winsford Depot

(06/01/2017 15:02)33109 Wrote:  Safe to say that the strata demonstrator definitely ain't been a hit over in macc. It's been working the weston & moss rose circuits most of today & a driver said he'd had to leave 8-10 people behind on a weston estate trip due to it only being a 22 seater.

I find it bizarre that Arriva bothered demoing this, there really isn't much call for these van based minibuses these days with service operators.

[33109]

RE: Arriva North West - Winsford Depot
Yh I was thinking that meself tbh, the minibus style Thu gs are for cab operators & dial a ride services.

What macc need is some spare long wheelbase single deckers for when the geminis are off the road for whatever reason. Something like an adl 200 enviro dart or pulsar/anything similar is what we need. A solo can manage loadings on the 38s but soon as peak time hits their screwed, everyone rammed on ain't funny.

[knutstransport]

RE: Arriva North West - Winsford Depot
I think the Strata meets the minimum size the council require for the contracted evening Friday and Saturday extras on the 9 and 10 routes but it wouldn't make sense to acquire a bus just for those services. The 35 seater Solo SRs should really be the smallest buses they use for the Macclesfield area.