GHA Group (Bryn Melyn, Vale Travel + Others)

[knutstransport]

RE: GHA Group (Bryn Melyn, Vale Travel + Others)

(05/03/2016 08:33)motormayhem1 Wrote:  Its ashame really as GHA was going in the right direction its just unfortunately they are having the problems they are with the staffing levels and shortage on buses as i think theres a few firms now having staff problems.

With the drivers based at Macclesfield outstation did they transfer to GHA's other depots or did some/all of them leave the company? The 27 route seems to have seen a lot of new drivers since December and I would have thought it would have made sense to keep the drivers on the routes they're familiar with.

One of the Reaseheath deckers is on the 27 route today. Today was when GHA were supposed to take over the 300 Saturday daytime services from D&G, D&G have managed to source a driver and an ex-Goodwins Solo to run it even though a few weeks ago they weren't expecting to still be running it. I wonder what would have happened if the contract award to GHA hadn't been cancelled.

[solo]

RE: GHA Group (Bryn Melyn, Vale Travel + Others)
Probably would of been one of Flagship T reg Solo's in the new low floor livery. Make them Vital First Impressions

[Valandil]

RE: GHA Group (Bryn Melyn, Vale Travel + Others)

(05/03/2016 11:09)knutstransport Wrote:  With the drivers based at Macclesfield outstation did they transfer to GHA's other depots or did some/all of them leave the company? The 27 route seems to have seen a lot of new drivers since December and I would have thought it would have made sense to keep the drivers on the routes they're familiar with.

While I don't know the answer to your question, I do agree that GHA seems to do a large amount of changing depots/outstations which operate services, probably with good intentions, but it does have drawbacks too.

(05/03/2016 10:57)knutstransport Wrote:  [T]hey made it look like their intention was to steal Network Warrington's passengers opposed to winning both Network Warrington's passengers and attracting new passengers.

If they had painted the Metrocities in say gold, ran them 30 minutes before/after Network Warrington's services but done marketing to highlight their fares are lower, they use new buses with wifi etc. they might have got less passengers initially but they might have done better in the long term.

Completely agree really.
British people tend to like fair play and resent unfair play, even if they themselves could save like 10p on their bus fare from it.
I remember my family boycotting Arriva when they were competing in the 'bus wars' of the 1990's with Warrington Borough Transport and, while I didn't understand why they were letting buses go past at the time (being quite young back then), it all makes sense now.

If Cheshire West council had had the powers to introduce a Merseyside-style QBP (and exercised them) it might have brought your imaginary situation about.
A QBP couldn't have been imposed at the Warrington end due to the large number of services through Stockton Heath (the same reason why, annoyingly, a QBP can't be introduced on the 14/79C between Liverpool and Widnes).
But then if it was enforced at one end, it would naturally work at the other end anyway, as no operator would have their vehicles sit around for a bit after they cross the boundary out of the QBP zone.

[knutstransport]

RE: GHA Group (Bryn Melyn, Vale Travel + Others)

(05/03/2016 16:14)Valandil Wrote:  I remember my family boycotting Arriva when they were competing in the 'bus wars' of the 1990's with Warrington Borough Transport and, while I didn't understand why they were letting buses go past at the time (being quite young back then), it all makes sense now.

The bus actually wars pre-dated the formation of Arriva. North Western were still owned by British Bus at the time but later were taken over by Cowie Group who launched the Arriva name.

The Stagecoach bus wars were worse as they successfully tricked people in to thinking their buses either belonged to their rival or they were a new local bus company by trading under names similar to their rivals and not using Stagecoach branding. However, if the rival went out of business the new company started trading as Stagecoach.

It was sometimes hard to keep track of who operated bus services in the 90s. Starline Travel was actually two different companies one was Arrowline t/a Starline Travel owned by Simon Fawcett (who now owns Mistral) and the other was Ambassador Coaches t/a Starline Travel jointly owned by Arrowline and Bullocks. That meant when Fawcett sold his Arrowline to British Bus t/a North Western, the bus division went to North Western along with half of the coach division, while Bullocks took the other half of the coach division. However, North Western didn't want a coach division so sold their share of it to Selwyns. That meant 3 different companies took over former Starline Travel work. The former Starline depot in Knutsford closed with work transferred to both Winsford and Wythenshawe and North Western became Arriva. Arriva later took over Nova Scotia buses and decided to put Arriva branded buses on former Nova Scotia routes as soon as the takeover was completed, meaning the Nova Scotia ones appeared on other Arriva ones, including former Starline routes.

[telf23]

RE: GHA Group (Bryn Melyn, Vale Travel + Others)

(05/03/2016 16:14)Valandil Wrote:  If Cheshire West council had had the powers to introduce a Merseyside-style QBP (and exercised them) it might have brought your imaginary situation about.
A QBP couldn't have been imposed at the Warrington end due to the large number of services through Stockton Heath (the same reason why, annoyingly, a QBP can't be introduced on the 14/79C between Liverpool and Widnes).
But then if it was enforced at one end, it would naturally work at the other end anyway, as no operator would have their vehicles sit around for a bit after they cross the boundary out of the QBP zone.

Regarding your comment about the 14/79C QBP, it won't have anything to do with the number of buses in a certain area. The only buses this would concern is the 14 (and variations) and the 79/C. With the 14's and 79c's running at a 15 minute frequency and the 79's running at a 5-10 minute frequency, it would make it no different to the QBP between Stagecoach and Arriva on their 10/A and 82 services.

I believe the QBP first came about on the 82 due to a lack of passengers with one of the companies (I presume stagecoach) and then was rolled out to subsequent services shared by the two after the success of this initial route.

I may be wrong about the first QBP, but I'm pretty certain I read this somewhere

[Valandil]

RE: GHA Group (Bryn Melyn, Vale Travel + Others)

(07/03/2016 02:49)telf23 Wrote:  Regarding your comment about the 14/79C QBP, it won't have anything to do with the number of buses in a certain area. The only buses this would concern is the 14 (and variations) and the 79/C. With the 14's and 79c's running at a 15 minute frequency and the 79's running at a 5-10 minute frequency, it would make it no different to the QBP between Stagecoach and Arriva on their 10/A and 82 services.

I believe the QBP first came about on the 82 due to a lack of passengers with one of the companies (I presume stagecoach) and then was rolled out to subsequent services shared by the two after the success of this initial route.

I may be wrong about the first QBP, but I'm pretty certain I read this somewhere

I can't see why they can't have a QBP on the 14/79C, but I took what I said in my post straight from the horse's mouth.
When I emailed Merseytravel about this issue, this was the key part of their response:
"Unfortunately from the Netherley area there a number of routes / operators on the same corridor, hence it’s not been considered"

[telf23]

RE: GHA Group (Bryn Melyn, Vale Travel + Others)

(07/03/2016 06:31)Valandil Wrote:  I can't see why they can't have a QBP on the 14/79C, but I took what I said in my post straight from the horse's mouth.
When I emailed Merseytravel about this issue, this was the key part of their response:
"Unfortunately from the Netherley area there a number of routes / operators on the same corridor, hence it’s not been considered"

It is annoying I must admit. Even if it was just the 14 and 79C that had the QBP as their routes are 99% identical, literally the only difference is between Runcorn town centre and shopping centre, and even then, they're pretty much in the same area.

And now that ACE have folded, I can't think of another operator apart from HTL, which has been shown isnt a problem with the 17 St. Helens - Widnes QBP.

On the other hand though, the buses are usually first come first serve between belle vale and town, regardless of whether it's Arriva or Halton, so maybe there isn't a need for one

[wirralbus]

RE: GHA Group (Bryn Melyn, Vale Travel + Others)

(07/03/2016 12:04)telf23 Wrote:  It is annoying I must admit. Even if it was just the 14 and 79C that had the QBP as their routes are 99% identical, literally the only difference is between Runcorn town centre and shopping centre, and even then, they're pretty much in the same area.

And now that ACE have folded, I can't think of another operator apart from HTL, which has been shown isnt a problem with the 17 St. Helens - Widnes QBP.

On the other hand though, the buses are usually first come first serve between belle vale and town, regardless of whether it's Arriva or Halton, so maybe there isn't a need for one

Its probably more to do with the amount of 79's from Belle Vale into Liverpool why it isnt being considered .
Please remember this is a GHA thread and there is topics on here for QBP , Halton and arriva to discuss the above subjects.

[DLG817]

RE: GHA Group (Bryn Melyn, Vale Travel + Others)
.
GHA have yet another livery - in conjunction with Denbighshire County Council

Based on the format of the new GHA (Service Bus) livery with a similar base colour of silver but the bottom skirt is a bright green with a blue stripe. Presumably these last two colours represent those to be found in the Denbighshire CC logo.

The first vehicle to be given this new livery is ex Bryn Melyn Solo YJ59 NMX (1370). This vehicle is now the chosen vehicle to work the recently won 66 Henllan and Denbigh town service. - PHOTO LINK -

It is believed that the four new buses due later in the year will have a similar livery.

There was a previous 'GHA - Denbighshire' livery that was worn by just two Solos - CN06BXS (1384) and the now withdrawn S903DUB (1388) - PHOTO LINK -

[R557 ABA]

RE: GHA Group (Bryn Melyn, Vale Travel + Others)

(07/03/2016 16:23)DLG817 Wrote:  .
GHA have yet another livery - in conjunction with Denbighshire County Council

Based on the format of the new GHA (Service Bus) livery with a similar base colour of silver but the bottom skirt is a bright green with a blue stripe. Presumably these last two colours represent those to be found in the Denbighshire CC logo.

The first vehicle to be given this new livery is ex Bryn Melyn Solo YJ59 NMX (1370). This vehicle is now the chosen vehicle to work the recently won 66 Henllan and Denbigh town service. - PHOTO LINK -

It is believed that the four new buses due later in the year will have a similar livery.

There was a previous 'GHA - Denbighshire' livery that was worn by just two Solos - CN06BXS (1384) and the now withdrawn S903DUB (1388) - PHOTO LINK -

Can't even read that GHA Coaches logo, a very poor colour choice in my opinion.