GHA Group (Bryn Melyn, Vale Travel + Others)

[Mayneway]

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

(11/06/2016 14:09)Dentonian Wrote:  And don't forget the 200 is subsidised - four different Authorities - so presumably, they should be re-imbursed.

As regards the incident local to you, I'm at a loss as to who it might be because I believe one of the questions TFGM want the Government to clarify is the continued role of the TCs if Franchising goes ahead. This is presumably because they have been far too lenient over the behaviour of certain Operators - all of which have thankfully now gone out of business - over the last 30 years. I know what you are trying to say with the (quote) "5 minutes *in front of a duplicate* First service, but it does remind me of the argument that (100 year old commercial) bus services should not be allowed to compete with (two year old, heavily pubicly financed) Metrolink services.

The point I was trying to make was regardless of compition on a certain corridor dosent make it ok for any operator to simply disappear for a day and not run a particular service regardless of whether another operator runs every other 20 mins or not, and as you say it does seem like TCs are lenient probably because of the gap that would be left if they were stripped of thier licence and shut down!

[M60lad]

RE: GHA Group (Bryn Melyn, Vale Travel + Others)
Apparantly GHA's P1 didnt run for most of the afternoon yesterday due to flooding in Poynton and Hazel Grove, driver ended up sitting in Macclesfield until his late turn in the evening

[knutstransport]

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

(12/06/2016 09:06)M60lad Wrote:  Apparantly GHA's P1 didnt run for most of the afternoon yesterday due to flooding in Poynton and Hazel Grove, driver ended up sitting in Macclesfield until his late turn in the evening

If the roads are closed on the route then it's reasonable to not expect the operator to run the service. Although, passengers will likely appreciate updates on the Internet about services being suspended and when they are likely to resume, which is something all the big operators tend to do.

However, I recall one winter a few years back on a weekday GHA told all their Tarvin drivers to return to the depot mid-afternoon due to snow. That resulted in the 88 route being suspended when there wasn't a flake of snow in the area and many commuters finding there was no bus to take them home. There's been similar situations with High Peak's Cheshire routes. Obviously situations like this aren't good for passengers especially when there's no clear communication to passengers. A lot of passengers wouldn't expect snow in Wales that's crept across as far as Chester to suspend a bus service between Altrincham, Wilmslow and Knutsford.

[Mayneway]

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

(12/06/2016 09:51)knutstransport Wrote:  If the roads are closed on the route then it's reasonable to not expect the operator to run the service. Although, passengers will likely appreciate updates on the Internet about services being suspended and when they are likely to resume, which is something all the big operators tend to do.

However, I recall one winter a few years back on a weekday GHA told all their Tarvin drivers to return to the depot mid-afternoon due to snow. That resulted in the 88 route being suspended when there wasn't a flake of snow in the area and many commuters finding there was no bus to take them home. There's been similar situations with High Peak's Cheshire routes. Obviously situations like this aren't good for passengers especially when there's no clear communication to passengers. A lot of passengers wouldn't expect snow in Wales that's crept across as far as Chester to suspend a bus service between Altrincham, Wilmslow and Knutsford.

I suppose they have to judge it on conditions around the depot. In high peaks case Dovestones often gets heavy snow when other parts of Derbyshire, Manchester and Cheshire have non so it's a case of can byses and drivers safely from and then back to the depot.

[Depotosw]

RE: GHA Group (Bryn Melyn, Vale Travel + Others)
A quick look at the storage section of the old Bryn Melyn yard of GHA in Ruabon this afternoon as was passing, from left to right:

V7 GHA, Dennis Dart / Plaxton MPD
P5 VLT [P281 XYS], Volvo B10M / Plaxton (coach - yellow livery)
J935 CYK, Leyland Tiger / Plaxton (coach)
YN08 NXK Volvo B7RLE / Plaxton Centro (Tanat Valley livery, accident damaged)
K656 UNH, Leyland Olympian / Northern Counties Palatine (former Dobsons yellow livery)
R669 UCC, Mercedes-Benz 814D / Marshall (Bryn Melyn livery)
Un ID Coach
V531 GDS, Volvo B10BLE / Wright Renown (unused condition, ex Go North East)

Also in the main ex Bryn Melyn yard, now the car park is R847 PRG, Volvo B10BLE / Wright Renown (unused condition, ex Go North East).

Hope of interest
Chris

[326VFM]

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

(12/06/2016 16:27)Depotosw Wrote:  A quick look at the storage section of the old Bryn Melyn yard of GHA in Ruabon this afternoon as was passing, from left to right:

V7 GHA, Dennis Dart / Plaxton MPD
P5 VLT [P281 XYS], Volvo B10M / Plaxton (coach - yellow livery)
J935 CYK, Leyland Tiger / Plaxton (coach)
YN08 NXK Volvo B7RLE / Plaxton Centro (Tanat Valley livery, accident damaged)
K656 UNH, Leyland Olympian / Northern Counties Palatine (former Dobsons yellow livery)
R669 UCC, Mercedes-Benz 814D / Marshall (Bryn Melyn livery)
Un ID Coach
V531 GDS, Volvo B10BLE / Wright Renown (unused condition, ex Go North East)

Also in the main ex Bryn Melyn yard, now the car park is R847 PRG, Volvo B10BLE / Wright Renown (unused condition, ex Go North East).

Hope of interest
Chris

Last few weeks ago Olympian K656UNH (ex-Dobsons yellow livery) parked at Ellesmere Port bus station few times. Sat here all most of the day. Now is Sorn off the road.

[Depotosw]

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

(12/06/2016 17:19)326VFM Wrote:  Last few weeks ago Olympian K656UNH (ex-Dobsons yellow livery) parked at Ellesmere Port bus station few times. Sat here all most of the day. Now is Sorn off the road.

It was parked at Tarvin depot the previous weekend. I guess it could be stored either awaiting MoT work for pending disposal, time will tell I guess.

[knutstransport]

RE: GHA Group (Bryn Melyn, Vale Travel + Others)
A lot of no shows on the 88 route recently including ones which a number of people use to get to and from work. The 17:20 Knutsford to Altrincham didn't run yesterday while the 08:10 Knutsford to Altrincham was reported on more than one occasion as not showing up last week.

[solo]

RE: GHA Group (Bryn Melyn, Vale Travel + Others)
Can't see their problems getting any better soon with Holiday season amongst us. Only takes a couple of drivers to be off on Holiday and theres an even bigger hole to cover.

Providing theres enough vehicles maybe agency drivers would be short term quick fix for any company needing extra drivers?....

Surely the levels of unreliability of services not running cannot continue to carry on.

[knutstransport]

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

(14/06/2016 10:54)solo Wrote:  Providing theres enough vehicles maybe agency drivers would be short term quick fix for any company needing extra drivers?....

The issue there might be that the agency drivers would need to be trained by drivers who already know the routes before they can take out services.

Quote:Surely the levels of unreliability of services not running cannot continue to carry on.

I'm surprised the problems have been allowed to go on as long as they have without either the TC or local councils taking more action. I thought the TC requires operators to aim to provide 95% of their services operating and no more than 1 minute early or 5 minutes late.