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Wessex

Started by fleetline6477, May 19, 2017, 08:12:26 PM

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j789

Quote from: Winston on September 18, 2017, 12:04:47 AM
I believe it was stated in the trade press via an interview with Scott Dunn, that Diamond had planned to expand their commercial services further in Worcester, but were blocked by Crowngate Bus Station management, I believe they also put in a complaint to the Office of fair trading regarding the matter:

Quote from Stephen Bryce posted on Midlandred.net:

Based on the original specs provided by WCC we were loosing money on some tenders which is why by mutual agreement we terminated them and were allowed to retender for them.

Becasue of the way it is managed it is impossible to compete commercially in the Crowngate Bus Station but now we have a profitable business which keeps our foot in the door until the lease for the bus station runs out in October 2011, and then hopefully the Bus Station will then be managed by an impartial 3rd party.

Regarding Redditch drivers out of the 46 full time drivers employed 34 of them have over 2 years service with Diamond and its predessors. No matter what area you look at there are always drivers who float around various bus companies.

Some of the new faces you have seen are Tividale drivers on loan to cover a couple of unlucky drivers who have had accidents out of work preventing them from working for a few weeks.[/i]

http://www.midlandred.net/cgi-bin/forum/Blah.pl?m-1273629371/s-30/

Have you visited Crowngate bus station in the past few years? Maybe that statement was from someone who visited on a Sunday evening as it clearly wasn't from someone who had a grasp of the everyday issues facing the bus station.

The problem with that particular statement in bold there is that it was not First who tried to block the bus station, it is simple fact that the bus station is far too small to house the current number of routes in it, yet alone have another company their using exactly the same stands. As I see every day, it is hard to find a place for our own buses to park up when on a rest break, and the other independents like Astons and Johnsons have to park in the layby on the Butts because there is no space in the bus station.  Where exactly would the extra buses park?? But of course that must be First's fault!

Also, the bus stands themselves were mainly designed for Minibuses in the early 90s (with reversing bays for routes with full sized buses) and it can be a struggle to get full sized buses in and out if others are parked there so again more buses would lead to more delays, and trust me, Worcester is horrendous to drive round in terms of traffic and congestion so any additional delay would have a major impact. The bus station is a bad design but there is no way to change it. The planners really should have left the Angel Place bus station in situ as well and not pedestrianised the area as that would have freed up a lot of space.

winston

Quote from: j789 on September 18, 2017, 07:51:59 PM
Have you visited Crowngate bus station in the past few years? Maybe that statement was from someone who visited on a Sunday evening as it clearly wasn't from someone who had a grasp of the everyday issues facing the bus station.

The problem with that particular statement in bold there is that it was not First who tried to block the bus station, it is simple fact that the bus station is far too small to house the current number of routes in it, yet alone have another company their using exactly the same stands. As I see every day, it is hard to find a place for our own buses to park up when on a rest break, and the other independents like Astons and Johnsons have to park in the layby on the Butts because there is no space in the bus station.  Where exactly would the extra buses park?? But of course that must be First's fault!

Also, the bus stands themselves were mainly designed for Minibuses in the early 90s (with reversing bays for routes with full sized buses) and it can be a struggle to get full sized buses in and out if others are parked there so again more buses would lead to more delays, and trust me, Worcester is horrendous to drive round in terms of traffic and congestion so any additional delay would have a major impact. The bus station is a bad design but there is no way to change it. The planners really should have left the Angel Place bus station in situ as well and not pedestrianised the area as that would have freed up a lot of space.

The statement quoted was made by Stephen Bryce - Head of Operations at Diamond Bus Company, similar comments were also made by Scott Dunn whilst MD of Diamond Bus Company in a Routeone interview


mikestone

Stephen Bryce who went on the success story that was GHA.
.
Quite why a newcomer should expect to be allowed in a bus station that is already congested escapes me - Derby being the perfect example where no-one had the guts to tell Yourbus they must find street stops.l

j789

Where was the investigation then if First had done this then that is unlawful and they would have been punished. This did not result in this so whatever happened clearly wasn't deemed unfair practice. Likewise, the county council could have intervened had they had a genuine case but they did not. Why did Diamond give up their tendered Worcester services? Not to do with bus station access as they were tendered services with designated stands, more to do with terrible service and trying to charge passengers for using first passes 50p on tendered services. The County council were far from happy with them. First have run most of these services since thenwith little issue, even going commercial on some when the council cut funding, so that about sums this argument up as to which company is most professional!! I repeat as I did before I do not think First are perfect at all but this argument is wrong and unproven. If it happened, there would have been large fines and other serious action taken.

fleetline6477

Why are we debating the management and design of Worcester bus station in the Wessex thread??

j789

It did go a little 'off piste' but the original comments were to do with First and Rotala competition and that is how the Worcester link came about.

4747

 trying to charge passengers for using first passes 50p on tendered services ......

Do operators of tendered services in the West Midlands let passengers travel for free with NX or other operators passes... The answer is no so what is the difference between here and Worcester ?
it's been a while....

j789

Quote from: 4747 on September 18, 2017, 11:43:40 PM
trying to charge passengers for using first passes 50p on tendered services ......

Do operators of tendered services in the West Midlands let passengers travel for free with NX or other operators passes... The answer is no so what is the difference between here and Worcester ?

I don't have any knowledge of the contracts but clearly there was something in them that said that week and day tickets etc were valid on all services on a route irrespective of operator. Perhaps it is different in the West Mids with there being more operators and having a well used multi operator ticket but this Was not the case in Worcester so it made sense that any tendered route would allow First tickets. If the council is paying an operator to run a route then they do not need to charge as the tender put in should cover expenses plus profit for the operator. If an operator put in a ridiculously low offer they then can't just start charging passengers extra to make up the loss which the above statement about being allowed to retender for services seems to back up as perhaps what happened in this case.
I would also assume that in places like Worcester that concession funding agreements would also include some sort of funding from the operator to go towards any tendered journies that would be needed so that that operators tickets could be used on the tendered journies- it makes sense for passengers to be able to do this particularly in rural areas. I believe that the new Herefordshire contracts recently won by first allow for the passes of DRM and maybe others to be used on certain sections of the route free of additional charge.

sryan188

It looks like 40602/40603/40604/40605 are up for sale through Chartwell Bus Sales.
From the description these buses were on lease as the lease can be reassigned subject to status.

http://www.chartwellbussales.co.uk/buses_details.php?bus=70

DavidGrain

I am new to this forum and this is my first post. Today I saw a Wessex Star liveried vehicle on Diamond Route 202. As it went across in front of me I can not tell you registration no. Two days ago I travelled on a Diamond bus on this route into Halesowen.

winston

Quote from: DavidGrain on May 17, 2018, 11:08:35 PM
I am new to this forum and this is my first post. Today I saw a Wessex Star liveried vehicle on Diamond Route 202. As it went across in front of me I can not tell you registration no. Two days ago I travelled on a Diamond bus on this route into Halesowen.

They are actually Diamond Bus vehicles which are allocated to Kidderminster depot, but are still in Wessex livery / fully branded. A start has been made on repainting them very recently.

winston

Further work in Bath cancelled, may release the 3 x 61 plate Solo SR's for cascaded elsewhere within group from Sept:

PH1066711/50 Cancelled
WESSEX BUS LTD
Route: University of Bath to University of Bath via Royal United Hospital
Service number: 20A (20C)
Service type: Normal Stopping
Effective date: 01 Sep 2018

mikestone

In Bristol this afternoon as  well as branded Geminis on the 51 was one in London red, with a large Wessex fleetname in the advert framing and another in fleet livery with the "ghost" of its Wessex fleetname neither of which I was able to identify.

winston

Quote from: mikestone on June 27, 2018, 05:55:52 PM
In Bristol this afternoon as  well as branded Geminis on the 51 was one in London red, with a large Wessex fleetname in the advert framing and another in fleet livery with the "ghost" of its Wessex fleetname neither of which I was able to identify.

The Gemini with 'ghost' fleetnames was most likely 40503:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/mkrbus/42204377894

The red ex London Gemini could have been either 40207/8 or 211

The Wessex mticket app has been scrapped from 24th August

Rhys Hand is also suggesting Wessex brand / business may not be around after that date, see comments in this thread:
https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/bristol-independents-and-wessex-connect.101189/page-55

mikestone

Thanks. If Rhys Hand thinks they are on the way out that suggests a rosy future for them!

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