Questions for Simon from Arriva

[Simon@Arriva]

Simon, I'm sorry to say that Stafford seems to be as a bit of a dead area as far as Arriva are concerned.  The rerouting of the 74/825 services away from the railway station on the premise that the congestion on the Newport road causes problems on service reliability is a bit of a red herring for two reasons, first the congestion is from the Queensville island into Stafford in the morning rush and from Stafford all the way to the Queensville island in the evening rush, taking out the Newport road section makes b****r all difference and second any time lost in Stafford can be regained on the rural sections of the routes.  There is little congestion on the Newport road during the day. The H service does not in any way compensate for the lost services to and from the County Hospital to Cannock and Lichfield.  My view is that the changes have been made to suit the interworking that takes place on these routes and has little to do with punctuality ie to suit Arriva NOT the customer.

Hi

Thanks for this and we will have to disagree. 

[Simon@Arriva]

Are there any plans / potential to expand the coverage of Stafford? I'm thinking particularly of the new estates that have / are popping up. The one by Stafford Crematorium for instance. When the new link road opens between Tixall Rd / Weston Rd the H could be made into more of a circular route to cover these areas, perhaps? Seems a shame that all these new estates with potential for new passengers aren't served at all.

Hi,

There is a tender out at the moment from the County Council for the Tixall Road/St Mary's Gate new estate.

[Simon@Arriva]

Tamworth and Lichfield need an updated arriva network map  the current one shows the 765 going via boley Park, the x65 extending to tamworth college and the 35 being operated by arriva  >:(

A new map has been done. 

[2206]

A new map has been done. 

There appears to be an error there. Tamworth City Centre. Tamworth isn't a City.

[Simon@Arriva]

There appears to be an error there. Tamworth City Centre. Tamworth isn't a City.

We can dream...

I will ask for it to be changed.

[Bob]

10/70 is now Dart allocation yes.

So a route that was given Pulsars because they were best suited to it and it was an interurban route, was then downgraded to Commanders, and now has an allocation of 14/15 year old Darts ( 54 plates good/55 plates not brilliant). I take it the increased frequency didnt generate good enough returns to warrant any investment? Pye Greens, which had Pulsars that had been newly refurbed now gets a fleet of largely ( apart from the solitary refurbished one) threadbare 13 year old buses....

[Simon@Arriva]

So a route that was given Pulsars because they were best suited to it and it was an interurban route, was then downgraded to Commanders, and now has an allocation of 14/15 year old Darts ( 54 plates good/55 plates not brilliant). I take it the increased frequency didnt generate good enough returns to warrant any investment? Pye Greens, which had Pulsars that had been newly refurbed now gets a fleet of largely ( apart from the solitary refurbished one) threadbare 13 year old buses....

Yes.

It is a question of trying to make the best of what we have.  We have prioritised the Pulsar and B7 to the 74 and 825 as these are the best buses for these longer interurban routes.

[Brick60000]

Hi,

There is a tender out at the moment from the County Council for the Tixall Road/St Mary's Gate new estate.

That sounds interesting. Is there any more information available to view for the public online?

[Westy]

Any idea why you have timed the first Service 2 to run between Bloxwich & Walsall at the same time as the second Nx X51?

Couldn't that journey run earlier to fill the gap between the first X51 timed at Bloxwich around 630 & the second one which is timed at around 650am, say at around 640 or 645am, or will this mess up the interworking with Service 1?

I've come out to catch the bus at my stop the past couple of days & both you & Nx have turned up at the same time.

(Admittedly you reach my stop first, but Nx is following close behind!)

[Simon@Arriva]

That sounds interesting. Is there any more information available to view for the public online?

Hi

it may be on the Staffordshire website.

[l.murphy123]

Any idea why you have timed the first Service 2 to run between Bloxwich & Walsall at the same time as the second Nx X51?

Couldn't that journey run earlier to fill the gap between the first X51 timed at Bloxwich around 630 & the second one which is timed at around 650am, say at around 640 or 645am, or will this mess up the interworking with Service 1?

I've come out to catch the bus at my stop the past couple of days & both you & Nx have turned up at the same time.

(Admittedly you reach my stop first, but Nx is following close behind!)

Wouldn't make much difference, people using the X51 to commute probably have week or month passes. The only people that would get on the first to arriva would be concessionary pass users to travelling up to Walsall, probably, as it would make no odds which to get.

[Tony]

Wouldn't make much difference, people using the X51 to commute probably have week or month passes. The only people that would get on the first to arriva would be concessionary pass users to travelling up to Walsall, probably, as it would make no odds which to get.

Concessionary pass holders at 06:30?

[l.murphy123]

Will the 825 and 826 routes remain the same after the bridge reopens? The 825 is only serving great haywood as a diversion off the back of little haywood isn't it?

[bovaman]

loads of breakdowns / missing journeys on 825/826 again in this last week, and yes still operating them unreliable old clapped out solos on it as well, no point complaining to Luton as they are simply not interested or even know or care where staffordshire is!!  Where are all the re furbished pulsars hiding that was 'supposed' to be re deployed back on there from the timetable network revision?  At least 2 break downs again yesterday too, and yet again one was a vintage solo......  Them solos things must be costing the company a fortune in lost mileage and lost revenue on these longer interurban services, they are simply not up to the job, one just cannot rely on these services at all any more im afraid.... Im baffled how Cannock depot have been let run this 825 service in to the ground with such shoddy unreliable old end of life vehicles in the last number of years tbh. Its not a good image for public transport at all im afraid in this area.  :(

[Simon@Arriva]

Will the 825 and 826 routes remain the same after the bridge reopens? The 825 is only serving great haywood as a diversion off the back of little haywood isn't it?

The bridge is open but they have resurfaced under the railway bridge so we can no longer fit under it.  These are now the permanent routes.