Chaserider

[Dennis Dart Plaxton Pointer]

They say on social media that all weather related problems are over and things back to normal.

Assume bollards then?

They failed to mention why non of the Lichfield services were stopping far out of Lichfield and not going to the station

[Rachvince53]

Due to the hourly nature of many of the routes, or even half hourly, breakdowns are felt a lot more keenly by passengers, its not like say a 51 or X51 breaking down in Walsall, so reliability is really important, if they want to hang on to what passengers they have left. Maybe if they allocated the better vehicles to the interurbqn services and kept the tat on pye greens itd improve things a bit

I'm sure Pye Green users would love that!

[Budgie]

I've read the comments from Bob and all others for many years including when he was analyzing Arriva Cannock.  What I would love is for people to be able to come on here and say what he is stated is wrong. i.e. that things are not as bad as it seems. If he is right, then surely this is the place where things should be highlighted?

Performance does matter. On two occasions in the last decade, I have tried to rely on buses and trains to get around. On both occasions, I've resorted to getting a car. It is just to difficult, too time consuming and too unpleasant an experience and I'm lucky enough to have the choice.

Reading these threads, you get the feeling the Chaserider management are good, trying to do the right thing and offer the best service they can. It follows with the impression that they try and do too much, try and do the right thing for too many communities in Staffordshire. Perhaps it might be to do with the minimum routes and services they need to have to cover the costs of running the fixed costs of the depot, perhaps they simply try to do more than they can.

Surely though if routes justified investment in newer buses (or even new) they would get it.  Wouldn't it be best instead for a reassessment looking at available resource and cutting routes to match that.  This would force the councils hand. Council's are so cash strapped, they can't do anything unless forced too. Pulling off routes would force them. Central government pots of money seem to exist but only if criteria are met. Chaserider then might get council funding to get hold of a better fleet and offer the service they ultimately want to.

[Wumpty]

I've read the comments from Bob and all others for many years including when he was analyzing Arriva Cannock.  What I would love is for people to be able to come on here and say what he is stated is wrong. i.e. that things are not as bad as it seems. If he is right, then surely this is the place where things should be highlighted?

Performance does matter. On two occasions in the last decade, I have tried to rely on buses and trains to get around. On both occasions, I've resorted to getting a car. It is just to difficult, too time consuming and too unpleasant an experience and I'm lucky enough to have the choice.

Reading these threads, you get the feeling the Chaserider management are good, trying to do the right thing and offer the best service they can. It follows with the impression that they try and do too much, try and do the right thing for too many communities in Staffordshire. Perhaps it might be to do with the minimum routes and services they need to have to cover the costs of running the fixed costs of the depot, perhaps they simply try to do more than they can.

Surely though if routes justified investment in newer buses (or even new) they would get it.  Wouldn't it be best instead for a reassessment looking at available resource and cutting routes to match that.  This would force the councils hand. Council's are so cash strapped, they can't do anything unless forced too. Pulling off routes would force them. Central government pots of money seem to exist but only if criteria are met. Chaserider then might get council funding to get hold of a better fleet and offer the service they ultimately want to.

Excellent analysis @Budgie - and I've said similar things myself in the past.

@Bob isn't wrong in his posts about the current state of the Chaserider provision and performance. We all have our own way of posting and conveying our sentiments, and not always to everyone's taste. 

I said when Arriva sold up and Chaserider took over that they'd got a poisoned chalice and it's shown to be the case in the way they've run routes and then amended/curtailed according to patronage and resources. the management team ARE a good team doing the best they can with the resources available - does the comparatively sparce network NEED better buses/investment? According to @Bob posts and the frequency of breakdowns and lost mileage, yes. 

Chaserider have done all they can to maintain a network that a large bus group couldn't over many years and, whilst the intentions were good, a smaller independent operator could never turn the network's fortunes around. With politicians and "communities" expecting miracles and then complaining about cutbacks and then the passenger numbers not improving when Chaserider are almost forced into running part-routes just to please them and keep the media off their backs, they're in a no-win situation.

When Midland Choice Travel were setting up, one area they looked at was the Midland Red North network and running competition routes across Telford, Cannock and Leicester, though after VERY careful consideration, plumbed for the Walsall/Bloxwich high frequency corridors instead because their was little profit/passenger numbers to sustain a profitable network.

As for forcing the council's hand for funding, completely agree, though they do have the ability to finance routes now instead of waiting and then riding in on their big white horses to save the day! It's an old political trick that works wonders in the media but does nothing for the fare-paying public or the bus companies under fire.

D&G/Chaserider/Peddle empire have their own priorities - is Chaserider a priority in the grand scheme of things? It appears not. D&G's network is more important to them and maintaining their own network in Staffordshire & Cheshire than a small rural network that realistically generates little income and that, unfortunately, is the stark reality of business. Granted, they have cascaded a small number of buses to Chaserider (not necessarily newer, more like surplus to the other businesses requirements) and this has helped in the immediate short term.

It is easy to criticise Chaserider for their failings, but what is the alternative? Chaserider pulls out and ceases trading and leaves absolutley NO bus network that none of the other large groups want/need and then lambasted by the media for decimating local bus services, or carry on as-is and still get lambasted for trying to operate a service with the resources they have.

Ultimately, goodwill doesn't ring a profit and none of us know what happens behind the scenes at Chaserider. @Bob is right and as someone who actually uses their network, is entitkled to his (very passionate!) opinions. I don't use the network so will only comment on my experiences in the bus industry and the comments left on here.

All I would say is that if anyone else feels like they can do a better job, please set yourself up a bus company and run in competition and let us know how you get on.

[Grinder]

Interesting comments from both @Budgie and @Wumpty.  @Bob has every right as has anyone else to vent their frustrations with Chaserider.  For myself, and here I confess I am not a regular daily user, whenever I have had to use my local service, the 74 to and from Stafford I have never been let down with a failure to appear, yes there have been occasions when I experienced a little late running.  Someone recently posted a message suggesting the Select could take on the Chaserider routes but frankly that is pie in the sky.  No-one is going to take on these routes and be able to make them profitable to the point where new buses could be bought or even leased.  If you look at the age of buses cascaded down from various Centrebus operations run by Chaserider against those in the main D & G fleet you may be surprised to see that there just as many newer vehicles with Chaserider.   I honestly believe that the Chaserider management are doing the best they can but that will mean more analysis of routes and the cancellation of those on which they cannot at best cover operating costs.  Will the various councils step in with subsidiaries? I doubt it because they would not be able to justify spending money to cover a few passenger journeys to the wider non bus using public.  

[hlliwmai]

I don't really know Chaserider very well seeing as I live in an are where they don't run services but I'm sure they are trying there best at running services all these people on this thread that slag them off left; right & centre think of it like this it could be far far worse it could be Diamond running all the services in Cannock!! personally I prey god that Rotala don't buy Chaserider from Centrebus Group because THEN people would have something to complain about somebody said to me the other day Chaserider are probably running things not to dissimilar to how Arriva ran things when they had operations.  Now again I'm not sure how Arriva operated things but again it's probably a lot better than Rotala run things this also applies to Chaserider so just think guys it could be much worse than it is.

[Rachvince53]

Rotala are no worse or better than any other operator.  Like all operators they try to do the best with the resources available both human and mechanical. 

[Bob]

I don't really know Chaserider very well seeing as I live in an are where they don't run services but I'm sure they are trying there best at running services all these people on this thread that slag them off left; right & centre think of it like this it could be far far worse it could be Diamond running all the services in Cannock!! personally I prey god that Rotala don't buy Chaserider from Centrebus Group because THEN people would have something to complain about somebody said to me the other day Chaserider are probably running things not to dissimilar to how Arriva ran things when they had operations.  Now again I'm not sure how Arriva operated things but again it's probably a lot better than Rotala run things this also applies to Chaserider so just think guys it could be much worse than it is.

One of the differences between the two were Arriva did have more full sized vehicles available for services, therefore avoiding running Solos ( old examples that really arent up to allday interurban use) on main routes all the times and the associated failures. Chaserider dont seem to have anywhere near enough. Passed a standing load 70 in Featherstone earlier on way back from Wton didnt look pleasant to say the least lol

[Bob]

Theres been no 3s from Cannock to Brownhills since 840 am, wonder if somethings happened over there, strange cos its a tendered service

[2206]

Theres been no 3s from Cannock to Brownhills since 840 am, wonder if somethings happened over there, strange cos its a tendered service

Think this is why you should only post what you actually see. If you open that 8.40 trip you will see its tracked several trips on there.
2 - YX65 RWL – Chaserider – bustimes.org

[Tony]

Think this is why you should only post what you actually see. If you open that 8.40 trip you will see its tracked several trips on there.
2 - YX65 RWL – Chaserider – bustimes.org

Yes looks like the Ticket machine is stuck on the 08:40 from Cannock, but the bus is happily going back & forth

[Tony]

Theres been no 3s from Cannock to Brownhills since 840 am, wonder if somethings happened over there, strange cos its a tendered service

Plenty of journies now showing

https://bustimes.org/vehicles/crdr-2-yx65-rwl?date=2023-01-25#

[Bob]

Apparently Staffs Cc have been awarded a pot of money to improve bus services, theres a newspaper article about it. 74 and Selects 875 were mentioned

[Dennis Dart Plaxton Pointer]

Apparently Staffs Cc have been awarded a pot of money to improve bus services, theres a newspaper article about it. 74 and Selects 875 were mentioned

Might be useful to replace some of the chaserider fleet and get some new services running in cannock

[Westy]

Might be useful to replace some of the chaserider fleet and get some new services running in cannock

Too simple!