select bus

[covlad27]

Because its an easy option instead of trying something else.  These flyby night companies make a quick buck then in the end will be beat to the finish by the likes of NEWM and Arriva.

[covlad27]

Central buses with both the X55 and 66 ran on the opposite 15 minutes to Arriva. Arriva just re registered 5 minutes in front! Where's the incentive to balance the service there?

James

Central buses have never offered opposite 15 minutes.  Again another company which will be beat to the finish I believe

[Tony]

Competition???

This is not the case though.  Running 5 minutes in front of another operator is not competing on the route its merely a way to collect passengers that would of otherwise used another operator.  Competition would be where passengers choose to get on another operator for example where the service is every 15 minutes.  I hate people saying they are competing.  Its a joke.  Honestly the likes of select bus and social travel would never be able to compete against arriva unless they run so close to the arriva times to take their passengers.  Try running to different times then see how long it lasts

As the 9 is every 12 minutes I would think running 5 minutes in front is balancing the service out

[winston]

Because its an easy option instead of trying something else.  These flyby night companies make a quick buck then in the end will be beat to the finish by the likes of NEWM and Arriva.

I haven't seen much evidence of Arriva Midlands beating any of their more recent competition to the finish. Quite the opposite in fact where Central Buses are concerned, Banga also held their own of the 530 & Arriva subsequently gained new competition on the 891

[SBS]

Thanks tony, Winston and James. BUS MAN 99 can you explain why in the five years select bus have operated Brewood Arriva have timed buses in front of them 4 times ???? and they think it is acceptable ? Also can you explain why Arriva constantly keep saying they can do routes commercially when they can not just to get operators off routes it's madness ! So now Select is doing the same thing why is this wrong? Arriva are the ones who keep creating the problem no one else !

[Bob]

@SBS you mean like when they spat their dummy out when NXWM won tenders for Cannock evening services? That was hilarious.

From what i see in Lichfield during my working week the Central bus to Tamworth is more often than not busier than Arriva's X60. Arriva have recently downgraded it from 61 plates to anything up to 14 yrs old too. Did they not think it worthy of the newer buses?

I couldnt believe they failed against Banga.....

[winston]

Thanks tony, Winston and James. BUS MAN 99 can you explain why in the five years select bus have operated Brewood Arriva have timed buses in front of them 4 times ???? and they think it is acceptable ? Also can you explain why Arriva constantly keep saying they can do routes commercially when they can not just to get operators off routes it's madness ! So now Select is doing the same thing why is this wrong? Arriva are the ones who keep creating the problem no one else !

@SBS it seems your questions were too much for Busman99, he's just left the building..... ???

[SBS]

Yes Bob plus their are other occurrences ie the service 23 and others.

Also I will make a comment, many operators over the years have tried new routes but yet when these look successful Arriva just time buses in front like James said or start new routes to compete so their is sometimes no point doing new routes as they want everything for themselves ridiculous!

Winston it looks like that lol

[winston]

Yes Bob plus their are other occurrences ie the service 23 and others.

Also I will make a comment, many operators over the years have tried new routes but yet when these look successful Arriva just time buses in front like James said or start new routes to compete so their is sometimes no point doing new routes as they want everything for themselves ridiculous!

Winston it looks like that lol

It looks as though the shoes now on the other foot in the weaker Arriva areas with the amount of new competition they are on the receiving end of.

What buses do you plan on using on the new Stafford services?

[SBS]

Undecided yet To be honest maybe the loithan darts or enviros. As a lot of the older darts will have to go due to DDA, the only old darts staying planned is Y705 and T442. But the newer darts with Isb engines seem a lot more reliable, basically the loithan darts we have just bought are very similar to enviros mechanically. I think we might need some more additions tbf

[Steveminor]

There's a lot of pressure being put on arriva now. Strength in numbers & all that.
I know simon dunn reads these posts so come on mate join the party it's fun.
First to knock arriva off one of their routes wins a bottle of wine lol

[winston]

Undecided yet To be honest maybe the loithan darts or enviros. As a lot of the older darts will have to go due to DDA, the only old darts staying planned is Y705 and T442. But the newer darts with Isb engines seem a lot more reliable, basically the loithan darts we have just bought are very similar to enviros mechanically. I think we might need some more additions tbf

Are the newer ex Lothian SPD's much better than earlier SPD's then? I understand the earlier ones suffered from a number of problems including body sag at the rear

[SBS]

Yes loads better. You are right about the earlier ones as we have one. Although we haven't had problems with the body, we have had problems with gearboxes, the cummings b series and Alison World Series combination either seems to work nice or completely goes wrong, also it has electrical issues but I think sometimes it's luck of the draw. We might DDA v509 but only if we can get the issues sorted

[winston]

There's a lot of pressure being put on arriva now. Strength in numbers & all that.
I know simon dunn reads these posts so come on mate join the party it's fun.
First to knock arriva off one of their routes wins a bottle of wine lol

Even NXWM are nibbling at the edges with i54 routes & Amazon contract, I'm surprised there hasn't been more response from Arriva against the smaller operators that should be easier to remove from competition services

@SBS will you take any further SPD'S from Ensign? Or have all the current batch now been sold?

[SBS]

The other odd things with the loithan darts are they are run with add blue so they are euro 4 and they have double glazed windows. Loithan just seemed to spend a lot of OFF HAND COMMENT REMOVED