Messages

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.

Am I correct in thinking that the Dart 2378 and the VDL/Commander 3740 are the only Cannock buses that have never even attained Interurban style livery let alone the latest one ?

Give the man a chance.  If the Cannock garage is in such dire straits as someone on here continually suggests, I ask my self why are any vehicles being repainted and given a bit of a makeover.  I agree that the 55 plate Dart that's still in the original Arriva livery looks un-cared for and that's made worse because it's looks out of place compared with the rest of the fleet. Before I get the standard 'everyone's entitled to their opinion' replay, I agree but the continual knocking does get a bit repetitive.

None of the Mercedes Sprinters ie 1001 etc are on the main fleet list.  Is there a reason for this ?

Sorry I have misunderstood the AD Tt in the description AD Tt SFD1DSBRGBGXB592. Error based on reading Tt as Trident as per LK51UZO    Ds Tt SFD339BR21GX21608

On 'Bus Lists On The Web' SN11BMU comes up as a Dennis Trident 2 with an Alexander ALX400 body and new to First Capital in 2011

Possible replacement/loan for fire damaged 44 ?

Any idea as to whether or not X 545 GGO is still in use.  At one time it was the regular on the Stafford 11 and 73 but seems to have been replaced by Y 265 YBC.  Also have SK 52 OKE and OGJ been allocated fleet numbers.

A quick question about the terminology on the latest fleet changes.  Is Head Office the new term for withdrawn and what is the difference between 'Head Office' and 'Head Office:Arriva Midlands'

Thought this forum was for West Midlands ?

Sapphire Citaro 3022 on the Stafford local 1B today

Re 74 patronage - The profile of users is definitely, and pretty well always has been older people who prefer not to have to climb stairs.  Exception being the couple of journeys a day coinciding with college hours.  So yes more suited. 

I rarely post on this forum these days because one thing never change's is the fact that whatever you, you or anyone else say or do will not please Bob.  B9's on the 74/75, yes for a couple of years then B7's because single deckers more suited to the passengers using the service.  Knackered Solos and Dart on the 74/75 and 825 rarely on the 74 but usual on the evening 825.  This constant comparison with NXWM is a little bit naïve because their area is much more urban, has a lower car ownership, higher average loadings and because of these factors can afford to refurbish/renew more often.  Generally speaking it is only the enthusiast who notices the type of bus being used, the general public who make up the vast majority of riders are only concerned that their bus turns up and is at least clean both inside and out, rattles they accept as a fact of life, there has never been a bus built that doesn't rattle after a few months in service.

Not sure what is meant by the  'joke' of an operation in Stafford which provides 4 services an hour between the town centre and 3 of the main estates (Parkside, MossPit and Highfields), a half hourly to a third (Doxey), half hourly (from Telford garage) to Rickerscote and about 3 an hour to Baswich (1B + 825) plus the 2 Cannock services.  If the 'joke' operation is the fact that the services don't run in the evenings and on a Sunday makes sense.  Agreed that the services are nowhere near as prolific as in the good old days but neither is the numbers using the buses.

MX 54 KYE is not on the D & G fleetlist it was removed sometime ago.