Sort out the use of branded buses

[Bob]

Most days youll find Stafford branded buses on other routes and other buses on the Stafford services. Cannocks fleet is so s****y maintained though theyre probably covering for breakdowns! I also dont think its right that Arriva are allowed to have a complete monopoly ( or am i right that the true aim of deregulation was just to swap public monopolies for private ones that can generally do what the hell they like?? wheres the choice in brum apart from on a handful of routes? and in tamworth/telford etc? ).

[the trainbasher]

Would you rather:
a) Not have the service run because you dont want a bus branded for another route on it?

or

b) Have the service run using a a bus branded for another route on it because it is avaliable for useage

[Bob]

what are you talking about???? If the Stafford services have 2 branded buses and 2 ordinary on them and there are 2/3 Stafford branded buses operating on other services its f**k all to do with the above! the 2 plain buses should be on the other services, if the branded ones are running on other routes it means they COULD be running on the correct route. The same goes for the Walsall branded ones. So what i'd 'rather have' is a company that knows what theyre doing? Or failing that one that doesnt have branded buses cos they cant get it together to use them correctly.

[arrivaaston]

Telford do the same, I've quite often had a 44 bus on the 481 or the 09 plate versas and when you get to telford the 481 branded versas are on 33's or 55's

[Bob]

Nowhere near as bad as Cannock lol an at least there more modern buses

[arrivaaston]

It looks daft when your in hednesford and on the side of the bus you either see
'Your linx accross the chase between cannock and stafford hospitals'

Or
'Your fast linx to Cannock, Great Wyrley, Landywood, Bloxwich and Walsall'


Or even
'Linx2 Cannock, Cheslyn Hay, Landywood, Bloxwich Walsall'

[Discodave]

I will repeat myself again If a branded bus is the only one available to use fair enough but its too common at Arriva espically cannock, not so much by the look at other depots I have already explained usually the main reason a branded bus in on another route usually a picky supervisor whom will be on the route later so allocated a non shit bus for himself it never changes at Cannock.  As stated from the start do not bother branding any bus this should allow maxium flexibility for all eventualities.

[andy]

I will repeat myself again If a branded bus is the only one available to use fair enough but its too common at Arriva espically cannock, not so much by the look at other depots I have already explained usually the main reason a branded bus in on another route usually a picky supervisor whom will be on the route later so allocated a non shit bus for himself it never changes at Cannock.  As stated from the start do not bother branding any bus this should allow maxium flexibility for all eventualities.

Agreed. In my experience branding does nothing whatsoever to increase passenger numbers on buses. 9 out of 10 passengers don't even notice it and will look at the front of the bus, as they should. This is only achieved with a good frequency, modern and comfortable vehicles and good value fares and multi journey tickets.

Branding merely creates an unnecessary headache for operational staff, especially in garages like Tamworth where the parking up and allocating exercise has to be so precise and there is no rrom for manouvere.

Eventhough I have seen some excellent examples, I have seen twice as many diabolical ones and eventually this ridiculous obsession will pass.

[PM]

I will repeat myself again If a branded bus is the only one available to use fair enough but its too common at Arriva espically cannock, not so much by the look at other depots I have already explained usually the main reason a branded bus in on another route usually a picky supervisor whom will be on the route later so allocated a non shit bus for himself it never changes at Cannock.  As stated from the start do not bother branding any bus this should allow maxium flexibility for all eventualities.

Agreed. In my experience branding does nothing whatsoever to increase passenger numbers on buses. 9 out of 10 passengers don't even notice it and will look at the front of the bus, as they should. This is only achieved with a good frequency, modern and comfortable vehicles and good value fares and multi journey tickets.

Branding merely creates an unnecessary headache for operational staff, especially in garages like Tamworth where the parking up and allocating exercise has to be so precise and there is no rrom for manouvere.

Eventhough I have seen some excellent examples, I have seen twice as many diabolical ones and eventually this ridiculous obsession will pass.

And branding can give the impression that a company only values certain routes-the emphasis should be on marketing the network through good guides and brochures not just a hotchpotch of leaflets for not all the routes.

[Stu]

Would you rather:
a) Not have the service run because you dont want a bus branded for another route on it?

or

b) Have the service run using a a bus branded for another route on it because it is avaliable for useage

Exactly!

[Discodave]

Today 2 branded bus on 19 (2701) and they are not interworked and 1 branded bus on 2 almost nothing runs on a sunday what utter crap so is 95% of the fleet off the road utter twaddle people are saying with regards to a bus running or not due to branding.  Even taking stafford routes into account still a load of buses there which could have gone out.

[Bob]

Today 2 branded bus on 19 (2701) and they are not interworked and 1 branded bus on 2 almost nothing runs on a sunday what utter crap so is 95% of the fleet off the road utter twaddle people are saying with regards to a bus running or not due to branding.  Even taking stafford routes into account still a load of buses there which could have gone out.

Exactly, perhaps there was no other way, perhaps every non branded bus at the Garage was unavailable lol

[Discodave]

well the way the fleet is fixed yep

[Westy]

It looks daft when your in hednesford and on the side of the bus you either see
'Your linx accross the chase between cannock and stafford hospitals'

Or
'Your fast linx to Cannock, Great Wyrley, Landywood, Bloxwich and Walsall'


Or even
'Linx2 Cannock, Cheslyn Hay, Landywood, Bloxwich Walsall'

I suppose one way you could look at it is that other services operated by the company are promoted.

[Discodave]

Spoke to Arriva about this on there facebook page and got a reply  I was told "Thank you for your feedback I will give the general manager a call about this.  As branded buses are only supposed to be used on branded routes".  If anything gets done will be another matter but that is Arrivas offical view slag off as much as you want I decided to get the companies view to balance things.