Rotala Management - Questions & Answers

[Simon Dunn]

Hi . Next time you update the electronic displays,  any chance you could spell Mossley correctly?

Just saw 2 301's displaying Mossely !

I second that! On some of the vehicles in Kidderminster on the 10 it displays

" 10 Kidderminster via Offmore, Spennels "

Now the "Spennels" bit is incorrect as it's actually spelt "Spennells"

I am told this has now been rectified

[Cedric]

Simon hope the recruitment  day went well for you today and you got the extra staff you need,
any new on the second hand fleet  replacements. you spoke. about.   may I say the other week
I had cause to complain about  a bus I went to catch not turning up and I contacted your
customer care dept who looked in to it for me and within 2 weeks I go a reply why the bus
never came. which I understand why,   
cedric

good  luck for sunday hope you get the staff you require,    are you likely to be changed routes again if whittles close if no one buys them 

[Simon Dunn]

Simon hope the recruitment  day went well for you today and you got the extra staff you need,
any new on the second hand fleet  replacements. you spoke. about.   may I say the other week
I had cause to complain about  a bus I went to catch not turning up and I contacted your
customer care dept who looked in to it for me and within 2 weeks I go a reply why the bus
never came. which I understand why,   
cedric

good  luck for sunday hope you get the staff you require,    are you likely to be changed routes again if whittles close if no one buys them

It is difficult to know what exactly to say.

My understanding is most of the Whittles work is subsidised bus work,  coach work or for National Express.  The last thing, I would want to do is comment about their situation or our position and give someone the wrong impression so it seems easy to say nothing.




Simon

[Cedric]

Simon hope the recruitment  day went well for you today and you got the extra staff you need,
any new on the second hand fleet  replacements. you spoke. about.   may I say the other week
I had cause to complain about  a bus I went to catch not turning up and I contacted your
customer care dept who looked in to it for me and within 2 weeks I go a reply why the bus
never came. which I understand why,   
cedric

good  luck for sunday hope you get the staff you require,    are you likely to be changed routes again if whittles close if no one buys them

It is difficult to know what exactly to say.

My understanding is most of the Whittles work is subsidised bus work,  coach work or for National Express.  The last thing, I would want to do is comment about their situation or our position and give someone the wrong impression so it seems easy to say nothing.

Simon

that's ok simon thought you would not be able to tell me understand why

[Westy]

Walsall changes now on the website!

[the trainbasher]

Hi Simon,

Has Rotala ever thought about introducing RTI in the fleet so passengers can use an app (e.g. The NWM app for example) to check how long their bus is (similar to NXWM/Arriva)?

Or even go one step better and introduce tracking so passengers could use the Diamond app to find out where their bus currently is (similar to the parcel companies)

[Simon Dunn]

Hi Simon,

Has Rotala ever thought about introducing RTI in the fleet so passengers can use an app (e.g. The NWM app for example) to check how long their bus is (similar to NXWM/Arriva)?

Or even go one step better and introduce tracking so passengers could use the Diamond app to find out where their bus currently is (similar to the parcel companies)

For two years we have been working with a company called Cloud Amber. this was was suppossed to provide the information you outline.

Unfortunately, the data has not become accurate enough to make the data available for passengers and as a result we have not rolled it out.

If this doesnt improve, we will look for an alternative provider.



Simon

[PM]

Hi Simon

1) Do you think articulated buses would be a viable solution on university services operated by Wessex to cater for the large numbers of students travelling who do not mind standing? Especially seeing as ex London artics are going for what seems like good value for money prices

2) Do you foresee the Olympians at Preston remaining in service until they can run no longer ie 2017 or are there plans to replace them?

3) I guess related to the last question but do you see any more of the 2 remaining Wessex tridents going up to Preston as, I may be wrong, but one is VOR with accident damage? Do you think it will return to service and if so, where?

4) You mentioned the ex Stagecoach darts being converted to DDA spec and repainted etc. Will they also get the rather drab Stagecoach grey moquette replaced at the same time?

5) Do you see Rotala acquiring more of these?

6) Why is it that similar age vehicles were withdrawn several years ago from the Diamond fleet and yet more are being bought a couple of years on?

7) Are Preston having 2 StreetLites delivered/on order?

8) You mentioned that Rotala had looked at some used vehicles fairly recently. Did anything come of this and were they further darts or something else?

9) As the Wessex Star services are now entirely commercial, does this mean there is less of a need to acquire new buses for that fleet?

10) There still seem to be several complaints about the Diamond Redditch services ie lack of capacity, bunching. Would a bus station supervisor dispatching the high frequency routes and walking around/dealing with enquiries/monitoring queues etc help to improve things? How about some new/newer buses on the 57/8 to ensure that the long single decks currently on there can increase capacity on the 55/6 now those routes are operating on a reduced frequency.

Many Thanks as ever and I'll leave you in peace!

[Simon Dunn]

Hi Simon

1) Do you think articulated buses would be a viable solution on university services operated by Wessex to cater for the large numbers of students travelling who do not mind standing? Especially seeing as ex London artics are going for what seems like good value for money prices

2) Do you foresee the Olympians at Preston remaining in service until they can run no longer ie 2017 or are there plans to replace them?

3) I guess related to the last question but do you see any more of the 2 remaining Wessex tridents going up to Preston as, I may be wrong, but one is VOR with accident damage? Do you think it will return to service and if so, where?

4) You mentioned the ex Stagecoach darts being converted to DDA spec and repainted etc. Will they also get the rather drab Stagecoach grey moquette replaced at the same time?

5) Do you see Rotala acquiring more of these?

6) Why is it that similar age vehicles were withdrawn several years ago from the Diamond fleet and yet more are being bought a couple of years on?

7) Are Preston having 2 StreetLites delivered/on order?

8) You mentioned that Rotala had looked at some used vehicles fairly recently. Did anything come of this and were they further darts or something else?

9) As the Wessex Star services are now entirely commercial, does this mean there is less of a need to acquire new buses for that fleet?

10) There still seem to be several complaints about the Diamond Redditch services ie lack of capacity, bunching. Would a bus station supervisor dispatching the high frequency routes and walking around/dealing with enquiries/monitoring queues etc help to improve things? How about some new/newer buses on the 57/8 to ensure that the long single decks currently on there can increase capacity on the 55/6 now those routes are operating on a reduced frequency.

Many Thanks as ever and I'll leave you in peace!

Dear Sir,

Responses below

1.  We do not see this as a way forward.  I believe the operational costs, and complications outweigh any benefit. 
2.  Preston love their Olympians, and what they are used on are not available for the general public anyway
3.  No.  I don't think so.
4.  We are upgrading the interior on 2 of the vehicles.
5.  If we do, it will will only be one or two in exchange of some smaller buses.
6.  Which similiar vehicles are you referring to?
7.  We have ordered nothing as yet
8.  We are still looking and agreed nothing as yet
9.  We have no contractual requirements accross the whole fleet for capital expenditure.
10.  We have a full time bus station Inspector.  In addition, the Supevisory team once run out has been completed move to the office in the Bus Station.



Simon

[tank90]

Hi Simon in your response to 10 above, could I say yes you have but most if not all of the staff can be found at somepoint a bus driving around town. Would it be wise to employ someone into that team who can't drive a bus so they are grounded to the bus station so they can't go off driving a bus?

Regards Daniel.

[Simon Dunn]

Hi Simon in your response to 10 above, could I say yes you have but most if not all of the staff can be found at somepoint a bus driving around town. Would it be wise to employ someone into that team who can't drive a bus so they are grounded to the bus station so they can't go off driving a bus?

Regards Daniel.

Daniel,

Although some of the support staff drive at Peak Time, there is stll sufficient resource for this to happen.



Simon

[PM]

Hi Simon

1) Do you think articulated buses would be a viable solution on university services operated by Wessex to cater for the large numbers of students travelling who do not mind standing? Especially seeing as ex London artics are going for what seems like good value for money prices

2) Do you foresee the Olympians at Preston remaining in service until they can run no longer ie 2017 or are there plans to replace them?

3) I guess related to the last question but do you see any more of the 2 remaining Wessex tridents going up to Preston as, I may be wrong, but one is VOR with accident damage? Do you think it will return to service and if so, where?

4) You mentioned the ex Stagecoach darts being converted to DDA spec and repainted etc. Will they also get the rather drab Stagecoach grey moquette replaced at the same time?

5) Do you see Rotala acquiring more of these?

6) Why is it that similar age vehicles were withdrawn several years ago from the Diamond fleet and yet more are being bought a couple of years on?

7) Are Preston having 2 StreetLites delivered/on order?

8) You mentioned that Rotala had looked at some used vehicles fairly recently. Did anything come of this and were they further darts or something else?

9) As the Wessex Star services are now entirely commercial, does this mean there is less of a need to acquire new buses for that fleet?

10) There still seem to be several complaints about the Diamond Redditch services ie lack of capacity, bunching. Would a bus station supervisor dispatching the high frequency routes and walking around/dealing with enquiries/monitoring queues etc help to improve things? How about some new/newer buses on the 57/8 to ensure that the long single decks currently on there can increase capacity on the 55/6 now those routes are operating on a reduced frequency.

Many Thanks as ever and I'll leave you in peace!

Dear Sir,

Responses below

1.  We do not see this as a way forward.  I believe the operational costs, and complications outweigh any benefit. 
2.  Preston love their Olympians, and what they are used on are not available for the general public anyway
3.  No.  I don't think so.
4.  We are upgrading the interior on 2 of the vehicles.
5.  If we do, it will will only be one or two in exchange of some smaller buses.
6.  Which similiar vehicles are you referring to?
7.  We have ordered nothing as yet
8.  We are still looking and agreed nothing as yet
9.  We have no contractual requirements accross the whole fleet for capital expenditure.
10.  We have a full time bus station Inspector.  In addition, the Supevisory team once run out has been completed move to the office in the Bus Station.



Simon

Hi Simon

Thanks, as ever, for your replies. In response to a couple of the points you mentioned:

6) I was referring to Y3NBB, W448DOP, Y354FJN, V387SVV, X634/8/9AKW and other ex Central Connect darts as well which were all withdrawn/sold previously and older vehicles of the same/similar type are being acquired months/years later ie the Stagecoach ALX200 darts: I was just interested as to why this was.

[Simon Dunn]

Hi Simon

1) Do you think articulated buses would be a viable solution on university services operated by Wessex to cater for the large numbers of students travelling who do not mind standing? Especially seeing as ex London artics are going for what seems like good value for money prices

2) Do you foresee the Olympians at Preston remaining in service until they can run no longer ie 2017 or are there plans to replace them?

3) I guess related to the last question but do you see any more of the 2 remaining Wessex tridents going up to Preston as, I may be wrong, but one is VOR with accident damage? Do you think it will return to service and if so, where?

4) You mentioned the ex Stagecoach darts being converted to DDA spec and repainted etc. Will they also get the rather drab Stagecoach grey moquette replaced at the same time?

5) Do you see Rotala acquiring more of these?

6) Why is it that similar age vehicles were withdrawn several years ago from the Diamond fleet and yet more are being bought a couple of years on?

7) Are Preston having 2 StreetLites delivered/on order?

8) You mentioned that Rotala had looked at some used vehicles fairly recently. Did anything come of this and were they further darts or something else?

9) As the Wessex Star services are now entirely commercial, does this mean there is less of a need to acquire new buses for that fleet?

10) There still seem to be several complaints about the Diamond Redditch services ie lack of capacity, bunching. Would a bus station supervisor dispatching the high frequency routes and walking around/dealing with enquiries/monitoring queues etc help to improve things? How about some new/newer buses on the 57/8 to ensure that the long single decks currently on there can increase capacity on the 55/6 now those routes are operating on a reduced frequency.

Many Thanks as ever and I'll leave you in peace!

Dear Sir,

Responses below

1.  We do not see this as a way forward.  I believe the operational costs, and complications outweigh any benefit. 
2.  Preston love their Olympians, and what they are used on are not available for the general public anyway
3.  No.  I don't think so.
4.  We are upgrading the interior on 2 of the vehicles.
5.  If we do, it will will only be one or two in exchange of some smaller buses.
6.  Which similiar vehicles are you referring to?
7.  We have ordered nothing as yet
8.  We are still looking and agreed nothing as yet
9.  We have no contractual requirements accross the whole fleet for capital expenditure.
10.  We have a full time bus station Inspector.  In addition, the Supevisory team once run out has been completed move to the office in the Bus Station.



Simon

Hi Simon

Thanks, as ever, for your replies. In response to a couple of the points you mentioned:

6) I was referring to Y3NBB, W448DOP, Y354FJN, V387SVV, X634/8/9AKW and other ex Central Connect darts as well which were all withdrawn/sold previously and older vehicles of the same/similar type are being acquired months/years later ie the Stagecoach ALX200 darts: I was just interested as to why this was.

Dear Sir,

I take on board your point.

We only acquired the Ex-SCG vehicles are they were swapped for other current fleet vehicles.  We would not look to acquire vehicles of that age outright.



Simon

[PM]

Thanks again for your reply :)

1) In terms of future acquisitions, I see Ensignbus have had some 2003/4 Enviro300's come in. Would these be worth looking at, depending on the price, for Redditch-as there still seem capacity issues over there-or even increasing capacity over at Kidderminster?

2) In addition, I see the ex Woosh Citaro's are up for auction with BCA on the 29/10/14. There are 8 of them-worth considering for Preston or Long Acre? Potentially they could replace the Scania/Esteem's at Preston or give LAC a bigger fleet of them to upgrade the 16/50 and ensure they are more standard.

3) There's also:

2009, MAN, Plaxton Centro, 38 seating + 8 standees or 1 wheelchair with 35 seated and 8 standees, 12.240, DDA, new MOT. Contact Neil Bailey £25,000 ono, email: neil.bailey@edinburghcoachlines.com
Located at: Edinburgh Coach Lines Ltd
Distance: Please enter your postcode
Price: £ 25000

This could fit quite nicely at Redditch and although I don't claim to know much about vehicle pricing, doesn't seem overpriced.

4) Do you think the new B8RLE will be something Rotala would evaluate/consider to add to vehicle investment from 2015 to start to upgrade some more core routes?

The average age across the group is, as has been said before, good but isn't much of this down to midibus category of vehicles as opposed to in the large single deck category where there has been less purchase of more recent/new vehicles?


Many Thanks and I'll actually leave you in peace now!!

[Simon Dunn]

Thanks again for your reply :)

1) In terms of future acquisitions, I see Ensignbus have had some 2003/4 Enviro300's come in. Would these be worth looking at, depending on the price, for Redditch-as there still seem capacity issues over there-or even increasing capacity over at Kidderminster?

2) In addition, I see the ex Woosh Citaro's are up for auction with BCA on the 29/10/14. There are 8 of them-worth considering for Preston or Long Acre? Potentially they could replace the Scania/Esteem's at Preston or give LAC a bigger fleet of them to upgrade the 16/50 and ensure they are more standard.

3) There's also:

2009, MAN, Plaxton Centro, 38 seating + 8 standees or 1 wheelchair with 35 seated and 8 standees, 12.240, DDA, new MOT. Contact Neil Bailey £25,000 ono, email: neil.bailey@edinburghcoachlines.com
Located at: Edinburgh Coach Lines Ltd
Distance: Please enter your postcode
Price: £ 25000

This could fit quite nicely at Redditch and although I don't claim to know much about vehicle pricing, doesn't seem overpriced.

4) Do you think the new B8RLE will be something Rotala would evaluate/consider to add to vehicle investment from 2015 to start to upgrade some more core routes?

The average age across the group is, as has been said before, good but isn't much of this down to midibus category of vehicles as opposed to in the large single deck category where there has been less purchase of more recent/new vehicles?


Many Thanks and I'll actually leave you in peace now!!

Dear Sir,

In response.

1.  I saw the vehicles for sale last night.  At which point, they had already been sold
2.  This is something we will look at.
3.  This is not of interest
4.  In due course we will review the new range.


Simon