Platinum

[BK63 YWP]

A bus after a school run... the mess...

[Gareth]

You could totally ban all eating & drinking, but what then do you about a people who needs to eat and drink for medical reasons, eg: someone with diabetes?

I do personally feel that hot food should be banned, the smell is awful and makes far more mess than cold food.

I don't think anybody will mind somebody on the verge of a diabetic coma having a biscuit. They don't need a full meal on a bus.

[don]

Yep. Standard procedure. Don't blame the company though, blame the dirty buggers who use the service. I travelled on the 957 not so long ago and there was rubbish everywhere. And some yobs tried kicking the doors in.

I thought to myself "the company paid all this money for these buses and just look how the public treat them"

in my honest opinion I don't think any Birmingham routes should be platinum. The passengers simply do not deserve it

I can guarantee its not just Birmingham - I recently travelled on a nearly new Arriva Southern Counties Sapphire Enviro and was appalled at the litter - there was a chap eating fish and chips and a couple of girls with their feet up on the seats.

To be honest, litter removal and cleaning is something which has to be boosted if you're going to operate premium services in urban areas - many trains, especially longer distance into Victoria (South Eastern - not sure about Southern) get a litter squad boarding at the terminal. There are roving cleaners on TfL Tramlink - get on at one stop, clear extraneous litter then get off and deal with the stop area. It just means that most passengers don't encounter the crap the small minority leave behind.

Also, and I'm sure it's difficult to achieve, but why run premium vehicles on school services? I'm sure someone will say xyz board does an abc school journey, then one trip on service def (which is not a premium service) before taking up duty on the service for which its intended, by which time it's in no fit state presentation wise.

So although it is true there are a certain proportion of anti social idiots in any given area, it is often in the gift of the operator to think outside the box and change its approach to ensure the least possible chance of its flagship operations failing to live up to expectations.

Oh and finally, the Arriva Sapphire was 15 mins late on a 30 min frequency at 8pm.... not a good image to have left with a first time customer!!

All that said the customer satisfaction scores for Platinum are excellent news. Good to hear a success story.

[don]

I don't think anybody will mind somebody on the verge of a diabetic coma having a biscuit. They don't need a full meal on a bus.

If there was a litter bin provided to put the wrapper in there'd be less chance of it being thrown on the floor also....

[Stu]

If there was a litter bin provided to put the wrapper in there'd be less chance of it being thrown on the floor also....

There are litter bins at the majority of bus stops; if people took their rubbish with them and disposed of it themselves we wouldn't need on-bus cleaners! ;)

[P419 EJW]

There's a female bus cleaner at the 934/5/6/7/997 bus stop in Lower Bull Street, she never cleans the Platinums (at least the several Platinums I was on) - she boards on the bus with a smile and tries to flirt and/or have a hearty chat with the drivers while they sign the paper to "confirm" she has actually cleaned the bus. She gets her paperwork back and gets off the bus.

[Michael Bevan]

There's a female bus cleaner at the 934/5/6/7/997 bus stop in Lower Bull Street, she never cleans the Platinums (at least the several Platinums I was on) - she boards on the bus with a smile and tries to flirt and/or have a hearty chat with the drivers while they sign the paper to "confirm" she has actually cleaned the bus. She gets her paperwork back and gets off the bus.

I know who you're on about. She does clean the buses. She'll quickly go through the bus picking up rubbish.

[monkeyjoe]

I wondering if the 5 and the 77 might convert to this as they were part of centro's original experiment back in the day when the 1, 997 and 33's all got converted buses. The name of it I can't remember was it back around 2000 ish.

[MW]

I wondering if the 5 and the 77 might convert to this as they were part of centro's original experiment back in the day when the 1, 997 and 33's all got converted buses. The name of it I can't remember was it back around 2000 ish.

Was this when the Plaxton/B10L were done for the 1, 377 & 451, or are you talking of another time?

[monkeyjoe]

Yep, complete waste of money that was ?? Or was it

[Dom]

There's a female bus cleaner at the 934/5/6/7/997 bus stop in Lower Bull Street, she never cleans the Platinums (at least the several Platinums I was on) - she boards on the bus with a smile and tries to flirt and/or have a hearty chat with the drivers while they sign the paper to "confirm" she has actually cleaned the bus. She gets her paperwork back and gets off the bus.

Same with the cleaners in Wolverhampton. Clean routes such as 126 and 529.

[BU07 LGO]

Even platinum routes such as the 997 get hammered by school kids from great Barr. There's usually a floor full of ripped up newspaper!

[Liverpool Street]

There's a female bus cleaner at the 934/5/6/7/997 bus stop in Lower Bull Street, she never cleans the Platinums (at least the several Platinums I was on) - she boards on the bus with a smile and tries to flirt and/or have a hearty chat with the drivers while they sign the paper to "confirm" she has actually cleaned the bus. She gets her paperwork back and gets off the bus.

You sound jealous you're not the one flirting with the drivers... ;-)

[the trainbasher]

I think the X10 will be platinum

[P419 EJW]

You sound jealous you're not the one flirting with the drivers... ;-)

Haha, noooo. ;) I can be very observant, as a deaf person my ears are dead so I rely on my eyes more. :)