Travel Express / Lets Go

[Bryan]

@barry619 - .............................. I will also add that i met Kishan Chumber just recently and i had a look their buses at their depot and he certainly seems like a good owner who knows what he is doing and the buses were all in good condition.

@Stuharris 6360 @Kevin - I think that many people will be happy to use Travel Express if they start running again especially as they charge cheap good value fares.

@fleetline6477 - Well i did travel on their buses sometimes and i could never see anything wrong with the vehicle conditions.

@MW - I am not a troll. I am stating my opinions and experiences. Just because you do not agree it does not make me a troll.

Well i cetainly hope that Travel Express are able to start running their services again.

............................................................

Countryliner, what planet are you on???

The TC thought that neither the owner knew how to run the company or that the vehicles were in good condition, hence the reason it is not operating buses now.

As for travelling on the vehicles and not seeing anything wrong with them, did you look underneath the bodies at the state of the mechanical components? Also would passengers travel on a vehicle because of the cheap fares if they knew the vehicle was dangerous?

Regarding posting the advert for the TM on this forum, you have even excelled yourself this time on the stupidity scale!!!

Personally, and to quote you 'I am stating my opinions', I hope Travel Express does not get a new O-Licence as Mr Chumber does not deserve one.

As for your comments, haven't you yet worked out your opinions often appear to be in a minority of one compared to other contributors to the forum.

[BK63 YWP]

@countryliner if a big company i.e. nx, stagecoach, first and arriva were doing something wrong they would get the TC on their case. Why do you think they have drivers check the buses before they leave the garage? If faults are found another bus is given and faults fixed

[Tony]

@Tony - No i am not saying that they are liars. But i do not believe everything.


The TC seem to like to pick on all of these small independent bus operators while they let the large big group bus operators get away with a lot more.

You do not believe everything - so you say they lied!

Large Operators get away with a lot more? - Travel West Midlands had to do an extra MoT on every vehicle in their fleet once in the 1990s

[RS]

I have never been inside a TE bus but from the outside they looked like tips

[Bryan]

@countryliner if a big company i.e. nx, stagecoach, first and arriva were doing something wrong they would get the TC on their case. Why do you think they have drivers check the buses before they leave the garage? If faults are found another bus is given and faults fixed

I agree, the big companies have all fallen foul of the TC at some stage or other in their histories and had restrictions or conditions imposed.

[2206]

I agree, the big companies have all fallen foul of the TC at some stage or other in their histories and had restrictions or conditions imposed.

http://www.itv.com/news/central/update/2013-02-21/arriva-ordered-to-offer-free-bus-service-in-derby/

[BK63 YWP]

I agree, the big companies have all fallen foul of the TC at some stage or other in their histories and had restrictions or conditions imposed.

@countryliner heres evidence that the big companies are not immune from tc's

https://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/fp/news/highlands/756888/stagecoach-bus-numbers-capped-in-the-highlands-after-safety/

[Bryan]

http://www.itv.com/news/central/update/2013-02-21/arriva-ordered-to-offer-free-bus-service-in-derby/

@countryliner heres evidence that the big companies are not immune from tc's

https://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/fp/news/highlands/756888/stagecoach-bus-numbers-capped-in-the-highlands-after-safety/

Thanks for posting these links. Perhaps countryliner may now realise that a TC does not differentiate between a large and small operator (although I'm not holding my breath!).

[barry619]

The TC seem to like to pick on all of these small independent bus operators while they let the large big group bus operators get away with a lot more.

A Public Inquiry is much akin to a court hearing. It deals in facts supported by evidence provided by DVSA Vehicle Inspectors/Examiners, the bus monitoring people (if necessary) and others in an official capacity before the TC makes his or her decision. There is no element of 'picking on' operators and there is the option of an appeal to the Upper Tribunal should the firm in question feel hard done to/wronged.

All decisions are made based on evidence. The fact that Travel Express's licence was revoked and the TC issued a very stern public rebuke tells me all I need to know. TCs do not revoke licences on a whim, instead reserving such a penalty for the worst cases.

As for your comment that smaller operators are picked on, Stagecoach's northern Scotland operation received a substantial penalty for maintenance issues recently, Arriva suffered the ignominy of being ordered to run some mileage in Derby without charging fares and First was routinely and quite rightly hammered by various TCs during the 2000s for all kinds of indiscretions, with at least one of these occasions seeing it in the very real situation of looking at having an O-Licence revoked.

[mranon]

if I can stick my opinion on here....... at least 3 times in 12 months I saw vosa/dvsa turn up unannounced in Wolverhampton. as I was out spotting, I stuck around for the full duration 2 of them.

banga was pulled in and checked, buses then went back out into service.
arriva several vehicles checked, all going back into service
nxwm this was interesting - they picked mainly spectras and the odd b7 and trident. all were put back into service

all 3 ops had representatives on the scene quickly, and judging by the looks on their faces, they were not concerned about being checked.

travel express. on one occasion (during the appeal period!!! of the tc's decision) 6 buses were checked. all 6 were sent back to garage. the owner turned up, but there were obvious things such as a broken exhaust tail pipe, bent centre doors, loose seats, oil leaks etc etc. if you were in trouble, then you would surely make sure everything was on the ball, everything was as near to 100% as possible.

I think towards the end, the buses they bought had seen better days, and they were no where near reliable as their old step entrance buses.

I felt sorry for the drivers that lost their jobs (well most of them)

[BN]

if I can stick my opinion on here....... at least 3 times in 12 months I saw vosa/dvsa turn up unannounced in Wolverhampton. as I was out spotting, I stuck around for the full duration 2 of them.

banga was pulled in and checked, buses then went back out into service.
arriva several vehicles checked, all going back into service
nxwm this was interesting - they picked mainly spectras and the odd b7 and trident. all were put back into service

all 3 ops had representatives on the scene quickly, and judging by the looks on their faces, they were not concerned about being checked.

travel express. on one occasion (during the appeal period!!! of the tc's decision) 6 buses were checked. all 6 were sent back to garage. the owner turned up, but there were obvious things such as a broken exhaust tail pipe, bent centre doors, loose seats, oil leaks etc etc. if you were in trouble, then you would surely make sure everything was on the ball, everything was as near to 100% as possible.

I think towards the end, the buses they bought had seen better days, and they were no where near reliable as their old step entrance buses.

I felt sorry for the drivers that lost their jobs (well most of them)

I remember the one day Mr C turned up and he asked the DVSA VI's why they were picking on him!

[Dom]

Oh great! The cowboy builders of bus company's are returning

[Stuharris 6360]

@Stuharris 6360 @Kevin - I think that many people will be happy to use Travel Express if they start running again especially as they charge cheap good value fares.

@countryliner

How are you certain that Travel Express will still offer cheap good value fares?

I totally disagree with you on trust, considering the amount of publicity regarding Travel Express and the problems with maintenance etc, I can't see many people trusting them, when a person boards a bus, they want to be 99.999 % certain that the bus is roadworthy and they are going to get off in one piece at the other end.

Just because Travel Express have advertised for a Transport Manager does not automatically mean that they will be able to operate services, the TC will want to be 100% confident that the Transport Manager will be free to do his job without interference from anyone.

[countryliner]

Yes i realise that the TC does deal with larger bus operators as well but the large operators always get let off with much smaller restrictions and fines. The large operators never get their licenses revoked where as the smaller operators do. For example i remember one time when Stagecoach (in Hastings) were running a bus all over East Sussex for at least eight days with completely different registration numbers at the front and back of the bus and they got away with it. Also these large operators (in particular mainly Go Ahead) always get away with running buses early / running buses late / skipping out parts of the route where as if the small independent operators do that they are far less likely to get away with it. I think that many members of the public would be more than happy to use Travel Express again - the condition of the vehicles was really not that bad - i think that lots of passengers were probably quite happy with Travel Express. A lot of the stuff that people read in the papers about them was untrue and over exaggerated. We also have to remember that Kishan Chumber has operated Travel Express successfully for over fifteen years so he and his team certainly have experience in the industry and know what they are doing. I personally think that people should be more positive about Travel Express as they are definetly not as bad as many people seem to think.

[Tony]

Yes i realise that the TC does deal with larger bus operators as well but the large operators always get let off with much smaller restrictions and fines. The large operators never get their licenses revoked where as the smaller operators do. For example i remember one time when Stagecoach (in Hastings) were running a bus all over East Sussex for at least eight days with completely different registration numbers at the front and back of the bus and they got away with it. Also these large operators (in particular mainly Go Ahead) always get away with running buses early / running buses late / skipping out parts of the route where as if the small independent operators do that they are far less likely to get away with it. I think that many members of the public would be more than happy to use Travel Express again - the condition of the vehicles was really not that bad - i think that lots of passengers were probably quite happy with Travel Express. A lot of the stuff that people read in the papers about them was untrue and over exaggerated. We also have to remember that Kishan Chumber has operated Travel Express successfully for over fifteen years so he and his team certainly have experience in the industry and know what they are doing. I personally think that people should be more positive about Travel Express as they are definetly not as bad as many people seem to think.

No, they do not pick on small operators, I'll tell you the difference between large and small

DVSA has a traffic light coding system for operators, those that have been caught misbehaving are red, those that when checked very little is wrong are green, and those in-between are amber.

When DVSA turn up at locations they will concentrate mostly on the 'red' operators and check fewer 'amber' and even fewer 'green', size bears no relation to these codings, and operators can move up and down the codings depending on what is found at checks.

If an operator is found to be breaching DVSA's guidelines either on engineering or operating to registered timetables they will be called to a PI. It is extremely rare for a license to be revoked at the first PI an operator is called to unless they have done something extremely bad.

Now here is the difference between large and small operators. All the large operators, and good small operators, when called to a PI accept the TC's recommendations and change their ways.
For instance when WMT had a PI for poor maintenance they introduced the driver's VCR sheet for recording faults as recommended by the TC. This has worked so well the TC has even told other operators to introduce identical VCRs at subsequent PIs.

Claribels when at a PI for poor timetabling showed the TC a new supervision system they would introduce

First and Stagecoach also followed respective TC's advice at PI's and have not been called again at the same companies, so have not had revocations.

Now your Mr Chumber and the like get called to more than one PI, because they don't follow TC's advice and get caught with poor maintenance and or timekeeping time after time.

As for Mr Chumber operating successfully for 15 years if you call running a Lynx (D240ACW) so poorly maintained that you could actually see inside through holes in the in side panels, or Carlyle darts with such rotten interior floors you could watch the tarmec underneath passing by when travelling on it, getting called to regular PIs and receiving fines and warnings successful then your idea of success is different to mine, but...I already knew that anyway