Disgruntled bus users?

[Kevin]

http://m.greatbarrobserver.co.uk/Passenger-boom-leads-creation-hundreds-taxi/story-27628499-detail/story.html

"A passenger 'boom' caused by disgruntled bus users means hundreds of jobs are being created at a West Midlands taxi firm"

Hmmm......Wonder who these disgruntled bus users are and why they're disgruntled? Especially with so many "improvements" to bus services of late

[MW]

Passenger numbers on the 11 has dropped by 10% recently.

[Stu]

Passenger numbers on the 11 has dropped by 10% recently.

Since the start of the school holidays?  ;)
The 11s I usually see in the mornings are rammed full, mostly with schoolkids.

http://m.greatbarrobserver.co.uk/Passenger-boom-leads-creation-hundreds-taxi/story-27628499-detail/story.html

"A passenger 'boom' caused by disgruntled bus users means hundreds of jobs are being created at a West Midlands taxi firm"

Hmmm......Wonder who these disgruntled bus users are and why they're disgruntled? Especially with so many "improvements" to bus services of late

Because yeah, taxis are so much cheaper than buses and don't get held up in the same traffic, right? :D

[2206]

Since the start of the school holidays?  ;)
The 11s I usually see in the mornings are rammed full, mostly with schoolkids.

Because yeah, taxis are so much cheaper than buses and don't get held up in the same traffic, right? :D

Pasenger numbers will probably be up again in three weeks @Stu  :) :) :)

[MW]

Nah lol, generally, garage had a meeting about it last week and how they can improve it including one of the managers in talks with the company directors to get new buses for it.

[Liberator9]

Well certainly still looks busy  :) New buses may well help - as much as I like the Geminis, even when refurbished they don't have the "wow" factor as the MMCs do. Presidents have performed well on it but passengers soon realise they're getting on when the creaking at the front starts  :) Other issue is the reliability - due to it's length it only takes one small problem somewhere to cause problems.

[MW]

Yeah that was a point I raised. I used to use the 11 occasionally from Acocks Green to Handsworth to get to school around 5 years ago. It was longer than going cross city and getting two buses, but convienient in terms of frequency and not changing over. As a passenger you ultimately want the bus to be on time and take you to where you have to go, and the traffic on the route is by far a lot. For example, the traffic at Bromford. I think if another depot, namely PB ran certain jouneys from Perry Barr/Handsworth area at certain times may be something to look into. A couple months ago there was a big car accident near Blakesley Hall in Stechford. My bus was the only one that got past it due to the bus infront being involved and I obertook before police and traffic became an issue. It meant that by the time I got to Selly Oak, the first bus behind me was stuck in the traffic at Stechford along with God knows how many more (11C). The garage then sent out duplicates which caught up with me in Bearwood. The next 11A due at Bearwood was still at Perry Barr, so I was then turned around after transferring passengers, and worked an 11A/E to Acocks Green, as my driving hours were nearly over and due to the incident in Stechford, I wouldn't make it back.

[GeminiFan1991]

Yeah that was a point I raised. I used to use the 11 occasionally from Acocks Green to Handsworth to get to school around 5 years ago. It was longer than going cross city and getting two buses, but convienient in terms of frequency and not changing over. As a passenger you ultimately want the bus to be on time and take you to where you have to go, and the traffic on the route is by far a lot. For example, the traffic at Bromford. I think if another depot, namely PB ran certain jouneys from Perry Barr/Handsworth area at certain times may be something to look into. A couple months ago there was a big car accident near Blakesley Hall in Stechford. My bus was the only one that got past it due to the bus infront being involved and I obertook before police and traffic became an issue. It meant that by the time I got to Selly Oak, the first bus behind me was stuck in the traffic at Stechford along with God knows how many more (11C). The garage then sent out duplicates which caught up with me in Bearwood. The next 11A due at Bearwood was still at Perry Barr, so I was then turned around after transferring passengers, and worked an 11A/E to Acocks Green, as my driving hours were nearly over and due to the incident in Stechford, I wouldn't make it back.

I use the 11 to commute to Stechford - Erdington and I find the 11C has a problem when it comes to Bromford, in my experience you always see quite a few buses running seconds of each other which may make it convenient for the people at the stop but for those who wait after them, it'll mean a long wait.

Imagine if (Hypothetically speaking) if BC ran the 11, unlike PB or AG which on route of the journey, BC being almost central to the circle means they can send out buses notably faster especially to those distant places. Just a notion which I thought was worth entertaining.

[2206]

Yeah that was a point I raised. I used to use the 11 occasionally from Acocks Green to Handsworth to get to school around 5 years ago. It was longer than going cross city and getting two buses, but convienient in terms of frequency and not changing over. As a passenger you ultimately want the bus to be on time and take you to where you have to go, and the traffic on the route is by far a lot. For example, the traffic at Bromford. I think if another depot, namely PB ran certain jouneys from Perry Barr/Handsworth area at certain times may be something to look into. A couple months ago there was a big car accident near Blakesley Hall in Stechford. My bus was the only one that got past it due to the bus infront being involved and I obertook before police and traffic became an issue. It meant that by the time I got to Selly Oak, the first bus behind me was stuck in the traffic at Stechford along with God knows how many more (11C). The garage then sent out duplicates which caught up with me in Bearwood. The next 11A due at Bearwood was still at Perry Barr, so I was then turned around after transferring passengers, and worked an 11A/E to Acocks Green, as my driving hours were nearly over and due to the incident in Stechford, I wouldn't make it back.

Yeah I have to agree with that if PB or YW did run journeys then the traffic and incidents wouldn't be such of a issue another thing that I think as a user of the 11 for 10 years the school kids and overcrowding are a big issue maybe YW or PB could run some extra buses on the route so passengers between the Fox and Goose and Acocks Green can all get on the bus as @Stu has pointed out earlier in the thread all the journey arriving in Acocks Green from 7:50 - 8:45 are packed full of school childeren  leaving other passengers at the bus stop waiting because there's no more room over the past 2 years I have noticed a lot of drivers at the Yew Tree turning the engine of and threatening to phone the police because the bus is to full maybe if another garage ran some journeys behind the AG ones and taking any passengers left behind.
Would be nice to have some new deckers at AG with the oldest one now 11 years old.

[MW]

Yeah I have to agree with that if PB or YW did run journeys then the traffic and incidents wouldn't be such of a issue another thing that I think as a user of the 11 for 10 years the school kids and overcrowding are a big issue maybe YW or PB could run some extra buses on the route so passengers between the Fox and Goose and Acocks Green can all get on the bus as @Stu has pointed out earlier in the thread all the journey arriving in Acocks Green from 7:50 - 8:45 are packed full of school childeren  leaving other passengers at the bus stop waiting because there's no more room over the past 2 years I have noticed a lot of drivers at the Yew Tree turning the engine of and threatening to phone the police because the bus is to full maybe if another garage ran some journeys behind the AG ones and taking any passengers left behind.
Would be nice to have some new deckers at AG with the oldest one now 11 years old.

I don't mean an extra garage just to run more buses, as AG could do that. I mean reliability wise to keep things on time such as the lights at Witton, or the Bromford situation. At the moment duplicates are sent out from AG if necessary but PB is on the other side of the route so if they could run duplicates when required, that'd Impact things surely.

[Kevin_Brum12]

http://m.greatbarrobserver.co.uk/Passenger-boom-leads-creation-hundreds-taxi/story-27628499-detail/story.html

"A passenger 'boom' caused by disgruntled bus users means hundreds of jobs are being created at a West Midlands taxi firm"

Hmmm......Wonder who these disgruntled bus users are and why they're disgruntled? Especially with so many "improvements" to bus services of late

"Taxi Firm slags off Buses shock".

Well, as Mandy Rice Davis once said, "Well he would say that, wouldn't he"?

However, note that the taxi firm also operates around Tamworth and South Staffs, Arriva country.  If Bob is typical are there lots of disgruntled bus users there?

[Kevin_Brum12]

New buses certainly would help on the 11, as would splitting the operation back between Perry Barr and Acocks Green, with drivers knowing both the A and C versions of the route.

However, the big problem on the route that needs cracking is reliability.  We must remember that the 11 has to cross every radial road in Birmingham, as well as negotiate a number of local centres such as Handsworth, Kings Heath, Acocks Green and Erdington.

Long term, that can only be achieved with Birmingham City Council looking to invest in bus priority measures on the circle so the 11 does not get caught in the traffic.  The money to do this would be a drop in the ocean compared to the millions being chucked by Centro and the LEP at the Sprint project.   Those of us who've looked at Centros latest 20 year plan have noted the Outer Circle is being proposed as a Sprint corridor, but when you consider a lot of the journeys on the 11 are short, plus the roads are not designed for the Sprint bendy buses, this does not make sense.

[barry619]

This is how things like this work:

The taxi firm wants to recruit drivers but does not want to pay for any/all advertising. What it has done as a result is invent a non-story and put out a press release to the effect of it doing the local community a favour, which has clearly been swallowed hook, line and sinker as easy page filler by the local rag.

Given the standards to which taxis are operated and driven where I am, I don't think the private hire trade has any business accusing other sectors or businesses of running poorly. When taxi firms find it in themselves to run remotely legally, their views may be worth listening to.