Stagecoach in Birmingham

[Tony]

Yeah, had to walk all the way from Acocks green to formans road today. Quite disappointed

Could have just caught the 1 and walked down one of the many roads that link Shaftmoor Lane and Foremans Road

[Justin Tyme]

Why do they keep saying "unforeseen circumstances", the point is the driver shortage isn't unforeseen, it has been going on since well before Stagecoach bid for these services.

Probably the booked driver phoned in sick or failed to show up for some other reason.

[metrocity]

I was in Moseley Village last night (approx 00:45) and seen a Stagecoach vehicle running dead. Figured it was coming off the 46. The route it took back to depot was most interesting as I saw it on the A435 in the Village heading towards City. It obviously went on to the A45 via the Ring Road.

https://bustimes.org/services/46-kings-heath-qe-hospital/vehicles?date=2023-01-11#journeys/366190133

I would have thought M42 and A45 would have been far quicker. I've heard they're not allowed to use the motorway since.

Anyway, looks like it took that driver 1 hour to get back and that was past midnight. The buses that finish earlier in the evening must be around 1hr 20 mins in some cases.

Interesting. So with 10 driving hours available, 30% are spent on dead running - meaning additional drivers are required which they havent got !  

[BBS]

Could have just caught the 1 and walked down one of the many roads that link Shaftmoor Lane and Foremans Road

Was tight on time, i checked the 1 but coudnt wait 23 minutes for it 

[Stu]

Why do they keep saying "unforeseen circumstances", the point is the driver shortage isn't unforeseen, it has been going on since well before Stagecoach bid for these services.

Driver shortage will be one challenge, but there are other possibilities.

I gather from elsewhere that Stagecoach are using agency drivers to drive these routes - now I've worked for companies that have used agency drivers and I don't want to tar them all with the same brush, some that we used before were good and reliable, and some even became full-time employees. But then again, some have been terrible.

You can just imagine some poor agency driver from the Rugby area being offered 'driving work', then having to pick up a bus in Rugby at ten past five in the morning, drive it all the way to the QE Hospital in Birmingham, then do a few trips between there and Kings Heath.  The terrible ones are those that think "f**k this shit" and then don't turn up again.

The other challenge might be availability of vehicles. Rugby depot were sent a number of Euro6 spec single-decks from Manchester, I don't know how many they got, or how many were required, or indeed if any 'spares' were afforded. The contracts require Euro6 spec vehicles, so in the event that one or two of those vehicles require maintenance or attention, would any penalty be incurred if a non-Euro6 vehicle was sent out? (Do Rugby have much in the way of spare vehicles anyway? I don't know)

But in short, 'unforseen circumstances' is presented as a vague apology, and regardless of the circumstances, a general lack of forward thinking will result in all sorts of 'unforseen' situations.

[Tony]

Driver shortage will be one challenge, but there are other possibilities.

I gather from elsewhere that Stagecoach are using agency drivers to drive these routes - now I've worked for companies that have used agency drivers and I don't want to tar them all with the same brush, some that we used before were good and reliable, and some even became full-time employees. But then again, some have been terrible.

You can just imagine some poor agency driver from the Rugby area being offered 'driving work', then having to pick up a bus in Rugby at ten past five in the morning, drive it all the way to the QE Hospital in Birmingham, then do a few trips between there and Kings Heath.  The terrible ones are those that think "f**k this shit" and then don't turn up again.

The other challenge might be availability of vehicles. Rugby depot were sent a number of Euro6 spec single-decks from Manchester, I don't know how many they got, or how many were required, or indeed if any 'spares' were afforded. The contracts require Euro6 spec vehicles, so in the event that one or two of those vehicles require maintenance or attention, would any penalty be incurred if a non-Euro6 vehicle was sent out? (Do Rugby have much in the way of spare vehicles anyway? I don't know)

But in short, 'unforseen circumstances' is presented as a vague apology, and regardless of the circumstances, a general lack of forward thinking will result in all sorts of 'unforseen' situations.

Euro 6 shouldn't be causing too much of a problem, I believe 13 vehicles have arrived from Manchester and 13 native vehicles are already Euro 6

[Stu]

Euro 6 shouldn't be causing too much of a problem, I believe 13 vehicles have arrived from Manchester and 13 native vehicles are already Euro 6

OK fair enough, there were some initial claims made that Rugby didn't have any Euro6 vehicles, though they must have had some already for the existing TfWM contracts that ran into Coventry.

So the 'unforseen circumstances' can only be down to lack of drivers.

Hopefully if they can get a depot or outstation in Birmingham/Solihull sorted out, then recruit some drivers from the local area, then these issues should soon be resolved.

But it will still then be an uphill climb to try and give passengers the confidence to use these services again. 

[2206]

OK fair enough, there were some initial claims made that Rugby didn't have any Euro6 vehicles, though they must have had some already for the existing TfWM contracts that ran into Coventry.

Rugby just run the 85/86 into Coventry.
The other stuff is ran by Nuneaton and Leamington/Stratford I think depending on which route. Which all have euro 6 vehicles as well.

[BrumKev86]

Stagecoach Midlands have put out SEVEN tweets of cancellations of the 41,46 and A9 today

[Coventrybususer95]

Stagecoach Midlands have put out SEVEN tweets of cancellations of the 41,46 and A9 today

Wonder what and when TFWM will take action against stagecoach as this cant keep going on as its going to make less people use public transport

[Sandy Lane]

Wonder what and when TFWM will take action against stagecoach as this cant keep going on as its going to make less people use public transport

how many passengers complain though?

[Sandy Lane]

Rugby just run the 85/86 into Coventry.

Rugby only run the 85 on Sundays (Tis NXC rest of week at the moment but who knows in the future!)

[Kevin_Brum12]

While TfWM should be very much within their rights to take the contracts from Stagecoach, you've got to bring someone else into run them and they've got to have the resources to run them. Every operator has a driver shortage at the moment. Even if NXWM took over the routes tomorrow under a TfWM emergency tender, they've not got the full complement of drivers to operate the full timetable for their commercial route network, let alone for extra tendered work.

If this was a ruse to inject more competition between operators into urban West Midlands bus services, it has backfired very badly.

[Kevin_Brum12]

The Traffic Commissioner should also be looking at this and will hopefully be taking a dim view.

It maybe that Stagecoach end up in a public inquiry later on this year and end up having to pay back compensation  to passengers in the Birmingham area. Remember Arriva ended up having to operate a free service in Derby once as a punishment from the Commissioner.

Arriva ordered to give free bus trips by traffic commissioner

[Solo1]

Why didn't stagecoach ensure they had the drivers & buses for the new services