markymark2000
On Moderation
I beg to differ slightly. a 3 or even 4 week hire is doable. The cost to GoAhead is slightly lower as they won't be paying the hire fee but they are still sending staff and buses over. Staff still need somewhere to stay as well and all that stuff. The 'hire' fee would be offset by the increased revenue. An exception could be put in place as it would benefit the island that much.First of all, Mann is the mainland as we're not an English county like Wight. Which is exactly why this wouldn't work. Vehicles would have to be hired, tested, insured, taxed and possibly re-registered (unless an exemption was granted). Space on Sailings at the beginning and end of the TT is at a premium, meaning any hire vehicles might have to be Shipped off Island a few days after the TT. A two week hire at this point could have turned into three weeks plus. It simply wouldn't be worth it.
Southern Vectis being part of Go-Ahead Group are in effect just temporarily transferring Buses between Depots. The only real cost being shipping.
I suppose what needs to be looked at is the cost difference of having the deckers for 11 months over singles and then look at the cost of brining buses over from mainland UK for the month.
It is COMPLETELY different to Arriva hiring buses of Italy. Italy is a lot further away, and they would be hiring off someone closer. The closest bus operators to the IOM are Northern Ireland (which has limited ferry service to the island) or Mainland UK. On an island with 1 bus operator, you need to call on industry friends sometimes and help eachother out. 1 month of hires could be cheaper than 11 months of deckers which shouldn't be needed but are because people can't schedule buses properly.Twelve Deckers would be insufficient. 30 would be ideal, and plausible perhaps sometime next year. 10 StreetDecks and 10 B9TLs withdrawn this year, and I'd order 6 more StreetDecks next year to bring us to a nice 30. That would be an optimal Decker Fleet.
Exactly the above. It would be like Arriva bringing a Bus from the Arriva Italy division to operate with Arriva North West for two weeks, then sending it back. Isle Of Man is an independent country not a uk Island.
12 deckers shouldn't really be that insufficient if bus duties are created in such a way that the capacity is at the right parts of the routes at the right times.
Probably shouldn't be running such infrequent buses then. The Island has enough buses overall if they got used as they should. That's the problem with publicly owned and ran buses, nothing is ever efficient and capacity isn't put where demand is. IF you know some trips are going to be busy, mix up deckers and singles on the duties to make it work. Private companies can manage to match capacity with demand, why can't public!No, they aren't being used efficiently. I suggested a way for the deckers, plus the extra ones I believe are required, to be used efficiently.
How is it TfL logic to have the island's busiest bus routes with the correct level of capacity? I drove them for a living, and a Citaro simply isn't big enough for them, even between peak periods I had Citaros which were full or nearly full. They should be kept on routes like the 4 and Douglas local routes.