Transdev Blazefield

[northernchris]

I wonder if part of the reason to temporarily withdraw late night journeys is to reduce the risk of having passengers stranded. Transdev do seem willing to refund taxi fares for cancelled journeys, so multiple Manchester - Burnley or Leeds - Harrogate refunds will soon add up! Although not ideal, especially this time of year with more people out later, its probably one of their better decisions

 

[SCH117X]

Another award - UK Bus Awards 'Build Back Better https://www.ukbusawards.org.uk/new/2021-winners/

Winner (Bus): Transdev​

Transdev was praised for its extensive positive messaging about travelling by bus – notably its ‘Clean, safe and ready to go’ campaign – while also expanding the business with the purchase of Yorkshire Tiger earlier this year.

 

[RustySpoons]

Another award - UK Bus Awards 'Build Back Better https://www.ukbusawards.org.uk/new/2021-winners/

Hard to disagree with the way they've been trying to get people back to the bus as the country opened up. Just a shame we're in a position now where all the good hard work they've put in is being thrown away.

And I've said it before but the way they kept the wheels turning during the first lockdown deserves a lot of praise.

 

[SCH117X]

In response to comments to a tweet announcing some 36 cancellations yesterday it was stated cancelled journeys are greyed out on live timetables on the app- anyone seen such as I could not see anything greyed out, even after resetting it away from dark mode.

 

[northernchris]

In response to comments to a tweet announcing some 36 cancellations yesterday it was stated cancelled journeys are greyed out on live timetables on the app- anyone seen such as I could not see anything greyed out, even after resetting it away from dark mode.

Buses which are showing real time info are in green, although cancelled journeys will still count down to due in the app, but will be in black. There's at least one bus at Keighley though that doesn't show real time info though, which is why it would be really useful if they could just add 'cancelled' next to the affected journey in the same way Arriva manage to do

 

[158756]

Buses which are showing real time info are in green, although cancelled journeys will still count down to due in the app, but will be in black. There's at least one bus at Keighley though that doesn't show real time info though, which is why it would be really useful if they could just add 'cancelled' next to the affected journey in the same way Arriva manage to do

At least two (Burnley&Pendle) buses yesterday didn't have the live times working. I've also seen buses repeatedly disappear and reappear on the live tracking mid journey, so if you looked at the wrong moment you might think it wasn't running.

 

[northernchris]

At least two (Burnley&Pendle) buses yesterday didn't have the live times working. I've also seen buses repeatedly disappear and reappear on the live tracking mid journey, so if you looked at the wrong moment you might think it wasn't running.

Yes, I was almost caught out by a bus disappearing then reappearing. I suspect this may be if the bus is stationary for a while but just creates uncertainty

 

[RustySpoons]

At least two (Burnley&Pendle) buses yesterday didn't have the live times working. I've also seen buses repeatedly disappear and reappear on the live tracking mid journey, so if you looked at the wrong moment you might think it wasn't running.

I've had this issue in the past...

Earlier today I thought I'd give the bus a go as I had a meeting in town, and it'd work out cheaper than parking. Checked the app and the journey I was going to take wasn't showing with a 'live' departure time. As it's a 15 minute walk from my house to the bus stop I didn't want to risk it so ended up driving. Frustratingly I passed the bus as I drove into town.

Tonight I was heading into town for a drink and to make the most of the £1 evening fare, checked the app, the bus was showing a 'live' departure time. Set off walking to the stop, got there and checked the app and there was just a scheduled departure time. Bus wasn't showing as tracking either.

Despite what they say on social media neither Twitter nor the app can be trusted for accurate information.

 

[Deerfold]

Yes, I was almost caught out by a bus disappearing then reappearing. I suspect this may be if the bus is stationary for a while but just creates uncertainty

Buses on my routes regularly don't show up. There's a couple of spots where i suspect they have poor mobile signal where they regularly disappear.
Some days none of my buses are tracked.

I never get a response when I tweet Transdev Keighley about it.

I was slightly panicking going to a funeral a couple of weeks ago when the 502 wasn't tracking. It turned up but was a few minutes late, by which time it had disappeared off the app.

Assuming non-tracking buses are not running doesn't work well. They need to be telling people which buses won't run -I suspect many passengers will be much more forgiving if they do that.

(Burnley and Harrogate do now seem to be posting information about buses which won't run but Keighley aren't).

 

[Ken H]

If I buy a £10 transdev day ticket from a driver, what do I get? Card ticket or just a bit of ticket roll?

 

[theblackwatch]

If I buy a £10 transdev day ticket from a driver, what do I get? Card ticket or just a bit of ticket roll?

Ticket roll from what I remember - and you just put the QR code under the machine each time you get on a bus and it reads it and comes up with an 'accepted' ping.

 

[RustySpoons]

(Burnley and Harrogate do now seem to be posting information about buses which won't run but Keighley aren't).

Only some it seems. They seem to be posting about missing Witch Way journeys, but there are still plenty of local/town services that aren't running that don't get publicised.

@northern506 posted previously about Go North East's approach to cancelled journeys, which although not ideal is a lot better than the current Transdev approach.

...Go North East post a daily list of scheduled journey cancellations - while it's not ideal to have cancelled journeys, it's certainly ideal to know about them beforehand so you can plan in advance.

As an aside, does Harrogate still have the WhatsApp number available to passengers to contact for instant journey information?

They recently set one up for the Academy training school, but apparently it was bombarded with irrelevant requests from enthusiasts rather than potential job applicants so is no longer advertised...

 

[WY Bus Spotter]

Waited for the (7)60 the other morning, bearing in mind that Deerfold I think stated that the 07:28 from Keighley never runs. Sure enough it was a ni show on the tracker. I waited for the journey after (07:58).... no show on the tracker. I decided to jump on the no.9 to Horsforth then the A1 to town. The 07:58 journey left the bus station 20 minutes late and would have made me late for work.

This morning Keighley tweeted that the 07:28 wasn't running. What's the deal Transdev!?!?

I have tried tweeting them wondering where a particular bus is but they inevitably reply a few days later.

 

[Deerfold]

Waited for the (7)60 the other morning, bearing in mind that Deerfold I think stated that the 07:28 from Keighley never runs. Sure enough it was a ni show on the tracker. I waited for the journey after (07:58).... no show on the tracker. I decided to jump on the no.9 to Horsforth then the A1 to town. The 07:58 journey left the bus station 20 minutes late and would have made me late for work.

This morning Keighley tweeted that the 07:28 wasn't running. What's the deal Transdev!?!?

I have tried tweeting them wondering where a particular bus is but they inevitably reply a few days later.

You're lucky to get any reply from them at all. They've ignored me for months.

I've caught the 0728 a grand total of once. It didn't track on that occasion, either.

They also posted that the 0725 from Leeds wouldn't run, but I think they meant the 0925 (there is no 0725).

 

[317 forever]

Ticket roll from what I remember - and you just put the QR code under the machine each time you get on a bus and it reads it and comes up with an 'accepted' ping.

Mind how you use the ticket, or there could be another pingdemic.

 

[northernchris]

You're lucky to get any reply from them at all. They've ignored me for months.

I'm not sure who manages the social media accounts, but its very hit and miss. Looking at the Keighley twitter feed today, they've made an effort to post cancelled journeys and seem to have responded to a couple of tweets. Other days though its just the marketing stuff (presumably this is timed to go out). You would think Transdev would either have a central team to handle social media, or if they want to keep it local give access to either travel centre staff or the duty managers

 

[RustySpoons]

Helpfully a route diversion on one of Rosso's Bury Bolt services was tweeted this morning.

Unhelpfully it was tweeted from Burnley's Twitter account. No mention of it on Rosso's.

 

[Andyh82]

Of course the Bury Bolts are seen as a Rosso service, but is actually run by The Burnley Bus Company

The TfGM timetable also states its run by Burnley Bus Company and on some services, not this one, actually have notes in the timetable (a - run by Rosso, all other journeys run by The Burnley Bus Company)

 

[markymark2000]

This is one of the confusing things with the Rosso area of Transdev, It's too confusing with it being ran by Burnley, Blackburn and 'Rosso' (Rochdale). That isn't very good for passengers.

 

[M60lad]

Added to the fact that some of the services operated by The Burnley Bus Company are actually operated out of Rosso's Rochdale Depot and are actually driven by Rosso Rochdale Depot drivers that can be seen on Rosso's own Rochdale services.

 

[Ashly_Jethro]

It could be that they are out-sourcing some of their social media management. A reply today was worded in a way which made it sound like the sender was a third party. Would also explain why Rosso routes are being posted on the registered company’s account (say they got internal route info, it would likely be listed as Burnley for example)

 

[61653 HTAFC]

Good to see that Team Pennine have the sense to put deckers on after the football on D1, unlike Tiger who had a habit of using a Solo. Not sure how it'll work if/when the deckers go back to Pride Of The North though.

 

[SCH117X]

Pride Of The North is the branding for the nominally spare fleet.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

Pride Of The North is the branding for the nominally spare fleet.

Thanks, that's good to know. The leather seats were a bit on the cold side today, but otherwise it's nice to see a "spare" vehicle that has all the modern features such as USB ports.

 

[Prunes]

Good to see that Team Pennine have the sense to put deckers on after the football on D1, unlike Tiger who had a habit of using a Solo. Not sure how it'll work if/when the deckers go back to Pride Of The North though.

Excellent to be able to visualise this example of common sense by the company. They achieve my praise

 

[vla50]

When will 2451/2452 enter service?

 

[Aaron Ashton]

Having recently worked at Transdev (Blackburn based Rosso) for 5 months (it's all I could handle), the problems within the company seem comical at times. Here is my input about the 'amazing' bus company (most are based on issues at Intack and management there):-

• Duty Manager inability to answer a phone resulted in me being stranded on the M65 with an issue with R100TDV for 45 minutes at 04:30...
• The decision from upper management to repaint 2 POTN buses into Blackburn Bus Co (BBC) livery reducing the flexibility of the fleet (for Rosso services based there too)
• The decision to prohibit the use of double deckers on a route that needs them (464)
• BBC engineers refusing to fix Rosso buses because they are 'employed by Transdev Lancashire United'
• Because of the above issue, the 464 (which had 16 brand new buses bought for it, 3 were transferred leaving 13...at one point, 6 were off the road leaving just 7 out of the original 16...) is suffering drastically. Sometimes, because of drivers leaving for better paid jobs, there can be up to 5 464 buses parked in Accrington.
• Rosso drivers being the lowest paid being treat like 2nd class drivers...15 Rosso drivers were recently transferred internally to the BBC side (more money) but have just been stuck back on Rosso work alienating the remaining Rosso drivers.
• BBC managers telling Rosso staff 'I'm f**king sick of you Rosso drivers, al you do is s**t stir"
• BBC manager telling me "maybe it's time to lose weight" because of the unadjustability of seats on the usual 2 BBC Versas being put on the 464 (236/237)
• BBC buses being used on Rosso work MUST have 'On Hire to Rossendale Transport Ltd' in the window BUT...
• Rosso buses doing BBC work apparently don't need 'On Hire to Lancashire United Ltd' in their window?....
• Not enough POTN/generic buses at Intack for both BBC/Rosso fleets despite Rochdale having no less than 20 POTN/generic liveried buses despite only doing Rosso work...
• BBC buses being used on 464 despite company practice to use POTN/generics when branded buses are unavailable

On to general head scratching things within the company...

• Repainting buses for a season (Coastliner Extra) only for them to be repainted yet again for Burnley....
• Unable to completely repaint a fleet into colours with almost all companies having some sort of old version of livery still in use....
• Different standards for certain companies (complete new moquette/headrests on Coastliner B9TLs but practically untouched for Blackburn/Keighley?...)
• Rosso liveried buses with legal lettering for Burnley Bus Co operating Rochdale services with Rosso drivers
• Rosso liveried buses with legal lettering for Blackburn Bus Co operating Blackburn services with Blackburn drivers (X41, also has Rosso contact details inside)
• Blackburn Bus Co liveried buses with Rosso legal lettering operating Blackburn services with Rosso drivers (153, also has Blackburn Bus Co contact details inside)
• Burnley Bus Co liveried buses with Rosso legal lettering operating Burnley services with Rosso drivers (Ribble Country, also has Burnley Bus Co contact details inside)

To top it off, a little controversy regarding Transdevs win of the current 'Ribble Country' network:-

• Transdev placed 2 bids for the work (one under Burnley Bus Co with Burnley Bus Co drivers wages etc. and another under Rosso using lower paid Rosso drivers)
• An independent who owns their buses and pays a 'retaining wage' somehow lost the work to a company who bought/leased brand new buses...
• Transdev of course won the work with the Rosso bid but no drivers wanted to work it which resulted in Harrogate/Keighley drivers being loaned on double the hourly rate (or so I heard)

That'll do for now I think....

 

[RustySpoons]

Having recently worked at Transdev (Blackburn based Rosso) for 5 months (it's all I could handle), the problems within the company seem comical at times. Here is my input about the 'amazing' bus company (most are based on issues at Intack and management there):-

• Duty Manager inability to answer a phone resulted in me being stranded on the M65 with an issue with R100TDV for 45 minutes at 04:30...
• The decision from upper management to repaint 2 POTN buses into Blackburn Bus Co (BBC) livery reducing the flexibility of the fleet (for Rosso services based there too)
• The decision to prohibit the use of double deckers on a route that needs them (464)
• BBC engineers refusing to fix Rosso buses because they are 'employed by Transdev Lancashire United'
• Because of the above issue, the 464 (which had 16 brand new buses bought for it, 3 were transferred leaving 13...at one point, 6 were off the road leaving just 7 out of the original 16...) is suffering drastically. Sometimes, because of drivers leaving for better paid jobs, there can be up to 5 464 buses parked in Accrington.
• Rosso drivers being the lowest paid being treat like 2nd class drivers...15 Rosso drivers were recently transferred internally to the BBC side (more money) but have just been stuck back on Rosso work alienating the remaining Rosso drivers.
• BBC managers telling Rosso staff 'I'm f**king sick of you Rosso drivers, al you do is s**t stir"
• BBC manager telling me "maybe it's time to lose weight" because of the unadjustability of seats on the usual 2 BBC Versas being put on the 464 (236/237)
• BBC buses being used on Rosso work MUST have 'On Hire to Rossendale Transport Ltd' in the window BUT...
• Rosso buses doing BBC work apparently don't need 'On Hire to Lancashire United Ltd' in their window?....
• Not enough POTN/generic buses at Intack for both BBC/Rosso fleets despite Rochdale having no less than 20 POTN/generic liveried buses despite only doing Rosso work...
• BBC buses being used on 464 despite company practice to use POTN/generics when branded buses are unavailable

On to general head scratching things within the company...

• Repainting buses for a season (Coastliner Extra) only for them to be repainted yet again for Burnley....
• Unable to completely repaint a fleet into colours with almost all companies having some sort of old version of livery still in use....
• Different standards for certain companies (complete new moquette/headrests on Coastliner B9TLs but practically untouched for Blackburn/Keighley?...)
• Rosso liveried buses with legal lettering for Burnley Bus Co operating Rochdale services with Rosso drivers
• Rosso liveried buses with legal lettering for Blackburn Bus Co operating Blackburn services with Blackburn drivers (X41, also has Rosso contact details inside)
• Blackburn Bus Co liveried buses with Rosso legal lettering operating Blackburn services with Rosso drivers (153, also has Blackburn Bus Co contact details inside)
• Burnley Bus Co liveried buses with Rosso legal lettering operating Burnley services with Rosso drivers (Ribble Country, also has Burnley Bus Co contact details inside)

To top it off, a little controversy regarding Transdevs win of the current 'Ribble Country' network:-

• Transdev placed 2 bids for the work (one under Burnley Bus Co with Burnley Bus Co drivers wages etc. and another under Rosso using lower paid Rosso drivers)
• An independent who owns their buses and pays a 'retaining wage' somehow lost the work to a company who bought/leased brand new buses...
• Transdev of course won the work with the Rosso bid but no drivers wanted to work it which resulted in Harrogate/Keighley drivers being loaned on double the hourly rate (or so I heard)

That'll do for now I think....

An interesting and not all that unsurprising read unfortunately. I've heard similar from a driver who recently left Queensgate (along with a few others), for similar reasons to those you've listed. There's a lot of Us Vs Them going on between Rosso drivers, Burnley drivers and management.

The national driver shortage just seems to be a convenient distraction, there's far more serious issues that need to be resolved before things get any better.

 

[JetBlast]

Having recently worked at Transdev (Blackburn based Rosso) for 5 months (it's all I could handle), the problems within the company seem comical at times. Here is my input about the 'amazing' bus company (most are based on issues at Intack and management there):-

• Duty Manager inability to answer a phone resulted in me being stranded on the M65 with an issue with R100TDV for 45 minutes at 04:30...
• The decision from upper management to repaint 2 POTN buses into Blackburn Bus Co (BBC) livery reducing the flexibility of the fleet (for Rosso services based there too)
• The decision to prohibit the use of double deckers on a route that needs them (464)
• BBC engineers refusing to fix Rosso buses because they are 'employed by Transdev Lancashire United'
• Because of the above issue, the 464 (which had 16 brand new buses bought for it, 3 were transferred leaving 13...at one point, 6 were off the road leaving just 7 out of the original 16...) is suffering drastically. Sometimes, because of drivers leaving for better paid jobs, there can be up to 5 464 buses parked in Accrington.
• Rosso drivers being the lowest paid being treat like 2nd class drivers...15 Rosso drivers were recently transferred internally to the BBC side (more money) but have just been stuck back on Rosso work alienating the remaining Rosso drivers.
• BBC managers telling Rosso staff 'I'm f**king sick of you Rosso drivers, al you do is s**t stir"
• BBC manager telling me "maybe it's time to lose weight" because of the unadjustability of seats on the usual 2 BBC Versas being put on the 464 (236/237)
• BBC buses being used on Rosso work MUST have 'On Hire to Rossendale Transport Ltd' in the window BUT...
• Rosso buses doing BBC work apparently don't need 'On Hire to Lancashire United Ltd' in their window?....
• Not enough POTN/generic buses at Intack for both BBC/Rosso fleets despite Rochdale having no less than 20 POTN/generic liveried buses despite only doing Rosso work...
• BBC buses being used on 464 despite company practice to use POTN/generics when branded buses are unavailable

On to general head scratching things within the company...

• Repainting buses for a season (Coastliner Extra) only for them to be repainted yet again for Burnley....
• Unable to completely repaint a fleet into colours with almost all companies having some sort of old version of livery still in use....
• Different standards for certain companies (complete new moquette/headrests on Coastliner B9TLs but practically untouched for Blackburn/Keighley?...)
• Rosso liveried buses with legal lettering for Burnley Bus Co operating Rochdale services with Rosso drivers
• Rosso liveried buses with legal lettering for Blackburn Bus Co operating Blackburn services with Blackburn drivers (X41, also has Rosso contact details inside)
• Blackburn Bus Co liveried buses with Rosso legal lettering operating Blackburn services with Rosso drivers (153, also has Blackburn Bus Co contact details inside)
• Burnley Bus Co liveried buses with Rosso legal lettering operating Burnley services with Rosso drivers (Ribble Country, also has Burnley Bus Co contact details inside)

To top it off, a little controversy regarding Transdevs win of the current 'Ribble Country' network:-

• Transdev placed 2 bids for the work (one under Burnley Bus Co with Burnley Bus Co drivers wages etc. and another under Rosso using lower paid Rosso drivers)
• An independent who owns their buses and pays a 'retaining wage' somehow lost the work to a company who bought/leased brand new buses...
• Transdev of course won the work with the Rosso bid but no drivers wanted to work it which resulted in Harrogate/Keighley drivers being loaned on double the hourly rate (or so I heard)

That'll do for now I think....

Nearly all of these issues come down to one thing and it's that they have made their operations complex. If they simplified this by having all drivers on one contract and all buses under 1 brand and/or legal entity most of these issues will go away and probably save money in the long term.

Easier said than done, though.

 

[Andyh82]

Near impossible I’d say. If Rosso drivers were given a pay rise to bring them up to Blackburn or Burnley rates, the latter drivers would probably ballot for strike action because they aren’t getting the same raise as well. Therefore the two rates would never meet.

Bus and Train User has done a new blog reviewing Team Pennine

Pinky Pennine promises

Tuesday 30th November 2021 Transdev Blazefield’s purchase of Yorkshire Tiger from Arriva in July included an immediate high profile rename to Team Pennine along with a bright new pink themed rebran…

busandtrainuser.com

I’d say there is a slight bit of bias in there, he’s perfectly happy with the odd sounding at first Team Pennine name, but was apparently confused with FirstBus’s new HX Connect name.

The fact he highlighted a scruffy First single deck but ignored any scruffy buses in Yorkshire Tiger livery that I can’t believe weren’t seen is a tad biased as well.