They were testing the cancellation feature in the app for a long time at Livingston and it rarely showed more than the same 26 and 600 journeys as cancelled even when they actually ran.
Maybe because the Alloa services (51/52) are the most frequent services at Bannockburn and therefore subject to the most cancellations?
They're both every half hour currently so it's not the frequency. I mean I wouldn't be surprised if it was the depots but the communication from the depots in the areas that aren't Glasgow seems miles better regarding cancellations even if they're not perfect. The reason I think it's testing too is that it was the exact same 2 journeys on an almost daily basis. I can only recall one day where more than that showed as cancelled in West Lothian. Falkirk services had a few for about a week and never anything else either.
I’m trying to work out what’s better. Having a central customer service team for social media like First do, which doesn’t work. Or having a local customer service team like McGills do (but due to the actions of a small few) who’s twitter is for info only, which again doesn’t work for overwhelming majority of customers. It’s 2022, and neither of these are practical in any capacity. Twitter has even had several new privacy functions added in the last year too. People I would say would like answers typically in around no more than 10-15 minutes (if even that, customers usually want things quicker than they’ll get it) and for McGills you’ll wait days (or possibly never get an answer) and with First you’ll get a message usually no earlier than 2 hours after your bus has gone (or should’ve gone) saying something like ‘I hope you managed to catch your bus’.
I fully agree with you. The app and customer service should be the best thing about any operator in 2022. If you want more fare paying passengers they're the most likely to use the technology approach for tickets and checking journeys and it's part of why the numbers of them drop so much.
Definitely. After all social media is where many people find out information these days. It’s in the interest of every operator to improve their customer service, after all that’s how you win and keep most customers, and it’s something every operator should take pride in. Simple fares and a consistent timetable are just some of the others.
I think the problem with the industry in general to be honest, is that it struggles to get with the times more than other industries. Time moved very quickly with how information needs to be put across. The days of people just turning up to stops aimlessly are long gone.
They can be a bit shabby indeed; my most recent contact attempt with McGills - a simple question about a single fare - was never acknowledged or replied to, and in my most recent attempt with First it took them over a week to send a reply that completely misunderstood every single aspect of my message.
Yep, They were operating Alexander RH Olympians during 2016 when they closed East Lothian Operations, First will use every bus until the last bash. I would expect some new buses to go to Eastern Scottish as well as Midland Bluebird, and I think that some of the spares from Dundee will come down here, perhaps some of the later Gemini's.
Theres already 2 Eclipse bodied buses repainted in Johnstone although im not sure weather they’re B7RLEs or Pulsars however i believe there are some of both moving up to the Scotland East region
Wonder if they might look at reopening the paint shop at Larbert, now that Caledonia will no longer be an option.
I believe they've used Ferrymill for the first repaints, the same place used by Lothian Buses.
Wonder if this could be some of 2230-2239 and 6001-6010?
I'm not really up-to-date either, but they do look like good options, the Solo's will be good for local services in the fleet, or evening country services, albeit, I may be a bit behind on this.
Is not better to call up?
Do they still provide Metro Newspapers at FSE? They were withdrawn in Aberdeen a number of years ago due to supply issues iirc, although most buses have retained the boxes in the luggage rack.
