Go Cornwall Bus

[carlberry]

Plymouth is in Devon.... and where they do all their heavy maintenance

Plymouth has been it's own unitary authority since 1998.

 

[richw]

Plymouth has been it's own unitary authority since 1998.

Which falls within the geographic county of Devon

 

[Goldfish62]

I see Cornwall Council has a new Public Transport Lead - Melanie Watson. From what I know of her she's very capable so hopefully she'll be able to sort out the current mess and actually achieve a proper coordinated network.

 

[Lizard1324]

Does anyone know when the rest of cornwall will get the e400mmc only a few have made it west but the rest have stayed in Devon/ east cornwall on the 70.
Are they meant to head west or are they staying in Devon

 

[Busaholic]

I see Cornwall Council has a new Public Transport Lead - Melanie Watson. From what I know of her she's very capable so hopefully she'll be able to sort out the current mess and actually achieve a proper coordinated network.

Wow, I'm the eternal optimist, but ....

 

[Goldfish62]

Wow, I'm the eternal optimist, but ....

What I'm trying to say is that she's high calibre so it's probably the best possible thing that could happen in respect of sorting things out.

 

[richw]

I see Cornwall Council has a new Public Transport Lead - Melanie Watson. From what I know of her she's very capable so hopefully she'll be able to sort out the current mess and actually achieve a proper coordinated network.

Unaware of her past record but no doubt she’s got her work cut out. It’s not just the buses her predecessor has made a mess of

 

[Busaholic]

What I'm trying to say is that she's high calibre so it's probably the best possible thing that could happen in respect of sorting things out.

She certainly appears to have the right pedigree and transport experience. I wish her well and, as you say, hope she can turn things round from the inauspicious beginnings of this enterprise. Perhaps, should she be able to find the time, she might take a look at some of the issues that have arisen on here, once you edit out all the stuff about bus types which are largely irrelevant from her point of view (other than the contract obligation regarding vehicle emissions). There have been pointers at the least to what was going wrong, even some potential gems I'd have thought to anyone willing to listen with redemption in mind. So, let's give her a chance, but no. 1 priority as far as I'm concerned is interavailability of ticketing and initiating those trial areas for significant fare reductions, unless national government indicates the latter should not go ahead at the present time.

 

[fgwrich]

Unaware of her past record but no doubt she’s got her work cut out. It’s not just the buses her predecessor has made a mess of

Her pedigree is certainly strong on the bus side with several years of experience with TfL & GMPTE (If the LinkedIn page doesn't work screenshots below).

https://uk.linkedin.com/in/melanie-watson-4b452845?trk=people-guest_people_search-card

 

[MB162435]

Does anyone know when the rest of cornwall will get the e400mmc only a few have made it west but the rest have stayed in Devon/ east cornwall on the 70.
Are they meant to head west or are they staying in Devon

Don't think West Cornwall had much demand for deckers apart from School work, so looks like they might mainly keep them out of Newquay and Plymouth depots where there is plenty of routes for them to be used on, and only send a few west to help out the older deckers on contract work

The West has got a good few of the 70 plate E200 MMCs tho, mainly from Scorrier depot at the moment I believe

Good luck to the two Mel's, hope they can get things running smoothly now

 

[Goldfish62]

The network map is now available, hidden at the bottom of the timetables section on the website.

Similar design to the First Kernow one and predictably just shows TfC services, with no distinguishing of occasional services. Therefore there are such oddities as the T1 operating between Penzance and Camborne only, the T2 not existing and the U4 being Penzance to Helston only.

Notable is the 7 starts at last on 1 November, and is extended from Zennor through to Penzance via Halsetown and Gulval.

 

[Lizard1324]

Don't think West Cornwall had much demand for deckers apart from School work, so looks like they might mainly keep them out of Newquay and Plymouth depots where there is plenty of routes for them to be used on, and only send a few west to help out the older deckers on contract work

The West has got a good few of the 70 plate E200 MMCs tho, mainly from Scorrier depot at the moment I believe

Good luck to the two Mel's, hope they can get things running smoothly now

I wanted to see some around the helston area at the moment there is one on the u4 every morning (school) but there is also always a decker on the 34, 36 and 38 but only the 36 has gone a 70 plate ond for a few hours

 

[MB162435]

I wanted to see some around the helston area at the moment there is one on the u4 every morning (school) but there is also always a decker on the 34, 36 and 38 but only the 36 has gone a 70 plate ond for a few hours

I did think the 34 may get some of the new deckers as well, especially on school services which they may do eventually, although are all 17 deckers in service now or some still held up with paper work?

 

[Lizard1324]

I did think the 34 may get some of the new deckers as well, especially on school services which they may do eventually, although are all 17 deckers in service now or some still held up with paper work?

Ye the 7:15 34 is a school service, with 3 buses in the lizard at 7am it does get busy but when the 70 plate 400mmc and the fully painted kernow fleet arrive in the lizard it will look really nice

 

[MB162435]

Ye the 7:15 34 is a school service, with 3 buses in the lizard at 7am it does get busy but when the 70 plate 400mmc and the fully painted kernow fleet arrive in the lizard it will look really nice

Hopefully one day that will happen, when the new Deckers start to spread about more although being as near to Milehouse as possible is handy when they are still running them in

 

[farwest]

Does anyone regularly use the 88 on the Redruth to Newquay route? It always seems to be empty at Redruth and is a strange route as the only largish town nearby is Perranporth and is does not go there. Is that because FK run a commercial service 87 from Perranporth to Newquay or is it one of the strange CC ideas?

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

Does anyone regularly use the 88 on the Redruth to Newquay route? It always seems to be empty at Redruth and is a strange route as the only largish town nearby is Perranporth and is does not go there. Is that because FK run a commercial service 87 from Perranporth to Newquay or is it one of the strange CC ideas?

It was one of CC’s ideas - look at towns without a link and put one in without much justification.

The two hourly frequency doesn’t make it very attractive either.

 

[Ian10]

It was one of CC’s ideas - look at towns without a link and put one in without much justification.

The two hourly frequency doesn’t make it very attractive either.

I have travelled on this route a few times. On each occasion I have been the only passenger. There are similar unused new or expanded routed across Cornwall. For how long can Cornwall Council continue to waste £12m a year on this network whilst, like most other local authorities, they are having to cut back on essential social services.

 

[Goldfish62]

I have travelled on this route a few times. On each occasion I have been the only passenger. There are similar unused new or expanded routed across Cornwall. For how long can Cornwall Council continue to waste £12m a year on this network whilst, like most other local authorities, they are having to cut back on essential social services.

Once the coronavirus grant funding is removed, as it will be at some stage, most of the FK commercial network will become inviable and most likely deregistered. CC will need to prioritise tendering these core services and inevitably the existing supported network will be heavily cut.

As someone mentioned a while back on this or the FSW thread it seems a wasted opportunity to introduce routes like this, but completely ignore bolstering the evening service on the key T1/T2.

 

[MotCO]

Once the coronavirus grant funding is removed, as it will be at some stage, most of the FK commercial network will become inviable and most likely deregistered. CC will need to prioritise tendering these core services and inevitably the existing supported network will be heavily cut.

In that eventuality, will CC ask for tenders, or automatically award to Go Ahead? If FK win the tender, GoAhead will have surplus buses (and drivers?) if the existing supported network is cut; if GoAhead automatically take it on, then they can reallocate buses and drivers, and FK will have surplus buses and drivers.

 

[Goldfish62]

In that eventuality, will CC ask for tenders, or automatically award to Go Ahead? If FK win the tender, GoAhead will have surplus buses (and drivers?) if the existing supported network is cut; if GoAhead automatically take it on, then they can reallocate buses and drivers, and FK will have surplus buses and drivers.

In one word - illegal!

GoAhead won the lots that were tendered, not the automatic right to operate everything for the next eight years.

While de minimis arrangements allow for some modest direct awards to be made, simply awarding everything automatically to GoAhead would quickly result in a legal challenge.

If anything, and depending on the extent of deregistrations or frequency reductions, the council would want to approach FK first to seek a de minimis arrangement. If that did not prove to be value for money their next step is likely to be tendering out the service(s) to ensure best value for money.

 

[embers25]

I'm on the 1355 Truro to Bude 95 and apparently it no longer goes via St Kew or Chapel Amble despite the timetable saying so. Instead it sits in St Kew Highway for 10 minutes and left Camelford 10 minutes early on non schooldays timings. Not sure why the TfC website doesnt have this change anywhere.

Just got off the 11 which also ran consistently early by 2-3 minutes between Landrake and Bodmin and then broke down in the depot so was 10 minutes late due to a bus swap. Add to that the delay on the 1200 71 which had no driver for 15 minutes so was just abandoned in liskeard with doors open and when the driver did come she had no uniform and its another great TfC day. All three buses also had damage or gaffer tape.

On the positive side my 70 was a 70 plate dealer stock decker but had no wifi or charging but excellent heaters. This offset the 34 which was a 64 plate ex Stagecoach london decker that took 10 mins to start up and was freezing!

 

[83G/84D]

Enviro 400 462 seen broken down at the east end of Hayle at 6pm today.

 

[richw]

Just got off the 11

As I was leaving our depot at about just after 1900, decker 507 went past Asda on a 11a, blinded for Bodmin parkway. As we know a decker can’t get into parkway, so wonder if they curtailed it at their depot or vehicle swapped, or failed to serve parkway

 

[embers25]

As I was leaving our depot at about just after 1900, decker 507 went past Asda on a 11a, blinded for Bodmin parkway. As we know a decker can’t get into parkway, so wonder if they curtailed it at their depot or vehicle swapped, or failed to serve parkway

We took the last single in their depot so maybe another broke down leaving only doubles left. Our 2 door ex-London single had no seats in the front half so could only carry 10 which would be fun later in the day. It also didnt seem in the best of health. TfC justified my 95 running early as the running card was issued before school hols by mistake. That doesn't explain how this supposed new running card was school day only times up to and including Wadebridge school (which we visited its turnaround loop) and then school hols thereafter for the same service! 4 other passengers along the way queried it but the driver was adamant he was right and had done it on days prior to today.

 

[Busaholic]

We took the last single in their depot so maybe another broke down leaving only doubles left. Our 2 door ex-London single had no seats in the front half so could only carry 10 which would be fun later in the day. It also didnt seem in the best of health. TfC justified my 95 running early as the running card was issued before school hols by mistake. That doesn't explain how this supposed new running card was school day only times up to and including Wadebridge school (which we visited its turnaround loop) and then school hols thereafter for the same service! 4 other passengers along the way queried it but the driver was adamant he was right and had done it on days prior to today.

Interesting, horse's mouth stuff. The western operations of TfC certainly appear to be run more.... I hesitate to say professionally, but maybe that is the right word. The evidence is stacking up.

 

[Yarp1]

As far as I am aware PCB/GC machines are run on the same basis as FK. In such that when the journey is entered into machine it tells the driver what time they are due at the next stop. In the bottom right hand corner there is a clock. If the bus is running a minute late the clock is amber and If more than 2 minutes early then its red. The centre of the machine screen also states how many minutes early it left the last stop and or how late the bus was at the last stop.

 

[richw]

If the bus is running a minute late the clock is amber

A minute early that should read

 

[Lizard1324]

Today in the lizard village at 3:30 there were 3 Tfc buses parked up on the side of the road, 1 being an ex first e200mmc which was in service as showing 34 to redruth the other bus was a 20 or 70 plate e200mmc (only saw it from the side bus was one or the other) this was parked up without a driver.
The final bus was a new 70 plate e400mmc which was 5017 and it was up left with no driver aswell.
Anyone know why there were so many buses here at one time maybe the e400mmc was on a trial to see if it fits around the tight 34 route as this is the first time a TFC e400mmc has been to the lizard, even know the firdt kernow Tinner and uni branded e400s have been here many times

 

[Goldfish62]

Today in the lizard village at 3:30 there were 3 Tfc buses parked up on the side of the road, 1 being an ex first e200mmc which was in service as showing 34 to redruth the other bus was a 20 or 70 plate e200mmc (only saw it from the side bus was one or the other) this was parked up without a driver.
The final bus was a new 70 plate e400mmc which was 5017 and it was up left with no driver aswell.
Anyone know why there were so many buses here at one time maybe the e400mmc was on a trial to see if it fits around the tight 34 route as this is the first time a TFC e400mmc has been to the lizard, even know the firdt kernow Tinner and uni branded e400s have been here many times

The TfC E400MMCs are longer than the FK ones.