Dai Corner
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I'm guessing that Amazon asked their staff who'd catch the bus and from where, planned the route accordingly with Stagecoach but then found the staff had changed their minds?
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Stagecoach West - Fleet News & Discussion
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Glosbusspotter
Member
I had 15763 on the 8 the other day, it took 30 mins to get from Hempstead to the Warehouse. Bus left Clarence Street 35 mins late.Stagecoach West are continuing to prove their incompetents on a consistent basis. As we enter the 11th month of driver shortages, the company are still unable to provide information to customers where necessary.
During these 11 months, they have expanded their Cirencester College network, taken on Amazon work in Swindon (which ended well) and been willing to operate a complex shuttle network for Cheltenham Races.
In Gloucester, the company are running lines 8, 10 and 12 agonisingly late due to traffic problems caused by closures and road works. Very little initiative is being used to combat this, for example, extra capacity vehicles (4 decker cards sit around doing nothing when not doing a shuttle run), turning buses around to avoid leaving 60 minute gaps, increased communication etc.
More importantly, roadworks aside, when will the question of splitting route 10 be raised? Cancellations are causing buses to run behind eachover as wait times at stops are doubled. This has been horrific over the last 10 months, even more so since the PVR reduction. Roadworks down route have very large knock on effects. This is not a new thing, and it is not unknown that Service 10 is the most unreliable route in Gloucester. Splitting this service would improve reliability and reduce knock on effects down route. Would anyone happen to know whether this has ever been considered? Many thanks
Currently on 15353 towards Cheltenham. 25 nearly 30 late with 15359 behind 15 mins late. There wouldn’t have been a 10 in Cheltenham for nearly 30 mins. Abysmal.
Travelling between Gloucester and Cheltenham on a Saturday is borderline impossible as of late. 94 runs every 15 minutes, except it doesn't as it's always cancelled. The 10 is appalling. The 97 is the best option, but that takes an hour...
Edit: Two buses currently running between Gloucester City Centre on the 10 as of 12:56 today.
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Aston
Member
Stagecoach continue to amaze me with their incompetence with simply allocating a bus, had a MAN on the 22 towards Gloucester from Coleford, ran 10 late due pretty much because of the bus itself having no power and the driver on a go slow. The scania I had to Coleford was completely able to do it without being late
Citistar
Member
As of the time of this post, 15352, 15354, 15355 and 15358 are all shown as Service 10 on Southgate Street in Gloucester heading towards Cheltenham. That's half of the total tracking vehicles for the service. There is nothing else tracking over the Tuffley end of it. I know resources are scarce at the moment, but that's no excuse for not managing those that you do have properly.
Dai Corner
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Happily not all of Stagecoach West's fleet spend their time grinding through traffic in Gloucester or sitting in the depot for want of drivers as Roger French found out when he visited the Forest of Dean recently.
busandtrainuser.com
A ride around the Forest of Dean
Tuesday 3rd May 2022 It’s a lovely train ride over to Gloucester particularly the scenic section through the Cotswolds between Swindon, Kemble, Stroud and Stonehouse. Gloucester railway stati…
busandtrainuser.com
The traffic along Southgate street has been absolutely terrible since the roadworks on Llanthony road started. Really the 10 needs severing at Gloucester and the two portions independently worked, as at the moment the service is far too unreliable.
This really is a disgrace. Three buses left Lower Tuffley within 5 minutes about 14.50, an hour ago. They are still together, nothing has left Lower Tuffley since.
Yesterday the 17.22 left Lower Tuffley at 18.46 - no, not an error, you can just see it getting later and later throughout the afternoon!
And the 94 still doesn’t exist - Roger French’s report makes reference to this too!
NorthernSpirit
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It'd be nice if the timings were rejigged at the Chippenham end so that the rail connections can be maintained, as the rail to bus connections travelling from Bristol on the xx00 GWR service to Paddington misses the 55 by two minutes.
Travelling from Calne to Chippenham to connect with rail services is practically none exisitant since the bus arrives the same time as the train.
ValleyLines142
Established Member
Think that's a good idea. I don't see why there's the demand for a direct service from Lower Tuffley to Cheltenham; it's essentially an amalgamation of a local service and a regional service. It's like extending the 94 to Matson!
Personally I think the Gloucester to Lower Tuffley portion of the 10 should remain as the 10 (in line with local Gloucester services e.g. 8, 9, 11, 12). Then the Gloucester to Cheltenham segment of the 10 could be renumbered to 95 in line with the 90 series of routes between the two (94, 97, 98).
I do also believe that in the evenings there needs to be a gap filled in the 1 and 2. At the moment from 7pm onwards you've got xx:10 and xx:40 1s and the 2 at xx:25, so if you've missed the 1 at xx:40 you've got a half hour wait for anything down Barton Street!
I must admit I've stopped using the buses to be honest; I'll use them if I'm out and about for the day (as I did when I went to Stroud and Painswick a few weeks back) but as I work in Cheltenham I walk to the station and get the train as I'm right opposite Cheltenham station. Costs £33 more a month commuting by train but with the current standards of the 94 and general traffic around Golden Valley roundabout I can justify it!
My friend messaged me yesterday to ask where the 94 was as she'd been waiting almost 45 minutes for one. She lives in Longlevens and works in Cheltenham town centre so of course the 94 should be the perfect match, however as of today she is even considering walking back into Gloucester from Longlevens and getting the train to Cheltenham (where she'd still either have to walk along the Honeybourne Line into town or catch the D/E/N). Sign of the times!
I thought Cardiff (my hometown) was bad with the traffic with the roadworks outside Central Square but my goodness Gloucester is another level for a relatively small city! Barton Street people just pull up on double yellows and bugger off out of their cars, Southgate Street is complete and utter hell and as for the works they're starting outside the station well don't even get me started on that!
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I assume the work on widening the A40 on the west side of Cheltenham completely tanked the 94 reliability too. I also saw a 97 looking a bit lost going through starvation but then realised their route has been messed up with bridge repair work too. It’s almost like someone from the highways agency wants to inflict maximum pain on commuters between Chelt and Gloucester
Meanwhile, in another kick in the teeth to long suffering Stagecoach West customers…
Shuttle Bus to RIAT
Travel to RIAT by our dedicated Shuttle Bus from Swindon Bus Station or Cheltenham.
Another example of Stagecoach finding resources when they really want to. Shameless once again.
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820KDV
Member
I'm not trying to defend Stagecoach, and I can certainly see how the operation of special event buses might look to long suffering regular passengers, but perhaps look at it from the driver's point of view.
The supervisor / inspector / allocator asks "would you like to work your Saturday rest day? I'm really struggling." "What you got?" replies the driver. "All day round the town" says the supervisor. "No thanks" says the driver who has been on that work all week, and has probably already done even more trips on those routes as pieces of overtime before or after their scheduled work.
However, if the supervisor says "Air Tattoo" or "Races" the driver may well say "yes please, what time do you want me?" because its different, a change of scene. Plus these sorts of workings have a special "buzz" to them and all the passengers are in a good mood. Many drivers would see it as hard work, yes, but also as good fun, and so something to volunteer for. Very different to yet another day of round and round the town monotony.
So, even if you don't run any special event buses, you might not actually be able to resource any more of your ordinary scheduled journeys, and you forgo the revenue the special journeys generate.
The supervisor / inspector / allocator asks "would you like to work your Saturday rest day? I'm really struggling." "What you got?" replies the driver. "All day round the town" says the supervisor. "No thanks" says the driver who has been on that work all week, and has probably already done even more trips on those routes as pieces of overtime before or after their scheduled work.
However, if the supervisor says "Air Tattoo" or "Races" the driver may well say "yes please, what time do you want me?" because its different, a change of scene. Plus these sorts of workings have a special "buzz" to them and all the passengers are in a good mood. Many drivers would see it as hard work, yes, but also as good fun, and so something to volunteer for. Very different to yet another day of round and round the town monotony.
So, even if you don't run any special event buses, you might not actually be able to resource any more of your ordinary scheduled journeys, and you forgo the revenue the special journeys generate.
Citistar
Member
We hear this reason an awful lot by those who organise it at First West of England too. I think the point is that a company knowing full well they don't have enough staff to reliably deliver their scheduled services should not be taking on additional event work at the expense of other providers. First and Stagecoach have heavyweight corporate departments which have done very well in monopolising these larger events at the expense of all the smaller providers who may have served them in the past.
Meanwhile, those of us left with vehicles parked in the yard watch as the network is wilfully wrecked because it isn't the most profitable thing to do at that time. The whole situation plays in to the hands of those demanding full regulation, and who will benefit from that? Oh yes, the major PLC groups again.
Been saying this for years now!
Glosbusspotter
Member
Some things to note. MMC Allocation is scarce at the moment hence the allocations of N230s on 10s. Noted yesterday is Enviro 36128 and Scania 15977 as temporary loans from Cheltenham to Gloucester. Also back in service from long term storage is 27517 which has come as a shock to all.
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Was surprised to see 27517 today. I also didn't realise they painted it in local livery, which seems a bit odd
ValleyLines142
Established Member
Yes! I did notice 27517 on the 2 yesterday on Barton Street and wondered when old faithful was put back into service!
It was in local livery before it got stored in fairness.
Yes looks like it, two solos have moved to Swindon being 47686 and 47688.
ValleyLines142
Established Member
Having said that, a few Scania MMCs have strayed on the 1/2/8 of late, so are they actually scarce after all?
They are. But we all know that Gloucester has a well established inability to allocate, which leads to things like this. There's a reason that tridents have been more reliable recently, and that's because someone smart has realised sending them out to the Forest for 16 hours isn't the smartest idea. 18089 can no longer do anymore than 42mph, which would be infuriating if you were stuck behind that out to the Forest...
And let's not forget the recent Scania 400 crisis where they are breaking left right and centre, would you be shocked when they are put on cards with as little as 5 minute stand times?
Seems that the Cheltenham Solos are slowly migrating.
Alongside 47686 and 47688 at Swindon, 47621 has transferred to Gloucester and has been on the 882. I caught it yesterday, and Air Balloon roundabout was rather painful, it definitely didn't like the hill.
Alongside 47686 and 47688 at Swindon, 47621 has transferred to Gloucester and has been on the 882. I caught it yesterday, and Air Balloon roundabout was rather painful, it definitely didn't like the hill.
Changes pending for 24/07/2022, mainly affecting Cheltenham, with things like the present driver shortages timetables being made permanent.
Other changes include withdrawal of the 93 Park and Ride service, instead the 97 will go in there
And Service 853 will finally move to Witney depot on the 24th July
Changes also pending for Gloucester's 33 but not been able to find out what's happening with that route, if anyones able to enlighten me it would be much appreciated
Stagecoach retain the Cirencester College contract, however this year they are not expanding their route network. Minor changes will apply to the network. Long living Newent School contract also retained, with the possibility of one extra route being taken on. It is believed two extra deckers will be required for changes to Cirencester and Newent contract
Meanwhile in the short term Stagecoach are promoting the use of the bus during the rail strikes, whilst this was an image sent on twitter of their 94/94X corridor the other morning
Other changes include withdrawal of the 93 Park and Ride service, instead the 97 will go in there
And Service 853 will finally move to Witney depot on the 24th July
Changes also pending for Gloucester's 33 but not been able to find out what's happening with that route, if anyones able to enlighten me it would be much appreciated
Stagecoach retain the Cirencester College contract, however this year they are not expanding their route network. Minor changes will apply to the network. Long living Newent School contract also retained, with the possibility of one extra route being taken on. It is believed two extra deckers will be required for changes to Cirencester and Newent contract
Meanwhile in the short term Stagecoach are promoting the use of the bus during the rail strikes, whilst this was an image sent on twitter of their 94/94X corridor the other morning
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Fantastic effort Stagecoach. Making an already permanently failing timetable permanent changes nothing and continues to undermine bus use as a viable means of transport.
Why serve the P&R with the 97, it’s not really on the route?
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Speaking to a driver today, and he believes the 94 will serve the Park and Ride, like it does on a Sunday.
That makes more sense, although the folk of Churchdown have endured some enormous gaps on the 94 service recently so I can’t see that going down well with anybody using the P&R.