Ah, I was wondering if anyone else saw the bus that day, I saw it in town and on campus, but I don't know what was going on with it (like which company it was actually testing with)
You tell some local bus drivers that they now have to drive for upto 4.5 hours straight with almost no stopping, very limited opportunity to go to the toilet, with a cab that isn't enclosed, barely talking to passengers (because coach passengers tend to say 'hello' when you scan the ticket and that can be it, 'thank yous' are less common on scheduled coach work) and handle luggage at stops, many of them would cry at the thought.
Yes it's separate. Adverts have gone up for drivers and the General Manager of TM travel will be managing the operation, itll be based at Derby as posted.
Trent Barton have always opted for keeping the driver as visible as possible, expect drivers to interact with passengers more than other bus companies and of course already operate the Red Arrow using coaches out of the Derby depot so driving the coaches wouldn't be as much of a culture shock in comparison to many bus companies. That being said the driver hour requirement as well as TBs policy of keeping drivers on dedicated routes does make much mixing of drivers extremely unlikely (but I could well see some Red Arrow drivers in particular opting to move over to the Flixbus operation if the pay and T and Cs were in line).
There is a job advert on Indeed from TM Travel asking for bus drivers for Flixbus out of Derby and Sheffield depots. https://uk.indeed.com/viewjob?jk=7585dce887e37999 (photo below)
It's very different. Red Arrow is 35 minutes each way with minimal luggage. It's a fast bus route just happening to be operated by coaches. It's a completely different style of driving compared to Flix/NatEx/Megabus, long distance. One major incident on the motorway and you have got yourself a nice night out maybe 100 miles from home. Toilets only at motorway service but given the timetable you don't want to delay the service too much as that will upset passengers. Having to work out a luggage loading strategy else you end up climbing around the lockers to get certain bags. You have to actually think about your driving hours a lot more and find somewhere to park up within that time else you risk infringements and fines from DVSA. You have to concentrate for hours on a straight road.
There could be all sorts of reasons as to why one bus has entered service before another
Who got the GM job at TM Travel?
I thought I'd see somewhere the Flixbus services ran from Meadowhall. Handy for the motorway.....on a good day
The Current (and future) 001, 002, 010, N11, N31, 070, 075, 078, 079 and N601 services serve Meadowhall.. The current N02 and new 003 serve Sheffield Interchange. Oddly, the associated data suggests the 003 also serves Halifax, but no journeys seem to, yet.
They've had an interim for the last few months but the new chap, comes in from First West Yorkshire next month.
Thanks for that.
On top of that, there is also the likelihood they will lose the Sheffield depot in the not too distant future, should the SYMCA franchising take place.
703 has since been spotted in Blackburn Bus & Coach World, so I'm guessing it will be repainted as a few trentbarton vehicles have been sent there recently for the base spray.
Probably wasn't fit for service yet: things can sometimes be found last-minute that need to be fixed and delay the introduction/re-introduction of a vehicle/set of vehicles.
Will they operate any flixbus Nottingham services like the 005?
IF my findings are right with the trips, they look to be running the following:
I can't work out if it's a Flixbus data issue with the wrong route descriptions, or whether it's coming in the future as there are other routes which had the wrong description and the 077 says it serves Swansea but there are no trips for that either. It's all bit funky.
Don't forget that Vectare are joining Flixbus from April, seemingly based at Nottingham.
At this rate, we will be talking about who isn't joining Flixbus
I remember the Court case between National Express and Your bus. Game over, but Preston Bus (Rotala company) nearly took over all the Your bus services.
Really? I haven't heard about that, can you link me someting to read upon?
Wasn't it the tax man that then finished them off, before Preston Bus could register the services? Then there was talk of a dispute with Derbyshire CC. You certainly found that link, quickly.
There was a number of things that contributed towards the end, the irony being that the MD was an accountant, too. A sad demise to something that had a lot of potential.
That all said, the number of bus on bus accidents in Derby bus station ,dropped when they finished. Too many buses in too small a a space. Isn't said MD now in Australia with Custom Denning? The case report was a fascinating read.
Steve Ward? I'm not sure about that one. There seemed to be a dramatic change when Mr Dunn went down under
It was Mr Dunn I was thinking of
