Forum | Merseyside Dennis Dart Website

Does anyone know if they've reinstated contactless payments on their buses? I notice their website contains a story from April saying they've suspended them and there's been no update since.

(27/08/2021 16:11)knutstransport Wrote: [ -> ]Does anyone know if they've reinstated contactless payments on their buses? I notice their website contains a story from April saying they've suspended them and there's been no update since.

Nope don’t think they are accepting them.
Not sure why they would need to suspend contactless though.

Seems there are issues with the 08:24 Altrincham to Manchester Airport 288 service. Even though it's generally pulling into stand C as soon as the 288 to Loreto has departed, there's so many St Ambrose pupils trying to use it that the driver just can't process all the passes/fares in time. Some mornings the 08:30 Altrincham to Knutsford is leaving before it. TfGM must be aware of it as they have two inspectors supervising stand C at that time.

To me it sounds like what's needed is the 88 to be retimed so it departs at the same time as the 288 and for a bus big to be used on that journey so the St Ambrose pupils split between the two services.

(27/08/2021 20:36)Mayneway Wrote: [ -> ]Nope don’t think they are accepting them.
Not sure why they would need to suspend contactless though.

The TfGM Versas don't have a tray for putting cash down in either, so paying cash requires more contact with the driver than is ideal.

The branding on them doesn't make sense either.

"Operated by:
I'm a Little Gem"

Unless the ticket machines have been switched WSV 552 was out on the 288 yesterday and is out on it again today.

(11/09/2021 09:08)knutstransport Wrote: [ -> ]The TfGM Versas don't have a tray for putting cash down in either, so paying cash requires more contact with the driver than is ideal.

The branding on them doesn't make sense either.

"Operated by:
I'm a Little Gem"

Unless the ticket machines have been switched WSV 552 was out on the 288 yesterday and is out on it again today.

Non of the TFGM buses have cash trays because they were designed to free bus spec, infact the Goodwins examples were ex Stockport free buses.
I think the whole branding has gone horribly wrong. They are branded as Little Gem but have the GoGoodwins logo above the door, the drivers wear Go Goodwins uniforms. The buses carry adverts for See More holidays and on Thursday i spotted a See More branded coach doing a school.

(11/09/2021 10:49)Mayneway Wrote: [ -> ]Non of the TFGM buses have cash trays because they were designed to free bus spec, infact the Goodwins examples were ex Stockport free buses.
I think the whole branding has gone horribly wrong. They are branded as Little Gem but have the GoGoodwins logo above the door, the drivers wear Go Goodwins uniforms. The buses carry adverts for See More holidays and on Thursday i spotted a See More branded coach doing a school.

Also confusion on the Cheshire East website. For 391/392 they mention Go Goodwins, presumably as they awarded a contract and Go Goodwins were the name on the winning bid. However, for the 88 Sunday service they link to the TfGM timetable and say it's operated by Little Gem.

I think they actually have GGG above the door which says underneath in very small letters Go Goodwins Group.

The printed side of the tickets only mentions Little Gem. The reverse side has an advert for Go Goodwins but there's also adverts for Manchester Storm and Silver Blades, so from the ticket alone you can't conclude Go Goodwins are related to Little Gem.

I don't think there's anything wrong with a coach hire company using a different brand name for bus services but if they brand is Little Gem then every timetable should mention Little Gem not Go Goodwins and if they use a Go Goodwins branded vehicle they should stick a Little Gem sign in the window so regular passengers know it's the usual operator.

It could be worse though. I remember someone posting a few years ago they caught a Vale Travel service, operated by a GHA Coaches branded vehicle and the driver wore a YourBus uniform and issued them with a Taith branded ticket.

(11/09/2021 12:04)knutstransport Wrote: [ -> ]Also confusion on the Cheshire East website. For 391/392 they mention Go Goodwins, presumably as they awarded a contract and Go Goodwins were the name on the winning bid. However, for the 88 Sunday service they link to the TfGM timetable and say it's operated by Little Gem.

I think they actually have GGG above the door which says underneath in very small letters Go Goodwins Group.

The printed side of the tickets only mentions Little Gem. The reverse side has an advert for Go Goodwins but there's also adverts for Manchester Storm and Silver Blades, so from the ticket alone you can't conclude Go Goodwins are related to Little Gem.

I don't think there's anything wrong with a coach hire company using a different brand name for bus services but if they brand is Little Gem then every timetable should mention Little Gem not Go Goodwins and if they use a Go Goodwins branded vehicle they should stick a Little Gem sign in the window so regular passengers know it's the usual operator.

It could be worse though. I remember someone posting a few years ago they caught a Vale Travel service, operated by a GHA Coaches branded vehicle and the driver wore a YourBus uniform and issued them with a Taith branded ticket.

It’s crazy how many drivers I work with don’t realise Little Gem is Goodwins.

(11/09/2021 23:37)Mayneway Wrote: [ -> ]It’s crazy how many drivers I work with don’t realise Little Gem is Goodwins.

Well it's not straight forward given that:

* Go Goodwins ran bus services as Go Goodwins.
* Then they rebranded them as Little Gem.
* Then they sold the bus operations to Diamond, meaning Diamond started using de-branded Little Gem buses.
* Then they started bidding for contracts again, most ones which they ran in the past and ones Diamond had been running.

While I mentioned the TfGM Versa being used by Little Gem in an earlier post, what I didn't mention is I saw it at the airport station and it was next to a bus in identical branding being used by Diamond and the Diamond driver was chatting to the Little Gem driver. Anyone would think the buses and drivers belonged to the same company at the same depot.

It also seems that they have 3 Solos in the fleet from 2007 and 2008, while D&G are using 3 former Go-Goodwins Solos from 2010 and two of their old Enviros from 2011, often on routes which go to Altrincham or Manchester Airport.

(16/09/2021 14:29)knutstransport Wrote: [ -> ]Well it's not straight forward given that:

* Go Goodwins ran bus services as Go Goodwins.
* Then they rebranded them as Little Gem.
* Then they sold the bus operations to Diamond, meaning Diamond started using de-branded Little Gem buses.
* Then they started bidding for contracts again, most ones which they ran in the past and ones Diamond had been running.

While I mentioned the TfGM Versa being used by Little Gem in an earlier post, what I didn't mention is I saw it at the airport station and it was next to a bus in identical branding being used by Diamond and the Diamond driver was chatting to the Little Gem driver. Anyone would think the buses and drivers belonged to the same company at the same depot.

It also seems that they have 3 Solos in the fleet from 2007 and 2008, while D&G are using 3 former Go-Goodwins Solos from 2010 and two of their old Enviros from 2011, often on routes which go to Altrincham or Manchester Airport.

Goodwins actually have 2 Versa’s. KCY and KCX.
When Goodwins won all this work in April most of the drivers defected from Diamond Eccles (some had worked for Goodwins until the last takeover) to Goodwins.

(17/09/2021 00:11)Mayneway Wrote: [ -> ]Goodwins actually have 2 Versa’s. KCY and KCX.
When Goodwins won all this work in April most of the drivers defected from Diamond Eccles (some had worked for Goodwins until the last takeover) to Goodwins.

I wasn't meaning they had one Versa, I was meaning the Versa I saw.

If they recruited Diamond drivers who had been driving the routes recently then that would have reduced the amount of route learning they need to do!