People know its not the drivers who set the fares but unfortunately us drivers are the first point of contact so its us drivers that unfortunately get the grief because you work for the company and its easier to take there frustration out on the driver than get on the phone and tell them on the phone there not happy but this is why GHA and fairbrothers are taking the opportunity to attck warringtons services which i think if GHA create more services and keep the fares low then network warrington could become stuck.
(09/08/2015 08:25)motormayhem1 Wrote: [ -> ]if GHA create more services and keep the fares low then network warrington could become stuck.
I agree really. GHA has clearly won on the 45 and my guess is Network Warrington are only keeping the 46 due to the council funding it attracts. Warrington may get a few more passengers when the timetables change with the extension to Wincham and become 'out-of-sync' with GHA's, meaning that the 'run 5 minutes before' trick will only work in at most one direction.
GHA aren't picking many passengers up especially on the 16's. I don't think I have seen more than two people on the bus leaving the bus station. The Northwich service is better but again wouldn't say the loadings were busy. There is only so long you can run round quiet before it starts to hit you financially..
Fairbothers are doing well on the 16X but again no busier than WBT on that run..
(09/08/2015 08:25)motormayhem1 Wrote: [ -> ]People know its not the drivers who set the fares but unfortunately us drivers are the first point of contact so its us drivers that unfortunately get the grief because you work for the company and its easier to take there frustration out on the driver than get on the phone and tell them on the phone there not happy but this is why GHA and fairbrothers are taking the opportunity to attck warringtons services which i think if GHA create more services and keep the fares low then network warrington could become stuck.
The problem is the good people of Warrington arnt daft. It's pretty obvious that if Fairbrothers and GHA can offer the same level of service for a lot less then NW are being very greedy.
NW have also taken away all forms of contact via social media so often the only way passengers can vent their disbelief is with the driver.
You can't really compare Fairbrothers and WBT. WBT operate from 5am til Midnight whereas Fairbrothers run 8.45am til 4.30pm.
WBT have around 80 vehicles whereas Fairbrothers have around ten.
WBT have all of the garage staff and office staff to pay whereas Fairbrothers have two Fitters and no office staff to pay.
Therefore WBT need to be more expensive to pay its overheads....
^^^^
I'll have a read. Going to be all fun and games tomorrow. Oh the joys lol
(09/08/2015 09:52)Dentonian Wrote: [ -> ]Don't Network Warrington have an e-mail address?
Failing that, passengers can simply be reminded that NW is owned by the Council, and Politicians are accountable to the Public. After all, Bus users pay Council Tax.
Course they do and a phone number but during the fare increases last year it's alledged that the stopped responding to calls and emails and thier Facebook and twitter accounts disapeared.
I think Warrington Council pointed out last year in the press that Network Warrinton was owned by the council but was operated 'at arms length from the council' and that it had it's own management team who decided on fares etc.
(09/08/2015 09:20)RSTurbo50 Wrote: [ -> ]You can't really compare Fairbrothers and WBT. WBT operate from 5am til Midnight whereas Fairbrothers run 8.45am til 4.30pm.
WBT have around 80 vehicles whereas Fairbrothers have around ten.
WBT have all of the garage staff and office staff to pay whereas Fairbrothers have two Fitters and no office staff to pay.
Therefore WBT need to be more expensive to pay its overheads....
Your argument is flawed.
Regardless of how many buses the company owns, how many fitters they employ or the times they operate too/from the passenger is paying for exactly the same product. To get from A to B as you put it.
If it's a case of back room overheads perhaps they should look at cutting costs instead of hitting passengers pockets so hard, and how do Rossendale and Halton manage to charge so much less when they are faced with similar 'overheads'.
If anything Fairbrothers probably are probably hit harder with things like fuel and insurance costs.
As for GHA loadings, they might be low but I'm sure they will be busier next week
I am a new member and hope that everyone will give me guidance where necessary. There appears to be a lot of Network Warrington bashing and I would like to give my views. I feel that Network Warrington deserve credit for not escalating the bus ware with GHA on the 45/46 routes. As is common knowledge NW are withdrawing the 45 service from the 1st September but will continue with the 46. There will be 13 journeys per day from Warrington (only 3 trips will runs five minutes before GHA and most of the others will leave the interchange on the hour which is 25 minutes after the GHA timetables). As far as I understand the 46 route will be the existing one but will also take in Lostock Gralam and Wincham which are part of the 45. I see it that from 1st September Network Warrington will be - Warrington/Stretton/Comberbach/Anderton/Northwich/Lostock Gralam/Wincham/Lostock Gralam/ Northwich/Anderton/Comberbach/Stretton/Warrington. In addition there will be an 8.30 a.m. service nod. 46 from Warrington which will terminate at Stretton returning from there at 8.58 a.m. I have found it extremely easy to contact Network Warrington simply by going to their website pressing contact and sending an email. I have always received a prompt and courteous reply. This is in contrast to a number of interest forwarded for instance to GHA since they entered Warrington to which unfortunately I have never received the courtesy of an acknowledgement never mind a reply. I have nothing whatsoever against Fairbrothers but, of course, as has already been pointed out they only run during peak hours. In fact on the Orford 21 service I think I am correct in saying they only run between the hours of 9.00 a.m. and 2.00 p.m. together with one trip from Warrington at 3.55 p.m. They do not run a Saturday, Sunday or Bank Holiday service on this route. I take it that the reason why is that it is simply uneconomical to do so - as pointed out by the NW driver - NW provide a service from 5.00 a.m. in a morning until 11.00 p.m. at night Monday to Saturday as well of course as a Sunday and Bank Holiday service - I suppose that one way that NW could keep their fares down is to withdraw many more services and whilst I agree that NW fares are no doubt a little on the steep side surely for all the reasons mentioned previously they are unable to sustain the cheap fares which Fairbrothers seem able to do by providing only services on limited busy routes. From my observations GHA do not appear to be carrying many passengers on the 16/16A routes and NW's problem to my mind on this route has been their timetable. This of course is being amended from the 1st September.
GHA are going to look at this as easy competition if GHA keep there fares down and increase there bus numbers and routes around the warrington area.