(27/02/2016 22:15)Lynx Wrote: [ -> ]Not going to talk about the financial standing of companys on here but you have to wonder why GHA are doing this. It's ridiculous and I sincerely hope that the traffic commissioner gets involved sooner rather than later. Any chance they had of making a storm on Warrington has now evaporated as there are already a number of passengers who are boycotting their service and many who have switched back to Warrington weekly tickets because GHA simply can't be relied upon. It's not to say that they couldn't rebuild but they have lost all the hard work they initially put in to Warrington and their reputation isn't going to come back overnight if the 16 starts running again as people no longer trust GHA to not be running it.
GHA had done so much to form a positive impression by introducing new buses, taking over the 27 and 38 (now 87) routes when High Peak didn't want to run them any more and providing a more reliable service and the same with the ex-Bakerbus Friday/Saturday evening services around Macclesfield. However, since December the service hasn't been that reliable on a number of routes formerly operated by the Macclesfield outstation.
I think GHA missed an opportunity when Warrington Coachways had their licence revoked. Registering a replacement service for Altrincham-Warrington commercially could have got them in to Warrington on a much more positive note. However, I think there is still an opportunity which hasn't been taken up by other operators - High Legh used to get an hourly service to Warrington and it now just gets a token partial reinstatement of the old 47 route, while High Legh isn't large enough to justify a regular service by itself if it was part of a through Warrington-Macclesfield service (or possibly Warrington-Congleton) it would open up new journey opportunities.
(28/02/2016 01:20)T42 PVM Wrote: [ -> ]To keep things fair all the problems seem to be Tarvin Depot related So is it ok to assume everything is running fine at their other Depots?
Which Tarvin routes have had persistent problems which aren't outside of GHA's control?
The ones I've heard about seem to have been
Winsford depot: P1, 16, 19, 27, 45, 46
Ruabon depot: 5
With 16 and 46 being the worst affected.
(27/02/2016 23:39)Mayneway Wrote: [ -> ]Does it not make you question what thier motives actually are? Are they in it to build a decent profitable network, or is it to make a quick few pounds or is it simply to try and muscle in on other operators.
The opertunity was there in Warrington to run a decent kind of alternative to NW and I think given time and more importantly consistency I think it could have paid off in the long run but I don't think that was there plan.
I had my doubts they would stick around long term from the moment they started but when they bought the metrocities, branded them for Warrington and started up on the 16 I totally expected them to have a hold on Warrington within a matter of months and I am quite surprised really that they are scaling back. I think with GHA it hasn't been a case of "smash and grab" but rather that they have been impatient and just like you said they have been far to inconsistent, something that as a bus operator is the most important thing to passengers.
Personally, I think GHA took the wrong approach to Warrington. They established a route already served by NW, a hard operator to compete against. You see it with the non NW routes that operate. Halton 62 doesn't pick up much in Stockton Heath, Arriva 110, 329 and 360 don't pick up much in Penketh and along Winwick road respectively, and First 100 doesn't pick up much through woolston. These routes are successful though because they're providing links to Runcorn, St Helens, Wigan and Manchester that NW don't operate. As it was stated earlier, GHA would have been more successful with a link maybe to Macc or Congleton, where their competition is small, and then branching into other routes.
(29/02/2016 06:37)telf23 Wrote: [ -> ]Personally, I think GHA took the wrong approach to Warrington. They established a route already served by NW, a hard operator to compete against. You see it with the non NW routes that operate. Halton 62 doesn't pick up much in Stockton Heath, Arriva 110, 329 and 360 don't pick up much in Penketh and along Winwick road respectively, and First 100 doesn't pick up much through woolston. These routes are successful though because they're providing links to Runcorn, St Helens, Wigan and Manchester that NW don't operate. As it was stated earlier, GHA would have been more successful with a link maybe to Macc or Congleton, where their competition is small, and then branching into other routes.
To be fair though Fairbrothers does ok against NW on existing NW services. There will be people that are loyal to NW but there will be people that want a cheaper alternative, but like I've said people are thickle, they won't just switch to the new cheaper option straight away, they will watch for consistency and reliability and only then make the move, and the problem is they couldn't offer any of this.
It dosen't matter if your using nice newly painted branded buses, if you carnt offer what the passenger wants your not going to survive - who wants to stand at a bus stop in January waiting for a non exsistant bus to turn up.
I'm not Fairbrothers biggest fan - there's a lot if potential that he's not tapping into, but at least hes took NW on and is doing ok.
(29/02/2016 10:57)Mayneway Wrote: [ -> ]To be fair though Fairbrothers does ok against NW on existing NW services. There will be people that are loyal to NW but there will be people that want a cheaper alternative, but like I've said people are thickle, they won't just switch to the new cheaper option straight away, they will watch for consistency and reliability and only then make the move, and the problem is they couldn't offer any of this.
It dosen't matter if your using nice newly painted branded buses, if you carnt offer what the passenger wants your not going to survive - who wants to stand at a bus stop in January waiting for a non exsistant bus to turn up.
I'm not Fairbrothers biggest fan - there's a lot if potential that he's not tapping into, but at least hes took NW on and is doing ok.
But fairbrothers already had a presence in Warrington. GHA didn't
(29/02/2016 13:26)telf23 Wrote: [ -> ]But fairbrothers already had a presence in Warrington. GHA didn't
Agreed but they wernt known for service work it was for coach/school work, plus they were heavily crisicised by many locals when they first launched the 'pound to town' services for simply mimicking NW services instead of creating their own, infact they still receive some for thier Monday to Friday 'office hours' operating times.
The problem is the most profitable services are the ones operated at the moment , and the Monday to Friday office hours service is to fit around there lucrative contracts more than anything else .
I just wonder whether going back to subject GHA are just retrenching after probably expanding a bit too far .
(29/02/2016 16:46)wirralbus Wrote: [ -> ]The problem is the most profitable services are the ones operated at the moment , and the Monday to Friday office hours service is to fit around there lucrative contracts more than anything else .
I just wonder whether going back to subject GHA are just retrenching after probably expanding a bit too far .
By the sounds of it the DDA coming into force has had a bigger effect on them than they anticipated, why is beyond me as it's been very well publicised for the last couple of years.
If the DDA coming into effect for single deckers , lets hope everybody gets themselves sorted out for the double decker change.