.
Following on from what has so far been reported the following is my observations from today - (1st June 2016) the date of the new Shrewsbury contracts.
Despite the advance reports in the trade and local press and the information in the N & P's that GHA have registered the 21, 23 and 26 Shrewsbury local services starting today these services were actually still being operated today by Arriva Midlands.
GHA were operating the 511 Shrewsbury - Whitchurch service and the three vehicles employed were MetroCity's
YJ15AWN,
YJ15AWO and Versa
MX58KZF.
Operating the 576 Shrewsbury to Oswestry and/or Baschurch was Volvo/Renown
R217HCD and Solo
LJI8023
Operating the 501 Shrewsbury to Ellesmere was Dart
SF04ZXC and Volvo/Merit
GA04GHA
Opertaing the 436 Shrewsbury to Bridgnorth were Volvo/Renown
R839PRG and Dart
AA52GHA.
Working the 96 Shrewsbury - Telford was Mercedes Sprinter
WX13VMA. As this vehicle did not have a ticket machine I believe passengers were given a free ride.
Later in the afternoon AA04GHA arrived at Shrewsbury depot to supplement the fleet there.
.
.
R217 HCD ended up on the 18:10 501 to Ellesmere
Regards
Chris
Noted the following peak arrivals into Shrewsbury as not using my car today:
AA52 GHA, 96
SF04 ZXC, 436
GA04 GHA, 576
R217 HCD, 501
R839 PRG, 501
MX58 KZF, 511
Hope of interest
Chris
(01/06/2016 18:46)DLG817 Wrote: [ -> ].
Following on from what has so far been reported the following is my observations from today - (1st June 2016) the date of the new Shrewsbury contracts.
Despite the advance reports in the trade and local press and the information in the N & P's that GHA have registered the 21, 23 and 26 Shrewsbury local services starting today these services were actually still being operated today by Arriva Midlands.
GHA were operating the 511 Shrewsbury - Whitchurch service and the three vehicles employed were MetroCity's YJ15AWN, YJ15AWO and Versa MX58KZF.
Operating the 576 Shrewsbury to Oswestry and/or Baschurch was Volvo/Renown R217HCD and Solo LJI8023
Operating the 501 Shrewsbury to Ellesmere was Dart SF04ZXC and Volvo/Merit GA04GHA
Opertaing the 436 Shrewsbury to Bridgnorth were Volvo/Renown R839PRG and Dart AA52GHA.
Working the 96 Shrewsbury - Telford was Mercedes Sprinter WX13VMA. As this vehicle did not have a ticket machine I believe passengers were given a free ride.
Later in the afternoon AA04GHA arrived at Shrewsbury depot to supplement the fleet there.
.
.
Arriva are continuing to operate services 21/23/26 commercially and therefore a short notice registration has been submitted and supported by Shropshire Council.
(02/06/2016 09:16)Depotosw Wrote: [ -> ]Noted the following peak arrivals into Shrewsbury as not using my car today:
AA52 GHA, 96
SF04 ZXC, 436
GA04 GHA, 576
R217 HCD, 501
R839 PRG, 501
MX58 KZF, 511
Hope of interest
Chris
Later saw AA04 GHA on the other 436 diagram.
According to the cheshire east website GHA are cancelling the 84 from july 18th. Bit of a pain in the neck now with no buses from crewe running into the bus exchange.
(02/06/2016 20:59)33109 Wrote: [ -> ]According to the cheshire east website GHA are cancelling the 84 from july 18th. Bit of a pain in the neck now with no buses from crewe running into the bus exchange.
Although some people have strong views about this subject I can assure you it that even before Routemaster registered their C84,when we heard Arriva we were considering reducing their service we were looking at this service as we thought it would a key part of the network we are trying to build.
Sadly we have found out that there are not enough passengers for a half hourly service and I think it is fair to say that even if GHA had not have started its 84 then Routemaster would still have had to cancel their service, it just might have taken a bit longer.
(03/06/2016 06:56)GHA Coaches Wrote: [ -> ]Although some people have strong views about this subject I can assure you it that even before Routemaster registered their C84,when we heard Arriva we were considering reducing their service we were looking at this service as we thought it would a key part of the network we are trying to build.
Sadly we have found out that there are not enough passengers for a half hourly service and I think it is fair to say that even if GHA had not have started its 84 then Routemaster would still have had to cancel their service, it just might have taken a bit longer.
When Arriva withdraw/reduce a service there are quite often multiple smaller operators interested in running a replacement. Arriva actually withdrew another Crewe area service around the same time as the 84 was cut back and D&G and Routemaster both submitted registration requests to take on that service, only for Routemaster to submit a cancellation request as soon as they saw a D&G registration having been accepted. D&G also registered 2 services per hour between Nantwich and Crewe on the 84 route between school/college start and end times but soon changed that to 1 per hour.
I think one problem with the 84 was that no operator started running replacement services for the ones Arriva withdrew until a couple of weeks after Arriva withdrew them so passengers would likely have started adjusting their journeys to fit around the revised Arriva timetable. The lack of integrated ticketing in Cheshire would also be an issue. I also imagine a lot of passengers had no idea what was going on when one week they caught a Routemaster bus, the next they were waiting at the bus stop at same time and a GHA bus turns up.
Anyone know what is going on with the 84 Chester - Crewe until withdrawal? Saturday popped up and all workings were covered with a PVR of 3. I popped up Monday and nothing was running, there were quite a few fed up passengers waiting in Tarvin for numerious morning turns. All in all poor show. The 82 was fully operational without any issues however.
I've always found them to be a good bunch on the 82's over the years.I use them for work occasionally and its always tended to be the same bunch of guys driving it with on the whole. My only gripe lately is the obvious lack of cleaning of the buses interior... wouldnt want to be wearing anything white or cream put it that way.
Not had the experience of theyre 84 service however.