(30/07/2020 09:16)knutstransport Wrote: [ -> ]Wasn't one of the main criticisms of UK North that they were using Polish drivers who spoke very little English, so combined with poor route knowledge, they were hopeless at understanding what ticket they needed to sell to a passenger?
It was. Although (not so much in defence as in comparison) most of their routes generally followed one main road (apart from schools), and most passengers in the polish driver era just bought flat fare or weekly tickets. So there was a degree of simplicity.
Diamond on the other hand have routes that aren’t actually that easy to follow even if you know the area! On day 3 of the new trafford timetables yesterday there wasn’t much improvement. I passed one 18 doing a reverse round corner, and another completely off route!
Enviro200 31401 is tracking as B7Rle 69170 today on the 507 according to Bustimes.
(30/07/2020 09:36)djb Wrote: [ -> ]It was. Although (not so much in defence as in comparison) most of their routes generally followed one main road (apart from schools), and most passengers in the polish driver era just bought flat fare or weekly tickets. So there was a degree of simplicity.
Diamond on the other hand have routes that aren’t actually that easy to follow even if you know the area! On day 3 of the new trafford timetables yesterday there wasn’t much improvement. I passed one 18 doing a reverse round corner, and another completely off route!
One of the breadvans on the 217 today still had its ‘preston Bus’ fleetnames with ‘Ribble valley link’ route branding. If they can take delivery of a Streetdeck and get vinyls applied and out on the road in less than 24 hours why’s it so hard to remove some vinyls from a bus??
Is the 695 now run by Eccles? it always seems to have Eccles based vehicles on it.
I've been out & about today.
Talked to a few drivers from stagecoach & goodwins etc. Apparently word on the street they've heard is diamond might be sinking.
Supposedly struggling with the workload, don't know exactly what the issues are but bolton depot was mentioned as a problem area.
(03/08/2020 16:52)33109 Wrote: [ -> ]I've been out & about today.
Talked to a few drivers from stagecoach & goodwins etc. Apparently word on the street they've heard is diamond might be sinking.
Supposedly struggling with the workload, don't know exactly what the issues are but bolton depot was mentioned as a problem area.
The rumours are nothing new but it’s true they are struggling. If it’s not a shortage of vehicles it’s a shortage of drivers and to be honest with conditions how they are at Bolton I’m really not surprised. Wages are rarely right. Training is non exsistant and management have very little regard for drivers. Eccles isn’t much better BUT they are apparently overstaffed.
(03/08/2020 17:17)Mayneway Wrote: [ -> ]The rumours are nothing new but it’s true they are struggling. If it’s not a shortage of vehicles it’s a shortage of drivers and to be honest with conditions how they are at Bolton I’m really not surprised. Wages are rarely right. Training is non exsistant and management have very little regard for drivers. Eccles isn’t much better BUT they are apparently overstaffed.
Drivers I talked with today seem to reckon they'll be sunk in the next 12-18 months tops.
(03/08/2020 19:37)33109 Wrote: [ -> ]Drivers I talked with today seem to reckon they'll be sunk in the next 12-18 months tops.
Can’t see them being ‘sunk’ as you put it as Eccles is mainly tendered work anyway but what I can possibly see is other big operators registering against them on some of their core services!
I cant see Diamond myself going anywhere soon considering how much money they've spent on Diamond Northwest recently with the new double deckers that are arriving now.
As for Big Operators taking them over who is there now to take them over? I very much doubt First will want Bolton back as it was them who got rid of Bolton in the first place, I thought Arriva were after selling up in the UK or has that changed now? Stagecoach probably cant have Bolton due to them probably then having a Monopoly in Manchester area.
I might be wrong here but from what I can gather at the moment the days of missing services from Diamond are virtually over and most services that they run are quite reliable and turn up when they are meant to.
(04/08/2020 05:59)M60lad Wrote: [ -> ]I cant see Diamond myself going anywhere soon considering how much money they've spent on Diamond Northwest recently with the new double deckers that are arriving now.
As for Big Operators taking them over who is there now to take them over? I very much doubt First will want Bolton back as it was them who got rid of Bolton in the first place, I thought Arriva were after selling up in the UK or has that changed now? Stagecoach probably cant have Bolton due to them probably then having a Monopoly in Manchester area.
I might be wrong here but from what I can gather at the moment the days of missing services from Diamond are virtually over and most services that they run are quite reliable and turn up when they are meant to.
If there were any interest in taking Diamond over, it might conceivably come from Transdev, especially if Preston Bus were also on the table.