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RE: D&G Bus - knutstransport - 04/10/2023 10:47
(04/10/2023 03:18)iMarkeh Wrote: Depends on how tight the duty is with driving hours. Bearing in mind the bus left Macclesfield the same time that it should have left Knutsford, running to Thorneyholme Drive the bus would have still been far too later so perhaps it was a set down only job?
When I said that I did overlook that it would miss anyone waiting at Knutsford bus station for Longridge/Mobberley/Wilmslow.
What surprised me about the tracking is it looks like the bus driver was trying to hide. No tracked leaving time for Macclesfield bus station, then heading for Alderley Edge via Over Alderley, rather than via Nether Alderley where it might pass a vehicle on the 130. Then turned around in Mobberley and passed the other 88 bus going in the correct direction slightly later than the scheduled time it's supposed to pass it. Not driving as far as Wilmslow, but waiting for 6 minutes in Mobberley on the way back.
Quote:What is worrying though about the tracking is the amount of buses not serving areas. I will say, this is just where tracking shows the bus clearly didn't serve an area (with multiple tracking points off the route).
08:30 Alt - Knuts missed out the estate. Ticket machine turned off just before Mobberley (did it serve Longridge?
09:45 Knuts - Alt missed Morley Green
09:47 Knuts - Macc missed Well Bank Lane in Peover
10:55 Macc - Alt missed Well Bank Lane in Peover
12:45 Alt - Macc missed Ollerton
12:55 Macc - Alt missed Well Bank Lane in Peover
13:45 Alt - Knuts missed Morley Green
15:55 Alt - Macc went via Ollerton when they shouldn't have done then missed Chelford
16:55 Macc - Alt missed Ollerton and Morley Green
18:15 Macc - Wilms is noted above
18:50 Alt - Knuts missed Wilmslow Estate and logged off machine near Mobberley (did it serve Longridge?)
18:45 Macc - Knuts ran via Ollerton instead of via Barclays and Toft
Drivers skipping Longridge on the last Altrincham-Knutsford journey is an issue that was been raised with D&G Bus and they are supposed to have reminded drivers that the last Knutsford bound journey is still supposed to be pick up anyone in Knutsford who wishes to head in to town.
There was also an issue with one driver thinking the 89 route was via Tabley Road instead of Northwich Road, which creates an issue when D&G said the alternative for the lack of the 300 service out to Lilac Avenue was the 89 would stop at the Northwich Road/Lilac Avenue junction.
I think they should renumber the Macclesfield-Knutsford to be 87, keeping through journeys and through ticketing with the 88. That way they could go back to adding the A and B suffixes to the service number to advertise the route differences, without confusing passengers in Altrincham. Maybe 87 - via Ollerton, 87A via Barclays and Toft Road and 87B via Beggarman's Lane.
RE: D&G Bus - 319373 - 05/10/2023 16:33
(03/10/2023 18:47)knutstransport Wrote: Anyone able to offer an explanation for this journey?
https://bustimes.org/services/188-macclesfield-knutsford-wilmslow-altrincham/vehicles?date=2023-10-03#journeys/485407500
I can understand the bus remaining at Macclesfield for 35 minutes, even though the bus was due out earlier, if the driver was due a break as it was very late arriving in Macclesfield.
But running an 88 from Macclesfield to Alderley Edge to Knolls Green to Wilmslow roundabout (not via Chapel Lane) then back to Mobberley (sitting there for 6 minutes) and then running to Knutsford (avoiding Longridge)?
If it was to prevent the driver going over hours the logical thing to do would be to run direct from Macclesfield bus station to Thorneyholme Drive, Knutsford (making anyone else to wait for the 18:45), then run as normal to Wilmslow.
Anyone able to offer an explanation why the Bustimes entry that 'knutstransport' quoted has since had both the scheduled times and actual times columns deleted?
Not just for this route, but for all of D&G's routes. Not only these, but the same happened to all Chaserider routes.
This isn't the first time that this has happened this week. The exact same thing occurred, on both D&G and Chaserider fleets, overnight on Monday night.
I first posted about this issue just over a month ago. Since then, I make it that both fleets have had an 'overnight removal' of Bustimes timing columns on at least five occasions now. Strange, that - something to hide, by any chance?
RE: D&G Bus - iMarkeh - 06/10/2023 10:24
(05/10/2023 16:33)319373 Wrote: Anyone able to offer an explanation why the Bustimes entry that 'knutstransport' quoted has since had both the scheduled times and actual times columns deleted?It seems to be an issue where the timetable dataset is updated (in this case, the dataset was updated on the 4th Sept and bustimes refreshes the data normally the next day after the dataset is updated). As the dataset is updated, it doesn't go back and link the tracking trip to the timetable trip for any trips logged prior to the data refresh (if that makes sense. Not sure if I have explained it well)
Not just for this route, but for all of D&G's routes. Not only these, but the same happened to all Chaserider routes.
This isn't the first time that this has happened this week. The exact same thing occurred, on both D&G and Chaserider fleets, overnight on Monday night.
I first posted about this issue just over a month ago. Since then, I make it that both fleets have had an 'overnight removal' of Bustimes timing columns on at least five occasions now. Strange, that - something to hide, by any chance?
To give this example,
the dataset was updated on the 4th Sept. The new data was probably loaded onto bustimes on the 5th Sept. Any journeys logged prior to the 5th Sept the trips are not matched.
RE: D&G Bus - knutstransport - 18/10/2023 18:30
It seems two of the Centrebus branded Enviros have gone to Cannock and two Chaserider Enviros are currently at Crewe.
RE: D&G Bus - knutstransport - 28/10/2023 17:52
Regarding D&G only part running some journeys. I saw this bus going out-of-service at the Parkgate Lane roundabout on Mobberley Road, Knutsford at just after 6:10 this evening. Seems it ran the 16:55 Macclesfield to Altrincham only as far as Wilmslow and then turned around.
https://bustimes.org/vehicles/dagc-130-yj60-kff#journeys/495964551
RE: D&G Bus - dounowhoiam - 28/10/2023 22:49
(28/10/2023 17:52)knutstransport Wrote: Regarding D&G only part running some journeys. I saw this bus going out-of-service at the Parkgate Lane roundabout on Mobberley Road, Knutsford at just after 6:10 this evening. Seems it ran the 16:55 Macclesfield to Altrincham only as far as Wilmslow and then turned around.
https://bustimes.org/vehicles/dagc-130-yj60-kff#journeys/495964551
Surely that would breach the TfGM tender contract and what about those who would be relying upon that last bus back from Wilmslow towards Altrincham.
I know that if I was visiting Macclesfield I'd be relying on that either from the 1655 directly or using the 1625 130 (as that and it's later service only go as far as Handforth).
RE: D&G Bus - knutstransport - 29/10/2023 09:10
(28/10/2023 22:49)dounowhoiam Wrote: Surely that would breach the TfGM tender contract and what about those who would be relying upon that last bus back from Wilmslow towards Altrincham.
I know that if I was visiting Macclesfield I'd be relying on that either from the 1655 directly or using the 1625 130 (as that and it's later service only go as far as Handforth).
I've used the last Sat Macclesfield-Altrincham service a few times, but not since the timetable change.
I wonder if it's a driver shortage issue or a driver who could be bothered. I think both are possible. Prior to the timetable change, the last Sat service did have a driver change at Knutsford. So, it's possible if there was no relief driver the one already on just continued for people already on the bus. (The tracking also shows it left Knutsford early.)
One issue with buses in general is they don't have the same legal requirement that train operators have regarding last services. Part refunding a few day tickets is nothing compared to having to organise a taxi for stranded passengers. However, I would hope that bus operators would plan to ensure every last journey operates, even if they are short of drivers/vehicles and they have to cancel another journey that would attract a few more passengers.
RE: D&G Bus - 319373 - 01/11/2023 12:44
(28/10/2023 17:52)knutstransport Wrote: Regarding D&G only part running some journeys. I saw this bus going out-of-service at the Parkgate Lane roundabout on Mobberley Road, Knutsford at just after 6:10 this evening. Seems it ran the 16:55 Macclesfield to Altrincham only as far as Wilmslow and then turned around.
https://bustimes.org/vehicles/dagc-130-yj60-kff#journeys/495964551
Thanks so much for pointing this out. In a remarkable coincidence - much like the last time you called out D&G - they have [only a couple of days later] altered their BusTimes data - so that both timing columns have disappeared. Looks like it happened overnight - to all entries. Once more, this affected all the entries provided - for both D&G and Chaserider.[/u]
Put simply - although the tracking maps remain, it's now much harder to ascertain which parts of this trip have either been missed out - or passed early. Other operators do not seem to do this, anywhere near as often.
I'll say it again - have D&G got something to hide? It's so, so odd - how this happens, each time an 'irregularity' is flagged up.
RE: D&G Bus - iMarkeh - 02/11/2023 00:22
(01/11/2023 12:44)319373 Wrote: Thanks so much for pointing this out. In a remarkable coincidence - much like the last time you called out D&G - they have [only a couple of days later] altered their BusTimes data - so that both timing columns have disappeared. Looks like it happened overnight - to all entries. Once more, this affected all the entries provided - for both D&G and Chaserider.[/u]As much as I like to bash D&G and I will openly slate them until the day ends, I really don't think that this is the case. The dataset at Bus Open Data automatically updates from their Ticketer portal and so if D&G change something on their Ticketer portal, it refreshes the data. D&G and Chaserider seem to be on a single Ticketer 'account' and so open data is one big dataset. It's worth noting that a lot of changes have been happening at the wider D&G/Chaserider operation recently with the 62/63 Chaserider being 'withdrawn' and then the council restarting these services with an improved timetable. Tender wins with Wolves 5 and Walsall 19. New 74C starting in Stafford. 7A/18 changing in Stoke. Looking at their dataset, they have made changes to the 32/32A and X41 data so that people are shown the correct data with respect to Alton Towers Open/closed days (bearing in mind the timetables are different). Recent changes to the Telford tenders and changes to Pye Green services as well. That is as well as perhaps correcting any errors which may exist on the datasets.
Put simply - although the tracking maps remain, it's now much harder to ascertain which parts of this trip have either been missed out - or passed early. Other operators do not seem to do this, anywhere near as often.
I'll say it again - have D&G got something to hide? It's so, so odd - how this happens, each time an 'irregularity' is flagged up.
To give D&G some credit (unlike me), they do seem to keep their data up to date whereas a lot of other operators are extremely poor at keeping the data updated. Any operator with a large dataset (such as D&G) who maintains their data as well as D&G do, will see a lot of updates sent out to passengers. If D&G and Chaserider datasets were split, data wouldn't refresh as much.
I genuinely think it's coincidence and not them actively going out to mess up the data. It's also a bit of a bustimes thing whereby they don't save old data or backdate old tracking to link up to timetables, If bustimes were do to it another way, it would mean a LOT of saving old data or risking linking previous trips to new data so the timetable matching would be wrong.
RE: D&G Bus - knutstransport - 08/11/2023 19:05
Seems D&G are reverting to almost the old 88/89 timetables from 19 November to 'improve reliability' i.e. adding back in all the padding they took out. Obviously ignoring that the main cause of the late running has been roadworks, which should end this month.
Might also help if they didn't try to run the 13:45 Altrincham-Knutsford and 14:45 Knutsford-Altrincham using the same vehicle. I guess their reasoning for doing that is so they don't have to use two large buses to ensure the 188 morning and afternoon journeys both get the required capacity.