(23/03/2019 23:09)Bevan Price Wrote:  Got a poor impression of D&G today on my first trip on the 82 since they replaced Arriva. The 10:40 ex-Northwich failed to appear, leaving several passengers to wait over an hour for the 11:40 departure with Enviro 200 no. 32 (SL64JGU) .
They found an unidentified Solo for the 11:45 ex-Chester (normally the return working of the 10:40 off Northwich), which was running about 20 minutes late when we passed it.
32 (SL64JGO) worked the 12:40 Northwich - Chester & 13:45 return.

(23/03/2019 23:57)Rick Hunter Wrote:  With the 11.45 from Chester being a Solo it's just likely the working you turned out for had failed en route and the Solo was the replacement.

(21/03/2019 13:38)iMarkeh Wrote:  Hale Barns has the circulars as well in the evening. Albeit not very often but they are still there. Surely there is another route which could be done where passengers will be more likely to use it.
I am surprised that TFGM haven't gone down the same road as Warrington with Logistics North and Airport City, putting in special works buses. Fund them for a very short time and they eventually become commercial and help to increase public transport passenger numbers by a heck of a low for such minimal work and effort.

(23/03/2019 07:20)Brickmill Wrote:  I'm not sure if Airport City don't contribute towards some of these extensions beyond the Airport Interchange and there is a soon to be expanded Local Link for Logistics North but TBH why should Council Tax payers contribute towards serving multi billion pound companies (Amazon?) when the budget is stretched as it is. Besides aren't these Delivery companies one of the main reasons for the decline in commercial bus services?

(24/03/2019 15:36)knutstransport Wrote:  Remember Airport City isn't just Amazon and that a service going to Airport City might end up (either purposely or not) other significant sized workplaces e.g. Waters Corp in Morley Green or Royal London in Wilmslow.

The Hut Group are set to move from Gadbrook Park, Northwich to Airport City (if they haven't already started doing so.) Now you could say they should fund a bus from the Northwich area to Airport City but if some of their employees live in places like Winsford, Knutsford, Lymm etc. why would they go to Northwich to get a bus back in the opposite direction? Then if you had a few DHL workers living in Northwich, why shouldn't they be able to catch the bus? If it's funded by The Hut Group for their employees it's unlikely DHL or Amazon employees could use it.

(24/03/2019 09:29)knutstransport Wrote:  Given D&G have been known to use Solos (28 and 35 seater), Streetlites and 8.8m Enviro 200s on the 82 I wouldn't automatically think a Solo on the 82 is because a larger bus failed.

I think there's actually 5 possibilities I can think of:
1. As you described - the Solo was sent out as a replacement.
2. The Solo was the bus that failed and a mechanic was called out who fixed the problem but a service went missing while that was taking place.
3. Another bus broke down and the Solo was taken off the service it should have been working to rescue the stranded passengers, meaning it was out of position.
4. There were no problems with the vehicles and it was actually a staffing issue
5. A road closure meant a service couldn't run or had to be terminated short.

(23/03/2019 23:57)Rick Hunter Wrote:  With the 11.45 from Chester being a Solo it's just likely the working you turned out for had failed en route and the Solo was the replacement. Breakdowns can and do happen unexpectedly and unfortunately that results in journieys failing to run. Circumstance beyond control of the company. The 12.40 from Northwich must surely be 31 as I doubt they have 2 vehicles carrying the same fleet number.