Avon Buses

[WAITING FOR THE 437]

RE: Avon Buses
Does anyone know if Avon are now back on track! I hope they are. Or are they just not being explicit anymore about any cancellations to keep Merseytravel happy.

[busdude]

RE: Avon Buses
I never knew that Avons 164 & 165 started yesterday. Thought it would would have started from the 23rd

164/165 timetable

[N271CKB]

RE: Avon Buses
It was 23rd with all the other changes, but believe Eazibus packed it in early

[mr t]

RE: Avon Buses
It always was to be the 9th that was the end of the original contract like the 61

[Mayneway]

RE: Avon Buses

(03/07/2017 15:22)wirralbus Wrote:  But a company cant run these services without drivers , if there drivers are being poached by Stagecoach what can you do , what would you do ?

They cant withdraw any service they need at least 56 days notice . I stand behind what i say its a catch 22 situation.

Surly some of the blame has to go to Merseytravel. Over the waters in Manchester not long ago MCT fell into difficulties with a shortage of vehicles allegedly after a Vosa inspection at the depot. Tfgm were informed and Stagecoach and Belle Vue stepped in to run some journeys on Stockport services until the problems were solved some days later.

Surly if Merseytravel were informed of these issues rather than simply sticking up paper notices in bus stations they could have asked stagecoach or arrive, who lets be honest have the resources anyway, to help out until the issues are resolved.

[wirralbus]

RE: Avon Buses

(11/07/2017 22:14)Mayneway Wrote:  Surly some of the blame has to go to Merseytravel. Over the waters in Manchester not long ago MCT fell into difficulties with a shortage of vehicles allegedly after a Vosa inspection at the depot. Tfgm were informed and Stagecoach and Belle Vue stepped in to run some journeys on Stockport services until the problems were solved some days later.

Surly if Merseytravel were informed of these issues rather than simply sticking up paper notices in bus stations they could have asked stagecoach or arrive, who lets be honest have the resources anyway, to help out until the issues are resolved.

Another complication is that not all services that were cancelled were merseytravel , a good bit of the work happened to be commercial work which merseytravel would have no jurisdiction over .

Avon had been rather canny over the years making commercial a lot of the work that they first obtained by tender.

[St Helens Rider]

RE: Avon Buses
Avon are back to having operational difficulties again, Merseytravel website reports that some journeys on 10/10A, 77 & 88 will not operate today.

[robertclark125]

RE: Avon Buses
Is there anything to stop Avon from contacting another operator, be it Stagecoach MCSL, Arriva Merseyside, or other independents, such as Al's of Birkenhead, Aintree Coachline, and asking them if they have a spare driver and bus, or drivers and buses, and asking them to cover the journeys on the tendered routes, with the fare revenue going to whoever is covering, and the buses carrying a sticker saying "On hire to Avon buses"?

[Bevan Price]

RE: Avon Buses

(13/07/2017 20:48)robertclark125 Wrote:  Is there anything to stop Avon from contacting another operator, be it Stagecoach MCSL, Arriva Merseyside, or other independents, such as Al's of Birkenhead, Aintree Coachline, and asking them if they have a spare driver and bus, or drivers and buses, and asking them to cover the journeys on the tendered routes, with the fare revenue going to whoever is covering, and the buses carrying a sticker saying "On hire to Avon buses"?

In principle - probably no (if they can afford the hire fees). But other operators might be glad to see a competitor stop trading....

[Mayneway]

RE: Avon Buses

(13/07/2017 20:48)robertclark125 Wrote:  Is there anything to stop Avon from contacting another operator, be it Stagecoach MCSL, Arriva Merseyside, or other independents, such as Al's of Birkenhead, Aintree Coachline, and asking them if they have a spare driver and bus, or drivers and buses, and asking them to cover the journeys on the tendered routes, with the fare revenue going to whoever is covering, and the buses carrying a sticker saying "On hire to Avon buses"?

But again like my previous post why is Merseytravel standing by and watching this happen. Ok so a few missed trips is one thing but it seems like the problems are ongoing. They should now be arranging for other operators to cover these tenders on an emergency basis - whether it be temporarily while Avon sort themselves out or permantly until re-tendering.
Let's not forget these tendered services are contracts between company and local transport aurthority, the fact the company is failing to operate some of these contracts means they are in breech of the contracts.