First Manchester

[M60lad]

RE: First Manchester
It seems Bolton are struggling vehicle wise at the moment as well with a few of the 582 branded B7s off the road at the moment as I've seen quite a few deckers on 582 as of late

[Owl]

RE: First Manchester

(24/07/2015 23:06)citario Wrote:  There seems to be a few odd allocations going on at the moment are first experimenting during the summer months when kids are off school.

Kids for a Quid on the 81 is an interesting one - showing the customers on Moston Lane what their full fares are supporting.

[Mayneway]

RE: First Manchester

(25/07/2015 10:38)Owl Wrote:  Kids for a Quid on the 81 is an interesting one - showing the customers on Moston Lane what their full fares are supporting.

I had the same thought earlier in the week in Ashton. I've noticed several Rusholme Enviro400's working out of Oldham complete with 'Quids in - Manchester to Didsbury £1' branding. An insult really when Ashton to Oldham is around the £3 mark!

Perhaps the management at Oldham think punters paying full fare won't twig that their supporting the £1 payers on Wilmslow road!

[Mayneway]

RE: First Manchester

(25/07/2015 16:30)Dentonian Wrote:  Surely, you aren't suggesting that "evil" First are cross subsidising 41/42 with revenue from captive market areas, any more than Stagecoach are cross subsidising the 38 & 50 from revenue on Hyde Road corridor and elsewhere!
As for passengers on the 81 (and 88), I suspect they would be glad if the services ever went more than eight weeks without a timetable change! And I mean *ever*.

I'm sure it was only a couple of weeks ago when discussing Fairbrothers pound to town services that your very self rightly pointed out that it was impossible to sustain a service where the fare was just £1 so yes I am implying that me and many other fare paying passengers are propping up the 'Wilmslow Road bus war'.

I may sound like a broken record but Diesel is STILL falling in price and is now cheaper than petrol both wholesale and at the pump. I know larger operaters speculate when buying fuel but given that the wholesale price of diesel has been slowly falling over the past 14 months I'm certain both Stagecoach and First are feeling the effects of it yet are very selective about who gets special deals and where. It would be great to see some kind of special offer accross the network - stagecoach did it a couple of years ago offering online weekly and monthly tickets slightly cheaper!

[Mayneway]

RE: First Manchester

(25/07/2015 19:51)Dentonian Wrote:  There was an element of sarcasm in my comments, and I totally agree with you. Privatisation (and worse still, de-regulation) of public services always lead to "postcode lotteries", because privateers know some people don't have a choice. I've seen it today in the NHS' "competitive market", where different (often simple) functions can only be carried out at the Primary Care Centre that can do it "most efficiently". To hell with the customer/patient. You need your wound dressing changed safely? Certainly sir, its a 6 mile two bus journey, but we only open office hours, so you will have to finish work two hours early every other day until the wound has heeled. Luckily for me, after one unofficial training session, my brother is unsquemish (if there is such a word) and competent, so we've got round it. But what about patients with no able relatives?

I got your sarcasm Dentionan

I think we have all suffered as a result of the so called postcode lottery (not the winning one either). At the risk of taking the thread slightly off topic I was refused a routine treatment several years ago so ended up going private at a cost of £240. The treatment I recieved was top notch but the consultant informed me that he also worked at the MRI and had I had a M postcode and not a OL postcode I would certainly have received yhe treatment on the NHS.

Sad that buses seem to have gone the same way. If I was travelling on the 38 every day I'd be saving £3.50 a week, that's £14 a month! The more I think about it the more it really annoys me.

[Owl]

RE: First Manchester

(25/07/2015 16:30)Dentonian Wrote:  As for passengers on the 81 (and 88), I suspect they would be glad if the services ever went more than eight weeks without a timetable change! And I mean *ever*.

On that vein, why do First use the 81 number for the short service that used to go to White Moss, and now goes to the Gardeners Arms. Arn't there other numbers they can use? As someone who goes beyond the Gardeners it seems a little odd.

[M60lad]

RE: First Manchester
Actually Dentonian its the short White Moses that are 88s not short Gardners Arms as there the ones that are 81s

[Owl]

RE: First Manchester

(26/07/2015 19:11)Dentonian Wrote:  Sorry, got the numbers transposed but the principle is that the numbers now make sense, as White Moss was always on the 88/89 route.

Yes, understand that, but why run a short service on an existing number. There must be other numbers that can be used - Stagecoach dropped the 80 some time ago.

[WhiteVanMan]

RE: First Manchester

(27/07/2015 15:17)Dentonian Wrote:  I don't think an opening date of the Busway or delivery date of the buses has ever been mentioned other than as rumour/gossip. Suffice to say that if there has been any significant delay, then the problem is not with the Leigh-Salford section.

I would like to know why there's a delay, when construction work appeared to be going so well,
I just hope that it does not become another white elephant, like the Cambridgeshire Guided Busway, which was nicked name the "mis-guided busway", following delays after delays, after delays.

[Owl]

RE: First Manchester

(27/07/2015 13:13)Dentonian Wrote:  You would have to ask First, but I don't ever recall short workings of a specific route using a different number in GM. There might be an agrument for re-introducing the "X" suffix now that all blinds are automated, but generations of Greater Mancunians are used to a single number denoting a specific line of route, even if the journey doesn't cover the full route. In fact, I would venture to suggest that Stagecoach using 114 for short 112s just because they have to turn on to Mainway to physically turn round, caused more confusion than had they just stuck to 112, with or without a suffix letter. In the early days especially, how many inbound passengers in Moston or Harpurhey let 114s go past and waited for a 112 and then complained (even if only amongst themselves) that Stagecoach had halved the service?

Thanks for the background Dentonian, I hadn't appreciated the history behind it