Stagecoach Manchester

[Mayneway]

RE: Stagecoach Manchester and Wigan

(27/02/2016 17:39)Dentonian Wrote:  This row between TFGMC and the Operators has sprung up again. This time, its TFGMC on the front foot, and having seen the details of April 3rd changes, and noted the Operators' (predictable) response, I have to say that The Operators are losing this battle.
For Stagecoach's part, they have again made no changes at all to services supposedly affected by these cross-city roadworks, confining their (known) changes to self financing (ie. cutting the number of journeys, rather than increasing resources) punctuality tweaks to peak hour services only. Drifting off thread, First are making widespread reductions to commercial services from 3rd April, just as TFGMC feel forced to slash subsidised services.

TFGMC's Chair has gone to the MEN (unfortunately the story just slipped off the website) accusing Operators of making "Super Profits". Stagecoach's reply has been to repeat the cross-city argument, claim that fares have increased below inflation since they acquired GMS in 1996, and are investing an average £5 million a year in "vehicles and services".
As regards the investment, this comes just as its reported elsewhere that the six MMCs diverted to Devon, will NOT be replaced after all, although I doubt Councillor Fender would know that specific detail. The main point though is that at current prices, £5m buys little more than the 25 'deckers a year that are actually here. As Stagecoach Manchester currently have some 800 buses licenced, that suggests an expected vehicle life of over THIRTY years!
I haven't got 1996 fare tables to hand - or can recall the price of off bus tickets 20 years ago - but having done previous calculations based on 1986 (De reg), I know single fares have increased MANY, MANY times the rate of inflation. For the argument to hold water with off bus tickets, then a MegaRider equivalent would have needed to be £8.70 or more, and a DaySaver £2.40 or more in 1996.
First's response was a stock "we continue to work with our partners" comment.

Presumeably, this attack by Councillor Fender has been prompted by First's cuts to commercial services (not listed on any MEN news item) totally unconnected with Leigh Guided Busway, but Stagecoach's "city centre" this, "city centre" that diatribe, certainly doesn't help their cause.

From internal comments I've heard, TFGM (never mind TFGMC) are "angry" that both First (in terms of quantity) and Stagecoach (in terms of quality) seem to be abandoning the districts. I think their anger is heightened because things are deteriorating quickly, just as you'd think the Operators would try to prove Bus Services are better off in a commercial environment.

Remember Stagecoach Manchester's record (single fares apart) was very good from 1996 until probably 2014, and relations with First improved dramatically when off-bus fares were cut across their network and punctuality improved (on some routes, at least) a few years ago.

Arh I wondered why Councilor Andrew Fender was on the radio today spouting on about things getting better in 12 months time and that 'were all in it together' and that him and his colleagues at TFGM are badly affected as they all travel Into work and to meetings by bus and they are often held up and can understand passengers frustration - the big difference being that him and his colleagues travel for free I believe so it would be a little rich if they started complaining.

I seem to remember just after new year Clr Richard Lees making the big gesture by offering motorists free Sunday parking as an apology and that things would improve over the next few WEEKS yet Clr Fender reckons it will be 12 months. Big difference of opinion there.

We need to get back to basics. Things won't improve in a few weeks or months because the very infrastructure we're all relying on is decaying beyond repair - ie the roads. Instead of these daft notions of closing Portland street for bus priority work and the chaos of Oxford Road not to mention the roadworks on deansgate, we need to go back to basics and fix what's broken first ie the roads. Apparently our so called local councils are sitting on big pots of cash that there unwilling to use and instead simply 'Patch and Go'.
In my hometown of Ashton it dosen't get much better. Cash strapped TFGM decide to open a cycle hub outside the bus station, basically a shed with automatic doors, then 18 months on decide it's not attractive enough to cyclists, so on a major route though the town centre (Oldham RD) right slap bang at the bus station exit (Stockport/Manchester), they decide to put up temp lights for 2 weeks while they insert cycle priority crossings/lights. So now the traffic lights chengd to red for motorists, the pedestrian crossing goes green for 45 seconds, then the green light for cyclists lights up for 2 minutes, then the lights for the buses exiting the bus station change to green but because of the very tight corner created by the cycle path bollards the lights allow 2 buses through (if your lucky) then change to red - today I counted 8 buses (7 stagecoach, 1 MCT) waiting to exit. So all these fancy illuminated bollards, funky green Tarmac for the cyclists, not to mention the cyclists traffic lights look really good and expensive yet just yards either way of it the roads are crumbling and full of potholes and sinking manholes.

Then there's the massive issue of badly timed and synced traffic lights everywhere. Infact going back to Ashton again, the new cycle lights outside the baths are so badly timed that when the lights at ikea change to green for traffic coming from Oldham towards what was the asda roundabout there's often cars left blocking the tram tracks - it's not good when we carnt even get 2 sets of traffic lights on the same stretch of road to work in conjunction of each other!


And as for the bigger operators retracting from the suberbs, that's nothing new. Look at Glossop in 2001/2002 with all the mini bus circular services Stagecoach operated from the Glossop depot compared to what they operate up there now, or even Ashton or Hyde. It's frightening to think of the number of services that have completly gone or been cut short so god knows what things will be like this time in 20 years.
Perhaps bus franchising is the future!