Manchester Community Transport

[Mayneway]

RE: Manchester Community Transport

(25/06/2015 09:08)Dentonian Wrote:  This is a breach of contract. They should stick to the routes they are contracted for, and only used elsewhere when spare vehicles are available.

Well it dosen't happen. Certainly Tameside wise they tend to appear on 217/419/339 which all seem to interwork but often Enviro200's or MCTs own Solos are used while the TFGM ones work elsewhere.
The 41 (duky circular) was always a 'green' service when Pioneer operated it but since April it's been a mix of Enviro200s and thier own Solos. I haven't seem one of the TFGM Solos on it yet.

[Mayneway]

RE: Manchester Community Transport

(25/06/2015 05:56)M60lad Wrote:  I'm not sure whch depot operates which services now since the recent changes but I think unless vehicles swap between Rochdale and Levenshulme depot that most of the aquired TFGM Hybrid SR's are at Rochdale Depot.

As for what services their used on yes they do tend to turn up on virtually anything they operate and sometimes it can be mix and match what gets used on what service with one day one service being operated by Hybrids and the next day Enviro200s will turn up on the same service.

I'm not so sure as I've mentioned above the TFGM solos have started to apear on the evening 169 service so I carnt see the last bus which finishes at Belle Vue then travelling all the way to Rochdale.
There's also an Enviro200 which works a 408 to Stalybridge at around 22:00 ish and always heads in the direction of Droylsden not in service.

[M60lad]

RE: Manchester Community Transport
Out of interest what routes should MCTs TfGM Hybrids actually be used on?

One MCT Hybrid vehicle that doesn't seem to wonder for some reason is the TfGM Hybrid Versa which day in day out sticks to 178 Reddish-Timperley service.

As for what routes are operated by which depot I've had a think of this and I now know that certainly all duties on 217, 402, 410, 411 and some of the Tameside tenders are actually operated out of Rochdale Depot as I know a couple of drivers at MCT who work out of Rochdale and have told me

[Mayneway]

RE: Manchester Community Transport

(25/06/2015 20:44)Dentonian Wrote:  Their own Solos are also hybrids so that's at least in the spirit of the contract, but Enviro 200s should never be used on hybrid contracts. Seperate to this, I've seen two instances involving MCT buses/drivers in Stockport today that I'm not happy with, so will be reporting them to TFGM's Service Accounts.

It will be interesting to see if you get a better response than I did, although as an 'insider' you probably will.

Obviously we have spoken offline regarding MCT recently but one thing that annoys me is when you report something serious to TFGM like early running or drivers completly missing a terminus/busy bus stop and all you get in reply is 'we will pass this on to the operator concerned for them to deal with directly'. Now I've never recieved any kind of response from MCT nor I'm lead to believe have people who have complained directly to MCT.
Why don't TFGM investigate these complaints or at the very least insist that the company concerned reply within 48?? Hours.

[djb]

RE: Manchester Community Transport

(26/06/2015 10:36)Mayneway Wrote:  It will be interesting to see if you get a better response than I did, although as an 'insider' you probably will.

Obviously we have spoken offline regarding MCT recently but one thing that annoys me is when you report something serious to TFGM like early running or drivers completly missing a terminus/busy bus stop and all you get in reply is 'we will pass this on to the operator concerned for them to deal with directly'. Now I've never recieved any kind of response from MCT nor I'm lead to believe have people who have complained directly to MCT.
Why don't TFGM investigate these complaints or at the very least insist that the company concerned reply within 48?? Hours.

I too am not a huge fan of mct, however to give them credit, the one time I have complained to them (via tfgm) about something, they did reply. Admittedly they probably had to as it was a bad breach on a tendered service. Tfgm were not cc'd in their reply mind, so for all I know they might have replied back to tfgm saying something different to what they told me......

[Mayneway]

RE: Manchester Community Transport

(26/06/2015 18:22)Dentonian Wrote:  I also saw a white Enviro200 on the 44 in Piccadilly this morning, and only when I got home did I realise it was also running very late, so another one to raise.

I'm not sure 48 hours is a realistic time frame. Equally, I'm not sure why your complaints have not been dealt with thoroughly. Customer Relations often ask me and my collegues to clarify matters involving service changes, timings, stop locations and even Bus Guide publication targets, so they certainly investigate at least some Complaints thoroughly.

48 hours was an example but surely part of the contract should stipulate that customer complaints are to be dealt with within an agreed time frame.

I know when I complained a few years back regarding tendered services alighting outside Ashton bus station on Wellington road I got the same generic response of TFGM but to be fair I did then receive quite detailed responses off Stagecoach, First and the bus station supervisor.

[SF07]

RE: Manchester Community Transport
Saw a TfGM-branded Solo heading up Oldham Road from Newton Heath after finishing work on the 396. First time I've ever seen a TfGM bus on the route, as usually it's been one of their own liveried vehicles.

[Mayneway]

RE: Manchester Community Transport

(29/06/2015 18:50)SF07 Wrote:  Saw a TfGM-branded Solo heading up Oldham Road from Newton Heath after finishing work on the 396. First time I've ever seen a TfGM bus on the route, as usually it's been one of their own liveried vehicles.

It was only a matter of time as they are literally using the TFGM Solos on everything, although today was the first time I also noticed one on the 395/396.

[Mayneway]

RE: Manchester Community Transport
I know Andrew has mentioned it in the Stagecoach Manchester thread but thought it worthy of a mention in their own thread, MCT seem to have been struggling over the last few days espically in the Stockport area with TFGM apparently having to arrange for other operators to run some journeys on MCT contracts.
Stagecoach were operating one bus on the 300 and Belle Vue were operating the 307/308. According to notices in the bus station a shortage of O-disks has led to MCT struggling.
They operate quite a lot in Tameside and Oldham so will be interesting to see if any other operators are called in there.

[T42 PVM (Moderator)]

RE: Manchester Community Transport
I was getting told about this the other day, My friend said MCT have had a few Ops Disks taken off them