Oakwood Travel (Classic Bus North West)

[Mayneway]

RE: Oakwood Travel (Classic Bus North West)

(12/12/2015 10:04)B10B6514 Wrote:  Quite surprised with the standard of operation of this route considering the firm have heavily invested in an intense advertising campaign if Preston based radio station 97.4 Rock FM.

There are tiny threads that give the impression of a decent quality operation - thier website for one is impressive as are the regular blog updates but they seem to do what they want operationally.
Not too sure what thier Blackpool services are like for reliability but to be honest on the two occasions I was in Blackpool recently (Friday and Saturday) thier local services along the front seemed to carry nothing but fresh air compared to Blackpool Transports services.

Having said that they seemed to throw everything at the first red rocket attempt when they were using the ex London bendys and that went flops up within a few weeks.

[wirralbus]

RE: Oakwood Travel (Classic Bus North West)
Lets see if it disappears after Christmas , if does it was just for the Christmas shopping business .

[Mayneway]

RE: Oakwood Travel (Classic Bus North West)

(12/12/2015 15:25)wirralbus Wrote:  Lets see if it disappears after Christmas , if does it was just for the Christmas shopping business .

I think it probably will. The red rocket website seems to be aimed at Christmas shoppers with the Christmas markets getting a big plug. Can hardly see them adjusting the website after 24th December.

[Raawwwrrr!]

RE: Oakwood Travel (Classic Bus North West)
The service legally HAS to stop after Christmas as it's unregistered and can only run for 6 weeks maximum

[Raawwwrrr!]

RE: Oakwood Travel (Classic Bus North West)

(12/12/2015 20:35)Dentonian Wrote:  I'm not sure what the period of operation has to do with registration. We've already discussed the registration criteria, in that it only needs to be registered if any stops are within 15 miles (25km) of any other stop. If that were the case, it would still need to be registered even if running for one day. Special Events like music festivals need services registered if they are collecting fares, and plenty such services have indeed been registered (Parlklife, Creamfields, concerts at the Etihad etc). We've already discussed the farcical rules on Parking on bus stops - as in there are none in reality - as well, so that would only leave the eligibility of DDA regs as regards the buses used from 1st Jan.

The period operation is the key part of why this service hasn't been registered, and that's because of how it is being run.

As I posted earlier in the month (#232), if the service operates for under 6 weeks with no stops 15 miles from each other and has a single standard fare (not including concessionary discount), it does NOT have to be registered as it is classed as an excursion. If the service operated any longer than 6 consecutive weeks, the route HAS to be registered regardless of stopping points, fare collection or whether it was registered or not in the first place.

The service will not be operating after Christmas, because the company would be be liable for investigation under the traffic commissioner, and could potentially lose it's operating license and be fined accordingly. Most operators will register excursions as a safety-net to prevent this, and also because it's more of a 'loop-hole'.

For Ref: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/sy..._353A_.pdf Section 4

[Mayneway]

RE: Oakwood Travel (Classic Bus North West)

(12/12/2015 23:33)Raawwwrrr! Wrote:  The period operation is the key part of why this service hasn't been registered, and that's because of how it is being run.

As I posted earlier in the month (#232), if the service operates for under 6 weeks with no stops 15 miles from each other and has a single standard fare (not including recessionary discount), it does NOT have to be registered as it is classed as an excursion. If the service operated any longer than 6 consecutive weeks, the route HAS to be registered regardless of stopping points, fare collection or whether it was registered or not in the first place.

The service will not be operating after Christmas, because the company would be be liable for investigation under the traffic commissioner, and could potentially lose it's operating license and be fined accordingly. Most operators will register excursions as a safety-net to prevent this, and also because it's more of a 'loop-hole'.

For Ref: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/sy..._353A_.pdf Section 4

So thier basically exploting a loophole not registering it?
Obviously they want to avoid registering it as they wouldn't be able to just drop journeys or pull the service early etc?

Out of interests as it currently stands if Catch22/Oakwood suspended the service for a week between Christmas and new year would they then be able to operate it for another 6 weeks without any hassle??

[Raawwwrrr!]

RE: Oakwood Travel (Classic Bus North West)
With regards to the loophole, if the X70 stopped for a week after Christmas and was then started again a week or two later, the service could technically be ran for another 6 weeks. Ironically you could also stop the X70 and run perhaps a X69 or an X70A, but I can't imagine the Dft or TC being too happy with the whole operation

With regards to the exceptions it's 'all of the above', if it doesn't meet one of the requirements it should be registered.

[St Helens Rider]

RE: Oakwood Travel (Classic Bus North West)
End of Year Fleet Update

http://cbnw.blogspot.co.uk/2015/12/end-o...pdate.html

Ride 898 before it semi retires

http://cbnw.blogspot.co.uk/2015/12/ride-...tires.html

Credit: Catch22Bus Blog.

[St Helens Rider]

RE: Oakwood Travel (Classic Bus North West)
Interesting development!

All change on the buses!

http://cbnw.blogspot.co.uk/2016/01/all-c...buses.html

Credit: Catch22Bus Blog.

[T42 PVM (Moderator)]

RE: Oakwood Travel (Classic Bus North West)
Finally some good news for people who rely on Tendered work, Hopefully Catch 22 can make it work!