Arriva Buses Wales - Wrexham Depot

[CX54 DKD (Moderator)]

RE: Arriva Buses Wales - Wrexham Depot
It doesn't matter how much it costs? Well, at £20K a pop, we'll have to agree to disagree there. If more than one Sapphire branded vehicle breaking down at once is a regular occurrence at the moment (which I believe is actually due to unreliable electrical systems since the refurbishment) then commandeering a vehicle from the X94 and placing one of the tachographed MPDs on there would be a better alternative for the interim. Having another Enviro400 refurbished at significant expense is neither practical or cost effective - Raawwwrrr! gives perfect reasons for that above. Buses sitting around doing nothing all day having had £20K spent on them loose money.

With regards the Sapphire brand, the fact that they're offering no quibble refunds if a branded vehicle is unavailable actually seems more than reasonable and it's certainly a policy in the passenger's favour as opposed to the companies. Branding to the extent of what's happened with Sapphire is more intricate than 'tarting things up' and comes down to, put very simply as anything more would likely be a waste of time, passenger perception. That's passenger perception and not the enthusiast's perception, big difference. It's regrettable that the reliability of the branded vehicles has taken a turn for the worse but if, as reported, the company have ADL themselves out investigating, I'd hardly say that's a bad show and it's most definitely showing willing to improve the situation.

As for bringing V-DVU Marshalls (many of which aren't mechanically sound by the way) which have been sent for storage prior to going for scrap into service, well, I'll refer you to passenger perception again. I'll admit to not being a regular user of Wrexham's local network but I'm sure the extra capacity wouldn't be required when the decrepit state of those Marshalls is taken into account. At any rate, if Arriva were just 'trying to make themselves look good', employing those Marshalls into service wouldn't quite cut it.

If you have such a significant issue with Sapphire, perhaps you should also be taking up issue with the local council who planned and part-funded the scheme for Wrexham alongside Arriva.