Forum | Merseyside Dennis Dart Website
Stagecoach MCSL - Chester & Wirral Depots - Printable Version

+- Forum | Merseyside Dennis Dart Website (http://dartslf.com/forum)
+-- Forum: Buses (/forumdisplay.php?fid=1)
+--- Forum: Local Bus Scene: North West and Wales (/forumdisplay.php?fid=2)
+--- Thread: Stagecoach MCSL - Chester & Wirral Depots (/showthread.php?tid=1427)

Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 186 187 188 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 220 221 222 223 224 225 226 227 228 229 230 231 232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239 240 241 242 243 244 245 246 247 248 249 250 251 252 253 254 255 256 257 258 259 260 261 262 263 264 265 266 267 268 269 270 271 272 273 274 275 276 277 278 279 280 281 282 283 284 285 286 287 288 289 290 291 292 293 294 295 296 297 298 299 300 301 302 303 304 305 306 307 308 309 310 311 312 313 314 315 316 317 318 319 320 321 322 323 324 325 326 327 328 329 330 331 332 333 334 335 336 337 338 339 340 341 342 343 344 345 346 347 348 349 350 351 352 353 354 355 356 357 358 359 360 361 362 363 364 365 366 367 368 369 370 371 372 373 374 375 376 377 378 379 380 381 382 383 384 385 386 387 388 389 390 391 392 393 394 395 396 397 398 399 400 401 402 403 404 405 406 407 408 409 410 411 412 413 414 415 416 417 418 419 420 421 422 423 424 425 426 427 428 429 430 431 432 433 434 435 436 437 438 439 440 441 442 443 444 445 446 447 448 449 450 451 452 453 454 455 456 457 458 459 460 461 462 463 464 465 466 467 468 469 470 471 472 473 474 475 476 477 478 479 480 481 482 483 484 485 486 487 488 489 490 491 492 493 494 495 496 497 498 499 500 501 502 503 504 505 506 507 508 509 510 511 512 513 514 515 516 517 518 519 520 521 522 523 524 525 526 527 528 529 530 531 532 533 534 535 536 537 538 539 540 541 542 543 544 545 546 547 548 549 550 551 552 553 554 555 556 557 558 559 560 561 562 563 564 565 566 567 568 569 570 571 572 573 574 575 576 577 578 579 580 581 582 583 584 585 586 587 588 589 590 591 592 593 594 595 596 597 598 599 600 601 602 603 604 605 606 607 608 609 610 611 612 613 614 615 616 617 618 619 620 621 622 623 624 625 626 627 628 629 630 631 632 633 634 635 636 637 638 639 640 641 642 643 644 645 646 647 648 649 650 651 652 653 654 655 656 657 658 659 660 661 662 663 664 665 666 667 668 669 670 671 672 673 674 675 676 677 678 679 680 681 682 683 684 685 686 687 688 689 690 691 692 693 694 695 696 697 698 699 700 701 702 703 704 705 706 707 708 709 710 711 712 713 714 715 716 717 718 719 720 721 722 723 724 725 726 727 728 729 730 731 732 733 734 735 736 737 738 739 740 741 742 743 744 745 746 747 748 749 750 751 752 753 754 755 756 757 758 759 760 761 762 763 764 765 766 767 768 769 770 771 772 773 774 775 776 777 778 779 780 781 782 783 784 785 786 787 788 789 790 791 792 793 794 795 796 797 798 799 800 801 802 803 804 805 806 807 808 809 810 811 812 813 814 815 816 817 818 819 820 821 822 823 824 825 826 827 828 829 830 831 832 833 834 835 836 837 838 839 840 841 842 843 844 845 846 847 848 849 850 851 852 853 854 855 856 857 858 859 860 861 862 863 864 865 866 867 868 869 870 871 872 873 874 875 876 877 878 879 880


RE: Stagecoach Chester & Wirral - MPTE1955 - 06/10/2015 21:19

(06/10/2015 21:01)T42 PVM Wrote:  At £4 a Single people are going to look at that and think screw that and just use their local Pub instead or just buy some booze and drink at home, i know i would rather do that then spend £4 just to buy a single on a Bus

Not really, they are probably not, not for £4. £4 would actually be fair considering the time of night, the driver is likely to be paid more money and the companies are running a business after all. £4 in Liverpool city centre is just about 1 drink, so you would paying the cost of one drink for a bus home in the middle of the night. The only time getting the bus home for that cost is not good value is if there is a group of maybe 3 or more when then you might as well take a taxi.


RE: Stagecoach Chester & Wirral - mr t - 06/10/2015 22:51

Given most of the bars and clubs shut at 3/4am and there are more open til 6, then I cant see many people using any of these en masse if the last ones are at 3am! The only time people would think about it is if they are literally only staying out for "an hour or 2" in town which is very rare these days.
I had a discussion a few years back with an Arriva representative and they said the only night buses that were busy in recent years were the ones between 4 and 5am, and that is why they all got culled - they had to pay a bus/driver all night, and the early nightime ones would run around empty, then only after 4am would the vehicle be full, but by then they had to pay for 4 hours worth of journeys which had not been profitable, which then makes the whole service unprofitable and hence why Arriva then withdrew them - so yes it might look like they are making a killing when you went home but the other journeys had all been empty prior to you using it. This is why towards the ends on all night buses they first tried reducing frequencies and taking buses out to save costs, but it still failed. Drivers get paid circa £30 an hour, plus diesel, plus paying for security at QS, so hence the £4 fare, but still a hell of a lot lower than taxis, but yes not as low as a group of people getting a taxi home between them - so it is not Arrivas fault for pricing themselves out of the market. Times and markets change.
Ace only had a little bus running back and forth to Birkenhead, with no security, so obviously costs were a hell of a lot lower, so they only needed around 8-10 passengers an hour to pay their costs, then when Merseytravel tried a replacement supported service it wasnt deemed payable as we all know - so imagine if these 8 people actually used the 1, or these other ones at Xmas, or indeed any of the previous night services, they would never ever end up being profitable.


RE: Stagecoach Chester & Wirral - Jack - 06/10/2015 23:01

That logic makes sense regarding the later journeys being more successful, but rather than pull all journeys because the earlier ones were running empty why not just run journeys after 4am? The driver won't have been out all night, instead it would be more of an earlier start.


RE: Stagecoach Chester & Wirral - mr t - 06/10/2015 23:09

That then creates another obstacle - you need to open the depot earlier probably at 2am, pay for depot runners, an allocator on the desk, a depot manager to come in hours early when they would normally start at 5am, then pay for the fuel and driver plus night bonus and security - and then that creates another headache - how many drivers/security staff would actually be wiling to come in for just 1 or 2 hours over time at 3am on a Saturday night??? not many, and it would also mean drivers were unable to work any time on a Saturday or Sunday daytimes due to the drivers hours rules. The drivers would then obviously opt to work any available overtime of a daytime on a weekend, not during the night, as they would end up with more money.


RE: Stagecoach Chester & Wirral - E400 - 06/10/2015 23:43

(06/10/2015 23:09)mr t Wrote:  That then creates another obstacle - you need to open the depot earlier probably at 2am, pay for depot runners, an allocator on the desk, a depot manager to come in hours early when they would normally start at 5am, then pay for the fuel and driver plus night bonus and security - and then that creates another headache - how many drivers/security staff would actually be wiling to come in for just 1 or 2 hours over time at 3am on a Saturday night??? not many, and it would also mean drivers were unable to work any time on a Saturday or Sunday daytimes due to the drivers hours rules. The drivers would then obviously opt to work any available overtime of a daytime on a weekend, not during the night, as they would end up with more money.

Rock Ferry shuts around 0130 anyway though doesn't it? You don't need an allocator for a handful of buses, you stick it on the previous day's allocation and run-through, swapping the buses out early morning when they pass the depot or swap out the drivers and keep the vehicle out if that's acceptable? As far as drivers hours go, extend the last shift slightly and bring the first shift forward slightly. There is always a way around it which has minimal impact for all concerned. It happens all the time in other jobs.


RE: Stagecoach Chester & Wirral - R879 HRF - 07/10/2015 08:03

Rock ferry is manned 24/7. There is currently always somebody on the desk, night shift is 10pm-6am.

It used to be closed up at 1am and a private security firm used for the night time hours, but recently changed it to the above.


RE: Stagecoach Chester & Wirral - wirralbus - 07/10/2015 15:15

Is the last bus in the depot a service 1 from Chester , normally see it at Bromborough Cross at 0049 usually operating with fresh air onboard. The one at 00.19 from Bromborough runs to Birkenhead and can be equally as busy with fresh air , its just a means to an end to get vehicles back from Chester


RE: Stagecoach Chester & Wirral - R879 HRF - 07/10/2015 15:23

Last bus in is 0059 and finishes at rock ferry from Chester. IIt can be busy on some evenings.

Last bus in is 1, by the time last driver is in and cashed up, everywhere is locked up etc, it can be getting on to 1.15First duty sign on is 0345 so it's only a 2 and a half hour gap anyway.


RE: Stagecoach Chester & Wirral - PO59 MXJ - 07/10/2015 16:31

Dont forget that Chester doesnt have a desk man after 8/9pm, so any problems, Rock Ferry gets the phonecall


RE: Stagecoach Chester & Wirral - wirralbus - 07/10/2015 17:39

Sounds like Stagecoach think Rock Ferry is more important than Chester if they have a presence 24/7.