Well clearly not, anyone will tell you that. There's no such thing as a village McDonald's, and you don't see many combine harvesters in St Steven's St in Norwich. But they are just superficial differences. The real differences between city and rural life are a little more subtle, and having grown up in a Kent village, lived in London and now a Suffolk outpost I know the best and worst aspects of both ways of life. Hang on in here - this really is leading somewhere.
Hands up those of you who live in a town or city who know 10 of your neighbours - I mean really know them to the extent you'd investgate if you didn't notice them on their usual routine, or notice the bins hadn't been put out etc. I lived in a Kent coastal town for 5 years and never met my neighbours once. When I've lived in towns I've known very few people. However in my home village down in Kent, and particularly when I moved to Wickham Market it took some getting used to when total strangers started saying hello and being friendly. That does NOT happen in Battersea! City folks call it being nosey. Villagers call it looking out for each other.
In the country spontaneity is less readily available. If you run out of milk there isn't a Tesco Express down the road - you hope and pray the village shop (which charges 8 times more than Tesco) is still open at 5.30pm. You make sure you fill up with petrol on the way home as the nearest petrol station is 8 miles away. You might have 2 or 3 buses a day if you're lucky (I have 4 a week). Planning ahead is a necessity. But in the majorty of villages everyone knows everyone else to an extent. In fact people born and bred in the country know everyone in neighbouring villages too. There is far more sense of community, and that applies to public transport too, buses in particular.
One thing country people like is familiarity. If something or someone is good they want to stick to it. I am still getting emails from people who want a bus service restored that was withdrawn over two years ago - but not just the service the drivers too. I know how they feel. We have a regular driver on our little 196 that comes through here 4 times a week. He is quite superb. At first, being Romanian he could barely speak a word of english, but even then you could time your watch by him. Now his english is greatly improved - enough to have a joke with - and you can still time your watch by him. Two mnutes late and I think something has gone badly wrong! All the old girls love him as he is only too happy to lift shopping trolleys on and off the bus, and stop outside front doors. He is not the only one like that.
When Anglian scrapped the 62 earlier this year there was a lot of disappointment at the route going, but also a lot of sadness from passengers that they wouldn't see their regular driver again. Put quite simply on country routes the bus and the driver become part of the community as they are such a vital link to some people. This doesn't happen in big cities where buses are every 10 minutes. The country love of familiarity extends to those supplying services. Change is almost resented.
So you would have thought it would be folly to attempt to run a country bus depot the same as a London depot. Surely that couldn't work could it? Well that is exactly what Go-ahead have been trying to do at Anglian for the last few months and in my personal opinion - and remember this blog is only MY personal opinion - it could spell disaster. A rural depot doesn't just serve rural people it is STAFFED by rural people too. They also appreciate familarity and routine and hate change just as much.
Anglian currently want to introdice a rolling roster. Now of course they are commonplace within big companies. I've worked on enough of them, but I have also worked set shifts and I much preferred that system. In London I swapped for one duty as much as I could. Obviously it had to be a duty people were happy to get rid of so my hours were pretty long, but getting to know regulars made the day go a lot quicker. Down in Maidstone there were drivers who did the same thing day in day out, and if I ever covered them would be inundated with questions as to where the regular driver was.
Andrew Pursey knew this when he started expanding Anglian. Rather than familiarity breeding contempt Andrew knew, and still does that familiarity within country folk breeds loyalty and confidence. Did the good folk of Kessingland stick to Anglian when First re-introduced the 99 because they preferred gas buses? Of course not - they knew the drivers as they saw them on the same bus everyday and wanted to stick with them. Now Anglian want a system where no one will know which driver they are going to get from one day to another. That works in cities, where the nly thing people care about is the bus turning up, but as my emails show not in the sticks. I've never seen city drivers being given jars of homemade jam, or a bag of tomatoes freshly picked from the garden. I have out here.
If Anglian go ahead (no pun intended) with their plan for rolling rotas it will alienate passengers and drivers alike. There are many drivers who are settled on a set duty - and let's face it - as long as they are reliable and turn up all the time that is a duty that doesn't have to be worried about. Anglian have had a big problems retaining drivers over the last 18 months and I fear this move will spark an exodus. Remember country folk are country folk regardless of if they are passengers or staff. The trouble is only country folk know this. Managers and directors living in cities have no idea of the mindset of country people - they are just nosey so-and-sos remember, and so assume no one gives a damn who drives their bus. Well they do. You only need to travel on the infrequent country routes to discover that.
There are many aspects of a city depot that could easily be introduced to a rural depot - running numbers (carline), ticket machines able to receive messages for drivers, computerised filing/maintenance etc but when it comes to the people involved in a rural depot change them at your peril. If a country passenger is happy with a service they will organise their life around that service. If a driver is happy with his or her duty he will be reliable. If his or her passengers get on with a big smile and bag of tomatoes you have a happy driver. Alienate either party, and as is the case with country people you will never win them back. The next 3 months could be make or break for Anglian. I hope common sense prevails, as does the status quo. Maybe management at Go-ahead should remind themselves of the reasons they wanted to buy Anglian in the first place.
This week I will be visiting one of my regular minibus drivers, who sadly had a heart attack last week. We have become good friends purely because he is a regular driver on regular days, and yes just the anticipation of having a good natter with him is enough to get me to book the bus sometimes on a day I wouldn't normally have gone out. He's going to be ok thank God, but off work for a few weeks. How many would notice if a First driver wasn't around for a few weeks?
So are city and country the same? No. They couldn't be more different to each other, and failure to recognise that in a business sense could prove fatal.
Absolutely spot on. Being on a rural route(118/119), I recognise everything you have said. The only thing you missed is when routes are retendered and a new company takes over and the process of getting to know the drivers starts all over again.Quite often takes a few weeks til you get to know who the regular drivers are and who you can chatter with. Since this route started running through to Framlingham, we have had Ipswich buses, Beestons, Far east/Gemini and of course Galloway. You will always find a driver or two who's happy to chat and it does make the journey much more enjoyable.
ReplyDelete{Amended] I haven't played the devil's advocate for some time so here goes. I'm not sure the difference is as stark as you make it. The human race thrive on relationships. Does any passenger want their bus to be driven by a robot (as, it seems, many managers in the industry seem to think)? I've lived in "friendly" towns and "unfriendly" villages, and vice versa. We all tend to generalise from our own experience. I'm never sure why everyone else must have the same experience as us? Is social exclusion (a horrible term) in part at least a product of the attitude "it doesn't (wouldn't) happen here"? I sometimes wonder if we think that bus use should be limited to those with passes (though perhaps out of town perhaps it already is, effectively? If so perhaps the problem is why anyone should invest the effort in a dying business?)
ReplyDeleteSomething told me this post might turn your crank handle! The only thing I would say is in London drivers are discouraged from making eye contact with passengers. Spend a day on the 11 and see just how many people say hello, please and thank you to the drivers. Then come up here and spend the day on the 521 and spot the difference.
DeleteI might add that unfriendly villages tend to be those taken over by second home owners or townies bringing their private way of life with them, and friendly towns inhabited by those village folk forced out of the villages by rising property prices due to second home owners and lack of available property. If you're devil's advocate I'll be the Devil hiself!
Nobody says please or thank you to the drivers in London as they don't say it to the customer, they don't look at the customer, they are never smiling, and have bullet proof glass up to stop you talking.
DeleteYes it's nice to have the same driver, however, what if on the other hand you have a driver on your route who is rude? It can stop people from using the service. What if there were 10 drivers? At least the rude one would only pop up now and again.
Konects 2/3/4/5 used to all have between 3-4 regular drivers on each. From 2010 route 3 got merged with 6, 6 a, x6 and 9. There are now over 15 drivers.
Yes I know 2 keen favourites on the route, but 1 didn't drive the 3, and the other didn't drive the 6 at the start. This can show that introducing more drivers can In fact be better.
Also 3/6 popularity soared when the 6 was introduce, and serves many small towns and villages along the way.
The 4 is the exact same going from 4 regulars to 9.
If there is a rude driver I would expect the company to deal with it if they got regular complaints. However I take your point.
DeleteSince the 3/6 change numbers at Watton then drivers have to do both routes anyway, but as yet no one has commented on my point that if you have contended drivers happy doing the same duty and rest day pattern, and passengers clearly happy with that system why change it? If it ain't broke don't fix it.
The point I was trying to make was that before the 6 came in, there were actually 3 regular drivers on the 3, and somebody would cover rest days. Passengers liked this, but now the 3 is interlinked with 6a, x6 and 9.
ReplyDeleteNow the 3 is interlinked and has 15-20 different drivers, passenger numbers haven't dropped; and around 90% of drivers I speak to at Konect prefer doing different shifts. I.e. Most drivers like early starts and then finish earlier...so why would it be fair that 1 driver does all earlies and another does all lates?
No driver likes route 9, so how would it be fair having the same driver doing this route the whole time?
It was the same as 1 driver 1 bus policy Anglian had before Go-Ahead came in....when that was announced, drivers were in up roar. After it was set in, many liked it, as they didn't need to spend half of their break looking for a space to park the bus, and just handed it over to the next driver. Many anglian buses were parked on St Stephen's Street before this, which was not even allowed, as maximum waiting time there is 5 minutes. This also benefited the company as PVR was reduced.
With Konect, there is the odd driver who likes doing the same shift, and they allow for this. 1 driver does an X6 run, then a couple of 3's before a 6a before heading back to the yard. He does this monday-friday.
I think you will find many drivers like a bit of variance so they aren't bored doing the same thing every day, and it's just change they don't want. As you say, we are humans, and some don't like change, but it can actually be for the better.
I.e. a shop worker may like the tills, but has to work on the shop floor too. If the assistant is kind, the customers would prefer them on the till, but it doesn't stop them going to get their loaf of bread if they aren't.
IMO, it's not fair comparing to London, as London is in a completely different ball park to all other companies.
Yes it can be nice for the drivers of some routes, but the majority do different shifts, and this is what happens when there are 100+ drivers.
So in brief answer to your question, I believe: Change could actually be for the better; it benefits the company in many ways in regards to holidays, sick leave etc; the drivers, even if they don't realise now, will probably prefer a varied pattern which has been shown through all big companies (including the 98% satisfaction from konect who serve rural areas); and to be fair to all employees.
Yes they are the same.
ReplyDeleteThank you for that incisive and detailed analysis!
DeleteThe drivers at Anglian ALWAYS had somewhere to park their bus when they were on a break. Southwold Pier, Halesworth Industrial estate, Norwich Ipswich Rd or B&Q,Beccles morrisons etc. Now (if they bring packed lunch) they have to sit in places like bus shelters in Beccles to have their break. It's no good knocking the old Anglian days because they were good and anyone who says differently obviously joined AFTER go ahead took over
ReplyDeleteYet if Anglian carried on as they did, they wouldn't have just been eating their packed lunch under a bus shelter, they may have been living there....
DeleteHonestly it makes you wonder why Go-ahead wanted to buy them in the first place. Sounds like it was awful there!
DeleteThey actually bought them when they weren't maing profit (Go-Ahead Source) and once the 1 bus one driver approach was abolished, they were making profit.
DeleteLook this way:
The 3/6 uses 5 buses, if it was 1 bus 1 driver it would need 6 buses. The same goes for the 2 and the 8.
Let's say konect had the rule of 1 bus 1 driver. They would have had to buy an extra bus for the 8, that's another £180,000. With a life span of 15 years, that's already £12,000 a year "wasted". What about the additional fuel? Additional Maintenance? Additional Insurance? Additional road tax? The list goes on....
This is taking 5 buses to 6 (a 20% increase). As stated, this would be the same for the 2, 3 and 6, and similar for other routes.
So if Konect done it, if they had 50 buses, they'd need 60; and as they have 64, that's an extra 13 buses! - That's an un necessary cost of £150,000 per year on buses alone, before the extras as stated. It's a simple calculation, and one which can easily turn a company in minor loss into one of substantial profit.
I think I know someone who might want to answer this one so I'lll give him a chance. If he doesn't I'll respond tomorrow.
DeleteI have never put a comment on here before but the comment about if Anglian had carried on the way they were the drivers would have been living in the bus shelter has made me . As an ex Anglian employee when Anglian was a proper bus company I can remember when first bus was scared of us, if we went after one of their routes i.e 588 or 99 we won and part of this was like steve says one bus one driver, The passenger got to know the drivers, they were friendly and they turned up on time unlike today when it seems common place to drop duties and leave passengers stranded on a regular basis. At least back when Andrew ran Anglian we hardly ever dropped a duty and you only have to look on facebook or twitter to see what the passengers think of Anglian now so if anybody thinks that the way go-ahead is running things now is better I suggest they seek medical advice because at best they are delusional or should that be brain washed.
DeleteClap, clap, clap! I would also suggest the way the 146 is beginning to thrive and is shortly to expand again speaks volumes. While everyone else is cutting services BorderBus are the only company expanding services. No wonder AP is always being nagged to ressurect some of his former Anglian routes.
Deletehere here well said as a passenger 58 route is so unreliable if this is now a professional
Deletecompany god help us Anglian go ahead or go backwards i should say your service is disgusting it was better when first bus did it , I now use my car so i can actually get home rather than being stranded frequently Brookes a long way to walk from poringland .Disgruntled ex passenger
I think you will find there was a lot of bad comments on their Facebook before go-ahead took over, and drivers were being rude to customers on there! Also, I think first cutting fares on the Southwold route shows they are still scared....
DeleteI would still like a proper explanation which you were gonna give us several says ago.
A proper explanation of what?
DeleteThe post above about 1 man 1 bus
DeleteSo let's say a route has 1 driver who does it 5 days a week. Somebody else does it the other 2. What if the main driver is sick and the other doing it is on holiday? Let's say it's an early start and there's only 1 or 2 spare drivers who dobt know the route. Obviously the driver will become stressed and ultimately late.
DeleteAnglian are doing the right thing to avoid this.
Anglian isn't a company like border bus with only a hand full of drivers.
You say birder bus is the only company expanding - konect are gaining 3 park and rides and don't need to get any bigger now (same as anglian) as they want to still be like independent.
How you say it, makes it sound like companies only expand if the customers like you....so what is border bus is loved and has 100 buses? Expand til there's 1000?
Konectbus are owned and operated by Go-ahead so are anything but independent. Are you telling me Konect would still have got those buses if the Council weren't paying for them albeit indirectly? Had First won the contract they would have had new buses as well.
DeleteAs it is Konect have had to open a depot at Rackheath (18 months after Go-ahead closed Anglian's depot there immediately next door) to intice drivers over from Norse who didn't want the commute to Dereham, not to mention reducing the dead mileage.
BorderBus have no inentions to expand the way Anglian did, but they are an example of what can be done with careful planning, strategy and above all patience, rather than just flooding one estate with buses and seeing it fall flat on its face!
The council have nothing to do with the park and ride anymore..... first would have too but obviously didn't put a strong enough 'bid' in
DeleteNow to answer the question above. Obviously there are pros and cons to one man one bus. The cons have been well discussed, but the argument about the relief driver being sick etc just doesn't stand up as it's one man one bus we are discussing not one route one driver.
DeleteI'm sure there are people reading this who have done coach work. I'm not talking Nat Ex or Megabus here but your normal private hire or contract coach company. I can guarantee that the majority of them operate a one driver one coach policy. It's how we did it on Grey-Green. Why's that? It's because if the same driver is driving the same vehicle everyday they look after it, take pride in it and treat it like their own car. I spent hours cleaning windows, polishing dashboards etc as I took a pride in my vehicle. If you drove someone else's vehicle then my God you were careful not to bend it or leave it dirty.
Now lets switch to the buses. If you are driving 2 or 3 of 50 different buses every day that sense of pride just isn't there. I clearly remember asking a car driver one day what he would be driving if he hit me as I'd have a new bus in 10 mins. Niggly faults don't get reported if you can hand over the responsibility to someone else. Niggly faults becoe major faults and so a simple repair becomes a bus off the road for a week or more. You talk to anyone who was at Anglian in the very early days and ask them about the Beavers! They were treated like children! At Nu-venture in Kent only Chris drives the Agoralines. At Go-coach in Sevenoaks the same driver drives the King Long every day. Go coach now have 75 vehicles btw.
If a bus suddenly has a big scratch down it with multi driver operation it could have been anyone. With OD/OB you know straghtaway. The same applies to any reports of bad driving, or indeed the opposite if a positive report comes in.
But the most compelling argument I have heard for OD/OB is this, and it came from a very experience bus engineer. We were talkiing about this very subject and he just looked at me and said "Steve, it's not just drivers who need a break you know"! If you are flogging a bus 14 hours a day with no breaks of course things are going to go wrong. It's why layovers are just as important for the vehicles as they are for the drivers. Now of course the argument against that is that buses don't earn money by standing still. Very true, but they don't earn money over the pits either. It's a thought, and whereas certainly the argument about needing less buses with multi-driver operation is valid, if the same driver is driving the same bus all day the stress on the vehiicle itself is less, only one driving style, more pride and care taken, and so thr maintainance bill drops, accident levels drop, and the vehicle stays in a better condition for longer. That actually saves money in the long run. It's an argument that neither side will concede on, but there really are valid points on both sides.
The council are not sponsoring the P&R anymore which is why I said indirectly. There are many different council budgets!
DeleteNOTE: From past experiences, take my advise and don't bother putting your opinion here. Steve is nothing more than a one minded prick who won't listen to anybody else's opinion as he is always right.
DeleteEven if 2+2=4 , he would argue it's 5. Please don't waste your time guys!! ")
It's a shame that Anglian had so many breakdowns prior to go ahead taking over to make this statement less prudent. Also, what about aggressive bus drivers? Some buses may be in better shapes, but drivers who thrash their bus along the road would be worse.
DeleteIt was a fact that anglian solos were so bad that konect didn't want to take them on, and they were always over heating. The tempos and e 400 ' s havebt had major problems over the years, and I think the £150,000 saved just on additional buses covers costs multiple times for new skirting and maintainance.
NOTE: From past experiences, take my advise and don't bother putting your opinion here. Steve is nothing more than a one minded prick who won't listen to anybody else's opinion as he is always right.
DeleteEven if 2+2=4 , he would argue it's 5. Please don't waste your time guys!! ")
Please buddy let me and everyone else know who you are so I can buy you a drink for making me laugh so much! Are you brave enough to do that or are you too coward? Have we met btw? Anyway thanks for obviously reading the blog - no idea why you do if I'm such a prick - and boosting my pageviews. One more thing - I DO know where the money for the new E400's is coming from but I try not to reveal commercially sensitive material.
To the other Anon banging Konect's drum I totally agree that Konect are in far better shape than Anglian at the moment. Efforts are being made but this will take time. Local management can only do so much and a lot of responsibility lies higher up Go-ahead and their aspirations for the company.
Where is the money coming from? Not within Go Ahead?
DeleteThis is the first sensible thing I have read, that Anglian buses intend to do:- after a 12 minute wait at Lowestoft, on the 61 from Kessingland etc., has put a good bit of custom the X1's way. I am totally country born, have lived in towns, villages etc., but the idea that the same driver was going to turn up behind the wheel of a bus, would have sent me to another bus company!! As it is, I rarely use Anglian buses now, as some drivers are given to driving with their heads looking backwards as they hold a conversation with someone in the little seat right at the bus front. for me the bus is no longer safe and the driver not fully in control. I do not want "familiar, cheap" greetings when using a bus - have a preference for a dignified, quiet, polite, safe driver -some Anglian chaps are indeed that some are not - I usually prefer to wait out for another bus, if I recognise someone of whom I cannot 'approve'. therfore I am all for Anglian buses bringing in rolling rosters, - some of the drivers will be quite happy with that -
ReplyDelete"but the idea that the same driver was going to turn up behind the wheel of a bus, would have sent me to another bus company!!"
DeleteHow lucky you are to have the choice of another company! Some folk don't even have the choice of one now. Oh - and I'm sure you know that there are just as many ex Anglian drivers on First now as those who have been with Anglian for 18 months! Still - they are probably ones of who you "approve"!
I think they mean that they are too friendly and the people getting on in the villages like the drivers too much that they hold a conversation whilst driving i.e. in the country roads. yes, this is nice for the driver and the 1 passenger, but let's see what the other 20 passengers think of this. I too love polite drivers, but it grates me when they hold a conversation with an elderly customer, one who can barely stand, whilst going 50mph!
DeleteNo - actually I did not know there were ex-Anglian bus drivers on the First Buses asI rarely use First Bus either!!! so quit kicking at who I approve of and where they are - as a passenger on a bus I am entitled to like or not like, some of the behaviour and attitudes, some of the Anglian drivers ARE what I said, quiet and dignified, polite and good safe drivers - others are not. okay and living in the depth of the country for years, I do know what having to get from A to B is like - bus or no bus - sorry you see fit to have taken such exception to someone elses thoughts and preferences
DeleteAll companies have good and bad, that has always been the case. I did not take exception to your right to an opinion, just the fact you singled out Anglian who choose not to hide their drivers in a plastic cage. Of course feel free to identify yourself rather than hiding behind anonymity and that will make it an even playing field!
DeleteI totally agree.... Konect had an issue of too many passengers talking to drivers whilst standing, and since the change to many drivers, they are polite (so why wouldn't people use the service), but not a "friend" which could actually be dangerous when on the roads.
ReplyDeleteThis argument always gets my goat. Has anyone actually been in an accident caused by a bus driver talking to someone? If talking while driving was so dangerous then why aren't London cabbies bnned from talking to their fares while driving? Why is anyone allowed to talk while driving for that matter. To my knowledge truckers aren't banned from talking while driving and a 38 tonne truck is bigger than any bus.
DeleteBus drivers are professionals. They drive buses for infinitely more hours than they drive their cars and most bus drivers will say they find buses easier than cars. I certainy did. Of course 40 years ago drivers regualry had people to talk to while driving - conductors!!
I have never seen or heard of a driver causing an accident or failing to react to a situation because of a conversation they may or may not be having. I have seen many car drivers totally oblivious to what is going on because they have their eyes in the mirror seeing what the kids are doing or having a domestic, or anything else. Maybe you would welcome what someone else said earlier - robots driving buses. Of course one day all buses will be driven by computers but please God not in my lifetime.
This isn't about accidents, but looking at what the majority of passengers would think. If there was a 100% guarantee there wasn't going to be an accident, it doesn't stop people complaining. People never complain that they can't talk to the driver, so this would actually help increase patronage as the majority of people would be happy :)
ReplyDeleteIn my experience the vast majority don't care one way or another if the driving is safe and they get to their destination in one piece and on time. Of course it is well known that the majority of people who have nothing better to do than make petty complaints about drivers have travelled for free anyway, and an on board masseur, free champaigne, chocolates and a thank you letter for travelling with a £20 Waitrose voucher inside still wouldn't satisfy them!
DeleteIn the case of the bus industry this is as much about the difference between small independents & big national groups, this type of rostering is prevalent in small companies & small depots but not in larger sites/businesses (and Anglian is both part of a large national bus group & a decent sized depot now). From a management perspective there are a number of issues with fixed workings that become more pronounced as a business gets bigger:
ReplyDelete1. Cover - Drivers have to take breaks or get ill and someone needs to cover and if only certain drivers work certain workings then finding staff to cover is more complicated as they don't get enough experience on other work to be able to remember them.
2. Staff Retention - There are always horrible duties and these soon become the ones left for new staff who fed up with getting rubbish leave. Your old hands stay because they get the best duties but you can't hold on to anyone so when your old hands start retiring you struggle to recruit as you have got a reputation for having bad duties.
3. Revenue - In these sort of cases familiarity breeds complacency, drivers become friendly with their passengers and in some (not the majority but a significantly common enough occurrence that it is an issue) will let them travel free or cheap costing the company. For smaller businesses this is either an accepted cost of business allowing the driver to top up their wages or avoided as you are having to look the person you are stealing from in the eye every day and that is harder, with a big company it is effectively a faceless entity. It is probable that this concern is exaggerated in the minds of senior managers but almost certainly most have experience of such instances which colour their view (for my current employer I have come across two drivers on regular duties who were known to be fiddling but could never be caught, it was known because whenever they went on holiday the takings on those duties went up - one was a rural village but one was a local town bus where the driver lived in the housing estate he served).
4. Efficiency - it is more expensive in staffing to work this way in terms of cover & duty compilation and it causes issues over scheduling as you can't then change how work is handled as easily if you have fixed rotas - both because staff don't know other routes and the whole point of fixed rotas is to keep drivers of established workings.
A main rolling rota doesn't preclude some fixed duties for specific workings, often the infrequent rural workings will be handled by single drivers of small groups of such or late shifts which tend to be favoured by a small cadre of drivers whilst disliked by most staff.
Quite a debate sparked here, but I think the regular driving/rostering is a side issue. The problem for me is making rural buses relevant to most rural dwellers, which is why i referred to a "dying business". To me it looks like most companies have got into a mentality of wait for and do as the government/politicians (local or national) tells them. (Nothing new there, it was ever so). Of course in London, the exception (as usual) it's seen as an (expensive) virtue, which is why the other mets want to copy it. (But TfL is clever and run by, mainly good, professionals). But in the Shires I think something different is needed. Creativity. At the moment it's government money or cuts. A Third Way. Or, more properly put, lots of little third ways. But it requires honesty in admitting the problems (before they become a crisis) and co-operation among all the bodies concerned (and those that aren't, like developers and business, those with the money) and, it seems to me, with the usual English disease of laziness, nobody can be bothered. So we end up with a debate, interesting but irrelevant, about rostering and chatting to drivers. The free passes wheeze was a great political initiative but, as ever, the politicians take advantage (hook the industry in in and fleece them), so they have to help themselves. The result to me is that the bus is at risk of becoming just an OAP perk, not that it's wrong, but unhealthy. Love ins are great, but the management have to have their wits about them as well as have fun.
ReplyDeleteA couple of thoughts, I'm not criticising efficiency, it's essential. But as well as efficiency, doesn't any business have to focus on two other things: growth and seeing things from the customer point of view, a prerequisite? More than that, at the heart of the business. It's that last one that seems to cause so many bus managements, so much difficulty. (They're not alone, I'd be the first to admit, virtually every other bureaucracy including the banks, supermarkets, insurers and government e.g. the NHS itself have the same or worse problems. Sure the devil is always in the detail ,but it doesn't prevent you from raising your eyes (and thoughts) to the horizon, occasionally.
ReplyDeleteThey actually bought them when they weren't maing profit (Go-Ahead Source) and once the 1 bus one driver approach was abolished, they were making profit.
ReplyDeleteLook this way:
The 3/6 uses 5 buses, if it was 1 bus 1 driver it would need 6 buses. The same goes for the 2 and the 8.
Let's say konect had the rule of 1 bus 1 driver. They would have had to buy an extra bus for the 8, that's another £180,000. With a life span of 15 years, that's already £12,000 a year "wasted". What about the additional fuel? Additional Maintenance? Additional Insurance? Additional road tax? The list goes on....
This is taking 5 buses to 6 (a 20% increase). As stated, this would be the same for the 2, 3 and 6, and similar for other routes.
So if Konect done it, if they had 50 buses, they'd need 60; and as they have 64, that's an extra 13 buses! - That's an un necessary cost of £150,000 per year on buses alone, before the extras as stated. It's a simple calculation, and one which can easily turn a company in minor loss into one of substantial profit.
Steve W16 August 2015 at 21:42
I think I know someone who might want to answer this one so I'lll give him a chance. If he doesn't I'll respond tomorrow.
Any chance of that explanation?
All those slagging off the old Anglian days obviously have no idea what it was like back then. They were not there (like I was). They are obviously konect and go ahead wankers who are talking out of their arse. So why don't you they all just F*@K OFF!!!!!!!!!. Oh and Steve you are NOT a prick unlike the person who reckons you are. I expect the culprit for most of this shit is no longer at Anglian
ReplyDeleteWhy thank you kind sir! Most eloquently put!
DeleteAnd its drivers like you who the new anglian team didn't want...swearing at members of the public, no wonder :)
DeleteLol. I'm not swearing at the public. I'm swearing at you. You know the know it all types
DeleteHow about commenting about the person calling Steve a prick!!!!!!!
DeleteTrouble is when everyone has the same name it makes it a bit difficult to tell who is talking to who. It reminds me of that Not The Nine O'Clock News "Hey Bob have you got Bob's torque wrench" sketch!
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