Recent content by CharlesR

Had Bristol not have gotten the 9, this order was going to do the bulk of trident removal. I’m not quite sure how the cascades are going to work but you’d suspect excess scanias in Cheltenham and Swindon may now remove tridents at Gloucester, Stroud and Swindon

The Ross situation had changed by the time it closed though. They lost all the town routes and ended up having only 8 cards leaving the depot each day. The 32/132 were withdrawn from Ross/Ledbury at the time. There is now only one light run on the 33 (Gloucester depot for the 07:10). The...

Old habits die hard, ultimately there’s a fine line between following company policy and keeping to time / making up time (if late). From experience, Stagecoach Gloucester used to put the “fast drivers” on the school runs so an afternoon set down only job would be done around 10 minutes quicker...

The doors are excessively slow to close though. Many drivers are used to over the years moving off as the doors are closing, hence timetables being planned on that basis, therefore resulting in minutes added to the timetable as driving styles evolve. Next stop announcements are used, just some...

Most drivers hate them. Very slow off the mark, can’t move until the doors are completely shut (they take ages to close), next stop announcements far too loud, build quality hit and miss. From a passenger perspective, the COVID window jabs still remain making it a chilly journey at speed in...

Upcoming service changes: Stroud: • New service 62 Stonehouse-Stroud-Gloucester. Follows current 66 route from Stonehouse-Stroud and runs the quick way to Gloucester (not via Whiteshill) from Stroud. Hourly, timings are very tight… • Service 63 will now run hourly instead of every 30 minutes...

I can't find where these people are. Some keep reiterating that 158s work on the line so they should operate the line, completely missing the point that there aren't enough of them. Others are trying to get across they are not the best solution as they are old and have doors in inconvenient...

There is a culture among many county rota drivers to "leave late and floor it" on the basis that they will eventually get back to Gloucester in time for their break. I can assure you that in many cases drivers leave late to have a bit more of a break and get back on time 6/7/8 timing points down...

I struggle to put to words the incompetence that Stagecoach West continues to show in running a bus service. We understand completely that there is a driver shortage. Nobody, or nobody who understands it is somewhat out of their control, disputes this. However slapping that as an excuse on...

You sure?!

From what I am told, it is part of a wider set of service changes which will come in November. Ultimately, things have to change - it seems to get worse every day

When you technically could do more than 125, and as you've said yourself, non-stop... when the markets were different. Because the market isn't there? And there isn't justification as people from Cardiff and Swansea don't make the same journeys as those from Warrington and York? Not many...

Exeter is also an important stop for crewing, as I am sure you are aware. You also made the point earlier that "if you had to pick between the two" you'd pick Plymouth. In a post-COVID, DfT cost cutting era the idea of skipping stops on Intercity trains is hardly at the forefront of plans in the...

Is it the case that the turbos displaced by the 769s are more for the introduction of a half hourly service between Gloucester-Bristol and Bristol-Westbury, and not with the aim of moving castle sets on? And am I correct in suggesting that 387s will move to the Cardiff runs so that 800s can do...

Bad enough just like that - but it really isn't helped by Gloucester-Cardiff passengers ferrying on there at the moment to change at Parkway due to the line closure... have rarely salvaged a seat on the line as of late