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Transdev Blazefield

SCH117X

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They clearly need deckers on the Aireline. Some journeys already had them and need those replacing with CAZ compliant vehicles anyway. With social distancing, they will need additional DDs.

With new deckers for Witch Way and Cityzap (and having already spent on a new fleet for the Blackburn 1), there's only so many new vehicles that can be justified so some refurbished deckers is probably the sensible way to approach it. However, some people won't be able to see past their own entrenched views.
And Blazefield vehicles are usually far better maintained compared to those of other operators meaning for example a 16 year old Route 1 B7RLE looks only half its age if that.
 
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JetBlast

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Looks like more contactless ticket machines for Rosso, Blackburn & Burnley


Christmas has come early in the @Transdev commercial office today as we take delivery of our first batch of brand new @Ticketer_UK machines to help upgrade our ticketing

*Mod Note* When referring to external sources, it is important that you copy and paste the text from those sources. This is a requirement of the forum rules. Thank you :)
 
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Only miles behind literally every other operator, including independents :rolleyes:
On the contrary, Rosso were an early adopter of Ticketer machines, played a large part helping that supplier get to grips with the complexities of cash-accountable operations (as opposed to exact-fare cash vault operators) - but this was before contactless was available as an option, so now finally in a position to upgrade those early machines.
 

Alexbus12

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As they have said, they had replaced the Burnley machines relatively recently. Had they replaced them again, that would have been a substantial write off.

So in reality they didn't really consider contactless until they were caught on the back foot? Typical...
 

Alexbus12

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On the contrary, Rosso were an early adopter of Ticketer machines, played a large part helping that supplier get to grips with the complexities of cash-accountable operations (as opposed to exact-fare cash vault operators) - but this was before contactless was available as an option, so now finally in a position to upgrade those early machines.

Rosso was odd. Since Transdev took over, they advertised contactless on some buses, not all. You would literally have to make a gamble that your bus would turn up with the appropriate ticket machine to do contactless payments.. I'm glad they're now going to standardise it now, but they're miles behind.
 

Tetchytyke

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So in reality they didn't really consider contactless until they were caught on the back foot? Typical...

Yawn. Do you have another tune, we're bored of this one?

They spent a lot of money on Wayfarer 6 machines just before contactless became a thing.
 

northern506

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Rosso was odd. Since Transdev took over, they advertised contactless on some buses, not all. You would literally have to make a gamble that your bus would turn up with the appropriate ticket machine to do contactless payments.. I'm glad they're now going to standardise it now, but they're miles behind.

Generally, the buses that didn't have contactless ability were the ones operating on TFGM secured services in Bury and Rochdale from what I've seen.
 

TheGrandWazoo

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So in reality they didn't really consider contactless until they were caught on the back foot? Typical...

The reality is this....

They needed to replace their existing machines. There was existing technology and then there was the "as yet unproven" new technology that could (and has proven to) be a real move forward. So they had to make a decision of a) to defer and hope the new tech works (and ignore the need to replace) or b) they spend the money but then have to live with it until the depreciation is worked through.

It is the case that First's roll out was similarly influenced by those OpCos with the oldest machines and even then, some of those had to have asset write downs (e.g. Essex and Potteries) to introduce Ticketer.
 

RustySpoons

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I can't remember the exact dates, but the Wayfarer 6 machines arrived at Burnley and Blackburn around the same time as contactless was announced it was going to be rolled out on the 36 in Harrogate. Quite a bit of fuss was made that the new Wayfarer machines were 'contactless ready' and could handle contactless payments without too much fuss.

I'm guessing they wanted to see how contactless payments worked out in Harrogate before rolling it out elsewhere. Shortly after Ticketer machines came along and obviously proved themselves to be most impressive which is when the Yorkshire depots moved away from the Wayfarer200s to the all in one Ticketer machines.

At which point the Wayfarer6s at Burnley and Blackburn were still relatively new, so once the warranty/support contract ran out with Parkeon the Wayfarers could be replaced. Blackburn was first with Burnley lagging behind until not too long ago.
 

TheGrandWazoo

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I can't remember the exact dates, but the Wayfarer 6 machines arrived at Burnley and Blackburn around the same time as contactless was announced it was going to be rolled out on the 36 in Harrogate. Quite a bit of fuss was made that the new Wayfarer machines were 'contactless ready' and could handle contactless payments without too much fuss.

I'm guessing they wanted to see how contactless payments worked out in Harrogate before rolling it out elsewhere. Shortly after Ticketer machines came along and obviously proved themselves to be most impressive which is when the Yorkshire depots moved away from the Wayfarer200s to the all in one Ticketer machines.

At which point the Wayfarer6s at Burnley and Blackburn were still relatively new, so once the warranty/support contract ran out with Parkeon the Wayfarers could be replaced. Blackburn was first with Burnley lagging behind until not too long ago.

Your memory is better than mine but you make a good point. At that time, Wayfarer was seen as the way forward and then Ticketer came along and represented a real move forward. Hindsight is always 20/20 8-) and the future guaranteed, as any Optare Excel operator would attest!
 

SCH117X

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IIRC the issue was more how the payments would be handled - traditionally contactless card readers correspond with the bank before issuing the ticket. They identified that such could cause problems particularly at location where communication was difficult so adopted a system whereby the ticket was issued in advance of the cards acceptance being certified. This then resulted in a restricted rollout as they watched the performance of the system and how much lost revenue arose.
 

Tetchytyke

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I can't remember the exact dates, but the Wayfarer 6 machines arrived at Burnley and Blackburn around the same time as contactless was announced it was going to be rolled out on the 36 in Harrogate. Quite a bit of fuss was made that the new Wayfarer machines were 'contactless ready' and could handle contactless payments without too much fuss.

Wayfarer 6 can handle contactless payments, but it requires a separate card reader to be installed, similar to the Oyster pads in London. Arriva North East initially used Wayfarer 6 with the separate card reader for contactless, they were the first Arriva division to try contactless, but it was and is clunky compared to the integral machines offered by Vix and Ticketer. As it was a right fanny on using contactless as a passenger on Arriva, I can't imagine the back end was any better.

The trouble was, the Wayfarer way was "too much fuss" compared to integral machines. And Transdev ended up caught in a bind: there's no point investing in the extra card equipment if you're intending to ditch Parkeon as soon as you can, but without the extra equipment you look behind the times.

Arriva North East bit the bullet and replaced their Wayfarers with Ticketers when the rest of Arriva went down the Ticketer route, but AIUI it cost them.

If anything, I'd say Parkeon got caught dozing at the wheel a little compared to Zix and Ticketer but, equally, you still need a Wayfarer 6 to run the systems you need in London. And it was London that drove contactless in the first place. As @TheGrandWazoo says, hindsight is always 20/20.
 
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Ashly_Jethro

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Wonder if they're to replace the last of the Wayfarers at Burnley? Thought Blackburn and Rosso were already on Ticketers though.

some of Rosso’s we’re old models which don’t support QR or contactless, but you’re right all Blackburn already has them
 

Ant158

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some of Rosso’s we’re old models which don’t support QR or contactless, but you’re right all Blackburn already has them

Hasn’t Burnley’s fleet only recently gone contactless due to the need for no cash payments because of Covid?

Was the daft scenario where shared frequencies on Hotline and Mainline, meant you could pay contactless on one but not the other.
 

Ashly_Jethro

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Hasn’t Burnley’s fleet only recently gone contactless due to the need for no cash payments because of Covid?

Was the daft scenario where shared frequencies on Hotline and Mainline, meant you could pay contactless on one but not the other.

They were planning on bringing it in later this year but yeah, it was brought forward for COVID for non cash payment
 

northern506

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Quite a good idea to have a completely separate brand, ie not have it tied to Keighley or Harrogate.

'Flyer' does seem a bit plane and simple (see what I did there), but I look forward to seeing the finished brand.

I agree, I was thinking about them having a separate brand to be honest.

I wonder if there are going to be any changes to the network - I assume Transdev will have some ideas.

I was thinking about the possibility of extending a 757 to Ilkley every hour to replace the 62, although that would need 2 additional buses.
 

markymark2000

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I agree, I was thinking about them having a separate brand to be honest.

I wonder if there are going to be any changes to the network - I assume Transdev will have some ideas.

I was thinking about the possibility of extending a 757 to Ilkley every hour to replace the 62, although that would need 2 additional buses.
In the airports planning application for the new terminal, they state they are looking in depth at 24/7 services and increasing the 62 extensions to 2bph.
 

SCH117X

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There was a newspaper article recently referencing coach services to begin later, unclear whether Transdev would be responsible for those but the Flyer brand does seem appropriate. CT Plus made a comment on Facebook about Transdev providing bigger better things so some wholesale revamp of the services does seem likely.
 

RustySpoons

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In the airports planning application for the new terminal, they state they are looking in depth at 24/7 services and increasing the 62 extensions to 2bph.

Is there actually enough air traffic in and out of the airport to justify a 24 hour service?
 

markymark2000

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Is there actually enough air traffic in and out of the airport to justify a 24 hour service?
That I don't know. Presumably it is in part for staff. Their aims are to adjust the flight times so that they can depart earlier which means there could be potential for some early departures and late arrivals. The time inbetween is so small that you might as well run straight through.
 

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