If the main flow in the early morning on the X43 is into Manchester and late in the day away from Manchester then maybe they will axe some X43 return workings. Equally they could work some from Starbeck (Harrogate) if the need arose as the main flow on the 36 is towards Leeds in the morning etc. That would allow an earlier Leeds-Manchester working but they do seem to keep all routes to one depot hence the express Little Explorer service to get the bus from Knaresborough back to York rather than basing a vehicle at Starbeck
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Competition heats up between Transdev and Connexions
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Transdev have 3 more deluxe finished Geminis on order for the 36 which presumably were ordered some time ago as the 36 is to increase in frequency to 10 minutes (probably only Harrogate-Leeds) from the end Ocober. Suppose its possible they have ordered some new vehicles for the new CityZap service as well.
Stan Drews
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I've seen it confirmed elsewhere that it is some of the refurbished ex-Mainline B7RLEs that will be operating the new Cityzap service.
It wouldn't surprise me to see the B7RLE's and the B9TL swap routes if the new route becomes a success. I don't know what the capacity numbers are for the B9TL and B7RLE but the current Leeds - York Cityzap could definitely get by with fewer seats.
I'm not sure how you see the Red Arrow as an attempt to 'rinse' ENCTS as the route predates that scheme.
darloscott
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They're B7TL's on the current Cityzap, old 36 ones
Statto
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X43 is branded Witchway with different liveried vehicles to CityZap so can't see how X43 will be interworked with the new CityZap
theblackwatch
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A few changes occurring in Harrogate at the end of the month, including (for me) a very welcome retiming of the 00.10 Harrogate-Knaresborough to 00.20 - ti's always been a very tight connection off the last train from Leeds to Harrogate, more so now that there are ticket barriers at Harrogate station which don't seem to accept a large number of valid tickets! Full details at http://www.harrogatebus.co.uk/news.jsp?newsID=2140
I have yet to see a ticket check take place on the last Leeds - Harrogate service and I use it a lot, let alone the barriers being closed at that time!
Although coincidentally I actually find myself using the 36 more these days with a day rider ticket living in Starbeck as it means I pay £9.50 from Starbeck to Leeds and back and can strategically use it again the next day by purchasing through the app!
Although coincidentally I actually find myself using the 36 more these days with a day rider ticket living in Starbeck as it means I pay £9.50 from Starbeck to Leeds and back and can strategically use it again the next day by purchasing through the app!
Hope those affected known the difference between the X6 and the X6
theblackwatch
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To be honest, I've not caught the last train back for a while, but when I've caught the one an hour earlier, 4 staff have been in force at the ticket barriers (big efficiency savings there! going off topic though...). The barrier bottleneck has certainly caused me to miss one bus.
Transdev Keighley take over the 965 Otley Estates service this weekend (as do Connexions...).
For 3 months they will accept First day and season tickets on the route, whilst First will accept Kdays and Kcards on the 33A and X84 between Otley and Leeds.
http://keighleybus.co.uk/news.jsp?newsID=2145
For 3 months they will accept First day and season tickets on the route, whilst First will accept Kdays and Kcards on the 33A and X84 between Otley and Leeds.
http://keighleybus.co.uk/news.jsp?newsID=2145
I managed to miss that in the picture at the bottom - I'm surprised it's not in the text too.
Transdev have route branded a Dart for the 965
Pictures tweeted today by Alex Hornby https://twitter.com/alextransdev/status/922449037483302914/
Conn Buses are also offering inter ticket availability with First
Pictures tweeted today by Alex Hornby https://twitter.com/alextransdev/status/922449037483302914/
Conn Buses are also offering inter ticket availability with First
So for the moment you're best having a First ticket with 4 buses an hour on the 965. Shame they'll be following one another round a lot of the time. Was surprised to see that when Connexions said they were replacing the 965 they didn't mean on a Sunday (when First ran 12 commercial trips).
Stan Drews
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I suppose it depends where else you might want to travel, apart from the 965 route, which might make a Connexions or Transdev ticket a better buy.
I assume you didn't seriously expect Connexions to run on a Sunday!
Beat me to it, after all why should an operator that is now sticking the union jack on its vehicles to show how British it is actually want to work Sundays, evenings, early am (most routes) - obviously a traditional British workman.
Keighley Bus Co (Transdev) have tweeted / stuck the knife in this evening;
Unlike some, as day turns to night in Otley Whafedale Links 965 will still be running 7 day a week here to serve
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I wonder how it will end up? Perhaps the normal Twitter whining about a nasty foreign-owned company forcing the poor, downtrodden, unfairly-treated local outfit off the road, as appears to be the normal tactic.
90sWereBetter
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I see there's been more passive, aggressive tweets against Transdev this summer, plus what appears to be one of Connexions' drivers having a pop at the Blackburn operations. Said person also appears in the replies to the first tweet, slagging off Transdev for running Leyland Olympians on their school services
Bantamzen
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Why have Metro allowed this ridiculous situation? Looking at the timetable Connexions buses run 1-5 minutes after the Transdevs ones. Why haven't they insisted that the two run a clock-face service?
Crazy, crazy, crazy. Both these companies want their heads banging together and get a grip!!
Edit: Sorry, the first operator alternates during the hour having looked closer at the timetable, but still it is madness. There should be a bus every 15 minutes and the operators like it or lump it.
Crazy, crazy, crazy. Both these companies want their heads banging together and get a grip!!
Edit: Sorry, the first operator alternates during the hour having looked closer at the timetable, but still it is madness. There should be a bus every 15 minutes and the operators like it or lump it.
The classics were this weekend with Mr Temple aka Connoxious Buses tweeting about Transdev blocking his/their twitter messages - obviously must have a degree in North Korean logic if he cannot understand why.
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Because buses are deregulated, Metro have no authority to say what operators should and shouldn't run at what times.
Stan Drews
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The Transdev timetable is the same one that First had been operating. Connexions times are slightly different, but never more than a few minutes before or after the First/Transdev times. Connexions are also trying to run the full route twice per hour, which I understand First weren't able to achieve reliably, so it'll be interesting to see how reliable they can be.
NorthernSpirit
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When I read the timetable change PDF on Metro's website, I originally thought that Connexions would run the Monday to Saturday daytime journeys with Transdev running the evenings and Sunday's.
What we've ended up with is nothing short of a Wharfedale Bus War, that will in time escalate.
The other good one is where he continually moans that Transdev won't engage with Connexions, seemingly with a view to co-operation of some kind, despite Connexions having attempted to make contact.
Having seen the content of many of Connexions' Tweets that are directed towards Transdev, it should be obvious to even a cabbage why Transdev wants nothing to do with Connexions. But playing the victim card is always easy.
If I was ever in a position to choose between using Connexions and Transdev I would go for the latter every time, partly based on what is posted on Connexions' Twitter feed.
Been happening in Harrogate for years. Conn over replaced Transdevs axed journeys on the 6 (20 min frequency reduced to 40/45 with Conn running a 30 min frequency). Then Transdev increased their frequency to 30 mins and would have been 5 mins in front of Conn (short of retimetabling all interworked local services it was the only way Transdev could increase the service). Conn responded by running their services at the same time and which still is happening
Err not happy Transdev!!!
Just been forced over to the new mobile app, OK that isn’t a problem, in some ways better as it now supports Apple Pay.
But just purchased a 7pm onwards evening rider at 00:10 so I could jump on the last bus to Starbeck then use it again tomorrow evening to travel to Knaresborough and back, the old app tickets valid 24 hours from purchase time.
The new app...tickets expire at 4am!
Just been forced over to the new mobile app, OK that isn’t a problem, in some ways better as it now supports Apple Pay.
But just purchased a 7pm onwards evening rider at 00:10 so I could jump on the last bus to Starbeck then use it again tomorrow evening to travel to Knaresborough and back, the old app tickets valid 24 hours from purchase time.
The new app...tickets expire at 4am!
Sounds like you were getting by on an oversight in how the old app dealt with the evening ticket, which is only meant to be valid for one evening, it seemed to be getting mixed up with the day ticket, which on mobile was intended to be valid for 24 hours
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