First Greater Glasgow

[PaulMc7]

There is a severe driver shortage at the moment, and it will get worse before it gets better.

Will there be any more cuts to services in the near future? Since the last set I've thought more would come to be fair and given that passenger loads seem hit or miss it wouldn't surprise me if there were permanent frequency cuts

 

[lastbus]

The shortages are due to drivers having to self isolate...

Untrue.

Will there be any more cuts to services in the near future? Since the last set I've thought more would come to be fair and given that passenger loads seem hit or miss it wouldn't surprise me if there were permanent frequency cuts

Well it can’t keep going on like this so I would imagine there will be more frequency cuts to come yes.

 

[smtglasgow]

Presumably recruitment and training has been affected over the last 18 months. Add in the overall shortage of labour (and the fact that EU folk have returned home/find Britain less welcoming) AND Covid and you end up with a real problem – one that probably isn’t going to sort itself out anytime soon.

We might see some serious reductions on the quieter routes and at weekends.

 

[PaulMc7]

Presumably recruitment and training has been affected over the last 18 months. Add in the overall shortage of labour (and the fact that EU folk have returned home/find Britain less welcoming) AND Covid and you end up with a real problem – one that probably isn’t going to sort itself out anytime soon.

We might see some serious reductions on the quieter routes and at weekends.

I wouldn't be surprised by major cuts permanently to be quite honest unless funding at a good level becomes a permanent thing. I've been out a few times lately and even some of the busiest services pre Covid like the 7/7A, 18, 38s, 75s etc have been really quiet.

 

[Arriva Fan]

I wouldn't be surprised by major cuts permanently to be quite honest unless funding at a good level becomes a permanent thing. I've been out a few times lately and even some of the busiest services pre Covid like the 7/7A, 18, 38s, 75s etc have been really quiet.

Unless this funding is to give bus driving staff similar pay and conditions to those enjoyed by the publicly subsidised railway staff, then the same problems will persist - i.e., an inability to retain staff due to unattractive working patterns and pay.

 

[PaulMc7]

Unless this funding is to give Bus Driving staff similar pay and conditions to those enjoyed by the publically subsidised Railway Staff, then the same problems will persist. I.e an inability to retain staff due to unattractive working patterns and pay.

I absolutely agree with you. It's not a new problem but Covid has really exposed how bad it actually is. I seen someone on Twitter complaining about First's pay and claiming she paid her drivers £22 an hour. You'd need some amount of funding for buses to run at a profit here and pay drivers that.

 

[LT02 NVV]

Hey, does anyone know why 47393 - LJ13 GKL has not been in service since June? I thought the newer Wright Streetlights where supposed to be replacing older buses.

 

[JumpinTrainz]

Any word on any more E200EVs being delivered to Caledonia and when we might see them out on the streets? I take it they’ll be doing a launch.

 

[cnjb8]

Hey, does anyone know why 47393 - LJ13 GKL has not been in service since June? I thought the newer Wright Streetlights where supposed to be replacing older buses.

It’s very common for some buses to spend longer times off the road due to some sort of issue.

 

[DC21]

I noticed an Eclipse in First colours in Caledonia with Diamond branding. Does anyone have any ideas why its there?

 

[Jordan Adam]

I noticed an Eclipse in First colours in Caledonia with Diamond branding. Does anyone have any ideas why its there?

That'll likely be First Aberdeen 69150 which has recently been acquired along with a number of other B7RLEs for driver training.

 

[PaulMc7]

Is there any sign of more timetable changes in the near future? I can imagine with a driver shortage and buses still being relatively quiet at certain times it's possible. Going by social media anyway the 18 and 21 seem to have issues with non runners a lot more than other services. I've also seen the 9A and 57 mentioned here and there too.

 

[ginge8991]

The 41 as well can be quite bad for no shows.

 

[singlemalt]

I absolutely agree with you. It's not a new problem but Covid has really exposed how bad it actually is. I seen someone on Twitter complaining about First's pay and claiming she paid her drivers £22 an hour. You'd need some amount of funding for buses to run at a profit here and pay drivers that.

From 12th September drivers will receive a £30 supplement for working their days off. It should have happened years ago and maybe this situation of not being able to cover shifts might not have happened. I've had 4 missed reliefs in the last 2 weeks alone.

 

[PaulMc7]

from 12th September drivers will receive a £30 supplement for working their days off it should have happened years ago maybe this situation of not being able to cover shifts might not have happened I've had 4 missed reliefs in the last 2 weeks alone

I've known a few drivers for First over the years so I agree with you. If the drivers are kept in good condition while being happy it massively helps. Obviously Covid is a huge issue just now but it's a sign of how important keeping those you have happy is.

 

[Arriva Fan]

from 12th September drivers will receive a £30 supplement for working their days off it should have happened years ago maybe this situation of not being able to cover shifts might not have happened I've had 4 missed reliefs in the last 2 weeks alone

Not much is it though; £30 over a potentially 12/13 Hour day, which will be taxed still? In my opinion, it doesn't give a great incentive for overtime.

 

[lastbus]

Not much is it though; £30 over a potentially 12/13 Hour day, which will be taxed still? In my opinion, it doesn't give a great incentive for overtime.

Given the amount of drivers who already do overtime it’s not going to make any difference.

 

[singlemalt]

Not much is it though; £30 over a potentially 12/13 Hour day, which will be taxed still? In my opinion, it doesn't give a great incentive for overtime.

It's £30 per day no matter the length of the shift.

 

[Arriva Fan]

It's £30 per day no matter the length of the shift

Yes, so the longer the shift, the less attractive that becomes for me personally. If overtime was a 5hr 30min shift, with no break, that'd be £87.20. It's not bad, but not great either. For a top rate driver, it would be about £103, so would possibly be more attractive to them. But for a 12 Hour spreadover, an extra £30 just isn't worth it, no matter what your payscale is.

After tax what is actually left of your £30? It's not a great incentive in my opinion.

 

[singlemalt]

Yes, so the longer the shift, the less attractive that becomes, for me personally. If overtime was a 5hr 30min shift, with no break, that'd be £87.20. Not bad, but not great either. For a top rate driver, it would be abt £103, so possibly more attractive to them. But for a 12 Hour spreadover, an extra £30 just isn't worth it, no matter what your payscale is.

After tax what is auctually left of your £30? It's not a great incentive in my opinion.

That's very true, but at least its a start in the right direction.

 

[Arriva Fan]

That's very true, but at least its a start in the right direction.

Yeah, it's a good start. Despite union claims though, I can't help feel it's a 'needs must' situation, and should the shortage be covered it will be removed.

It's also not really the fault of First Bus that they cannot offer better pay and conditions. The economics of UK Bus Operations has been ruined by the people some campaign to give full control to, I.e local councils/devolved administrations.

But that is for another thread I think.

 

[LT02 NVV]

Hey, does anyone remember the time back around 2011-2012-ish when First Glasgow had so many more buses on the 20 (Now the 6A) to compete with McColls Coaches, when McColls made a duplicate of the route from Drumchapel to the City Centre?

I remember that I saw loads of B7TL Geminis, Dennis Darts, B7LRE Eclipses, and Dennis Trident Plaxton Presidents. I even saw a B9TL Gemini on the route (Which was very rare back then).

Anyway, McColls pulled their route, and First won the battle.

 

[PaulMc7]

On the subject of Drumchapel, I feel sorry for anyone who uses the 3 after 6-7 pm. On most days from what I've seen, there have been multiple occasions where one has run late enough to come with the one 30 mins after it. I have always thought the evening timetable was a bit tight considering the route length to be fair. When I used to use it for nights out 5-6 years ago there were occasions where the bus would get to Charing Cross 15 mins late even if it wasn't particularly busy coming from Scotstoun. Nowadays, coming from Shawlands towards Drumchapel they seem to be even worse than that.

 

[GusB]

As there is quite a bit of discussion around driver shortages across a number of threads, I've split this off into a separate thread:

Bus Driver Shortages

Mod note - discussion has been split off from the Transdev Blazefield and First Greater Glasgow threads But how long will a few months be? The national driver shortage is plainly linked to the HGV driver shortage and the latter are better paid with their own office (cab) and a far more limited...

www.railforums.co.uk

 

[duffers2324]

Hey, does anyone remember the time back around 2011-2012-ish when First Glasgow had so many more buses on the 20 (Now the 6A) to compete with McColls Coaches, when McColls made a duplicate of the route from Drumchapel to the City Centre?

I remember that I saw loads of B7TL Geminis, Dennis Darts, B7LRE Eclipses, and Dennis Trident Plaxton Presidents. I even saw a B9TL Gemini on the route (Which was very rare back then).

Anyway, McColls pulled their route, and First won the battle.

First used to do this with a lot of routes with competition in the past, the 20 being one and the 75, 62, being examples of some others. The 75 was in competition at both ends at one point with the Milton-City Centre portion competing against McKindless and then the City Centre-Castlemilk portion had the Magicbus 175, I believe. I'm not too sure if these services ran around the same time right enough but also in competition with the 62 was the 162 by Magicbus that ran between City Centre-Baillieston section. You could say they get a little bit of competition down the Kilmarnock Rd corridor with Stagecoach's 4 running down to Newton Mearns and beyond as well.

First certainly don't have as much competition as they once did but as has been said when they do they tend just to try and flood the route with buses hoping they will win the battle, which probably 9 times out of 10 they do.

 

[PaulMc7]

On the subject of competition, Paisley Road West is the longest battle I've seen between First and anyone else I think ever unless I'm forgetting something off of the top of my head.

I think First have always been pretty smart with the 9 into Paisley though. They've not wasted fairly new stock on it and even on a Sunday there's the odd E300 at most from my experience. It'll be interesting to see if the new buses going onto it does anything to take passengers away from McGills 38. They've managed to make McGills throw 12 buses an hour between Paisley and Glasgow at it without missing out on passengers.

When I've used the 9 into Paisley it's been fairly busy a lot of the time despite the stock on it.

 

[JumpinTrainz]

With the introduction of the new E200EVs are we expecting the 06 B7RLEs to go for scrap or perhaps see use elsewhere?

 

[cnjb8]

With the introduction of the new E200EVs are we expecting the 06 B7RLEs to go for scrap or perhaps see use elsewhere?

Probably not, they aren’t really required anywhere. Many of the former Rotala B7RLEs of a similar age became driver trainers

 

[ScotRail158725]

With the introduction of the new E200EVs are we expecting the 06 B7RLEs to go for scrap or perhaps see use elsewhere?

The 9 branded buses are moving elsewhere in the First Fleet and the former Manchester ones in service are moving elsewhere in the Glasgow fleet.

 

[JumpinTrainz]

The 9 branded buses are moving elsewhere in the First Fleet and the former Manchester ones in service are moving elsewhere in the Glasgow fleet

I’m surprised to hear that these buses will be getting a second lease of life. I didn’t think many other subsidiaries would want 15 year old buses.