First South West (Kernow & Buses of Somerset)

[Goldfish62]

Not ideal like you suggest but at least the work is being done in the winter months when it is relatively quiet in St Ives.

Yes, around now is about as quiet as it gets in St Ives. I would like to think there'd be ticket acceptance in on the branch line, but that would require the cooperation of the railways...

 

[83G/84D]

Yes, around now is about as quiet as it gets in St Ives. I would like to think there'd be ticket acceptance in on the branch line, but that would require the cooperation of the railways...

If GWR were on the ball they would increase the capacity on the St Ives line from 2 carriages to 4, for the period of the road works.

I wonder what will happen if Solo 53814 cannot be revived at Taunton?

 

[83G/84D]

2/4 coaches from wales arrived last night I believe (I passed what looked like them on A30 near Fraddon)

Were they heading to Summercourt or elsewhere?

 

[Busaholic]

Yes, around now is about as quiet as it gets in St Ives. I would like to think there'd be ticket acceptance in on the branch line, but that would require the cooperation of the railways...

It'd be SO different if only the branch line was run by First

 

[Busaholic]

Not ideal like you suggest but at least the work is being done in the winter months when it is relatively quiet in St Ives.

Oh, absolutely, but I wonder how many St Ives secondary school pupils use the A17 and T2 - this is where I'd foresee problems.

 

[richw]

Were they heading to Summercourt or elsewhere?

Truro I would imagine being Truronian additions.

 

[richw]

Reference to previous discussions about what routes are tendered, spotted this in the timetable booklet.

 

[Busaholic]

Driving northbound through Crowlas this p.m. I was passed in very quick succession by three Tinners, the first two on the T1 to Penzance, the third showing 'out of service'

 

[Goldfish62]

Reference to previous discussions about what routes are tendered, spotted this in the timetable booklet.

Yes. Plus most evening, Sundays and a few early morning journeys on most other routes.

 

[Goldfish62]

It'd be SO different if only the branch line was run by First

Existing in the parallel universe that is the rail industry, where buses only exist for rail replacement.

 

[Goldfish62]

I wonder what will happen if Solo 53814 cannot be revived at Taunton?

Send it to the scrapyard and source something else than can do the journey without breaking down.

 

[richw]

Yes. Plus most evening, Sundays and a few early morning journeys on most other routes.

So hypothetically we could see a different operator on the same routes depending on time of the day and day of the week?

 

[busKernow]

So hypothetically we could see a different operator on the same routes depending on time of the day and day of the week?

Its Happened before WG ran some evening Sunday Routes & First did the week day time , does anybody really think First wont be the winner of most of it ?

 

[Goldfish62]

So hypothetically we could see a different operator on the same routes depending on time of the day and day of the week?

In those circumstances I very much hope that mutual ticket acceptance is written into the contract.

 

[busKernow]

Send it to the scrapyard and source something else than can do the journey without breaking down.

I cant see why they didn't put E200 MMCs on it Reliable with a great standing capacity , & put them old Solos on something less frequent.

 

[Goldfish62]

So hypothetically we could see a different operator on the same routes depending on time of the day and day of the week?

What is now the A1 was run for a time both as the 1 under First and the 501 under Western Greyhound with roughly an even split of journeys Mon-Sat and WG running the Sunday service.

 

[CD]

Send it to the scrapyard and source something else than can do the journey without breaking down.

When you say scrapyard do you mean Yeovil ?

 

[carlberry]

When you say scrapyard do you mean Yeovil ?

The scrapyard would be kinder!

 

[richw]

Its Happened before WG ran some evening Sunday Routes & First did the week day time , does anybody really think First wont be the winner of most of it ?

Don’t know, but worth considering Citybus bid for Callywith stuff on the basis of minimum wage drivers. Depends if they (or even another big group) want to get a foot in the door In Cornwall or not, they could do loss leading tenders to get in county wide before expanding commercially. Seeing the profit First Southwest reported in 18/19 maybe others will want a try? (Figures were recently posted in the First group restructuring and survival thread)

 

[83G/84D]

When are the tender results made public?

 

[Goldfish62]

When are the tender results made public?

Assuming the ten day standstill period was counted as actual business days it should expire around now, so we should hear something very soon.

 

[richw]

Must be this week. Although we had 3 non business weekdays assuming 10 working days. It was announced to operators the Thursday before Christmas I think. If that’s right and the Friday is day one it will be Tuesday. If the Thursday was day 1 it will be tomorrow.

 

[83G/84D]

Assuming the ten day standstill period was counted as actual business days it should expire around now, so we should hear something very soon.

Must be this week. Although we had 3 non business weekdays assuming 10 working days. It was announced to operators the Thursday before Christmas I think. If that’s right and the Friday is day one it will be Tuesday. If the Thursday was day 1 it will be tomorrow.

Thank you both.

 

[Goldfish62]

According to Bustimes E200MMC 44970 is on the A17 today, but I'm assuming that's actually a ticket machine swap?

 

[83G/84D]

According to Bustimes E200MMC 44970 is on the A17 today, but I'm assuming that's actually a ticket machine swap?

E200MMC’s 44963 & 44967 on the special service 17 at St Erth this morning. All buses are displaying their normal destinations with extra staff on hand at St Erth railway station to assist passengers transferring.

44970 is on the A17.

 

[Busaholic]

I know we may not have very long to wait for news from Cornwall Council, but, seeing as this is a thread on First Kernow specifically, I'm going to ask the salient question:- Whither FK in the event of it not being the chosen operator? Or, should it be wither FK ? Really, any decision other than the expected one would cue huge turmoil in bus operations in Cornwall and, I'd suggest, would be hugely counter productive and detrimental to the interest of bus passengers here. That doesn't mean to say i'd totally agree the rationale behind awarding it to one operator, if that is to be what it is, but any other than FK would be a gigantic and uncharted risk imo.

 

[cnjb8]

I know we may not have very long to wait for news from Cornwall Council, but, seeing as this is a thread on First Kernow specifically, I'm going to ask the salient question:- Whither FK in the event of it not being the chosen operator? Or, should it be wither FK ? Really, any decision other than the expected one would cue huge turmoil in bus operations in Cornwall and, I'd suggest, would be hugely counter productive and detrimental to the interest of bus passengers here. That doesn't mean to say i'd totally agree the rationale behind awarding it to one operator, if that is to be what it is, but any other than FK would be a gigantic and uncharted risk imo.

When I read about it, I thought it would be disasterous to give it to someone other then FK too. All of those new buses for what?

 

[Goldfish62]

When I read about it, I thought it would be disasterous to give it to someone other then FK too. All of those new buses for what?

I believe around 75% of FK's operation is commercial and it's not necessarily a bad thing not relying on council contracts so it wouldn't be as bad as may at first appear.

 

[cnjb8]

I believe around 75% of FK's operation is commercial and it's not necessarily a bad thing not relying on council contracts so it wouldn't be as bad as may at first appear.

To be fair, Im not local to the area but thank you for correcting me

 

[richw]

To be fair, Im not local to the area but thank you for correcting me

A majority of the tendered work is the small independents using Mercedes Sprinter type vehicles to tiny little villages, many of the tendered services are once daily, or even once weekly.