Each I’ve passed today has been a e200
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Nope not uplands crescent. That was 50/51 that first used to run through there. The little solos Used to ground if the angle was taken wrong.
Aparently pcb/GC new duty boards from yesterday dont say to fuel bus at end of shift. Hence why buses were running out of fuel. Several drivers have fueled up on route in service.
No 09.40 or 10.40 21 service to st austall this morning one of which was no driver allocated.
11.00 93 to truro was no show up until at least 11.15
It would seem they have a problem with scheduling, lack of drivers and buses
I cant see that scheduling has much of an excuse as have had 3 months of relatively quiet time to work it out. I would hate to think what would have happened if covid hadn't come along.
As I have said before that being on the ground in the middle of all this it looks a right shambles and passengers are not happy
No 09.40 or 10.40 21 service to st austall this morning one of which was no driver allocated.
11.00 93 to truro was no show up until at least 11.15
It would seem they have a problem with scheduling, lack of drivers and buses
I cant see that scheduling has much of an excuse as have had 3 months of relatively quiet time to work it out. I would hate to think what would have happened if covid hadn't come along.
As I have said before that being on the ground in the middle of all this it looks a right shambles and passengers are not happy
TheGrandWazoo
Veteran Member
Not mentioning fuelling at end of boards..... that's poor all round.
Sounds like a lack of drivers and that is the one area that was always the concern. That they would have depots with o licenses, or that they would have sufficient numbers of the correct types of vehicles was never the major issue - it was whether they'd have the pilots for them.
M803UYA
Member
It would make sense if normal Plymouth based PCB buses are refuelled by someone other than the driver at the end of their shift?
But, as a rural operation that is something that would need to have been pointed out to whoever constructed the schedule. If, as I suspect, the schedule was manually drawn on a sheet of A3 paper with a pencil and rubber (other paper sizes available) by someone outside of Milehouse and then input at Milehouse into Omnitimes/Omnibase (Computer scheduling software) this vital information could have been omitted in the course of communications. You would deal with this in the computerised schedule by inserting a coded trip note to the last journey for the bus. It would be spotted by anyone checking the running boards before they were sent out - assuming someone checks such things and if they know that this is the practice.
I always distrusted any form of computer output and would insist it be checked by reading through, to eliminate issues such as this. Easier to check a pile of paper in the office before you email it out for use than to discover the problem when the services are operating. The people who trained me had no tolerance for issues like these happening because it was preventable through checking before you issued vehicle running boards to the depot. I carried this on into my other roles (we had the same amount of people as a Stagecoach commercial office but under 200 buses in the fleet) and it was something I was proud of, the smooth introduction of a service change with no issues. There might have been other issues, but that would be on the operational side and not traceable back to my department!
But this is a high profile introduction of service by PCB, so one would assume full attention was given to it's implementation at all stages, to avoid these simple preventable issues occurring.
But, as a rural operation that is something that would need to have been pointed out to whoever constructed the schedule. If, as I suspect, the schedule was manually drawn on a sheet of A3 paper with a pencil and rubber (other paper sizes available) by someone outside of Milehouse and then input at Milehouse into Omnitimes/Omnibase (Computer scheduling software) this vital information could have been omitted in the course of communications. You would deal with this in the computerised schedule by inserting a coded trip note to the last journey for the bus. It would be spotted by anyone checking the running boards before they were sent out - assuming someone checks such things and if they know that this is the practice.
I always distrusted any form of computer output and would insist it be checked by reading through, to eliminate issues such as this. Easier to check a pile of paper in the office before you email it out for use than to discover the problem when the services are operating. The people who trained me had no tolerance for issues like these happening because it was preventable through checking before you issued vehicle running boards to the depot. I carried this on into my other roles (we had the same amount of people as a Stagecoach commercial office but under 200 buses in the fleet) and it was something I was proud of, the smooth introduction of a service change with no issues. There might have been other issues, but that would be on the operational side and not traceable back to my department!
But this is a high profile introduction of service by PCB, so one would assume full attention was given to it's implementation at all stages, to avoid these simple preventable issues occurring.
Goldfish62
Established Member
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Good point. Thanks.
Lizard1324
Member
I'm surprised they havnt updated the bus stop timetables.
They are lucky it hasn't rained or been windy as this would have been destroyed as only held on by one piece of sticky tape
They are lucky it hasn't rained or been windy as this would have been destroyed as only held on by one piece of sticky tape
Busaholic
Veteran Member
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No shortage of GCB buses in West Cornwall, including a 16 working to Roscadghill Parc from Pz Sainsbury's around 5 p.m. I followed it into PZ and it teamed up with that PCB d/d on the 5 working into PZ ( sorry, City Centre!) again. No sign of a single passenger, nor on the 8 or 515 this a.m.
Certain local councillors are printing and taping timetables in their patch due to lack of operator supplied versions
Surely the basic point here is that there was no tender for the summer period. Kernow registered and publicised a commercial summer service. The current A5 is commercial. It is only running every two hours but I expect that Kernow would consider increasing that if / when the tourists return. The 56 cannot, legally, attract county support or CBSSG which, for tendered routes, can only be channeled via a local authority. If PCB can afford to run empty buses with no revenue then that is up to them.
TheGrandWazoo
Veteran Member
PCB won't be running it for free, or be running it if they're short of drivers and don't need to. If CC believe that it demands an hourly service, they do have the ability to have additional journeys above the commercial offering... don't they?
If CC believe that there should be a more frequent service shouldn't the first step be to discuss it with the commercial operator?
TheGrandWazoo
Veteran Member
Seem to recall there are limits on de minimis funding. Can’t remember the individual and aggregate levels - Sir Goldfish may know!! Otherwise it has to be tendered.
matt_splat
Member
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from what i saw on bus times last night one works a 95 truro to camelford before working a 55 back to bodmin it looks like a last run of the day today though it wasn't a decker but i notice it does a 50 earlier in the day so might be the reason why
they will be running it for free and considerable loss. They cant legally be subsidised.
Secondly the A5 was commercial On summer timetable and subsidised During winter.
Goldfish62
Established Member
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Sir Goldfish here.
I have consulted a local authority friend who believes that the only limit is that a maximum 25% of the total bus service support budget may be spent on de minimis contracts.
Plenty of scope for the council to act then!
M803UYA
Member
That timetable looks very easy to remove!
Instances of incorrect blinds being displayed today, where buses only have Plymouth destinations.
There was an 85 Plympton via Efford.
As amusing as this sounds, an incorrect destination is an on the spot fine for driver, and a non runner for timetable compliance if caught. Their drivers are proudly showing it off on Facebook like it’s a big joke!
On the subject of 85, Cubert had a 3 hour gap in services today, when enquiries Were made, the drivers said the roads are too narrow so they weren’t servicing Crantock cubert or Holywell.
Yesterday I took a man Full route on the 91, he already had a TfC ticket, the driver of the previous 85 told him he was only running as far as Newlyn east and then to depot. I can’t see such a service in the timetable. As I explained we don’t accept TfC tickets he willingly bought a single ticket for FK and vowed never to use a TFC bus again!
There was an 85 Plympton via Efford.
As amusing as this sounds, an incorrect destination is an on the spot fine for driver, and a non runner for timetable compliance if caught. Their drivers are proudly showing it off on Facebook like it’s a big joke!
On the subject of 85, Cubert had a 3 hour gap in services today, when enquiries Were made, the drivers said the roads are too narrow so they weren’t servicing Crantock cubert or Holywell.
Yesterday I took a man Full route on the 91, he already had a TfC ticket, the driver of the previous 85 told him he was only running as far as Newlyn east and then to depot. I can’t see such a service in the timetable. As I explained we don’t accept TfC tickets he willingly bought a single ticket for FK and vowed never to use a TFC bus again!
Goldfish62
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I saw a photo on Facebook of a Callywith College E400 on the 5 showing "City Centre".
presumably the drivers are unaware they can be personally fined for incorrect destination... but not for no destination
Maybe the bus was running out of diesel?
Entirely possible.
The excuse for the running out of diesel fiasco is that fuelling was removed from the driver duty cards.
Not something I’ve ever had to worry about we have dedicated fuellers at First,
TheGrandWazoo
Veteran Member
Sir Goldfish here.
I have consulted a local authority friend who believes that the only limit is that a maximum 25% of the total bus service support budget may be spent on de minimis contracts.
Plenty of scope for the council to act then!
Thanks Sir Goldfish - think you may need to change your Avatar
. The rules are as you say (and I confess I thought they were lower) though these are also subject to the individual council rules/guidance and levels. I guess you have to be in CC to know those, but the example (Angus Council) cited in the DOT Best Practice Guidelines was £12k. There are, of course, exemptions in case of emergency (e.g. when Carillion went bust, I bet a few emergency contracts worth a lot more than £12k went out).So they could approach FK for a short term arrangement but an extra vehicle on a permanent basis will probably be outside their own deminis rules (unless they're more generous than Angus).
TheGrandWazoo
Veteran Member
Eight in one day.... if so, that's inexcusable. Happy to defend Go Ahead especially given the vagaries of Cornwall Council, and you can understand (if not fully forgive) some of the challenges on recruitment. However, not ensuring vehicles are fuelled....
Lizard1324
Member
i
Now that's ridiculous are they all from the same depot or different
M803UYA
Member
It can't even be put down to 'teething troubles' - it is a preventable issue that should be planned for.
Following on from at least 3 yesterday, where I hoped lessons would be learnt so they didn’t repeat it today.
not fuelling is fully within their control and inexcusable. Although the excuse is fuelling has been removed from the driver duty cards, I was taught and it’s part of cpc mod 4 to get a licence check fuel when taking over a new vehicle.
I’ve been told Kingsley village has a citybus fuel card saved behind the counter now. A friend needed to fuel mid service on a 93 as his gauge was showing low!