Nottingham 'Bus War'

[MCR247]

Stagecoach are a much worse opponent that Premiere, realistically they could force Trent off corridors that they've served for up to a hundered years, so I really don't want it to happen!

I wasn't saying the should as I think it would be a certain gesture to TB, I was just saying it would be like giving a certain gesture to TB from Stagecoaches POV

 

[Deerfold]

Couldn't Stagecoach and TB come to an agreement similar to that of Arriva and TB on the X38? I find that works quite well as I end up using it most weekends nowadays.

4 buses per hour, one every 15 minutes, two operated by TB and two operated by Arriva. The TB buses allow ZigZag & Mango for instance and returns are accepted by each of the operators. Not really that much co-operation required other than for the timetable, seems to work well for the customer too.

That's pretty much how it has run for years until Stagecoach's recent additional buses except for the acceptance of network-wide tickets (and Stagecoach running larger proportion of buses - not that that should be a problem so long as the proportion stays the same all day).

 

[WillPS]

There's been quite a stink regarding Premiere's lack of professionalism this week. Their marketing manager has been caught slagging off bus enthusiasts.

 

[trentside]

There's been quite a stink regarding Premiere's lack of professionalism this week. Their marketing manager has been caught slagging off bus enthusiasts.

It doesn't surprise me.

I believe I've previously told my experience of being ranted at about roadworks on a totally different route when I called to complain about persistent delays on the 54 between Newark and Bingham. They never acknowledged a complaint about buses failing to serve a section of the route in Newark. They've also failed to respond when I've made enquiries about fares and ticketing options - thus I continued to use another bus operator and never bothered trying Premiere as my custom obviously wasn't important to this 'family' business which is constantly appealing for public support... interesting approach!

 

[Deerfold]

There's been quite a stink regarding Premiere's lack of professionalism this week. Their marketing manager has been caught slagging off bus enthusiasts.

Is this anywhere in particular?

 

[MCR247]

What I was going to ask

 

[WillPS]

Here it is with a slight edit to make it compliant with this board's guidelines:

Ian Brough [marketing manager, premiere travel]
There are some seriously sad [swear word, 7 letters, starting with b] out there... Get a life you morons!

Jo Copeland
Who's upset u ? 4hours ago

Ian Brough
Fooking bus nerds! They're the biggest load of geeks you've ever seen... Proper idiots with opinions based on a dream not on reality! Seriously sad people who really need to get a life!!! Rant over lol

Beverley Cummins
haha, just ignore them, they are seriously very sad individuals x 4hours ago · Like

Ian Brough
Im trying to lure them in to atrap! Ithink it's working lol
4hours ago · Like · 3

Jason Woodhouse they were only goingto the county game ian 3hours ago · Like

Kristian Bromley Lol I'm just reading all the [swear word, 4 letters, starting with s] thay have put Ian if only thay knew who u where mate 24 minutes ago via mobile · Like

Christopher Scott Mccrorie Ian, I'm with you mate.... If i read one more comment about our buses being impounded or were going bankrupted I'm going to scream! [swear word, 4 letters, starting with t]s total [swear word, 4 letters, starting with t]ss 5minutes

 

[Deerfold]

Here it is with a slight edit to make it compliant with this board's guidelines:

Was this on their own facebook page?

 

[tbone]

Was this on their own facebook page?

This was on his own facebook page following on from a discussion on "Premiere complaints page"- a page set up so that people can still voice their criticisms in the public domain following Premiere's removal of the ability to post on their facebook wall. It was copied and pasted onto the aformentioned group's page and has been subsiquently passed around the web.

To be honest, those weren't his worse comments, during the argument he made a number of defamatory comments suggesting that all bus enthusiasts engage in sexual acts with buses. Not very professional at all!

 

[Tomonthetrain]

Very professional eh?

 

[ARedFlyer]

Well he's right isn't he? The enthusiasts don't like Premiere because they don't use modern buses or have modern livery etc

TB are the truly vile company. Over the last few weeks I have encountered an inadequacy of service I had not previously considered possible using their skylink, including a journey that lasted 2 hours and 40 minutes. They are greedy and purely money orientated. They don't care about you catching your plane on time, more about making the route as long as possible to make as much money as possible. Do not use that service if you have a plane to catch. Get a Taxi or fly from BHX where you have more choice of destination anyway.

This is why RED 5 was/is such a success they found a niche in people wanting a no frills service that runs quickly from A to B. They failed with the Flyer but I hope Premiere continue to cherry-pick Trent Barton's network. When I think of the money Premiere have taken from TB with the RED 5 it makes me feel warm inside.

 

[Deerfold]

TB are the truly vile company. Over the last few weeks I have encountered an inadequacy of service I had not previously considered possible using their skylink, including a journey that lasted 2 hours and 40 minutes. They are greedy and purely money orientated. They don't care about you catching your plane on time, more about making the route as long as possible to make as much money as possible. Do not use that service if you have a plane to catch. Get a Taxi or fly from BHX where you have more choice of destination anyway.

If they're truely vile, they've changed since I used to catch them. I'm sure they are money oriented - they're a public company and want to please their shareholders. However in the past they've done this by keeping passengers happy and coming back - what's in it for them to make you miss your plane? Surely you're less likely to come back.

Why did the journey last 2 hours 40? Did the bus break down or was there some incident that caused a traffic jam? Did you ask for your money back? they claim to offer a no-quibble money-back guarantee for anyone unahppy with their service.

We’re the only transport provider in Europe to offer a no-quibble, on the spot, money back guarantee for anyone who is unhappy with our service – for any reason. This underpins the commitment to our customers, and ensures we deliver on our promises. We could be the only ones in the World to do it, but we thought looking around in every single country may be a bit too much of a jolly

This is why RED 5 was/is such a success they found a niche in people wanting a no frills service that runs quickly from A to B. They failed with the Flyer but I hope Premiere continue to cherry-pick Trent Barton's network. When I think of the money Premiere have taken from TB with the RED 5 it makes me feel warm inside.

Bizarre. I like bus companies that provide a good service. If my current one does that I don't really care what happens to the money. Most companies I admire do something new - either new routes or a better one than the existing operator. Less impressive are companies who spot a popular route and do a slightly different version. I liked Halifax Joint Comittee (now part of Centrebus) - they ran either different routes or put higher frequency services on First routes. When First pulled out they kept the higher frequencies, so various parts of Halifax saw their bus service go from half hourly to quarter hourly. Companies like the Big Lemon who just shadow others, I'm less keen on.

 

[Tomonthetrain]

Well he's right isn't he? The enthusiasts don't like Premiere because they don't use modern buses or have modern livery etc

TB are the truly vile company. Over the last few weeks I have encountered an inadequacy of service I had not previously considered possible using their skylink, including a journey that lasted 2 hours and 40 minutes. They are greedy and purely money orientated. They don't care about you catching your plane on time, more about making the route as long as possible to make as much money as possible. Do not use that service if you have a plane to catch. Get a Taxi or fly from BHX where you have more choice of destination anyway.

This is why RED 5 was/is such a success they found a niche in people wanting a no frills service that runs quickly from A to B. They failed with the Flyer but I hope Premiere continue to cherry-pick Trent Barton's network. When I think of the money Premiere have taken from TB with the RED 5 it makes me feel warm inside.

May I congratulate you my being that far off the mark that your in Amsterdam! [/joke]

The reason people don't like Premiere is because:

A) half the drivers don't like passengers
B) half the buses don't turn up
C) comments from people like management as shown in a previous post.

Whereas people like Trent because:
A) most if not all of the drivers appreciate the passengers
B) most if not all of the services turn up
C) you don't get comments like that which can ruin a companies reputation quite quickly.

I had 3 Premiere drivers have a go at me for taking pictures of their buses, guess how many Trent drivers had a go at me? Yes, Zero.

I am being objective here mainly because I don't go to Nottingham often but when I do I find Trent, NCT and Yourbus to be quite good at what they do. Premiere on the other hand.

 

[tbone]

Completely agree with the two comments above. I've sampled every single branded Trent Barton service and I can honestly say that I haven't once had a bad Trent Barton driver. I've never used Premiere, but despite that, I've had two issues with Premiere drivers, and not even for taking pictures; to them i would have looked like any other passenger.

Skylink is suffering at the moment because of tram works as well as flooding over the past week or so. Every service along that corridor is having problems, the difference is that if you use Trent Barton, they'll give you their money back.

The reason a lot of people don't like Premiere is becuase their business is based on the back of ripping off Trent Barton routes. If Arriva, First or even Trent Barton themselves did that, there would be uproar. Just becuase they're a "family businesss" (as they're so keen to keep telling us) doesn't mean we should tolerate everything they do.

By the way, Red 5 isn't a huge success, it's almost sent them bankrupt, and don't forget the fact that it had to make a very sudden change back to every 20 minutes.

In other news, Premiere have had to take out a 6 figure loan which they seem to be bragging about in the papers. Not a good sign.

 

[CallySleeper]

Well he's right isn't he? The enthusiasts don't like Premiere because they don't use modern buses or have modern livery etc

TB are the truly vile company. Over the last few weeks I have encountered an inadequacy of service I had not previously considered possible using their skylink, including a journey that lasted 2 hours and 40 minutes. They are greedy and purely money orientated. They don't care about you catching your plane on time, more about making the route as long as possible to make as much money as possible. Do not use that service if you have a plane to catch. Get a Taxi or fly from BHX where you have more choice of destination anyway.

This is why RED 5 was/is such a success they found a niche in people wanting a no frills service that runs quickly from A to B. They failed with the Flyer but I hope Premiere continue to cherry-pick Trent Barton's network. When I think of the money Premiere have taken from TB with the RED 5 it makes me feel warm inside.

What a horrible, horrible thing to say.

To echo Deerfold, did you get your money back? If not, why not? 2 hours 40 is obviously extreme, and especially given the weather just now. Are PT immune to flooding? If the skylink was actually "inadequate", then I'm sure that it wouldn't be as popular as it actually is. Was the redflyer adequate enough? If so, then why did it fail?

(Ironically, flying from BHX will mean potentially a longer and more expensive journey to the airport than the one you claim to have made on skylink, but I'll ignore that point)

With companies like NCT, TB and YB, there appears to be initiative and creativity in how they run the business, (eg routes, etc). They are also aware of what attracts new business. With PT, there appears to be none of this, except trying to cover already established routes and trying to win a customer base over with lower fares and crap buses. That kind of attitude, as was demonstrated with the redflyer, doesn't make a profit! Does PT have a real business model? In comparison to any of the companies listed above, I'm not sure it does! PT might not be 'money orientated', certainly with their fares strategy (or are they?) but if you're not money orientated in the first place then you will fail in business, especially in this day and age!

Also, just seen their website tagline: "Leading Public Transport Bus Company in Nottingham". Ha! Must obviously be talking about another 'Nottingham' or be completely blind to all the professionalism around them.

 

[tbone]

That kind of attitude, as was demonstrated with the redflyer, doesn't make a profit! .

Not to mention Red 2, Red 4 and local 17

 

[ARedFlyer]

Maybe you should all try catching a TB bus instead of taking pictures of them

They don't refund term passes. 2 hours 40 minutes was due to be stuck in Long Eaton due to floods in Sawley. But it's one thing after another on that route yet they advertise it as an airport bus? Would you really risk catching your flight on time using that thing? False advertising - it's a terrible service. You can get to BHX in an hour. Also TB drop buses if they aren't on time...rather than it turn up late it won't turn up at all so they can get back in time...they shouldn't be able to get away with this practice. Premiere for all their faults will always send the bus to you even if it's late! TB's policy means passengers have to wait longer.

Also a lot of their drivers are nearing retirement age, skylink crashed the other day on Maid Marrian Way. The driver looked about 70.

If you think RED 5 isn't profitable for Premiere you are being misinformed. It's their strongest route hence they increased it to every 10 mins. It's gone back to every 20 due to tramworks and buses bunching up together. I think you will be referring to their Red Flyer which was mismanaged and did cost them a bit.

I agree NCT are the best of the lot, apart from their customer service free drivers.

 

[Jordeh]

Maybe you should all try catching a TB bus instead of taking pictures of them

They don't refund term passes. 2 hours 40 minutes was due to be stuck in Long Eaton due to floods in Sawley. But it's one thing after another on that route yet they advertise it as an airport bus? Would you really risk catching your flight on time using that thing? False advertising - it's a terrible service. You can get to BHX in an hour. Also TB drop buses if they aren't on time...rather than it turn up late it won't turn up at all so they can get back in time...they shouldn't be able to get away with this practice. Premiere for all their faults will always send the bus to you even if it's late! TB's policy means passengers have to wait longer.

Also a lot of their drivers are nearing retirement age, skylink crashed the other day on Maid Marrian Way. The driver looked about 70.

If you think RED 5 isn't profitable for Premiere you are being misinformed. It's their strongest route hence they increased it to every 10 mins. It's gone back to every 20 due to tramworks and buses bunching up together. I think you will be referring to their Red Flyer which was mismanaged and did cost them a bit.

I agree NCT are the best of the lot, apart from their customer service free drivers.

Many of us do catch Trent Barton buses. I find myself both frustrated and amused by your argument. Surely a bus which goes to an airport is an "Airport Bus", there is no way in hell that is false advertising. Do you expect them to rebrand it because of flooding? The flooding is not Trent Bartons fault and quite frankly it is your fault you miss your flight, it certainly isn't Trent Bartons. The delays due to flooding are inevitable and have been referenced on their website and Twitter, it is hardly surprising the weather has delayed buses. Then of course the delays due to the tram are also well documented, if you were relying on the bus to catch a flight then you should have left plenty of time, last week particularly. Getting to BHX in an hour on public transport is also very questionable. As for your claims about PT always running buses and TB regularly dropping buses, my experience has been quite the opposite.

Quite frankly it seems you've just thrown your rattle out the pram because you missed a flight.

 

[Deerfold]

They don't refund term passes. 2 hours 40 minutes was due to be stuck in Long Eaton due to floods in Sawley. But it's one thing after another on that route yet they advertise it as an airport bus? Would you really risk catching your flight on time using that thing? False advertising - it's a terrible service. You can get to BHX in an hour.

Have you contacted TrentBarton about this? On the handful of occasions I had problems with them they've always tried to do what they can afterwards.

Also TB drop buses if they aren't on time...rather than it turn up late it won't turn up at all so they can get back in time...they shouldn't be able to get away with this practice. Premiere for all their faults will always send the bus to you even if it's late! TB's policy means passengers have to wait longer.

If this is what they're doing, it should be reported to the traffic commissioner - if they can substantiate it, they won't get away with this practice.

Also a lot of their drivers are nearing retirement age, skylink crashed the other day on Maid Marrian Way. The driver looked about 70.

There is no statutory retirement age. Does it matter how old the driver is? If they're not driving safely that's a different matter. Without knowing more about the incident you refer to, I can't say a lot about it.

If you think RED 5 isn't profitable for Premiere you are being misinformed. It's their strongest route hence they increased it to every 10 mins. It's gone back to every 20 due to tramworks and buses bunching up together. I think you will be referring to their Red Flyer which was mismanaged and did cost them a bit.

If it really is their strongest route, it's a shame they can't find the resources to maintain the frequency (or at least keep it a bit higher).

 

[Tomonthetrain]

Premiere for all their faults will always send the bus to you even if it's late! TB's policy means passengers have to wait longer.

Quick Question if I may. Do you work for Premiere??

 

[CallySleeper]

Maybe you should all try catching a TB bus instead of taking pictures of them

Eh, we actually do? Unlike PT buses!

They don't refund term passes.

A term pass? Are you a school or college/university student?

2 hours 40 minutes was due to be stuck in Long Eaton due to floods in Sawley.

I asked in my previous post, do you believe that PT are immune to floods?

But it's one thing after another on that route

Better than the old redflyer route (A453) - why they never ran skylink that way. At least they are still trying. PT on the other hand,

yet they advertise it as an airport bus? False advertising

Er, how? Even during the floods, as per your own admission, they still ran to the airport.

Would you really risk catching your flight on time using that thing?

Skylink? Yes. Redflyer? Absoultely not, I'd rather hitchhike. Or indeed anywhere that PT go to, when they do.

Also TB drop buses if they aren't on time...rather than it turn up late it won't turn up at all so they can get back in time...they shouldn't be able to get away with this practice.

You'll have to explain this, but if of course this is actually happening (proof please!) it sounds familiar to a practice PT were heard of doing.

Premiere for all their faults will always send the bus to you even if it's late!

So they don't know how to manage delays either?

TB's policy means passengers have to wait longer.

Quote the policy please?

Also a lot of their drivers are nearing retirement age

Again, you'll have to prove this for any of us to believe it!

skylink crashed the other day on Maid Marrian Way.

Who's fault was it? How did the bus driver deal with it?

The driver looked about 70.

That's offensive. (See response to above question)

If you think RED 5 isn't profitable for Premiere you are being misinformed. It's their strongest route hence they increased it to every 10 mins. It's gone back to every 20 due to tramworks and buses bunching up together. I think you will be referring to their Red Flyer which was mismanaged and did cost them a bit.

I'll be surprised though if a company "mismanaging" one particular route is still able to outshine on another.

I agree NCT are the best of the lot, apart from their customer service free drivers.

Wait, so not Premiere then?!

 

[ARedFlyer]

Obviously a TB fan club on here because they have modern buses with colorful livery, your bedsits must be plastered with laminated photos on the indigo etc

I have experienced more problems in two weeks using that TB Skylink than I did during with the whole duration of Premiere's Red Flyer service. Yes the RF has it's problems from time to time but Skylink is late literally on every run and not just late, dramatically late. Why? Because the route is long, built-up and unworkable. It's not logistically possible to run a reliable service on that route. I dread to think how many people have missed flights due to that poor excuse for a bus service.

How do I contact the traffic commissioner? I don't work for Premiere but am impartial enough to recognize behind glamorous liveries TB are a terrible, greedy company who have had their network cherry-picked because of having so many dissatisfied customers, so my comments are proven.

All that glitters isn't gold, this is most certainly true in TB's case. That's why they lose thousands of pounds every week to Premiere.

 

[starrymarkb]

See here - https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/traffic-commissioners

 

[ARedFlyer]

Thanks. I shall be contacting them with regards to TB's practices and safety concerns.

 

[Tomonthetrain]

Obviously a TB fan club on here because they have modern buses with colorful livery, your bedsits must be plastered with laminated photos on the indigo etc

Yeah right, for your information my walls are in London Red![/SARCASM]

I don't work for Premiere but am impartial enough to recognize behind glamorous liveries TB are a terrible, greedy company who have had their network cherry-picked because of having so many dissatisfied customers

Obviously a Premiere fan club!

All that glitters isn't gold, this is most certainly true in TB's case. That's why they lose thousands of pounds every week to Premiere.

Proof please?

 

[Deerfold]

Obviously a TB fan club on here because they have modern buses with colorful livery, your bedsits must be plastered with laminated photos on the indigo etc

You don't seem to be reading what people are saying - and I'm don't see what's wrong with having modern buses.

I have experienced more problems in two weeks using that TB Skylink than I did during with the whole duration of Premiere's Red Flyer service.

Although the red flyer does have one big problem, doesn't it?

Yes the RF has it's problems from time to time but Skylink is late literally on every run and not just late, dramatically late. Why? Because the route is long, built-up and unworkable. It's not logistically possible to run a reliable service on that route. I dread to think how many people have missed flights due to that poor excuse for a bus service.

Have you contacted TrentBarton at all? It seems they're trying to run a service that attracts enough people to make it commercially viable - they won't deliberately want to make it unreliable or they won't get repeat business - and a lot of the people on the run will not be the one-off holidaymaker.

How do I contact the traffic commissioner? I don't work for Premiere but am impartial enough to recognize behind glamorous liveries TB are a terrible, greedy company who have had their network cherry-picked because of having so many dissatisfied customers, so my comments are proven.

A terrible greedy company who've worked up from being a bit of a backwater service to having one of the most modern fleets in the country with many more frequent routes than many towns and cities around the country get and many satisfied customers. The number of customers who are dissatisfied doesn't seem to be enough to make Premiere's job easy.

All that glitters isn't gold, this is most certainly true in TB's case. That's why they lose thousands of pounds every week to Premiere.

You're obviously disappointed with the route you're catching. Do you use any of their other routes or are the problems largely down to flooding and tram-related roadworks?

 

[Jatos]

I generally do not take the bus as I prefer to use my bike, however, when I do use the bus, I prefer to use TB, and have found them to be the best.

I do not expect buses to be timed precisely to a timetable I might add, I fail to see how this is possible, and do not consider a reasonable expectation, due to the unpredictability of the roads but I have found that TB do seem to make the best effort to be on time and reliable.

 

[CallySleeper]

Obviously a TB fan club on here because they have modern buses with colorful livery

...and a lot more besides. For example, a plausible and realistic business model. Things which PT seem to lack?

your bedsits must be plastered with laminated photos on the indigo etc

No, but they would be more pleasurable to the eye than PT certainly

I have experienced more problems in two weeks using that TB Skylink than I did during with the whole duration of Premiere's Red Flyer service.

And before those 'two weeks'? Given the weather-related disruption during this time what makes you think PT would fare any better?

Yes the RF has it's problems from time to time but Skylink is late literally on every run and not just late, dramatically late. Why? Because the route is long, built-up and unworkable. It's not logistically possible to run a reliable service on that route.

If this diagnosis was true then I'm sure it would be more publicised! For which of the above reasons did RF fail?

o More buses late than not
o Long route
o Built-up route
o Unworkable route
o Unreliable service
o Service not logistically possible
x All of the above

I dread to think how many people have missed flights due to that poor excuse for a bus service.

Yeah? We all dread to think how many people missed flights who tried to get to the airport by RF.

How do I contact the traffic commissioner?

Probably with most success after a sleep/bath/cool down, and probably not with the same level of zeal with which you are writing these posts!

I don't work for Premiere but am impartial enough

Yes this sounds pretty impartial to me

to recognize behind glamorous liveries TB are a terrible, greedy company

Oh really. Could PT not be described in the same way? 'Terrible, greedy' companies don't tend to win multiple awards year on year and by the way, I can't help but feel that PT hasn't won anything recently?

who have had their network cherry-picked because of having so many dissatisfied customers

Not really seeing this, sorry. If anything, with the redflyer being cancelled, local 17 following suit next year and the red 5 reduced in frequency, it's not as if they must have many satisfied customers? I don't think PT are the ones cherry-picking

so my comments are proven.

Errrrr what now?!

All that glitters isn't gold, this is most certainly true in TB's case.

What? I don't see PT shining.

That's why they lose thousands of pounds every week to Premiere.

Prove it... It wasn't that long ago that I recall RF was loosing a similar amount of money in a similar time and by the way, accepting other operators tickets on red 5 is all well and good, but everyone else is because they are the ones that get the income! That's why you're loosing money! (Well, one of the reasons)

P.S. we're expecting replies!

 

[Harbon 1]

TB are the truly vile company. Over the last few weeks I have encountered an inadequacy of service I had not previously considered possible using their skylink, including a journey that lasted 2 hours and 40 minutes. They are greedy and purely money orientated. They don't care about you catching your plane on time, more about making the route as long as possible to make as much money as possible. Do not use that service if you have a plane to catch. Get a Taxi or fly from BHX where you have more choice of destination anyway.

I'm sorry, TB are the best bus company I know! It took that long because you were on a bus. I've always found everything about them nice from the staff to the general state of the buses, yes the villagers were a bit squeaky, but what can you expect form a 50ft hollow box? If you want a quick ride, get a lift or a taxi, if you want a cheap journey, get a bus.... But not arriva
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

Maybe you should all try catching a TB bus instead of taking pictures of them

You seem to be slating all the bus enthusiasts on here, but your obviously in love with the other company. I'm no enthusiast, but I like travelling on buses, and know the difference between an optare and a scania (the first has a seat by the door facing forward, the second a sideways one behind the driver ). Maybe you should try catching one instead of photting it

There's a reason they are still expanding, and have a lot of customers, the only problem is that arriva have set the prices on the joint venture that is the x38. But the villager is a nice bus anyway, and even my friend (a 16 year old girl) thinks TB are the better company
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Also, where did you catch the skyline from? Derby or nottingham?

 

[ARedFlyer]

Premiere have been working these routes for years now so obviously they are doing something right. TB must hate them.

The RF was mismanaged (underpriced and summer timetable change that was a big fail) but the route is not built up at all and it was very quick...it wasnt brilliant but so much better than the Skylink fail we've seen since it's inception.

Anyone remember the bargin bus episode my the parent company of TB? These are the kind of people we are dealing with. Mercenaries who don't listen to their customers and only care about money.