Rate your local bus service/company!

[TheGrandWazoo]

Dales and District, absolutely pathetic even with their difficult to serve area. Where there is a comparable operation, at least the fares aren't quite so extortionate, I haven't actually used them in years.

That said, they seem to have given up on a lot of their work, many services lost to Hodgsons for a start in the Northallerton area, others taken over by NYCC directly, such as the 153.
When I lived in Thirsk, it cost almost as much for a return to Northallerton, and more for a return to Ripon on the 70 than it did for a return to York on the 30(x) with Reliance, who at least have reasonable fares if nothing else. I'd give Abbotts of Leeming an average rating for maintaining a useful service on the Northallerton to Stokesley route without a subsidy. Dales and District seem to have given up on all but the 73 Bedale to Northallerton when it comes to running a serious service.

Dales and District took on most of the Arriva services when Richmond depot closed. These were the 29, 30, 34, 70, 72 and 79 with numerous drivers moving across having taken redundancy (whilst D&D already operated stuff like the 55 and 159). All were operated under tender with the exception of the 73.

They subsequently lost some routes in the next tender rounds when they lost the 29 and 72 to Arriva and the 79 to Hodgsons. They then regained the 29 and 72 some years later. The latest losses to Hodgsons are again just the product of the tender round. The cuts that NYCC made to tenders led to either community minibuses or the use of NYCC welfare vehicles operated outside school workings in order to minimise costs. According to an FOI request from 2015/6, the 80/89 was tendered so I'd be surprised if it was commercial.

I do agree with you that Dales and District are perfunctory with their selection of dealer stock vehicles, logos applied to dealer white and rock hard seats.

 

[Tetchytyke]

Bus Vannin have a modern fleet of Citaros and Gemini 2s and 3s with a few Sprinter breadvans for the smaller routes and the DRT services. Streetdecks to start soon. Fares are relatively low- it's £1.30 single for the 3 miles to town, or £1.04 single if you buy a smartcard carnet, the highest fare on the island is £3.40 single for the 18 miles from Port Erin to Onchan. £7 for a day ticket.

I'd say at least 8 out of 10, if not slightly higher. The timetables need a degree to understand though.

Of the other operators I've regularly used:
First West Yorkshire - 2/10. Outside Leeds, they just don't care.
Stagecoach Newcastle - 5/10. Going through the motions and counting the cash come in, punctuality is appalling because they timetable too tightly, but they're better than they were 7-8 years ago.
Arriva North East - 5/10, again just going through the motions.
Go North East - 6/10, better than their neighbours but, with staggeringly high fares, they bloomin' well should be.

 

[WM Bus]

I live on National Express West Midlands City Centre to Ward End 55 and 94 service and 11 (Outer Circle) in Birmingham.
Mostly older repainted/retrimmed 03 plate B7TL Gemini and 09 plate E400 on the 94 and 57 plate Omnilink single deckers on 55 and 11 has newer 2015 E400 MMC.
55 will be going double decker next week and single decks going elsewhere, which will increase capacity on the service.

55/94 have a very high frequency of every 4 minutes combined, so you never usually have to wait long for one.
£4.60 (reduces to £4 after 9.30 after the peak hours) daysaver covers the whole of the West Midland area

I'd say 8/10.

 

[[.n]]

First Wessex (or whatever it currently called!)

Drivers: 9/10
Buses: 5/10
Timetable: 1/10
Ticket Prices: 3/10 (fares have increased by around 150% over the past 5 years)
App: 6/10 (its improved recently with the addition of C19 and real time information - ticketing is still rubbish)
Integration with other First company services (bus and rail): 1/10
Management making false promises over the years: 10/10
Local council(s) ability to negotiate decent levels of service with First: 1/10


They are basically useless, but still a vital part of public transport, with extremely decent hard working drivers, so bearing that in mind my overall rating is

5/10

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

Bus Vannin have a modern fleet of Citaros and Gemini 2s and 3s with a few Sprinter breadvans for the smaller routes and the DRT services. Streetdecks to start soon. Fares are relatively low- it's £1.30 single for the 3 miles to town, or £1.04 single if you buy a smartcard carnet, the highest fare on the island is £3.40 single for the 18 miles from Port Erin to Onchan. £7 for a day ticket.

I'd say at least 8 out of 10, if not slightly higher. The timetables need a degree to understand though.

Of the other operators I've regularly used:
First West Yorkshire - 2/10. Outside Leeds, they just don't care.
Stagecoach Newcastle - 5/10. Going through the motions and counting the cash come in, punctuality is appalling because they timetable too tightly, but they're better than they were 7-8 years ago.
Arriva North East - 5/10, again just going through the motions.
Go North East - 6/10, better than their neighbours but, with staggeringly high fares, they bloomin' well should be.

In terms of First West Yorkshire, I'd be a little higher but not much more than 4 or 5 out of 10. Arriva Yorkshire is slightly better at 6/10. Transdev is probably the best in West Yorkshire of the bigger operators.

For the North East, Stagecoach Busways is about 6/10 - not brilliant but adequate and as for Stagecoach Transit, I'd say much the same. Arriva North East is 5/10 - can't disagree with that and they are getting worse.

In fact, notwithstanding the web site debacle, the whole Arriva UK Bus seems to be in some sort of paralysis. The Sapphire and Max brands have been somehow merged but the quality is slipping with rampant centralisation.... who'd have thought that a single OpCo can be managed from Leicester and includes Oswestry and Luton? Also, new vehicle investment seems to be suffering and it seems that the question of part sale, full sale or IPO has overshadowed things for the last four years.

Now you may wonder why I've not scored First WY as a 2/10.... when you've travelled on Diamond in Worcestershire, you appreciate what constitutes a really low score.

 

[northernchris]

Now you may wonder why I've not scored First WY as a 2/10.... when you've travelled on Diamond in Worcestershire, you appreciate what constitutes a really low score.

I dread to think how poor Diamond are then! Arriva Yorkshire did used to be really good, they did a lot of work on timetabling to improve reliability and put a lot of effort in to marketing. I lived in Pontefract for a short while and at the time Arriva had revamped the local network. As it was February they had posted a leaflet outlining the changes, but done it in the form of a valentines card with something along the lines of 'we've given your buses some TLC' which I thought was quite innovative for a bus company. Whilst the fleet is still relatively modern and mostly smart, standards have slipped, although they are still way ahead of First

 

[Andyh82]

I dread to think how poor Diamond are then! Arriva Yorkshire did used to be really good, they did a lot of work on timetabling to improve reliability and put a lot of effort in to marketing. I lived in Pontefract for a short while and at the time Arriva had revamped the local network. As it was February they had posted a leaflet outlining the changes, but done it in the form of a valentines card with something along the lines of 'we've given your buses some TLC' which I thought was quite innovative for a bus company. Whilst the fleet is still relatively modern and mostly smart, standards have slipped, although they are still way ahead of First

Yes Arriva Yorkshire was poor but things seemed to really step up when the Gemini 2DLs arrived and they did a big launch where the whole new fleet was used in a launch event at Nostell Priory and then they all went straight into service that day with special adverts on the side pointing out the big investment. The launches of all the Sapphire and MAX buses carried this on, with public events and promo, and the branding was generally fairly decent for Arriva. Buses received interior refreshes which is more than what First ever do. Then I think 4 things happened...

The new livery was introduced meaning all the brands that Yorkshire had gone big on were suddenly defunct. So you had brand new MAX buses that weren’t allowed to say MAX on them, and repainted Sapphire buses mixed in with old livery Sapphire buses and the whole thing became a mess

The former MD/Regional MD who championed all this left, and as what tends to happen, whoever took over doesn’t seem as interested

The Wrightbus situation meaning the recent streetdecks were late and then only half turned up, so only half the 110 was converted and only half the older buses were cascaded. The two livery situation makes this even worse meaning their most profitable route now has an inconsistent image and as a result so do all the main Heckmondwike routes

Most recently the fleet investment dried up, and then Covid hit and with Leeds and York clean air zones coming they’ve started to rob Peter to pay Paul meaning some services seeing fleet improvements in the past have actually gone backwards

 

[Tetchytyke]

In terms of First West Yorkshire, I'd be a little higher but not much more than 4 or 5 out of 10.

I think if my family lived in Leeds I'd agree, but they don't, they live between Bradford and Halifax. Halifax is about 3/10, limited but the buses are clean, but I'd truthfully give Bradford 1/10. The operation is without a single redeeming feature: expensive, unreliable, filthy, the evening service is non-existent, and the drivers are some of the rudest people I've ever seen in a customer facing role.

I've never had the pleasure of Diamond!

As for Arriva, they're going backwards quickly. Five years ago they had industry-leading m-tickets and live tracking, MAX and Sapphire buses were well done out, and they had solid customer service, at least for the MAX/Sapphire routes, including refunds for late journeys.

Yorkshire were better than Northumbria who, in turn, were better than Durham. But Arriva were decent, even if the branding was haphazard (I never quite got why they had MAX *and* Sapphire) and the quieter routes saw all sorts of junk on them. The only really bad Arriva services I regularly used were when I lived in Hemel Hempstead, which I'd give 2/10 as it was better than First Bradford- just.

Now? You can tell DB don't give a toss.

 

[rg177]

Arriva running an Enviro 400 around on the 306/308 in Newcastle, all branded up for the 268 from Bradford to Wakefield, as it's been doing for weeks, doesn't exactly help the perception of giving a toss.

However in terms of my perceptions of the Go North East/Arriva/Stagecoach operations in Newcastle, I'd say that GNE definitely comes out on top. The drivers are usually friendly, vehicles decently turned out and reliability, while occasionally a bit off, is countered by having a decent enough app to track where things are!

Arriva are certainly cheaper and again, drivers on my local routes are pretty chirpy though vehicles are quite variable. The 306 for example has gone from being allocated Pulsars to Streetlites to rather knackered 18yr old Geminis. 306 branded Pulsars also regularly end up on the 685 to Carlisle which isn't exactly a comfortable run!

Stagecoach I don't use enough but there is quite a chasm in vehicle quality between some routes, with MMCs galore covering most but a fair few older ALX300s still clinging on.

A world away from the Halycon days of First South Yorkshire on my uni commutes circa 2018-9 which seemed to be running a museum rather than a bus operation (with the absolutely clapped out B7Ls being the worst) complete with a minority of drivers so seemed to thrive on being as actively unpleasant, sarcastic and sometimes genuinely aggressive to passengers as possible. I've never witnessed another operation where a driver reached over and snatched a bank card from a passenger, aggressively whacking it on the machine over and over and growling at other passengers who were too slow to pay for tickets.

I'd like to think that things are on the up for them now, despite covid, with a lot of older vehicles getting binned off and from conversations I've had with a couple of managers, a push to ensure that customer service is improved drastically.

 

[northernchris]

Yes Arriva Yorkshire was poor but things seemed to really step up when the Gemini 2DLs arrived and they did a big launch where the whole new fleet was used in a launch event at Nostell Priory and then they all went straight into service that day with special adverts on the side pointing out the big investment. The launches of all the Sapphire and MAX buses carried this on, with public events and promo, and the branding was generally fairly decent for Arriva. Buses received interior refreshes which is more than what First ever do. Then I think 4 things happened...

The new livery was introduced meaning all the brands that Yorkshire had gone big on were suddenly defunct. So you had brand new MAX buses that weren’t allowed to say MAX on them, and repainted Sapphire buses mixed in with old livery Sapphire buses and the whole thing became a mess

The former MD/Regional MD who championed all this left, and as what tends to happen, whoever took over doesn’t seem as interested

The Wrightbus situation meaning the recent streetdecks were late and then only half turned up, so only half the 110 was converted and only half the older buses were cascaded. The two livery situation makes this even worse meaning their most profitable route now has an inconsistent image and as a result so do all the main Heckmondwike routes

Most recently the fleet investment dried up, and then Covid hit and with Leeds and York clean air zones coming they’ve started to rob Peter to pay Paul meaning some services seeing fleet improvements in the past have actually gone backwards

Ah yes, I'd forgotten about the Nostell Priory launch, another excellent marketing initiative which got them good coverage across local news outlets. I also seem to recall Arriva Yorkshire were bus operator of the year a few years ago, so it is disappointing they haven't maintained standards

but I'd truthfully give Bradford 1/10. The operation is without a single redeeming feature: expensive, unreliable, filthy, the evening service is non-existent, and the drivers are some of the rudest people I've ever seen in a customer facing role.

That's exactly my experience of the Bradford operation too. They don't have enough drivers leading to many cancellations, and have very tight timetables which (until March at least) didn't reflect actual journey times

 

[David Goddard]

I'd give Reading 8/10. Frequent services, reasonably priced and a modern fleet. Also enough variety to keep enthusiasts happy.

I would second that. The fleet is well presented and in the main the service frequencies are appropriate to the demand. Always hot on innovation and friendly to the enthusiast (it helps that the last three successive CEOs have been enthusiasts as well).

 

[noddingdonkey]

First West Yorkshire - Huddersfield depot.

Fleet largely end of life cascades from Leeds that's never had a deep clean let alone a refurb.

Timetables set by people who don't seem to realise that a service at 11pm on a Sunday and 8am on a Monday can't possibly take the same number of minutes. Timetable is so unachievable that Sunday afternoon services are routinely late.

Total lack of coordination with First Manchester who run on the same corridor so both services run within a minute of each other on Sundays.

Over reliance on the Overground concept and an assumption that everybody wants to go into the Town Centre. Journies between two reasonably local villages need a change in town rather than having a direct circular service.

Fares are excessive, two people traveling can frequently get a taxi more cheaply.

On a plus I have to give credit for the recent app update with real time tracking of the number of free seats. And the majority of the drivers are decent.

I can't really give more than 5/10

 

[Qwerty133]

If I'm being generous I'd give Arriva Leicester a 2/10. About the only positive is the ability to pay the overpriced single fares (which can often be undercut by taxis if 2 or more passengers are travelling together) by contactless and that the daily tickets aren't that unaffordable. Punctuality is atrocious and has been for years with some journeys being cancelled more often than not and others skipping bits of the route at random. Some of the drivers lack the ability to provide a comfortable journey and others haven't got a clue about customer service and a couple look as though they are constantly in fancy dress, including one who believes a miniskirt and bright pink high viz vest is appropriate attire. In normal times it is not unusual for cleanliness to be appalling with seats covered in mud and leaves before the first journey of the day and spilled coke being left on the floors for days at a time. Route branded buses rarely stick to the routes they are allocated to and buses are generally misallocated onto routes that they are unsuitable for causing daily breakdowns (although to be fair the situation has improved over a few years ago when one Leicester depot was supposedly averaging 17 break downs a day out of a PVR of around 50) and issues with passengers being left behind on a regular basis.

 

[NorthOxonian]

All of my local operators have been covered - both in the North and in the South, but I may as well give my thoughts.

Agree that Go North East are the best in the North East, though their fares are high (unless you're between 18 and 25 - we bizarrely pay child fare for day/season tickets if we present ID). Arriva are also of a reasonable standard (particularly their Northumberland routes rather than Durham), and while Stagecoach aren't great, their fares are relatively low.

In Oxfordshire, Stagecoach are far better - I suspect the interurban/rural nature of most of their routes here suits them better than the very urban routes on Tyneside. The Oxford Bus Company is great and Thames Travel are also pretty good, though their fares are all over the place - a return covering just a couple of miles can cost almost as much as a return from Oxford to Reading! Speaking of Reading, I can't say a bad word about Reading Buses, whose clear, simple liveries I particularly appreciate. And as a final dishonourable mention, the less said about Arriva the Shires the better - far worse than their North East operations!

 

[Bletchleyite]

Now? You can tell DB don't give a toss.

They didn't give one when it was Cowie either - "North Western" (v2.0) was awful. Mind you that was back in the days when buses were all pretty awful. Arriva has never been any good. All it does is slaps on the turquoise and carries on as before, creaming in the profit.

It's cultural. Only strong characters like Alex Hornby and Stenning seem to be strong enough to kick that culture up the backside, and when they fade off the scene things tend to go back the old ways, as I occasionally seem to hear from "Trentbartonland" now Hornby is a bit further north.

 

[cnjb8]

They didn't give one when it was Cowie either - "North Western" (v2.0) was awful. Mind you that was back in the days when buses were all pretty awful. Arriva has never been any good. All it does is slaps on the turquoise and carries on as before, creaming in the profit.

It's cultural. Only strong characters like Alex Hornby and Stenning seem to be strong enough to kick that culture up the backside, and when they fade off the scene things tend to go back the old ways, as I occasionally seem to hear from "Trentbartonland" now Hornby is a bit further north.

Agreed with TrentBarton, they used to hold flashy launches and countdown to new buses entering services etc. Now, we see less of that.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

They didn't give one when it was Cowie either - "North Western" (v2.0) was awful. Mind you that was back in the days when buses were all pretty awful. Arriva has never been any good. All it does is slaps on the turquoise and carries on as before, creaming in the profit.

Think you’re mistaking Cowie for British Bus/Drawlane. Cowie bought BB (and North Western) just over a year before becoming Arriva.

I was living in South Manchester at the time and my local firms included Bee Line as it transformed into Arriva. They did invest quite a lot at the time to get rid of some peachy ex WM Nationals.

 

[Tetchytyke]

They didn't give one when it was Cowie either - "North Western" (v2.0) was awful. Mind you that was back in the days when buses were all pretty awful. Arriva has never been any good. All it does is slaps on the turquoise and carries on as before, creaming in the profit.

Arriva are a funny one. When they came into being all they did was paint the buses turquoise; other than that, Arriva was indistinguishable from the West Riding/Yorkshire Woollen under British Bus. As in the north east with United and Northumbria, that wasn't a bad thing.

But then things did change, the Lynxes and ECW Olympians steadily disappeared and, actually, they cared. In the north east even the really old kit, like the X-reg ALX300s, got a lick of paint and new seat covers.

Arriva are certainly cheaper and again, drivers on my local routes are pretty chirpy though vehicles are quite variable. The 306 for example has gone from being allocated Pulsars to Streetlites to rather knackered 18yr old Geminis. 306 branded Pulsars also regularly end up on the 685 to Carlisle which isn't exactly a comfortable run!

I found it odd at the time that they refreshed old Geminis and ALX400s into MAX spec. Five years on they're really showing their age now, mechanically at least.

I'm not sure a Pulsar is worse than an Omnicity on the 685, mind.

 

[paulmch]

Stagecoach East (Cambridge) are my local operator, with my nearest service being the Stagecoach Gold 13 route between Cambridge and Haverhill.

I'm not a frequent user, about once or twice a month - but I'd say they deserve a 7/10. Fares are a bit high but not excessive compared to First in Suffolk and Norfolk, and the 2014 era E400 Scanias used on the gold route have nice seats even if the bodywork is starting to fall apart on them a bit. Unfortunately the majority of the fleet is comprised of 10 year old E400s which are beginning to look incredibly scruffy inside and out, including faded paint and threadbare seats. Only recent fleet investment apart from the Busway was some new E400 MMC's for the P&R services.
Drivers generally seem professional and polite and timekeeping is just about okay although congestion seems to be making that increasingly difficult of late.

Local management still seems keen to experiment with new routes, including tacking a peak hour extension onto one of the P&R routes to provide a Monday-Friday commuter service from some smaller villages.

Stagecoach Cambridge for me too - having moved from the West Midlands where NX do a pretty good job I'd have to give Stagecoach a 5/10. Lots of investment on the busway, and the Citi network is fairly comprehensive, but a couple of big downsides:

• Punctuality is a big problem, though not one of Stagecoach's making. Traffic in Cambridge can be pretty horrendous at times.
• The fare zones seem totally arbitrary. 20 minutes on the 3 costs £4.50 return, but 20 minutes on the 9 is £7. For places like Waterbeach and Foxton, they've priced themselves out of the market and the railway gets most of the patronage.
• The out of town routes seem to change frequently - I've lived in Cambridge for 2 years and seen 3 different iterations of the service to Royston. No wonder people don't use it!
• A small minority of the drivers are extremely unpleasant, which is a shame because some of them are brilliant at what they do.
• Investment in new buses is patchy. The ex-London 09-plated Scanias with the rock hard seats and (I believe) Euro IV engines are a poor show.

 

[peters]

D&G Bus

Too inconsistent. One minute they are running a frequent service on a route using high spec buses, the next minute they are running an hourly service on that route using older rattly buses. Perhaps a bit like Stagecoach they want to impress if they are new to the area or if there's competition but will provide a bog standard service once they've established themselves in the area as the main operator.

 

[scosutsut]

which seemed to be running a museum rather than a bus operation

Quote of the month for me. Applies around the country where a slide in passenger numbers starts and the operators do too little, too late. I find the bigger the company the easier it is to happen as the decision makers are too far from the "coal face"

 

[peters]

They didn't give one when it was Cowie either - "North Western" (v2.0) was awful. Mind you that was back in the days when buses were all pretty awful.

In the 90s North Western was OK if the route you were using had the Mercedes minibuses (and a driver who actually knew the route) but on other routes they were operating Leyland buses than made as much noise as British Rail's Sprinter trains.

They established a 'Premier' brand after they acquired Starline Travel, who were operating very modern buses and at that time Premier just meant a modern bus! This photo sums up the Premier brand - one of the first low floor buses in the area has been branded Premier but also a step entry vehicle (which is nothing special apart from being a newish bus) also has the Premier brand: https://photos.smugmug.com/Buses/S/...rth Western 1002 1171 Knutsford 140496g-L.jpg

A world away from the Halycon days of First South Yorkshire on my uni commutes circa 2018-9 which seemed to be running a museum rather than a bus operation

First Bus seem to be an operator who think if a new bus lasts 20 years then it will remain with First Bus until it's 20 years old. The problem seem to be some areas always seem to get the new buses and for other areas a new bus means a bus they've already had for at least 7 years.

 

[MotCO]

Most of the comments seem to relate to the 'big boys'. Any views of some smaller companies, for example Go-Coach, PSV Southdown and Compass bus? I don't use them, but they always seem to be well presented.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

Arriva are a funny one. When they came into being all they did was paint the buses turquoise; other than that, Arriva was indistinguishable from the West Riding/Yorkshire Woollen under British Bus. As in the north east with United and Northumbria, that wasn't a bad thing.

But then things did change, the Lynxes and ECW Olympians steadily disappeared and, actually, they cared. In the north east even the really old kit, like the X-reg ALX300s, got a lick of paint and new seat covers.



I found it odd at the time that they refreshed old Geminis and ALX400s into MAX spec. Five years on they're really showing their age now, mechanically at least.

I'm not sure a Pulsar is worse than an Omnicity on the 685, mind.

Arriva North East is a bit of a funny one, and the distinctions between Northumberland and Durham/Teesside were evident even prior to the 1986 split of United. That was further emphasised when Northumbria was formed and was one of the most forward-thinking operators in that 1986-1990 period. In comparison, United had an increasingly motley bunch of vehicles and relied on cascades of Leopards, VRs and Tigers in the main. Being reunited under Arriva control, there has been a cycle of boom and bust in terms of both investment and presentation.... Lots of new vehicles in the 1998-2001 period (Darts, Daf SB220 Plaxton Prestiges and Daf SB120s and even some Daf SBS3000 coaches for stage work) whilst 2001 to 2007 were really quite barren save for a 40 bus order that went to Durham depot in 2005. That and closing lots of depots, vacating most of East Durham, axing routes in Central Durham and withdrawing from most of North Northumberland, the Tyne Valley and a chunk of North Yorkshire.

They did get a load of new stuff from 2007 to update the fleet (and I don't mind the Pulsars too much) and better presentation before now again in a slump. That said, I'm well overdue a trip out in the North so my views on Arriva and other NE firms are a bit out.

During 2018-20 (before Covid curtailed extensive trips out and admittedly on a restricted sample set), I would say:

Good - First West of England, First Cymru, First Kernow, Transdev (Yorks), Go South Coast (Swindon/Salisbury/BlueStar)
Quite Good but could improve a bit - Transdev (Lancs), Stagecoach Yorkshire, Stagecoach Devon, First Hampshire, National Express West Midlands
Average - Arriva Yorkshire, Stagecoach West, First Wessex, Stagecoach Manchester, First Dorset, Stagecoach Cymru, Cardiff Bus
Disappointing - First Worcester, First West Yorkshire, Arriva North West, Buses of Somerset
Bad - Diamond West Midlands, Diamond Worcestershire, First South Yorkshire, First Greater Manchester, NAT (Wales), Newport Transport

First Bus seem to be an operator who think if a new bus lasts 20 years then it will remain with First Bus until it's 20 years old. The problem seem to be some areas always seem to get the new buses and for other areas a new bus means a bus they've already had for at least 7 years.

The issue they have now (and it was the same in 2008-2012 albeit for different reasons) is that they have less capital to invest in fleet. So once you remove the areas where they have to invest as part of a Quality Agreement, get partial funding for green buses, various contracts (e.g. Park and Ride, Airport Services) then they have little to spend on "normal" fleet replacement in the provinces.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Most of the comments seem to relate to the 'big boys'. Any views of some smaller companies, for example Go-Coach, PSV Southdown and Compass bus? I don't use them, but they always seem to be well presented.

Small operators vary. I'd say the somewhat inter-related set of small Aylesbury-based family owned operators (all the ones with "Red" in the name plus Z&S) are generally fairly disreputable, though they vary a bit - Z&S seems "least worst" though they have withdrawn from most if not all of the MK contracts.

 

[WestRiding]

CTC 485 Upton- South Elmsall- Ackworth- Wakefield. 3/10. Last bus to Wakefield 17.30. Unusable.

 

[Jona26]

My local operator - Metrobus Crawley 9/10 overall. The only thing stopping them getting a 10 from me is the fact that some of their drivers can be somewhat "abrupt."

 

[PeterC]

Small operators vary. I'd say the somewhat inter-related set of small Aylesbury-based family owned operators (all the ones with "Red" in the name plus Z&S) are generally fairly disreputable, though they vary a bit - Z&S seems "least worst" though they have withdrawn from most if not all of the MK contracts.

The quality of the vehicles is often dreadful on the "Red Group" services but the nature of the routes, plus keeping drivers on the same routes means that they build often a good rapport with their customers. I remember catching a Z&S service once which waited for an extra 5 minutes as one of the passengers on the inbound market day journey hadn't shown up. With another company in the group I have know drivers drop disabled passengers at their front gates.

I do remember a Red Rose driver on our village service complaining that she had been working in MK for several weeks which she described as "driving round in circles".

 

[Pat1105]

"Insert endless comments of people saying they have the worst service in the universe"...

My local route only runs every 20 minutes but is very reliable (I couldn't tell you the last time i had a late bus) and is operated by high spec E200MMCs, so i can't really complain.

“Only runs every 20 minutes?” I’d be over the moon with that.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

For smaller operators.....

Faresaver in Wiltshire were a firm that had dubious quality and a range of van derived minibuses (Varios mainly). They now have a creditable fleet of e200s (and Solos for smaller requirements) and some older ex London deckers and even put up their own bus stop flags with the location and services listed. Pretty good turnaround.

Pulhams in the Cotswolds are a superb operation - easily 9/10 with smart vehicles, friendly drivers etc

Yarrantons in Worcestershire - small firm and a throwback to another age but very good.

I find many other indies are dealer white Solos/e200s with rock hard seats, a driver wearing headphones and not much to concern yourself about.