Staffordshire Bus News

[Baxenden Bank]

Is there much of a night life in the area?

Neither Hanley nor Newcastle are the draw that they used to be for the drinker / clubber. There are theatres / concert venues and a new cinema in Hanley. There is a large student population (Keele and Staffordshire Universities) but I don't know their socialising habits. More importantly there are lots of workers who are not on standard 9-5 hours across The Potteries who will be abandoned by the removal of yet more evening services.

A business committing suicide by 1,000 slow cuts.

I couldn't even do my old office job nowadays as the last bus home is at 1830 and I often worked until after that time.

Chicken or egg.

• Don't provide (or remove) a service and you can 100% guarantee that no workers (or anyone else for that matter) will use it.
• Don't provide an evening bus home and all of a sudden your outward journey in the morning / afternoon / early evening becomes pointless if you can't get home again.
• Don't provide an evening bus back from the station and day trips by train become impossible.
• Don't provide an all day / all week service and your chance of attracting a new generation of customers is next to 0%. The only possible outcome of which is the elimination of the business once your current customers move on.

There are however hundreds of private hire taxi.

 

[Robertj21a]

Neither Hanley nor Newcastle are the draw that they used to be for the drinker / clubber. There are theatres / concert venues and a new cinema in Hanley. There is a large student population (Keele and Staffordshire Universities) but I don't know their socialising habits. More importantly there are lots of workers who are not on standard 9-5 hours across The Potteries who will be abandoned by the removal of yet more evening services.

A business committing suicide by 1,000 slow cuts.

I couldn't even do my old office job nowadays as the last bus home is at 1830 and I often worked until after that time.

Chicken or egg.

• Don't provide (or remove) a service and you can 100% guarantee that no workers (or anyone else for that matter) will use it.
• Don't provide an evening bus home and all of a sudden your outward journey in the morning / afternoon / early evening becomes pointless if you can't get home again.
• Don't provide an evening bus back from the station and day trips by train become impossible.
• Don't provide an all day / all week service and your chance of attracting a new generation of customers is next to 0%. The only possible outcome of which is the elimination of the business once your current customers move on.

There are however hundreds of private hire taxi.

It seems that First Potteries continues to be an operation that is in a continual downward spiral. Does it look like just trimming (eves and Sundays) or is the overall pvr likely to drop, again ?

 

[daodao]

Service changes by First in the Potteries from the end of November. A brief mention is made on their website, but no details due to on-going discussions with councillors / local authorities. Much evening and Sunday castration as I understand it.

Are First trying to blackmail Stoke City Council, who don't currently subsidise any bus services, into giving them subsidies to retain some "core" evening and Sunday routes?

 

[Mutant Lemming]

What IS First's strategy ? In Northampton and Wirral they sold out to competition - In Stoke they have a near monopoly and yet seem intent on destroying it. Operating lean is one thing but skeletal will starve it to death.

 

[Robertj21a]

What IS First's strategy ? In Northampton and Wirral they sold out to competition - In Stoke they have a near monopoly and yet seem intent on destroying it. Operating lean is one thing but skeletal will starve it to death.

Northampton withered away over a significant period of time. I don't recall that they sold out.

 

[the101]

What IS First's strategy ? In Northampton and Wirral they sold out to competition - In Stoke they have a near monopoly and yet seem intent on destroying it. Operating lean is one thing but skeletal will starve it to death.

No near monopoly in Stoke any more, although like most things that's entirely of their own making and D&G has been allowed in slowly but surely.

First's problems are a mixture of a poor economy in Stoke and a City Council that is the definition of ineptness, but far above both those is dreadful local management and service delivery that is largely poor. There is no on-road supervision and a minority of drivers do as they please. The only endgame in sight is a Northampton-esque closure and/or a deal with D&G. First just can't 'do it' in the Potteries and too much irreparable damage has been done there.

 

[James101]

D&G have registered a 21(A), 23(A) and a 10(A) from November. Could indicate Stoke Council calling First's bluff on funding evening services by awarding the contract to someone else - or could D&G be launching their biggest commercial attack yet on First?

Since their September changes D&G buses seem to continue to carry good loads. I was in Newcastle bus station today and seen a D&G Blue 2 hoover up almost every Westbury Park passenger while only 4 passengers boarded the First 72 alongside. The new 2 also seems to carry passengers on the new sections between Newcastle - Hanley, certainly matching what the 17 had.

Whilst First remain the Potteries' primary operator - since D&G 'came back' they've made an impact greater than the individual works of the smaller companies it replaced. D&G now match frequency with First on many corridors: Biddulph-Hanley, Meir-Longton-Newcastle, Hanley-Werrington and they better First's frequency in Newcastle to Westbury Park. There's already many areas D&G have 'won' territory as First have retrenched: Birches Head, Milton, Silverdale & Bradley.

On an unrelated note First were performing some sort of PR event in Hanley today with an E200 parked on the pavement. All they seemed to be giving out were First branded concession pass holders to OAPs....odd. I did however notice the price on the day ticked part of the branding has been removed, presumably pending increase.

 

[Baxenden Bank]

It seems that First Potteries continues to be an operation that is in a continual downward spiral. Does it look like just trimming (eves and Sundays) or is the overall pvr likely to drop, again ?

I don't have the details, just a fairly short conversation with someone 'in the know'. The following variations were published on the VOSA site when I looked last weekend. All commencing 26/11/17:
3
4
6 / 6A / 11A / 6C
7 / 7A
8 / 8A / 98
11 / 12 / 13
18
21 / 21A
22
23 / 23A
32 / X32
99 / 97

So:
5
25
37
72
101
are (were) not changing.

The first three change on 22/10/17 anyway. There isn't much of the 72 left to change and the 101 is too big a number for First management to count up to even if they all take their socks off.

 

[Baxenden Bank]

What IS First's strategy ? In Northampton and Wirral they sold out to competition - In Stoke they have a near monopoly and yet seem intent on destroying it. Operating lean is one thing but skeletal will starve it to death.

I had a 'eureka' moment a couple of network reviews ago and decided that they had decided to exit 'The Potteries', had found no willing bidder at a price they were happy with, and determined instead to slowly destroy the business so that no-one else could have it either - there being no business worth having by the time they finally exit.

 

[Baxenden Bank]

Are First trying to blackmail Stoke City Council, who don't currently subsidise any bus services, into giving them subsidies to retain some "core" evening and Sunday routes?

Although Stoke-on-Trent City Council officially cancelled all contracted bus services back in 2011, they do in fact subsidise a small number of services. First tried 'blackmail' over the Bentilee evening services a while back. Why spend even £1 on bus services people need to get on with their lives when you can spend £tens of millions on shiny (poor quality & already collapsing) granite paving in the sh*thole that is Hanley City Centre. Not forgetting the £1 million on consultants for the belated and failed HS2 response, before that the £unknown on the 'streetcar named desperate', and the real-time information 'system under test' for a decade.... (list continues for some time).

 

[Sybic26]

Also a bus shelter on Town Road Hanley opposite the INTU centre, which when I last looked at it in July, still displayed a route map for 2006. No buses have used this stop for a long while!!

 

[the101]

Things like that are par for the course with Stoke-on-Trent City Council. Local authorities in general are hardly ever good examples of anything, but SoTCC is particularly riddled with gross incompetence, not to mention the delusion of grandeur that has always been present in the Potteries. A stranger could walk around the Six Towns and struggle to find anything going for the city whatsoever.

 

[Robertj21a]

I had a 'eureka' moment a couple of network reviews ago and decided that they had decided to exit 'The Potteries', had found no willing bidder at a price they were happy with, and determined instead to slowly destroy the business so that no-one else could have it either - there being no business worth having by the time they finally exit.

I think First have always accepted that they may well sell ANY bus operation in the UK if someone will offer an acceptable price. In the case of Potteries I think it's close to the point where they could keep the buses (for reallocation, or just scrap value) and let everything else go for a nominal £1 for the 'goodwill' (joke). It really is very difficult to see how they can get themselves out of this mess.

 

[James101]

Although Stoke-on-Trent City Council officially cancelled all contracted bus services back in 2011, they do in fact subsidise a small number of services. First tried 'blackmail' over the Bentilee evening services a while back.

First are trying to have their cake & eat it with the Bentilee evenings. Saying they need subsidy to provide a service while running pointless duplicates presumably to get BSOG for vehicles returning to Adderley Green:



This shows the evening service pattern on Benitlee routes in the form of departure times from the city centre. To put into context, the 11(A), 12 & 13 run between the City Centre bus station & First's Adderley Green depot via Bentilee, a large council estate. Any single route could be deemed sufficient as an evening service for the whole estate, yet many departures are duplicated or even triplicated - does Bentilee really need 6 buses between 19:15 & 19:30? Or are First just milking the system when returning buses to the depot? The actual variations are minimal, the three buses literally form a convey for two thirds of the route.

Also a bus shelter on Town Road Hanley opposite the INTU centre, which when I last looked at it in July, still displayed a route map for 2006. No buses have used this stop for a long while!!

I walked past this stop the other day and didn't see that map, I think it may have gone now! There is still service change documents from 2008 on the bus stop at Cobridge lights and on Leek New Rd, by McDonalds. There's also a 2010 network map on display in Tesco Hanley.

I see mixed messages form First in the Potteries, we've gone into detail here of their various failings - yet they're still spending money on basic refurbs etc. It's a sorry state of affairs when tarting up some 13 year old Enviros is heralded as significant investment, but why even bother if an exit from the area was imminent? And as for the Streetdeck demo at the open day - a red herring or a clue of something to come?

 

[Robertj21a]

First are trying to have their cake & eat it with the Bentilee evenings. Saying they need subsidy to provide a service while running pointless duplicates presumably to get BSOG for vehicles returning to Adderley Green:

View attachment 35710

This shows the evening service pattern on Benitlee routes in the form of departure times from the city centre. To put into context, the 11(A), 12 & 13 run between the City Centre bus station & First's Adderley Green depot via Bentilee, a large council estate. Any single route could be deemed sufficient as an evening service for the whole estate, yet many departures are duplicated or even triplicated - does Bentilee really need 6 buses between 19:15 & 19:30? Or are First just milking the system when returning buses to the depot? The actual variations are minimal, the three buses literally form a convey for two thirds of the route.



I walked past this stop the other day and didn't see that map, I think it may have gone now! There is still service change documents from 2008 on the bus stop at Cobridge lights and on Leek New Rd, by McDonalds. There's also a 2010 network map on display in Tesco Hanley.

I see mixed messages form First in the Potteries, we've gone into detail here of their various failings - yet they're still spending money on basic refurbs etc. It's a sorry state of affairs when tarting up some 13 year old Enviros is heralded as significant investment, but why even bother if an exit from the area was imminent? And as for the Streetdeck demo at the open day - a red herring or a clue of something to come?

A red herring, nothing whatsoever to come.

Of course those 'tarted up' Enviros have been needed to replace the 15-year old Volvos that had to be 'tarted up' so that they could be moved to Leicester.

 

[James101]

A red herring, nothing whatsoever to come.

Of course those 'tarted up' Enviros have been needed to replace the 15-year old Volvos that had to be 'tarted up' so that they could be moved to Leicester.

Indeed, Potteries are facing a fleet age crisis in a few years - with maintenance woes and the VOSA trappings that come with that. I think it's clear significant amounts of new vehicles are off the table; Potteries has averaged 5 new vehicles per year lately - which considering the PVR results in a net increase in fleet age year-on-year. Of course Potteries have typically relied on cascades, but if First continue to take nationwide 'investment holidays' this will have a direct impact on the amount of cascades available.

I wonder how attractive the Potteries business is to other large companies? I think Arriva have been burned badly before so would stay well away. The area may be too remote from the rest of the Stagecoach empire to be attractive as a single depot business; there's no realistic way the network could link up with another operation for support - such as Liverpool for Chester and Manchester for Wigan. That leaves perhaps a far fetched NXWM expansion up from their current northern-most point of Stafford? God forbid Rotala get involved....

I can't envisage a total D&G takeover anytime soon. That said, we're roughly in a position where every time First take a bus off their PVR, D&G add one on theirs. It'll take a while, but if this carries on, First will eventually reach a point of terminal decline where D&G can go in for the kill; I think it'll only take one of the core First routes to fall (Bentilees, 3,4,6,7,8,21,23,101) for the rest to crumble shortly after. That said, I don't underestimate D&G. When affiliated companies Midland Classic, Central Buses and perhaps Select of Penkridge(?) are taken into account there's an almost continuous network from Altrincham in Greater Manchester to the north, Buxton in Derbyshire to the east, Wrexham North Wales to the west and Birmingham to the South - collectively quite a sizeable force.

 

[Robertj21a]

Indeed, Potteries are facing a fleet age crisis in a few years - with maintenance woes and the VOSA trappings that come with that. I think it's clear significant amounts of new vehicles are off the table; Potteries has averaged 5 new vehicles per year lately - which considering the PVR results in a net increase in fleet age year-on-year. Of course Potteries have typically relied on cascades, but if First continue to take nationwide 'investment holidays' this will have a direct impact on the amount of cascades available.

I wonder how attractive the Potteries business is to other large companies? I think Arriva have been burned badly before so would stay well away. The area may be too remote from the rest of the Stagecoach empire to be attractive as a single depot business; there's no realistic way the network could link up with another operation for support - such as Liverpool for Chester and Manchester for Wigan. That leaves perhaps a far fetched NXWM expansion up from their current northern-most point of Stafford? God forbid Rotala get involved....

I can't envisage a total D&G takeover anytime soon. That said, we're roughly in a position where every time First take a bus off their PVR, D&G add one on theirs. It'll take a while, but if this carries on, First will eventually reach a point of terminal decline where D&G can go in for the kill; I think it'll only take one of the core First routes to fall (Bentilees, 3,4,6,7,8,21,23,101) for the rest to crumble shortly after. That said, I don't underestimate D&G. When affiliated companies Midland Classic, Central Buses and perhaps Select of Penkridge(?) are taken into account there's an almost continuous network from Altrincham in Greater Manchester to the north, Buxton in Derbyshire to the east, Wrexham North Wales to the west and Birmingham to the South - collectively quite a sizeable force.

Don't forget that Julian Peddle is key to many of those companies - also, of course, Centrebus and High Peak. So the stretch of operations is a big part of middle England and down close to London.

 

[daodao]

Don't forget that Julian Peddle is key to many of those companies - also, of course, Centrebus and High Peak. So the stretch of operations is a big part of middle England and down close to London.

There does seem to be co-operation between High Peak and D&G - they issue a joint timetable for East Cheshire. However, both these companies are likely to lose out significantly when Cheshire East and Staffordshire County councils curtail bus subsidies in 2018.

 

[Mutant Lemming]

It's worse across the border on Shropshire - I was handed a timetable leaflet for the 64/164 at Shrewsbury Information Centre that was dated 2015. I can understand static displays being out of date but when people paid to give you information hand you a timetable that shows a Sunday service that no longer runs and later journey times than actually exist one really does wonder about their ability to do the job. Could easily have been stranded in Market Drayton had I not noticed the discrepancies with the times at the stop (which were also wrong but at least were nearer the mark) and I doubt I would have been reimbursed the cab fare as a result of the misinformation given.

 

[Thin man]

http://www.stokesentinel.co.uk/news/local-news/first-potteries-axing-around-100-618630
Link to story detailing some of the axed journeys on Sentinel website.
Dont think this is full story as it doesnt mention 11a/13 withdrawal which ties in with d&gs recent 10/a registration

 

[Baxenden Bank]

It's worse across the border on Shropshire - I was handed a timetable leaflet for the 64/164 at Shrewsbury Information Centre that was dated 2015. I can understand static displays being out of date but when people paid to give you information hand you a timetable that shows a Sunday service that no longer runs and later journey times than actually exist one really does wonder about their ability to do the job. Could easily have been stranded in Market Drayton had I not noticed the discrepancies with the times at the stop (which were also wrong but at least were nearer the mark) and I doubt I would have been reimbursed the cab fare as a result of the misinformation given.

Be very careful with the 64/164. I'm not certain what the correct timetable is. Online, Arriva seem to think it runs hourly from Market Drayton to Shrewsbury till end of service, whilst in the service updates section it mentions an afternoon schooltime gap. Traveline shows this gap. No timetables had been delivered to the bus station when I was last in Shrewsbury (after the change).

 

[Baxenden Bank]

http://www.stokesentinel.co.uk/news/local-news/first-potteries-axing-around-100-618630
Link to story detailing some of the axed journeys on Sentinel website.
Dont think this is full story as it doesnt mention 11a/13 withdrawal which ties in with d&gs recent 10/a registration

Nor does it make sense (does The Sentinel ever get anything right nowadays?) - look at the quoted last journeys to Biddulph / Kidsgrove and the corresponding last journeys back from the same. Then again First would quite happily run private to Biddulph just to come back again.

 

[Thin man]

True The Sentinel isnt exactly well known for its accurate reporting so the report could be way off the mark

 

[Baxenden Bank]

Fuller details of the November changes now published on the First in the Potteries website. Not full details of new timetables but sufficient detail of the cuts to know where you are going (or not).

Not located, of course, where any sensible person would look, in the 'planned changes' section, but in the 'news' section. A single paragraph in the 'news' section, with full details in the service changes section would have been my way to go, but hey, what do I know, I just have to put up with them on my rare trips out of the house nowadays.

Details of various associated changes, WITH FULL TIMETABLES, already on the D & G website.

 

[Baxenden Bank]

True The Sentinel isnt exactly well known for its accurate reporting so the report could be way off the mark

Widely way off the mark, not in the ballpark, in fact playing a completely different sport.

Significantly more cuts than the number quoted in the article.

 

[James101]

Widely way off the mark, not in the ballpark, in fact playing a completely different sport.

Significantly more cuts than the number quoted in the article.

True The Sentinel isnt exactly well known for its accurate reporting so the report could be way off the mark

tha
Sentinel website: 'First cuts another 64 journeys...and here's the list they didn't want you to see. The Sentinel can now reveal the full list [of cuts] which has not yet been made publicly available'
*Copy & pastes press release from First's website which has been there a week*

It's all bad news for passengers in the Potteries. While it's great D&G are filling in some of the gaps, it does seem some collusion between First & D&G has occurred. It reads as if D&G have been 'gifted' some territory, but presumably under agreement that their upcoming evening & weekend presence on core routes doesn't encroach on First's daytime operations. Unless season tickets are inter-accepted on these services there can only be a negative impact on passenger numbers.

Interesting that First apparently are 'allowing' D&G into Benitilee - it would be great to see competition on this corridor, though I suspect the 10s timetable will be carefully co-ordinated to compliment the 12/6 rather than compete.

 

[Baxenden Bank]

tha
Sentinel website: 'First cuts another 64 journeys...and here's the list they didn't want you to see. The Sentinel can now reveal the full list [of cuts] which has not yet been made publicly available'
*Copy & pastes press release from First's website which has been there a week*

It's all bad news for passengers in the Potteries. While it's great D&G are filling in some of the gaps, it does seem some collusion between First & D&G has occurred. It reads as if D&G have been 'gifted' some territory, but presumably under agreement that their upcoming evening & weekend presence on core routes doesn't encroach on First's daytime operations. Unless season tickets are inter-accepted on these services there can only be a negative impact on passenger numbers.

Interesting that First apparently are 'allowing' D&G into Benitilee - it would be great to see competition on this corridor, though I suspect the 10s timetable will be carefully co-ordinated to compliment the 12/6 rather than compete.

I get it to a cut of at least 484 services per week, after netting off the D & G replacements. Rather more numerically than The Sentinel have reported. I guess counting Monday to Saturday as a cut of six services rather than just one is the main factor. My figures exclude service 6 / 11 / 12 / 13 and the replacement 10 which cannot be calculated until the First timetables are published. However the D & G 10 is, at best, a cut of 33% from every 20 minutes to every 30 minutes and with a shorter period of operation.

What I liked about the second Sentinel article, the quote from the First man on the spot, Danny Flanagan "details are available from other sources". DOH, go and bang head against wall. No, details are available on your own website! With that level of attention to the detail within the business, no wonder it is in a cycle of decline.

The changes back in 2014 smell of a deal having been done with route swaps and competitive service reductions, yet the Orange One, introduced a short while later, is sort of direct competition. Unfortunately D & G left it until a few months after the 26 was removed from Meir and, surprising as it may seem to bus company managers who regard passengers as totally dependent upon them, the people affected went off and made other arrangements rather than sitting at home for a few months waiting for a new bus service to perhaps commence. Too little, to late.

At least the 10 is commencing at the time the current service is withdrawn so no gap in service to lose all the customers to other modes. D & G will reap the benefit of providing a 30 minute service to a customer base used to a 20 minute service. All will be well for a few months until the customer base declines to that prepared to accept a 30 minute service. Then cuts will happen, school-time holes will appear in the timetable etc. until it is a basic 0930 to 1430 operation. Similarly the Sunday 21/23's will benefit from a customer base used to a 30 minute frequency until people get fed up with having to wait for an hour and jumping into taxis instead.

When I see D & G increasing 30 minutes frequencies to 20 minutes, filling school-time holes, expanding the period of operation earlier and later, then I shall believe they have a long term future.

Perhaps there is a shady deal but I suspect not. Merely D & G being in the position to take advantage of an opportunity handed to them on a plate by First needing to cut the PVR on HQ instruction. I estimate a couple of buses reduction in the First weekday requirement - the only real cut is the section between Coalville and Adderley Green (20 minutes to zero) and Dividy Road (hourly to zero). It smacks of desperation - trying to find PVR cuts without leaving holes in the network someone else can step into. Which D & G have done, albeit with a poorer service.

 

[Robertj21a]

I get it to a cut of at least 484 services per week, after netting off the D & G replacements. Rather more numerically than The Sentinel have reported. I guess counting Monday to Saturday as a cut of six services rather than just one is the main factor. My figures exclude service 6 / 11 / 12 / 13 and the replacement 10 which cannot be calculated until the First timetables are published. However the D & G 10 is, at best, a cut of 33% from every 20 minutes to every 30 minutes and with a shorter period of operation.

What I liked about the second Sentinel article, the quote from the First man on the spot, Danny Flanagan "details are available from other sources". DOH, go and bang head against wall. No, details are available on your own website! With that level of attention to the detail within the business, no wonder it is in a cycle of decline.

The changes back in 2014 smell of a deal having been done with route swaps and competitive service reductions, yet the Orange One, introduced a short while later, is sort of direct competition. Unfortunately D & G left it until a few months after the 26 was removed from Meir and, surprising as it may seem to bus company managers who regard passengers as totally dependent upon them, the people affected went off and made other arrangements rather than sitting at home for a few months waiting for a new bus service to perhaps commence. Too little, to late.

At least the 10 is commencing at the time the current service is withdrawn so no gap in service to lose all the customers to other modes. D & G will reap the benefit of providing a 30 minute service to a customer base used to a 20 minute service. All will be well for a few months until the customer base declines to that prepared to accept a 30 minute service. Then cuts will happen, school-time holes will appear in the timetable etc. until it is a basic 0930 to 1430 operation. Similarly the Sunday 21/23's will benefit from a customer base used to a 30 minute frequency until people get fed up with having to wait for an hour and jumping into taxis instead.

When I see D & G increasing 30 minutes frequencies to 20 minutes, filling school-time holes, expanding the period of operation earlier and later, then I shall believe they have a long term future.

Perhaps there is a shady deal but I suspect not. Merely D & G being in the position to take advantage of an opportunity handed to them on a plate by First needing to cut the PVR on HQ instruction. I estimate a couple of buses reduction in the First weekday requirement - the only real cut is the section between Coalville and Adderley Green (20 minutes to zero) and Dividy Road (hourly to zero). It smacks of desperation - trying to find PVR cuts without leaving holes in the network someone else can step into. Which D & G have done, albeit with a poorer service.

I doubt there's any 'shady deal'. First need to reduce costs anyway they can and D&G will only pick up what it feels it can run profitably. Inevitably, that will result in holes across the area, probably worsening in due course. When the next First Potteries Accounts are published it will be interesting to see what affect these various changes have had. It's quite possible that more swingeing cuts will then follow, with a further reduction in pvr.

 

[Thin man]

New timetables now available to view on first potteries website.

 

[James101]

I doubt there's any 'shady deal'. First need to reduce costs anyway they can and D&G will only pick up what it feels it can run profitably. Inevitably, that will result in holes across the area, probably worsening in due course. When the next First Potteries Accounts are published it will be interesting to see what affect these various changes have had. It's quite possible that more swingeing cuts will then follow, with a further reduction in pvr.

Considering the changes were announced simultaneously and First are actively promoting the D&G replacements is almost certainly an indication the parties had communcated regarding the changes. The 'shady' aspect would be for competition authorities to look at - it's not entirely dissimilar to Arrive and Go North East - http://www.thejournal.co.uk/news/north-east-news/arriva-go-north-east-secret-4419286

There are some gaping holes left in the network that D&G could exploit. Granted getting a bus on the road is expensive, but I'm sure one extra bus on the 10s PVR to match/beat First's frequency along Beverly Drive would be justifiable - but it seems D&G don't wish to rock the boat too much. Also of note is the 1s upcoming timetable puts at an even headway along the shared corridor with First's 11 as opposed to the current (more competitive) timetable which places D&Gs buses just in front of First's. On this occasion, beneficial for the passenger, but also hints at deals being done.