A few observations having lived in Gloucester for four weeks:
The 1 (City Centre to Matson): Monday to Saturday seems to be a PVR of 3: 2 Gold Scania E400s usually found on the 10 and a E200. This is the right thing for it, the 1 in particular can still get busy.
2/2A is a mixture of E200s and E300s. Ideally I think they should all be E300s and the 9 (City Centre to Tuffley) should be E200s.
The 10 (Lower Tuffley to Cheltenham) seems to be a mixture of 15841-15859 and anything from 15521-15522. Would it not be better to have the Gold Scania E400s all de-branded (i.e. some are for the 10, others for the 97/98) and have them all in regular Gold so that they can work freely on whatever routes need them?
The 97/98 appears to be more Enviro 300s or MAN E300s (22744-22754), and not the branded Scanias (15521-15522).
Would be handy if the 94X ran all day, even if only half hourly to replace the 94U withdrawal at the Gloucester end of the route.
22/23/24 seems to be operated again by Gold 10s, when there are plain standard-spec Scanias (15731-15734, 15871-15880) which usually appear.
I know we're in the middle of a pandemic but I feel everything is all over the place at the moment. The only route that appears to be at 100% correct vehicles is the 63 and the 94 (although 10753 did make an appearance on the 94U yesterday).
I think the network should look like this:
1: Two Scania E400s and an Enviro 300, preferably with bog standard-spec Scanias (a la 15638 etc) and an E300. Continue to run every 20 minutes in the evening and not half hourly (and definitely not half hourly all day on a Saturday as it is currently!). Retain Sunday frequency. Make deckers run all evening. Some of the evening services (1940/2010 departures from town) can get cosy as usually just E200s.
2/2A: Space these out a little bit, as on the common section of the route shared with the 1 between Chequers Bridge and the city centre, the 1/2 are due three minutes apart and then there's nothing for almost 15 minutes. Have Enviro 300s on the 2 and Enviro 200s on the 2A.
6/13: Wondered why on earth this is predominantly Scania E400s but realise it's interworked with the 71.
8: Continue to be operated with the MAN E300s (22744-22754), as this works well. Personally think this should be bought back to every 20 minutes.
9: Reduce to every half an hour and make it fully E200 operated. No need for a 20 minute frequency and E300s. Plenty of other buses serve the Quays and the Tredworth section of the route is close to the 1/2 from Barton Street/Painswick Road. Think routes such as the 8 deserve more of a frequency increase.
10: Remove branding from 15841-15859 and have all Gold Scanias unbranded so that they can be used freely on other routes. Retain current frequency of every 15 minutes.
12: Keep as current.
22/23/24: Do not know enough about regional/wider bus routes, but a lot of these workings are by Gold deckers. Keep 15731-15734/15871-15880 for these routes, as they have coach-style seating which is more approriate).
93: Is the 93 really needed at the moment? Surely it would be better to have a Sunday style service and have all 94s turn into Arle Court?
94: Retain current frequency of every 15 minutes. Maybe serve Arle Court to release the two E200MMCs for the 93 onto other services?
94X: Have this run all day and not just morning/evening peaks. Even if only half-hourly?
97/98: Seems to be single decker worked at the moment. What is the point of having 15521-15523 branded for the route?
A (Cheltenham): This is regularly operated by 94-branded E400MMCs. Surely it would be better to have the two E200MMCs from the 93 operate this instead, and displace the E400MMCs elsewhere? May be worth transferring half of the 94 operation to Gloucester, to allow E400MMCs to support single deckers on key Gloucester city routes such as the 1 and 8?
I also think St Oswald's Retail Park needs a regular bus service, and not just the very sporadic 351/353. Last week SC withdrew the 351 because of flooding near Tewkesbury, but didn't do what they usually do and have a shuttle service between St Oswald's and the transport hub. I waited for the 15:15 departure towards the city centre last week, only because I noticed it was due, and it didn't turn up. Was waiting with an elderly lady doing her shopping and tweeted SC; thankfully they saw it and replied so I could pass on the message. Think a new service, say a 72, could be introduced between Gloucester and Tewkesbury, and have it run via St Oswald's and keep the 71 via Kingsholm. It is a massively busy retail park and admittedly isn't too far from the city centre but does need something!
Bold statements admittedly, but worth sharing!
Hello, a fellow Gloucester resident here and I live near to routes 2/2A, 8 and 13.
Back in June, Gloucester was due to be delivered 21 Scania N230UD Enviro 400 MMCs in order to trigger a cascade of VX62 Scania Enviro 400s across the rest to replace the tridents. Unfortunately, the order was cancelled at the start of the first lockdown in April 2020.
In August, the transfer of 4 VX09 Scania Enviro 400s to Stroud and 2 VX62 Scania Enviro 400s to Swindon meant that significant capacity has been lost and routes having to deal with poor allocation. Service 10, when operating under normal timetabling, is normally allocated a mix of ALX400s, Scania 400s, 300s and 200s. Until September this route was generally consistently allocated Scania Enviro 400s. I am told that the route branding will not be removed until they get round to repainting the buses...
Gloucester City services 1 and 8 are the priority for 'higher capacity' vehicles. This is most of the time not fulfilled due to the lack of deckers and the fact that Service 8 is a 'Euro 6 route' since its extension to Hunts Grove. Out of lockdown Saturdays generally see Service 1 allocated purely ALX400s.
1: Two Scania E400s and an Enviro 300, preferably with bog standard-spec Scanias (a la 15638 etc) and an E300. Continue to run every 20 minutes in the evening and not half hourly (and definitely not half hourly all day on a Saturday as it is currently!). Retain Sunday frequency. Make deckers run all evening. Some of the evening services (1940/2010 departures from town) can get cosy as usually just E200s.
This service is normally allocated Enviro 300s (a mixture of PO11s and GX58 MANs) and runs every 10 minutes Mon-Sat daytime. Unfortunately, there are not enough deckers to bring sufficient capacity to the routes that need it. Gloucester depot run 8 School/College services (6x Newent, 2x Cirencester) as well as 5 COVID dupes (2x Crypt School (10C), 1x Chosen Hill (997), 1x Homleigh Park (10H), 1x St Peters High School (963)). These all run as double deckers and some do interwork with Forest services and 6/13/71 rota.
2/2A: Space these out a little bit, as on the common section of the route shared with the 1 between Chequers Bridge and the city centre, the 1/2 are due three minutes apart and then there's nothing for almost 15 minutes. Have Enviro 300s on the 2 and Enviro 200s on the 2A.
There is no difference between the 2/2A, other than the fact the 2A serves Bittern Avenue and Upton Lane. The timings for these routes are snails pace and generally only require Enviro 200s during normal times.
9: Reduce to every half an hour and make it fully E200 operated. No need for a 20 minute frequency and E300s. Plenty of other buses serve the Quays and the Tredworth section of the route is close to the 1/2 from Barton Street/Painswick Road. Think routes such as the 8 deserve more of a frequency increase.
The 9 is an already busy route considering that in August 2019, service 7 was merged into it. It is certainly busier than the 2/2A most of the time and finds most of its passengers off peak and at the weekend.
10: Remove branding from 15841-15859 and have all Gold Scanias unbranded so that they can be used freely on other routes. Retain current frequency of every 15 minutes.
The 10 is one of West's biggest money makers. It gets very busy during weekdays and needs a frequency of every 10 minutes. It is on paper a decker route, although COVID has caused problems meaning it cannot be. Its Gloucester's busiest route. I would agree that having the scanias debranded would be a good idea but they've spent more time on forest work for years now so people are used to it.
I also think St Oswald's Retail Park needs a regular bus service, and not just the very sporadic 351/353. Last week SC withdrew the 351 because of flooding near Tewkesbury, but didn't do what they usually do and have a shuttle service between St Oswald's and the transport hub.
Service 5 (withdrawn in 2013, served Abbeymead/Upton St Leonards) served St Oswald's Retail Park for many years. They also trialed a shuttle years back if I recall correctly. Unfortunately neither proved successful.
I understand most of your comments are based off of the current circumstances but I just thought it would be useful to give you some insight behind what some of the routes are normally like. Hope it helps. You'll be used to dodgy allocation in no time, there hasn't been any consistency for years....