TheGrandWazoo
Veteran Member
This looks like a mitigant to aid the successful securing of planning permission. Running a few empty buses through the night for a few years to achieve that will be a small price to pay (not that I'm cynical)
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Transdev Blazefield
- Thread starter RustySpoons
- Start date
This looks like a mitigant to aid the successful securing of planning permission. Running a few empty buses through the night for a few years to achieve that will be a small price to pay (not that I'm cynical)
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RustySpoons
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Well...
TheGrandWazoo
Veteran Member
So a 24 hour service? Perhaps not on all the routes (e.g. Harrogate) but perhaps one bus shuttling on the 757 between Leeds station and the Airport, or maybe more extensive? Depends what the airport have specified but interesting nonetheless.
RustySpoons
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markymark2000
On Moderation
Introducing night buses to help the planning permission would 99% of the time mean the night buses started at the point of the new terminal becoming operational. This is a case of the night buses being introduced before the planning permission has even been approved. I believe that the airport is doing it for the right reasons now and are making a point of the new contract being a good chance for the all night services to try and help the passenger numbers increase to the magic 6m (the airports aim)
RustySpoons
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Are there enough flights in/out though to justify a 24 hour service (without the current restrictions on bus/air traffic)? They won't be able to increase passenger numbers if there's nowhere for them to do. Admittedly it's been a few years since I was last flying from LBIA, but I don't recall there being much in the way of round the clock flights.
markymark2000
On Moderation
I'm not sure on that. They currently take almost 4m through the terminal and they have said multiple times in their planning statement that the terminal capacity (both the current and the new one) will be for 6 million passengers. They are also looking to reduce their 'outdated' airspace restrictions (I think the limit is 7am-10pm and they want it so they can have earlier and later flights) so they can have earlier flights as that is apparently a deterrent for the europe flights.
There isn't much in the way of all night passenger flights from East Midlands Airport either, but it manages to support 24 hour bus services without subsidy. Don't forget that for a 6am flight to depart, the terminal has to be up and running by about 4am, so the cleaners have to finish by then, and the check-in, security, catering, baggage handling, fuelling and other ground staff all need to have arrived. Then the last passenger flights get in about midnight, so customs, immigration and ground handling are around until at least 1am. In fact customs are always there because air freight tends to be busiest at night. East Midlands has a lot of air freight, maybe Leeds Bradford wants to compete. If so, there are loaders, parcel sorters, drivers and so on working all night.
Oh, guess which group of bus companies runs the various East Midlands Airport night (and day) services - yes, Wellglade, AH's old employers, so he'll have been involved in developing and marketing their Skylink brand.
A bit of info about LBA below. I understand that they are limited to 4,000 flights in this designated period with most happening in the summer months.
LBA will struggle to compete with EMA on air freight. The topography around the airport is not amazing and the road connections are dire. There are some serious dog legs and slow roads to reach the motorway network from the airport and this situation is unlikely to change particularly following the recent rejection of the relief road near the airport.
LBA will struggle to compete with EMA on air freight. The topography around the airport is not amazing and the road connections are dire. There are some serious dog legs and slow roads to reach the motorway network from the airport and this situation is unlikely to change particularly following the recent rejection of the relief road near the airport.
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Ashly_Jethro
Member
Ahhh, this partly explains why the old RedEx deckers have had their old plates restored *Mod Note* Please edit this post to include a transcript of the information that you have highlighted in your screenshot. It should be copied and pasted into your post as text. This assists our visually impaired readers. Thank you :)
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TheGrandWazoo
Veteran Member
However, they current handle 4m passengers p.a. and have an aim to increase that to 7m with a planning application for a new terminal. A cynical person might suggest that running a bus for a few hours as part of their green action plan might be a low cost measure?
I thought they would have got rid of those or do they have a new interpretation of what VTD stands for other than Veolia Transdev?
Ashly_Jethro
Member
*Mod Note* Please edit this post to include a transcript of the information that you have highlighted in your screenshot. It should be copied and pasted into your post as text. This assists our visually impaired readers. Thank you :)
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TheGrandWazoo
Veteran Member
Nah - they got them so just reuse them.
There's one private plate that First have that's been on six different vehicles over the years.
464 versas getting replaced after a year or two? I havent seen anything about new buses like the cityzap and witchway.
No, they will have just nicked one from the 464 batch to meet the requirement for the airport contract
darloscott
Member
Indeed, Airport PVR is currently 10, if the 757 is to run 24h that will presumably increase to 11 or 12. There’s only 10 Versa’s at Keighley so even with a PVR of 10 they’d need 2 spares from elsewhere. Would expect total fleet would need to be 14 now.
They are Volvo B9s which I believe are natively Euro 5. A Euro 6 upgrade path exists, as other operators have been known to have done it - but I couldn't say if that's been applied to these or not.
Reading the Leeds CAZ info, I assume they will need something, however that implementation has been delayed until 2021 due to COVID.
Ah ok thank you. presumably this will mean that one of the diagrams would be a pride of the north vehicle.
Thank you. With regards to the Leeds CAZ I am confident that 2021 will be the date of implementation but having seen what happened in London with the congestion charge, if the pollution values for Leeds go the wrong way, we might see a very short notice implementation.
Ashly_Jethro
Member
Yes, they’re getting engine updates as part of their refurbs.
317 forever
Established Member
The double-deck for Aireline tweeted in post 704 looks in the process of being refurbished.
Just a thought. Double-decks for Aireline will release Versas to LBA services, that people might use as part of a wider itinerary involving an Airline.
Just a thought. Double-decks for Aireline will release Versas to LBA services, that people might use as part of a wider itinerary involving an Airline.
Tetchytyke
Veteran Member
Posted here as its Transdev Blazefield related, but if the Covid forum is better feel free to move.
Alex Hornby on Twitter saying that Blazefield are back to 95% pre-Covid capacity, but running at 30% usage. Very worried that new travel habits will form, i.e. the car.
Until the stupid rules about having to wear a muzzle at all times are removed, I think they're on a hiding to nothing.
Alex Hornby on Twitter saying that Blazefield are back to 95% pre-Covid capacity, but running at 30% usage. Very worried that new travel habits will form, i.e. the car.
Until the stupid rules about having to wear a muzzle at all times are removed, I think they're on a hiding to nothing.
A hiding to nothing ?
RustySpoons
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Quite depressing stats, but a lot of people still aren't back at work so won't be commuting and there's understandably a lot of trepidation for folk who would normally catch the bus into town for a day out.
What is mildly frustrating to me is the fact that Alex along with Ray Stenning and a few others are constantly going on about how people should be using the bus and (Ray especially) subversively insulting anyone who chooses to use a car. The depressing reality though is that for a lot of people the bus just isn't a viable option.
My job means I can't use a bus to commute as I travel around the country, but even if I did work in a fixed base just one town away the bus would take near enough 60 minutes to get there. Or I could take two and get there in 45. And if I had to work late then I couldn't get the bus home as they don't run in the evenings. If I drove I could be there in 15 minutes. Throw in the quite extortionate single fares and the bus isn't even a viable option for the odd journey either. If there's two of us travelling in most cases it works out cheaper to get a taxi.
Granted, a lot of the problem (in Lancashire) is due to LCC withdrawing subsidies for services, but it is irksome when you're being told you're ruining the planet and should be using the bus for every single journey by a bloke who lives in London and a CEO of a bus company with a company car when there's no alternative.
Doesn't matter how many USB sockets or WiFi they shove on a bus, if you don't live on the route or have any links to it then it's as good as useless.
Mild rant over.
There won't be many buses operating for very long with numbers like that.
I don't think removing the requirement for masks will help though. The basic problem with public transport is the risk of catching the virus - increasing that risk won't bring customers back.
People have been told it is their civic duty to avoid public transport, and it's obviously common sense if you want to avoid catching the virus - particularly important to the 65+ demographic key to the bus market. Some demand will come back over time - more people going back to work, schools in September, more older people getting out with the end of shielding, but as long as the coronavirus is still in people's minds many will still avoid buses if at all possible.