Transdev Blazefield

[SCH117X]

Here are a couple of updates from the Team Pennine Twitter feed:

https://twitter.com/TeamPennine/status/1436042267610001411

The national driver shortage is giving us real pressure, this whilst we’re running a number of extra school buses for the new term. We’ll therefore be temporarily suspending the 324 Meltham-Hudds to help reduce stress on our colleagues and give us time to get back on our feet.

https://twitter.com/TeamPennine/status/1436042719030300677

Alternative links are available on First Huddersfield bus 324. Let us know if we can help further or refund any pre-paid tickets. We’re obviously sorry for any inconvenience caused, but we’ll be back again soon!

 

[RELL6L]

It still looks pretty poor out in Team Pennine land if BusTimes is to be believed.

In my analysis of yesterday I overlooked the 22; this half hourly service, the only bus to this corner of Halifax, had gaps of 3 hours in the morning and 3½ hours in the afternoon.

Today, with the 324 scrapped, there appear to be a few missing buses (but not as many as yesterday)
Halifax: one missing from 546/561/562 circuit, one missing from 563, one missing from 343/534.
Huddersfield: only one out of three running on 319. Also one of the D1 boards was missing earlier but now running.

Update 16.40, the 319 in Huddersfield seems to have given up altogether, nothing since 14.10, while the 360, which is two buses, had nothing until 14.30, now one bus is out.

 

[Deerfold]

Still looks pretty poor out in Team Pennine land if BusTimes is to be believed.

In my analysis of yesterday I overlooked the 22, this half hourly service, the only bus to this corner of Halifax, had gaps of 3 hours in the morning and 3½ hours in the afternoon.

If that's right, it's disappointing, but has been going on for years. Pre-Covid when it was timetabled every 20 minutes, it wasn't unusual for a relative to wait more than an hour.

 

[Bristol LHS]

South Pennine Community Transport taking on operation of the 532 on a temporary basis from Monday, with the 514 passing over to them shortly afterwards:

https://twitter.com/teampennine/status/1436376185341104129?s=21

We've always been keen to embrace fellow local operators to help us deliver quality local bus services

From Monday 13 September, our friends at @SouthPennineCT will be helping us by running the 532, with operations of the 514 passing to them shortly

bit.ly/3ngRa3g

 

[northernchris]

I’m guessing they aren’t tweeting because it’s just too bad to tweet.

One missing journey on the 662, with advice to catch the next one 10 minutes later is one thing; multiple buses missing every hour all day all week is something else.

I used the 662 this afternoon and it was a difficult journey. 2 in a row failed to turn up, along with the 60. When a bus finally arrived it was extremely busy and lost time due to the vast number of passengers boarding and alighting, plus hitting the school run due to the delay. At one point there were no buses in service between Bradford and Keighley, with 4 of the 13 boards uncovered and the remainder stuck Bradford bound. Not one tweet from Transdev, no updates on the next bus displays at stops (whilst waiting at Bingley the board did show a First 616 as cancelled) and there was nothing on the website to advise of any problems with driver availability. I did however notice that from Monday a temporary timetable is being introduced on the 662 with buses running every 15 minutes. This should hopefully enable a more reliable service to be provided and will free up staff to provide service information.

 

[SCH117X]

Good point above about freeing up staff time - if there are driver shortages then anyone qualified will be driving; who knows, you might find Alex Hornby behind the wheel.

 

[JetBlast]

who know, you might find Alex Hornby behind the wheel.

It’s not unknown for that to happen.

 

[Deerfold]

I used the 662 this afternoon and it was a difficult journey. 2 in a row failed to turn up, along with the 60. When a bus finally arrived it was extremely busy and lost time due to the vast number of passengers boarding and alighting, plus hitting the school run due to the delay. At one point there were no buses in service between Bradford and Keighley, with 4 of the 13 boards uncovered and the remainder stuck Bradford bound. Not one tweet from Transdev, no updates on the next bus displays at stops (whilst waiting at Bingley the board did show a First 616 as cancelled) and there was nothing on the website to advise of any problems with driver availability. I did however notice that from Monday a temporary timetable is being introduced on the 662 with buses running every 15 minutes. This should hopefully enable a more reliable service to be provided and will free up staff to provide service information.

Although they're not really spreading this news. Nothing on Twitter and the news article on their website (which doesn't show up unless you select News) links to a timetable for the Tottington Connection.

 

[vla50]

Why did 2721-23, 25 & 2743-2745 transfer to Team Pennine? Are they permanent acquisitions?

 

[Andyh82]

Why did 2721-23, 25 & 2743-2745 transfer to Team Pennine? Are they permanent acquisitions?

They’ve picked up a number of school services that they didn’t run before (when they were Yorkshire Tiger).

I'm not sure if they are permanent; the Lowlanders acquired from Arriva don’t seem to be in use at the moment, and the Presidents I’ve seen still carry “Harrogate and District Travel” legals.

 

[northernchris]

Although they're not really spreading this news. Nothing on Twitter and the news article on their website (which doesn't show up unless you select News) links to a timetable for the Tottington Connection.

Indeed, I only came across the temp timetable by accident as I was trying to see if there were any service updates. The 67 had a timetable change last week which didn't get advertised at all, but if you use the calendar on the timetable page it does bring up the correct times for the chosen date

 

[JetBlast]

the Lowlanders acquired from Arriva don’t seem to be in use at the moment,

Did they acquire these from the purchase of Yorkshire Tiger or a seperate transaction please?

 

[Andyh82]

Did they acquire these from the purchase of Yorkshire Tiger or a seperate transaction please?

As part of the purchase of Yorkshire Tiger, but all 4 of them were always operated still in Arriva livery.

 

[JetBlast]

As part of the purchase of Yorkshire Tiger, but all 4 of them were always operated still in Arriva livery

Thanks. I was under the impression that they only brought 1 decker across.

 

[zero]

Can you still get a free ticket or a £1 ticket by signing up to something as advertised earlier this year?

I've never taken a bus in this area of England before.

I have 2.5 hours to get from Leeds to York this Friday. I have a Northern delay repay free ticket but don't want to waste it on such a short journey, and don't really have anything I want to do in either city with only an hour. The coastliner / cityzap usual fare seems to be £7 but is there a cheaper way?

 

[Andyh82]

An example of how Transdev sometimes get their priorities wrong

The Huddersfield locals (319/360) are still being completely decimated with half the trips on the 360 and 1 or 2 of the allocated 3 buses not running on the 319. Nothing ran from 0630 to 0830 on either service this morning. The long established 324 to Meltham has been suspended.

But the brand new “KirkheatonQuick” 262 is running a full service day after day, despite it being a completely new service that nobody relies on, as it’s completely new…

 

[Bristol LHS]

Can you still get a free ticket or a £1 ticket by signing up to something as advertised earlier this year?

I've never taken a bus in this area of England before.

I have 2.5 hours to get from Leeds to York this Friday. I have a Northern delay repay free ticket but don't want to waste it on such a short journey, and don't really have anything I want to do in either city with only an hour. The coastliner / cityzap usual fare seems to be £7 but is there a cheaper way?

I think so - they were still advertising it a couple of weeks ago. You need to download the Transdev Go app, and you should get a free day ticket if you set up an account. Alternatively, you always used (pre pandemic)to be able to get a cheap fixed ticket on the Northern stopping train between York and Leeds - their way of tempting people off TPE.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

An example of how Transdev sometimes get their priorities wrong

The Huddersfield locals (319/360) are still being completely decimated with half the trips on the 360 and 1 or 2 of the allocated 3 buses not running on the 319. Nothing ran from 0630 to 0830 on either service this morning. The long established 324 to Meltham has been suspended.

But the brand new “KirkheatonQuick” 262 is running a full service day after day, despite it being a completely new service that nobody relies on, as it’s completely new…

Indeed, it's an approach that seems a bit daft. Other firms have had similar challenges, not least Go Cornwall and First Kernow and they suspended some new ventures whilst they dealt with the ongoing driver shortage.

 

[darloscott]

Indeed, it's an approach that seems a bit daft. Other firms have had similar challenges, not least Go Cornwall and First Kernow and they suspended some new ventures whilst they dealt with the ongoing driver shortage.

Equally I can see their logic, being that this is new and competing with another operator, they don’t want to start dropping mileage over there where theres a new market to be lost. People on other services may not have another option so dropping journeys there is less of an issue. As to whether that’s right or wrong I guess that’s for others to decide.

 

[Deerfold]

My sister-in-law travelled from Greetland to Keighley today with Team Pennine. Both the 561 and 343 missed, so she started her 2 hour trip more than an hour late. They showed on the signs, there's nothing on Twitter to say they aren't running. If she'd known she could have walked to West Vale and got a First Bus, but that's a 20 minute walk.

 

[Goldfish62]

Equally I can see their logic, being that this is new and competing with another operator, they don’t want to start dropping mileage over there where theres a new market to be lost. People on other services may not have another option so dropping journeys there is less of an issue. As to whether that’s right or wrong I guess that’s for others to decide.

What you're suggesting is effectively a complete disregard for the captive audience of existing passengers in favour of chasing after a new market.

 

[RELL6L]

My sister-in-law travelled from Greetland to Keighley today with Team Pennine. Both the 561 and 343 missed, so she started her 2 hour trip more than an hour late. They showed on the signs, there's nothing on Twitter to say they aren't running. If she'd known she could have walked to West Vale and got a First Bus, but that's a 20 minute walk.

Aren't some of these tendered services operated for Metro? I can't see them being happy with lots of missing buses on an hourly contracted service while they are running a competing 262 in Huddersfield.

The situation is very hard and the bus companies have to have some sympathy for the driver shortage which is somewhat outside their control - although some have managed better than others - but having got this situation surely the companies should be (a) prioritising, so that they cut first where there are alternatives or the frequencies are too high / can be reduced - taking decisions such as First Kernow to slash the Atlantic Coaster before the anticipated end of the season but presumably holidaymakers taking the bus are now well down, and (b) publicising, so that potential passengers know what is going on. Transdev Blazefield have been good at publicising the positive - nothing wrong with that - but they need to make sure people know what is happening too!

 

[SCH117X]

Harrogate tweeted about a number of cancellations over the weekend so its not a universal burying of bad news

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

What you're suggesting is effectively a complete disregard for the captive audience of existing passengers in favour of chasing after a new market.

Aren't some of these tendered services operated for Metro? I can't see them being happy with lots of missing buses on an hourly contracted service while they are running a competing 262 in Huddersfield.

The situation is very hard and the bus companies have to have some sympathy for the driver shortage which is somewhat outside their control - although some have managed better than others - but having got this situation surely the companies should be (a) prioritising, so that they cut first where there are alternatives or the frequencies are too high / can be reduced - taking decisions such as First Kernow to slash the Atlantic Coaster before the anticipated end of the season but presumably holidaymakers taking the bus are now well down, and (b) publicising, so that potential passengers know what is going on. Transdev Blazefield have been good at publicising the positive - nothing wrong with that - but they need to make sure people know what is happening too!

Can't help but agree with these posts.

I am generally impressed by Transdev and the way they conduct business. However, they've got this wrong. Better to have suspended the introduction of a new route (which would have inconvenienced no-one) and focused resources on their existing network.

 

[Deerfold]

Aren't some of these tendered services operated for Metro? I can't see them being happy with lots of missing buses on an hourly contracted service while they are running a competing 262 in Huddersfield.

The situation is very hard and the bus companies have to have some sympathy for the driver shortage which is somewhat outside their control - although some have managed better than others - but having got this situation surely the companies should be (a) prioritising, so that they cut first where there are alternatives or the frequencies are too high / can be reduced - taking decisions such as First Kernow to slash the Atlantic Coaster before the anticipated end of the season but presumably holidaymakers taking the bus are now well down, and (b) publicising, so that potential passengers know what is going on. Transdev Blazefield have been good at publicising the positive - nothing wrong with that - but they need to make sure people know what is happening too!

There was almost next to no publicity for the reduction in frequency on the 662 this week - a news article on their website that linked to the wrong timetable and nothing on Twitter or Facebook.

 

[northernchris]

There was almost next to no publicity for the reduction in frequency on the 662 this week - a news article on their website that linked to the wrong timetable and nothing on Twitter or Facebook.

And disappointingly there's still uncovered boards with no updates on social media and no cancellations showing on the next bus boards like First are managing to do. Last week a new return trip was added on the 60 in the AM peak however I don't think this has run at all yet. It would make sense to remove these 2 journeys rather than consistently fail to deliver

 

[Deerfold]

And disappointingly there's still uncovered boards with no updates on social media and no cancellations showing on the next bus boards like First are managing to do. Last week a new return trip was added on the 60 in the AM peak however I don't think this has run at all yet. It would make sense to remove these 2 journeys rather than consistently fail to deliver

That's a shame. I'm likely to use it quite often, but am away this week.

 

[Andyh82]

Equally I can see their logic, being that this is new and competing with another operator, they don’t want to start dropping mileage over there where theres a new market to be lost. People on other services may not have another option so dropping journeys there is less of an issue. As to whether that’s right or wrong I guess that’s for others to decide.

Although they’ve suspended the 324 and told customers to use the identical First Huddersfield service instead.

Which will be interesting in a few months when the Team Pennine 324 gets reintroduced and no doubt relaunched with refurbished buses, they’ll presumably be wanting people to abandon First and use them again then

 

[GusB]

I've moved the discussion of driver shortages to its own thread, which you will find here:

Bus Driver Shortages

Mod note - discussion has been split off from the Transdev Blazefield and First Greater Glasgow threads But how long will a few months be? The national driver shortage is plainly linked to the HGV driver shortage and the latter are better paid with their own office (cab) and a far more limited...

www.railforums.co.uk

 

[RustySpoons]

Yet another variation of the Pride of the North livery, this time promoting something that the vast majority of passengers don't really care about.

@Alextransdev Tweet

Celebrating the diversity within our team across the north here @transdev helps create better workplace environments, enables people to feel confident & proud at work and promotes the message that we welcome all within our communities to join us. V special bus livery coming soon!

Personally I think it looks a right mess, way too much going on.