Transdev Blazefield

[Tetchytyke]

Tockwith has nothing to do with why Harrogate Bus Company has so many cancellations.

The point being made is that Transdev publicise the cancellations so it looks worse compared to other operators who choose not to publicise cancellations.

We saw something similar here. Bus Vannin were publicising cancellations due to staff shortages and the (thankfully now departed) boss was getting awkward questions in Tynwald as a result. So Bus Vannin stopped publicising the cancellations. Problem solved!

 

[Andyh82]

Tockwith has nothing to do with why Harrogate Bus Company has so many cancellations. Transdev need to accept they have a problem. An X99 was cancelled this afternoon not for the first time since they took over the service!

Everyone has a shortage of drivers, just that Transdev are the only ones in the area who publish them

I suggest you walk around Leeds city centre glancing at all the real time displays in the shelters. You will see numerous First Leeds City and Arriva services showing as ‘Cancelled’

 

[SCH117X]

Tockwith has nothing to do with why Harrogate Bus Company has so many cancellations. Transdev need to accept they have a problem. An X99 was cancelled this afternoon not for the first time since they took over the service!

I did say anything of the sort - read it again, a number of operators are not providing any details of cancellations and such come to light through facebook messages a couple of days later or responses to tweets asking why bus did not turn up.

 

[northernchris]

Covid seems to be on the increase so no doubt some are off with it. At least unlike a number of operators (looking in the direction of Tockwith for starters) they are attempting to publicise the fact.

Or in Keighley's case they only tend to publicise cancellations which are known about first thing then fail to acknowledge anything which is subsequently uncovered, but that's down to the Duty Managers. They also don't bother to let people in the bus station know either.

With this amount of cancelled journeys (there's likely to be more, going off past experience) all before early afternoon you have to question where all these new drivers they're getting through the 'Academy' are going.

It's disappointing Tracy Brabin isn't more vocal on this issue. The 36 in particular is prone to seeing a fair chunk of the short Leeds - Harrogate services cancelled each day and I'm sure the regular cancellations to the 7 are partly behind the reason for its weekday reduction to hourly. It's great to have the maximum £2 fare in West Yorkshire, and there's no denying Transdev's vehicles are generally appealing, but it's no good if there's no one to drive them and passengers lose confidence in the service.

 

[Andyh82]

Or in Keighley's case they only tend to publicise cancellations which are known about first thing then fail to acknowledge anything which is subsequently uncovered, but that's down to the Duty Managers. They also don't bother to let people in the bus station know either.



It's disappointing Tracy Brabin isn't more vocal on this issue. The 36 in particular is prone to seeing a fair chunk of the short Leeds - Harrogate services cancelled each day and I'm sure the regular cancellations to the 7 are partly behind the reason for its weekday reduction to hourly. It's great to have the maximum £2 fare in West Yorkshire, and there's no denying Transdev's vehicles are generally appealing, but it's no good if there's no one to drive them and passengers lose confidence in the service.

What can she do?
Complain about unreliable services and then complain about service reductions and cancellations that try and fix them. This is exactly what happened with Arriva and First during the service changes two weeks ago

We are in a situation now where of Transdev decided to pull off a Harrogate service, nobody has staff to take it on. You’d end up with a NYCC minibus or a school bus operator running off peak at best, or the service disappearing entirely at worst.

 

[SCH117X]

The objective of bringing buses under public control sought by Tracy Brabin would have a benefit if extended into North Yorkshire as competing services aroudnd Harrogate would presumably be cut out and drivers become available for those that remain. Transdevs cuts to the 7 result in a pretty strange timetable from Wetherby with the X70 equaivalent 5 minutes in front of it and the slower X70 via Follifoot 20 mins behind it. Its common to see that so timed 7 looking pretty empty at Harrogate and it might have been better if the other of the current 7s was being retained and run say 5 minutes later from Leeds giving a service 15 mins after the slower X70 and 20 mins before the equivalent X70

 

[LucyP]

The X99 that was cancelled this afternoon (the 15:04 from Wetherby to Leeds) was on the long list of cancelled services that someone else posted above. In spite of that list, the service actually ran, well it didn't quite get to Linton before the driver knocked the mirror off, and the service was cancelled! Apparently it is the 3rd mirror today that was knocked off.

It is the worst bus service imaginable now. Cancellations. Almost every service is late, often extremely late. It no longer can be relied on since it went from First to Transdev. The buses are underpowered and too wide. The drivers are clearly not used to the rural route, drive too slowly, and spend too long at bus stops. The sheer variety of name badges on the drivers in incredible. Keighley Bus Company, Burnley Bus Company, Harrogate Bus Company. They are just bringing drivers from anywhere. The service is no longer a limited stop one, but still runs to First's limited stop timetable, nor does it divert from Roseville Road in Leeds at peak times, which First have done for years now, to avoid the congestion, which are other reasons for the lateness.

Hopefully the West Yorkshire Mayor or the Transport Executive will remove the service from Transdev and give it to a more competent operator. Who cares about glass roof panels, or dog-earned library books, tables and fairy lights, when the bus is cancelled or persistently late?

 

[northernchris]

The objective of bringing buses under public control sought by Tracy Brabin would have a benefit if extended into North Yorkshire as competing services aroudnd Harrogate would presumably be cut out and drivers become available for those that remain. Transdevs cuts to the 7 result in a pretty strange timetable from Wetherby with the X70 equaivalent 5 minutes in front of it and the slower X70 via Follifoot 20 mins behind it. Its common to see that so timed 7 looking pretty empty at Harrogate and it might have been better if the other of the current 7s was being retained and run say 5 minutes later from Leeds giving a service 15 mins after the slower X70 and 20 mins before the equivalent X70

I agree that having timetables set centrally would be of benefit to the passenger. Operators have too much freedom to set unrealistic schedules and there's little if any repercussions for those who routinely cancel journeys because they have overestimated the number of journeys they think they can run.

The above example highlights how the scarce resources aren't always used in the most efficient way, and re-writing timetables to match driver availability should be a top priority.

 

[Stan Drews]

Hopefully the West Yorkshire Mayor or the Transport Executive will remove the service from Transdev and give it to a more competent operator.

You do realise that the UK bus industry doesn’t work like that?

 

[Andyh82]

I agree that having timetables set centrally would be of benefit to the passenger. Operators have too much freedom to set unrealistic schedules and there's little if any repercussions for those who routinely cancel journeys because they have overestimated the number of journeys they think they can run.

The above example highlights how the scarce resources aren't always used in the most efficient way, and re-writing timetables to match driver availability should be a top priority.

They would never do this in public ownership either

It’s one thing a private company cancelling a lightly used service to redeploy scarce resources elsewhere. The mayor can blame the ‘fat cat bus operator making millions of pounds of profit’ and say that it wouldn’t happen if buses were under public control

But if they were in public control would they cancel the same service which would affect their own voters and no doubt various sob stories that would follow. Villages where one person boards a week to visit the hospital who also voted Labour?

The X99 that was cancelled this afternoon (the 15:04 from Wetherby to Leeds) was on the long list of cancelled services that someone else posted above. In spite of that list, the service actually ran, well it didn't quite get to Linton before the driver knocked the mirror off, and the service was cancelled! Apparently it is the 3rd mirror today that was knocked off.

It is the worst bus service imaginable now. Cancellations. Almost every service is late, often extremely late. It no longer can be relied on since it went from First to Transdev. The buses are underpowered and too wide. The drivers are clearly not used to the rural route, drive too slowly, and spend too long at bus stops. The sheer variety of name badges on the drivers in incredible. Keighley Bus Company, Burnley Bus Company, Harrogate Bus Company. They are just bringing drivers from anywhere. The service is no longer a limited stop one, but still runs to First's limited stop timetable, nor does it divert from Roseville Road in Leeds at peak times, which First have done for years now, to avoid the congestion, which are other reasons for the lateness.

Hopefully the West Yorkshire Mayor or the Transport Executive will remove the service from Transdev and give it to a more competent operator. Who cares about glass roof panels, or dog-earned library books, tables and fairy lights, when the bus is cancelled or persistently late?

Blimey, they’ve only had the service 3 weeks. If the service is as unrealisable as you say, and based on the tone of your rant, I have my doubts, I’m sure they’ll change it when they have more than 3 weeks data.

Is an E400MMC more underpowered or wider than a Streetdeck? Were they not used on the motorway up to 3 weeks ago?

 

[northernchris]

They would never do this in public ownership either

It’s one thing a private company cancelling a lightly used service to redeploy scarce resources elsewhere. The mayor can blame the ‘fat cat bus operator making millions of pounds of profit’ and say that it wouldn’t happen if buses were under public control

But if they were in public control would they cancel the same service which would effect their own voters and no doubt various sob stories that would follow. Villages where one person boards a week to visit the hospital who also voted Labour?

I'm not sure I understand your post? My point is Transdev clearly have more journeys scheduled to operate than they are able to resource, so the logical response should be to recast the schedules to match driver availability. In the example @SCH117X used, there's a poor co-ordination of buses on the section between Harrogate and Wetherby. Rather than having lightly used services running for the sake of intimidating the competition, the timetable could be scaled back and drivers redeployed to cover other routes.

@LucyP has commented that the X98/X99 are using drivers from across the Transdev operation, and I'm not convinced taking on extra work to then cancel journeys from other depots is the right thing to do. If Transdev were so desperate to run the X98/99 the responsible thing to do would have been to reduce existing services to free up the required number of drivers, and this is where the Mayor or the Traffic Commissioner should be stepping in to ensure passengers aren't experiencing unnecessary inconvenience.

 

[158756]

I'm not sure I understand your post? My point is Transdev clearly have more journeys scheduled to operate than they are able to resource, so the logical response should be to recast the schedules to match driver availability. In the example @SCH117X used, there's a poor co-ordination of buses on the section between Harrogate and Wetherby. Rather than having lightly used services running for the sake of intimidating the competition, the timetable could be scaled back and drivers redeployed to cover other routes.

@LucyP has commented that the X98/X99 are using drivers from across the Transdev operation, and I'm not convinced taking on extra work to then cancel journeys from other depots is the right thing to do. If Transdev were so desperate to run the X98/99 the responsible thing to do would have been to reduce existing services to free up the required number of drivers, and this is where the Mayor or the Traffic Commissioner should be stepping in to ensure passengers aren't experiencing unnecessary inconvenience.

The problem which is very far from exclusive to Wetherby or Transdev Blazefield is that there is no solution currently available which does not result in inconvenience for passengers (well, massive pay rises would solve it, but then the passengers would have to pay for them). If Harrogate is a few drivers short, to avoid cancellations timetables will have to be reduced, meaning the wait for the next X98/99 might always be 60 minutes rather than 30, or evening services might disappear, or some routes might lose service altogether, with no other operator in a position to take them on. None of those options are popular with passengers of politicians, and many routes already have a reduced service since the pandemic.

Any timetable cuts made are very likely to be permanent, at least now there is some hope that the full timetable might run reliably one day - Lancashire seemed pretty close this summer, but the return of schools and maybe Covid seem to have cancellations mounting up again.

I will say that while I find having the list of cancellations much better than not, they sometimes seen to be written by people who don't know what they're talking about (e.g listing all cancellations from one end of the route when obviously it's one bus going back and forth), and a few times I've come across "cancelled" buses actually running but still on the list.

 

[asw22]

A 4 vehicle PVR running for nearly 18 hours a day probably needs at least 8 drivers a day when taking breaks and driving hours etc into account.
Although Transdev now have a monopoly on the routes between Wetherby and Leeds, who else could have taken on the X98/X99?
Could First Leeds have been persuaded to keep it on, or had their resources been allocated elsewhere, given that they have also been reviewing their network post covid?
Arriva? Connexions? TLC? Stagecoach? Go Ahead East Yorkshire Buses? Anyone else?

The reality at present is that operators can only charge a certain level of fares, and need to at least break even, so can only pay their drivers so much, whereas haulage companies can come in and offer more. In an ideal world there would be more bus priority to allow shorter, more reliable journey times rather than sitting in queues of traffic but if / when that may happen is unknown.

Re the 7 I can see why reductions may be due. Pre-covid although some journeys were consistently busy with multiple intermediate journeys (eg 0745 from Leeds), others were very quiet (particularly mid-morning and between the peaks). Although the frequency halves, the number of journeys into / out of Leeds reduces from 30 to 20 on a weekday - approximately 30 driving hours or 15 return trips on the X98/X99. Whether that is enough or not, time will tell. Hoping that Transdev can sort out any issues and develop this route.

 

[M803UYA]

A 4 vehicle PVR running for nearly 18 hours a day probably needs at least 8 drivers a day when taking breaks and driving hours etc into account.
Although Transdev now have a monopoly on the routes between Wetherby and Leeds, who else could have taken on the X98/X99?
Could First Leeds have been persuaded to keep it on, or had their resources been allocated elsewhere, given that they have also been reviewing their network post covid?
Arriva? Connexions? TLC? Stagecoach? Go Ahead East Yorkshire Buses? Anyone else?

The reality at present is that operators can only charge a certain level of fares, and need to at least break even, so can only pay their drivers so much, whereas haulage companies can come in and offer more. In an ideal world there would be more bus priority to allow shorter, more reliable journey times rather than sitting in queues of traffic but if / when that may happen is unknown.

Re the 7 I can see why reductions may be due. Pre-covid although some journeys were consistently busy with multiple intermediate journeys (eg 0745 from Leeds), others were very quiet (particularly mid-morning and between the peaks). Although the frequency halves, the number of journeys into / out of Leeds reduces from 30 to 20 on a weekday - approximately 30 driving hours or 15 return trips on the X98/X99. Whether that is enough or not, time will tell. Hoping that Transdev can sort out any issues and develop this route.

Another solution would be to use agency drivers, but that'll come at a cost. If it's cheaper to pay the Section 155 Transport Act fine than to pay the cost of agency drivers Transdev would presumably just take the fine?!!

 

[Goldfish62]

Another solution would be to use agency drivers, but that'll come at a cost. If it's cheaper to pay the Section 155 Transport Act fine than to pay the cost of agency drivers Transdev would presumably just take the fine?!!

It's not really a significant additional cost to use agency drivers. While the hourly pay rate would be higher this is offset by no employer NI or pension contributions being made (these are payable by the agency driver).

The issue is that some (not all) agency drivers tend to be of poor quality and will not be bought into the company ethos.

 

[M803UYA]

It's not really a significant additional cost to use agency drivers. While the hourly pay rate would be higher this is offset by no employer NI or pension contributions being made (these are payable by the agency driver).

The issue is that some (not all) agency drivers tend to be of poor quality and will not be bought into the company ethos.

I guess you'll get good and bad whatever you do. But which would the customer like? A bus that turns up when the timetable says it will with an 'agency' driver or one that doesn't because they're not sufficiently trained in the time honoured North Korean practices of forelock tugging and cap doffing?

 

[Goldfish62]

I guess you'll get good and bad whatever you do. But which would the customer like? A bus that turns up when the timetable says it will with an 'agency' driver or one that doesn't because they're not sufficiently trained in the time honoured North Korean practices of forelock tugging and cap doffing?

Well obviously the customer would probably prefer a poorly driven bus with a rude driver than no bus at all.

As for the suggestion that accepting fines may be cheaper and therefore more desirable than employing agency drivers, there's the huge reputational (and career limiting) damage of being called in front of the TC so I think that suggestion is a non starter.

 

[Delenn]

I see that in the latest N&P, the X98/X99 have been deregistered as a Yorkshire Coastliner service and re-registered as a Harrogate Bus Company one. Not that it makes any real difference on the road.

 

[RustySpoons]

I'm not sure I understand your post? My point is Transdev clearly have more journeys scheduled to operate than they are able to resource, so the logical response should be to recast the schedules to match driver availability. In the example @SCH117X used, there's a poor co-ordination of buses on the section between Harrogate and Wetherby. Rather than having lightly used services running for the sake of intimidating the competition, the timetable could be scaled back and drivers redeployed to cover other routes.

@LucyP has commented that the X98/X99 are using drivers from across the Transdev operation, and I'm not convinced taking on extra work to then cancel journeys from other depots is the right thing to do. If Transdev were so desperate to run the X98/99 the responsible thing to do would have been to reduce existing services to free up the required number of drivers, and this is where the Mayor or the Traffic Commissioner should be stepping in to ensure passengers aren't experiencing unnecessary inconvenience.

That's how I see it too. I understand that journeys need to be cancelled for various reasons at any time, but when journeys are consistently cancelled changes need to be made to the timetable. Someone previously mentioned that it only looks like 5 drivers were down judging by that particular days publicised cancelled trips. If that's the case then it shouldn't be too difficult to tweak various timetables so it isn't a daily problem anymore.

And yes people are quick to point out that other operators are dropping journeys but not announcing it, but I'm willing to bet that those companies aren't also taking on additional work or advertising the fact they've taken on another 10 drivers this week or whatever.

I think it's time Transdev stop trying to be the dominant operator and concentrate on what they doing best, running clean, reliable high quality services. All these cancellations are doing is making the bus an undesirable option and turning people away, especially when a taxi could be more convenient and cost effective.

A 4 vehicle PVR running for nearly 18 hours a day probably needs at least 8 drivers a day when taking breaks and driving hours etc into account.
Although Transdev now have a monopoly on the routes between Wetherby and Leeds, who else could have taken on the X98/X99?
Could First Leeds have been persuaded to keep it on, or had their resources been allocated elsewhere, given that they have also been reviewing their network post covid?
Arriva? Connexions? TLC? Stagecoach? Go Ahead East Yorkshire Buses? Anyone else?

Connexions were willing to take it on commercially, but it would have meant they'd have to withdraw their X1 services. Obviously it more than likely wouldn't have run on a Sunday but the X1 being withdrawn may have been a blessing for Transdev.

 

[asw22]

Connexions ran it on several days in 2016 when First Leeds drivers were on strike. The first bus was at 8am from Leeds and last bus from Wetherby at around 5pm with a combined hourly service in between. I can't remember if it ran as X98 or X99 as I only used it between Leeds and Scarcroft but the single deckers were fairly busy on each occasion.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

They did bin off CityZap to enable the X98/X99 to be taken on.

Taking on @RustySpoons suggestion, perhaps the time has come for Transdev to cut the lesser services, bin off the 21/22/23/24, and let Connexxions pick those up?

 

[SCH117X]

Blimey, they’ve only had the service 3 weeks. If the service is as unrealisable as you say, and based on the tone of your rant, I have my doubts, I’m sure they’ll change it when they have more than 3 weeks data.

Is an E400MMC more underpowered or wider than a Streetdeck? Were they not used on the motorway up to 3 weeks ago?

The author of those comments that you refer to has basically been told to shut up on another forum and plainly has an massive gripe with Transdev for reasons that are not clear. You only have to look at Bustimes data to see the E400MMCs have no problem with the timetabled point to points and it is often traffic issues, including roads closures due to accidents, notably compounded with a route into Leeds that has no prirority at a right turn.I would think its quite likely the route, even if still laps Leeds City Centre, will be altered to terminate at the bus station and an extra vehicle added in with a consequental swopping between a X98 and X99 as the timetable is very un Transdev Blazefield whose experience on running similar services means they usually have a longer turn round at the termii.

 

[Ken H]

The author of those comments that you refer to has basically been told to shut up on another forum and plainly has an massive gripe with Transdev for reasons that are not clear. You only have to look at Bustimes data to see the E400MMCs have no problem with the timetabled point to points and it is often traffic issues, including roads closures due to accidents, notably compounded with a route into Leeds that has no prirority at a right turn.I would think its quite likely the route, even if still laps Leeds City Centre, will be altered to terminate at the bus station and an extra vehicle added in with a consequental swopping between a X98 and X99 as the timetable is very un Transdev Blazefield whose experience on running similar services means they usually have a longer turn round at the termii.

Where is that, please?

 

[Deerfold]

They did bin off CityZap to enable the X98/X99 to be taken on.

They will be doing, but haven't yet. Oddly, at around the same time as they stop running the Cityzap, Transdev moves the registration to Harrogate from York.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

They will be doing, but haven't yet. Oddly, at around the same time as they stop running the Cityzap, Transdev moves the registration to Harrogate from York.

Apologies - I thought it was already off

 

[LucyP]

No, I don't have any relationship or past history, or employment with Transdev.

What I am is someone who lives on the route, and who wants to use the bus, as I believe in public transport. That was possible under First generally. It is not generally not possible under Transdev, because of the late running and the cancellations. Nothing external has happened to affect the route in the last 3 weeks. The problems have all been caused by the way that Transdev operate the route, as I have said several times.

I am sick of being late for appointments, or not there at all. I am sick of missed connections. I am sick of standing, waiting at the side of the road.

I have backed up my comments with details of the cancellations, the lateness, the speed, the acceleration, the width of the buses, the on-board cleanliness, the temperature, the routing and the lack of limited stops, all of which are unacceptable.

 

[RELL6L]

The author of those comments that you refer to has basically been told to shut up on another forum and plainly has an massive gripe with Transdev for reasons that are not clear. You only have to look at Bustimes data to see the E400MMCs have no problem with the timetabled point to points and it is often traffic issues, including roads closures due to accidents, notably compounded with a route into Leeds that has no prirority at a right turn.I would think its quite likely the route, even if still laps Leeds City Centre, will be altered to terminate at the bus station and an extra vehicle added in with a consequental swopping between a X98 and X99 as the timetable is very un Transdev Blazefield whose experience on running similar services means they usually have a longer turn round at the termii.

I did a journey on the X99 from Wetherby to Leeds back in February. It started late and got quite a bit later. There is a very difficult right turn onto the A659 in Collingham and with anyone but a 'go for it' driver it could be along wait here. Also there are narrow stretches of road through some of the villages. If the drivers are not experienced and/or new to the route then the time that was allowed then was pretty unachievable. Add in unhelpful traffic lights in Leeds too. I agree that 5 buses on route would be better than 4 but would be 25% higher cost - probably not feasible. Perhaps terminate the X98 at Wetherby bus station and run each vehicle one way as an X98 and the other way as an X99 and it gives more recovery time. The Deighton Bar extension could stay on a couple of am peak southbound and pm peak northbound, otherwise cover it with something else on a reduced frequency (the 8? or off the X70?).

 

[61653 HTAFC]

I have backed up my comments with details of the cancellations, the lateness, the speed, the acceleration, the width of the buses, the on-board cleanliness, the temperature, the routing and the lack of limited stops, all of which are unacceptable

With all due respect, that does seem to be an extremely petty point of contention. As for the other points, try living in an area dominated by Arriva... the grass is always greener I suppose.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

I have backed up my comments with details of the cancellations, the lateness, the speed, the acceleration, the width of the buses, the on-board cleanliness, the temperature, the routing and the lack of limited stops, all of which are unacceptable.

The buses are the same width - standard 2.55m

 

[Bayum]

Chaos in Collingham today with one of the X98 buses breaking down between two busy junctions causing long tailbacks in both directions.