swt class 450
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Following on from my posts on the First thread about the sale of First Manchester where i stated my dislike for Go Ahead i thought i would start this thread.
What has always really surprised me is that the bus operators who keep getting all this praise and all these awards are the bus operators who i have found to be the worst bus operators i have travelled on.
In my personal opinion these are the worst bus operators i have used in the UK (and i have used all of them multiple times):
• Go Ahead ( Bluestar / Brighton & Hove / Carousel Buses / Damory Coaches / East Yorkshire Motor Services / Excelsior Coaches / Go North East / Metrobus / More Bus / Oxford Bus Company / Salisbury Reds / Southern Vectis / Thames Travel / Thamesdown / Tourist Coaches / Unibus / Unilink )
• Transdev ( Blackburn Bus Company / Burnley Bus Company / Harrogate Bus Company / Keighley Bus Company / Rosso Bus / York Bus / Yorkshire Coastliner )
• Trent Barton ( Trent Barton / Kinchbus )
• Reading Buses
• Nottingham City Transport
• Lothian Buses
What is funny is that these companies keep getting praise and awards. I have never been impressed with any of these bus operators. All of these companies seem to be doing everything they can to make using buses as difficult as possible. I don't get what people like about them! I can't think of a single good thing!
I have listed just a few of the problems with these companies (and this is just a very few of them as i could go on all day about why i hate them):
Lothian Buses and Nottingham City Transport and Reading Buses all use the ridiculous exact fare policy instead of giving change. I don't see how operators that make paying for a ticket so difficult can get such praise.
Brighton & Hove and Reading Buses and Trent Barton are all still stuck in past century using the 12 hour clock in their timetables. This makes their timetables very confusing and difficult to read. It is very easy to look at the wrong times.
Reading Buses for another example recently got rid of Return tickets a couple of years ago meaning that all passengers have to now buy two Single tickets or a Day ticket. This was a very unpopular move by passengers. Return tickets are the most popular type as most passengers just want one journey in to town and one journey back again. So getting rid of Return tickets was very foolish. Another example of making things worse for passengers. Trent Barton also did the same more recently and got rid of Return tickets.
Then you have Trent Barton who ridiculously use names instead of numbers for their routes. It is so much more simple to just have a route number to remember rather than some long ridiculous name to remember. They also have a million different brands and liveries which again make it more confusing and many people don't even realise it is the same company. It is a mess.
Then you have Transdev who also have a million different brands (which keep increasing) and seem to be trying to pretend to be multiple different companies. With all these brands and different liveries many people don't know who runs the routes and think the route brands are the company name. It is one big confusing mess. Rossendale Transport has certainty gone downhill since they took over.
I haven't heard anything good about how any of these companies they treat their staff either. For an example Brighton & Hove and Metrobus have had a huge amount of staff leaving recently and moving to the small independents. I have heard some awful things about them. They seem to be disciplining staff for the smallest most ridiculous things. All the companies i listed are typical large companies that don't care about their staff.
Like i say i could go on and on about these companies listing all the negative things. These are not the only things i dislike about them.
All of these companies like to produce annoying publicity bragging about how good they are but the truth is that they are all really rubbish. They are so conceited and forget the basics of what passengers want. I have never had any good experiences with any of these companies. Some of my journeys have been ok and other times i have had problems but never have i had any journey with them that would make me think that they are good companies. Some of the customer service i have received when making complaints has been appalling. You can tell none of these operators care about passengers. They care about good publicity but when you use them you will find that they are nowhere near as good as they say.
The question is have others actually found them to be good? Does anyone really think they are good operators? Do they deserve all the praise and awards they get? Or is this all nonsense from bus managers and industry professionals who are not looking at it from the point of the passengers and staff?
Another thing that i have always found strange is all the criticism that Arriva get. I have always found Arriva to be excellent and the best of the big groups by far. I have used them lots and always get nice drivers and good service. They have one simple brand and livery for all of their services. Their fares are normally cheaper than their competitors as well. I think that Arriva get it just right. Just a nice simple good bus service without any of these silly gimmicks.
Another company i have always been happy with is Rotala despite all the criticism they get. Again this company produces a nice simple bus service with no silly gimmicks. The only part i am not too much of a fan of is their Preston Bus operation which is a bit lower quality. But the rest (like their Diamond North West and Diamond West Midlands and Hallmark Connections services) all seem to be good decent operations.
I have also been happy with many small independents all over the UK as well.
My question is what are thoughts on these companies? Do they really deserve all this praise and awards? Or is this just a load of nonsense created by bus managers?
And also in your opinion what do you think are the best bus operators in the UK and what do you think are the worst bus operators in the UK?
I would be interested to hear all of your views and thoughts. Many thanks.
What has always really surprised me is that the bus operators who keep getting all this praise and all these awards are the bus operators who i have found to be the worst bus operators i have travelled on.
In my personal opinion these are the worst bus operators i have used in the UK (and i have used all of them multiple times):
• Go Ahead ( Bluestar / Brighton & Hove / Carousel Buses / Damory Coaches / East Yorkshire Motor Services / Excelsior Coaches / Go North East / Metrobus / More Bus / Oxford Bus Company / Salisbury Reds / Southern Vectis / Thames Travel / Thamesdown / Tourist Coaches / Unibus / Unilink )
• Transdev ( Blackburn Bus Company / Burnley Bus Company / Harrogate Bus Company / Keighley Bus Company / Rosso Bus / York Bus / Yorkshire Coastliner )
• Trent Barton ( Trent Barton / Kinchbus )
• Reading Buses
• Nottingham City Transport
• Lothian Buses
What is funny is that these companies keep getting praise and awards. I have never been impressed with any of these bus operators. All of these companies seem to be doing everything they can to make using buses as difficult as possible. I don't get what people like about them! I can't think of a single good thing!
I have listed just a few of the problems with these companies (and this is just a very few of them as i could go on all day about why i hate them):
Lothian Buses and Nottingham City Transport and Reading Buses all use the ridiculous exact fare policy instead of giving change. I don't see how operators that make paying for a ticket so difficult can get such praise.
Brighton & Hove and Reading Buses and Trent Barton are all still stuck in past century using the 12 hour clock in their timetables. This makes their timetables very confusing and difficult to read. It is very easy to look at the wrong times.
Reading Buses for another example recently got rid of Return tickets a couple of years ago meaning that all passengers have to now buy two Single tickets or a Day ticket. This was a very unpopular move by passengers. Return tickets are the most popular type as most passengers just want one journey in to town and one journey back again. So getting rid of Return tickets was very foolish. Another example of making things worse for passengers. Trent Barton also did the same more recently and got rid of Return tickets.
Then you have Trent Barton who ridiculously use names instead of numbers for their routes. It is so much more simple to just have a route number to remember rather than some long ridiculous name to remember. They also have a million different brands and liveries which again make it more confusing and many people don't even realise it is the same company. It is a mess.
Then you have Transdev who also have a million different brands (which keep increasing) and seem to be trying to pretend to be multiple different companies. With all these brands and different liveries many people don't know who runs the routes and think the route brands are the company name. It is one big confusing mess. Rossendale Transport has certainty gone downhill since they took over.
I haven't heard anything good about how any of these companies they treat their staff either. For an example Brighton & Hove and Metrobus have had a huge amount of staff leaving recently and moving to the small independents. I have heard some awful things about them. They seem to be disciplining staff for the smallest most ridiculous things. All the companies i listed are typical large companies that don't care about their staff.
Like i say i could go on and on about these companies listing all the negative things. These are not the only things i dislike about them.
All of these companies like to produce annoying publicity bragging about how good they are but the truth is that they are all really rubbish. They are so conceited and forget the basics of what passengers want. I have never had any good experiences with any of these companies. Some of my journeys have been ok and other times i have had problems but never have i had any journey with them that would make me think that they are good companies. Some of the customer service i have received when making complaints has been appalling. You can tell none of these operators care about passengers. They care about good publicity but when you use them you will find that they are nowhere near as good as they say.
The question is have others actually found them to be good? Does anyone really think they are good operators? Do they deserve all the praise and awards they get? Or is this all nonsense from bus managers and industry professionals who are not looking at it from the point of the passengers and staff?
Another thing that i have always found strange is all the criticism that Arriva get. I have always found Arriva to be excellent and the best of the big groups by far. I have used them lots and always get nice drivers and good service. They have one simple brand and livery for all of their services. Their fares are normally cheaper than their competitors as well. I think that Arriva get it just right. Just a nice simple good bus service without any of these silly gimmicks.
Another company i have always been happy with is Rotala despite all the criticism they get. Again this company produces a nice simple bus service with no silly gimmicks. The only part i am not too much of a fan of is their Preston Bus operation which is a bit lower quality. But the rest (like their Diamond North West and Diamond West Midlands and Hallmark Connections services) all seem to be good decent operations.
I have also been happy with many small independents all over the UK as well.
My question is what are thoughts on these companies? Do they really deserve all this praise and awards? Or is this just a load of nonsense created by bus managers?
And also in your opinion what do you think are the best bus operators in the UK and what do you think are the worst bus operators in the UK?
I would be interested to hear all of your views and thoughts. Many thanks.