I have tried looking at this from both perspectives and can see a number of different views - however, I keep coming back to the same point.
The space's and easy access vehicles, came about due to legislation and pressure from disability groups.
Bus operators and manufacturers, were left with the costs, for what essentially is a small portion of their market (how many wheelchair users do you see?).
The changes to bus layout and design, reduced seating capacity and also space to store bags, shopping and folded bulky items, such as pushchairs.
Sensing a marketing opportunity, the operators promoted the space created for wheelchairs, advertising its suitability for pushchairs.
Excellent, except that able bodied users view the seats as their own, often refusing to move for pushchairs.
Those with pushchairs, have refused to move for wheelchairs.
You also get the complaints made by those with pushchairs wanting to get on a bus, but unable to due to a pushchair or wheelchair already being on board.
Which brings me back to the point about easy access vehicles and lack of storage facilities/luggage bays.
There isn't anywhere to store a folded pushchair - due to the design of the easy access vehicles.
Whilst not apportioning blame, wheelchair users have been put in this position, by virtue of the successful (as it should have been) campaign to make buses accessible to all.
Received a phone call this morning from Arriva concerning the complaint I sent at the start of the month. They basically said that if the bus was cold for the entire journey I should inform the driver. I'm sorry but, I'm sure they'll be just as cold? And me going up to them telling them this will probably just annoy them even more!
(30 Dec 2014, 3:51 pm)mb134 wrote [ -> ]Received a phone call this morning from Arriva concerning the complaint I sent at the start of the month. They basically said that if the bus was cold for the entire journey I should inform the driver. I'm sorry but, I'm sure they'll be just as cold? And me going up to them telling them this will probably just annoy them even more!
A month for them to tell you that?
(30 Dec 2014, 3:57 pm)Dan wrote [ -> ]A month for them to tell you that?
Yep...
I sent two complaints on two days in the same week about the same issue (I was seriously annoyed on the second day anyway and that made it worse hence they got an email).
First was sent on the 1st, second on the 4th.
I received general responses telling me to fill a form out so they could find out which exact buses they were. These were recieved on the 8th and 10th, and replied to. So yeah a month to tell me to report it to the driver when it happens again basically...
(30 Dec 2014, 4:05 pm)mb134 wrote [ -> ]Yep...
I sent two complaints on two days in the same week about the same issue (I was seriously annoyed on the second day anyway and that made it worse hence they got an email).
First was sent on the 1st, second on the 4th.
I received general responses telling me to fill a form out so they could find out which exact buses they were. These were recieved on the 8th and 10th, and replied to. So yeah a month to tell me to report it to the driver when it happens again basically...
I've had a voicemail left this morning about one of mine, despite asking for any correspondence to be made via email. Will call them back shortly and ask them to do just that. It's been that long that I had to dig through my emails to see what it was actually about, and I'm still non the wiser!
Also had a response on Christmas Eve, about a GNE complaint I'd made during the first week in December. Despite waiting almost three weeks for a response, I was told that 'the service' suffered high levels of delays due to traffic congestion. Despite a number of different services, on a number of different routes, being the subject of the complaint.
Two examples of customer services not reading what customers are writing to them. It's either that, or they choose to do otherwise, which is worse imo.
Just tried to call Arriva back. After wasting my time listening to IVR options, I get a recorded message - "Due to unforeseen circumstances, no agents are available to take your call. Please call back later." - disconnected.
What's wrong with a queueing system?
(30 Dec 2014, 4:28 pm)aureolin wrote [ -> ]I've had a voicemail left this morning about one of mine, despite asking for any correspondence to be made via email. Will call them back shortly and ask them to do just that. It's been that long that I had to dig through my emails to see what it was actually about, and I'm still non the wiser!
Also had a response on Christmas Eve, about a GNE complaint I'd made during the first week in December. Despite waiting almost three weeks for a response, I was told that 'the service' suffered high levels of delays due to traffic congestion. Despite a number of different services, on a number of different routes, being the subject of the complaint.
Two examples of customer services not reading what customers are writing to them. It's either that, or they choose to do otherwise, which is worse imo.
It's not on, it seems like they're not putting any actual thought into the responses they are giving. It looks as though they don't really care if the bus is late and why.
Take part of my complaint, I stated that part of the allocation (specifying which vehicles) were always cold, and late. Theu responded to the cold bit, half of the complaint. So not only did they not fully respond it seemed to me like they didn't read my complaint thoroughly enough, if they had I wouldn't have needed to fill out a specific journey form so they could find the bus that I had a problem with they would have instead had a look at all buses I was complaining about.
Now they expect me to complain every time it happens, even though they could have already sorted kt if they read it properly
This isn't me being cheeky, but are either of you genuinely surprised with the responses you received?
(30 Dec 2014, 9:19 pm)Andreos1 wrote [ -> ]This isn't me being cheeky, but are either of you genuinely surprised with the responses you received?
A little, a couple of their responses (ticket info and time /route queries) in the past have been quick. However as it's my first real complaint I am surprised at the quality of response. Perhaps I was expecting a bit much though, taking into consideration other people's experiences on here, and some of the comments/responses on the Facebook page
(30 Dec 2014, 3:51 pm)mb134 wrote [ -> ]Received a phone call this morning from Arriva concerning the complaint I sent at the start of the month. They basically said that if the bus was cold for the entire journey I should inform the driver. I'm sorry but, I'm sure they'll be just as cold? And me going up to them telling them this will probably just annoy them even more!
Best way I would say, drivers can report it to engineering and then (hopefully) should get fixed. CS getting it to the depots could take weeks given their pace.
(30 Dec 2014, 9:19 pm)Andreos1 wrote [ -> ]This isn't me being cheeky, but are either of you genuinely surprised with the responses you received?
A bit from GNE to be honest. I used to kick off about the reliance on templates, but I've received well written and thought out responses, and prompt, as of late. The latest just seems to be about 20 steps backwards, 3x as long as it should have taken, and with zero apathy shown.
Arriva? Well no. Not at all. Neither the level of response or the time it's taken. Thankfully a local manager asked me to report anything with the X1/X2 directly to him, so that takes away some need to contact Arriva CS.
(30 Dec 2014, 9:56 pm)tyresmoke wrote [ -> ]Best way I would say, drivers can report it to engineering and then (hopefully) should get fixed. CS getting it to the depots could take weeks given their pace.
Yeah I'd agree it would be quicker, it's just I was thinking more along the lines that if I was a driver in a freezing cold bus the last thing I'd want is somebody coming up to me telling me it was cold because there'd be pretty much nothing I could do?
Just thought actually, do drivers have a heater in the cab, or do they rely on the rest of the bus? If they do have one it'd probably change my thinking as then they'd have no way of knowing.
(30 Dec 2014, 10:07 pm)mb134 wrote [ -> ]Yeah I'd agree it would be quicker, it's just I was thinking more along the lines that if I was a driver in a freezing cold bus the last thing I'd want is somebody coming up to me telling me it was cold because there'd be pretty much nothing I could do?
Just thought actually, do drivers have a heater in the cab, or do they rely on the rest of the bus? If they do have one it'd probably change my thinking as then they'd have no way of knowing.
Yes drivers have their own 'heating' (demisters) - at my depot if a bus is cold we can ring up and request a changeover after a set amount of time. One time I had a freezing cold Cadet on 17s and inspector told me to ring engineering and sure enough they met me in Thornaby with another bus (1753!)
(31 Dec 2014, 7:35 am)tyresmoke wrote [ -> ]Yes drivers have their own 'heating' (demisters) - at my depot if a bus is cold we can ring up and request a changeover after a set amount of time. One time I had a freezing cold Cadet on 17s and inspector told me to ring engineering and sure enough they met me in Thornaby with another bus (1753!)
Ah right ok, thank you
They're response makes a bit more sense now, I was under the assumption that they relied on the rest of the buses heating as some of the drivers I see are wearing big coats hats gloves etc.
That bus replacement seems like a pretty good system, wish the depots I use had it in place!
Quite disappointed from my response from GNE on Twitter...
Seeing as the 36 was a whopping 14 minutes late yesterday, and has been not running to time for quite a few times I've used the 09:50 (scheduled) to get to my stop...I decided to inquire.
Me: Hi - would you be able to explain to me why service 36 is always seriously delayed on Sat mornings when I get it...(1/3)
Me: When I get it to Houghton-le-Spring. It's normally only a few minutes late, and I understand it is busy heading into...(2/3)
Me: Chester-le-Street on Sat mornings, but yesterday the 09:45 CLS to HLS which gets to my nearest stop at 09:50, came at 10:04!
My response....
Go North East: Very sorry to hear this, Marcus. We'll get this service looked into.
...am I the only one who would expect some sort serious explanation for a service being 14 minutes late??...
I'm not turning against Go North East, I do love them
, but I feel slightly let down at this response...wouldn't surprise me if it's pre-written like:
'Very sorry to hear this, [name here]. We'll get this service looked into.'
Bit disappointed. I wasn't exactly getting my hopes up for a refund or anything, but still...
(22 Feb 2015, 3:33 pm)MarcTheA4 wrote [ -> ]Quite disappointed from my response from GNE on Twitter...
Seeing as the 36 was a whopping 14 minutes late yesterday, and has been not running to time for quite a few times I've used the 09:50 (scheduled) to get to my stop...I decided to inquire.
Me: Hi - would you be able to explain to me why service 36 is always seriously delayed on Sat mornings when I get it...(1/3)
Me: When I get it to Houghton-le-Spring. It's normally only a few minutes late, and I understand it is busy heading into...(2/3)
Me: Chester-le-Street on Sat mornings, but yesterday the 09:45 CLS to HLS which gets to my nearest stop at 09:50, came at 10:04!
My response....
Go North East: Very sorry to hear this, Marcus. We'll get this service looked into.
...am I the only one who would expect some sort serious explanation for a service being 14 minutes late??...
I'm not turning against Go North East, I do love them , but I feel slightly let down at this response...wouldn't surprise me if it's pre-written like:
'Very sorry to hear this, [name here]. We'll get this service looked into.'
Bit disappointed. I wasn't exactly getting my hopes up for a refund or anything, but still...
They're probably not in the position to be able to do that.
Really you need to e-mail them if you expect anything worthwhile to be done. The Social Media pages are only really there to answer queries regarding what bus you can get, what time they're due, how much a fare is, and to advertise any disruptions / special offers, etc.
(22 Feb 2015, 3:35 pm)Dan wrote [ -> ]They're probably not in the position to be able to do that.
Really you need to e-mail them if you expect anything worthwhile to be done. The Social Media pages are only really there to answer queries regarding what bus you can get, what time they're due, how much a fare is, and to advertise any disruptions / special offers, etc.
Think I'll try that then.
I'm sure I read somewhere on here last night that no service should be 1 minute early or 5 minutes late?
(22 Feb 2015, 3:37 pm)MarcTheA4 wrote [ -> ]Think I'll try that then.
I'm sure I read somewhere on here last night that no service should be 1 minute early or 5 minutes late?
Yeah, that's the VOSA guidelines for a service being 'on-time'. If services are repeatedly outside of that guideline, then you're well within your rights to complain and the company should look at ways to improve this.
Not a complaint from me or a specific incident...but I found this on GNE's Twitter and found myself creased!
@AlixDoran: are your buses equipped to be able to drive with no hands on the wheel?
@gonortheast: Hi Alix - No I am afraid our vehicles are fitted with steering wheels (this had me in stitches!)
@AlixDoran: might need to remind a few drivers of that! 56 driver from wrekenton at 13.35 ish in particular
@gonortheast: Sorry - what have you witnessed exactly? (started laughing even harder!)
@AlixDoran: he was sat playing with a five pound note with his hands rested against the middle of the wheel instead of holding it
@gonortheast: Ah ok - I am sorry you have witnessed this. I will send this onto the depot so this can be looked into and the driver spoken to
Don't know what it was that had me laughing about it! Think it was the fact that I instantly got what she was talking about, and Go North East's social media person seemed to have no idea!
Walked through Park Lane today and noticed the travel shop has being refurbished
You know when you are dealing with a customer services department and you get the impression, they are fobbing you off?
#ayethat
#hashtagsonNEB.
Wrote a complaint to Virgin Trains East Coast, after being advised to over the phone. My complaint was about the air conditioning not working in a few coaches on my train home last week, and the issue being handled badly by the on-board team (avoiding the coaches affected).
I've received a response tonight apologising for my journey, and that a trolley service can't always be provided when trains become extremely busy, as it's difficult to make its way through the coaches.
I'm absolutely bewildered by the response. It tells me that no one has bothered their backside to actually investigate the complaint, and even worse, they've tried to use the wrong template to fob me off.
I wonder what words they'll use to describe the reply I've just sent them....
(28 May 2015, 9:48 pm)aureolin wrote [ -> ]Wrote a complaint to Virgin Trains East Coast, after being advised to over the phone. My complaint was about the air conditioning not working in a few coaches on my train home last week, and the issue being handled badly by the on-board team (avoiding the coaches affected).
I've received a response tonight apologising for my journey, and that a trolley service can't always be provided when trains become extremely busy, as it's difficult to make its way through the coaches.
I'm absolutely bewildered by the response. It tells me that no one has bothered their backside to actually investigate the complaint, and even worse, they've tried to use the wrong template to fob me off.
I wonder what words they'll use to describe the reply I've just sent them....
If makes you feel any better I am still waiting to here back from my Complaint to Nexus, Seen the loverly Dianne in Concord this Afternoon still driving around on the 37/73.
(28 May 2015, 9:54 pm)Malarkey wrote [ -> ]If makes you feel any better I am still waiting to here back from my Complaint to Nexus, Seen the loverly Dianne in Concord this Afternoon still driving around on the 37/73.
Did you pretend to or actually take a photo just to piss her off? I would have done
(28 May 2015, 9:54 pm)Malarkey wrote [ -> ]If makes you feel any better I am still waiting to here back from my Complaint to Nexus, Seen the loverly Dianne in Concord this Afternoon still driving around on the 37/73.
I bet seeing her put a smile on your face
Had an email from Arriva about my complaint but it's only to ask to confirm if the bus was heading to Durham bus station.
Any ideas what to do?
(02 Jun 2015, 8:34 pm)Jimmi wrote [ -> ]Had an email from Arriva about my complaint but it's only to ask to confirm if the bus was heading to Durham bus station.
Any ideas what to do?
Reply and tell them it was?
Very satisfied with a response from Nexus Customer Services...
Received a phone call from Arriva yesterday morning regarding the red light incident which happened a few weeks back.
The CCTV showed that the driver did indeed go through the lights at Nevilles Cross on red, the driver has been told off etc.