Fleet Changes

mb134

4,149

03 Oct 2021, 10:51 pm #541

(03 Oct 2021, 9:40 pm)Jimmi I feel like priorities in regards to public transport are a bit backwards in the UK these days, feels like the features are more important than the actual bus service these days, a lot of bus adverts now are saying lines like "cruise into town with our free WiFi" rather than advertising things to do along the route.

I honestly think binning off some of these features especially on shorter routes would actually be beneficial in some form to cut costs as I do wonder what percentage are using public transport purely on the bus having WiFi? Stagecoach has had WiFi disabled on the vast majority of its fleet for the last 12 months and I do wonder what impacts its REALLY had on passenger numbers as I can't see it being many, First might as well not have it with how low their data limit is but must still cost them a fortune just to have it.

Think the big influence of those like Ray Stenning of Best Impressions has led to operators feeling they need to have a livery that creates... desire... *shudders* and features are a MUST, yet Stagecoach despite how much enthusiasts twist about how revolting their new liveries are still seem to be doing about the best for numbers across the UK, admittedly the market isn't the same in all parts of the UK but you look at them (and Arriva) doing very little but still seems like they're doing better than those that are being more proactive with their fleets and service changes.

Could you imagine the reactions now if some buses were going round like they were around 15 or so years ago, I had Olympains and the like turn up with about 10 different moquettes at times and I can't imagine it dented numbers too badly, granted presentation should be kept up to a degree but I think the thing that needs to be worked on is actually provided a reliable service, can tart it up all you want but if that high spec Bus fails to turn up most days...?!

Agreed. Advertising things along the route, the frequency, the fares all seem to take a back seat in terms of placement and prominence to cheesy slogans on quite a few liveries these days - and adverts too.

Absolutely. On a service where it's mainly small hops around a city, even if the route is 90 minutes long, by the time someone signs into the WiFi and plugs in their phone they're already getting off the bus - the money saved by not having those features could go into better overall experiences (running that last journey the full way, spending that bit more on nicer plastics on the interior, making sure there's adequate literature available etc). I get WiFi and chargers on services where folk tend to be on the bus for longer, but especially on city work I don't see the point.

I think my posting history makes clear my opinion on Best Impressions. Aside from the copy and paste liveries, the attitude put across by whoever runs the Twitter account is beyond horrendous. There's the hypocritical stance on covering windows (fine when they design it, but any operator who isn't a member of the cult should be immediately shut down), bizarre comments on certain companies (some post about an Arriva bus having a failed door got the full treatment the other week), and being critical of independent operators helping out bigger companies when they faced driver shortages. Personally, I couldn't care less how 'desirable' the bus to work is as long as it's clean, comfortable, good value, and punctual - and I imagine most commuters are the same, very few commuters use the bus by choice especially in this part of the world. On your comments on Stagecoach and Arriva, I tend to find that both companies keep things very stable (possibly to their detriment at times), which reassures passengers and makes them more comfortable - it's better than the likes of First who love a good network overhaul for no apparent reason.

Again, agreed. Some companies could do much better in terms of presentation, and no doubt it does have an impact on people's perceptions of bus travel. That said, the fares, timetables, punctuality, cleanliness, and reliability will always be more important. Very few people are going to choose a once an hour luxury bus which is £10 for the journey which doesn't run to time due to a poor timetable over the bus that comes every 10 minutes, always runs to time, and costs £5.