Disruptions and driver shortages

North East Buses Local Bus Scene Operations, Management & Infrastructure Disruptions and driver shortages

Print Thread

0 Vote(s) - 0 Average

Adrian

9,584

10 Oct 2022, 2:35 pm #1,225

(10 Oct 2022, 11:56 am)Dan An achievable service in this case requires a lot of extra resource. I’d assume it’s difficult to plan for what level of additional layover and/or running time is required to offset additional demand, as it’s slightly unknown (although these rail strikes are becoming more common).

All this at a time when operators are struggling for staff. So the achievable timetable may actually mean the service becomes even less achievable to cover. Is that better or worse for the customer?

If commercial teams were able to plan a new set of schedules for rail strike days, and there wasn’t any staffing issues, I wonder how well it would go down with staff that their rota has to change to accommodate a timetable change for one day? I suspect if you asked most bus drivers, the thing that they would find most challenging about the job at the moment is the pace of change and inability to plan their life outside of work. Imagine this would therefore go down like a lead balloon with driving staff and could potentially result in even more drivers leaving the business.

Firm believer in doing what’s right by the customer - but there’s more at play than lazy commercial teams not getting their fingers out. You can repeat all of the above for match days, Fridays, short-term roadworks, etc.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

My comment on achievable service was around traffic levels, not 'force majeure' events (such as rail strikes), as the legal boffins like to call them. As I say, in my opinion it's a lazy excuse, similar to last week's "traffic congestion/protest march/football traffic at All areas" tweet.

Although I take your point on staffing issues, at this stage, I'm not entirely sure what the difference to customers is of a less-frequent timetable that doesn't deliver vs a more-frequent timetable that doesn't deliver? The results seem to be the same, i.e. customers are stood around for ages, waiting for a bus that is unlikely to turn up or sails past full. Of course, less buses on the road and less drivers required is also a cost saving to an operator.

Not suggesting there'd be new schedules for rail strike days, but let's look at football specifically. We know Saturdays are busy and we know when there's matches on by the fixtures list published in July/August. Yet there's nothing put in place to deal with the bottlenecking on busy corridors on a normal Saturday with Football. It was always extremely busy with Saturday football, even 20 years ago, where we had a lot more options in terms of buses. We've got just as many people with a lot less options now, so when an X1 or couple of 21s inevitably go missing, it creates a problem for the rest of the day.

I'd be surprised if anyone doesn't want to do right by the customer, and I disagree with the comment on here that often suggest otherwise, but at some point we need to stop trying to force square pegs into round holes. There's events throughout the calendar year, football being a prime example, where we need a better solution.

Forum Moderator | Find NEB on facebook

Adrian

10 Oct 2022, 2:35 pm #1,225

(10 Oct 2022, 11:56 am)Dan An achievable service in this case requires a lot of extra resource. I’d assume it’s difficult to plan for what level of additional layover and/or running time is required to offset additional demand, as it’s slightly unknown (although these rail strikes are becoming more common).

All this at a time when operators are struggling for staff. So the achievable timetable may actually mean the service becomes even less achievable to cover. Is that better or worse for the customer?

If commercial teams were able to plan a new set of schedules for rail strike days, and there wasn’t any staffing issues, I wonder how well it would go down with staff that their rota has to change to accommodate a timetable change for one day? I suspect if you asked most bus drivers, the thing that they would find most challenging about the job at the moment is the pace of change and inability to plan their life outside of work. Imagine this would therefore go down like a lead balloon with driving staff and could potentially result in even more drivers leaving the business.

Firm believer in doing what’s right by the customer - but there’s more at play than lazy commercial teams not getting their fingers out. You can repeat all of the above for match days, Fridays, short-term roadworks, etc.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk