(10 Aug 2021, 10:31 pm)Ambassador wrote I took my first bus ride into the office today in some time (purely out of boredom tbh to pick up my shiny new iPad).
21 both ways…two god awful knee legroom less shuddering Omnidekkaa on both trips. There was a slight enthusiast ah well…no god awful next stop announcement glee to my face but paying passenger, Nah, it was dirty (and I mean filthy) uncomfortable and a horrible ride both ways. Flagship route? Hmmm.
It absolutely hasn’t enticed me to use public transport again, I’d honestly rather pay an Uber premium.
(10 Aug 2021, 10:57 pm)Jimmi wrote This is one thing that bugs me, all this marketing into how good things are supposedly are and features advertised such as Xlines spec for X21, it just sets up disappointment when an OmniDekka turns up, I had 6142 on X21 the other week and it's a bit of a far cry from what's being advertised, perception being made worse still by crawling up the A167 into Sunderland Bridge / Croxdale, mind that said I was in a bad mood as the X10 I was catching from Billingham was 25 mins late and made me miss my connecting X21 at Peterlee (hourly service), nice all these features but getting home an hour late is not exactly going to win over passengers.
This applies to all operators, was just a recent example for me.
...and here lies the problem. When you invest so much into marketing of shiny new buses with their fantastic on-board features, with the intention of encouraging new people to use the bus instead of private car, they're rightly going to be disappointed when a 15 year old second hand Omnidekka turns up, with zero legroom and like it hasn't been deep cleaned for a month.
It's a lack of attention to detail and it undoes all the good work, time and money spent in marketing services. It stinks of the 'any bus will do' attitude of years gone by.
First impressions are everything, but they'll likely be the last impressions for first time users.