(10 Feb 2015, 7:34 pm)aureolin wrote Do we not think that we only spot these delays, simply because the operator chooses to inform us of delays?
I've taken a look at the limited data available on RTT, and today doesn't look bad at all as an overall picture. I bet if we had access to real time info from all bus operators, there'd be a lot more vehicles not running to timetable.
Glancing at Arriva's during the day, and there's 10min+ delays all over the place. I'm more aware of delays Stagecoach face, as they publish them on their twitter feed now, and they seem to be really on the ball with it.
The frequency of the delays is not the issue - it's the reason for the delays occurring.
If we think back to the situation Go North East had with the X7... The vehicles kept on regularly breaking down, and as soon as they could, they upgraded the service to Mercedes Citaros which were by far more suited to the job. Bus operators are in a much better position to replace rolling stock to improve reliability or to make changes to add more running time / recovery time / layover time for the same purpose. A recent example of the latter obviously being the 20/20A services!