PCL Travel
PCL Travel
(15 Aug 2018, 10:18 pm)mb134 "Arriva prove themselves unreliable" - I wonder if you've given much thought to why the Alnwick services aren't always bang on time, or how often you use them and understand why? The A1 north of Morpeth is a single carriageway for much of the X15 route, and is frequently at a standstill. Morpeth traffic is also ridiculously unpredictable, and can be awful at various points of the day. Also "unreliable" - yes they're usually 5-10 minutes late, but in all the time I've used them, they've never failed to turn up.
The N1 - I don't understand how that route would be any more reliable than the X15. The issue with the X15 is, mainly, the A1 between Morpeth and Alnwick, and Morpeth itself. There also isn't an awful lot of demand for a really slow route to the Airport. Most people will get a taxi, or an express to Regent Centre and catch a Metro.
(15 Aug 2018, 10:18 pm)mb134 "Arriva prove themselves unreliable" - I wonder if you've given much thought to why the Alnwick services aren't always bang on time, or how often you use them and understand why? The A1 north of Morpeth is a single carriageway for much of the X15 route, and is frequently at a standstill. Morpeth traffic is also ridiculously unpredictable, and can be awful at various points of the day. Also "unreliable" - yes they're usually 5-10 minutes late, but in all the time I've used them, they've never failed to turn up.
The N1 - I don't understand how that route would be any more reliable than the X15. The issue with the X15 is, mainly, the A1 between Morpeth and Alnwick, and Morpeth itself. There also isn't an awful lot of demand for a really slow route to the Airport. Most people will get a taxi, or an express to Regent Centre and catch a Metro.
(15 Aug 2018, 10:26 pm)S830OFT It's well worth a try at New Ideas, people said the X10 into Dalton Park would be a bad move, it turns out it's boosted passenger numbers...
And I think you will find most delays are caused by passengers at the bus stations mainly purchasing various tickets. I've been on the X15 quite a few times and even when it departs Newcastle late it makes up the time on route.
(15 Aug 2018, 10:26 pm)S830OFT It's well worth a try at New Ideas, people said the X10 into Dalton Park would be a bad move, it turns out it's boosted passenger numbers...
And I think you will find most delays are caused by passengers at the bus stations mainly purchasing various tickets. I've been on the X15 quite a few times and even when it departs Newcastle late it makes up the time on route.
(15 Aug 2018, 10:18 pm)mb134 "Arriva prove themselves unreliable" - I wonder if you've given much thought to why the Alnwick services aren't always bang on time, or how often you use them and understand why? The A1 north of Morpeth is a single carriageway for much of the X15 route, and is frequently at a standstill. Morpeth traffic is also ridiculously unpredictable, and can be awful at various points of the day. Also "unreliable" - yes they're usually 5-10 minutes late, but in all the time I've used them, they've never failed to turn up.
The N1 - I don't understand how that route would be any more reliable than the X15. The issue with the X15 is, mainly, the A1 between Morpeth and Alnwick, and Morpeth itself. There also isn't an awful lot of demand for a really slow route to the Airport. Most people will get a taxi, or an express to Regent Centre and catch a Metro.
(15 Aug 2018, 10:18 pm)mb134 "Arriva prove themselves unreliable" - I wonder if you've given much thought to why the Alnwick services aren't always bang on time, or how often you use them and understand why? The A1 north of Morpeth is a single carriageway for much of the X15 route, and is frequently at a standstill. Morpeth traffic is also ridiculously unpredictable, and can be awful at various points of the day. Also "unreliable" - yes they're usually 5-10 minutes late, but in all the time I've used them, they've never failed to turn up.
The N1 - I don't understand how that route would be any more reliable than the X15. The issue with the X15 is, mainly, the A1 between Morpeth and Alnwick, and Morpeth itself. There also isn't an awful lot of demand for a really slow route to the Airport. Most people will get a taxi, or an express to Regent Centre and catch a Metro.
(15 Aug 2018, 11:44 pm)Jimmi Not quoting multiple posts, so this applies to all of the three above posts.
I agree with all this (above quoted post), X15 etc has more often than not been close to time most of the times I've used it but of course there is some instances where this isn't the case for whatever reasons. Will additionally add that his route suggestion to Newcastle is similar to the old 44 that carried very few passengers between Morpeth and Dinnington. Would also dread to think how much it would cost to run one of those Versa's to Newcastle and back and how would the 470/473 run if one of the buses for the service is heading to/from Newcastle?
With regards to promotion of their services, considering they set up a Facebook page and suddenly deleted it says it all... So good luck at any sense of promotion.
Just been on PCLs website and the M1 timetable which is a Nexus one has been cut and edited and now indicates that there is now only an M1 Monday to Fridays departing Morpeth for Thropton at 10am, all other journeys have seemingly being dropped all of a sudden including the diverted Wednesday service and Sunday service to the Metrocentre, however I see no changes registered on VOSA since November 2017 and the Sunday M1 registration is still 'registered' which sounds fishy but let us not forget the 79 to Kingston Park or wherever it went and seemingly morphed into a circular around the Morpeth area but timetables didn't reflect that change. All other timetable sources still indicate the timetable is as it was from November 2017.
(15 Aug 2018, 11:44 pm)Jimmi Not quoting multiple posts, so this applies to all of the three above posts.
I agree with all this (above quoted post), X15 etc has more often than not been close to time most of the times I've used it but of course there is some instances where this isn't the case for whatever reasons. Will additionally add that his route suggestion to Newcastle is similar to the old 44 that carried very few passengers between Morpeth and Dinnington. Would also dread to think how much it would cost to run one of those Versa's to Newcastle and back and how would the 470/473 run if one of the buses for the service is heading to/from Newcastle?
With regards to promotion of their services, considering they set up a Facebook page and suddenly deleted it says it all... So good luck at any sense of promotion.
Just been on PCLs website and the M1 timetable which is a Nexus one has been cut and edited and now indicates that there is now only an M1 Monday to Fridays departing Morpeth for Thropton at 10am, all other journeys have seemingly being dropped all of a sudden including the diverted Wednesday service and Sunday service to the Metrocentre, however I see no changes registered on VOSA since November 2017 and the Sunday M1 registration is still 'registered' which sounds fishy but let us not forget the 79 to Kingston Park or wherever it went and seemingly morphed into a circular around the Morpeth area but timetables didn't reflect that change. All other timetable sources still indicate the timetable is as it was from November 2017.
(15 Aug 2018, 10:01 pm)S830OFT Suggestion:
Route N1 'The Northern Direct'
Alnwick - Willowburn - Shilbottle - A1 - Morpeth - Stannington - Dinnington - Newcastle Airport - Newcastle St. Thomas Street - Central Station.
This service will replace service S1/S2 in Stannington, it will reinstate the link to Newcastle, it will allow links to Train and Flight Connections by serving Newcastle Airport and Central Station. Also will allow more choice for passengers, in particular Alnwick to Morpeth as the current X15 is always delayed for various reasons.
(15 Aug 2018, 10:01 pm)S830OFT Suggestion:
Route N1 'The Northern Direct'
Alnwick - Willowburn - Shilbottle - A1 - Morpeth - Stannington - Dinnington - Newcastle Airport - Newcastle St. Thomas Street - Central Station.
This service will replace service S1/S2 in Stannington, it will reinstate the link to Newcastle, it will allow links to Train and Flight Connections by serving Newcastle Airport and Central Station. Also will allow more choice for passengers, in particular Alnwick to Morpeth as the current X15 is always delayed for various reasons.
I've wonder if we just need a shift in mindset, both from a passenger perspective and an operational one.
Logistically it will be a pain from both sides.
Do services tie in with flight departures and arrivals? Are there options available should there be delays to flights?
If the answers are no to those questions, then it is little wonder bus services have never taken off (pardon the pun) - regardless of any other mitigating factors that there may be.
(15 Aug 2018, 9:01 pm)James101 PSVAR/DDA doesn’t apply to vehicles with less than 22 passenger capacity.
I’m torn on opinion on PCL. Clearly their vehicles and presentation standards are not ideal but neither is the owner on a yacht in the Maldives whilst the pensioners of Croquetdale suffer. PCL are a marginal operator working scraps of services not profitable enough for Arriva to bother. Certainly, the output of Spirit Buses was much better, but clearly unsustainable. The issue here, I feel, is government policy on supported services more generally.
What is unacceptable, however, is dropping journies randomly on such infrequent routes. Again, much of the blame lies with PCL here, but maybe if they, or others, were paid a fair amount for the carriage of passengers it would be a better story?
(15 Aug 2018, 9:01 pm)James101 PSVAR/DDA doesn’t apply to vehicles with less than 22 passenger capacity.
I’m torn on opinion on PCL. Clearly their vehicles and presentation standards are not ideal but neither is the owner on a yacht in the Maldives whilst the pensioners of Croquetdale suffer. PCL are a marginal operator working scraps of services not profitable enough for Arriva to bother. Certainly, the output of Spirit Buses was much better, but clearly unsustainable. The issue here, I feel, is government policy on supported services more generally.
What is unacceptable, however, is dropping journies randomly on such infrequent routes. Again, much of the blame lies with PCL here, but maybe if they, or others, were paid a fair amount for the carriage of passengers it would be a better story?
(17 Aug 2018, 6:31 pm)ifm001 Does PCL still do the bus on a Sunday from Newcastle St Thomas Street to Whitehouse Farm at Morpeth?According to the M1 timetable on PCLs website, no, the timetable on their site is now showing that there is only a departure from Morpeth at 10am up to Thropton on weekdays only. Other outlets are suggesting that the Sunday service plus some other departures still run but the reality seems to be that only the weekday morning run operates now.
if so, is it reliable as its only couple of journeys each way, and does anyone have an idea of fares. Thanks
(17 Aug 2018, 6:31 pm)ifm001 Does PCL still do the bus on a Sunday from Newcastle St Thomas Street to Whitehouse Farm at Morpeth?According to the M1 timetable on PCLs website, no, the timetable on their site is now showing that there is only a departure from Morpeth at 10am up to Thropton on weekdays only. Other outlets are suggesting that the Sunday service plus some other departures still run but the reality seems to be that only the weekday morning run operates now.
if so, is it reliable as its only couple of journeys each way, and does anyone have an idea of fares. Thanks
(17 Aug 2018, 6:08 pm)Tom I think PCL get £51,000 a year for the 15/16 (I remembered that being quoted somewhere). So say they operate it 300 days a year at an estimate, that's like £170 a day. I don't know how that compares to other secured routes, but it doesn't seem much at all.
(17 Aug 2018, 6:08 pm)Tom I think PCL get £51,000 a year for the 15/16 (I remembered that being quoted somewhere). So say they operate it 300 days a year at an estimate, that's like £170 a day. I don't know how that compares to other secured routes, but it doesn't seem much at all.
(17 Aug 2018, 7:02 pm)Jimmi According to the M1 timetable on PCLs website, no, the timetable on their site is now showing that there is only a departure from Morpeth at 10am up to Thropton on weekdays only. Other outlets are suggesting that the Sunday service plus some other departures still run but the reality seems to be that only the weekday morning run operates now.
I really wouldn't risk catching it, as you're likely to end up wasting your time.
(17 Aug 2018, 7:02 pm)Jimmi According to the M1 timetable on PCLs website, no, the timetable on their site is now showing that there is only a departure from Morpeth at 10am up to Thropton on weekdays only. Other outlets are suggesting that the Sunday service plus some other departures still run but the reality seems to be that only the weekday morning run operates now.
I really wouldn't risk catching it, as you're likely to end up wasting your time.
(17 Aug 2018, 7:06 pm)James101 So say they receive £170 per day. If they used a small conventional bus and 15MPG from it, that would be around £50 in fuel alone. Plus say £90 on 10 hours labour for the driver? £30 to cover overheads of running a bus, I doubt that would even come close to covering a lease on something like the E200 Spirit were using. Is it any wonder the service is in the state it's in?
(17 Aug 2018, 7:06 pm)James101 So say they receive £170 per day. If they used a small conventional bus and 15MPG from it, that would be around £50 in fuel alone. Plus say £90 on 10 hours labour for the driver? £30 to cover overheads of running a bus, I doubt that would even come close to covering a lease on something like the E200 Spirit were using. Is it any wonder the service is in the state it's in?
(17 Aug 2018, 7:06 pm)James101 So say they receive £170 per day. If they used a small conventional bus and 15MPG from it, that would be around £50 in fuel alone. Plus say £90 on 10 hours labour for the driver? £30 to cover overheads of running a bus, I doubt that would even come close to covering a lease on something like the E200 Spirit were using. Is it any wonder the service is in the state it's in?
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(17 Aug 2018, 7:06 pm)James101 So say they receive £170 per day. If they used a small conventional bus and 15MPG from it, that would be around £50 in fuel alone. Plus say £90 on 10 hours labour for the driver? £30 to cover overheads of running a bus, I doubt that would even come close to covering a lease on something like the E200 Spirit were using. Is it any wonder the service is in the state it's in?
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(17 Aug 2018, 7:32 pm)Tom Yeah exactly, I guess not much else can really be expected that the standard of service that it is.
(17 Aug 2018, 7:32 pm)Tom Yeah exactly, I guess not much else can really be expected that the standard of service that it is.
(17 Aug 2018, 7:06 pm)James101 So say they receive £170 per day. If they used a small conventional bus and 15MPG from it, that would be around £50 in fuel alone. Plus say £90 on 10 hours labour for the driver? £30 to cover overheads of running a bus, I doubt that would even come close to covering a lease on something like the E200 Spirit were using. Is it any wonder the service is in the state it's in?They were supposedly on a subsidy of £75 a day for service 808 which consisted of one journey a day in each direction from Otterburn to Newcastle typically using a van interworking with some of their other supported runs on some days such as the 882 between Colwell and Hexham on Saturdays, this seemingly wasn't enough for them to continue operating the service, so they dropped the contract and it got put out for tender again with Phoenix now running it. If they are on about £170 a day for the 15/16, I fear there is little in the way of profit being made on the service.
(17 Aug 2018, 7:06 pm)James101 So say they receive £170 per day. If they used a small conventional bus and 15MPG from it, that would be around £50 in fuel alone. Plus say £90 on 10 hours labour for the driver? £30 to cover overheads of running a bus, I doubt that would even come close to covering a lease on something like the E200 Spirit were using. Is it any wonder the service is in the state it's in?They were supposedly on a subsidy of £75 a day for service 808 which consisted of one journey a day in each direction from Otterburn to Newcastle typically using a van interworking with some of their other supported runs on some days such as the 882 between Colwell and Hexham on Saturdays, this seemingly wasn't enough for them to continue operating the service, so they dropped the contract and it got put out for tender again with Phoenix now running it. If they are on about £170 a day for the 15/16, I fear there is little in the way of profit being made on the service.
(17 Aug 2018, 8:31 pm)Jimmi They were supposedly on a subsidy of £75 a day for service 808 which consisted of one journey a day in each direction from Otterburn to Newcastle typically using a van interworking with some of their other supported runs on some days such as the 882 between Colwell and Hexham on Saturdays, this seemingly wasn't enough for them to continue operating the service, so they dropped the contract and it got put out for tender again with Phoenix now running it. If they are on about £170 a day for the 15/16, I fear there is little in the way of profit being made on the service.
Don't know where the bus is parked at the start/end of the day but the bus should actively be out on the road in motion for a minimum of 6 and a half hours a day, add nearly 2 hours on Tues, Thurs & Saturdays when the 16 runs. Think their drivers are on about £8 an hour, don't know how the rate of pay applies to the few breaks the service has over the course of the day.
I'd say that the service can typically carry somewhere in the region of 16 passengers on some journeys, some journeys may carry more and some will carry less.
(17 Aug 2018, 8:31 pm)Jimmi They were supposedly on a subsidy of £75 a day for service 808 which consisted of one journey a day in each direction from Otterburn to Newcastle typically using a van interworking with some of their other supported runs on some days such as the 882 between Colwell and Hexham on Saturdays, this seemingly wasn't enough for them to continue operating the service, so they dropped the contract and it got put out for tender again with Phoenix now running it. If they are on about £170 a day for the 15/16, I fear there is little in the way of profit being made on the service.
Don't know where the bus is parked at the start/end of the day but the bus should actively be out on the road in motion for a minimum of 6 and a half hours a day, add nearly 2 hours on Tues, Thurs & Saturdays when the 16 runs. Think their drivers are on about £8 an hour, don't know how the rate of pay applies to the few breaks the service has over the course of the day.
I'd say that the service can typically carry somewhere in the region of 16 passengers on some journeys, some journeys may carry more and some will carry less.
(18 Aug 2018, 8:14 am)Charles41 They park on the Lionheart Industrial Estate near to the entrance to the Aln Valley Railway.
Charles
(18 Aug 2018, 8:14 am)Charles41 They park on the Lionheart Industrial Estate near to the entrance to the Aln Valley Railway.
Charles
(18 Aug 2018, 8:25 pm)Cobalt271 Sometimes, a driver who lives just outside Alnwick will often have whatever vehicle he’s using outside his house in an adjacent lay-by too.
(18 Aug 2018, 8:25 pm)Cobalt271 Sometimes, a driver who lives just outside Alnwick will often have whatever vehicle he’s using outside his house in an adjacent lay-by too.
