A suggestion to put forward to all of you...

This section of the forum is getting rather cluttered. We've got 93 threads in this section of the forum and most threads aren't used anymore. If people were interested in posting about a particular operator, they may not realise that a thread already exists without having to trek through all 93 threads or using our 'search' facility.

I'd therefore like to suggest that we change the way this section of the forum works... Similar to this thread, I'd like to suggest that we create individual regional threads where content about all operators in that region can be posted.

Where there is more information about a particular city in a region (i.e. London), an individual thread could be set up.

This should be fairly easy to implement, but I'd have to close the section for a few hours to do it. What are your opinions?

(16 Apr 2014, 7:09 pm)Dan wrote A suggestion to put forward to all of you...

This section of the forum is getting rather cluttered. We've got 93 threads in this section of the forum and most threads aren't used anymore. If people were interested in posting about a particular operator, they may not realise that a thread already exists without having to trek through all 93 threads or using our 'search' facility.

I'd therefore like to suggest that we change the way this section of the forum works... Similar to this thread, I'd like to suggest that we create individual regional threads where content about all operators in that region can be posted.

Where there is more information about a particular city in a region (i.e. London), an individual thread could be set up.

This should be fairly easy to implement, but I'd have to close the section for a few hours to do it. What are your opinions?

Sounds like a fantastic idea to me, as I do think the section is getting quite cluttered. Another idea is to delete the poorly used ''Cumbrian and North Lancashire Independents'' thread I created, and have a separate thread for each operator. I'd suggest a forum for Scotland, Cumbria and Lancashire, North West, London, Midlands, and The South.

(16 Apr 2014, 7:18 pm)Tom wrote Sounds like a fantastic idea to me, as I do think the section is getting quite cluttered. Another idea is to delete the poorly used ''Cumbrian and North Lancashire Independents'' thread I created, and have a separate thread for each operator. I'd suggest a forum for Scotland, Cumbria and Lancashire, North West, London, Midlands, and The South.

Thanks for the thread suggestions - that was going to be my next question if people thought it was a good idea..!

You have all got that green bar at the top of the forum for a few hours until we get a bit of feedback...! You're welcome!

(16 Apr 2014, 7:18 pm)Tom wrote Sounds like a fantastic idea to me, as I do think the section is getting quite cluttered. Another idea is to delete the poorly used ''Cumbrian and North Lancashire Independents'' thread I created, and have a separate thread for each operator. I'd suggest a forum for Scotland, Cumbria and Lancashire, North West, London, Midlands, and The South.

What about Yorkshire, Lincolnshire and Wales?

(16 Apr 2014, 7:27 pm)Kuyoyo wrote What about Yorkshire, Lincolnshire and Wales?

Yeah, add those too, there is probably a lot more regions too

(16 Apr 2014, 7:28 pm)Tom wrote Yeah, add those too, there is probably a lot more regions too

Is this a good time to admit I'm absolutely horrific at Geography? I still don't understand the point of Wales...

If the majority of people think it's a good idea, someone will have to give me a list of the threads that will have to be created...Hahah.

Was thinking just the same the other day, but was unsure as to how to resolve it.

The BBC regions page on their website or teletext may help or provide some inspiration if you are looking to split things into regions.
Maybe merge one or two regions together - eg East Midlands, Lincs and Humber or Merseyside, Greater Manchester and North Wales.

Another suggestion is to have a thread for the region split into sub-sections.

East Midlands, Lincs and Humber.
-> Stagecoach
-> Trent Barton
-> NCT
-> independents.

(16 Apr 2014, 7:31 pm)Dan wrote Is this a good time to admit I'm absolutely horrific at Geography? I still don't understand the point of Wales...

If the majority of people think it's a good idea, someone will have to give me a list of the threads that will have to be created...Hahah.

I'll give you one later. I'll have to do a bit of research first though.

(16 Apr 2014, 7:45 pm)Andreos Constantopolous wrote Was thinking just the same the other day, but was unsure as to how to resolve it.

The BBC regions page on their website or teletext may help or provide some inspiration if you are looking to split things into regions.
Maybe merge one or two regions together - eg East Midlands, Lincs and Humber or Merseyside, Greater Manchester and North Wales.

Another suggestion is to have a thread for the region split into sub-sections.

East Midlands, Lincs and Humber.
-> Stagecoach
-> Trent Barton
-> NCT
-> independents.

Just had the idea of choosing the same categories as Traveline? Only problem which would arise from that is the fact they have "North East & Cumbria". Of course we could alter them slightly to be something more like below:

- Scotland (S)
- Northern Ireland (NI)
- Cumbria & North Lancashire
- North West (NW)
- Yorkshire (Y)
- Cymru/Wales (W)
- West Midlands (WM)
- East Midlands (EM)
- East Anglia (EA)
- South West (SW)
- South East excluding London (SE)
- London (L)

(16 Apr 2014, 7:50 pm)Dan wrote Just had the idea of choosing the same categories as Traveline? Only problem which would arise from that is the fact they have "North East & Cumbria". Of course we could alter them slightly to be something more like below:

- Scotland (S)
- Northern Ireland (NI)
- Cumbria & North Lancashire
- North West (NW)
- Yorkshire (Y)
- Cymru/Wales (W)
- West Midlands (WM)
- East Midlands (EM)
- East Anglia (EA)
- South West (SW)
- South East excluding London (SE)
- London (L)

Sounds good to me. These are the threads that should be added to the ''Cumbria and North Lancashire'' thread, and you can just delete the independent threads as they had very light discussion anyway. Here is a selection of companies in Cumbria you could add.

• Reays Coaches
  
• Alba Travel
  
• Lecks Travel
  
• 3D Travel
  
• Mountian Goat
  
• Robinsons Coaches
  
• Travellers Choice
  
• Grand Prix Services
  
• Woofs of Sedbergh
  
• Kirkby Lonsdale Coach Hire
  

(16 Apr 2014, 8:04 pm)Tom wrote Sounds good to me. These are the threads that should be added to the ''Cumbria and North Lancashire'' thread, and you can just delete the independent threads as they had very light discussion anyway. Here is a selection of companies in Cumbria you could add.

• Reays Coaches
  
• Alba Travel
  
• Lecks Travel
  
• 3D Travel
  
• Mountian Goat
  
• Robinsons Coaches
  
• Travellers Choice
  
• Grand Prix Services
  
• Woofs of Sedbergh
  
• Kirkby Lonsdale Coach Hire
  

I may be wrong, but I think you've misunderstood slightly what I meant with this idea...

The idea behind it would be that anyone could post about anything in that region, rather than being limited to a set of particular operators. So instead of having 'Cumbria & North Lancashire' as the sub-forum with all of the independent companies in it (as well as Stagecoach), we'd just have the one thread for all bus-related discussion in that region. I can't imagine this would cause massive issues as the 'Elsewhere' section of the forum isn't particularly busy anyway.

Although I love how 'clean' a forum is when it's full of sub-forums, Liam could rant for England about how it's completely non user-friendly. I think just separating by region would allow this section of the forum to be a little more user-friendly though, without using sub-forums.

(16 Apr 2014, 8:15 pm)Dan wrote I may be wrong, but I think you've misunderstood slightly what I meant with this idea...

The idea behind it would be that anyone could post about anything in that region, rather than being limited to a set of particular operators. So instead of having 'Cumbria & North Lancashire' as the sub-forum with all of the independent companies in it (as well as Stagecoach), we'd just have the one thread for all bus-related discussion in that region. I can't imagine this would cause massive issues as the 'Elsewhere' section of the forum isn't particularly busy anyway.

Although I love how 'clean' a forum is when it's full of sub-forums, Liam could rant for England about how it's completely non user-friendly. I think just separating by region would allow this section of the forum to be a little more user-friendly though, without using sub-forums.

I think there should be some sub-forums, if only to break things up and help the discussion (like in the example I gave earlier).
If you don't, there will be all sorts of random info floating about, which for someone catching up - is going to be hard to read or keep on top of.

(16 Apr 2014, 8:15 pm)Dan wrote I may be wrong, but I think you've misunderstood slightly what I meant with this idea...

The idea behind it would be that anyone could post about anything in that region, rather than being limited to a set of particular operators. So instead of having 'Cumbria & North Lancashire' as the sub-forum with all of the independent companies in it (as well as Stagecoach), we'd just have the one thread for all bus-related discussion in that region. I can't imagine this would cause massive issues as the 'Elsewhere' section of the forum isn't particularly busy anyway.

Although I love how 'clean' a forum is when it's full of sub-forums, Liam could rant for England about how it's completely non user-friendly. I think just separating by region would allow this section of the forum to be a little more user-friendly though, without using sub-forums.

Sorry, yes I did misunderstand it. A bit like the Yorkshire Thread?

I think dedicated regional threads as suggested would work, and then if a thread gets as busy as the 'North East' forums for example, they could then justify having their own sub-forum and thread set?

(16 Apr 2014, 8:19 pm)Andreos Constantopolous wrote I think there should be some sub-forums, if only to break things up and help the discussion (like in the example I gave earlier).
If you don't, there will be all sorts of random info floating about, which for someone catching up - is going to be hard to read or keep on top of.

I really don't think there's a great deal of posts in the threads at present, so couldn't imagine it to be a problem.

(16 Apr 2014, 8:21 pm)Tom wrote Sorry, yes I did misunderstand it. A bit like the Yorkshire Thread?

Yup! The Yorkshire Thread is a good example; although it's seemingly acting as a source of information rather than a place of discussion, I still think it's working well and serving its purpose.

(16 Apr 2014, 8:22 pm)aureolin wrote I think dedicated regional threads as suggested would work, and then if a thread gets as busy as the 'North East' forums for example, they could then justify having their own sub-forum and thread set?

As long as you can persuade Liam when the time's right...

(16 Apr 2014, 7:50 pm)Dan wrote Just had the idea of choosing the same categories as Traveline? Only problem which would arise from that is the fact they have "North East & Cumbria". Of course we could alter them slightly to be something more like below:

- Scotland (S)
- Northern Ireland (NI)
- Cumbria & North Lancashire
- North West (NW)
- Yorkshire (Y)
- Cymru/Wales (W)
- West Midlands (WM)
- East Midlands (EM)
- East Anglia (EA)
- South West (SW)
- South East excluding London (SE)
- London (L)

I really think Cumbria and North Lancashire should be part of the North West feed, after all they are part of the North West.

(16 Apr 2014, 8:32 pm)Y961 XBU wrote I really think Cumbria and North Lancashire should be part of the North West feed, after all they are part of the North West.

There was a few reasons for keeping them separate:

1) Traveline lists Cumbria in the North East region rather than the North West region. If I could have guaranteed more discussion (on a similar level to the posts in the normal North East section), I'd have placed it in the North East section. As there is still minimal posts in the threads we've got for operators in Cumbria & North Lancs, I'd prefer to keep it separate.

2) You guys in the North West provide us with so many posts, it would perhaps be best off to keep them separate - just so people don't get lost off if there is more than one topic of discussion at once (similar to the point Andreos raised above).

3) A number of enthusiasts from the North East are interested in Stagecoach in Cumbria's fleet - but I think that's where interest will stop for many of us. I don't think a lot of enthusiasts from the North East would want to scroll through all of the posts about North West independents just in case it might be about something that they are interested in.

(16 Apr 2014, 8:42 pm)Dan wrote There was a few reasons for keeping them separate:

1) Traveline lists Cumbria in the North East region rather than the North West region. If I could have guaranteed more discussion (on a similar level to the posts in the normal North East section), I'd have placed it in the North East section. As there is still minimal posts in the threads we've got for operators in Cumbria & North Lancs, I'd prefer to keep it separate.

2) You guys in the North West provide us with so many posts, it would perhaps be best off to keep them separate - just so people don't get lost off if there is more than one topic of discussion at once (similar to the point Andreos raised above).

3) A number of enthusiasts from the North East are interested in Stagecoach in Cumbria's fleet - but I think that's where interest will stop for many of us. I don't think a lot of enthusiasts from the North East would want to scroll through all of the posts about North West independents just in case it might be about something that they are interested in.

I'm one of those people. I defiantly think it should be kept separate.

(16 Apr 2014, 8:44 pm)Tom wrote I'm one of those people. I defiantly think it should be kept separate.

I was quite interested in reading some of the posts about the operators I'd seen when I was on my North West adventure last summer, but it's more of a brief read through. I tend to contribute a lot more to the Stagecoach Cumbria & North Lancs discussion as well as read into a little bit more.

Got to agree with splitting into threads for each region. There's no doubting we have a NW contingent on the forum which provide us with great info, it would be nice to replicate this across the country. I am working on a few little things that will hopefully boost things a bit, the Arriva order I suppose you could count as a near little idea, I have seen it copied onto other forums already too

I notice the elsewhere feed has now gone missing?

Why not copy the way Passenger Focus list different areas/regions and modify it a little to suit the trends of the forum?

(16 Apr 2014, 9:29 pm)Y961 XBU wrote I notice the elsewhere feed has now gone missing?

It has now returned.

Check out the new-look Bus Scene: Elsewhere section of the forum on the link below:
http://northeastbuses.co.uk/forum/forumd...php?fid=19

I personally think it's a lot better, and I'll certainly be more likely to post more frequently now.

Please tell me every single feed has not been merged into one big one...

(16 Apr 2014, 10:46 pm)Y961 XBU wrote Please tell me every single feed has not been merged into one big one...

That's correct. Judging by your earlier post, I didn't think that you were against the idea and you would have rather it to have been one massive thread including Cumbria & North Lancs?

Unfortunately there were just so many threads it was hard to keep up with. There was 45 North West related threads alone - half of the entire Bus Scene: Elsewhere forum. A number of these threads only had a couple of posts in too.

We'll see how this goes anyway - my fault if it goes tits up. I've posted a few links to news articles in some of the threads that wouldn't have otherwise been active and let's hope it brings in some new faces or allows for more discussion!

(16 Apr 2014, 10:53 pm)Dan wrote That's correct. Judging by your earlier post, I didn't think that you were against the idea and you would have rather it to have been one massive thread including Cumbria & North Lancs?

Unfortunately there were just so many threads it was hard to keep up with. There were 45 North West related threads alone - half of the entire Bus Scene: Elsewhere forum. A number of these threads only had a couple of posts in too.

We'll see how this goes anyway - my fault if it goes tits up. I've posted a few links to news articles in some of the threads that wouldn't have otherwise been active and let's hope it brings in some new faces or allows for more discussion!

I was not under the impression that all the feeds where going to be merged, i was under the impression feeds where going to be put into local boxes, If this is how things are going from now on then i will no longer contribute to the Forum and i would put good money am not the only one from the North West umbrella who will do the same.

(16 Apr 2014, 10:57 pm)Y961 XBU wrote I was not under the impression that all the feeds where going to be merged, i was under the impression feeds where going to be put into local boxes, If this is how things are going from now on then i will no longer contribute to the Forum and i would put good money am not the only one from the North West umbrella who will do the same.

Not trying it out is a tad irrational, after we've had no bad feedback to the idea on this thread from anyone else!

As aureolin said earlier - if any of the regional threads get as busy as the main threads in the North East section, they could then justify having their own sub-forum much like the North East section.

(16 Apr 2014, 11:01 pm)Dan wrote Not trying it out is a tad irrational, after we've had no bad feedback to the idea on this thread from anyone else!

As aureolin said earlier - if any of the regional threads get as busy as the main threads in the North East section, they could then justify having their own sub-forum much like the North East section.

The North West and to a lesser extent Scotland and Yorkshire possibly need this now.
You said yourself the North West thread contributed to half of the elsewhere posts and is easily the most active area beyond the North East scene.

Just tried reading/catching up and ended up giving up.

(17 Apr 2014, 6:40 am)Andreos Constantopolous wrote The North West and to a lesser extent Scotland and Yorkshire possibly need this now.
You said yourself the North West thread contributed to half of the elsewhere posts and is easily the most active area beyond the North East scene.

Just tried reading/catching up and ended up giving up.

I think it will be the right time to 'convert' the section when it turns into discussion and not just information given by a few people. I read a lot of the posts when merging the threads and quite a number of the threads only had three or four replies to the OP in each, with information being given by the same few people rather than it being discussed.

A prime example of this was VOSA registrations. In the North East, one or two people tend to copy these into the relevant thread. After that, we will discuss what the changes could be. I didn't really see that a lot when going through the thread.

The trouble that we face is we simply don't have enough members from the North West contributing, and that in part is linked to another forum existing which is dedicated to buses in the North West. Until we do have a larger number of members, we face one of three problems:

1) Merging all North West threads and potentially making it more difficult to read when we are at a peak of discussion. Perhaps only an issue if someone visits the forum once per day.

2) Having regional sub-forums as suggested, but making the main index page longer in length (meaning more scrolling is needed) and also meaning that you have to file your way through to the actual threads (meaning more clicks are needed). This is the reason why we ditched sub-forums in the main North East section, because Liam thinks they're terribly non user-friendly. I do believe the majority of people on the forum voted against them in a poll we did too?

3) If we had done nothing at all, we would have had 93 threads in a section which potentially would have been overlooked. Excluding Lothian Buses, I pretty much ditched the 'Elsewhere' section as it was too difficult to use. I was having to use the search bar to get to the thread I wanted to get to, and this was frankly off-putting.

I took a brief tour of other bus forums last night before coming forward with the idea, and the fair majority faced the last problem - with very few looking to rectify what was an issue.

We are always looking forward on this website which is why we do see regular changes. This is all done with the user in mind. Like I said before, we will see how this works - put it on a trial period if you will. If it's successful, it can remain like it is now until I'm confronted by one of the main 'Elsewhere' contributors that they feel differently. If it's not, we'll have to come up with an alternative solution.