(28 Mar 2014, 1:05 pm)robisdave wrote Just seen an interesting post on Service Suggestions by Tyresmoke with regard to the forthcoming introduction of Sapphire on routes 5/5a Middlesbrough-Guisborough-Brotton-Easington. He commented that this was likely to be the most complex Sapphire introduction so far. As a regular 5/5a user I'm naturally pleased we are going over to Sapphire and interested to hear from a driver's point of view how it will operate and what the issues are? Obviously it's a dedicated rota with dedicated drivers, also gone will be the infamous yellow waistcoat (it's all about image). What about the services themselves though? Clearly it's a revenue success as it wouldn't be going Sapphire; seemingly it's at maximum capacity and could only be extended, in terms of additional journeys by the use of more single deck resources. That then brings the question as to why we cannot have a re-introduction of the X5 express journeys, if only between M'bro and say Loftus? I could never understand why we llost them, but then towards their demise they were merely operating as 5 trips. Just a few thoughts guys.
My comment about the 5/5a being the most complex "Sapphire" service is the amount of variations. If you compare the 7 that we operate with the "Sapphire" brand already, there is one route for all journeys (bar the odd extensions up to New College Durham - which I believe the college pay for on various routes, replacing their free coach network a while ago??) unlike the 5 which obviously has the diversions via Liverton Mines or Skinningrove depending which side of the hour it is.
The 5a going via Skelton Asda is another variation to the main route and terminating short at Brotton, with another difference by serving Kilton Lane. I have to say I don't really see the point in that, I could understand it if we went into the hospital but we don't!
As far as the drivers go, all we know is it will be dedicated rota but we haven't seen the rota yet nor do we know who is going on it. Everyone who is interested has applied to go on the rota though. Obviously not every duty can be solid 5s though so you will see them on other services from time to time, there are odd trips on X66s on Darlington's Sapphire rota for example. I definitely think the dedicated drivers will help to boost the route even further, as it helps with familiarity between the passengers and drivers, I know from the X1 at Darlington that the dedicated team on there are well looked after by their passengers! Some of those are now on the 7 too! This is definitely the way to go in the future, similar to how GNE have dedicated rotas with only a handful of services on each one at the bigger depots.
As for the "yellow waistcoats" - its a safety feature but they shouldn't be worn in the cab ideally! Definitely agree with the image comment!
As for the capacity, it will be interesting to see what happens with this. I can only really see issues if we see serious growth at the peak times during the day, there is ample surplus capacity during the middle part of the day in my opinion. I'd be interested to know whether there is a big usage from North Ormesby to points past Guisborough to be honest, as it would discourage those "North Ormesby hoppers" if we ran non-stop from/to Brambles Farm at peak times, not only would it free up a bit of capacity (last time I did an evening peak time one I had 5 or 6 get off in NO, there are enough other services they could use that they wouldn't be inconvinienced) it would also boost journey times a bit I would think. Maybe something to look at in the future, although as you say we can't double deck them so any extra capacity would have to come in the form of frequency increases which would ultimately mean extra resources required. Some expresses from Loftus, Brotton and Skelton may be something to look at to start with, who knows. Definitely watch this space I think.
A quick note that the X4 will also be getting "Sapphire" conversion of course, it will be interesting to see what happens during the summer as I'm intrigued to see how well the Redcar-Saltburn-Sandsend-Whitby coastal link is used. I really think it could take off as a coastal service, a true "Seasider" !