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(14 Mar 2020, 9:56 pm)scanialover wrote The changes to service 7, Darlington-Durham are interesting? Leaving out Durham Gate at non-peak times should help with punctuality. What it worrying though is the statement that there is to be more buses between 0700 and 0900 and that most of these will be operated by double deck vehicles. Let's hope then that the Darlington maintainance team get their act together!
(17 Mar 2020, 7:02 pm)scanialover wrote There is a very straightforward answer to this sort of behaviour ? Withdraw the services and have the timetable operating around a 6am to 6pm 12 hour timeframe. Controversial yes but putting lives and vehicles at risk for the few measly quid in revenue they generate ? Is it worth it ?
Come the day and the fast escalating Corona virus situation though are we going to have buses for these mindless imbiciles to terrorise ! Now that is scary !
(17 Mar 2020, 7:02 pm)scanialover wrote There is a very straightforward answer to this sort of behaviour ? Withdraw the services and have the timetable operating around a 6am to 6pm 12 hour timeframe. Controversial yes but putting lives and vehicles at risk for the few measly quid in revenue they generate ? Is it worth it ?Its not straightforward at all. Why should bus users suffer just because of the toerags? They won't be bothered if the buses came off.
Come the day and the fast escalating Corona virus situation though are we going to have buses for these mindless imbiciles to terrorise ! Now that is scary !
(17 Mar 2020, 7:02 pm)scanialover wrote There is a very straightforward answer to this sort of behaviour ? Withdraw the services and have the timetable operating around a 6am to 6pm 12 hour timeframe. Controversial yes but putting lives and vehicles at risk for the few measly quid in revenue they generate ? Is it worth it ?Can happen at any time in the day, especially in Darlington and I believe that this has been done in Darlington before and other areas locally. Been a few issues with little toe rags causing issues for Arriva Darlington lately, a Solo was recently robbed of its emergency exit hammers which may or may not have been used to smash the glass in bus shelters which led to the bus being kept off the road until they could be replaced. Firth Moor is often a trouble area for Arriva with buses being pelted with stuff, gas buses weren't allowed on service 2 in the evenings due to windows regularly being put out (gas more expensive to replace on them than a Solo) , deckers banned from evening 7s at one point for similar reasons, South Bank is another problem area.
Come the day and the fast escalating Corona virus situation though are we going to have buses for these mindless imbiciles to terrorise ! Now that is scary !
(17 Mar 2020, 9:22 pm)scanialover wrote Anyone got any news, thoughts, 'inside' information about what could be happening to our bus networks as a result of the Corona virus?Everyone moving to Saturday service levels starting Monday.
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streetdeckfan wroteFor most services changing to a Saturday service will make little to no difference for a passenger. It's mostly just the early and late journeys that change.Can't help but feel that this approach will cause problems for those still working to get to work first thing. Would it have been better to generally thin the service during the daytime (Weekday and Saturday often the same outside the peaks, so perhaps thin to a Sunday or Enhanced Sunday service) but maintain the early morning commuter runs?
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(19 Mar 2020, 7:30 am)Ianthegoon wrote Can't help but feel that this approach will cause problems for those still working to get to work first thing. Would it have been better to generally thin the service during the daytime (Weekday and Saturday often the same outside the peaks, so perhaps thin to a Sunday or Enhanced Sunday service) but maintain the early morning commuter runs?
(18 Mar 2020, 10:06 am)scanialover wrote It was South Bank, service 64a that proved to be my departure point from the industry. After repeated attacks on drivers and vehicles it was my turn working a 64a board, it was most unsettling. Despite reassurances from management and the curtailment, for a time, it happened again. This time to a colleague and then on the following evening working the same shift I simply refused to operate the part that worked through the affected area. It wasnt just that the led me to walk though? The whole attitudes and behaviours towards drivers doing their best in trying and far to often, dangerous circumstances by some the residents in that area was frankly deplorable and being sat in the situation of no defence with management and customer services leaning towards them proved to be the catalyst.
End of the day and moving forward I wonder how they'll cope when services get withdrawn? We're heading that way.
streetdeckfan wroteIssue with that is that some services don't run on a Sunday, so I think they'd have been better off doing it on a route by route basis.Oh, absolutely! The point for me was that the early "workers" services were being trimmed out, but with M-F and Sat daytime frequencies usually being pretty much the same, there would be very little reduction in staff needed. Route-by-route definitely the way to go
(19 Mar 2020, 10:21 am)Ianthegoon wrote Oh, absolutely! The point for me was that the early "workers" services were being trimmed out, but with M-F and Sat daytime frequencies usually being pretty much the same, there would be very little reduction in staff needed. Route-by-route definitely the way to go
(19 Mar 2020, 10:40 am)streetdeckfan wrote If they all decided to go to a Sunday timetable, it would cost me an extra £2.50 a day as since GNE extended the X21 to Tindale I've pretty much stopped using Arriva, unless I have to travel on an evening. And since GNE don't run the X21 that far on a Sunday I'd have to pay for extra tickets with Arriva.Hopefully you won't mind being in the back of the queue for a ventilator, if the need arises, then.
Then again, being 'at risk' I should be staying in anyway, but quite frankly I've got more important things to do than worry about getting ill!
(19 Mar 2020, 10:40 am)streetdeckfan wrote If they all decided to go to a Sunday timetable, it would cost me an extra £2.50 a day as since GNE extended the X21 to Tindale I've pretty much stopped using Arriva, unless I have to travel on an evening. And since GNE don't run the X21 that far on a Sunday I'd have to pay for extra tickets with Arriva.
Then again, being 'at risk' I should be staying in anyway, but quite frankly I've got more important things to do than worry about getting ill!
(19 Mar 2020, 10:34 pm)Cock Robin wrote Well said. Same here. A doctor has said, if it had happened 50 years ago noone would gave even known about it. There would have been around the usual number of deaths for a winter and there would have been no paranoia.Coronavirus happened to be the thing that tipped them over the edge.
Well said. Same here. A doctor has said, if it had happened 50 years ago noone would gave even known about it. There would have been around the usual number of deaths for a winter and there would have been no paranoia.
People arent dying OF corona virus necessarily. They are dying WITH it.
(20 Mar 2020, 1:07 pm)scanialover wrote Given the GNE have already posted that they will be operating an enhanced Sunday service as of Monday it's highly likely that Arriva and Stagecoach will follow suit.
