Competition heats up between Transdev and Connexions

[the101]

Now Connexions are Tweeting the trade press about (quote) "Six years of local services in otley/ilkley ended last night. Replaced by less frequent other op".

 

[Tetchytyke]

They have found a way to blame ARRIVA for them having to shut down despite not competing on any routes with the blue brand

I think they are right to blame Arriva for what has happened in north Northumberland, truth be told.

It's been clear for a very long time that Arriva simply can't be bothered with the smaller towns and villages in Northumberland. They gave up Rothbury to Northumbria Coaches and they gave up Wooler to Glen Valley and Travelsure. They only ended up back with the Rothbury bus after the anti-competitive carve-up with Go-Ahead, after Go bought Northumbria Coaches and used it to attack Arriva in Wansbeck, and it's been obvious ever since that they don't really want to run the X14, it's just that they were stuck with it to avoid the ire of the competition commission.

Arriva have been gaming the parish councils and Northumbria Healthcare for the last couple of years, some of the services they pulled in and around Cramlington and Blyth Valley were never uneconomical to operate, it was simply that Arriva wanted to put pressure on local communities to top up the bonuses being sent back to Berlin.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

I think they are right to blame Arriva for what has happened in north Northumberland, truth be told.

It's been clear for a very long time that Arriva simply can't be bothered with the smaller towns and villages in Northumberland. They gave up Rothbury to Northumbria Coaches and they gave up Wooler to Glen Valley and Travelsure. They only ended up back with the Rothbury bus after the anti-competitive carve-up with Go-Ahead, after Go bought Northumbria Coaches and used it to attack Arriva in Wansbeck, and it's been obvious ever since that they don't really want to run the X14, it's just that they were stuck with it to avoid the ire of the competition commission.

Arriva have been gaming the parish councils and Northumbria Healthcare for the last couple of years, some of the services they pulled in and around Cramlington and Blyth Valley were never uneconomical to operate, it was simply that Arriva wanted to put pressure on local communities to top up the bonuses being sent back to Berlin.

Whoa... I've criticised Arriva NE before but there's a fair bit of stuff there that just isn't correct so let's get it right.

Spirit Buses are running services that are in very sparse territory. For that they should be applauded but they can never be run without council support.

Arriva North East have retreated from their northern boundary but much of that is nearly 15 years ago if not longer ago.

The services from Alnwick to Wooler and Wooler to Berwick and have always been tendered. They were lost to Travelsure who undercut Arriva using some truly awful kit and so long ago I struggle to recall when it was. The 267 (operated by Glen Valley) was NOT Arriva. In Berwick, they sold that operation to Perrymans consisting of half a dozen Metroriders on town routes. That has decreased further under Perrymans since that occurred in 2002 (?) indicating that Berwick locals have long since ceased to be a pot of gold. Also, they closed their Morpeth depot in 2001/2 running stuff from Alnwick and Ashington; that meant the Coquetdale and Scots Gap services couldn't be run with all that dead mileage so it was relinquished to Northumbria Coaches, later acquired by Go Ahead as part of Huntley's masterplan to apply leverage.

Arriva North East under Steve Noble were very, very complacent in the period 2002-7. The really daft thing they did was the closure of Alnwick depot in 2011, only to do the sensible thing in opening an outbase in the town. I give you that

However, Spirit Buses only arrived in 2013. Arriva have tendered against a specification provided by NCC. If Spirit went for a gold plated approach that NCC weren't asking for, who's fault is that? Not Berlin, not Doxford Park.

I'm genuinely sad to see this brave try fail but blaming Arriva isn't really accurate. Sorry but that is the truth.

ps I'm sure Chathill Man or DunsMan will correct me if I've got any of the history wrong.

 

[ChathillMan]

I think they are right to blame Arriva for what has happened in north Northumberland, truth be told.

It's been clear for a very long time that Arriva simply can't be bothered with the smaller towns and villages in Northumberland. They gave up Rothbury to Northumbria Coaches and they gave up Wooler to Glen Valley and Travelsure. They only ended up back with the Rothbury bus after the anti-competitive carve-up with Go-Ahead, after Go bought Northumbria Coaches and used it to attack Arriva in Wansbeck, and it's been obvious ever since that they don't really want to run the X14, it's just that they were stuck with it to avoid the ire of the competition commission.

Arriva have been gaming the parish councils and Northumbria Healthcare for the last couple of years, some of the services they pulled in and around Cramlington and Blyth Valley were never uneconomical to operate, it was simply that Arriva wanted to put pressure on local communities to top up the bonuses being sent back to Berlin.

I don't agree with that. If Arriva didn't care about running the X14 they wouldn't have upgraded the buses to Max standard in order to grow numbers

 

[Tetchytyke]

Arriva want to run the Morpeth-Newcastle bus, and running it to Rothbury as an extension makes as much sense as anything. It was upgraded to MAX for the bit into Newcastle not the bit out to Thropton.

Spirit reckon their operation doesn't work without the connecting traffic. The blame for that does rest in the Arriva direction, although to an extent it's the sign of the times. The wider issues with bus services, especially over in Blyth Valley (my neck of the woods) all rest with Arrival though.

 

[Deerfold]

Coming back on topic, on Sunday Transdev took over the Whafedale routes (though most don't run on a Sunday). Metro's timetables were not available at Keighley until yesterday but should be on buses from today. Bus stops have not yet been updated despite some routes completely losing peak services.

Other than Transdev putting timetables on their site, publicity has been dreadful (why would someone look an a different bus company's website for a new timetable without other publicity...).

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

Arriva want to run the Morpeth-Newcastle bus, and running it to Rothbury as an extension makes as much sense as anything. It was upgraded to MAX for the bit into Newcastle not the bit out to Thropton.

Spirit reckon their operation doesn't work without the connecting traffic. The blame for that does rest in the Arriva direction, although to an extent it's the sign of the times. The wider issues with bus services, especially over in Blyth Valley (my neck of the woods) all rest with Arrival though.

It may make sense in so far as they can tender more effectively for the Rothbury work but they could simply a) leave it to stand in Morpeth or b) run it through to Ashington. Arriva have tendered and NCC have accepted that; NCC could've demanded a stand alone timetable AND a new vehicle but they've taken the view that they can't afford that (or else something else would have to be sacrificed.

The fact is that Spirit and Connexions need to accept that, sometimes, you have an advantage and you win, and sometimes you don't. In other words, sometimes you're the pigeon, other times the statue!
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

Now Connexions are Tweeting the trade press about (quote) "Six years of local services in otley/ilkley ended last night. Replaced by less frequent other op".

I thought they had appointed someone else to manage their social media in order to improve such utterances??

 

[Deerfold]

I thought they had appointed someone else to manage their social media in order to improve such utterances??

It would appear not.
They don't like anyone disagreeing with them either.

I've pointed out that if there's been a problem they need to take it up with Metro instead of throwing out insults at Transdev. I've been told I'm blinkered and would understand if I was affected (which I am as I do catch some of these routes). Then they said they've moved on - though that was before this tweet.

 

[SCH117X]

Connexions have also claimed they offered more journeys but as presumably Metro had decided what journeys they wanted they were hardly going to pay more for Connexions to run journeys not considered neccessary. On one hand they (Connexions/Craig Temple) never miss an opportunity to snipe at Transdev while on the other hand wondering why Transdev will not speak to them when they have something Craig Temple wants (side desti for his Strider). Answers on a postcard to Connexions....

 

[the101]

The saviour of Connexions' social media activity was/is Reece Hand, the man who has achieved so mu ch at Cityfox and whose Commercial Director aborted a move to the target of Connexions' considerable venom, Transdev.

Make of that what you will...

 

[PhilStockley]

Or you could just refer back to post #68 on this very forum where I addressed that exact point!

Meanwhile I'm not quite sure what you think is a reasonable level of achievement at age 21, but I would say taxi operations in three cities and previous experience of running buses, and even today big steps towards re-establishing bus and coach operations, is some way beyond what most people would expect to achieve.

Just to clear up the point about social media, CityFox is not currently running Connexions' social media - that's still with them - the work we're doing is all behind the scenes on future livery concepts and such like.

Hope that helps.

 

[Zxwii]

Bit off topic, but Connexions had their batteries stolen.

http://www.yorkpress.co.uk/news/149...k___Harrogate_buses/?ref=fbpg#comments-anchor

THIEVES stole bus batteries worth thousands of pounds from a North Yorkshire firm.

Staff at family business Connexions, based between York and Wetherby, discovered at 6am on Tuesday that almost 30 batteries - worth between £2,500 and £3,000 - had been stolen from buses at their depot.

The firm runs buses between York and Harrogate and on a few York routes.

 

[SCH117X]

Possibly explains the barking allocation yesterday of an OmniCity instead of a Solo to the x4, tight squeeze on some roads. Its quite amusing watching their x1 and x1c compete for the same (non-Transdev ticket holding) passengers - stood on the Knaresborough Road last week waiting for a Transdev bus and three Connexions buses arrived together - a pair of Omnicitys on the x1 and x1c and a Solo on a x4 - you could quite easily get all the passengers on the Solo with plenty of room to spare.

 

[AndrewP]

The X1C is a good new route which provides some different and useful routes in Knaresborough. We are lucky to have two good bus companies round here.

 

[nesw]

Or you could just refer back to post #68 on this very forum where I addressed that exact point!

Meanwhile I'm not quite sure what you think is a reasonable level of achievement at age 21, but I would say taxi operations in three cities and previous experience of running buses, and even today big steps towards re-establishing bus and coach operations, is some way beyond what most people would expect to achieve.

Just to clear up the point about social media, CityFox is not currently running Connexions' social media - that's still with them - the work we're doing is all behind the scenes on future livery concepts and such like.

Hope that helps.

One almost dare not comment on Cityfox's many registered companies and the achievements of Mr. Hand. Yes, we are aware that he is ambitious and does indeed operate Taxi's in Bristol but I don't see the benefit of mentioning his age and achievements each time there's a response to one of his initiatives that doesn't match the PR.

On this occasion, the press release and publicity concerning Connexions' social media was possibly a little premature. Surely it makes sense to publicise a new venture once it was up and running?

This is not meant as a dig or personal attack but one would've hoped that given previous PR hype for aborted ventures, that it might be good PR to wait awhile.

I've worked in senior positions in the industry for a long time, so this isn't jealousy or finding fault, more exasperation seeing a business, to coin a well used phrase 'putting the cart before the horse.'

 

[backontrack]

Connexions described the battery thieves on Twitter as 'scum'.

"A number of our services running late owing to a visit from some of the scum of the earth last night. 15 sets of batteries stolen last night"


"If anyone knows anything please ring the police- it could happen to you next. These scum have been around various companies in the area"

The battery theft is terrible - but perhaps they could have been more, erm, professional?

 

[Deerfold]

The battery theft is terrible - but perhaps they could have been more, erm, professional?

It would appear not. Regularly. And if you point it out, expect to be insulted.

 

[spuddie]

Surprised they haven't blamed the 'Frenchies' at Transdev for stealing them yet!

But their bad PR aside it is a horrible disruptive incident to happen to them and appears they made a good effort to get as many services as possible running.

 

[theblackwatch]

The thing is, even though it is blunt and to the point. describing them as 'scum' is actually correct! Or maybe some disagree?

 

[ARN556B]

The thing is, even though it is blunt and to the point. describing them as 'scum' is actually correct! Or maybe some disagree?

I entirely agree, scum describes the culprits to a tee. As well as the actual theft, these people have no thought for the inconvenience they would cause to the customers who use the service. It ranks alongside stealing lead off the church roof, or copper from the trackside.

 

[backontrack]

It would appear not. Regularly. And if you point it out, expect to be insulted.

To be fair, your tweets in response don't seem to be that helpful either.

 

[Deerfold]

To be fair, your tweets in response don't seem to be that helpful either.

I've been trying to find out what is dodgy about Transdev's bid. If I can get an answer I can complain about it.

I can't complain about some alleged dodgyness that they won't explain to me.

Is that really unreasonable?

 

[SCH117X]

Think the only thing "dodgy" is that it was obviously less than Connexions bid which in Connexions book must make it dodgy as in Mr Temples opinion no one could possibly undercut him, whilst plainly overlooking the fact that Transdev Blazefield had a number of owned, paid for, vehicles sat round doing nothing. If you want a laugh have a look at Mr Temples own twitter account @craig_bus where today in an argument today he has claimed "So, innovative isn't replacing services pulled off in York, Harrogate, Ilkley and Leeds?" Now I am struggling with Ilkley and Leeds as all of Connexion services, past and present, are Metro contracts .The X52 was a "new" service unless you go back to the mid 90s X50 which extended beyond both ends of the X52, east to York and west to Skipton.

 

[KX03HZY]

Think the only thing "dodgy" is that it was obviously less than Connexions bid which in Connexions book must make it dodgy as in Mr Temples opinion no one could possibly undercut him, whilst plainly overlooking the fact that Transdev Blazefield had a number of owned, paid for, vehicles sat round doing nothing. If you want a laugh have a look at Mr Temples own twitter account @craig_bus where today in an argument today he has claimed "So, innovative isn't replacing services pulled off in York, Harrogate, Ilkley and Leeds?" Now I am struggling with Ilkley and Leeds as all of Connexion services, past and present, are Metro contracts .The X52 was a "new" service unless you go back to the mid 90s X50 which extended beyond both ends of the X52, east to York and west to Skipton.

I was the one on the other side of that conversation. Their Twitter feeds are like that of a 2 year old quite frankly, not what I would expect from a professional bus operator,

 

[the101]

I checked out the @craig_bus Twitter account. It's quite sad that he has such anger with Transdev and Alex Hornby, and cannot resist personal jibes against Alex despite it being obvious that he isn't going to get an argument. It hardly paints his company in the best light and he seems to enjoy being some kind of 'victim' of Transdev all the time.

 

[SCH117X]

I have been tempted to tweet him to ask why one of his Omnicitiys was running around with a loose engine cover last week, why another is in service clearly has front nearside damage and why too many vehicles have displays that are invisible with sunlight on them but I could do without the insults. There is only going to one winner in this and its not the operator that is increasingly looking like Premier of Nottingham did.

 

[Andyh82]

Don't ALL omnicities run around with loose engine covers? Yorkshire Tiger's often do, isn't it a design fault?

 

[backontrack]

I wonder what the next development will be in this saga. Are Connexions casting covetous eyes towards Knaresborough and Ripon? Will Transdev establish a link between Wetherby and Knaresborough?

 

[SCH117X]

Connexions have already took on Transdev services to Knaresborough from Harrogate although how long it can last is another matter as 14 buses a hour each way is way over the top and its amusing watching the x1C competing with the x1 for passengers (which they should not as they should be 7-8 minutes apart) If you mean Knaresborough to Ripon then that is a NYCC funded route as is Knaresborough to Wetherby so neither operator is going to compete other than in the next round of NYCC tendering, but given Connexions gave up Knaresborough to Ripon mid term I would think they are hardly well thought of by NYCC.

 

[SCH117X]

Mr Temple is now tweeting about profits being down 51% at Transdev Harrogate. Given the expenditure on the refurbished route 1 vehicles and the new 36s then is that really that surprising?