TheGrandWazoo
Veteran Member
From my experience, and taking a balanced view, it's a mixed picture. I wouldn't say they're crap and there are some extenuating circumstances.
First of all, you have a county council that will argue that they have little money to spend on supporting services. Many supported journeys were axed a few years ago so many routes no longer exist or journeys stop in the early evening. To be fair to BoS, they have tried to keep some going commercially. However, it is difficult operating territory and is sparsely populated in much of the county. The Taunton Park and Ride was under threat but the local district council and BoS came up with a deal to keep it going and they have sought to market it much more effectively. The poor territory and economics are reflected in headways that have also been expanded so services like Taunton to Yeovil or Yeovil to Wells have gone from hourly to every 90 mins. Even some local services that were quite frequent in Bridgwater or Taunton are now much less so. Again, that does reflect the decline in town centres like Yeovil and Bridgwater. Walk on fares tend to be high (impact of ENCTS remuneration?) and even the day ticket is quite heavy though there are better value options for regular travellers.
Publicity is a mixed bag. It was very good a few years ago and the timetable book remains excellent. Promotion on vehicles is generally poor though. The website can often be sporadic in terms of information though their social media is a little better. Roadside publicity can be patchy though. In addition, bus stop flags have been replaced in many areas around Taunton and the main route to Bridgwater but once you leave those areas, they are still faded, grubby First. This is particularly noticeable around Yeovil which was transferred in 2016 where aside from four e200s transferred up from Cornwall where the livery is amended (as both Kernow and BoS now share a green base livery), you would think that it was still a First operation. The signage on the depot and bus station (admittedly, both are likely to be redeveloped but not for a few years) is resolutely First apart from a few bus stop flags in the bus station.
The fleet tends to rely on cascades from other OpCos and again, that does reflect the challenges of the area; I think the last actual new vehicles were in 2008/2009. They do have some newer fleet, having been cascaded in from places like Southampton and Glasgow or being purchased from dealers. However, the average age is still quite high. Some of the fleet has creditably been refurbished such as the 10 year old e300s. However, there are many vehicles running around in First urban livery and have done so despite being transferred in for some time, and it's not as if they are elderly vehicles that are running for a few months before disposal. In Yeovil, one Dart has been running around with Solent fleetnames for 18 months.
I've made some of these points before (and been challenged about them). They're not crap but it's not Cornwall; the territory is tougher, the council less supportive, and the results from First reflect that.
First of all, you have a county council that will argue that they have little money to spend on supporting services. Many supported journeys were axed a few years ago so many routes no longer exist or journeys stop in the early evening. To be fair to BoS, they have tried to keep some going commercially. However, it is difficult operating territory and is sparsely populated in much of the county. The Taunton Park and Ride was under threat but the local district council and BoS came up with a deal to keep it going and they have sought to market it much more effectively. The poor territory and economics are reflected in headways that have also been expanded so services like Taunton to Yeovil or Yeovil to Wells have gone from hourly to every 90 mins. Even some local services that were quite frequent in Bridgwater or Taunton are now much less so. Again, that does reflect the decline in town centres like Yeovil and Bridgwater. Walk on fares tend to be high (impact of ENCTS remuneration?) and even the day ticket is quite heavy though there are better value options for regular travellers.
Publicity is a mixed bag. It was very good a few years ago and the timetable book remains excellent. Promotion on vehicles is generally poor though. The website can often be sporadic in terms of information though their social media is a little better. Roadside publicity can be patchy though. In addition, bus stop flags have been replaced in many areas around Taunton and the main route to Bridgwater but once you leave those areas, they are still faded, grubby First. This is particularly noticeable around Yeovil which was transferred in 2016 where aside from four e200s transferred up from Cornwall where the livery is amended (as both Kernow and BoS now share a green base livery), you would think that it was still a First operation. The signage on the depot and bus station (admittedly, both are likely to be redeveloped but not for a few years) is resolutely First apart from a few bus stop flags in the bus station.
The fleet tends to rely on cascades from other OpCos and again, that does reflect the challenges of the area; I think the last actual new vehicles were in 2008/2009. They do have some newer fleet, having been cascaded in from places like Southampton and Glasgow or being purchased from dealers. However, the average age is still quite high. Some of the fleet has creditably been refurbished such as the 10 year old e300s. However, there are many vehicles running around in First urban livery and have done so despite being transferred in for some time, and it's not as if they are elderly vehicles that are running for a few months before disposal. In Yeovil, one Dart has been running around with Solent fleetnames for 18 months.
I've made some of these points before (and been challenged about them). They're not crap but it's not Cornwall; the territory is tougher, the council less supportive, and the results from First reflect that.
I regard First Kernow as a good operator.