I don't have a problem with that – if the buses used are all up to an appropriate minimum standard for the route in question. If you try to keep consistency on some high profile routes then almost inevitably you will end up with other routes that take the odds and sods, whatever is available at the time ... and if everything from a Solo to a double decker can comfortably fit round the route and accommodate the passengers travelling then does it matter if the route uses everything from a Solo to a double decker?
Exactly. 20815 is in Coaster livery and is branded for the 14 Bridlington - Flamborough route, but the bus has been allocated to Pocklington for a few weeks now which, erm, doesn't operate the 14! Make it make sense.
Yes, I always thought it was odd that the same route has both double and single deckers branded for it.
It's the same story with the 141.
I struggle to see the point in having one or two vehicles branded when they don't appear on said routes. 3 of the 'North Riding' and the only 'Beverley Locals' branded vehicles were sent off to West Yorkshire last July and were branded accordingly, which saw Pocklington take on 'Scarborough Locals' vehicles to cover.
Normal practice come mid afternoon buses/drivers get taken for the council contracts, today the 14:55 54 from Hull has been cancelled so an hour's gap on the service linking the two hospitals. Last night the 17:35 and 18:35 35's got cancelled, the 17:35 is a regular cancellation or runs late as they attempt to use the 938 Sutton college bus/driver to form it normally.
Yes Arriva had a terrible night with the X93s too, with an Evora left in Cloughton overnight
Now back in Hull, tracking on the 26.
That is my biggest issue with EY too, very rarely is their updates, and you can't ever find out what's going on since they don't have a phone line - you just have to guess!!
I tried the phone number on their website twice and got hit with the "we're sorry but our offices are currently unavailable, please try again later." Their email address is also unmonitored and social media is only used for promotion. In fact, EY have even taken it upon themselves to turn off replies to their posts on Twitter. It's pathetic.
It seems entirely reasonable that when they've had to scramble a bus from a depot over 40 miles away at no notice, that it might take more than an hour to get it in service – and that if they can get the bus there in time to run the return on the once-a-day service but not to run homebound journey 2 on a 4-a-day service that instead of running that late and then being late for everything for the rest of the afternoon, they run the one and only return journey on the 196, and then the two afternoon journeys on the 80. That isn't about "prioritising East Yorkshire services over North Yorkshire", that's just a reasonable and pragmatic response to dealing with an unexpected vehicle failure that ensures everyone can get home OK.
Having spoken to regular users of the 80, it's becoming a regular occurrence for EY to cancel the morning + midday 80 journeys. Its concerning that Pocklington was seemingly unable to provide a replacement vehicle, having to get a replacement vehicle from over 40 miles away for a service that operates multiple times a day is pathetic and unacceptable, especially when there's multiple operators with depots far closer. If EY can't vehicles in from their nearest depot, they shouldn't be running the service. Passengers shouldn't have to wait for hours because a bus has to come from over 40 miles away with no explanation from the operator. It's not good enough from EY.
Seems they don't mind a bit of early running too on the journeys which do operate. Both 14:30 and 17:30 journeys from York today ran 6/7 minutes early through Skelton, and 7/8 minutes early through Newton-on-Ouse.
I've not heard anything about this vehicle coming
They have also turned off replies on Facebook
Sadly this is another illustration of what I've previously called the sad decline of a once reliable company. Anyone that used this years M1 Moorbus can tell you how poor EY are at service recovery when a vehicle fails. I'd suggest that the root cause is EY no longer maintaining vehicles to the highest standard making breakdowns more regular.
I know someone who had a similar issue. They reported multiple times to customer service that on the website, the 31X was still offering ticket acceptance with Reliance months after Reliance has stopped operating. It would have taken less than a minute to fix, but instead EY kept fobbing them off. It only got sorted after many months as I tweeted it to Stuart Fillingham (alongside various other tweets showing how incompetent [the team] are are various things).
My favourite breakdown was when one week's bus broke down twice... Before it left the depot
The problem on a Sunday is that there is nobody in all day at Pocklington, that's why a replacement had to be sent from Hull. Part of the reason for more frequent breakdowns is the fact that there was very little investment in the fleet between 2021 and 2024, only 4 new vehicles arrived and everything else was cast offs
I believe it was only sorted come the September changes to the 31X. EY doesn't even publish the full timetable or service updates, Transdev does that. In my opinion, Transdev should operate the entire service.
Pocklington only operates the 747 on Sundays throughout the year. There was a breakdown a couple weeks ago which saw no replacement provided.
There's quite a few for me, like the time one of their EvoSetis broke down outside Transdev's Rawcliffe depot, oh the irony. Then there was the time the bus broke down outside Transdev's Malton Outstation and then broke down again the same day near Castleton resulting in a four hour delay! Or the time a bus broke down on DalesBus near Grassington and their sister company Procters had to send a bus from Leeming Bar!
Happens a lot on York services. Results in people waving their arms at drivers who pass by at full speed. A couple weeks ago on Shipton Road, a driver of First's 2 tried to hail down a 31X behind him to get the EY driver to stop for two elderly passengers, to no success. Buses on the Wolds Explorer regularly left 10+ minutes early, as the expectation was that no one used the service. In June, I arrived into Pocklington on the 200 some 15 minutes early.
EY really let Moorsbus down this year, after years of trying to restore the service. Such a shame, I hope the service is restored properly next summer.
The whole experience is an unaccountable, unreachable company. I have complained to my MP and the Executive for Transport at City of York Council regarding this.
To be fair, the offending vehicle in York yesterday was 8 years old and the E400MMC's used on Moorbus (and which regularly pack up on the X46/47) are all less that 6 years old. I think maintainence is more of a factor than age. I've only had one B9TL break down on me this year after it dumped all it's cooling fluid in Bridlington!
Quite right. I know Hull City Council weren't impressed when they contracted EY to operate services 44/45 every 10 minutes and after a couple of months EY reduced it to every 30 minutes to due shortages.
Ah yes, the "temporary" changes last February. I believe the 45 is now every 20 minutes and most 44 journeys are withdrawn. I wonder when, if ever, the service will be reinstated to every 10 minutes.
A big factor is that the North Riding vehicles get far more miles in than if they were ran out of York, requiring some 40 miles deadrunning each day.
Breaking down outside Malton depot and then outside Castleton... That was the very last day, wasn't it? Proctors also had to send a bus out to rescue Moorsbus passengers in the pouring rain and cold one week which was fun because all the windows instantly steamed up. Always felt sorry for the poor guy that got on at Wetwang and travelled to Malton (as he always does because we got curious one week and asked - turns out he prefers the shops there) and waited in the rain, cold and dark for the M1 to arrive... I think Transdev guys there picked up on how vulnerable he was and tried to do what they could for him including making him a cuppa
They really did let them down this year and they seemed to start after a really big social media push by a local group too. You had people actually complaining to the drivers as if they could instantly cure/fix the issue.
Yes it was the last day, an awful ending to the season. EY really relied on York Pullman's M6, which regularly ended up taking stranded passengers to Pickering and Malton. Kudos to the Transdev guys in Malton for helping the man.
Well let's hope EY gets their act together if these plans go ahead (pun not intended)!