Arriva Stevenage

[skyhigh]

I've heard quite a few complaints about Arriva's Stevenage services (my old stomping ground) since the beginning of April - they seem to be putting frequent messages on social media apologising for a limited service on routes including SB1, SB2, SB3, SB4, SB5, 100, 300 and 96 due to a high number of mechanical defects.

I've heard that there's around 20 busses currently stopped for repairs - does anyone know how true that is and if so, what's going on?

Thanks

 

[ChathillMan]

I've heard quite a few complaints about Arriva's Stevenage services (my old stomping ground) since the beginning of April - they seem to be putting frequent messages on social media apologising for a limited service on routes including SB1, SB2, SB3, SB4, SB5, 100, 300 and 96 due to a high number of mechanical defects.

I've heard that there's around 20 busses currently stopped for repairs - does anyone know how true that is and if so, what's going on?

Thanks

24 according this http://www.thecomet.net/news/bus-fi...enage-transport-nightmare-continues-1-4974820

 

[spuddie]

I was in Stevenage last weekend visiting relatives and they happened to mention how bad the buses had been over the last couple of weeks.

Seems they are suffering from an ageing fleet and lack of mechanics. I note how Arriva say they are struggling to get extra mechanics in but surely they are a big enough company that they could draft in some spare vehicles from other depots to try and help cover the shortfall?

I believe Arriva are due a large batch of new Enviro 200's shortly so hopefully that will help, I don't think any are for Stevenage but might help with a vehicle cascade.

 

[overthewater]

This sound oddly familiar.....

 

[Robertj21a]

I was in Stevenage last weekend visiting relatives and they happened to mention how bad the buses had been over the last couple of weeks.

Seems they are suffering from an ageing fleet and lack of mechanics. I note how Arriva say they are struggling to get extra mechanics in but surely they are a big enough company that they could draft in some spare vehicles from other depots to try and help cover the shortfall?

I believe Arriva are due a large batch of new Enviro 200's shortly so hopefully that will help, I don't think any are for Stevenage but might help with a vehicle cascade.

Correct, none of those 35 are due for Stevenage. In fact they are all going to the Midlands fleets, so any cascades would have to come from there.

 

[Teflon Lettuce]

I think their response to the crisis is an absolute classic.... they are short of serviceable buses so what have they done? drafted in extra buses? NO drafted in extra mechanics? NO put extra inspectors on the street to regulate the (non existent) buses? YES!!!!!!!!!!! seriously you couldn't make it up.

I have challenged them a couple of times on their facebook page to come clean and give a detailed explanation as to what has gone wrong... the only response I get is the standard message they're regularly posting...

don't be surprised if, in about 6 months, Arriva announce that due to continuing poor returns they are quitting Stevenage!

 

[ChathillMan]

I find ARRIVA in Herts a through depressing operation to be honest.

50 mins down the road in Luton you see the good in Arriva, but Herts is awful. I imagine the margins are small, but at least look like you care.

 

[Robertj21a]

I find ARRIVA in Herts a through depressing operation to be honest.

50 mins down the road in Luton you see the good in Arriva, but Herts is awful. I imagine the margins are small, but at least look like you care.

Still early days for their split of areas but Luton is now under Midlands management. It will be interesting to see if the differences between the ex-Shires areas continues to widen.

 

[spuddie]

don't be surprised if, in about 6 months, Arriva announce that due to continuing poor returns they are quitting Stevenage!

I'll offer them a token £1 for it!

On a serious note I wish I had the funds to start an operation, there is not much competition in Stevenage and now would be an ideal time to launch a rival service whilst public perception is poor.

 

[Tetchytyke]

I find ARRIVA in Herts a through depressing operation to be honest.

The margins are small and, quite honestly, they look like they can't be arsed. The state of the buses in Hemel Hempstead was, quite frankly, a disgrace. If Stevenage has a similar fleet profile- a selection of clapped-out MPDs cascaded from hither and yon, trailing a plume of blue smoke behind them- it's no wonder that this has happened.

Heck, even Red Rose Travel's fleet of knackered ex-London E200s and Darts looks in better nick these days.

 

[skyhigh]

Judging by the looks of the fleet, I'm not massively surprised. The last time I was in the area the passing Enviros on the 300/301s all seemed to be in different liveries (also with some minus Arriva stickers, some with different coloured body panels and most with dents/scrapes). It didn't give the impression of a proud operation, to be honest.

 

[AM9]

I would agree, - they're even beginning to make Uno look good! The 321 seems to be OK even allowing for the Sapphire upgrade.

 

[spuddie]

Does anyone know which of the 24 vehicles are causing the issues? Don't need exact numbers just if one type is being far more unreliable than another?

I know they ended up with a whole load of ex-Liverpool/Manchester VDL200's, used to enjoy them on the SB1's but not sure how suitable they were for the 100/1.

It all seems to have gone downhill rather rapidly, back in 2009 we had 2 new VDL's for the SB1, and around 20 new Enviro 300's for the 300/1 allowing the ex-Sovereign B10BLE's to go on the 100/1, most of the other town services were in the hands of 2007 Volvo B7RLE's and generally the fleet looked pretty smart.

Still think it's a shame Blazefield sold out it's Sovereign operations to Arriva, looking at how smart the Transdev Blazefield fleets up north look we could have had something quite different.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

Judging by the looks of the fleet, I'm not massively surprised. The last time I was in the area the passing Enviros on the 300/301s all seemed to be in different liveries (also with some minus Arriva stickers, some with different coloured body panels and most with dents/scrapes). It didn't give the impression of a proud operation, to be honest.

I'm not one to overly criticise operators (as things are usually more complex than people realise). However, Stevenage and Hitchin was an area that I was reasonably familiar with especially in 2000-2. It had reasonable investment and was run fairly well.

I very occasionally venture there now and again, and the acquisition of Sovereign seemed a good move but the closure of Hitchin depot seemed to symbolise a business without a clear vision. Instead, it seemed to prelude a reduction in services, retrenchment allowing other operators to come in at the margins and begin to nibble away at the business.

Last month, I stopped in at Letchworth and saw the local Arriva fleet. It was really quite shabby, even the newer vehicles. I can't comment about the level of reliability and service delivery but it just seemed to have a careworn air about it.

It ALMOST feels like the concentration on operations at Stevenage has allowed the bad old days of LCBS and LCNE to return (though that is probably an unfair point).

 

[A0]

Still think it's a shame Blazefield sold out it's Sovereign operations to Arriva, looking at how smart the Transdev Blazefield fleets up north look we could have had something quite different.

Problem was the Sovereign operation was never particularly profitable. It was formed out of half of the troubled London Country NE (Stevenage, Hatfield and St Albans).

Under Blazefield ownership they sold a chunk (about 3/4s) of the Stevenage operation to Luton and District, they then sold the St Albans operation to Centrebus / In Motion who have of course subsequently sold it onto UNO.

Hatfield's responsibilities disappeared into the various bits above.

By the end all they had was a small operation in Stevenage, not geographically close to any of their other operations - it's easy to see why they sold out to Arriva (which is what L&D had become).

 

[A0]

I very occasionally venture there now and again, and the acquisition of Sovereign seemed a good move but the closure of Hitchin depot seemed to symbolise a business without a clear vision. Instead, it seemed to prelude a reduction in services, retrenchment allowing other operators to come in at the margins and begin to nibble away at the business.

Last month, I stopped in at Letchworth and saw the local Arriva fleet. It was really quite shabby, even the newer vehicles. I can't comment about the level of reliability and service delivery but it just seemed to have a careworn air about it.

It ALMOST feels like the concentration on operations at Stevenage has allowed the bad old days of LCBS and LCNE to return (though that is probably an unfair point).

The thing was Hitchin's depot (ex United Counties / L&D) only made sense when Hitchin and Stevenage were served by two different companies.

London Country had (in the dim and distant past) had a depots in both Hitchin and Luton but both disappeared long ago.

Smaller towns generally don't justify their own depot in the way they used to - and the operators have consolidated operations into fewer, larger depots as a result.

 

[spuddie]

Problem was the Sovereign operation was never particularly profitable. It was formed out of half of the troubled London Country NE (Stevenage, Hatfield and St Albans).

Under Blazefield ownership they sold a chunk (about 3/4s) of the Stevenage operation to Luton and District, they then sold the St Albans operation to Centrebus / In Motion who have of course subsequently sold it onto UNO.

Hatfield's responsibilities disappeared into the various bits above.

By the end all they had was a small operation in Stevenage, not geographically close to any of their other operations - it's easy to see why they sold out to Arriva (which is what L&D had become).

I think the 3/4 Stevenage sale to L&D happened under AJS control pre-Blazefield, it seems this happened due to the spend on purchasing Jubilee Coaches and Welwyn Hatfield Line the year before.

The Hatfield operations didn't help by not reacting quick enough to the arrival of UniversityBus....nobody was fooled by the attempt of Noddy Bus!

At one point the Blazefield southern operations were a reasonable size with London operations at Harrow and Edgware (purchased from BTS in 1993) which were sold to Transdev, the Hertfordshire Operations (now Arriva/Uno), Cambridge Coach Services which was sold to National Express and Huntingdon & District which was sold to Cavalier Travel.

Huntingdon was an odd one belonging to Stagecoach but they had to sell due to mergers commison report, within 10 years in went to Premier Buses, Sovereign, Cavalier before ending up back as Stagecoach.

 

[Robertj21a]

Perhaps Centrebus should gradually take over some more operations in Stevenage. They tend to be fairly reliable, more so than some others in that general area.

 

[PeterC]

Heck, even Red Rose Travel's fleet of knackered ex-London E200s and Darts looks in better nick these days.

I don't know Stevenage but as a regular Red Rose user I can say that the local Arriva operation must be in a really bad way.

 

[ChathillMan]

Perhaps Centrebus should gradually take over some more operations in Stevenage. They tend to be fairly reliable, more so than some others in that general area.

Wouldn't surprise me. They are almost a low cost unit of ARRIVA given they own 40% of Centebus

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

The thing was Hitchin's depot (ex United Counties / L&D) only made sense when Hitchin and Stevenage were served by two different companies.

London Country had (in the dim and distant past) had a depots in both Hitchin and Luton but both disappeared long ago.

Smaller towns generally don't justify their own depot in the way they used to - and the operators have consolidated operations into fewer, larger depots as a result.

I don't disagree; the logic of amalgamating the garages did make sense especially given the close proximity of the two towns. However, it seemed to coincide with a business heading south.

 

[Busaholic]

The thing was Hitchin's depot (ex United Counties / L&D) only made sense when Hitchin and Stevenage were served by two different companies.

London Country had (in the dim and distant past) had a depots in both Hitchin and Luton but both disappeared long ago.

Smaller towns generally don't justify their own depot in the way they used to - and the operators have consolidated operations into fewer, larger depots as a result.

Hitchin Garage (code HN) disappeared long before London Country was created from the Country Area of London Transport on 1/1/1970.

 

[Robertj21a]

Wouldn't surprise me. They are almost a low cost unit of ARRIVA given they own 40% of Centebus

Do they ? - where's that confirmed ?

 

[Tetchytyke]

They are almost a low cost unit of ARRIVA given they own 40% of Centebus

Arriva don't have a stake in Centrebus.

Centrebus Holdings- which for a while traded (confusingly) as Centrebus, but is now Yorkshire Tiger and Hinckley Bus- was 60% Centrebus and 40% Arriva. IIRC Arriva bought Centrebus out around about the time they acquired the West Yorkshire bit of Yorkshire Traction from Stagecoach.

I don't know Stevenage but as a regular Red Rose user I can say that the local Arriva operation must be in a really bad way.

I'm less familiar with Stevenage, but Hemel Hempstead's Arriva operation was diabolical. And has been getting worse, every time I see the Intalink bulletin another service has been withdrawn. They'll have nothing left soon.

 

[Robertj21a]

Arriva don't have a stake in Centrebus.

Centrebus Holdings- which for a while traded (confusingly) as Centrebus, but is now Yorkshire Tiger and Hinckley Bus- was 60% Centrebus and 40% Arriva. IIRC Arriva bought Centrebus out around about the time they acquired the West Yorkshire bit of Yorkshire Traction from Stagecoach.

Correct. Centrebus Holdings continues to this day, trading as Hinckley Bus. Their operations at East Midlands Airport have recently transferred over to the Arriva Midlands licence.

There has always been a fairly close relationship between Arriva and Julian Peddle (Centrebus etc etc), but there's never (as far as I'm aware) been an Arriva shareholding in Centrebus itself.

 

[jon0844]

While all this goes on, Uno is actually showing various signs of improvement.

Can't speak for the quality of the overall fleet, but they've got someone in who is ex-TfL who has shaken things up. Buses seem to run to time, they answer the phone and give useful information, and have seemingly got rid of a lot of the old drivers who did no favours for the company.

Problem is, I can't see Uno being able to (or wanting) to expand.

 

[westcoaster]

While all this goes on, Uno is actually showing various signs of improvement.

Can't speak for the quality of the overall fleet, but they've got someone in who is ex-TfL who has shaken things up. Buses seem to run to time, they answer the phone and give useful information, and have seemingly got rid of a lot of the old drivers who did no favours for the company.

Problem is, I can't see Uno being able to (or wanting) to expand.

Uno now operate in bedford/Milton Keynes, Northampton and I believe also oxford.

 

[Mwanesh]

The problem for Stevenage started when they were moved to Southern Counties.They are now managed from Kent.By breaking up the Shires division Kevin Cooper messed up big time.The management is so remote.Love or hate Stagecoach at least their divisions directors can travel by bus to see the routes.The Shires was good in that it was a network.If you broke down in Luton you could get sorted straight away now they are on separate licences

 

[Richard1960]

The problem for Stevenage started when they were moved to Southern Counties.They are now managed from Kent.By breaking up the Shires division Kevin Cooper messed up big time.The management is so remote.Love or hate Stagecoach at least their divisions directors can travel by bus to see the routes.The Shires was good in that it was a network.If you broke down in Luton you could get sorted straight away now they are on separate licences

Same with us in Harlow Essex we were part of Arriva the Shires , now we are managed also out of Kent seems unreal all the buses have Arriva Medway written on them.!

 

[Simon75]

First Potteries (Stoke On Trent) is managed 200 miles in Chelmsford Essex !!