lxfe_mxtterz
Member
I'm quick enough to complain on this forum about the awful service provided by First Bus (particularly on the RA2 route), however in a change of tone, I just wanted give credit where it's due and share my mostly positive experience with Falcon Buses today.
Earlier today, the entire timetable for the 715 route had collapsed due to heavy traffic along the route, with buses getting increasingly late on their way down to Guildford. The 13:20 departure arrived into Guildford one hour late and left at 14:00, 40 minutes late.
I caught the 14:20 departure from Guildford to Kingston, which left around 15 minutes late.
The journey went smoothly until Cobham, where there was a scheduled driver changeover. The relieving driver boarded the bus and announced that he had been instructed by control to terminate the bus at Cobham, and then take it back to Guildford, as it was already running late and he was overdue a break due to the disruption.
Naturally, this was incredibly frustrating as it would result in an hour's wait in Cobham, following an already extended wait at Guildford due to the late departure of the service.
There were around six of us onboard, all travelling to Kingston, and there was a little bit of back-and-forth with the driver, with frustrations expressed.
Eventually, after a few phone calls (with what I assume was control), a compromise was agreed, and we'd sit on the bus and wait for the driver to take his break, and then he'd take us to Kingston, with the bus out of service and running fast.
It would've been incredibly easy for the driver and/or control to have just said no and to terminate the bus at Cobham as intended, but credit where it's due and they turned a negative experience into a largely positive one, getting us all to Kingston with as little inconvenience as possible (bar the delay whilst the driver took his break which was entirely understandable).
I feel that often there isn't enough praise given for when operators make an effort to be customer-friendly, so just thought I'd share this experience as an example of what can be achieved when operators don't automatically take an indifferent approach to their fare-paying* passengers.
I have always found Falcon Buses a decent little operator and long may it continue.
*Except for this journey, where nobody on the bus actually paid as there was a problem with the ticket machine(!)
Earlier today, the entire timetable for the 715 route had collapsed due to heavy traffic along the route, with buses getting increasingly late on their way down to Guildford. The 13:20 departure arrived into Guildford one hour late and left at 14:00, 40 minutes late.
I caught the 14:20 departure from Guildford to Kingston, which left around 15 minutes late.
The journey went smoothly until Cobham, where there was a scheduled driver changeover. The relieving driver boarded the bus and announced that he had been instructed by control to terminate the bus at Cobham, and then take it back to Guildford, as it was already running late and he was overdue a break due to the disruption.
Naturally, this was incredibly frustrating as it would result in an hour's wait in Cobham, following an already extended wait at Guildford due to the late departure of the service.
There were around six of us onboard, all travelling to Kingston, and there was a little bit of back-and-forth with the driver, with frustrations expressed.
Eventually, after a few phone calls (with what I assume was control), a compromise was agreed, and we'd sit on the bus and wait for the driver to take his break, and then he'd take us to Kingston, with the bus out of service and running fast.
It would've been incredibly easy for the driver and/or control to have just said no and to terminate the bus at Cobham as intended, but credit where it's due and they turned a negative experience into a largely positive one, getting us all to Kingston with as little inconvenience as possible (bar the delay whilst the driver took his break which was entirely understandable).
I feel that often there isn't enough praise given for when operators make an effort to be customer-friendly, so just thought I'd share this experience as an example of what can be achieved when operators don't automatically take an indifferent approach to their fare-paying* passengers.
I have always found Falcon Buses a decent little operator and long may it continue.
*Except for this journey, where nobody on the bus actually paid as there was a problem with the ticket machine(!)