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Nottingham 'Bus War'

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Harbon 1

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They hide their weekly/Cash saver tickets because they want to push Mango, the card for mugs. They give discounted prices on their extortionate base prices giving the impression Mango is oh so great. You can buy a £20 weekly ticket from any driver that will let you travel via all zones (A, B, C) unlimited travel. I bet most people didn't know that. Mango not so attractive now eh?

Most people have caught Trent Barton because there has been no other option, now other operators have noticed and are cherry picking their network. They've had their day I'm afraid. All TB are going to be left with is a bill for lots of expensive buses.

I find my mango very useful and it stops you having heavy pockets and having to borrow change. I'm sure premier do a similar card which is much better. And there's a daily price cap on mango which is a bit less then a zigzag iirc.
 
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tbone

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I find my mango very useful and it stops you having heavy pockets and having to borrow change. I'm sure premier do a similar card which is much better. And there's a daily price cap on mango which is a bit less then a zigzag iirc.

Mango caps at the zigzag price of £5 or £8 if used prior to 9am. Of course, it takes longer to reach that cap with either a 25 or 35% discount on fares.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Trent Barton and High Peak have reached an agreement whereby single and return tickets on some stretches of Transpeak will be discounted by 15% at the production of a mango card.

I wonder if this has anything to do with citylink?
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Also, some big news might make an appearance on Monday, all rumours at the minute from a number of sources, but it's pretty delicate so I don't think it should go on a public forum incase they're not true!
 

Jordeh

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Huh? What do you mean?
I'm assuming he means a bus firm is entering administration, that's merely a guess though. Whilst I think it would be a sad event for there to be less competition and job losses, if it's a certain bus company I do hope it shuts up a certain troll in this thread :lol:
 
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trentside

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Considering that things appear to be operating as normal, and nobody has been able to provide any evidence, I think we can put it down to these persistent 'enthusiasts rumours' that have been circulating for months. These were the same rumours that rattled one of their managers on Facebook a few weeks ago...

--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

Though saying the above, this has now appeared on Omnibuses...

http://omnibuses.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/virgin-megastores-zavvi-woolworths.html
 
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Statto

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Also, some big news might make an appearance on Monday, all rumours at the minute from a number of sources, but it's pretty delicate so I don't think it should go on a public forum incase they're not true!

I've said it in another thread but i really loath posts like this[i know something but can't say anything yet], if you can't give full details then don't bother posting stuff like this, FMs will go into overdrive speculating over what will or won't happen.:|
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
I'm not trying to police the forum that's for the MODs to do but i loath posts like that.
 

Qwerty133

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ARedFlyer

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A medium size bus operator based in Nottingham, I've read that as TB. Yay!! :razz::razz: Makes sense....lots of money spent on flash buses with less passenger numbers, quickly losing market share, profitable routes being picked off by other more innovative companies. . They've got complacent and now look to be paying the price.

Their latest brain wave to restore one of their failing routes is to make the Skylink a full stop service rather than a limited one. A service that never runs on time anyway and they haven't even changed their timetable!

Another example of the Really Bad bus company at work.
 

ALIEN14247

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You can cling on to that if you want ARedFlyer but it's going to be all over for somebody before the weekend.....
 

Lewisham2221

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A medium size bus operator based in Nottingham, I've read that as TB. Yay!! :razz::razz: Makes sense....lots of money spent on flash buses with less passenger numbers, quickly losing market share, profitable routes being picked off by other more innovative companies. . They've got complacent and now look to be paying the price.

Their latest brain wave to restore one of their failing routes is to make the Skylink a full stop service rather than a limited one. A service that never runs on time anyway and they haven't even changed their timetable!

Another example of the Really Bad bus company at work.

You really haven't got a clue, have you? :roll:

For starters, the post on Omnibuses, mentions a medium sized, regional operator. It doesn't specify a region, let alone a county.

Secondly, I sincerely hope that you aren't implying the Premier are a "more innovative" company?? Sorry lad, but the "let's run second hand buses on the same profitable route as another operator and try and attract passengers by charging rock bottom fares" idea has been done before. Many times. Certainly nothing innovative there.
 

ARedFlyer

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Well if you guys are insinuating it's Premiere (which you obviously are) then that would be really sad as they are a honest family business and many people enjoy their fair fares.

If it is Premiere then YourBus need to register a Y5 service to replace Red 5 ASAP to cash in.

Despite my nickname I am not really pro-Premiere. Anti Trent Barton yes, very much so. They are a vile company.

Oh and YourBus still could do with registering a Y58 service. Sherwood>Arnold direct ££££

I see nothing wrong with cherry-picking. Competition is healthy and great for customers.
 

Deerfold

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Despite my nickname I am not really pro-Premiere. Anti Trent Barton yes, very much so. They are a vile company.
As I've asked before, why so much vitriol? Is a bus service being late really "vile"? They're not my local company any more so I only use them from time to time - on occasions where they have disappointed they seem to have more interest in apologising and seeing how they can not repeat faults than most other bus companies I've had cause to correspond with.

I see nothing wrong with cherry-picking. Competition is healthy and great for customers.

Is it? I see it as a waste of resources when the main competitor to buses is the private car and fighting amongst bus operators seems to be a shame, fighting for the same passengers rather than looking to provide new services that people might want.
 

ARedFlyer

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As I've asked before, why so much vitriol? Is a bus service being late really "vile"? They're not my local company any more so I only use them from time to time - on occasions where they have disappointed they seem to have more interest in apologising and seeing how they can not repeat faults than most other bus companies I've had cause to correspond with.

Robbed Nottingham of Premium Airport Service.
Rob people in villages with ridiculous pricing.
Long and tediously slow journeys from A to B.
Dropping buses from timetables when late. (I'd rather the bus turn up late than not at all).
Freezing cold buses.
£8 Derby return.
 

Deerfold

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Robbed Nottingham of Premium Airport Service.
Rob people in villages with ridiculous pricing.
Long and tediously slow journeys from A to B.
Dropping buses from timetables when late. (I'd rather the bus turn up late than not at all).
Freezing cold buses.
£8 Derby return.

"Robbed"? Really? And this explains why they're "Vile"?

Do they deliberately make these journeys long and slow? Or is that just the way life is to make it worth running buses to some areas. I see them as having introduced more express bus services than most companies over the last 15 years.

Ah, the drama you get on the net...
 

Lewisham2221

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a. Robbed Nottingham of Premium Airport Service.
b. Rob people in villages with ridiculous pricing.
c. Long and tediously slow journeys from A to B.
d. Dropping buses from timetables when late. (I'd rather the bus turn up late than not at all).
e. Freezing cold buses.
f. £8 Derby return.

:roll:

You really are clutching at straws, buddy. :lol:

a. Nottingham still has an airport service. It was not 'robbed' of anything. If people were that unhappy with TB's offering, I'm sure Red Flyer would have been somewhat more successful.

b. Such as? A quick play with the TB 'fare finder' doesn't throw up anything I'd class as particularly excessive, especially given the TB level of investment. Compare some of those fares with what other operators provide for journeys of a similar length. If they were charging those fares whilst running significantly older, less welcoming buses and/or providing a poor service in general then I could understand your point. But they aren't. Again, look at other operators. And I don't just mean Premiere/Yourbus and I don't just mean Nottinghamshire/Derbyshire or even the East Midlands.

c. Go on, throw us some more examples. Not including Indigo Nottingham-Derby (faster on Red Arrow), Villager Derby-Burton (faster on X38) and other similar examples.

d. It's pretty standard practice to run short workings or drop a journey when a bus is running quite late. It ensures the bus is running on time for the rest of the day and prevents any knock-on consequences, such as drivers getting in late for legal breaks and thus delaying other services as well. It can be a tough call, but it's a case of upsetting passengers on one journey Vs. upsetting a greater number of passengers across the network, across the day.

e. You're getting really desperate now, aren't you? I'm pretty sure that the entire TB fleet does not lack heating. Sure, there may be a handful of buses that aren't very warm, but far from the majority.

f. Good one :roll:. Zig-Zag plus. Unlimited travel, all day, across the network. Hardly just a "Derby return", is it?
 

Jordeh

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Robbed Nottingham of Premium Airport Service.
Nottingham does not need a "Premium Airport Service" otherwise it would be able to fund itself. Instead it had to subsidised by the Council. Premiere then showed what was previously thought, the route could not be ran profitably. At least now the Council has more money to subsidise other bus routes now Trent Barton are running it.
Rob people in villages with ridiculous pricing.
Living in a village you cannot expect a frequent or cheap bus service. Once again Trent Barton are saving the Council from subsidies and many villages are grateful for their frequent and quality bus services from Trent Barton, hence their continued success.
Long and tediously slow journeys from A to B.
At least it's more sustainable in the long run, route after route has been shown to be unprofitable for Premiere because of poor business logic of not serving enough places.
Dropping buses from timetables when late. (I'd rather the bus turn up late than not at all).
No evidence of this has ever been found and given the frequency of most Trent Barton buses, it would barely be noticeable if it was true anyway but from what I've read on here, this is far from Trent Barton policy. Although it has been rumoured that other bus companies in Nottingham do this...
Freezing cold buses.
Might have something to do with the cold weather at the moment? At least there's Air Conditioning on some routes so they're not too warm otherwise someone would presumably be moaning about that too.
£8 Derby return.
As someone who's a fan of "Premium Services" I thought you'd be a fan of the Red Arrow with it's leather seats, frequency, very few stops (no pesky villages aye?) and Wifi? Oh wait you want premium services without premium prices?! Well that does sound a viable business idea :roll: You could of course catch the train instead.

Don't get me wrong though I'm not going to celebrate Premiere's demise and I doubt anyone else will in here. No one wants to see an honest family business disappear and people to lose their jobs. It's fair to say it's certainly kept Trent Barton on it's toes too. To call Premiere "innovative" though is quite far off the mark unless of course you have some examples of their successful innovations?

I completely agree with you here however, infact it's probably the only thing you've ever said on this forum I've agreed with.
Competition is healthy and great for customers.
 
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bunnahabhain

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Competition is healthy and great for customers.
It is until everybody in the competition overstretches themselves and the customer ends up with no service. At the end of the day, a smaller firm can never compete with a bigger firm because the bigger firm has a far greater income from many different areas, so they can ride out the rough and wait for the smaller firm to lose too much money to continue putting up competition on a route, or even in an area.

Competition is fine, but only if there really needs to be a competition. Trent Barton are a good company, they invest a lot in their fleet and I don't remember seeing any of their buses running around in a shabby looking condition. The same cannot be said about Premiere Travel, whatever contraption turns up on the Red 9 in Loughborough can be heard from miles away because they are generally incredibly loud vehicles, they always look filthy, and they don't really inspire me to want to travel by bus. The only company that I've ever really been impressed with is TrentBarton, they may not be perfect, but out of all the major operators they are surely the best.
 
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