Anyone know how the Nott Bus On Demand is going in North Notts? I see them out about but they are not on my patch north of Retford (yet). I'm intrigued as to how they might operate with our lovely 2 or 3 hour and none in the evenings/Sundays service if it gets extended.
-
Our new ticketing site is now live! Using either this or the original site (both powered by TrainSplit) helps support the running of the forum with every ticket purchase! Find out more and ask any questions/give us feedback in this thread!
Nottinghamshire & Derbyshire Bus News
- Thread starter GusB
- Start date
- Status
Sponsor Post - registered members do not see these adverts; click here to register, or click here to log in
R
RailUK Forums
Skymonster
Established Member
- Joined
- 7 Feb 2012
- Messages
- 2,068
Notts & Derby has, as predicted, taken over the 142 Nether Heage - Belper - Crich - Alfreton service. After an initial day using Solos, the newish Unibus liveried Enviro200 MMCs have stuck on the route this week, a substantial upgrade in capacity (and potentially reliability). 150 Clay Cross - Alfreton - Matlock has also flipped from TM Travel to Notts and Derby but currently seems stuck with a Solo SR. Chatting to the N&D drivers still route learning this week, they have suggested Wellglade towers hasn’t yet confirmed TM will get them back after the school holidays. These two changes currently take TM out of the equation in Amber Valley as most of the other routes are with TrentBarton, High Peak or Littles. TM has apparently gained more work in the Sheffield area and is short of drivers.
They have gained 26/26a/76a from Stagecoach, 5 from Cawthornes Travel & reintroduced 32, X74 which replaced the A1 & M17.
I can believe this, they seem to have taken on a bit too much as some routes are regularly getting journeys cancelled.
Last edited:
The Royal Derby has been run by deckers the last couple of days. Possibly to free up some single decks?
I don't think I've seen this reported here but Nottingham City Transport has announced that those Night Bus services that haven't already come back after COVID are now definitely not coming back. I.e. they are no longer suspended but formally withdrawn.
Basically it seems that those that serve university routes have survived and the rest have gone. To be fair the last day bus tends to be 11pm or midnight so it is only the true overnight Friday and Saturday only buses that have gone.
https://www.nctx.co.uk/update-nightbus-services
Basically it seems that those that serve university routes have survived and the rest have gone. To be fair the last day bus tends to be 11pm or midnight so it is only the true overnight Friday and Saturday only buses that have gone.
https://www.nctx.co.uk/update-nightbus-services
Last edited by a moderator:
76a and M17 both failed to operate on Saturday and there were some cancellations on the 218, although the latter was probably more likely traffic problems. TM was probably quite strained at the weekend as they were the contractor providing the Bassfest shuttle bus between Sheffield City Centre and Don Valley Bowl (tickets £15 return!)
Seems a bit strange for TM to do the BassFest contract, they also have the all day 41 to cover, if struggling to cover there routes they could have sub-contracted the shuttles to someone like Ashley Travel who have double deckers in their fleet ex Lothian.
If routes are not operating at all wouldn’t this put them in trouble with traffic commissioners or SYMCA (South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority) as these are contracted services?
Last edited by a moderator:
Looking at bustimes it appears that High Peak MB O530 806 has been given a repaint into a new 'Buxton Buzz' livery which looks to be a grey and Green version of the newer Centrebus/High Peak livery. I assume this is for the improved 185/186 which it has been on yesterday and today.
m79900
Member
Does anyone know what'll happen to the Versas on the Threes once they are replaced? Will they remain in Wellglade, or get scrapped due to their unreliability?
It’s a cream and green - the cream is meant to signify the many stone buildings in and around the town, with the green signifying the Peak District surrounding the town.
It is indeed for the 185/6.
MadMarsupial
Member
As in the 6.5 special? I'll get my coat.
Given they used to have an XR6 (now the 6.X), they might go for that.
Bedford OB
Member
Without checking all the way back, I am not sure that it has been mentioned here that Stagecoach/Derbyshire have produced a quite excellent 24 page glossy booklet for the extended X17. It's not the standard effort to Stagecoach national style, it is a glossy colour book including six pages on the places served, with colour pictures, four pages of maps and stopping details, plus the timetables and fares of course. It was readily available when I was in the area last week. There is also an eight page glossy multifold colour leaflet for the Peak Sightseer, with a map, timetable and pictures. I coud have put this on the general paper timetables thread but thought perhaps better here.
ChrisC
Established Member
Trent Bartons daily list of cancellations seems to be getting more extensive than ever recently. I thought things had improved following the withdrawal of some routes and reorganisation of a few routes last autumn. Stagecoach in Mansfield have been a little more reliable in recent months.
The X17 colour timetable and visitor guide booklet is excellent and in some areas of Derbyshire Dales actually distributed through letter boxes!
So did I as I haven't seen any cancelations in Derby recently and I haven't even seen the list's on facebook. I even thought they have stopped doing it.
It is good. Also noticed the new Sixes timetable is in the Ecclesbourne Valley Railway ticket office at Wirksworth now alongside the X17 one.
ChrisC
Established Member
The lists have been on Twitter or is it actually called X these days. Really long lists of cancellations this last week on some routes. H1, Nines, Threes and Red Arrow have seen most cancellations today.
Loads of buses on the Threes route cancelled today, Wednesday 9th August, with numerous consecutive buses cancelled leaving no buses for over 30 minutes. The hourly Stagecoach 141, that I was on mid morning, left Hucknall for Nottingham with very few empty seats. Those boarding at Bestwood Village had to stand.
Last edited:
The Red Arrow seemed to have 2 vehicles missing yesterday which 3 coaches and 4 mango buses out which doesn't look great.
In better news all 5 branded Volvo's were out on the villager yesterday for the first time in about a year.
STINT47
Member
Trentbarton have now stopped posting on Facebook a list of cancelled buses and are directing people to their website or app, which will list if your bus is cancelled.
This is all well and good but the app only shows buses that are cancelled in the next hour from a specific stop. If your planning your day and need to use a number of buses the Facebook list was much more useful. Plus their Hugo app is not all that good from my experience.
Being cynical I also note that by not publishing a list it hides just how many buses are still being cancelled, something that shows no sign of improvement.
I worked at Trentbarton for just over a year and at the start I believed that they were the really good bus company and thought they would get back to where they were but over the months my faith in them got less and less.
This is all well and good but the app only shows buses that are cancelled in the next hour from a specific stop. If your planning your day and need to use a number of buses the Facebook list was much more useful. Plus their Hugo app is not all that good from my experience.
Being cynical I also note that by not publishing a list it hides just how many buses are still being cancelled, something that shows no sign of improvement.
I worked at Trentbarton for just over a year and at the start I believed that they were the really good bus company and thought they would get back to where they were but over the months my faith in them got less and less.
With the current amount of daily cancellations and lack of faith from the general public, isn’t this something the Traffic Commissioner would be interested in?
Whilst it is good having cancelled buses showing on the live times it is not great as you say it only shows an hour ahead. If I get the bus from work it is a 25 min walk to the stop and the frequency is every 30-45 mins at peak times so there would be little chance to get the earlier bus if I wanted to.
At least with the threes they are probably just waiting for the new buses to arrive and hope that they solve the cancellations there.
derbybusdepot
Member
- Joined
- 17 Dec 2015
- Messages
- 357
The posts on Facebook seemed to only list cancellations within the next hour or so anyway, so people just have to look somewhere different to get the information.
Of course the real problem to be solved is the fact that there are so many cancellations in the first place. Passengers shouldn't be looking on Facebook expecting their bus to be cancelled.
It would also help if operators could easily update bus stops displays in real time, with informative messages about delays/cancellations
Some updates to NCT Routes:
- Additional stops on the Green Line "City Loop" to improve access around the City Centre and a closer stop to the new Broad Marsh Bus Station and Library
- Sky Blue 45 extended to serve the new Chase Farm development in Gedling
- Orange 34 re-routed in the City Centre to serve the back of the Arena, providing better access to the new student accommodation on the east of the City
- Bus stop changes in the City Centre for Navy, Green and Orange Lines and Red 50
- Red 44/A re-routed in Gedling to terminate in the turning circle on Wollaton Avenue and use Arnold Lane Shelford Road both ways rather than Besecar Avenue towards City
- Revised timetables on our Navy 49 and Lime Line services to reflect post-pandemic demand
Trentbarton’s fleet of ADLs is said to be delayed once more. The first few should be due in October
I also believe (although unconfirmed) there is a plan to aid the reliability issues on Red Arrow. Currently some days will see up to 6 out of the 9 coaches off the road for various faults which simply isn’t good enough. I have been told that one or two second hand coaches are being thought about until a new fleet is ordered but again it’s not something I can confirm or deny
I also believe (although unconfirmed) there is a plan to aid the reliability issues on Red Arrow. Currently some days will see up to 6 out of the 9 coaches off the road for various faults which simply isn’t good enough. I have been told that one or two second hand coaches are being thought about until a new fleet is ordered but again it’s not something I can confirm or deny
m79900
Member
I wonder if they’ll bother with new coaches for the red arrow, or just buy yet another fleet of MMCs.
EDIT: Would it make sense to draft the TM Irizars back over, as they don’t seem to get out much?
EDIT: Would it make sense to draft the TM Irizars back over, as they don’t seem to get out much?
Last edited:
I'm not quite sure what the plan is, but rumours suggest that Plaxton Panther LEs are being thought about however they're not currently on offer so may be difficult
tram21
Established Member
269 flies on the A52 with a top speed of 68mph. Why Trentbarton don't create a Witchway/ Sky Class model with double deckers, probably E400MMCs, it would work really well?
markymark2000
On Moderation
To be fair, just some decent Volvo B8 Evoras would be ok for the route. The coaches are nice and I would hate to see them go but at the same time, the route isn't that long and a service bus could more than sufficiently handle the loads. That's before you look at the fact the coaches aren't really accessible as you couldn't safely deploy the wheelchair lift at Nottingham Victoria or in the Red Arrow stands at Derby Bus Station. Other stops depends on surrounding street furniture.
It is a shame that the Red Arrow is kept so short, I think it would have great potential merging it with the Trent X38 trips to Burton. Give a competetive edge against Arriva and it enables and encourages longer distance journeys to be done on the service rather than forcing everyone to change.
It is a shame that the Red Arrow is kept so short, I think it would have great potential merging it with the Trent X38 trips to Burton. Give a competetive edge against Arriva and it enables and encourages longer distance journeys to be done on the service rather than forcing everyone to change.
- Status