Nottinghamshire & Derbyshire Bus News

[zakky1.0]

I notice only two vehicles on the sixes at the moment. Normally a few more especially on the 6.1

From what’s been said it’s bustimes.org that has a problem, has been showing only 1 comet this afternoon (all 3 were out).

 

[Trainman40083]

Ah, guess they just do it where they can.
I notice only two vehicles on the sixes at the moment. Normally a few more especially on the 6.1

Yes, hard work finding companies with available capacity.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 20 May 2024 ==

Ah, guess they just do it where they can.
I notice only two vehicles on the sixes at the moment. Normally a few more especially on the 6.1

Was that really a four hour gap in the 6.1 service? One of the Ripley buses stopped tracking between Belper and Ripley.

 

[liamf656]

Some small NCT news - Sky Blue E200s 385/6 have been withdrawn, with their replacements being E200MMC spares 309/399

 

[derbybusdepot]

Ex Taf, nott's and derby e200 number 53 now in fleet livery.

(YT24 BKA) is the white Scania Irizar coach, at Meadow Road yesterday.

 

[tram21]

3/6 on Ilkeston flyer
3/11 on the two

While I think a couple were missing, assuming you got this info from bustimes.org its not correct, as it had an outage yesterday and many buses didn't track.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 21 May 2024 ==

Was that really a four hour gap in the 6.1 service? One of the Ripley buses stopped tracking between Belper and Ripley.

No that won't have been the case, many buses stopped tracking part way through routes, for once Hugo was the more reliable with that actually tracking buses!

 

[Teapot42]

While I think a couple were missing, assuming you got this info from bustimes.org its not correct, as it had an outage yesterday and many buses didn't track.

Was there also a bustimes outage on Sunday? The Stagecoach Yorkshire bus I was waiting for wasn't tracking and when I looked later none of their services seemed to track in the morning, all coming back on around 12:20. Didn't affect Hulleys though so could be an issue with their machines instead?

 

[bringiton]

is bus times still having problems? I notice skylink derby is tracking with 8 vehicles

 

[tram21]

is bus times still having problems? I notice skylink derby is tracking with 8 vehicles

Yes I think it must be as many vehicles are stopping tracking mid journey. There's definitely not only 8 vehicles!

 

[Hyebone]

Was there also a bustimes outage on Sunday? The Stagecoach Yorkshire bus I was waiting for wasn't tracking and when I looked later none of their services seemed to track in the morning, all coming back on around 12:20. Didn't affect Hulleys though so could be an issue with their machines instead?

Neither Stagecoach Yorkshire and East Midlands were tracking vehicles Saturday evening/ Sunday morning.

 

[Skymonster]

Most frustrating thing about Trent Barton is that the drivers - often the only point of public contact - rarely seem to have much clue about what’s going. Frequently a 6 will rock up at Derby in the morning with “Not in service“ on the front, when the next bus is already late. Ask the driver when the next one will actually run and they just shrug and leave empty anyway. Gone, seemingly, are the higher standards of customer service and the glory days (‘70s, ‘80s) when I lived in Nottingham and every NCT (Nottingham City Transport) vehicle had a radio which the driver could use to ask control what was happening.

 

[GusB]

Can we please stop using jargon? While regular readers of this thread will be aware of terms like N+D, TB and NCT, the thread has to be readable to everyone, regardless of where they are in the world.

Please also bear in mind that this thread has a fairly wide remit so when referring to a particular service, you should also clarify which operator it applies to.

 

[Skymonster]

Well I can @GusB - but please see previous day comments when someone else used NCT. Also, I am a bus user rather than an enthusiast so terms like PVR and even ADL don’t mean much to me - hopefully they will be expanded in future too!

 

[tram21]

every NCT (Nottingham City Transport) vehicle had a radio which the driver could use to ask control what was happening.

They still do

 

[tramboy]

Some small NCT news - Sky Blue E200s 385/6 have been withdrawn, with their replacements being E200MMC spares 309/399

The branded Skyblue have been withdrawn, yes - however, the booked workings for the 46/47 are now Solos, although any unbranded spare could turn up.

 

[Trainman40083]

Well I can @GusB - but please see previous day comments when someone else used NCT. Also, I am a bus user rather than an enthusiast so terms like PVR and even ADL don’t mean much to me - hopefully they will be expanded in future too!

Well we can start you off with PVR is peak vehicle requirement. The maximum number of buses needed for each route. ADL is Alexander Dennis Limited, a bus builder with workshops near Falkirk and Scarborough.

 

[tram21]

The branded Skyblue have been withdrawn, yes - however, the booked workings for the 46/47 are now Solos, although any unbranded spare could turn up.

Afaik, the allocation is 309 and 399, but any unbranded spare could turn up

 

[Teapot42]

Neither Stagecoach Yorkshire and East Midlands were tracking vehicles Saturday evening/ Sunday morning.

While Saturday evening is a common time to release system updates (the thinking being a failure on Sunday morning is less damaging than one on a weekday morning) it seems like some other operators were tracking OK - Hulleys certainly were, so maybe it was down to the ticket machine provider rather than bustimes?

Unless it's this new feature bustimes are working on that can make it look like a bus comes off a route early and goes elsewhere when actually it carries on and completes it. Maybe they needed to tweak it so it didn't do that three times in a row with different vehicles on the same route - gave people the wrong idea.

 

[Davidsb3]

Word is, there might be a Scania /Irizar coach demonstrator.about to work Red Arrow on loan. Maybe TB feel they can't wait for Volvo/Plaxton to produce a suitable coach in 2 years.

Keep an eye out tomorrow for it on the 0940 from Derby (if it all goes to plan). We have it on demo for the next 3 weeks and will be down as fleet number 99. I will add that it's by no means what will replace the current fleet of coaches.
I will say after having a look around it this morning it is very nice inside and the seats seem a lot better than the current Volvos. It has a lovely cab area too with the lovely new Scania dash and camera mirrors too.

 

[bringiton]

Keep an eye out tomorrow for it on the 0940 from Derby (if it all goes to plan). We have it on demo for the next 3 weeks and will be down as fleet number 99. I will add that it's by no means what will replace the current fleet of coaches.
I will say after having a look around it this morning it is very nice inside and the seats seem a lot better than the current Volvos. It has a lovely cab area too with the lovely new Scania dash and camera mirrors too.

Nice to have a certain vehicle timetable for the route kind of confirmed for once

 

[43055]

Most frustrating thing about Trent Barton is that the drivers - often the only point of public contact - rarely seem to have much clue about what’s going. Frequently a 6 will rock up at Derby in the morning with “Not in service“ on the front, when the next bus is already late. Ask the driver when the next one will actually run and they just shrug and leave empty anyway. Gone, seemingly, are the higher standards of customer service and the glory days (‘70s, ‘80s) when I lived in Nottingham and every NCT (Nottingham City Transport) vehicle had a radio which the driver could use to ask control what was happening.

Some of the early morning Sixes (and Swift's) I think go off for a wash and fuel between trips at Derby.

 

[bringiton]

Some of the early morning Sixes (and Swift's) I think go off for a wash and fuel between trips at Derby.

Skylink derby have been doing that as well

 

[Trainman40083]

Keep an eye out tomorrow for it on the 0940 from Derby (if it all goes to plan). We have it on demo for the next 3 weeks and will be down as fleet number 99. I will add that it's by no means what will replace the current fleet of coaches.
I will say after having a look around it this morning it is very nice inside and the seats seem a lot better than the current Volvos. It has a lovely cab area too with the lovely new Scania dash and camera mirrors too.

I did see it in the bus station earlier today. Demonstrators always seem to be fleet number 99.. Excel, Metrocity, various Kinchbus.

 

[tram21]

so maybe it was down to the ticket machine provider rather than bustimes?

For once Hugo (trentbarton's app) and when I was in Stoke today the Firstbus app were more reliable than bustimes.org, so it was definitely a problem with the latter! Not to worry though as it's all working now as of approx of 7pm tonight!

 

[liamf656]

Keep an eye out tomorrow for it on the 0940 from Derby (if it all goes to plan). We have it on demo for the next 3 weeks and will be down as fleet number 99. I will add that it's by no means what will replace the current fleet of coaches.
I will say after having a look around it this morning it is very nice inside and the seats seem a lot better than the current Volvos. It has a lovely cab area too with the lovely new Scania dash and camera mirrors too.

You are correct. There are now photos up on the "fans of Wellglade Group" on Facebook, the registration being YT24 BKA

 

[duncombec]

While Saturday evening is a common time to release system updates (the thinking being a failure on Sunday morning is less damaging than one on a weekday morning) it seems like some other operators were tracking OK - Hulleys certainly were, so maybe it was down to the ticket machine provider rather than bustimes?

Unless it's this new feature bustimes are working on that can make it look like a bus comes off a route early and goes elsewhere when actually it carries on and completes it. Maybe they needed to tweak it so it didn't do that three times in a row with different vehicles on the same route - gave people the wrong idea.

Remember that all bustimes does is present the information it is given through external data feeds in a customer-friendly manner. Vehicles disappearing from tracking are almost certainly down to a error in the data feeds from the company/ies concerned - in this case, I would guess the GPS (Global Positioning System) feed from BODS (Bus Open Data System). That could be an error at the time, or the background data. In isolated cases, it could just be an individual bus isn't tracking.

There are very good reasons why the advice is always given that you [edit: in the generic, second-person plural form of the word rather than referring to a specific individual] should never rely on bustimes tracking to make reports as to what is and isn't running!

 

[Teapot42]

Remember that all bustimes does is present the information it is given through external data feeds in a customer-friendly manner. Vehicles disappearing from tracking are almost certainly down to a error in the data feeds from the company/ies concerned - in this case, I would guess the GPS (Global Positioning System) feed from BODS (Bus Open Data System). That could be an error at the time, or the background data. In isolated cases, it could just be an individual bus isn't tracking.

There are very good reasons why the advice is always given that you should never rely on bustimes tracking to make reports as to what is and isn't running!

Yes, I'm aware of the limitations. However the data in question clearly showed the vehicle do part of the route then go elsewhere. And this happened on three successive journeys. It's hard to imagine an error in the data feed which would explain something like that, especially when buses on other routes weren't affected.

The most obvious reason was that due to delays the decision was made to terminate the journey short to regain time - the route was affected quite badly by delays that day. However, as the part of the route omitted is only covered by this service and only once an hour, this meant a rather significant portion of the day with no buses. This has since been confirmed by the Stagecoach twitter team, so I wonder if a correction will be forthcoming to the post on here which was rather uncomplimentary about myself when I raised the issue?

 

[duncombec]

Yes, I'm aware of the limitations. However the data in question clearly showed the vehicle do part of the route then go elsewhere. And this happened on three successive journeys. It's hard to imagine an error in the data feed which would explain something like that, especially when buses on other routes weren't affected.

The most obvious reason was that due to delays the decision was made to terminate the journey short to regain time - the route was affected quite badly by delays that day. However, as the part of the route omitted is only covered by this service and only once an hour, this meant a rather significant portion of the day with no buses. This has since been confirmed by the Stagecoach twitter team, so I wonder if a correction will be forthcoming to the post on here which was rather uncomplimentary about myself when I raised the issue?

I'm not entirely sure where you are seeing "uncomplimentary" in my post, but I have edited it to specify 'you' in the generic, plural, sense rather than referring to any individual, you (singular) or otherwise.

Whilst you (as an individual) may be aware of the limitations, many others appear not to be, or choose to portray bustimes as entirely accurate without actually checking the position on the ground, as has been evidenced on some other threads - and indeed a route very local to me on multiple occasions this week where one vehicle seems to have an intermittent tracking error - it tracks different parts of its regular duty on different days, but every time I've been out to see the "missing" bus, it has been exactly where it should be.

That the last paragraph of the quoted post seems to have been sarcasm passed me by... perhaps because it's not a feature Bustimes could introduce even if they wanted to

 

[Teapot42]

I'm not entirely sure where you are seeing "uncomplimentary" in my post, but I have edited it to specify 'you' in the generic, plural, sense rather than referring to any individual, you (singular) or otherwise.

...

That the last paragraph of the quoted post seems to have been sarcasm passed me by... perhaps because it's not a feature Bustimes could introduce even if they wanted to

Sorry, apologies for the confusion here, I'm not referring to you or your post. I've upset someone on another thread by claiming there was a 4 hour gap in a service, evidenced from bustimes tracking as well as some local observations. They are adamant this wasn't the case and it's reinforced their already negative view of me.

The sarcasm was also based on this and their view that historic bustimes info isn't accurate. A brief overview isn't, but a delve in to the data can show things that a brief glimpse misses.

 

[Trainman40083]

Keep an eye out tomorrow for it on the 0940 from Derby (if it all goes to plan). We have it on demo for the next 3 weeks and will be down as fleet number 99. I will add that it's by no means what will replace the current fleet of coaches.
I will say after having a look around it this morning it is very nice inside and the seats seem a lot better than the current Volvos. It has a lovely cab area too with the lovely new Scania dash and camera mirrors too.

I wonder how they are getting on with "99" on the Red Arrow? It could be wowing customers

 

[Davidsb3]

I wonder how they are getting on with "99" on the Red Arrow? It could be wowing customers

From what i have heard is that the customers love it and the drivers are a bit mixed due to the camera mirrors and the gearbox which im told is quite clunky