Stagecoach North West Discussion

[Dallamlad]

Indeed looks brilliant

20463 and 20131 on the 2.
14196 on 941 LGGS service.
Volvo Oly on 942.
Info bus at the uni underpass along with 14195 sitting out of service.

Also later on this morning spotted 14196 again this time on the 42 heading through Bowerham toward Lancaster. I assume he was trying to avoid traffic which yesterday was backed up to Hala from Lancaster.

 

[mbonwick]

IIRC the 941 is a joint LRGS/LGGS service, not jsut an LGGS one. I could well be wrong though.

Totally useless driver on 555 this morning - stopped short of me ta the bus stop and had no concept of speed..! Arrived into Lancaster at 0827, the latest I've been in months.

 

[Dallamlad]

You may be right but at least one of them is exclusively LGGS as shown on the blinds.

Was your driver old grumpy and fat? Bald head etc? We had a driver of that description on schools services and it was the most frustrating thing having to finish school and then sit there while he drives as a snails pace all the way to Lancaster often been up to 15/20 minutes late.

 

[mbonwick]

Fat yeah, quite old. Grey hair. I'm sure he hates people as he always complained when I waited up from the bus stop. Now that I wait at the stop, he doesn't stop there.

****.

 

[Dallamlad]

I think I know who you mean, slowest driver in the fleet lol and yes, hates people and school children even more!

Also more then 800 drivers and workers from First Bus Group have now gone on a 24 hour strike in Manchester.

 

[driver9000]

941 is the Girls Grammar service, the 942 was the joint service and the 940 is the Boys Grammar service

 

[Dallamlad]

Right there we are then great stuff.

Info Bus and 14195 have been at the uni all afternoon as two drivers have been selling tickets from a portable ticket machine

Here's a very poor picture, but you get the idea

http://www.flickr.com/photos/38241862@N04/3963159198/

Also today at peak times 2/2a services were running in pairs. When I headed home from the University there were up to 60 students lined up waiting to go into down and then 20131 turned up lol. Luckily a decker was right behind

These also look smart:

http://mark157-buses.fotopic.net/p61256164.html

http://mark157-buses.fotopic.net/p61256330.html

http://mark157-buses.fotopic.net/p61256196.html

 

[pickles]

~~~~~

 

[KendalKing]

Lancaster at a standstill, the motorway queued back to nearly J36 [in no small part due to roadworks in the J34 area]. The A6 all the way into Lancaster was also gridlocked, with traffic queued back onto the A601(M) at the Pine Lake roundabout, Carnforth and still further up the A6.

Tell me about it, I'm sick of all these roadworks!!!! Which ever way i try to get home rom work be it the A6 or Motorway, i always seem to be getting struck in a traffic jam.:-x

 

[driver9000]

Right there we are then great stuff.

Info Bus and 14195 have been at the uni all afternoon as two drivers have been selling tickets from a portable ticket machine

Here's a very poor picture, but you get the idea

http://www.flickr.com/photos/38241862@N04/3963159198/

The stand conductor at the Underpass is a godsend, loading 90+ takes a long time! In years gone by he used to use an old Almex hand machine strapped around his shoulders (identical to the machines Heysham Travel used) reading the little square tickets could be a pain especially when the ink needed replacing! its a novel use of a TGX150 though and Im impressed. They used to stable a bus up there too in case it was needed to run an unadvertised extra X2 to the City, nice to see it still happens.

 

[Dallamlad]

Yeah I remember the old machine and your right it is a godsend boarding time is reduced significantly

I suppose 14195 could have been used for an extra service is needed

 

[KendalKing]

Theres roadworks for junction improvements on penny street/thurnham shutting off traffic to aldcliffe road so they are having to go up south road then go around pointer rounabout to come down south road and turn left to aldcliffe road.

I think you mean junction worsening Whenever i see that word "improvements" it usually means worsening. Take the recent so called road improvements in Kendal, which resulted in roads being made narrower.

 

[driver9000]

Do buses still have a seperate set down/pick up stop in the Underpass? when I was there we used to pull in just inside the Underpass after passing through and turning on the roundabout then after setting down either go round the campus or rebook the machine and change blinds then draw forward to the steps about half way along to board for town. Is this still the case - it certainly made life easier

 

[Dallamlad]

It is indeed and it works very well They still do it just like you said unless there's a line of 4 buses lol in which case it wherever they can pull in

 

[driver9000]

It is indeed and it works very well They still do it just like you said unless there's a line of 4 buses lol in which case it wherever they can pull in

used to get more than that, Ive seen double that in the Underpass! after the school services, most buses ran Dead up to the Underpass to run as X2 into the city centre for the evening peak, it wasnt unknown for there to be no room left as it was full of Titans all waiting their alloted time to go and sit in the traffic on Greaves Road


Ive not seen much today, apart from a H reg Olympian (14196?) heading out of Blackpool around 10am this morning

 

[mbonwick]

Worth noting that the portable ticket machine has been pinched off Kendal - they were using it up at Windermere over peak summer.

22827 on a 2A this evening.

As if to apologise for the horrific journey this morning, tonight the 555 was only 15mins late and the driver went like a bat out of hell. Plus he dropped me off outside my house saying "it's too far to walk from the stop" (it's only about 50m extra, if that!)

 

[Dallamlad]

Haha indeed what a sight!

That's very nice of the driver Mbonwick and yeah the green swoops on the trolley suggested it had come from the lakes

 

[KendalKing]

Re: Stagecoach's improved bid for the X35 mentionned yesterday. Does it seem reasonable to assume that this must feature provision of further low floor deckers in addition to the 3 Tridents, or is it merely a matter of money?

This is a simple one, it's purely down to money.

The CCC, still thinks that the X35 needs only three buses to run it! the main problems with the X35 is that it is due to arrive in Barrow, at the same time that it is due to depart from the opposite side of the road and the bus needs to turn around. Also now the High & Low Newton bypass is open, buses have leave the bypass to go through High Newton, before rejoining the bypass, most often then not (according to the X35 drivers) there nobody to get on or off the bus.

 

[cainebj]

52405 on layover at Carlisle Bus Station at lunch time.
42584 on 66.
20979 on 75.
looked like 20765 was on 300, on the 1210 departure from Carlisle.
Citi branded PX05 ENE was on the 76, whilst 76 branded dart was on the 67! :???:
24122 was on 179.
33161 on the short 685 (Carlisle - Brampton)

 

[Dallamlad]

The X35's a bit of a mess and I really don't know whats gona happen with it. Either way they will have to make changes to how its run day to day.

 

[mbonwick]

That's very nice of the driver Mbonwick and yeah the green swoops on the trolley suggested it had come from the lakes

Not as nice as it seems:
The stop has its own spay - IE. it's a layby (that's what it's called - get on a 555 and ask for a single to Layby and the driver will know exactly where you mean! I've done this in front of mates with a new driver, their faces were priceless!)

So if the driver pulls in, given the time of night, they often have to wait some mins before getting back out which isn't what they want when they are 11mins late.
Plus the fact that 4 doors along use the layby as a car park for the cars they're doing up, so the buses can't really get in and out anyway.

 

[Dallamlad]

Ahhhh right well still a nice gesture I guess

 

[mbonwick]

Yes, sadly it's not as common as it used to be...I guess most of the newish drivers aren't aware of where I live.

It's also nice to not be sent flying out through the windscreen

 

[driver9000]

If I remember correctly, although its a few years since I last drove a 555 - Layby is a farestage isnt it?

 

[mbonwick]

Well it's number 38 on the ticket machines, but it costs the same as from Heversham GS so I dunno...

 

[KendalKing]

If I remember correctly, although its a few years since I last drove a 555 - Layby is a farestage isnt it?

Like yourself, it's been a couple of years since I last did a 556. When i did my training on the evening 556 (the one KLCH used to operate) I remember seeing "Layby" on the Wayfarer as a Farestage, and asked which stop was the Layby? like all good drivers (Cough Cough), i had figured it out for myself.

 

[driver9000]

Well it's number 38 on the ticket machines, but it costs the same as from Heversham GS so I dunno...

if its got its own number it will be a stage, it definitely stands out in my mind - some fares are identical over long distances for a few fare stages on long routes especially if the maximum fare cap still exists.

I dont think I ever issued a ticket to or stopped at Layby though.....

 

[mbonwick]

Well, you should see the usage it gets now!

Myself going to (0705) & from Lancaster (1620)
Lass from 2 doors along going/from to Kendal College
My grandma going into Lancaster/Kendal at weekends/ odd weekdays
People over the road hopping on so as not to walk up the hill (lazy bastards!)

Sounds about right for it to be a fare stage really, last stop in Milnthorpe and all that.

 

[KendalKing]

People over the road hopping on so as not to walk up the hill (lazy bastards!)

Lets be honest here, it is a bloody steep hill

 

[mbonwick]

I've seen worse.

My grandma still manages to walk up, she's 82 and had 3 heart valves replaced.....they don't make em like they used to.

Oh, the tales she tells of how the buses used to be....