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Transdev Blazefield
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They often appear in public service as well. I had one on the 66 to Skipton the other week when the booked branded vehicle had an issue. Due to the late running caused by having to scramble a spare bus from the depot fare paying passengers were allowed to travel for free.
The interior was like a time warp though with original Blazefield seating and ‘Transdev in Keighley’ branded cove panels advertising the Shuttle 662 and the 760 to Leeds
According to North Yorkshire County Council https://www.northyorks.gov.uk/news/article/zero-emissions-electric-bus-fleet-funding-harrogate-welcomed the
so the funding for and ordering of the charging infrastructure is no doubt tied to the ordering of the vehicles. If they were backig out why do they keep on traillng electric buses?
Dont know much you bus guys follow the railway forums but the railway has a problem getting the grid connections.
Yes I know the electrical connections to charge buses is less than rail electrification but may still be an issue.
RustySpoons
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I can see the whole electric bus fleet becoming something of a white elephant, especially with the recent uptake in media attention for synthetic fuels.
I also can't help but think some/all of the £20m funding could and should be spent on supporting the existing bus network considering the service reductions and falling passenger numbers rather than replacing already clean, modern, serviceable euro-6 vehicles with electrics and all the infrastructure that goes with them. But that's another topic of discussion...
I also can't help but think some/all of the £20m funding could and should be spent on supporting the existing bus network considering the service reductions and falling passenger numbers rather than replacing already clean, modern, serviceable euro-6 vehicles with electrics and all the infrastructure that goes with them. But that's another topic of discussion...
Harrogate had that problem with the suppy for the overhead chargers at the bus station requiring a generator to be installed until the supply was connected up. Photo of the "Powered by Volvo" generator cabin on Flickr https://www.flickr.com/photos/thespian/44877199494/
The local press is reporting cuts of more than half of journeys on the 64 and 72 to Skipton.
www.cravenherald.co.uk
Cuts to bus services 'short-sighted' and 'spiteful'
AN organisation that campaigns for improved public transport has condemned 'drastic' cuts to bus services in Skipton and the Dales.
www.cravenherald.co.uk
philthetube
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It is quite easy to catch culprits on this type of service, drivers should walk the bus after a trip, if they see vandalism which has recently appeared, check the CCTV, contact the appropriate school/college and bingo.
North Yorkshire County Council's famously low concessionary fare reimbursement seems to be to blame againThe local press is reporting cuts of more than half of journeys on the 64 and 72 to Skipton.
Cuts to bus services 'short-sighted' and 'spiteful'
AN organisation that campaigns for improved public transport has condemned 'drastic' cuts to bus services in Skipton and the Dales.
Realistically Ilkley to Skipton is very well healed, in Addingham it’ll be a choice between the bus and the 23 plate Range Rover so it’ll be mostly pass holders travelling
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When I have been on a bus through Addingham they have been fairly busy; Optare Solo busy, not double decker busy. But you see many Keighley bus co double deckers in Ilkley.
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On a sunny day the 62 can get very busy. The 64, not so much in my experience - though interworking with the 62 sees some bigger buses on it (you do see midibuses on some late evening 62 trips).
It wouldn't surprise me to have smaller buses on the 64, but I'd hoped they'd try longer hours to make it more useful for commuters rather than cutting it (there was some indication this might happen when they took it over).
NorthernSpirit
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The local press is reporting cuts of more than half of journeys on the 64 and 72 to Skipton.
Cuts to bus services 'short-sighted' and 'spiteful'
AN organisation that campaigns for improved public transport has condemned 'drastic' cuts to bus services in Skipton and the Dales.
One of the many issues of North Yorkshire becoming a unitary - its not going to work. Services being cut to the bone will lose even more passengers, I cannot see why the 72 couldn't run to Ilkley and connect with the X84 / Wharfedale Line services to Otley / Leeds or better still the X84 is extended back to Skipton on a two hourly frequency with one journey on a morning starting from Grassington (a return would ideally be at 1745 from Leeds).
The people in Skipton, Grassington and the former Craven district may as well campaign to be part of West Yorkshire when it comes to transport.
The unitary status makes no difference as transport matters are/were in the hands of the County Council not the District Councils
It was given across the whole county, rather then an eastern and western authority, on the basis that decisions would be made on Members of Parliament constituencies so it will be interesting to see what powers actually exist at Ripon & Skipton level.
It was given across the whole county, rather then an eastern and western authority, on the basis that decisions would be made on Members of Parliament constituencies so it will be interesting to see what powers actually exist at Ripon & Skipton level.
TheGrandWazoo
Veteran Member
I'm not certain what you mean by this. North Yorkshire CC is one of the worst supporters of public transport anyway - what makes you think that things will be worse as it becomes a unitary? Not certain that the district councils have much involvement in bus services
What makes you think that First would want to run to Skipton, given that they have been busy shedding routes?
Aside from a DalesBus service, not certain that you'll get many folks signing up for >2hr journey from Leeds to Grassington.
When there were proposals to merge Craven with Harrogate, people were saying that they'd rather be part of Lancashire than be part of Harrogate
First clearly haven't been interested in the Northern end of the X84 for many years. In the 90s there were peak extras north of Ilkley as well as an hourly service until late (a friend I used to meet in Otley could catch an X84 after 9pm to get to Addingham). However, even pre-Covid you couldn't get a bus as late as 1700 from Leeds through to Skipton.
I suspect First's pricing policy may have had an effect here over the years. Until Transdev took over there has never (or at least for 20 years) been a season or day ticket that could be used on the entire route of the X84. Even when a West Yorkshire First Day Rider (and longer equivalents) was valid in all of Greater Manchester, it still wasn't valid between Addingham and Skipton). So anyone who did anything other than an occasional return was paying far more than most other local passengers (you could get a day or period ticket valid on all Keighley and District services, including those to Skipton). Slowly demand faded and First cut the peak extras and early and late services, to the point there were very few places on the route north of Ilkley where it was viable to use the service to commute.
Of course Transdev have included it in their usual tickets, but it's a lot harder to get people back on the bus once they've made other arrangements.
At peak you're looking at a minimum of 2.5 hours from Leeds to Grassington on a through service - but even if determined to use public transport you can do Leeds to Skipton on the train and then the 72 in 1h34 (with 22 minutes connection at Skipton station) - but the last journey is at 1656 from Leeds. Currently it takes 2h55 to do Leeds to Grassington by bus, changing at Ilkley and Skipton , leaving Leeds as late as 1533.
NorthernSpirit
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There will be only the one council with one pot of money to fund a very limited amount of services across a vast area, and because of this some areas will either be lumped with Demand Responsive Transport as they're only form of public transport. Town services such as the former Pennine Motor Services routes around Skipton, currently operated by North Yorkshire County Council could be lost entirely and replaced by DRT. Then there is the issue of the tendered 840 replacement that is currently being dealt with by NYCC, will this continue with the new unitary North Yorkshire Council or will it be put on the back burner.
What's the possibility of First deciding to drop the X84 in similar fashion to the X98/X99? But as Deerfold has more or less hinted at, changing at Skipton and train into Leeds. A Leeds to Grassington journey would in theory provide peak links to Otley (which doesn't have a railway station), Headingley and the University. It really wouldn't be for those going from end to end but for for operatinal convenience.
Maybe flower shows and the Hyacinth Bucket types mustn't have appealed to the Cravenits!When there were proposals to merge Craven with Harrogate, people were saying that they'd rather be part of Lancashire than be part of Harrogate
RustySpoons
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I think the X84 is a route Transdev Blazefield would be able to turn around given the opportunity and would have more potential and be better suited for the ex-Zap Sky Class ADLs than the X98/X99...
TheGrandWazoo
Veteran Member
With a unitary authority, it means that those activities (e.g. refuse collection, leisure centres) that are done by district councils are instead done by the new unitary authority. However, NYCC is currently responsible for tendering bus services now, not district councils. So becoming a unitary doesn't change anything and indeed, they have already introduced DRT with YorBus into Hambleton and, in fact, the Bus Service Improvement Plan stated that they would "Expand roll out of DDRT services based on the current Yorbus Pilot"
I might add that North Yorkshire CC is already one of the worst local authorities for supporting public transport. In fact, dragging this back on topic, it's the reason why Transdev is making these changes as the remuneration they receive for their North Yorkshire services is so poor.
No-one is going to be travelling on a bus from Grassington to Headingley - just wouldn't happen. In fact, Grassington to Otley just wouldn't happen....there's precious few doing Skipton to Ilkley which is why these changes are happening.
I'd imagine that the X84 is a stronger performer than the X98/99 was (otherwise they'd have kept that and axed the other) but without knowing the financials, no one can say. However, it was a 20 min frequency Leeds to Otley and they dropped it to half hourly so suggests that they had a plan.
They were a) convinced that they would be second class citizens and it would be all Harrogate centric (which is what Ripon and Knaresboro folk think already) and b) their council tax would go up to fund the conference centre that they'd have no benefit from!
I've been told that the 840 replacement tender has been pulled until at least September. No idea what conversations have gone on about it between Transdev and NYCC, but I understand that a certain person wasn't involved in those conversations, and something seems to have been agreed on the back of the £2 thing. (All hearsay I'm afraid, but that's what I've heard).
I remember when the 64 and 62 did go to otley until early/mid 2022 when the service was curtailed to Ilkley.
Additionally, as others have already mentioned, although not specifically, the 874 already covers the weekend/Sunday journeys between Wetherby, Leeds, Otley, and Grassington anyone would want to take year round. With additional DalesBus services covering people wanting to go to Skipton or other places during the summer when people would be using the services to those places the most.
Additionally, as others have already mentioned, although not specifically, the 874 already covers the weekend/Sunday journeys between Wetherby, Leeds, Otley, and Grassington anyone would want to take year round. With additional DalesBus services covering people wanting to go to Skipton or other places during the summer when people would be using the services to those places the most.
The whole point of the uniitary authority is to get more funding so North Yorkshire Council ought to be able, given a year or two for it to kick in, to better support services including bus services than North Yorkshire County Council.
It was reported in February i.e. https://www.thisisthecoast.co.uk/ne...40-bus-route-saved-as-passenger-numbers-soar/
I hope so but it’s a challenging, widely spread out geography that Transdev will find difficulty to work well with.
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Goldfish62
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It's the biggest issue with switching to battery electric buses.
RustySpoons
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According to Transdev commercial director the B10s at Burnley are being replaced with Solos and Stratas.
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RustySpoons
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I can understand the Solos, they're far better suited to some of the local routes than the B10s, but I can't help but feel the Stratas will struggle with capacity at rush hours.
It's said that the two MAN E200s will assist at peak times, but as they've only two of them I'm not sure how helpful that'd be.
Actually its not as far fetched as it seems, Jet2 offer a similar service provided you don't mind hanging around for a few days / weeks for a movement from Manchester to LBA, oh and work for Jet2... (I know one person that did actually get a ride on a movement once)
Depends how many Stratas they are going to use. They will be probably be fine on the 1,3 and 4, which are the routes which seem most likely to get them. Transdev should know which services most need the capacity and plan accordingly, but I know people do complain that this doesn't always work where they do it for school times in Clitheroe.
From using Ribble Country a few times, the main thing I remember about the Stratas is that the ride over bumps and potholes is appalling. Not sure how suitable they really are off the main roads.
I've noticed they've also now posted changes to the college bus which runs from Barnoldswick (Thornton-in-Craven after the changes) to Burnley to enable students to continue travelling after the Wizz is withdrawn. The college bus will leave Barnoldswick at 08:01 in the morning, whereas other passengers if they want to reliably get there for 9 o'clock will have to catch a bus at 07:27 - not a journey many people are going to make for very long. You'd be rather annoyed if you started using the service when it was every 30 minutes along the motorway.
Dallamlad
Established Member
Just seen one on what I think was familiarisation or route learning in Ramsbottom.