Western Greyhound Fire and subsequent WG general discussion.

[richw]

Get a member of staff on there responding to the criticism and find the cause of the complaints... stopping complaints being publicised doesn't make the service better!

The service is consistently poor from my colleague's experience. She catches in from Newquay to Truro, and should arrive in Truro 30 minutes before her shift with a 10 minute walk on arrival. She frequently runs from the bus to work and is more often than not late for work. At least twice a month the excuse given for late running to her by the driver is due to breakdowns, whether this is accurate or not I don't know, but if 1 in 10 on that route at peak time is delayed due to breakdowns it suggests a problem.
I'd read the Facebook reviews recently and every single review was 1 star, but people don't review when they've had a good bus journey that's arrived on time etc.

 

[Rich McLean]

PCB also no longer respond to Customer comments or tweets, due to constant abuse, and a lot of the time just doing it for a laugh

 

[fgwrich]

The service is consistently poor from my colleague's experience. She catches in from Newquay to Truro, and should arrive in Truro 30 minutes before her shift with a 10 minute walk on arrival. She frequently runs from the bus to work and is more often than not late for work. At least twice a month the excuse given for late running to her by the driver is due to breakdowns, whether this is accurate or not I don't know, but if 1 in 10 on that route at peak time is delayed due to breakdowns it suggests a problem.
I'd read the Facebook reviews recently and every single review was 1 star, but people don't review when they've had a good bus journey that's arrived on time etc.

I can't say I'm surprised sadly either, it's been a while since I last had a good journey when I'm down there on WG. Last years thrill rides included directing a driver around a emergency road closure due to an accident (impressive given that we're from all over the country!), a fairly new Solo having it's life thrashed out of it between Bodmin and St Austell and a driver riding and virtually shredding a clutch on a Beaver from Padstow to Bodmin leaving a trail of burning clutch smoke and hot brakes behind it. This year was slightly better but with some confusing timetables, missed connections it wasn't the rather decent WG of old anymore.

But hiding yourself from the public in the day and age of Social Media-ism rather seems to me like a good way of trying to hide from your customers, especially given it's usefulness for the promotion of events, ticket info or real time travel news - something that works very well for the award winning Trent Barton or Reading Buses. I'm going to use that wonderful word again but... where is Western Greyhounds... Engagement? Seems a little like shooting themselves in the feet to me.

 

[winston270twm]

The service is consistently poor from my colleague's experience. She catches in from Newquay to Truro, and should arrive in Truro 30 minutes before her shift with a 10 minute walk on arrival. She frequently runs from the bus to work and is more often than not late for work. At least twice a month the excuse given for late running to her by the driver is due to breakdowns, whether this is accurate or not I don't know, but if 1 in 10 on that route at peak time is delayed due to breakdowns it suggests a problem.
I'd read the Facebook reviews recently and every single review was 1 star, but people don't review when they've had a good bus journey that's arrived on time etc.

The quality/presentation of WG's fleet certainly seems to have deteriorated since the depot fire. They still have a decent way to go to get back to what they once were.

Whilst in Cornwall on holiday I noticed WG still have still have at least 2 x MPD's 211 & 215 in anonymous allover white // without destinations. The route number was generally displayed on the dash in the form of a card.
A queue of 10-15 passengers had formed for a late running 587, some of the people in the queue were suggesting if the 587 was running late, drivers have been known to miss Perranporth out altogether (not sure whether any truth in that?)

I also saw a repainted Trident without fleetnames / destination with the route number of a piece of card in the withdscreen

WG's VR was out on the 547 a couple of days ago

 

[richw]

The quality/presentation of WG's fleet certainly seems to have deteriorated since the depot fire. They still have a decent way to go to get back to what they once were.

Whilst in Cornwall on holiday I noticed WG still have still have at least 2 x MPD's 211 & 215 in anonymous allover white // without destinations. The route number was generally displayed on the dash in the form of a card.
A queue of 10-15 passengers had formed for a late running 587, some of the people in the queue were suggesting if the 587 was running late, drivers have been known to miss Perranporth out altogether (not sure whether any truth in that?)

I also saw a repainted Trident without fleetnames / destination with the route number of a piece of card in the withdscreen

WG's VR was out on the 547 a couple of days ago

Forum member SWTH was driving the VR on the 547 on some of the days it was out. He understandably cant comment on some of these discussions being an employee.
Ive also heard of the 587 skipping perranporth but unsure if it was factual or not.
The fleet doesnt look well presented as it used to. Most of the buses have looked filthy and in need of a wash. This was never the case pre-fire.
Theyve seemingly lost a lot of work to summercourt travel and hopleys in the recent retendering.
Im guessing summercourt travel won more routes than they expected as theyve bought in some new fleet very quickly and pushed straight into action.

 

[winston270twm]

Forum member SWTH was driving the VR on the 547 on some of the days it was out. He understandably cant comment on some of these discussions being an employee.
Ive also heard of the 587 skipping perranporth but unsure if it was factual or not.
The fleet doesnt look well presented as it used to. Most of the buses have looked filthy and in need of a wash. This was never the case pre-fire.
Theyve seemingly lost a lot of work to summercourt travel and hopleys in the recent retendering.
Im guessing summercourt travel won more routes than they expected as theyve bought in some new fleet very quickly and pushed straight into action.

I only saw the 547 on two separate days, the one day was a VR, on the Sunday afternoon they they had a long Solo on there which only displayed Western greyhound.com on the destination with a 547 route card in the windscreen.

Re: the 587 comments, it was a Newquay bound bus & a queue of 10-15 people had formed outside the Pizza shop/The Green Parrot entrance, a number of elderly people were left standing in the blazing sunshine. I also saw a Truro bound 587 leave Perranporth on Saturday night with a full load after picking up 20 people in Perranporth. The services are still busy, but with the hourly frequency it would be better for buses to run late than not turn up at all.

I think the big mistake WG have made is not preparing the latest acquisitions MPD's & Tridents for WG service before disposing of vehicles to Ensign. Or they should have paid Ensign to prep/re-paint them prior to being delivered to Cornwall, so they could enter service pretty much straight away.

Solo X239HBC also has some nice battle scares down it's nearside lower panels.

 

[83G/84D]

I can't say I'm surprised sadly either, it's been a while since I last had a good journey when I'm down there on WG. Last years thrill rides included directing a driver around a emergency road closure due to an accident (impressive given that we're from all over the country!), a fairly new Solo having it's life thrashed out of it between Bodmin and St Austell and a driver riding and virtually shredding a clutch on a Beaver from Padstow to Bodmin leaving a trail of burning clutch smoke and hot brakes behind it. This year was slightly better but with some confusing timetables, missed connections it wasn't the rather decent WG of old anymore.

But hiding yourself from the public in the day and age of Social Media-ism rather seems to me like a good way of trying to hide from your customers, especially given it's usefulness for the promotion of events, ticket info or real time travel news - something that works very well for the award winning Trent Barton or Reading Buses. I'm going to use that wonderful word again but... where is Western Greyhounds... Engagement? Seems a little like shooting themselves in the feet to me.

There was a feature on the BBC Radio Cornwall lunchtime phone in programme about Western Greyhound today. Several people called in to complain about drivers going too fast / driving dangeroulsy as well as rude drivers. One ex bus driver did call to explain the pressures drivers are under to keep to time.

From my experience most journeys have been okay although the drivers are a bit miserable. Timekeeping was okay on the whole with only minor delays , not bad given the amount of traffic on Cornwall's roads especially in Truro.
Allowing for disruption through roadworks I think Western Greyhound do reasonably well when it comes to timekeeping.

The bus fleet looks shabby on the whole with constantly dirty buses and others with scrapes and dents galore. They are nearly as bad as First Kernow are in some cases.
I complained about dirty WG buses over two years ago and had a reply saying they were cleaned every night before they left the depot. Is this still the case and what about buses at the various outstations?

I understand if it is wet and rainy that clean buses will soon become dirty but some of the dirt is grained in and has been on the buses for a long time.
In my opinion there is no excuse for this, get the buses cleaned up inside and out! They need a heavy clean and in some cases repaint.

Also why are there still ex Stagecoach London Tridents running in TfL/ LT red? I know a service needs to be run but surely a Western Greyhound sticker can be found to cover over the Stagecoach titles and proper destination blinds fitted!

I realise that all bus companies have had difficult times with cuts to subsidies and services and WG in particular with the two fires at Summercourt and Liskeard but surely they can do better.

 

[SWTH]

 

[TEW]

There was a feature on the BBC Radio Cornwall lunchtime phone in programme about Western Greyhound today. Several people called in to complain about drivers going too fast / driving dangeroulsy as well as rude drivers. One ex bus driver did call to explain the pressures drivers are under to keep to time.

From my experience most journeys have been okay although the drivers are a bit miserable. Timekeeping was okay on the whole with only minor delays , not bad given the amount of traffic on Cornwall's roads especially in Truro.
Allowing for disruption through roadworks I think Western Greyhound do reasonably well when it comes to timekeeping.

From what I've heard driver morale is incredibly low, which would probably explain the miserableness/less passenger friendly driving. Delays and cancellations due to bus failures and driver shortages are apparently becoming much more common too.

 

[richw]

From what I've heard driver morale is incredibly low, which would probably explain the miserableness/less passenger friendly driving. Delays and cancellations due to bus failures and driver shortages are apparently becoming much more common too.

Could morale come hand in hand with the well known fact that Western Greyhound pay is low.
The drivers who TUPE'd on the P&R were said to be on almost a pound an hour less than the First recruited drivers. I understand First increased them to match their own drivers pay.

 

[theblackwatch]

I have had a few days away in Cornwall this week and have been using public transport to get around. I like to try and support small independent businesses but with Western Greyhound it is difficult to do so as I can't say my experiences have been good. On Monday I went to the Eden Project. The bus from St Austell is hourly and turned up 25 minutes late. No comment from the driver when I got on as to why it was so late.

On Wednesday I went to do the Camel Trail from Wadebridge, which involved a bus from Bodmin Parkway. First thing that morning I tried to call WG to ask about fares, as I wasn't sure if individual tickets may be cheaper than a Ride Cornwall ticket. The phone was either engaged, or you were put in a queue, so I gave up trying to find out. Got to Bodmin about 10.00 for the 10.30 bus, there were about 20 people waiting for it. 10.30 came and went, no bus. It got to around 11.00 and people decided to call WG (including the helpful rail staff) - again, either engaged or in a queue which clearly wasn't being answered. A bus finally turned up around 11.35, and according to that driver the 10.30 had 'broken down'. The 11.30 left full and standing.

Last night I was in a pub in Charlestown, and a couple of others were having similar moans about the company. I'm sure most people accept the odd bus failure occurs, but it seems there is a firm here which provides no way of getting in touch to find out what is happening. The firm really needs to pull its socks up if it wants to encourage people to use them in future.

 

[Busaholic]

This seems to have become a 'let's knock W.G.' thread. I don't doubt the truth spoken in a lot (but by no means all) the comments, but I think that events outside Greyhound's control have largely caused the current situation.

The first fire was a huge thing for a company of their size and the fact it was arson and the perpetrators have not been brought to justice must weigh heavy. Secondly, cuts in grants and concessionary fare reimbursement have hit hard, which may be coupled with a feeling that Cornwall Council really only want to deal with one bus company, namely First. It is very courageous for a bus company chief to tell a group of villagers that the loss of their bus service was down to the council and all protests should be made to them, as Mark Howarth did, and the council have probably had it in for him ever since.

Lastly, it's strange that the various threads devoted to almost continuous coverage of Firstbus in S.W. England never seem to reflect the impression that the ordinary (i.e. non0 enthusiast) passenger has of the company as reflected in the letters pages of the Cornishman and West Briton, of tatty and clapped=out deckers and some drivers who can be as rude and morose as any described on this thread, routes not properly followed (try the 16 Penzance to St Ives by the back roads, but don't wait at Ludgvan because the driver may not fancy goinh that way today) and lateness, although I think there's often good reason for it.Oh, and breakdowns, what a great advert for First it was to regularly see one of the aforementioned clapped-out brokrn down on the A30 Camborne By-pass on the so-called express X18 to Truro, probably why it has now all but ceased to exist.

Hope this helps redress the balance.

 

[richw]

Busaholic, I think breakdowns go more noticed in a smaller company. First tend to have a relief bus on the scene of a breakdown in quick times from experience.
Western greyhound don't have this facility so a breakdown gets noticed as a no show by passengers, first pull it off as a late runner.
The new Cornwall busways have apparently had 2 broken down vehicles this week, 50% of their fleet, yet had an emergency timetable out within a matter of hours of them being aware of the situation.
First manage to get relief vehicles out so punters think their late none the wiser their service actually broke down for the large side, and the small side managed to produce and publish an emergency timetable within a matter of hours.western greyhound, the medium sized operator manages none of this and closes it's social media due to the number of complaints they were receiving.

Going back to first and tatty buses, word on the street is that the 88 and 41 are being renumbering u1 and U2 and rebranded in similar vein to Somerset, with a 3 year age limit applied to those services. The rebranding will be in similar style to buses of Somerset, the buses will be the 12 plate and newer Enviro deckers stolen from Plymouth. I understand they will have a all over blue livery.

From colleagues at my work I hear at least 10 western greyhound complaints to every 1 First bus complaint. It used to be the complete opposite, so appears first have got their act together, at least around Truro.

 

[Temple Meads]

^^An excellent post there. (busaholic's)

I travelled on three WGL Route 510 services this week, the first was operated by one of the ex London Tridents, and it was looking a bit tired inside and out (repaint, new destination display, and an interior deep clean would sort it out IMO), the second was one of the green Tridents, and this looked a lot fresher inside and out, my final vehicle was a 59 plate Solo, which still looked very smart.

All three vehicles were well driven with friendly drivers (especially the Solo), and timekeeping was pretty much spot on, despite two journeys being in 'rush hour'.

The ex-London Tridents do seem a bit slow on the hills, but that allows you to see the views for a bit longer!

Think there's an element of only the dissatisfied being moved enough to comment, in this case.

Haven't used First Kernow much recently, so can't comment on their performance in comparison.

 

[RPI]

Had experience of both this week and I have to say that First Kernow is far superior (and still far from perfect!), both companies though have mostly friendly and helpful drivers but WG just seem to have a very shabby image, drivers wearing jeans and trainers with an un tucked shirt, both are expensive, have found First more reliable.... but there's time yet, First do have some old demics of vehicles but generally relatively clean. conclusion is that both could do better but WG has that feeling and look that it is a business on its last legs, Wheras First seem to have turned the corner and looking like the base of a growing business (in Cornwall), that's my opinion, some will agree, some won't.

 

[fgwrich]

Had experience of both this week and I have to say that First Kernow is far superior (and still far from perfect!), both companies though have mostly friendly and helpful drivers but WG just seem to have a very shabby image, drivers wearing jeans and trainers with an un tucked shirt, both are expensive, have found First more reliable.... but there's time yet, First do have some old demics of vehicles but generally relatively clean. conclusion is that both could do better but WG has that feeling and look that it is a business on its last legs, Wheras First seem to have turned the corner and looking like the base of a growing business (in Cornwall), that's my opinion, some will agree, some won't.

Rather with you on this one i'm afraid, I last used both in April and found First to be the better operator - completely the opposite from 2 years ago when I'd have said Greyhound was the better operator for Cornwall. Yes First has some older vehicles in their fleet, but they also have a fair amount of ex London Tridents in their fleet which seem to have more poke and a much better refurbishment job than Greyhounds scruffy Ex London Tridents, and seem to have better time management as well. As I said in the Webberbus Thread, One thing First are doing well to do is work a lot harder on their image and services, whether your operating against a national operator like GoAheads Citybus or Western Greyhound if one operator isn't prepared to up their game then the other will take advantage of it and build on their weaknesses - Council contracts or not, it's largely how First have regained Penzance back from Greyhound, and Stagecoach putting pressure up on the Devon end with WG using ex London Tridents still in Stagecoach colours vs Stagecoach Devons fairly new Enviro 400s some even complete with leather seats and wifi, on a corridor that used to be worked by WGs Mercedes Citaros. I'm sorry for Greyhound, but the spark just seems to have gone with them. I also don't think Mark Howarths outburst at the council had done him any favours either, Yes it get's you a more interesting public opinion but while some of the public pay it's the contracts who are placed by the council. And given the business with the Park For Truro P&R and subsequent take over by First Kernow, I don't think Howarth's outbursts seem to be a clever strategy at all.

 

[South Westerly]

The fire was 14 months ago. In that time one presumes that the insurance has paid out. of course some of the vehicles were owned by Cornwall Council for Truro Park and Ride which isn't operated by WGL anymore. It appears that less tendered work is operated now. Since the fire the newer buses that were lost - E400s and New Solos - appear to have been replaced with twelve year old MPDs. What's more, the newest remaining Solos are openly up for sale with Ensignbus and are being replaced with more 12 year old MPDs. There's nothing wrong with a fleet of 12 year old vehicles, but perhaps it's just time to stop using the firs as an excuse for all the ills of WGL. The facts are that they have replaced buses lost in the fire AND their newest remaining buses with much older stock, reducing the size of their operation, and fourteen months on have a fleet wearing not just the colours, but even the fleet names of previous operators, and buses without proper destination displays. WGL has just the same issues in dealing with concessionary fares and tendering asa First, and indeed with the viability of its commercial operations. Yet, While First seems to be working hard to improve things, albeit slowly from a very low starting position, with timetable booklets, tender wins, simple fares etc, WGL is just blaming the Council. Isn't it interesting how one business can find a business model that works, while another seemingly can't, in pretty much identical circumstances.
Finally, the suggestion that Cornwall Council only wants to do business with First is laughable. Many operators are contracted to them and working happily with them.

 

[SWTH]

To the best of my knowledge the vehicle situation can be summarised like this:

May 2013 - 35 service vehicles lost to fire.
September 2013 - First of 9 Trident/ALX400's arrive, 6 vehicles go in p/x to Ensign (3 Volvo Olympians, 1 Citaro & 2 Trident/President. One of the two Trident/Presidents was not collected and is still to this day dumped at Pollards Mill, having been given a new MoT before being parked up.
October 2013 - Majority of loan vehicles returned, 5 Solos and a couple of Varios are bought outright. Only one Vario made it into service and was withdrawn 5 months later.
November 2013 - West Cornwall contracts ended, a handful of Varios withdrawn. 3 Varios lost to fire at Liskeard outstation.
February 2014 - 1 Trident/ALX400 written off, not replaced.
March 2014 - 3 Solos sent to Ensign. MPD's start arriving, 18 in total. Varios withdrawals continue.
May 2014 - 2 Solos sold.
June 2014 - 2 of the 3 Solos sent to Ensign return. 3 M720 Solos sold. Vario fleet down to around 12 examples.

The dates may be slightly off (I've written from memory), but that's by and large what has gone on since the fire.

 

[richw]

So if I am reading correctly the fleet has shrunk vastly? I'm working out 27 new buses with 39 destroyed / written off, and 13 sold plus however many varios have been withdrawn.
Neighbours summercourt travel have expanded as have several other local operators.

First have increased revenues on the Truro park and ride on a considerable scale, yet have cut the fare at weekends whilst still increasing revenue. This I imagine raised question marks at the council about western greyhound's operation of the park and ride.

 

[SWTH]

Yes, the fleet has shrunk. PVR is around 60-65 vehicles. Pre-fire it was around 100.

Edit: May be wrong about current PVR. Will update as necessary.

 

[Busaholic]

My post seems to have sparked a response, which I'm glad about because debate should be free and wide- ranging. I'd just like to point out that I don't know Mark Howarth or any Western Greyhound staff personally, although my time at London Transport may have overlapped Mark's, slightly, and I believe we both share a S.E. London background and are roughly the same age.

That said, I agree that W.G. appear tired and demoralised and could be doing more to help themselves. I am also sure that constant carping about them undermines them some more and only plays into the hands of their competitors. The sale of Norfolk Green to Stagecoach, given the similar images that N.G. and W.G. had, with awards to boot, might well have got M.H. contemplating retirement and what to do with the company. Stagecoach might well feel tempted to enter the fray, seeing how easily First rolled over in North Devon and Torbay, as long as the price wasn't too high, but I've a sneaking feeling Go-Ahead might like a pincer movement to secure assured dominance in Plymouth.

On some other points raised, I wouldn't be so sure insurance had (so far) paid out much for a fire treated as arson for which no-one has yet been brought to court, in fact, I'd be amazed if it had (I stand to be corrected). As for it being 'laughable' that Cornwall Council would like to have to deal with one major operator, I can only say that in my experience over the years working for three local authorities including the largest County Council they like nothing better than making life easy for themselves and plenty of 'you scratch my back and I'll scratch yours' deals are done. In any case, other than First and W.G. the bus operators are easily-cowed minnows.

Travel Cornwall (aka Summercourt Travel) certainly seem to have vehicle problems. I was driving behind one of their in-service minibuses earlier this week which was belching exhaust smoke. Sellotaped route numbers with no destination are not a sign of great permanence either.

 

[richw]

. The sale of Norfolk Green to Stagecoach, given the similar images that N.G. and W.G. had, with awards to boot, might well have got M.H. contemplating retirement and what to do with the company. Stagecoach might well feel tempted to enter the fray, seeing how easily First rolled over in North Devon and Torbay, as long as the price wasn't too high, but I've a sneaking feeling Go-Ahead might like a pincer movement to secure assured dominance in Plymouth.

On some other points raised, I wouldn't be so sure insurance had (so far) paid out much for a fire treated as arson for which no-one has yet been brought to court, in fact, I'd be amazed if it had (I stand to be corrected).

I imagine a sale to stagecoach would be more straight forward. The competition commissioner might decide to interfere if go ahead were to try with their dominance in Plymouth already. Go ahead have made no secret they want to expand further from Plymouth. Look at their routes from Plymouth to Barnstaple area for example, and also taking most of the tenders across the Torpoint ferry.
Stagecoach seems to have a working relationship with WG from an outsider point of view, a considerable number of loan vehicles after the fire, a number of vehicles sold to WG, and they are tolerating the buses still with their fleet names running about, especially towards Exeter where stagecoach have a considerable presence.

I also have wondered if the insurance has paid out reading recent posts and considering selling newer vehicles and replacing with 12 year old buses which will be creating funds in WG direction, which may be necessary to survive if the insurance hasn't coughed up. With nobody being found responsible, there will always be insurance job questions asked by some.

What happened to the 3 blokes from Bristol that were arrested?

 

[winston270twm]

I imagine a sale to stagecoach would be more straight forward. The competition commissioner might decide to interfere if go ahead were to try with their dominance in Plymouth already. Go ahead have made no secret they want to expand further from Plymouth. Look at their routes from Plymouth to Barnstaple area for example, and also taking most of the tenders across the Torpoint ferry.
Stagecoach seems to have a working relationship with WG from an outsider point of view, a considerable number of loan vehicles after the fire, a number of vehicles sold to WG, and they are tolerating the buses still with their fleet names running about, especially towards Exeter where stagecoach have a considerable presence.

I also have wondered if the insurance has paid out reading recent posts and considering selling newer vehicles and replacing with 12 year old buses which will be creating funds in WG direction, which may be necessary to survive if the insurance hasn't coughed up. With nobody being found responsible, there will always be insurance job questions asked by some.

What happened to the 3 blokes from Bristol that were arrested?

Stagecoach haven't sold any buses to WG, the Tridents were acquired from Ensign.

 

[SWTH]

If I remember correctly, this is the current active fleetlist for WGL:

Dennis Dart - 18 in service
201 - Dart/Pointer MPD - WGL Green
202 - Dart/Pointer MPD - WGL Green
203 - Dart/Pointer MPD - WGL Green
204 - Dart/Pointer MPD - WGL Green
205 - Dart/Pointer MPD - WGL Green
206 - Dart/Pointer MPD - WGL Green
207 - Dart/Pointer MPD - WGL Green
208 - Dart/Pointer MPD - WGL Green
209 - Dart/Pointer MPD - WGL Green
210 - Dart/Pointer MPD - WGL Green
211 - Dart/Pointer MPD - White
212 - Dart/Pointer MPD - WGL Green
213 - Dart/Pointer MPD - WGL Green
214 - Dart/Pointer MPD - White
215 - Dart/Pointer MPD - White
216 - Dart/Pointer MPD - WGL Green
217 - Dart/Pointer MPD - WGL Green
218 - Dart/Pointer MPD - WGL Green

Dennis Tridents - 8 in service
482 - Trident/ALX400 - TfL/Stagecoach Red
483 - Trident/ALX400 - WGL Green
486 - Trident/ALX400 - WGL Green
488 - Trident/ALX400 - TfL/Stagecoach Red
495 - Trident/ALX400 - WGL Green
497 - Trident/ALX400 - TfL/Stagecoach Red
498 - Trident/ALX400 - TfL/Stagecoach Red
499 - Trident/ALX400 - WGL Green

Mercedes Vario O814 - at least 13 in service*
500 - Vario/Beaver - WGL Green
551 - Vario/Beaver - WGL Green/White
556 - Vario/Beaver - WGL Green/White
560 - Vario/Beaver - WGL Green/White
562 - Vario/Beaver - WGL Green/White
565 - Vario/Beaver - WGL Green/White
569 - Vario/Beaver - WGL Green/White
570 - Vario/Beaver - WGL Green/White
577 - Vario/Beaver - WGL Green/White
581 - Vario/Beaver - WGL Green/White
591 - Vario/Beaver - WGL Green/White
592 - Vario/Beaver - WGL Green/White
599 - Vario/Beaver - Blue

Solo - 27 in service
701 - Solo M720 - WGL Green/Orange Stripe
702 - Solo M720 - WGL Green/Orange Stripe
704 - Solo M720 - WGL Green/Orange Stripe
810 - Solo M850 - WGL Green
817 - Solo M850 - WGL Green/Orange Stripe
911 - Solo M920 - WGL Green/Orange Stripe
914 - Solo M920 - WGL Green/Orange Stripe
915 - Solo M920 - WGL Green/Orange Stripe
921 - Solo M920 - WGL Green
922 - Solo M920 - Nottingham City Transport Green
923 - Solo M920 - Nottingham City Transport Green
933 - Solo M920 - WGL Green
953 - Solo M950 - WGL Green/Orange Stripe
954 - Solo M950 - WGL Green/Orange Stripe
955 - Solo M950 - WGL Green/Orange Stripe
956 - Solo M950 - WGL Green/Orange Stripe
957 - Solo M950 - WGL Green/Orange Stripe
959 - Solo M950 - WGL Green/Orange Stripe
960 - Solo M950 - WGL Green/Orange Stripe
961 - Solo M950 - WGL Green/Orange Stripe
962 - Solo M950 - WGL Green/Orange Stripe
981 - Solo SR M995 - WGL Green/Orange Stripe
983 - Solo SR M995 - WGL Green/Orange Stripe
984 - Solo SR M995 - WGL Green/Orange Stripe
985 - Solo SR M995 - WGL Green/Orange Stripe
986 - Solo SR M995 - WGL Green/Orange Stripe
987 - Solo SR M995 - WGL Green/Orange Stripe

*The Vario list is incomplete, those listed are the machines I know from memory to be in service.

 

[Busaholic]

On the subject of Truro park and ride, would like to point out the considerable use of it by concessionary pass holders ouside peak hours and the fact that when the buses were operated by WG this was free of charge, whereas now there is a £1 charge per journey, and this change occurred roughly at the same time as the change of operator, so if First weren't bringing more money in there'd be something very wrong.

The Competition Commission might be well advised to steer clear of Cornwall, having been made to look complete fools in North Devon. Which company runs 95% of passenger train services in Cornwall? Let's not forget that under the Tories' mantra of competition bus and train must fight each other and co-ordination is an evil. I believe the fairytale of Old Mother Ridley is taught to impressionable young minds at Gove Academies even now!

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

I take it that the post by someone about First operating a Snozzell to Newquay 21 turned out to have an agricultural smell???

 

[winston270twm]

Western Greyhound have a Facebook page again.....

https://www.facebook.com/western.greyhound.73?fref=ts

 

[richw]

Western Greyhound have a Facebook page again.....

https://www.facebook.com/western.greyhound.73?fref=ts

Made by another Disgruntled passenger....such a surprise :roll:

 

[Goldfish62]

Made by another Disgruntled passenger....such a surprise :roll:

Yes, no surprise there. Wonder how long it'll be before the TC takes an interest, if she hasn't done so already.:roll:

 

[richw]

Yes, no surprise there. Wonder how long it'll be before the TC takes an interest, if she hasn't done so already.:roll:

They haven't got enough buses to cover their timetable at present so can't see it going unnoticed