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Hay Festival 2018 (?)

Posted: 13:46 Sunday 7th January 2018
by DD12
Now that it's 2018 already, I feel the urge to ask -
Will FMR be "tendering" to do the Hay Festival services again this year ??

IF the answer is yes, my guess is that the Bromyard variations wont be repeated, so I'm very glad I did my DD rides in 2017 !

ADAM - now that you drive the new Herefordshire routes, how about designing and integrating some of those with the Hay on Wye double-deckers :D

(Do you have any "planning" software / programmes at home ?)

Re: Hay Festival 2018

Posted: 14:33 Sunday 7th January 2018
by AdamH
The Hay Festival work is not tendered for, it is a private hire for the festival organisers. In the past they have contacted First around this time of year for a quote, so hopefully they are happy with the service we have provided in the past and will come back to us again this year.

If they do I will once again be at the front of the queue to volunteer to drive (already in said queue, just in case!).

I think it's very unlikely you'll see a double-deck working the 404 or 405 into Hereford. However, there has been a suggestion we may use a double-deck on additional 417 journeys later in the year to relieve the overloading problems on Saturdays when the seasonal workers arrive.

Re: Hay Festival 2018 (?)

Posted: 16:40 Sunday 7th January 2018
by DD12
Thanks very much Adam. :)

Re: Hay Festival 2018 (?)

Posted: 18:38 Thursday 22nd March 2018
by AdamH
Timetable for the Worcester to Hereford X99 route this year. Note, the X98 via Bromyard will not be running.

I hope to have the times for the Hereford to Hay shuttle soon...

P.S. We are expecting 100% StreetDeck working during the main Festival period this year. As before there may be the odd single-deck on the two days before it starts and the one day after it finishes.

Re: Hay Festival 2018 (?)

Posted: 21:09 Monday 14th May 2018
by DD12
No promotion, nor timetable yet, on First's Worcestershire website -- which I think is possibly "a bit lame" -- only 10 days 'til the start.

The timetable is on the Hay Festival 2018 website (as well as "here", in this thread above, thanks Adam !

Re: Hay Festival 2018 (?)

Posted: 16:21 Thursday 17th May 2018
by AdamH
Seems to be a general lack of information all round about it this year. It’s almost like the company has forgotten it’s running.

It should also be noted that the railways aren’t running for some of the Festival period. We carry huge numbers from the rail station so it will be interesting to see how that impacts the bus service. Plus our best driver, Mr Mansfield, has been stolen to work Rail Replacemnt.

Re: Hay Festival 2018 (?)

Posted: 18:16 Wednesday 23rd May 2018
by Adam V
I will be working at Shrub Hill during a lot of the engineering work blockade.

Has Padmore St got much of the rail replacement work? At least Mick can pop in for a coffee with me!

Re: Hay Festival 2018 (?)

Posted: 18:37 Wednesday 23rd May 2018
by AdamH
I know Mick Mansfield and one other driver has some Rail, but I don't know what days or routes. I'll be taking forum member "Red Midland" to Hay with me in the morning so he can refresh his memory on the route. He will then be replacing Mick on the evening Hay services to free him up for the Rail.

Spoke to a Yoemans driver the other day and he said they have 10 coaches out for the Rail, so I guess it's a big one. I've also been to Hereford Rail Station today (I was over there anyway) and had a look at the new bus stop layout which will hopefully accommodate us all.

Re: Hay Festival 2018 (?)

Posted: 20:30 Friday 25th May 2018
by AdamH
Please to report that the opening day (Thursday 24th) broke the previous record for takings on the first day of the festival.

Re: Hay Festival 2018 (?)

Posted: 13:16 Sunday 27th May 2018
by DD12
"Post-card from Hay" :-

I had a very pleasant Top-Deck ride to Hay yesterday - - the countryside was the best I've seen it, ( - having had a good watering).
On the way, the light rain and variable mist only enhanced the "magic" ( - to me), of the nearer scenery, and only the furthest views were hidden intermittently by cloud.

I much prefer these weather conditions to "weeks of" unbroken sun, and I love the green countryside to stay fresh and lush and verdant for as long as possible -- still plenty of blossom yesterday too !

On the way I was driven by Adam, and he had a short break at Hay, so we were able to chat ( - I think he was just about able to tolerate me for the 20 minutes, or so - :D )

"Never mind the festival", - I then made a "too-brief" visit to the Blue Boar ( - which is to be renamed the Blue Bore, following my visit).

On the way back (with a different driver), the weather had changed to mainly sunny, so the same route looked "quite different".

As warned in-advance by Adam, the Leicester StreetDeck seemed to struggle a bit, going-up Fromes Hill - - I forgot to ask him if their engines/ transmissions were programmed differently to the Worcester examples (?)

- lovely and smooth riding though !
:)