Autumn 2018 service changes/cuts

Bus and Coach operations, new or changed services and timetables for First Midland Red Buses Limited or its predecessor, Midland Red West Limited.
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AdamH
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Re: Autumn 2018 service changes/cuts

Post by AdamH » 15:58 Saturday 18th August 2018

Tom Wells represents Welland, therefore the two extra journeys are on the 363 route. One departing Worcester at 1205 and the other will be the reinstatement of the current last journey at 1750.

I think the fact that our Network Planner often uses the Caravan Park at Hanley Swan may have also helped! :lol:

Noggin1
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Re: Autumn 2018 service changes/cuts

Post by Noggin1 » 17:05 Saturday 18th August 2018

A 1205 departure from Worcester for those who have only brief appointments in the city e.g. opticians, is very useful rather than having to wait four hours and of course a departure after 1730 is also needed. The gap between the 1405 departure from Worcester and the 1645 departure is a bit long. Could not the schooldays 1500 departure leave 5 minutes later, go direct from The Rhydd to the school, that bus then being used for the 363 return, and the times for Upton, Tunnel Hill, Welland and Hanley Swan be shown in brackets, indicating reverse order, so that the bus can be used to get to those places from Worcester? It wouldn't cost anything.
DD12 - obviously the 1205 363 departure from Worcester could morph into a 332 at Upton, and a corresponding 32 would be sent out as a 332 to become the 363 return. Adam's answer indicates it's not planned. That is why it is very odd that the County Council is not dealing with this as a whole. Though the county councillor representing Severn Stoke, and indeed the 50s routes could come to similar deals.
Actually I believe in Tewkesbury as a destination. It is the size of Evesham. Stagecoach run 5 buses an hour to Cheltenham (the 41 and 42), Upton is not a big enough destination, the 363 gets to Upton incredibly fast, has time to get to Tewkesbury and the route suits the layout of Upton. Surely some people from Tewkesbury want to go northwards? OK, we have this cut because of a lack of passengers, but a map tells you that there ought to be a reasonable service to Worcester.

MattW
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Re: Autumn 2018 service changes/cuts

Post by MattW » 18:13 Saturday 18th August 2018

AdamH wrote:
15:58 Saturday 18th August 2018
Tom Wells represents Welland,
Well I didn't vote for him :twisted:

MattW
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Re: Autumn 2018 service changes/cuts

Post by MattW » 18:14 Saturday 18th August 2018

AdamH wrote:
15:58 Saturday 18th August 2018
I think the fact that our Network Planner often uses the Caravan Park at Hanley Swan may have also helped! :lol:

Like the other people on there who have £60k motorhomes but all use bus passes? :twisted:

In all seriousness, does anyone think the area is suitable for a more demand-responsive kind of service? I don't know much about this subject so would be happy to be told its a useless idea!

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AdamH
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Re: Autumn 2018 service changes/cuts

Post by AdamH » 19:25 Saturday 18th August 2018

MattW wrote:
18:13 Saturday 18th August 2018
AdamH wrote:
15:58 Saturday 18th August 2018
Tom Wells represents Welland,
Well I didn't vote for him :twisted:
I was thinking about moving to Welland just so I could vote for someone else!!

Just a reminder, this was the level of service in the area when I started bus driving in 1994... Click here. Things are still better than the good old days!

bmmoboy
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Re: Autumn 2018 service changes/cuts

Post by bmmoboy » 08:43 Monday 20th August 2018

Ah the good old days - I see that we used to get a full 6 minutes from Lower Wick island to town in the rush hour

Noggin1
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Re: Autumn 2018 service changes/cuts

Post by Noggin1 » 13:15 Monday 20th August 2018

AdamH wrote:
19:25 Saturday 18th August 2018
Just a reminder, this was the level of service in the area when I started bus driving in 1994... Click here. Things are still better than the good old days!
That's a fair point. Of course about that time the main route to Upton was via Kempsey, an hourly service, going on to Tewkesbury and Gloucester every two hours. So the First 'Austerity' timetables have brought Upton to a very low point. My grouse is with the Council, which is reluctant to finance even a two hourly service to Upton and Tewkesbury from Worcester, but subsidises an hourly service Evesham to Tewkesbury. I see no consistent strategy. The anomalies around Worcestershire are huge. There's money for an hourly service to two very lucky villages, Caunsall and Cookley (9a/c), and Kev's Cars have won the 318 and the 147. As you can get to Halesowen and Stourbridge other ways without too much difficulty from Bromsgrove, it must be for the villages in between. It's public money, but I can't see the rules.

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AdamH
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Re: Autumn 2018 service changes/cuts

Post by AdamH » 20:31 Monday 20th August 2018

A lot of the time it depends on who shouts loudest. For years the Littleworth area had an hourly subsidised service run by Astons, Diamond, then Astons again with the 382. And again recently with "the 50s". It will come as no surprise then to learn that back then (and maybe still now?) several County Councillors lived in that area and they knew how to kick up a fuss and how to be seen to be doing something. It's all about votes, not public service.

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AdamH
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Re: Autumn 2018 service changes/cuts

Post by AdamH » 08:55 Tuesday 21st August 2018

Nigel was on BBC local news this morning. Couldn’t hear what he said as all the drivers in the canteen were shouting at the TV. Tom Wells has been riding on the 363 with a film crew too. He’s in Crowngate at the moment so I’m on standby with a fire extinguisher...

bmmoboy
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Re: Autumn 2018 service changes/cuts

Post by bmmoboy » 11:43 Tuesday 21st August 2018

Basically he said that a bus company cannot run services where there are only 2 or 3 passengers, and cutting services that are not used makes economic sense

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