Consequences

As bus operators, we can be faced with questions regarding the consequences of our actions. When services are changed, something i am always acutely aware of is the unforeseen loss of links or connections which may appear trivial, but can have a significant impact. As somebody responsible for the consequences of the actions of my…

The Blame Game: Timsbury Chronicles 2/2

This is a companion piece to Sold Down The River, my own experiences of providing a bus service serving Timsbury and the surrounding area from 2014-2016. A bit of background From the 28th October, First made changes to their service 179 between Writhlington, Midsomer Norton, Paulton, Timsbury and Bath. Although it isn't the main service…

The Top Secret Consultation

In any other industry, the most important people to ascertain the views of would be the customer. Almost every chain restaurant these days offers you a discount or small freebie at your next visit after you've eaten with them in exchange for completing a survey afterwards. In the bus industry, some operators do such things;…

Black Market Procurement

A troubling situation at a local school has recently come to something of a head, which will hopefully lead to some enforcement action being taken. As there may well be legal action being taken, details in this post will be rather sketchy. Outside of the urban sprawl, regular drivers of school coaches get to recognise…

Breaking links

I was out driving this morning, covering a coach job for a local operator. At one stage i passed Hartcliffe Morrisons and was waiting at the traffic lights as the CATT Community Bus left the store with a considerable load of pensioners on board. It struck me that these were precisely the sort of people…

A little more on Avoiding a Crisis

On Tuesday 9th May, BBC Wiltshire dedicated a significant swathe of their breakfast show to discussing bus service cuts, funding and primarily Faresaver's 33/X33 services between Chippenham, Calne and Devizes. Edited highlights are available here, or the whole thing can be found here for the next month or so. There was about 20 minutes of…

The Official Citistar Guide to: Avoiding a Crisis

The residents have been revolting. The residents are upset. The buses have changed, but nobody told them. Not that any of them actually use the service, but they're upset on behalf of the people who do use them. Both of them. Over the past few days, the residents of Timsbury (a village in B&NES) have…