Sunday 4 October 2015

Customer Service & Church Service

Snippets from our Correspondents

 A Weypac PS 
(from yesterday's blog) Thanks to our Senior IoW correspondent for remembering that the Leyland coaches were originally owned by Hills of Tredegar, also trading as Globus Gateway.
For Southern Vectis use, they were given "heritage" registrations,
Neither fbb nor his IoW man know what happened after Island life.

 Stagecoach South West awarded 
Fron the company newletter.
We have scooped the award for Large Bus Operator of the Year at this year’s routeONE Awards!Launched in 2005 and now in its 11th year, the routeONE Awards is firmly established as the number one event in the coach and bus industry calendar.

As "number one" as all the other awards ceremonies?

The award for Large Bus Operator of the Year (over 150 vehicles) is for the bus operator who best demonstrates that size really does matter, proving that passengers really do benefit when bus services are provided by a large operator.

Well don the lads and lasses at Exeter etcetera.

 Breakfast buns and bunny 

October 5th-9th is National Customer Service Week.

Stagecoach South West again!

We will be handing out breakfast items such as mini muffins, cereal bars etc. to customers on routes across the network at morning peak next week. We are hoping that Gary the Rabbit ...

... will join in the fun at Exeter bus station , while customers on Gold in Ivybridge, on the 2/2A around Saltash and at Barnstaple bus station will be treated to breakfast on us.

Gary first appeared to publicise the "Hop 12" relaunch of the service to Brixham. [Rabbit : hop hop : tee hee?]

 Rugby World Cup 
This was composed before England won/lost yesterday (delete where applicable). So congratulations/commiserations (ditto). Alan, our Northampton correspondent, had cause to observe arrangements for conveying the crowds from Milton Keynes former bus station to the stadium.
Alan reports:-

France v Canada at Stadium MK Thursday October 1st, 2000 to 2200

There were shuttle buses to the stadium from outside the theatre and from outside the former bus station across the road from the railway station. There were more than enough buses provided. The buses came from

Arriva London
Arriva The Shires
Metrobus
Motts
Stagecoach Oxford
Stagecoach Midlands (inc Leamington Unibus)
Sullivan Buses
Z and S

There were reported traffic delays on the A5 but X5s were diverted between Buckingham and Milton Keynes via the A422 and Stagecoach had vehicles on standby.

I did not wait until 2200 to see what happened when 28,000 people all tried to go home at once after the match

Seems a bit better organisationally than First Bus at Lyme Regis!

 Church Service 
Correspodent John sent fbb this picture.
It was parked in a yard opposite St. James the Great chuchyard at Alderholt (B3078) between Fordingbridge and Cranborne.
The bus is, of course, an ex London Transport "Airbus" vehicle.
It has had various identity "refreshes" but its present use is to support the work of the Deanery of Wimborne (Church of England marketing consortium!?). In the Parish web site we read a little more.

New bus-iness …a bus is a rare enough site in our village, so the glimpse of a double-decker bus this past month, in the car park across from St James’ Church, has been remarked on by many as they drive up Daggons Road. It isn’t, perhaps sadly, going to be taking village folk to market, or Castle Point. It belongs to a new charity set up by the Wimborne Deanery of parishes (of which St James’, Alderholt, is one) and will be available to our and other nearby villages as a resource for youth and community work. 
Lewis Pearson, its manager. will help form teams of local people in the places the bus visits. This new venture began after Easter 2015 and so we hope to see the bus return to being a regular youth drop-in for Alderholt.

And here it is in service in The Big Smoke.
Buses and the Church - an ideal partnership for fbb. If only he were XX years younger?

 Running a little late? 
Announced for arrival several weeks ago but (inevitably, it's an IT project) delayed ...
... the new Stagecoach web site is set to launch today!

fbb will evaluate (harmless if undertaken with appropriate safety precautions) and report tomorrow.

If it happens this time.

 Next bus blog : Monday 5th October 

4 comments:

  1. Stagecoach site offline now till Monday so You are out of luck if you need fare info for example.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hills didn't 'trade as' Globus Gateway.which is a German (at least, it used to be!) travel firm a la Thomas Cook- Hills presumably did work for them on contract.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thanks Dennis. I guessed, but wrongly!

    ReplyDelete
  4. And the Volvos operated with Southern Vectis Coaches too, at least for one season, repainted in the silver blue livery

    ReplyDelete