This is Alex Hornby ...
...Chief Executive and enthusiastic publicist for Transdev Blazefield, parent company of Rosso, former Rossendale Bus Company. Transdev is a great user of twitter and an even greater user of the word "amazing"!
His recent company "prize giving" was replete with amazing people doing amazing things. Twit publicity has recently centred upon the celebration of an amazing first year for Rosso under Transdev's ownership. Se if you can spot the low-key first birthday theme.
Subtle, isn't it.
But 9% more bums on seats sound truly impressive in one year. Most companies would be thrilled to have not lost passengers in a typical twelve month! The official Birthday date was 12th January 2019 and, because no stats are given, fbb cannot flesh out the headlines.
But we can, at least, look at the six new brands introduced in the first year.
The 464 is one of Rosso's main interurban services. It starts at Accrington and runs south parallelling the half-hourly Red Express.
It then links all four towns that were glued together to form Rossendale, namely; Haslingden, Rawtenstall, then east to Bacup ...
... before turning south via Whitworth to terminate at Rochdale.
It runs every 15 minutes Monday to Saturday and every 30 on Sundays.
In the original Fearnley-led Blazefield day, the 464 was branded Lancashire United.
Ex-municipal Rosso stuck a 464 on the side ...
... and produced a matching leaflet.
In Transdev's first year new vehicles arrived in a fetching purple, launched by all their amazing drivers.
Maybe it is pushing it to call the 464 a new brand but it was certainly thoroughly refreshed and relaunched.
Brand one of the six.
fbb is not familiar with the order of these developments but referred to the Red 4 a week or so back.
It provides a main road link between Ramsbottom, south to Bury ...
... and thus a double back link from Manchester to Bury via the Red Express which zooms past Bury on the M56 motorway.
We may return to the Red 4 later as it presents a few publicity problems!
Brand two of the six.
Next we go from Bury to Tottington.
On-line, Rosso does not allow us a timetable, just the above departure list. Traveline at least tells us when we arrive and offers an all stops version for more detailed research!
Transport for Greater Manchester is similar but neither mentions the brand. Meanwhile Rosso's map does not mention the route number!
Fortunately for the waiting passenger, the buses show both.
Brand three of the six.
Which leaves Lakes Line
In this case the route number(s) appear on the map but NOT the brand.
The 456 and 458 run from Rochdale to Littleborough ...
... with the 458 via Hollingworth Lake which presumably gives the brand its name.
Brand four of the six.
The Tottington Line and Lakes Line are both entirely within Greater Manchester.
It is also necessary to report that First Manchester also operates from Rochdale to Littleborough ...
These run direct, then in a loop via Stansfield and Shore (and vice versa).
Two more brands to discover in this first year of Transdev ownership and some impending timetable changes of considerable interest.
Next Rosso blog : Friday 25th January
Re the Lakes Line:-
ReplyDeleteThe map shows the 456 going via Stubley and the 458 via Hollingworth Lake, but in the timetable it's the other way around!
Actually presently the 456 and 458 run as a circular 456 out via Hollingsworth Lake and in via Stubley with the 458 the other way round. Not all journeys run as a circular - peak trips are out and back via the Lake. To make it clearer from next weekend all via the Lake will show 458 and all via Stubley will show 456.
DeleteNot quite on the 464. LU didn't run the 464 - certainly not in the Fearnley era, the pic shows a bus in old branding on loan to Rosso last year. The 'ex municipal' 464 logo is actually a municipal one applied well before the sale.
ReplyDeleteThe Rosso Tottington Line extract *does* show arrival times in Tottington. It's definitely a more appealing presentation than the monochrome timetable reproduced below, and from the sections posted, appears to show identical information.
ReplyDeleteHow did they achieve a 400% reduction in cancelled journeys?
ReplyDelete...and that 9% increase in passengers too. It will be statistically genuine, but what was the reason; cancellation of such as a tendered service etc, or company effort? It has to be effort to make it worthy of report.
Deleteto Sheildsman above
ReplyDeleteOf course it does. fbb opening "mouth" and putting foot in it. Thanks for pointing out the totally obvious! Too fixated on the horror of departure lists.
to Stuart Samuel
also did not spot the obvious!