D & G : Delightful & Gorgeous
Old readers will remember the Midland Red brand of Chaserider, now adopted by D & G Buses for the Cannock and Stafford area routes taken over from Arriva. The D & G people announced that there would be np changes from the Arriva timetables (should they have added "yet"?).
A few days ago, fbb received timetable leaflets for the two areas concerned (thanks Julian!) and, as expected, they are superb productions.
There are excellent network maps ...
... accompanied by town centre plans.
And there are proper timetableS, none of the unhelpful frequency summaries which are of no use to man (nor woman!) nor beast.
Worthy of note is the inclusion of routes operated by Select Bus Services (fbb presumes tendered) to ensure that passengers have full network information.
This sort of material would seem to be better at "Creating Desire" than painting the bus in splodgy new liveries.
So why do the big companies hide behind the "its all on line" (and very hard to find) non-joke or, even worse, the lie that they do not have the "resources" to issue printed material. Both of these excuses have an obvious translation, i.e. "we can't be bothered".
There will be more on this in tomorrow's blog - and not from fbb but from a professional transport consultant.
As the great Barry Doe once opined, "If the companies are making enough money (currently from our taxes!) we cannot force them to attract more passengers by issuing good publicity.
Trust Pink, Forget ...
... Indigo! One of the first pinks has been spotted at Washington, Tyne and Wear; the latest re-brand from go Ahead. Looks smart?
And, as fbb surmised ...
... Pinks are repainted IndiGo buses.
Some wag has suggested some alternatives ...
... and there are other rhyming names which might get used if the buses are always late.
It's About Boxes - No 1
A while ago, fbb reported that the former signal box at Torre (Torquay) was being auctioned.
Well, if you wanted to buy it - it is too late.
Nearly 66 grand seems cheap for a three storey residence, but maybe, after substantial conversion costs ,a nice semi up the road would offer better value.
If only fbb were 30 years younger ...
And significantly richer!
It's About Boxes - No 2
A new report recently told us that on-line retailers are running our of cardboard, such has been the increase in Amazoning and EBaying (etc) under the present unprecedented circumstances. fbb thinks he knows why. Here is a recent delivery from Hattons of Widnes. And inside ...
... loadsa packing, a Christmas 2020 catalogue ...
... and another box. And inside the other box, more packing and ...
... a very small box. And inside the very small box ...
... a Trix tank wagon liveried for UD (United Dairies) incorrectly on deep green. Incidentally fbb received another tank wagon yesterday from a private seller. It cam, protected by a layer of bubble wrap, in a jiffy bag.
It's About Boxes - No 2
The advert for the UD tank wagon said "poor box". Which it was. But it was a very special poor box.
Trix wagons came in these poor boxes as a result of immediate post WW2 shortages. fbb might, were he an avid collectors of model railway boxes, have sought o buy one on-line; just a box. He would have been in for a shock.
£8 for a bit of skanky cardboard is an OUCH, but £18.50 for postage, even from Germany, must be some sort of rip-off.
Anyway, fbb's box came for nothing!
Thomas Hard At Work
We all know that Thomas, like Father Christmas, has the ability to be in several places at once; but most of those places are heritage railway lines seeking to make a bob or two by attracting the kiddies. In so doing, of course, they make a fat wedge for the Thomas Company and its leading light and son-of Rev Wilbert, viz Christopher Awdry.
But it is good to see Thomas getting occasional jobs on the Main Line on the Other Island. Here he is (thanks to Twitter) seen hard at work hauling a broken down Flirt c/o the nationalised railways of the Netherlands.
It must be true, because it is all on line.
Or maybe not?
That looks like the squashed Thomas, produced by Bachmann ...
... rather than the proper Thomas that used to be made by Hornby!
Another Livery Tease
It is from Lancashire a Mellort Strata midibus and fbb presumes (?) that Transdev have won some tenders from Lancashire. The company already has similar vehicles on Keighley town services ...
... with (in)appropraite branding.
Jets? Up all those steep hills?
Tomorrow, amongst other things, we hear from this man:-
Also from this man ...
... via transport broadcaster Tim Dunn.
Next Wednesday Variety blog : Wednesday 10th February
If the illustrated timetables are creating desire for travel, potential passengers will be severely disappointed. On the company's website "From 18th January 2021: Services 22, 23, 24 and 60A are suspended." There have been further alterations to other services since...
ReplyDeleteThe inclusion of Select Bus isn't quite as FBB intimates. Julian Peddle has a minority shareholding in Select (as he does in Midland Classic) so they are part of the wider family group and have included each other in their publicity where their routes overlap for many years - this is neither new nor special.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure what has got FBB obsessed in pointing out that printed publicity isn't a frequency guide, it would be odd if it was. In my experience frequency summaries are rare and deployed for specific purposes (shared corridors, short routes or specific flows you want to highlight). This is a non-issue that FBB seems to be obsessed by.
The real issues, where I generally agree with FBB, is to print or not (yes, it may be less important with the internet but there is still a real need for some), internet journey planners (no replacement for timetables and rarely without issues) and the roadside question of timetable vs departure lists (a more 50/50 question where there are arguments on both sides in this circumstance).
Entirely agree it shouldn't be a battle of printed material vs online - it should be both and both should be accurate, accessible and attractive... But if I had to chose one, then accurate online content would be my number one priority.
DeleteI do not think that Christopher Awdry owns any of the Thomas empire nowadays; the rights were sold a long time ago. He is on record as disliking the weakening of the links between the stories and what happened on real railways, and the weakening of the moral element in the stories.
ReplyDeleteThe question I have to ask, time and time again, is, "How does one actually get these wonderful printed resources to people?" Racks at railway stations, tourist information offices, and bus stations are a start. Public libraries and local authority "hubs" would be good, too; but here they disappear under a mountain of other material. Free delivery to every home - well, it can be done, but it must be pricey. Distribution on the buses themselves - that's preaching to the choir. If I was to visit a place I didn't know and wanted to catch a bus, the first and probably only place I'd look would be online - which is why that information needs to be easily find-able, accurate and up-to-date.
ReplyDeleteOn the subject of timetables: yes for relatively infrequent routes. But frequency guides plus (and this is crucial) estimates of average journey times along the route will do fine for most city routes. This is the sort of thing I mean (all right, it's a Lisbon tram route!): https://www.carris.pt/media/pmtp3r0w/e015.pdf
Distribution on buses may be preaching to the choir, but at least it ensures they all turn up on time for next week's service!
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