College Chaos & Cornwall Competition (2)

Cornwall Competition

We know now that the "support" for the new Truro and Penwith colleges network is to come from Go Cornwall Bus (GoAhead) competing against First Bus' commercial services.

The first to be revealed could be described as an improved service - very much improved!.

Hitherto GoAhead has run some school journeys which used to be tendered to First as part of their route 2 between Penzance, Helston and Falmouth.

First's route was renumbered U4 as it served Penryn Campus at Falmouth, but GoAhead retained the number 2. 

The U4 is hourly ...

... usually operated by smart branded double deckers ...

... although doubtless First will be going from brand to bland in a concerted attempt to lose passengers.

GoAhead is throwing plenty of resources at the U4 but only between Penzance and Helston.

The previous school journeys remain as 2A but a half hour headway between Penzance and Goldsithney  enhances the hourly service 2 to Helston. 

The autumn Cornwall network map shows both ...

... with the 2 in DARK BLUE and the U4 in LIGHT BLUE.

The next, geographically moving from west to east, is GoAhead's 41 from Truro to Camborne.

This runs every 20 minutes and includes tendered journeys again. It competes against First' prestigious and branded "Tinner" ...

... which is running every 15 minutes over the same section of route.

On the map ...

Tinner is RED. 41 is BROWN.

This onslaught will need a significant "investment" in staff and vehicles. It is going to cost First in lost revenue but there is insufficient business along that road to satisfy the grasping claws of two operators.

Two more competitive services start in Truro.

GoAhead's 32 is not so impressive at an hourly frequency ...

... against First's U1 with half hourly through trips between Falmouth and Truro.

The U1 was part of a massive tranche of services to the Uni campus at Penryn, but the academic authorities have cut contracts to cut costs, increased fares and lost a lot of passengers to motor cars! Saving the planet is a bit too expensive!

Branded buses were the mainstay of the U1. On the map ...

... First is DARK BLUE and GoAhead is DARK BROWN.

The other service from Truro is a little different. We had better look at the map first.

First's 87 (in GREEN) takes a very circuitous route between Truro and Newquay.  Its timetable is not "clock face" ...

... and does have some school day narration.

But it is a mighty long way round,

Gohead's offering is numbered 86 (PUCE) ...

... but is ten minutes quicker. Both serve the popular coastal areas south of Newquay.

So who will blink first? First's policies have been very negative of late, notably with the stupidity if the blanket withdrawal of its open top network.

In the other hand, GoAhead has reputedly quoted low for their big Cornwall business, and may well have done the same for the Truro college account. Is this burst of competition, between two who have been persuaded, so far, to work together by the Council, a sign of financial desperation from GoAhead?

You would not be overjoyed to have the role of Chief Finance Officer at either company. There will, undoubtedly, be far fewer beans for both  to count.

It will, of course, all end in tears. That much is inevitable.

Will these skirmishes persuade Cornwall Council to re-examine its currently "parked" desire to own and run the lot?

   WILL TELL   

 Next Variety blog : Sunday 21 Sept 

College Chaos & Cornwall Competition (1)

College Chaos 

Way back on 8th inst, fbb reported that Stagecoach had trumped GoAhead and won the contract for a tranche of serviced to Callywith (6th Form) College in Bodmin. At the time he wondered, idly, what Stagecoach would do with a whole heap of buses and their drivers between 0900 and 1630.

The scene now moves to the other end of the County where First Bus has lost the contract to provide loadsa buses for Truro and Penwith colleges. Success at the auction came for, guess who, GoAhead.

It is the month by month consistency of public transport that gives its customers such confidence!

So, as we have come o expect, the First Bus out-of-date booklet is still available on line.

Also available on-line are all the First Bus Timetables ...

... and lovely to behold they sre as well; lovely to behold and wrong! The First Bus 273 ran from Fowey to Truro. But GoAhead's new 273 ...

Doesn't! It runs between Bugle and Truro calling at the ever helpful and popular stop called "Lay By"!

Good, innit?

The new versions are listed on a long, long page of changes for the autumn term ...

 ...

... so it does imply some alterations ...

... but it doesn't bother to tell you what the change is apart from a crude list of the main destinations. Surely you need the timetables on such a page of info. That would be only fair for the customers at Lay By!

A cursory glance from the slightly dodgy eyes of fbb suggests that the publicity for the GoAhead versions compares very unfavorably with the First Bus booklet.

But the same question applies; what do you do with a whole heap of College buses and their drivers while collegiate activity is in progress?

The problem was greater for Stagecoach at Callywith as there aren't a lot of other Stagecoach bus routes for buses or drivers to play with. But GoAhead has oodles of work in and around Truro, most of which the company inherited when Cornwall Council offered the whole county's tendered bus work to one operator. GoAhead won most of it from First Bus.

Surely the company would use the college buses and drivers to fill in on the other local routes that it operates?

Oh no, they won't.

See this enigmatic comment on another change note in the mega list of this months revised timetables.

GoAhead will use their drivers and buses to "support" the new college contract.

That bit of bus-operator-speak is either deliberately in the realm of obfuscation, OR, more likely, a plain downright lie.

GoAhead is now competing against First Bus commercial services.

And you thought things were all chummy in Cornwall with both operators in the one timetable book, both operators on the one map AND, joy of joys, fully inter-available fares where, for example, GoAhead run tendered evening journeys on First Bus routes.

All very lovely and really helpful for the harassed passenger.

Blog continues tomorrow.

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PLEASE NOTE

The fbbs are off on Saturday 20th for a few days' break; three nights at Penzance (Premier Inn) and three nights at Treviades Barton. [fbb will reveal where and why in die course]. Return to fbb mansions is on Friday 26th.

Internet at both sites is untried, so blog readers may find the usual fbb service interrupted or curtailed.

Apologies in advance!

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Go Ahead 477 Timetable

fbb is grateful to Richard, an occasional correspondent, who not only reported that the new timetable was already on Traveline, BUT sent a copy of the relevant info.

fbb rarely consults Traveline as its system insists on displaying services under one route number, ei9ven if other journeys with au differoeintp number are obvious part of the same me table.

The extract below shows a 477 bus every hour with much the same coverage and frequency as Arriva ...

... but no extension to Darent Valley Hospital.

Still nothing from GoAhead. Richard thinks they will ignore the email.

===========================

Tank Wagon Taxonomy Worries

According to EBay this is a TEA tank wagon (not for tea - it is the British Rail TOPS code for a type tank wagon). 

But it doesn't look right.

Investigations continue - but fbb bought one for his collection, being surprised that the elderly model had not previously caught his attention.

 Next Cornwall blog : Saturday 20 Sept 

Sillienss At Swanley (4)

A Torrid Time

It was only in 2023 that GoCoach was bought by or merged with Hulleys of Baslow.

In a rather surprising move, the independent Derbyshire operator Hulley's of Baslow has bought Go-Coach of Swanley and all its operations. 

A letter from Go-Coach's Owner, Austin Blackburn, to Go-Coach staff confirms that the sale went ahead on 1st December. Austin Blackburn is remaining with the combined organisation and will be Engineering Manager for both Hulley's and Go-Coach.

Austin Blackburn has been keen to cut down his workload (he estimates he has worked around 70 hours a week for many years), and has no family succession for the Go-Coach business, so was keen that it should be sold to another independent with the same kind of philosophy, rather than one of the larger groups.

Go Coach vehicles began appearing at Hulleys Baslow depot.

Some of them ...

... have now ended up with Andrews of Tideswell ...

... after Hulleys collapsed leaving eye watering debts.

Fortunately, GoCoach's owner was able to extricate his business from the mess before the debacle.

Just over a year earlier, GoCoach had lost the contract to provide frequent buses to the Amazon warehouse just off the Fastrack A Route.

So tough times for the high quality operator in the Sevenoaks and Swanley areas, south east of London.

But the company survived the turmoil and surprised us all by starting a competitive service between Swanley and Dartford on 1st September inst. Arriva had hardly made an effort to promote their 477 and the service had recently been reduced from half hourly to hourly.

Yesterday's blog asked a number of key questions with some suggesting that GoCoach was silly to enter a competitive battle against a national operator with far greater resources.

But if we examine the huge difference between Arriva's attitude and that of the newcomer, it is not to difficult to see why blue has announced capitulation to yellow.

The Go Coach (Bus) publicity is bright, informative and very attractive.

Longer distance fares are competitive ...

... although short hops would not make for an attractive financial investment!

There is an attractive leaflet ...

... which includes a rather rudimentary but adequate map ...

... plus the timetable of an associated school service.

The full 477 timetable is there, of course ...

... and Roger French snapped a rack of the leaflets on his recently enjoyed 477 ride.

Sadly the online stuff is poor by comparison. The timetable is there, but why, please, do we have to suffler a separate table for each of the five weekdays.

All five are exactly the same!

The on-line route map is also very poor.

During the launch week, GoCoach./Bus offered a extra ride on a London Routemaster,

Good PR!

The difference in attitude between GoCoach/Bus and Arriva is utterly astounding with the latter being largely disinterested. Obviously the yellow lot have something new to sell - but you would expect the company to keep up its standard.

But what will happen when GoAhead runs its 477, replacing Arriva, from the end of October; with local fares and all the way to Orpington? (That’s  assuming GoAhead will run much the same as Arriva.)

You will not be surprised that fbb is still waiting for a reply to his request for a GoAhead timetable. How long will he have to wait? Will it arrive before the service starts?

Will the fat bloke's postal order timetable ever come?

Yaroooh you fellows! Where's my tuck box?

 More Silliness blog : Fri 19th Sept 

Sillienss At Swanley (3)

Who Did What And When?

10 Question that Must be Asked!

There is no doubt that Arriva was quick to announce the withdrawal from the 477 as soon as the change was registered with The Traffic Commissioners. The last day will be Saturday 25th October.

The intruder is GoCoach (the company) a k a GoBus (the brand) ...

... sotarted operating over part of the Arriva route from 1st September. This means that the service would have been registered sometime in late June.

Question 1 - Did Go Coach get wind of Arriva's decision to abandon the service?  Or did the yellow company read the signs, as in yesterday's blog, signs of decay and lack of commitment; then did they decide to give Arriva a push towards 477 annihilation?

There was no sign of a negative attitude to Arriva on their publicity for the new service.

Exactly the opposite, in fact, with publicity for new 477 being particularly chummy.

Question 2 - Did Arriva actually warn GoCoach of their intentions and, effectively, invite them to step in. This would be "collusion" and thus illegal - but, of course it happens. When fbb was at the fringes of the bus industry they were called "pub meetings", whereby the two (or more} parties would just happen to meet in a pub where ill-advised conversations might, possibly, unfortunately, embarrassingly just happen.

Whoops, deary me!

Question 3 - How come Arriva justified its withdrawal by referring to GoBus "competition" when the newcomer had barely set tyre on the road! 

When Arriva posted their comment ...

Additionally, the introduction of a competing service on the Swanley to Dartford section of the route by another operator from 1 September has significantly impacted the commercial viability of continuing the route. 

... Go Bus had barely started and certainly would have made little immediate impact of Arriva's cash till.

Question 4 - Why is Go Bus not interested in local passengers between Swanley and Dartford. Here is a map which shows Arriva's service unchallenged between Swanley and Orpington.

Arriva would continue to run the RED bit unchallenged and carry local passengers on the "shared" section.. 

And here is Go Coach's very unusual fares policy appplicable between Swanley and Dartford.

Three quid for, say, three stops to the shops? Even by today's standards that is a bii pricey.

Question 5 - why didn't Go Coach run at least hourly between Swanley and Orpington? Was the yellow bus lot hoping to get a bit of Kent County Council money to run the full route?

Even Roger French though this was likely until GoAhead went ahead with their new service.

Following Arriva’s recent decision to withdraw Route 477, an essential transport link between Orpington and Dartford, Go-Ahead Group will step in to serve local communities under the new brand name ‘Kent Country’, ensuring that no one along the route is left without access to vital bus services.

The closure, announced in early September, would have left residents without access to important destinations, including schools and places of work. Kent Country will ensure that the local community continues to have reliable connections to these key locations along the route.

Kent Country will operate from the Fastrack depot, providing continuity for customers. Services under the new operator will begin on 26 October 2025.

Isobel Hedley-Jones, Head of Fastrack ... 

... said: “We recognise the vital role this route plays in connecting people to essential destinations, and we are committed to supporting the community through this transition. The introduction of Kent Country will provide a seamless handover and a dependable service for passengers who rely on this route every day.”

Readers may remember that GoAhead snaffled the Fastrack contract from Arriva.

Laura Trott MBE, MP for Sevenoaks, Swanley and the Dartford Villages ...

... said: “I am delighted that, subsequent to my campaign, Go-Ahead will be taking over the Arriva 477 bus route in full from the end of October. This is brilliant news for residents – especially in Crockenhill – who were facing the prospect of being left without any public transport at all. I am extremely grateful to Go-Ahead for stepping in, and I look forward to working closely with them going forward.”

MPs, like policemen, are looking younger and younger!

Readers may remember that Laura claimed personal credit for saving the Arriva 477 extension to Darent Valley Hospital a while back! 

It did not survive!

Question 6 - how come GoAhead have managed to register their new 477 AND create a new brand in less than the normal registration period? This is possible with the backing of the Council but it might also have been because GoAhead "heard" that Arriva was withdrawing.

Question 7 - The new brand (Kent Country) looks very much like GoAhead preparing the ground for major expansion into what remains of Arriva's "territory" Will we see more Kent Country very soon?

GoAhead has yet to publish a timetable. fbb has asked for one, but, so far, with no response.

He awaits details with excitement.

BUT! Roger French has informed the chubby one that he believes GoAhead will be running their 477 commercially, not seeking any Council cash. So ...

Question 8 - have GoAhead "counted the cost" of taking on a moribund route from Arriva? AND ...

Question 9 - How will Go Coach fare with GoAhead as a far more savvy competitor than Arriva?

Which leads us to ...

Question 10 - Why are there no pictures of Go Coach 477 on line?

Tomorrow, we look at Go Coach (and/or Bus) and their route 477.

Whoops forgot! Roger has ridden the new 477, reported thereon and taken some nice pictures of his journey.

Very smart vehicles!

 Next Swanley Silliness blog : Thurs 18 Sept