Manchester's Massive Metroline Mobilisation
So not the very best weekend to start a brand new bus network with a brand new company, lots of brand new staff, several brand new old garages and a huge fleet of brand new buses.
And this happens after the Christmas Holiday when "management" will have been off-duty for a fortnight.
And it all starts TODAY!
So nothing can possibly go wrong?
The biggest winner in the "who runs what" Bee Network lottery part 3 is Comfort Delgro company Metroline. The biggest loser is Stagecoach, owners of "Greater Manchester South" since privatisation. Stagecoach is only left with its Stockport depot and operations.
Here is the list of all the "Tranche 3" winners.
Bus watchers close to the Manchester scene think that Metroline offered a competitive (that means "better deal") bid which might well be difficult to sustain.
The word on the street is that PTE bosses are trying to manage aspirations by hinting that "there may be a few teething troubles in the first few days".
You bet!!!
Metroline is optimistic; but they would be!
Here's what they say:-That's rart grand!
fbb confidently predicts some sort of omnishambles at tomorrow's morning peak even if today runs smoothly!
Mancunians will hope he is wrong!
Lurking in the daftness of this huge challenge for Metroline was another problem. What do you do with over 100 brand new buses until you can get at your brand new old depots.
Answer, park them in South Wales ...
 |
| Photos by Roger French |
Time for a song - based loosely on a similar ditty about teddy bears.
If you went down to Taffs Well last week,
You'd sure have a big surprise.
If you went down to Taffs Well last week,
There's buses galore in disguise.
Ev'ry Bee-bus that ever there was
Was gather'd there for certain because
Sunday's the day when Metroline
Starts their network!
Each little yellow bus
is on Manchester routes today.
Watch them, catch them as they pass
And see them running on their new network!
See them gaily gad about
They love to play and shout
They'll never make any fuss!
Then late at night their drivers and bosses
Will take them back home to bed
Each a tired little Bee-net bus.
If you go down into town today,
The buses may well be a mess.
P'raps chaos down in the town today,
Your journey may never progress.
Ev'ry Bee-bus that ever there was
Will gather there befuddled because
Today's the day when Metroline
Starts their network!
There will be many bus managers in Manchester extremely anxious about tomorrow's morning peak!
Not New But A Soft Launch.
This euphemism usually means that not too much is happening (yet?) so we are not making a huge fuss OR; you've seen it happening already and this is just a bit of ancillary PR.
Anyway, First Bus drove a couple of their new electric buses into Guildhall Square in Portsmouth a few days ago ...
... and parked them up for all to see.
There was an interview for the local press, but nothing for YouTube.
"The man" spoke at length about First's commitment to zero emissions by 2035, about the smooth and quiet ride and about the love that the drivers have for these vehicles.
He also spoke about this being a First bus investment in the future.
It isn't.
These electric vehicles are far too expensive for a commercial business. So they are being heavily subsidised by the government's ZEBRA scheme for Zero Emission Buses - which they aren't. Making the buses, making the electricity and making and disposing of the batteries is very far from zero emission.
And every taxpayer is footing most of the bill.
How Much?
fbb is amazed at the price of Model Railways today, but astonishment knows no bounds if your interest lies with European models and some of the top manufacturers.
No further comment is needed!
And it won't even work on a UK layout with standard two rail track. Marklin has a stud contact system. The line of studs in the centre of the rails carries the power feed to the locos. See the line of little prongy things in the centre of the track sample below.
It is like three rail but you can't see the third rail very well.
Left-Handed Or Right-Handed
The "Fault" in this picture was that the sidecar was "on the wrong side"; unless it was visiting from America, for example.
Puzzle Picture 1
A long-closed railway station but recently restored. As a clue, the line ran through the longest railway tunnel in the world. To be fair it held that position in 1832!
Puzzle Picture 2
Nothing to do with Public Transport although camels and a donkey are sometimes wrongly cited. Which Christmas Day TV programme contained at least two hidden Biblical references?
These two pictures, from a USA bikers' web site, would definitely match the wrong 'un in the 1930s "fault" picture!
Puzzle Picture 1
Puzzle Picture 2
And what were they?
Answers soon.
==================
"NOT the Advent Calendar", but ...
The
CHRIST -mas
Criss-muss
Confusion
Critique 5
Part of the Christmas Story ...
... for Twelfth Night.
This is the weekend of the fbb's Fellowship Meetings and the leaflet distributed in advance to the "congregation", other local folk and many supporters contained a reminder that Christmas may end officially this weekend but ...
Christmas is for every day.
Here is a sample of what C H R I S T M A S can mean all the time!
Click on the graphics (there are two separate images) for an enlargement.
=========================
More From Fantastic Faeroes : Mon 6th Jan
You've solved a puzzle for me! I saw a couple of Bee Line buses driving along the A48 in Cardiff the other day and wondered what they were doing ... although they were driving away from Taff's Well, not towards it!
ReplyDeleteThe Swiss loco was offered by Trix as a 2-rail model (Trix and Marklin are the same company) a few years ago, but has been discontinued.
ReplyDeleteThe ZEBRA grant covers 75% of the additional cost over a diesel bus, so unless Portsmouth/Hampshire are contributing to the 25%, First is investing more than it would have done for a diesel fleet.
ReplyDeleteStagecoach gained Queen's Road and Oldham in Tranche 2, so they're not the big losers you're making out. They have a net loss, yes, but not that substantial.
ReplyDelete