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Post by twobellstogo on Jan 27, 2018 21:24:26 GMT
Travelled on the 17.10 departure of the 555 from Heathrow Central today (Thurs). There were about 6 other people, who all had a free ride in the Heathrow Freeflow zone. A few alighted and boarded in the Bath Road area, again free riders. At Hatton Cross, most people alighted (including me), and about 5 boarded all free riders to T4 (perhaps one fare payer - didn't quite see). For an hourly service, at a 'peak hour' departure this didn't really look good (although obviously there isn't really a peak at Heathrow, with all the strange shift hours and flight times). Do bus operators get any money for accepting free travel in the Freeflow zone? Or is it something operators have to agree to in order to access Heathrow? I didn't go to T4, but perhaps loadings are better there? I can imagine some regular users of the service possibly travelling from T5 and Central on the Express/Connect to pick up the 555 from T4, to save the long journey around the perimeter. Ever since Oyster was introduced the route has been in decline. In the early 2000's the route was every 15 minutes, this went down to every 30 and subsequently when First and then Hallmark took over every hour. NW Surrey is like London, so it can't tolerate expensive bus fares, unlike the 32 or 460 which operate in wealthier parts and see good loading's for county council contracts. I think NW Surrey is definatly a bus area though (see the TFL routes) and could definatly do with either a bit of Reading Buses magic (as they are doing in Slough) and/or better cooperation with TFL (accepting Oyster Cards) Having recently sampled it, I'd say the shining light in this area is Stagecoach's 715. Hallmark's standards are sadly disappointing. Abellio are doing better again with the 461 of late, but they won't expand any more. Not used the Falcon routes yet, but the buses look in good shape.
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Post by vjaska on Jan 27, 2018 22:00:50 GMT
Ever since Oyster was introduced the route has been in decline. In the early 2000's the route was every 15 minutes, this went down to every 30 and subsequently when First and then Hallmark took over every hour. NW Surrey is like London, so it can't tolerate expensive bus fares, unlike the 32 or 460 which operate in wealthier parts and see good loading's for county council contracts. I think NW Surrey is definatly a bus area though (see the TFL routes) and could definatly do with either a bit of Reading Buses magic (as they are doing in Slough) and/or better cooperation with TFL (accepting Oyster Cards) Having recently sampled it, I'd say the shining light in this area is Stagecoach's 715. Hallmark's standards are sadly disappointing. Abellio are doing better again with the 461 of late, but they won't expand any more. Not used the Falcon routes yet, but the buses look in good shape. The worst thing that happened was the dismantling of Abellio’s network - granted it wasn’t perfect but it was a lot better than the current mess (715 aside).
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Post by tony4387 on Jan 28, 2018 8:45:39 GMT
Having used Abellio Surrey 715 before it went to stagecoach they were good but they needed new buses on the service but I can see why they gave back there contracted service after all why run services where you are receiving yet to nothing for running them and why not concentrate on what they do make money on Surrey like Harlow in Essex is not a good place to run buses on shoddy council contracts where the local council does not seem to give a toss on its bus services
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Post by twobellstogo on Jan 28, 2018 10:07:08 GMT
Having used Abellio Surrey 715 before it went to stagecoach they were good but they needed new buses on the service but I can see why they gave back there contracted service after all why run services where you are receiving yet to nothing for running them and why not concentrate on what they do make money on Surrey like Harlow in Essex is not a good place to run buses on shoddy council contracts where the local council does not seem to give a toss on its bus services Hmmm...I actually think Surrey are amongst the better shire councils with bus services - they do try hard in a county where large segments of the population think trains are not to be used unless in an emergency, let alone the humble bus...
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Post by N230UD on Jan 28, 2018 21:05:11 GMT
Ever since Oyster was introduced the route has been in decline. In the early 2000's the route was every 15 minutes, this went down to every 30 and subsequently when First and then Hallmark took over every hour. NW Surrey is like London, so it can't tolerate expensive bus fares, unlike the 32 or 460 which operate in wealthier parts and see good loading's for county council contracts. I think NW Surrey is definatly a bus area though (see the TFL routes) and could definatly do with either a bit of Reading Buses magic (as they are doing in Slough) and/or better cooperation with TFL (accepting Oyster Cards) Having recently sampled it, I'd say the shining light in this area is Stagecoach's 715. Hallmark's standards are sadly disappointing. Abellio are doing better again with the 461 of late, but they won't expand any more. Not used the Falcon routes yet, but the buses look in good shape. I was actually pleased with the standards of the Hallmark journey I was on. It was spot on time, a friendly driver, bus was comfortable and clean. But thats just my experience on my only experience with Hallmark. I've read about the 555 route on the londonbusroutes website, and it is strange to think how much better the service used to be. It does surprise me that buses are struggling in a densely populated area in Greater London right by one of the busiest airports in the world..... but that just shows what a mes the bus industry is in really...
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Post by snoggle on Jan 29, 2018 0:29:49 GMT
Having recently sampled it, I'd say the shining light in this area is Stagecoach's 715. Hallmark's standards are sadly disappointing. Abellio are doing better again with the 461 of late, but they won't expand any more. Not used the Falcon routes yet, but the buses look in good shape. I was actually pleased with the standards of the Hallmark journey I was on. It was spot on time, a friendly driver, bus was comfortable and clean. But thats just my experience on my only experience with Hallmark. I've read about the 555 route on the londonbusroutes website, and it is strange to think how much better the service used to be. It does surprise me that buses are struggling in a densely populated area in Greater London right by one of the busiest airports in the world..... but that just shows what a mes the bus industry is in really... The problem is that Heathrow is, in reality, an enormous car park and shopping centre that also happens to have planes taking off. So many people in Surrey have cars that it is pretty inevitable that they would drive to Heathrow if working there or otherwise having to do there. Either that or car sharing with colleagues. SCC do reasonably well with thin funding levels but it's pretty clear they're at the limit now with many services because increasing congestion is pushing bus journey times up forcing a departure from clockface / interval services which makes buses even less attractive for people. The congestion only has to ratchet up again and many services will be struggling very badly indeed in terms of any sort of attractive service, even off peak. Regular peak headways went years ago in many areas - even high use areas like Tyne and Wear where you now get irregular peak headways on almost every route or else lower peak frequencies than off peak to avoid increase PVRs because round trip times go up by 20-30%. It's immensely sad to see.
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Post by snowman on Mar 3, 2018 9:40:31 GMT
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Post by twobellstogo on Mar 3, 2018 22:07:13 GMT
They are a complete fleet replacement for Elmbridge Community Transport, who operate services for the elderly/disabled throughout the borough.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 14, 2018 17:51:55 GMT
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Post by planesandtrains on Mar 14, 2018 19:37:12 GMT
I expect Abellio to have pulled out of the 461 by the summer at best. From a whole network to one route.
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Post by paulo on Mar 15, 2018 0:25:24 GMT
I expect Abellio to have pulled out of the 461 by the summer at best. From a whole network to one route. Indeed. They let Surrey cc down by not keeping to their tender obligations.
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Post by MetrolineGA1511 on Mar 17, 2018 21:27:12 GMT
I know that the standard operator around Redhill is Metrobus, and around Guildford Arriva (assisted a bit by Stagecoach). It's hard to say which the largest operator for the rest of Surrey is now.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 19, 2018 22:17:28 GMT
There are now plans for a new ‘Acorn’ ticket which would be valid across the former Abellio Surrey network area to try and make travelling by bus on journeys that now involve two or more operators cheaper and more convenient.
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