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Post by Dillon95 on Jul 16, 2022 17:20:58 GMT
Swanley Town Council have announced that Go Coach have taken on the 477 and it will be ran Mondays to Saturdays from Swanley Station to Dartford Station via Hextable & Wilmington. Great news. The Swanley to Orpington section is dead though, so nothing for Crockenhill which is still a shame but better than nothing. It’ll be an hourly service. It seems like another route 84 situation. An operator is prepared to provide a commercial service over a section of the route outside London, but cannot make the section into Greater London viable and neither TfL or the County are prepared to pay for it. It’s stupid because the world doesn’t end as soon as you cross an invisible border.
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Post by danorak on Jul 16, 2022 22:41:08 GMT
A Swanley - Dartford 477 is the most anyone can realistically have hoped for. I hope Go-Coach can make it work.
There's nothing to serve between Crockenhill and St Mary's Cray, and St Mary's Cray to Orpington is already well provided for by TfL. Anyone going from Swanley to Orpington is probably already using the 233 and 51, as we've seen from comments on this thread.
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Post by Dillon95 on Jul 16, 2022 23:23:30 GMT
A Swanley - Dartford 477 is the most anyone can realistically have hoped for. I hope Go-Coach can make it work. There's nothing to serve between Crockenhill and St Mary's Cray, and St Mary's Cray to Orpington is already well provided for by TfL. Anyone going from Swanley to Orpington is probably already using the 233 and 51, as we've seen from comments on this thread. You mean to tell me the hamlet of Kevington (or Kevingtown as it’s often misspelt) doesn’t deserve a bus route? 😋 It’s the R7 with Maypole all over again.
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Post by moz on Jul 27, 2022 2:36:05 GMT
The 477 has been in decline for sometime now and Arriva don't seem particularly interested in improving it, I can't help thinking Go Coach would do a better job. I'm not surprised that the Bluewater section has been axed with passengers expected to use Fastrack but the loss of the Sunday service is terrible. Probably not the right subsection to ask, but I have it on fairly good authority that Go-Coach are having to leave their Otford Depot and move everything back to Swanley. Anyone any more info? Moz
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Post by greenboy on Jul 27, 2022 5:28:55 GMT
The 477 has been in decline for sometime now and Arriva don't seem particularly interested in improving it, I can't help thinking Go Coach would do a better job. I'm not surprised that the Bluewater section has been axed with passengers expected to use Fastrack but the loss of the Sunday service is terrible. Probably not the right subsection to ask, but I have it on fairly good authority that Go-Coach are having to leave their Otford Depot and move everything back to Swanley. Anyone any more info? Moz Yes that is correct..... www.go-coach.co.uk/serviceupdates
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Post by marlon101 on Jul 29, 2022 21:37:28 GMT
Swanley Town Council have announced that Go Coach have taken on the 477 and it will be ran Mondays to Saturdays from Swanley Station to Dartford Station via Hextable & Wilmington. Great news. The Swanley to Orpington section is dead though, so nothing for Crockenhill which is still a shame but better than nothing. It’ll be an hourly service. But how long before Go-Coach will reduce it to 3-4 journeys a day? Just like many other routes as Go-coach takes over it then destroys it. Hopeful R6 can go to terminate in Crockenhill? But TfL won't do it for the cover section. On that note, what did they do to the Fastrack AZ service? They took it up, brought in new E400s with Amazon livery, only for the service to be folded into the Arriva Fastrack network within six months. Relating to provision, I understand Northfleet are struggling desperately for drivers (and prioritise the few they have on the Fastrack services as suggested above). Am I being dim, but the red font on here appears to imply that the 477 closure has been cancelled?
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Post by twobellstogo on Jul 30, 2022 7:34:14 GMT
But how long before Go-Coach will reduce it to 3-4 journeys a day? Just like many other routes as Go-coach takes over it then destroys it. Hopeful R6 can go to terminate in Crockenhill? But TfL won't do it for the cover section. On that note, what did they do to the Fastrack AZ service? They took it up, brought in new E400s with Amazon livery, only for the service to be folded into the Arriva Fastrack network within six months. Relating to provision, I understand Northfleet are struggling desperately for drivers (and prioritise the few they have on the Fastrack services as suggested above). Am I being dim, but the red font on here appears to imply that the 477 closure has been cancelled? That link I posted had been changed since I posted it : you are right, it appears the withdrawal proposal has been cancelled.
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Post by marlon101 on Jul 30, 2022 17:50:12 GMT
On that note, what did they do to the Fastrack AZ service? They took it up, brought in new E400s with Amazon livery, only for the service to be folded into the Arriva Fastrack network within six months. Relating to provision, I understand Northfleet are struggling desperately for drivers (and prioritise the few they have on the Fastrack services as suggested above). Am I being dim, but the red font on here appears to imply that the 477 closure has been cancelled? That link I posted had been changed since I posted it : you are right, it appears the withdrawal proposal has been cancelled. I suspected it had been an amendment since your post, just wanted to check I hadn't missed anything!
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Post by Dillon95 on Aug 2, 2022 19:49:20 GMT
Swanley Town Council’s MP has confirmed that Arriva have changed their minds following their campaign, and the 477 will continue to run between Dartford and Orpington. Great news. Hopefully it’ll survive in the long run.
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Post by vjaska on Aug 2, 2022 20:09:03 GMT
Swanley Town Council’s MP has confirmed that Arriva have changed their minds following their campaign, and the 477 will continue to run between Dartford and Orpington. Great news. Hopefully it’ll survive in the long run. Great news but I do fear this will crop up again in 1-2 years time - lets hope I'm wrong
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Post by twobellstogo on Aug 3, 2022 16:54:09 GMT
Swanley Town Council’s MP has confirmed that Arriva have changed their minds following their campaign, and the 477 will continue to run between Dartford and Orpington. Great news. Hopefully it’ll survive in the long run. Great news but I do fear this will crop up again in 1-2 years time - lets hope I'm wrong I agree : aside from the very busy routes along the river from Gravesend to Dartford/Bluewater (480/490 group), and the Fastrack network, I don’t think, deep down, that Arriva are much interested in the rest of the Dartford/Gravesham network, and they’ve very much gone for the path of least resistance in keeping the 477 for now, good news though retaining it is.
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Post by greenboy on Aug 3, 2022 18:11:46 GMT
Great news but I do fear this will crop up again in 1-2 years time - lets hope I'm wrong I agree : aside from the very busy routes along the river from Gravesend to Dartford/Bluewater (480/490 group), and the Fastrack network, I don’t think, deep down, that Arriva are much interested in the rest of the Dartford/Gravesham network, and they’ve very much gone for the path of least resistance in keeping the 477 for now, good news though retaining it is. That's what I thought as well, I'm surprised at Arriva's about turn but with a seemingly never ending driver shortage at NF I can't help thinking that the 477 will always play second fiddle to the Fastrack routes and the 480/490 and there's been a few complaints about the latter.
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Post by Dillon95 on Aug 4, 2022 16:44:16 GMT
I agree : aside from the very busy routes along the river from Gravesend to Dartford/Bluewater (480/490 group), and the Fastrack network, I don’t think, deep down, that Arriva are much interested in the rest of the Dartford/Gravesham network, and they’ve very much gone for the path of least resistance in keeping the 477 for now, good news though retaining it is. That's what I thought as well, I'm surprised at Arriva's about turn but with a seemingly never ending driver shortage at NF I can't help thinking that the 477 will always play second fiddle to the Fastrack routes and the 480/490 and there's been a few complaints about the latter. It doesn’t help that the 477 is an unreliable service. There’s often complaints of buses being skipped and not turning up, with people being left stranded in Dartford and having to get taxis home after paying for return tickets. Arriva should put a bit of pride and effort in running a good service rather than half arsing it.
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Post by busman on Aug 4, 2022 17:08:31 GMT
That's what I thought as well, I'm surprised at Arriva's about turn but with a seemingly never ending driver shortage at NF I can't help thinking that the 477 will always play second fiddle to the Fastrack routes and the 480/490 and there's been a few complaints about the latter. It doesn’t help that the 477 is an unreliable service. There’s often complaints of buses being skipped and not turning up, with people being left stranded in Dartford and having to get taxis home after paying for return tickets. Arriva should put a bit of pride and effort in running a good service rather than half arsing it. Sounds in keeping with Arriva Northfleet over the last 4-5 years. I’ve been left standing at a bus stop in Northfleet waiting for a last bus that never turns up on more occasions than I care to remember. Nice to see the 477 get a reprieve. In recent months I’ve only observed the Orpington section (between the station and Perry Hall Road) on a Saturday afternoon and buses looked quite empty. Do things tend to pick up between Perry Hall and Swanley?
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Post by WH241 on Aug 4, 2022 19:24:00 GMT
That's what I thought as well, I'm surprised at Arriva's about turn but with a seemingly never ending driver shortage at NF I can't help thinking that the 477 will always play second fiddle to the Fastrack routes and the 480/490 and there's been a few complaints about the latter. It doesn’t help that the 477 is an unreliable service. There’s often complaints of buses being skipped and not turning up, with people being left stranded in Dartford and having to get taxis home after paying for return tickets. Arriva should put a bit of pride and effort in running a good service rather than half arsing it. I really don't know what more you think Arriva can do with the resources they have? Companies throughout the UK are suffering extreme driver shortages and cutting frequencies and routes all the time. I think you compare services outside London (Even if just outside) to London buses and you will never find things as good!
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