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Post by Deleted on Feb 6, 2011 12:07:02 GMT
The Essex County Council contract route H1, operated by Regal Busways with four return journeys on Saturdays between Loughton and Harlow via Epping, will now be withdrawn from April 2nd 2011.
Regal took over the saturday service on route H1 after Imperial Buses withdrew the route on Mon-Sat. The Mon-Fri service was replaced by TWH's 55 (since replaced by a Mon-Sat service on route 555, but this does not serve Epping).
The route has been cancelled on VOSA, and Loughton Residents Association (LRA) mentioned it on their website.
This comes to no surprise really. There is already a route 541 from Loughton to Epping (although takes a lengthy route), and theres the 555 from Loughton to Harlow, and also the Epping-Harlow corridor is already over-bussed. Waste of money for Essex CC to be funding this rather pointless service.
On an un-related note, Arriva's 500 and 501 service was withdrawn yesterday (Feb 5th), due to competition from SM Coaches routes 19, 20 and 21. The 500/501 has operated since the 80s, so it comes to a great shame, especially as SM are likely to increase prices now, and especially as Arriva have MUCH better customer service.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 2, 2011 19:13:24 GMT
The Essex County Council contract route H1, operated by Regal Busways with four return journeys on Saturdays between Loughton and Harlow via Epping, will now be withdrawn from April 2nd 2011. Regal took over the saturday service on route H1 after Imperial Buses withdrew the route on Mon-Sat. The Mon-Fri service was replaced by TWH's 55 (since replaced by a Mon-Sat service on route 555, but this does not serve Epping). The route has been cancelled on VOSA, and Loughton Residents Association (LRA) mentioned it on their website. This comes to no surprise really. There is already a route 541 from Loughton to Epping (although takes a lengthy route), and theres the 555 from Loughton to Harlow, and also the Epping-Harlow corridor is already over-bused. Waste of money for Esse CC to be funding this pointless service. On an un-related note, Arriva's 500 and 501 service was withdrawn yesterday (Feb 5th), due to competition from SM Coaches routes 19, 20 and 21. The 500/501 has operated since the 80s, so it comes to a great shame, especially as SM are likely to increase prices now, and especially as Arriva have MUCH better customer service. Just to keep the magic round about going it appears the 255/355/555 are going from TWH to Lea Vally Bus trading as Townlynx whoever they might be |
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Post by Deleted on Mar 2, 2011 19:44:11 GMT
They don't seem to be trading as Townlynx, it only appears like that on Traveline for some reason.
The 'Lea Valley Buses' will be managed by the same Managing Director of Roadrunner, Harlow. The link to Roadrunner has already been proven, as Roadrunner's Plaxton President W471BCW (ex-Transdev London) is appearing on the 555. Also, a few ex-Sm Coaches/Roadrunner Dart SLFs have joined the TWH fleet, looking rather tatty, with the old logos removed but still showing, and the white paintwork looking dreadful.
TWH is still owned by Chris Hunn, its just the 255, 355 & 555 will be branded under Lea Valley Buses. The new X5 route from Romford to Harlow uses the same buses, but is not managed by the Roadrunner MD. (AFAIK)
Also, the 355 (Waltham X-Harlow) has already stopped operating. TfL did not allow the 355 to use Waltham Cross bus station, so it had to terminate at the nearby rail station instead. Obviously this is not ideal, so it apparently stopped operating on 12th Feb! Although, it has not been deregistered on VOSA yet.
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Post by beaver14uk on Mar 2, 2011 20:31:42 GMT
Not surprised some of these companies have been stopped from using Waltham Cross Bus Stn as they are a law to themselves and a disgrace. I had to phone the operator of the 255 the other day as we had a complaint to pass onto them - sounded like a real tim pot operator. They don't seem to be trading as Townlynx, it only appears like that on Traveline for some reason. The 'Lea Valley Buses' will be managed by the same Managing Director of Roadrunner, Harlow. The link to Roadrunner has already been proven, as Roadrunner's Plaxton President W471BCW (ex-Transdev London) is appearing on the 555. Also, a few ex-Sm Coaches/Roadrunner Dart SLFs have joined the TWH fleet, looking rather tatty, with the old logos removed but still showing, and the white paintwork looking dreadful. TWH is still owned by Chris Hunn, its just the 255, 355 & 555 will be branded under Lea Valley Buses. The new X5 route from Romford to Harlow uses the same buses, but is not managed by the Roadrunner MD. (AFAIK) Also, the 355 (Waltham X-Harlow) has already stopped operating. TfL did not allow the 355 to use Waltham Cross bus station, so it had to terminate at the nearby rail station instead. Obviously this is not ideal, so it apparently stopped operating on 12th Feb! Although, it has not been deregistered on VOSA yet. |
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Post by Deleted on Mar 2, 2011 21:10:41 GMT
Not surprised some of these companies have been stopped from using Waltham Cross Bus Stn as they are a law to themselves and a disgrace. I had to phone the operator of the 255 the other day as we had a complaint to pass onto them - sounded like a real tim pot operator. The reason TfL did not allow them to use the bus station for the 355 was because of space. This was the reason the Centrebus route C3X could not enter the bus station (it had to load at the 'alighting point only' stop). Also, Arriva's 250 had to have half the departures picking up at the usual stop, the other at the alighting point...confusing or what!. The 250 and C3X now stop normally because of the R3 being withdrawn, giving more space in the bus station. Talking about the R3, the reason it had to terminate at Waltham Abbey rather than Waltham X was because of lack of stand space, and it didn't upgrade the frequency to every 30 mins because of the space problems. Although, its funny how none of the TfL services have been made to have obscure stopping arrangements ;D although, I suppose London Buses don't have loads of routes competing against other like the Hertfordshire services which use the bus station. (i.e C3/C3X vs R3 vs 310, 250 vs 255, C3 vs 213) TWH arn't the greatest bus operator going. They have an incredible variety of buses, which are mostly half-dead and falling apart (they did have a nice ex-Armchair/Metroline ALX400 from dawsonrentals, but that has gone now). But, I have found their customer service to be great..most of the drivers are helpful and friendly. Beaver, do you know what the complaint was about? Although, I suppose you are not allowed to specify, which is fair enough. |
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Post by RM5chris on Mar 2, 2011 21:21:36 GMT
TWH arn't the greatest bus operator going. They have an incredible variety of buses, which are mostly half-dead and falling apart (they did have a nice ex-Armchair/Metroline ALX400 from dawsonrentals, but that has gone now). But, I have found their customer service to be great..most of the drivers are helpful and friendly. Are they still running the ex-Hedingham Bristol VR? Also, I wonder how many RMs they own as I note from LBG that they sold one to Ensigns recently |
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Post by vjaska on Mar 2, 2011 22:35:59 GMT
TWH arn't the greatest bus operator going. They have an incredible variety of buses, which are mostly half-dead and falling apart (they did have a nice ex-Armchair/Metroline ALX400 from dawsonrentals, but that has gone now). But, I have found their customer service to be great..most of the drivers are helpful and friendly. Are they still running the ex-Hedingham Bristol VR? Also, I wonder how many RMs they own as I note from LBG that they sold one to Ensigns recently I believe the VR was sold to a private owner, possibly for presevation  |
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Post by beaver14uk on Mar 2, 2011 23:07:01 GMT
Oh yes I know there is alot going on up there. Lets just say it was a driver complaint. Not surprised some of these companies have been stopped from using Waltham Cross Bus Stn as they are a law to themselves and a disgrace. I had to phone the operator of the 255 the other day as we had a complaint to pass onto them - sounded like a real tim pot operator. The reason TfL did not allow them to use the bus station for the 355 was because of space. This was the reason the Centrebus route C3X could not enter the bus station (it had to load at the 'alighting point only' stop). Also, Arriva's 250 had to have half the departures picking up at the usual stop, the other at the alighting point...confusing or what!. The 250 and C3X now stop normally because of the R3 being withdrawn, giving more space in the bus station. Talking about the R3, the reason it had to terminate at Waltham Abbey rather than Waltham X was because of lack of stand space, and it didn't upgrade the frequency to every 30 mins because of the space problems. Although, its funny how none of the TfL services have been made to have obscure stopping arrangements ;D although, I suppose London Buses don't have loads of routes competing against other like the Hertfordshire services which use the bus station. (i.e C3/C3X vs R3 vs 310, 250 vs 255, C3 vs 213) TWH arn't the greatest bus operator going. They have an incredible variety of buses, which are mostly half-dead and falling apart (they did have a nice ex-Armchair/Metroline ALX400 from dawsonrentals, but that has gone now). But, I have found their customer service to be great..most of the drivers are helpful and friendly. Beaver, do you know what the complaint was about? Although, I suppose you are not allowed to specify, which is fair enough. |
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Post by Deleted on Mar 3, 2011 18:26:27 GMT
TWH arn't the greatest bus operator going. They have an incredible variety of buses, which are mostly half-dead and falling apart (they did have a nice ex-Armchair/Metroline ALX400 from dawsonrentals, but that has gone now). But, I have found their customer service to be great..most of the drivers are helpful and friendly. Are they still running the ex-Hedingham Bristol VR? Also, I wonder how many RMs they own as I note from LBG that they sold one to Ensigns recently The VR was sold for spare parts to a preservationist. bcv.robsly.com/pwy39w.html. I got the chance to have a ride on this twice, which was a first time on a VR for me! It worked alright, but did have some interesting drawings on it, which shows how it was used on Hedingham's school contracts! ;D TWH also have no more Routemasters. RM909 and RM1018 (which sounded like Dartmaster conversions) were both sold to Ensignbus. Seems a strange move, as these were popular for their private hire work. Unless TWH have got another one i'm not aware of. |
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Post by Deleted on Mar 4, 2011 9:00:05 GMT
There are a number off changes to the HCC contract routes coming in. Arriva the Shires has won back the Sunday Service on the 310. They have decided to operate it on a commercial basis although I would doubt its commercial I would have thought they would make a lose on it
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