|
Post by twobellstogo on Sept 23, 2023 5:56:58 GMT
I think there’s a good chance that Falcon were made to do that by SCC. Why would SCC tell an operator to swap buses mid route? That's the most bizarre thing I have ever heard regarding a tendered service. Why on earth is that the most bizarre thing you’ve heard? It may well be on the schedule that Surrey have given Falcon. You don’t know any more than I do. My only conclusion I can draw from this is that you are one of (in my opinion) a surprisingly high number of people who hate Falcon and wished they’d go away. If that’s the case, be careful what you wish for.
|
|
|
Post by twobellstogo on Sept 27, 2023 8:56:44 GMT
Interesting journey this morning on my 715. I generally pay contactless but I’ve ended up with a fistful of coinage so decided to get rid of a couple of pound coins on the bus. The response was ‘we’d rather you didn’t use cash in future, we’re going fully contactless soon…’ Interesting…
|
|
|
Post by imarkeh on Sept 30, 2023 19:32:18 GMT
Why would SCC tell an operator to swap buses mid route? That's the most bizarre thing I have ever heard regarding a tendered service. Why on earth is that the most bizarre thing you’ve heard? It may well be on the schedule that Surrey have given Falcon. You don’t know any more than I do. My only conclusion I can draw from this is that you are one of (in my opinion) a surprisingly high number of people who hate Falcon and wished they’d go away. If that’s the case, be careful what you wish for. Surrey may well give a schedule, in 99% of cases, no local authority is going to demand a bus swap though midroute, that is an operators choice and in the examples above, I can say with almost certainty, it was not Surrey Councils decision to do a bus swap like this. As for your conclusion, you are very wrong and you shouldn't jump to a conclusion like that based off one single criticism of the firm. The rest of the company, I have no issue with (beyond the fact they don't reply to emails).
|
|
|
Post by twobellstogo on Sept 30, 2023 19:40:16 GMT
Why on earth is that the most bizarre thing you’ve heard? It may well be on the schedule that Surrey have given Falcon. You don’t know any more than I do. My only conclusion I can draw from this is that you are one of (in my opinion) a surprisingly high number of people who hate Falcon and wished they’d go away. If that’s the case, be careful what you wish for. Surrey may well give a schedule, in 99% of cases, no local authority is going to demand a bus swap though midroute, that is an operators choice and in the examples above, I can say with almost certainty, it was not Surrey Councils decision to do a bus swap like this. As for your conclusion, you are very wrong and you shouldn't jump to a conclusion like that based off one single criticism of the firm. The rest of the company, I have no issue with (beyond the fact they don't reply to emails). Well, especially as I’ve probably started another row elsewhere, I think I’ll bring this to an end! They have always answered my emails quickly, but I will say they could do a lot better on their social media! 715s still running around with capacity crowds throughout much of the day….
|
|
|
Post by gwiwer on Oct 16, 2023 6:46:07 GMT
Which continues to beg the question "Why is this a contracted route and not commercial?" Surrey's scarce funds might be better re-used elsewhere to support routes which are felt to be socially necessary but simply don't have the customer base to generate decent loadings.
It also begs the question as to how long will it be before the 715 finally reverts to half-hourly? I know that is a very big step up and a financial gamble but if it is carrying good-to-full loads hourly there should be sufficient resilience in the finances to invest in more vehicles. And, of course, to train more drivers as the current environment can sometimes mean the best intentions go unfulfilled simply through a lack of human resources.
|
|
|
Post by twobellstogo on Oct 16, 2023 9:57:27 GMT
Which continues to beg the question "Why is this a contracted route and not commercial?" Surrey's scarce funds might be better re-used elsewhere to support routes which are felt to be socially necessary but simply don't have the customer base to generate decent loadings. It also begs the question as to how long will it be before the 715 finally reverts to half-hourly? I know that is a very big step up and a financial gamble but if it is carrying good-to-full loads hourly there should be sufficient resilience in the finances to invest in more vehicles. And, of course, to train more drivers as the current environment can sometimes mean the best intentions go unfulfilled simply through a lack of human resources. I agree with all of this, which probably doesn’t come as a huge surprise to you! The 715 could bear a 30 minute frequency on Monday to Saturday, and could probably go hourly on a Sunday. It is also rapidly heading towards not needing support in my opinion, with the exception of evenings and probably Sundays too. It’s early days with Falcon, and you wonder what their thoughts are. One other thing I have noticed is the resilience of the 715 is rather better now with Falcon than it was with Stagecoach - I think the driver change at Cobham is helping here - it has been mentioned that often driver changes in the middle of the route are more of an aid to reliability than changes at one end.
|
|
|
Post by twobellstogo on Nov 15, 2023 17:40:34 GMT
Previously green liveried Falcon E200MMC YX17NZA is now in normal white/red/blue fleet livery.
|
|
|
Post by mark on Nov 15, 2023 17:47:42 GMT
|
|
|
Post by cardinal on Nov 20, 2023 15:37:11 GMT
Carlone are running a Christmas Day service on their 442 with buses running from 3am until just after midnight.
Great news for Airport workers / users as well as NHS staff at Ashford Hospital. ( plus anyone who wants to get to visit relatives friends or just get out & about to escape friends and family )
|
|
|
Post by twobellstogo on Nov 20, 2023 15:42:20 GMT
Carlone are running a Christmas Day service on their 442 with buses running from 3am until just after midnight. Great news for Airport workers / users as well as NHS staff at Ashford Hospital. ( plus anyone who wants to get to visit relatives friends or just get out & about to escape friends and family ) I really like Carlone. Had a need to go from Heathrow to Staines earlier this year and opted for the slightly slower 442 over the 8. Very professional, friendly driver, greeted everyone on and off the bus, which was exceptionally clean and well kept. There really are some excellent operators in North Surrey these days (and there’s also Diamond 😶 but we can’t have perfection 😂)
|
|
|
Post by cardinal on Nov 20, 2023 15:49:36 GMT
Carlone are running a Christmas Day service on their 442 with buses running from 3am until just after midnight. Great news for Airport workers / users as well as NHS staff at Ashford Hospital. ( plus anyone who wants to get to visit relatives friends or just get out & about to escape friends and family ) I really like Carlone. Had a need to go from Heathrow to Staines earlier this year and opted for the slightly slower 442 over the 8. Very professional, friendly driver, greeted everyone on and off the bus, which was exceptionally clean and well kept. There really are some excellent operators in North Surrey these days (and there’s also Diamond 😶 but we can’t have perfection 😂) I liked White Rose ? Remember them ? They went bust though in the end. But yes Carlone, Falcon , White Bus, all great operators.
|
|
|
Post by twobellstogo on Nov 20, 2023 15:55:53 GMT
I really like Carlone. Had a need to go from Heathrow to Staines earlier this year and opted for the slightly slower 442 over the 8. Very professional, friendly driver, greeted everyone on and off the bus, which was exceptionally clean and well kept. There really are some excellent operators in North Surrey these days (and there’s also Diamond 😶 but we can’t have perfection 😂) I liked White Rose ? Remember them ? They went bust though in the end. But yes Carlone, Falcon , White Bus, all great operators. I’m afraid I go back to just about remembering RTs (albeit I was very small!), so yes, I remember White Rose, and they were also a fab operator.
|
|
|
Post by twobellstogo on Nov 28, 2023 22:49:43 GMT
I actually rode the 715 under Falcon Buses for the 1st time last Saturday gone. Was well impressed to see that they have invested in new 73 plate Diesels. There are more due. YX73 OTY is already here, and I believe the others are due around Dec/Jan. Another one has arrived. YX73PGY is at Byfleet presumably being commissioned, and should be in service on the 715 and elsewhere very shortly.
|
|
|
Post by twobellstogo on Dec 13, 2023 7:51:26 GMT
There are more due. YX73 OTY is already here, and I believe the others are due around Dec/Jan. Another one has arrived. YX73PGY is at Byfleet presumably being commissioned, and should be in service on the 715 and elsewhere very shortly. YX73 PGY has entered service today on the 715. Normal Falcon livery, no route branding.
|
|
|
Post by twobellstogo on Dec 14, 2023 17:34:37 GMT
A couple more new E200MMCs for Falcon entered service this past week - these are smaller versions for the 557 - YX73 OYP and YX73 OYR.
|
|