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Post by Paul on Aug 13, 2020 19:42:18 GMT
It shouldn’t be forgotten that a number of schools will be staggering start and finish times so it might be that duties are tweaked to do two runs to the school in the morning (running light from the school back to the start point) and similar in the afternoon. This means fewer buses will be needed than at first glance
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Post by YY13VKP on Aug 13, 2020 22:24:36 GMT
I was wondering where the extra buses will go. Every school route will likely need its capacity doubled so I guess their PVRs will be doubled, should be easier than bolstering full time routes. In such case Stagecoach should in general be alright off as they'll probably need to source a few spares but in the grand scheme it shouldn't be a huge amount. Go Ahead might very we'll struggle in a case like this, especially with all the Romford school routes. Go Ahead are actually lucky to have the 405's old buses and the private hire buses available to use as extras 😄 And the 202's WHV's will be spare Arriva also have spare T's being released from the 466 in the near future, maybe these could be kept at TC to cover any school journey increases? |
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Post by wirewiper on Aug 17, 2020 11:06:27 GMT
Oxford Tube is increasing its service levels from Monday 31st August, with coaches running every 10 minutes at peak times, up to every 12 minutes at other times and some night journeys restored.
Also returning are peak-time express journeys via Baker Street, operating non-stop between Baker Street and Thornhill Park & Ride.
Social distancing remains in place.
A planned order for 34 new Plaxton Panorama Euro 6 coaches to enter service in June has been postponed until further notice.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 17, 2020 12:02:23 GMT
Where I work there's a big push to get everyone back on site as soon as possible. Don't think it's been sped up in any way. I started a new job in the rail industry last week (in an office based role) and where I work, our offices have just reopened. However we have the choice of whether or not we wish to come in - and if we do we have to book a desk in order to maintain social distancing within the office, so this push to return to work isn't exactly being sped up either. Whilst I've been working from home the last week which has been a nice experience, I would much rather return to the office full time sooner rather than later. I do miss the social interaction with colleagues and for me personally I'm more productive when I'm in the working environment. I work in London. Despite putting signs up etc, the building where we are based is not very clean, has building work being done, not much in way of social distancing. Desks have not been separated. There are no screens. We have plenty of sanitation etc. We work outside as well as inside. Not many of us can work from home. Nobody I know has been ill ( touching wood etc). This has been the case since March. |
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connor
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Post by connor on Aug 18, 2020 13:55:25 GMT
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connor
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Post by connor on Aug 18, 2020 13:55:41 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Aug 18, 2020 14:05:36 GMT
Good luck to bus drivers who will get some flack from passengers! How will drivers know they are the every other bus? The government is taking a big gamble on social distancing with children lets hope it don't go wrong! Assuming I'm reading it right it seems buses can carry more school children than the current limits. |
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Post by wirewiper on Aug 18, 2020 14:23:23 GMT
Good luck to bus drivers who will get some flack from passengers! How will drivers know they are the every other bus? The government is taking a big gamble on social distancing with children lets hope it don't go wrong! Assuming I'm reading it right it seems buses can carry more school children than the current limits. We will have to see how this pans out in practice. There are still too many unknowns: - how many children be actually be expected to go into school each day - how many buses and drivers will actually be available in early September - whether or not there will be a further relaxation of capacity rules in early September (which should be possible now that everyone is expected to wear a face covering unless exempt) - how supportive the travelling public is of the new measures, and to what degree bus drivers feel motivated to attempt to enforce them. |
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Post by LJ17THF on Aug 18, 2020 15:06:52 GMT
Good luck to bus drivers who will get some flack from passengers! How will drivers know they are the every other bus? The government is taking a big gamble on social distancing with children lets hope it don't go wrong! Assuming I'm reading it right it seems buses can carry more school children than the current limits. We will have to see how this pans out in practice. There are still too many unknowns: - how many children be actually be expected to go into school each day - how many buses and drivers will actually be available in early September - whether or not there will be a further relaxation of capacity rules in early September (which should be possible now that everyone is expected to wear a face covering unless exempt) - how supportive the travelling public is of the new measures, and to what degree bus drivers feel motivated to attempt to enforce them. I presume they'll put a reasonable amount of buses out for school routes, and add/remove a few buses where needed. This pandemic really has put a lot of pressure on bus drivers, they'll have to do a lot of multi-tasking while also driving. |
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Post by joefrombow on Aug 18, 2020 17:05:29 GMT
I think tfl should get rid of the normal standards for buses and have the same Rail Replacement standards so Ensign or whoever should be able to operate some extra services on some routes would make sense in my opinion . |
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Post by wirewiper on Aug 18, 2020 17:43:45 GMT
I think tfl should get rid of the normal standards for buses and have the same Rail Replacement standards so Ensign or whoever should be able to operate some extra services on some routes would make sense in my opinion . Actually I do recall sometime back making a suggestion that there could be extra dedicated buses exclusively for schoolchildren, and maybe these could be free to keep schoolchildren off the ordinary buses. The proposal outlined in the ITV News article is somewhat similar to that. Maybe those extra buses for schoolchildren could be a mixture of buses freed up by cutting the peak frequency of regular bus services (not so many needed if you take schoolchildren off them), and buses and drivers hired in from other operators in much the same way as happens during a tube strike. |
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Post by greenboy on Aug 18, 2020 18:18:22 GMT
As I understand it government guidance doesn't require social distancing on dedicated school buses. I guess we'll have to wait and see how this all works out in practice such is the unprecedented situation but I suspect many parents won't be sending their children back to school anyway. |
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Post by Deleted on Aug 18, 2020 18:23:11 GMT
I think tfl should get rid of the normal standards for buses and have the same Rail Replacement standards so Ensign or whoever should be able to operate some extra services on some routes would make sense in my opinion . Actually I do recall sometime back making a suggestion that there could be extra dedicated buses exclusively for schoolchildren, and maybe these could be free to keep schoolchildren off the ordinary buses. The proposal outlined in the ITV News article is somewhat similar to that. Maybe those extra buses for schoolchildren could be a mixture of buses freed up by cutting the peak frequency of regular bus services (not so many needed if you take schoolchildren off them), and buses and drivers hired in from other operators in much the same way as happens during a tube strike. But what about everyone else, suggesting taking buses off routes to serve children is like robbing Peter to pay Paul. It’s going to leave potential hundreds of thousands of fare paying passengers, which TfL needs to bring cash in, waiting longer for their bus and then discovering they still can’t get on because of social distancing. This is a recipe for disaster and will not help ordinary passengers feel welcome and could eventually have the affect of more office based workers continuing to work from home long term because they simply cannot get to work at a normal start time. With many businesses being more flexible about staff working schedules this could prove a very jaded move by TfL. Frankly it would be better to contract point to point school services out to coach firms with spare vehicles. If there is a large group of kids coming from one area to school they could put coaches on to get them direct to school from one agreed meeting point. It would be effective and free up capacity on the network for actual fare payers. |
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Post by Deleted on Aug 18, 2020 18:35:09 GMT
So basically some high frequency routes will have dedicated school only buses. This is obviously where VH’s ex route 139 will be and also explains why RATP ( as an example) have kept low numbered SPs. Anyway they’ll be some interesting odd workings soon to be seen.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 18, 2020 19:21:54 GMT
We will have to see how this pans out in practice. There are still too many unknowns: - how many children be actually be expected to go into school each day - how many buses and drivers will actually be available in early September - whether or not there will be a further relaxation of capacity rules in early September (which should be possible now that everyone is expected to wear a face covering unless exempt) - how supportive the travelling public is of the new measures, and to what degree bus drivers feel motivated to attempt to enforce them. I presume they'll put a reasonable amount of buses out for school routes, and add/remove a few buses where needed. This pandemic really has put a lot of pressure on bus drivers, they'll have to do a lot of multi-tasking while also driving. It really will be difficult for drivers to police this. Would be much easier to run the extra buses with no route number and a simple "School Service" blind display. At least this way drivers only pick up school children and don't have to explain to every adult trying to boarding that they can't use the service.
Also I assume all these extras are in addition to extras that will be needed on the dedicated school 6XX routes.
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