|
|
Post by littlenipper on Nov 3, 2023 14:07:28 GMT
www.travelsouthyorkshire.com/en-gb/news/4e8ad750-cadc-4dbc-8317-1dfdfa21741cTM Travel has informed us that, owing to a shortage of staff, they will be reducing some of the services they run on Saturdays only, until further notice. The affected services or journeys are: • Services 117 and M17 will not run on Saturdays from 4 November. • TM Travel journeys on service 8/8a will not run at the following times on Saturdays from 4 November: o 07.45, 16.45, 17.15, 17.45, 18.15 Crystal Peaks – Birley o 07.55, 16.55, 17.25, 17.55, 18.25 Birley – Crystal Peaks • Journeys on service 31 will not run at the following times on Saturdays from 4 November: o 16:07, 17:07, 18:07, 19:07 from Sheffield o 16:38, 17:38, 18:38, 19:38 from Loxley
|
 |
|
|
|
Post by simonk82701 on Nov 3, 2023 19:28:02 GMT
www.travelsouthyorkshire.com/en-gb/news/4e8ad750-cadc-4dbc-8317-1dfdfa21741cTM Travel has informed us that, owing to a shortage of staff, they will be reducing some of the services they run on Saturdays only, until further notice. The affected services or journeys are: • Services 117 and M17 will not run on Saturdays from 4 November. • TM Travel journeys on service 8/8a will not run at the following times on Saturdays from 4 November: o 07.45, 16.45, 17.15, 17.45, 18.15 Crystal Peaks – Birley o 07.55, 16.55, 17.25, 17.55, 18.25 Birley – Crystal Peaks • Journeys on service 31 will not run at the following times on Saturdays from 4 November: o 16:07, 17:07, 18:07, 19:07 from Sheffield o 16:38, 17:38, 18:38, 19:38 from Loxley They need some contracts taking off them. They are paid by SYMCA to run these services, and as usual SYMCA go, it's okay carry on! |
|
|
|
|
Post by The Captain on Nov 3, 2023 21:07:24 GMT
www.travelsouthyorkshire.com/en-gb/news/4e8ad750-cadc-4dbc-8317-1dfdfa21741cTM Travel has informed us that, owing to a shortage of staff, they will be reducing some of the services they run on Saturdays only, until further notice. The affected services or journeys are: • Services 117 and M17 will not run on Saturdays from 4 November. • TM Travel journeys on service 8/8a will not run at the following times on Saturdays from 4 November: o 07.45, 16.45, 17.15, 17.45, 18.15 Crystal Peaks – Birley o 07.55, 16.55, 17.25, 17.55, 18.25 Birley – Crystal Peaks • Journeys on service 31 will not run at the following times on Saturdays from 4 November: o 16:07, 17:07, 18:07, 19:07 from Sheffield o 16:38, 17:38, 18:38, 19:38 from Loxley They need some contracts taking off them. They are paid by SYMCA to run these services, and as usual SYMCA go, it's okay carry on! At least they are admitting they have a staffing problem, there's another 3 companies with severe driver shortages and at the moment till more new drivers get through the various driving schools then they are having to pay well over the odds for agency staff and the raft of problems that brings. Nobody wants to do the job and those that do generally want away altogether. |
|
|
|
|
Post by simonk82701 on Nov 4, 2023 9:45:18 GMT
They need some contracts taking off them. They are paid by SYMCA to run these services, and as usual SYMCA go, it's okay carry on! At least they are admitting they have a staffing problem, there's another 3 companies with severe driver shortages and at the moment till more new drivers get through the various driving schools then they are having to pay well over the odds for agency staff and the raft of problems that brings. Nobody wants to do the job and those that do generally want away altogether. Sorry Captain, we are going to have to disagree on this. Yes driver shortages are a problem. However that is partly down to the way all companies behave. Poor rostering, late notice of service changes, and therefore staffing requirements. The 30 runs every 30 minutes, yet they won't knock one of them off to run a 117 which only runs around 4 trips a day? Or they will run a 30 instead on the last 31 to get people home on a Saturday night. It's about sharing resources fairly, and this is not fair. Yes your'e right they are having to pay over the odds, but is it now over the odds? Or have the market conditions changed? Strikes me that they are still yearning for the "old normal" well it's gone. And remember, whatever someone's political persuasion, the industry has had a lot of money pumped into it after covid from the public purse. This is what we get in return. |
|
|
|
|
Post by The Captain on Nov 4, 2023 11:24:21 GMT
At least they are admitting they have a staffing problem, there's another 3 companies with severe driver shortages and at the moment till more new drivers get through the various driving schools then they are having to pay well over the odds for agency staff and the raft of problems that brings. Nobody wants to do the job and those that do generally want away altogether. Sorry Captain, we are going to have to disagree on this. Yes driver shortages are a problem. However that is partly down to the way all companies behave. Poor rostering, late notice of service changes, and therefore staffing requirements. The 30 runs every 30 minutes, yet they won't knock one of them off to run a 117 which only runs around 4 trips a day? Or they will run a 30 instead on the last 31 to get people home on a Saturday night. It's about sharing resources fairly, and this is not fair. Yes your'e right they are having to pay over the odds, but is it now over the odds? Or have the market conditions changed? Strikes me that they are still yearning for the "old normal" well it's gone. And remember, whatever someone's political persuasion, the industry has had a lot of money pumped into it after covid from the public purse. This is what we get in return. Poor rostering, Covid funding, service changes. It's still a driver shortage. As it happens they have been pulling 218s and leaving a lot of people stranded out in Derbyshire. 30s are hourly at night anyway and wouldn't fill a Solo. Not everyone took the Covid funding apparently which has led partly to the situation now. TMs over stretched themselves on tendered work, bought a batch of double deckers that cannot handle the local terrain and have even resorted to using the coach off the local schools swimming contract to operate the 76a and X7s. |
|
|
|
|
Post by simonk82701 on Nov 4, 2023 16:29:21 GMT
Sorry Captain, we are going to have to disagree on this. Yes driver shortages are a problem. However that is partly down to the way all companies behave. Poor rostering, late notice of service changes, and therefore staffing requirements. The 30 runs every 30 minutes, yet they won't knock one of them off to run a 117 which only runs around 4 trips a day? Or they will run a 30 instead on the last 31 to get people home on a Saturday night. It's about sharing resources fairly, and this is not fair. Yes your'e right they are having to pay over the odds, but is it now over the odds? Or have the market conditions changed? Strikes me that they are still yearning for the "old normal" well it's gone. And remember, whatever someone's political persuasion, the industry has had a lot of money pumped into it after covid from the public purse. This is what we get in return. Poor rostering, Covid funding, service changes. It's still a driver shortage. As it happens they have been pulling 218s and leaving a lot of people stranded out in Derbyshire. 30s are hourly at night anyway and wouldn't fill a Solo. Not everyone took the Covid funding apparently which has led partly to the situation now. TMs over stretched themselves on tendered work, bought a batch of double deckers that cannot handle the local terrain and have even resorted to using the coach off the local schools swimming contract to operate the 76a and X7s. Yes TM have overstretched themselves. Who fault is that? The tax payer or themselves? Who would be silly enough to buy buses not suitable for the local terrain? This is now a problem throughout the industry, a loss of discipline and a loss of customer service focus. If an airline behaved in this way, regulation 261 would force them to pay compensation. A staffing problem is the companies fault and not an act of God. The only way to restore some discipline back into the industry is to hit them where it hurts, the pocket. Other larger operators have canceled multiple runs because of driver shortages, but not two full routes for an indefinite period every Saturday. Limited resources need to be shared. The other problem is they have no competition on some of their routes. You wouldn't buy a kitchen from a company who delivered their plans and got every measurement wrong would you? You'd walk away. Some people don't have that choice with their local bus route. At least the 218 runs every 30 minutes and the 257 provides an alternative, unlike the 31 and 117. |
|
|
|
|
Post by syjunkie on Nov 4, 2023 16:43:53 GMT
Poor rostering, Covid funding, service changes. It's still a driver shortage. As it happens they have been pulling 218s and leaving a lot of people stranded out in Derbyshire. 30s are hourly at night anyway and wouldn't fill a Solo. Not everyone took the Covid funding apparently which has led partly to the situation now. TMs over stretched themselves on tendered work, bought a batch of double deckers that cannot handle the local terrain and have even resorted to using the coach off the local schools swimming contract to operate the 76a and X7s. Yes TM have overstretched themselves. Who fault is that? The tax payer or themselves? Who would be silly enough to buy buses not suitable for the local terrain? This is now a problem throughout the industry, a loss of discipline and a loss of customer service focus. If an airline behaved in this way, regulation 261 would force them to pay compensation. A staffing problem is the companies fault and not an act of God. The only way to restore some discipline back into the industry is to hit them where it hurts, the pocket. Other larger operators have canceled multiple runs because of driver shortages, but not two full routes for an indefinite period every Saturday. Limited resources need to be shared. The other problem is they have no competition on some of their routes. You wouldn't buy a kitchen from a company who delivered their plans and got every measurement wrong would you? You'd walk away. Some people don't have that choice with their local bus route. At least the 218 runs every 30 minutes and the 257 provides an alternative, unlike the 31 and 117. The e400s that tm got I agree aren't suitable for the hills of Sheffield but with regards to the services it is symca that have given the service to tm travel and yes they have overstretched themselves taking on this work and currently have a number of vehicles off the road. Perhaps to assist with this other operates could temporarily cover the routes provided resources are available. I'll admit I'm no driver for any company however like captain said not everyone took the covid grant and the industry is struggling across multiple operations, be it staff/vehicles not been available or passenger numbers. |
|
|
|
|
Post by The Captain on Nov 4, 2023 19:55:28 GMT
Poor rostering, Covid funding, service changes. It's still a driver shortage. As it happens they have been pulling 218s and leaving a lot of people stranded out in Derbyshire. 30s are hourly at night anyway and wouldn't fill a Solo. Not everyone took the Covid funding apparently which has led partly to the situation now. TMs over stretched themselves on tendered work, bought a batch of double deckers that cannot handle the local terrain and have even resorted to using the coach off the local schools swimming contract to operate the 76a and X7s. Yes TM have overstretched themselves. Who fault is that? The tax payer or themselves? Who would be silly enough to buy buses not suitable for the local terrain? This is now a problem throughout the industry, a loss of discipline and a loss of customer service focus. If an airline behaved in this way, regulation 261 would force them to pay compensation. A staffing problem is the companies fault and not an act of God. The only way to restore some discipline back into the industry is to hit them where it hurts, the pocket. Other larger operators have canceled multiple runs because of driver shortages, but not two full routes for an indefinite period every Saturday. Limited resources need to be shared. The other problem is they have no competition on some of their routes. You wouldn't buy a kitchen from a company who delivered their plans and got every measurement wrong would you? You'd walk away. Some people don't have that choice with their local bus route. At least the 218 runs every 30 minutes and the 257 provides an alternative, unlike the 31 and 117. If a company loses more than 10% of its daily mileage then that enters the Traffic Commisioner territory and I think there's more than one company in that league now, First had it's enquiry around 2019/2020 over lost mileage from lack of vehicles/breakdowns which resulted in various staff being removed from there positions and it making the Star, in the scheme of things you'd think Wellglade would have stepped in and either given work back or looked at ways of staff retention. Re 218s it is compounded by Hulleys cancelling quite a number of 257s daily depending on driver availability. |
|
|
|
|
Post by dougie on Nov 6, 2023 8:38:11 GMT
A few thoughts re TM:
Firstly, they are part of Wellglade, so it's not just a case of a plucky local independent stretching themselves too far, it's part of a much bigger company- I might have excused them once upon a time but less easy to do so now - that said, it feels to me that TM have had a pretty poor time of it from Wellglade, I don't think HQ really know what to do with them, other than being (a) a dumping ground for midlife buses hammered into the ground on Trent services and (b) it being better to swallow them up than worry about another company buying them and having a foothold in the Derbyshire/ Nottinghamshire markets - I don't know what the best future is for TM but this ain't it - and the fact that South Pennine are winning tenders for the kind of routes that used to be "TM territory" suggests that they've lost their old place in the market - the company feels a mess, the liveries seem a fairly mixed bag (even some buses painted in deep red have the old Derbyshire/ Nottinghamshire branding still visible from their Trent days)
What's the problem with the e400s in Sheffield? Are they that different to the 12/14-plate batches at Olive Grove or the 61/62-plate batches at Holbrook or the 08/10/60-plate batches at Ecclesfield (there's probably more at Ecclesfield than just those three though)? I thought Lothian were generally a pretty decent operator to buy "second hand" from? Seems a long time since we saw their maroon/ cream on the SUT 82s though...
Not easy to reschedule things, but I'd have thought that it would be preferable for passengers/ PTE if the dropped duties on a route like the 31 were in the middle of the day, so that people still had their last buses home - but I appreciate that shifts don't necessarily work like that
|
|
|
|
|
Post by syjunkie on Nov 6, 2023 9:33:25 GMT
A few thoughts re TM: Firstly, they are part of Wellglade, so it's not just a case of a plucky local independent stretching themselves too far, it's part of a much bigger company- I might have excused them once upon a time but less easy to do so now - that said, it feels to me that TM have had a pretty poor time of it from Wellglade, I don't think HQ really know what to do with them, other than being (a) a dumping ground for midlife buses hammered into the ground on Trent services and (b) it being better to swallow them up than worry about another company buying them and having a foothold in the Derbyshire/ Nottinghamshire markets - I don't know what the best future is for TM but this ain't it - and the fact that South Pennine are winning tenders for the kind of routes that used to be "TM territory" suggests that they've lost their old place in the market - the company feels a mess, the liveries seem a fairly mixed bag (even some buses painted in deep red have the old Derbyshire/ Nottinghamshire branding still visible from their Trent days) What's the problem with the e400s in Sheffield? Are they that different to the 12/14-plate batches at Olive Grove or the 61/62-plate batches at Holbrook or the 08/10/60-plate batches at Ecclesfield (there's probably more at Ecclesfield than just those three though)? I thought Lothian were generally a pretty decent operator to buy "second hand" from? Seems a long time since we saw their maroon/ cream on the SUT 82s though... Not easy to reschedule things, but I'd have thought that it would be preferable for passengers/ PTE if the dropped duties on a route like the 31 were in the middle of the day, so that people still had their last buses home - but I appreciate that shifts don't necessarily work like that The ex Lothian e400s used to be hybrids but got converted to desiel |
|
|
|
|
Post by teapot42 on Nov 6, 2023 9:38:41 GMT
The ex Lothian e400s used to be hybrids but got converted to desiel That needn't be a problem, presumably it's to do with how they were converted? Were they electric-propelled, or just assisted? |
|
|
|
|
Post by TC60054 on Nov 6, 2023 10:47:26 GMT
The TM Enviro400s were hybrids in the same way as the Stagecoach ones were - electric driven with a diesel generator. The issue is that when they were converted to straight diesel, they left the original engines in which are not up for driving an entire bus - hence why they were gotten rid of from Lothian in the first place.
|
|
|
|
|
Post by simonk82701 on Nov 6, 2023 10:58:00 GMT
A few thoughts re TM: Firstly, they are part of Wellglade, so it's not just a case of a plucky local independent stretching themselves too far, it's part of a much bigger company- I might have excused them once upon a time but less easy to do so now - that said, it feels to me that TM have had a pretty poor time of it from Wellglade, I don't think HQ really know what to do with them, other than being (a) a dumping ground for midlife buses hammered into the ground on Trent services and (b) it being better to swallow them up than worry about another company buying them and having a foothold in the Derbyshire/ Nottinghamshire markets - I don't know what the best future is for TM but this ain't it - and the fact that South Pennine are winning tenders for the kind of routes that used to be "TM territory" suggests that they've lost their old place in the market - the company feels a mess, the liveries seem a fairly mixed bag (even some buses painted in deep red have the old Derbyshire/ Nottinghamshire branding still visible from their Trent days) What's the problem with the e400s in Sheffield? Are they that different to the 12/14-plate batches at Olive Grove or the 61/62-plate batches at Holbrook or the 08/10/60-plate batches at Ecclesfield (there's probably more at Ecclesfield than just those three though)? I thought Lothian were generally a pretty decent operator to buy "second hand" from? Seems a long time since we saw their maroon/ cream on the SUT 82s though... Not easy to reschedule things, but I'd have thought that it would be preferable for passengers/ PTE if the dropped duties on a route like the 31 were in the middle of the day, so that people still had their last buses home - but I appreciate that shifts don't necessarily work like that The ex Lothian e400s used to be hybrids but got converted to desiel Well said, They have a large company behind them now. Although having said that Trent Barton also has staffing issues, and too many cancelations on a given day. Although TB would never dream of canceling an entire route on a Saturday. They would not get away with it. As I have said before, it is high time managerial performance was scrutinised, and if appropriate senior people. (commercial managers) etc removed from their posts. Sheffield is also a city and should not be used as a dumping ground for vehicles that in some cases are only fit for the scrap heap. I often wonder how many of these senior people actually travel on their buses as, oh how ironic, their job comes with a company car. If they were made to travel on their own buses, God forbid, they might actually realise that it's impossible to make a living. Because you are late most days. |
|
|
|
|
Post by teapot42 on Nov 6, 2023 16:48:55 GMT
The TM Enviro400s were hybrids in the same way as the Stagecoach ones were - electric driven with a diesel generator. The issue is that when they were converted to straight diesel, they left the original engines in which are not up for driving an entire bus - hence why they were gotten rid of from Lothian in the first place. I wonder who signed that off? Doesn't make much sense to me, the engine in a hybrid is always under-sized as the battery smooths out the peak load requirements. Also, would the original engine by itself be Euro VI - if not then it's not much use in Sheffield anyway. |
|
|
|
|
Post by The Captain on Nov 7, 2023 19:26:58 GMT
The ex Lothian e400s used to be hybrids but got converted to desiel That needn't be a problem, presumably it's to do with how they were converted? Were they electric-propelled, or just assisted? 4 cylinder Cummins ISB driving a generator which balances/provides charge to 21 battery cells which power a traction motor then propshaft into a conventional rear axle. The traction motor regens during braking, there is no coasting. The conversion keeps the engine and does away with all the Hybrid side of the bus and is fitted with a bellhousing mated to a standard ZF Ecolife gearbox. Bearing in mind the standard use for the engine is in E200s/Streetlites then moving a full load up the long drag from Baslow to Owler Bar on the 218 or up the bank on Gleadless Hill might push the engines tolerances beyond what it was designed for. |
|
|
