Everyone's favourite... (Read 3,407 times)

[Tom B]

Well, it so happened I had a doctor's appointment this morning, and left the surgery at 0740. Needing to get to town pretty soon, I walked down to Cantley Lane and lo and behold there was a 191 due soon. Sure enough up rumbles N698DWY with the usual collection of cornflake packets in the windscreen, so I put my hand out and the bus doesn't decelerate, wave it about a bit and he speeds up and passes the stop. Whilst seething I notice that it's the same driver who did exactly the same in October...

So on the phone to MASS I get, and eventually someone picks it up. He is very polite and apologetic, takes my number and promises to get back to me.

Eventually up rumbles the 0812, A904SYE. Now this driver decides to stop, and I pay my fare and get on (had to be prompted to get a ticket though). As upstairs is like a smoking lounge, I go downstairs near the front. However on approaching Grand St Ledger, there are a number of people waiting who signal to get on, and the driver simply accelerates.

"Excuse me, there were people wanting to get on the bus there"

"Are you driving this f?#@!%$ bus or am I?" yelled the driver "I'm running late, so it's the law that I don't have to pick people up. It's me who chooses who I let on the bloody bus and who I don't, I'm driving it, so shut up".

"No, you are supposed to stop to pick people up if they si-"

"SHUT UP!"

Eventually we reach the interchange, and I ask the driver for his name and number.

"I don't have a number"

"Yes you do, you have a PSV driver number, and I would like to know it so I can lodge a complaint"

"I'm not bloody giving it you"

So I get off and make a point of taking the bus number, before ringing up again to report this incident. Promise to ring back.

Sure enough, a little while later the phone rings.

"Hello, it's Vicky from MASS Engineering, you called us about a member of our staff today?"

"Yes"

"Well on the bus not stopping for you, we are very sorry but this was a school service and not for public use as it said on the destination blind"

"There was nothing on the destination blind"

"All our buses carry them and they are used"

"That's rubbish, your buses carry a collection of cards that are difficult to read and unhelpful. In this case it seems your driver couldn't even be bothered to put the right one at the front"

"Well you're entitled to your opinion but that bus was not for public use"

"So if that bus which passed at the time that the 191 should have wasn't for public use, where was the 0749 191?"

"I- er- um- don't know"

"Excellent. That's helpful."

"As for the second bus I have found the name of the driver involved and he will be interviewed for a disciplinary and we assure you this is a one off incident"

"No, your staff are in the main rude"

"We strive for high quality standards"

"How do you explain the condition of your buses then?"

"All our buses are well maintained, pass safety checks and are fit for service"

"They're just 20 years old, knackered, and in a tatty state, but they're perfectly ok?"

"New buses cost over £100,000 and we cannot justify this"

"Why not? All the other companies manage them, look at First and Wilfreda"

"That's their decision, we have our buses and they are perfectly fit for service"

"I don't see why I should continue using your services if you consider it alright for staff to be rude and buses to be in a poor condition"

"This is an isolated incident, the m-"

"No it isn't, your staff are routinely rude and inconsiderate, I have contacted you about this before and nothing was done, and your buses are sheds on wheels"

"Well that's your choice, it won't make any difference to us if you choose not to use MASS, we have been operating in Doncaster for over 80 years"

"No, Leon have, then they were taken over by you cowboys"

"Well it won't matter to the company whether or not you choose to travel by us"

"If enough people do it it will"

"That's their choice"

"I expect a letter detailing the outcome of your meeting with the member of staff and would like assurances that this will not happen again"

"Obviously we cannot guarantee anything but I will let you know what happens"

"Thankyou."



How the hell do these morons get away with running a bus service?

[mattw]

oh great here we go again - im off out now but will leave a full page post about what i think on this later.

To sum it up "MASS LEON DRIVER TRAININNG 5"

[humberside]

Dont use them and use First instead. If enough people do that they will soon get the message. Because I dont see them loosing their license anytime soon as the buses are obviously mechanically OK or VOSA would have done something by now

[Tom B]

The trouble is, I can use First instead, but who else will?

[donnytom]

Also noteworthy is perhaps that the 0801 First 391 appears not to have turned up either...

Sounds like the usual quality service that you receive though; seems like I've been lucky when using the 191 recently... the stuff about 698 being a schools service... surely even MASS wouldn't use a Dart instead of a Titan on a schools service? Very fishy!

Was there another bus behind yours when he decided to make it limited-stop service?

[galaxy]

I'm not sticking up for MASS here in any way but your last comment could cause some issues as we don't actually know that for definite do we?

We know that they [MASS] are sub-standard, and really this is something of the same problems repeated. DfT might be a better place to moan to if you want to go right to the top!

[asourdirective]

All school buses in South Yorkshire are public service buses anyway, and as such should follow the same rules as an ordinary service bus. The only difference is that they are not shown in timetables as they are primarily for the use of school kids.

[denwalford]

Hmmm! i think everyone is now aware of MASS's crap drivers. When MASS were in Lincoln I once asked a driver why he was late at which I was told to sit down and "shut the f@?k up!" Complaining lead to nothing. MASS have always been a problem, and always will be!

[asourdirective]

Incidentally, the there are two school bus services in Doncaster usually operated by MASS single deckers. These are 427/428 Hatfield/Barnby Dun to Edenthorpe Hungerhill School. Could be where your mystery single decker was heading to, as they start around 08:00.

Isn't it N598DWY by the way!

[maxtom115]

denwalford said:

Hmmm! i think everyone is now aware of MASS's crap drivers. When MASS were in Lincoln I once asked a driver why he was late at which I was told to sit down and "shut the f@?k up!" Complaining lead to nothing. MASS have always been a problem, and always will be!

They probably did nothing because Lincoln were always short staffed and I daresay Doncaster is too which is why they won't dismiss any drivers unless it's absolutely necessary.

The attitude of 'It doesn't matter about you' comes accross very strongly in the transcript of the conversation Tom B had with the woman at MASS and I think it's time people just accepted that MASS couldn't give a stuff about their customers - moaning on here won't get you anywhere. If you have serious concerns regarding the operation of services or the mechanical condition of vehicles I reccomend that you contact the relevant Traffic Commissioner (www.vosa.gov.uk).

Also, on the subject of maintenance it's mostly the vehicles which are the problem not the practices of the company. Although a lot of the work they send out (particually damage repairs) looks slap-dash it is completed to standards which will pass a VOSA check (otherwise their licence would be revoked) the mechanical problems the Titans suffer are ones which plaugue that type of vehicle in general and not ones stemming from bad maintenance.

[Tom B]

I can't comment fully as I'm in a rush - BUT.

I would think that Max's comment about shortstaffing applies.

Yes the registration mark was off the top of my head! But you know which one I mean.

The thing is even if he was as he says doing a school run he should (a) have a destination blind up, if not then (b) put a card up and also (c) stop and explain it's a school run.

No, there was nothing behind us that I could see anyway. It wasn't as if he said "this bus is full, there's another behind".

Very much "get what you're given, put up or shut up".

[admin]

Admin Note:

Don't forget this is open in the public domain and not in the senior section, so please think before you post and try not to name names if you can help it, this way no one will get into trouble for anything.

Thanks,
Staff At Travel South Yorkshire Forum

[22438]

My opinion of MASS is that they are all very well when they stick to the type of work they are doing in Sheffield, i/e school runs where old deckers questionable destination blinds are the norm. However, they don't seem to have realised that running service routes is very different to school work.

[maxtom115]

cjm said:

However, they don't seem to have realised that running service routes is very different to school work.

That led to their downfall in Grantham, followed shortly by Lincoln!

[Tom B]

And please let it be Doncaster next.