First Manchester

[gilesbus1]

RE: First Manchester
I think all this to do with cleanliness is one reason why they are losing passengers, its easy to say were they compete with other operators or trams that First don't care so I'll ride with Metrolink, Stagecoach, Diamond, Rosso or whoever as thy clearly don't care so why should I spend good money on riding with them.

The other issue is will my clothes not get dirty if I use them. That's based on the fact that some of them are using them to go for work, go for job interviews, go to school, go to social functions and so on.

I really do think that as a priority they need to get a grip of this issue, particularly if they wan't to be profitable, as dirty buses just put people off, not promote ridership. Obviously the MD and Giles Fearnley (No relation) don't bother to check inside buses which is a worry, as there is no way any good director would think this was acceptable.

Really cleaning needs bringing back in house as subcontracting it obviously hasn't worked. Keeping a product or service presentable is very important to selling the product. Other operators manage this, some despite having older fleets, so there really is no excuse.

In terms of external cleanliness, maybe if they simplified the livery rather than have several transfers making up several parts of the livery it would be much easier, other fleets have moved away from FirstGroup corporate livery with better results externally so maybe Manchester should look to do the same no matter wahts around the corner, its no saving to leave them in the Corporate livery as they still need repainting at intervals, unless of course the pull out from Manchester is quicker than we think.