D&G Bus

[iMarkeh]

RE: D&G Bus

(31/05/2018 15:33)knutstransport Wrote:  I'm pretty sure the current Airport City extensions they run were specified by TfGM. They could offer more than TfGM require but they've chosen not to.

My guess is the drivers will work both 288s and 737s so something like:
288 East Didsbury to Manchester Airport (arriving xx:46)
737 Manchester Airport to Viewing Park (departing xx:49)
35 minute driver break at Viewing Park
737 Viewing Park to Manchester Airport (arriving xx:46)
288 Manchester Airport to East Didsbury (departing xx:51)

However, it could be they will use one of their baby Solos for the 737s and bigger buses for the 288 which will mean the drivers swap buses at the Airport and could explain why they are separate services.

I looked at the timings and must have missed this. If this is what happens though, it will be good for D&G working breaks into the service. They don't normally do things like that so that is a positive start. Just checking it again, it seems as if the 737 is just something for the 3rd bus to do in between the Loreto and Grammar school bus.

(31/05/2018 15:33)knutstransport Wrote:  Regarding the 88A I think if they gave it time usage will increase. The 88A goes near my house and most of the time loadings are much higher than they were on the old 300 with a few services getting around 20 passengers. There are some journeys which look like they aren't viable e.g. the first Wilmslow to Knutsford service in the morning. The 08:00 from Knutsford to Wilmslow usually has quite a few on board but a number of them are schoolkids so come the end of July usage would be lower for a few weeks while the schools are on holiday, were they not withdrawing the service.

However, saying that I think the extended 88 route isn't working - D&G insisting on doing driver change overs at Knutsford Bus Station when the buses are currently timetabled to be stopped there for 2 minutes being one of the main problems. Personally I think it would be better to resurrect an hourly 27 service and extend it to Longridge, which would still allow people from the far side of Knutsford to get to Macclesfield without changing but without creating a ridiculously long bus route.

D&G do seem to be an all or nothing type company. You can have a really regular service or you can have nothing. If there are unviable trips, just drop them few. The 88A did look to do alright on the whole. School kids are a great source of income if you can time up connections right. Unless of course they are all free pass holders. I can't see a reason for withdrawing the whole of the 88A. At least a small part is viable. Wilmslow - Knutsford isn't worth half hourly so from that side of things, I do agree with that part being withdrawn but could you not for example extend out to Woodford Garden City. They have no links to anything except what is on the 42B or extend down to Alderley Edge and then run it with 1 bus. Driver breaks were accommodate with the Knutsford extension and if changeovers are at Knutsford, when drivers come off, you can time everyone to come off at the same time and have 2 people in a car and save money.

The 88 does need more time at Knutsford for driver changes. Driver changes need around 4 minutes to be done properly but now they have padded up the timetable (Adding around 15 minutes on trips), maybe the idea is the drivers do stuff en route like logging into the ticket machine while waiting at the lights just outside Knutsford station. Something like that?

The 27 could be a good call but the journey time ends up leaving 30 minutes sat around which would happen on both the 88 and on the 27 so it would mean 1 additional bus and you end up paying for both the 88s and the 27 to sit around for half an hour which isn't good. It is more beneficial (& cheaper) to D&G to just have a really really long 88.

(31/05/2018 15:33)knutstransport Wrote:  It seems the main source of their information is on their website and on printed out pieces of paper they stick up on buses.

I phoned the D&G Cheshire number one time when an 88 didn't turn up and the woman at the other end didn't know any more than there were some roadworks and it was causing delays. It turned out a late running service had skipped out a section to make up time so I was waiting for a bus which wasn't going to come.

That is no good for people who don't know of the service or family of elderly who don't check websites unnecessarily. Notices on the bus you won't find out unless you are on the bus. On social media, you can advertise and eventually family pass on the information to elderly relatives. For new services though, social media advertising and leafleting is the only way to do it. Notices on the bus don't help and the website you won't see it unless you specifically look. Even a little green star on the homepage saying 'new service linking [Place] and [Place]' but they don't even have that. Their lack of social media means they can't advertise any new or existing service therefore it it bound to fail.

Hopefully the new Ticketer system will help the issue that you had as Ticketer comes with live tracking. Wayfarers don't afaik, Arriva rely on trackers separate to the ticket machine.

(31/05/2018 15:33)knutstransport Wrote:  I don't know if it's true but I heard the old 88 contract was awarded on the basis D&G get a fixed (high) amount for the running of the service and in exchange for that all revenue taken went straight back to the council (with the exception of any local fares taken within Knutsford due to the 300 weekday daytime service being commercial.) So if that's true and they got their sums right they were guaranteed a small profit and wouldn't have got anything extra if they attracted more passengers as of the result of marketing.

Based on the documents submitted to Companies House their financial year ends at the end of August. The last financial year they appeared to do very well but they have outstanding finance agreements with Santander and One Business Finance. Given Julian Peddle is on the board I think it's very unlikely they'll go bust, he has a record of selling companies and moving on, rather than his companies going bust.

Most fully subsidised services you have to send all revenue back to the council I think. My way of thinking about it takes a lot of work but if it pays off, it works well in your favour. The 88 has some money in it somewhere or new buses wouldn't have been paid for for the route when GHA ran it. Nor would it ever have ran half hourly if it had so few passengers. There is money somewhere. All D&G have to do to get profits is work out what they can run viably (every 2 hours Knutsford to Altrincham and then the council just top it up with deminims to hourly. Macc and Knutsford can be done under separate tenders as previously done) and then run that with deminims funding from the council. The council aren't going to let it run every 2 hours but if they do, it is then D&Gs own route and they can play about with it as they wish.
Deminims funding all profits go to the company then.
When you think of it this way, it is worth D&G marketing the service as then they up passenger numbers, it could be viable hourly and then only some parts will be done under deminims or other services. That then gives D&G all profits so really, it works. It does take a bit of work but at least you can make a lot of money maybe if it is done correctly.

D&G do well because of how many contracts they have. Council funding is constantly being cut so these tenders won't be around forever. You have to build up your services to make them as viable as possible. That way when the funding eventually dries up, you can continue operating. Looking at what D&G are doing dropping loads of services and shrinking them, there won't be much left to sell on. The buses are on finance so all that is left really is a few commercial routes when the tenders dry up. Let's face it.