No buses today!

[nbfiresprite]

A misguidedbus requires a far greater standard of maintenance than a normal bus(3X)and inview that the traffic commissioners give Stagecoach a formal warning in April concerning poor maintenance standards. In Adelaide it is not unknown for a bus to be taking out of service two or even three times a day to have a guide wheel replaced. Odds on Stagecoach will keep the bus in service ('If a bus is not working, its not earning' CEO Stagecoach).

 

When compared with Adelaide the busway is built to a lower standard. The Adelaide busway is compleatly fenced off and all crossings are by bridge or overpass. In Cambridgeshire the busway is unfenced and most crossing are on the level. With buses racing across the gaps at full speed with the guide wheels rengaging with a bang with this sort of abuse how long before a guide wheel rips off (This did happen in Scotland and that with a 30 mph speed limit after this, the speedlimit at crossings was set at 10 mph .

 

And then there is the weather, Fog is common in Cambridgeshire,In Adelaide it is very rare (On average 4.7days of light fog per year). For a system which depends on line of sight (The same as a railway built in 1830) there are going to be crashes. The Adelaide buses are painted dayglow yellow at the front and dayglow red for a good reason and the flashing rear light. The Stagecoach buses are painted dark green at the rear. Which do you think will stand out in a dark and fog night. In winter Stagecoach buses are amix of blacks and greys.

 

In Essen they have a problem with getting replacment buses as the busway were built to width of 2.5m, Buses today are 2.7m wide. With in a few years this will be a problem for Cambridgshire.

 

The council dropped the court case and handed over 64 millon pounds of Taxpayers money to BAM, when they relased that the facts would comeout.(BAM were under contract not to speak anyone on the subject).

 

 

Firesprite

 

In the Office

 

For the record,I was working in Adelaide between 1990 and 1993

Edited August 9, 2011 by nbfiresprite

[Jim]

Local authorities received notice late yesterday evening (4th August) that Geoff Amos Coaches have ceased to trade. The family business started in the 1950s by providing a simple worker's bus service for local people from Woodford Halse and the surrounding villages to the factories in Rugby. For many years the company has provided the really useful 'Great Central ConneXion' which consisted of an hourly service in each direction, throughout the day, between Rugby and Banbury - serving Dunchurch, Olney, Braunston and Daventry in addition to villages previously served by stations on the route of the former railway. This year the service has been diverted to include a stop near the canal at Cropredy and this has been much appreciated by boaters.

 

It is understood that meetings have taken place to arrange for buses between Banbury and Daventry to be operated by Stagecoach Group plc and the proposal is that, initially, these will follow the same route, timetable and fare structure previously established by Geoff Amos Coaches. Unfortunately, the present service ceased to be viable following recent cuts in council subsidies and unless these subsidies are restored for the benefit of the new operator, it is more than likely that the Stagecoach Group will soon reduce the level of service.

 

The following links provide supporting information:

 

http://www.wardingto...he-bus-service/

 

http://www.daventrye...nning_1_2937849

 

Oh well, at least Stagecoach may put up some legible timetable displays along the route. Geoff Amos' were rubbish - so badly faded you could hardly read them and they were out of date anyway.

 

For those interested in the Banbury-Cropredy-Byfield-Woodford Halse-Badby-Daventry-Braunstone-Rugby bus service, there is now a notice on the 'Stagecoach Bus' website here.

 

The same notice appears word-for-word on Northamptonshire County Council's website.

 

Edited to say that anyone planning to use the service from Banbury should note that according to the timetable on the Stagecoach website the service now departs from Banbury Bus Station (stand 2) rather than from the road outside, which was Amos' confusing departure point.

Edited August 9, 2011 by Jim