It’s interesting to see how two adjacent operators have tackled the imposition of EU driving hours (the requirement that registered services of over 50km need to operate within a tighter driver framework, with tacho-equipped buses). We’ll take Stagecoach in Swindon (part of Stagecoach West) and Wilts & Dorset as examples.
W&D has all but abandoned its longer-distance services, after last operation on either 4 or 5 January 2008. This includes the marathon from Salisbury to Swindon via Amesbury, now cropped at Pewsey. By chopping this and others up, services continue within the more flexible domestic hours rules. Free travel reimbursements my have had a part to play, but the decision’s been governed by a need to operate both legally and economically. The one exception is the 184 Salisbury-Weymouth, which soldiers on, now under EU rules.
Stagecoach operates the 51 Swindon-Cirencester-Cheltenham service under EU rules. It’s barely over the 31-mile cut-off and many journeys are operated by Stagecoach’s Cirencester outstation, almost exactly half way along the route. The requirement for drivers to work through is therefore reduced. But, rule is rules, and it would be sheer folly for Stagecoach in Swindon to consider the 51 as two separate routes. Swindon is a significant hub, Cheltenham is increasingly *the* place to shop or hang, and Cirencester is twee & wealthy.
If Stagecoach is going to invest in EU hours for a four bus working, it may as well do the same for its other longer distance routes. Hence, the 49 Swindon-Devizes-Trowbridge (also hourly) remains in one piece. The 49's definitely on the cusp of the EU limit. A minor revision to the route around Swindon has given Stagecoach the necessary 10 minutes for drivers to deal with digital tachograph issues.
An inevitable consequence in Swindon of mixed domestic and EU blocks is the paucity of drivers who prefer or even wish to move to EU hours driving.
Meanwhile, the fall out from the truncation of W&D’s X4 Salisbury-Bath at Warminster is mixed. There are those welcoming the better punctuality now that there is no through service; and those who feel that the wait in Warminster (usually up to 12 minutes) is unacceptable.
Thursday
Different Strokes
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Wilts and Dorset also operate the HCC tendered 68 (Salisbury - Stockbridge - Winchester) under EU drivers hours regulations, whilst I believe that Stagecoach in Swindon's 66 to Oxford and 70 to Andover all operate under EU regulations, giving a sizeable amount of EU work at Swindon depot.
A major factor in desiding which route to go down must be driver availability - the biggest problem with EU hours from a drivers point of view is the limit that it places on earning potential, which inevitably leads to demands from drivers for a better basic wage to negate the lack of overtime opportunities.
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