While travelling between sites yesterday lunchtime (weather not as bad as feared) the Radio Four programme Call You & Yours was receiving “advice” and comment from its listeners on how to cope with the British weather and how badly we seem to manage. Poor Iris from near Billericay was one of them. The phonecall went something like this:
Iris was frustrated at waiting in the cold for her bus to a hair appointment. There was no bus for 50 minutes and when one arrived, the driver didn’t stop, shaking his head. When she mouthed “why?”, he opened the doors to say that buses were suspended owing to health & safety. Said Iris, “What are you doing on the road, then? Having a joy ride?” For the radio, she added that “everything has to carry on and everyone has to get to work”.
As if to reinforce the point, the presenter asked whether Iris missed her hair appointment. There was something deliciously ironic in her reply. “I couldn’t go so I phoned and actually the stylist wasn’t there either”.
Like in January, First was again experiencing high internet volumes yesterday, resulting in a temporary front page...
I have no idea how bad Billericay was but someone made a decision in the light of the prevailing conditions. The First Group website showed a number of Essex services suspended. It’s interesting that inclement weather advice from the police is not to travel unless it’s absolutely necessary but this is never seemingly applied by the general public to its bus service. What if there’d been a crash and Iris was injured? What if Iris had boarded the bus and was stranded at the other end through a lack of returning buses?We explored the issue of buses in show last winter here and here, and the problems associated with ploughing on (if you’ll excuse the pun) in the grip of extremes. Tiredness, damaged vehicles, stranded passengers, stranded drivers, timetables all over the place, complaints of late running, panic congestion all conspire to add costs and give headaches. Another case of the bus industry never being able to win.On the other hand, take a look at this video, shot at Saltburn Bank, where an Arriva driver displays admirable skills at negotiating a hairpin bend that seemingly even a 4x4 jeep cannot manage. Perhaps there’s more to the Temsa than I first thought...
13 comments:
I marvelled at Arriva's Temsa.
How different it would have been had a car blocked its way. Could it have got going again?
Yes... because drivers on the East Cleveland routes are well used to 1 in 4 hills, and are specifically trained to handle them.
Mac, who knows the area
The real problem here is that public transport has a responsibility to its customers some of whom may need to make journeys so that they can work in essential services like hospitals etc. Private motorists have only responsibility for themselves.
For this reason buses and trains should be required to prepare for adverse weather conditions.
Chains or the modern equivalent should be part of an operators kit and drivers trained to deal with adverse conditions as part of their training.
It would greatly improve the public perception of buses and trains if this were the case.
Certainly growing up in Scotland in the sixties I can well recall buses running in extremely adverse conditions.
I seem to recollect also that tramway departments in at least some parts of the country were required to clear snow from their permanent way to maintain the service.
But we live in risk averse times. Far better to stop running at the slightest risk and leave passengers at perhaps much greater risk stranded all over the place!
Excellent bit of Arriva driving.
Don't forget that, last winter, Brighton & Hove (who else!) fitted chains to their coaches so that they could still run a basic service to the most outlying/hilly areas.
Anonymous @ 09:14 raises the point that public transport should run so that essential workers can get to work - but how do the bus drivers get to work? Or is it fine for bus drivers to use their cars to get in to work but not nurses or firemen?
The other issue I can see is that if a company does start running services but then has to suspend them later in the day they risk stranding people - better for people to be stranded at home than stranded at work? Stories of school children having to work miles home in freezing weather because the bus 'abandoned' them seem common here, but not stories of children having to battle through snow to get to school in the morning.
Its a fine balance - comparisons with the past are often not helpful - the situation today is often very different to that of 50 years ago - people commuting greater distances, much busier roads, light-wieght buses, a sensationalist media (and people who want to feed this media with stories at the drop of a hat) for example.
Ben said...
"light-wieght buses,"
The current generation of buses seem, in general, to be considerably heavier than their predecessors of thirty or forty years ago, for a similar passenger capacity. The video of Saltburn is interesting, as I am reminded that the cover photograph of an issue of 'Buses' from the mid-1970s showed a then new Bedford YRQ on what I think is the same stretch of road. The Bedford YRQ would have had a similar seating capacity to the Temsa, but was considerably lighter - even though the Temsa is considered a 'lightweight'.
"advice from the police is not to travel unless it’s absolutely necessary but this is never seemingly applied by the general public to its bus service"
The problem with this is that no-one has adequately defined absolutely necessary. I may think it is not necessary to get to work but my employer may think it is. Despite popular belief, there are still many millions of people who try their darndest to get to work and maintain some sense of normality.
The difficulty for the operator is communication with the customer. Despite the multiplicity of media options (web, Tubeface etc) some operators struggle to make a half-decent attempt. Worst seem to be the national groups where it is not always easy to find local information.
Re. the vid: you can also enjoy the moment of fame enjoyed by that blue Honda(?) you see at the top the hill -- the one pointing at the half-demolished wall.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=svihnPf5QNk
Reminds me of the 62/3 winter.the first working day after christmas iset out for the depot 30 miles away on a journey that usually takes an hourbut after many adventures earrive at 1.00 pm.ther were only 2 other members of staff huddled in their cars as they had no keys to get in.they lived 15miles out and 12 miles out.i unlocked ,rung the boss whose wife informed me that he s gawn darn the pub!!!to say i was would be the understatement of all time.i left a message saying i had sent the chaps home,mentioned them by name so that they could at least be thanked for effort and informed i was locking up ,going home and hoped to see him at some unforeseen date.I set off home at 2pm and got home at half nine.what price loyalty67 staff members most of them locals simply made no effort.nothing changes.
Some bus companies seemed to be trying to bail out when the conditions really didn't merit it. All credit to Arriva North East, who have been trying hard to battle through, in areas that have been very hard hit - and special credit to the Temsa driver in that video for a superb bit of driving!
But in York, it was a different story. Mid-morning, First pulled ALL their buses off the road for several hours. For anyone who doesn't know York, most of it is as flat as a pancake. Yes, there was quite a bit of snow, but nowhere near enough to make driving dangerous or difficult on the main roads.
Thankfully they did reinstate services mid-afternoon, not that you'd know from their website, which was last updated 6 hours ago at 12.40, and gives incorrect and incomplete information.
An excellent example of continous information provision from NCT. Number of likers has gone up by over 3000 in 48 hours!
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Nottingham-City-Transport/144269959645?ref=nf
A stark comparison to the pig groups...
Re; Anon 11:12
"Don't forget that, last winter, Brighton & Hove (who else!) fitted chains to their coaches so that they could still run a basic service to the most outlying/hilly areas."
Yes, and the snow-chained buses are out again today.
Perhaps Iris should see this:
http://www.newsshopper.co.uk/news/8716527.HAYES__Bus_crashes_into_eight_cars_and_a_tree/?ref=eb
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