Frustrating Friday

We were very tight for vehicles anyway, but I thought we were going to make it! That was - of course - until the phone rang!!!

We currently have a fleet of 12 vehicles, of which we need 10 on the road until around 0830 in the morning, 7 in the middle of the day - plenty of slack there to deal with non-urgent maintenance issues - and then an afternoon peak of 9 vehicles between 1430 and 1800.

In other words, at our busiest point - the morning peak - we can afford two vehicles off the road, otherwise we would have to cancel service. To date, we have only ever cancelled service due to traffic problems (usually a motorway closure) or a breakdown en route, and we have never ever (as far as I can recall) cancelled a single journey due to lack of vehicle or lack of staff.

As at late Friday afternoon, we were running it close to the wire for Friday afternoon, never mind Tuesday morning:

V14 GMT is off for MOT preparation and will not be available to us again until after its test on Wednesday afternoon.

W558 JVV - a Dawsonrentals Dart of appalling reliability - has now added to its long list of ailments since it has been with us, a recurring fuel problem which is proving near enough impossible to trace, and basically involves the bus running fine for a while then suddently cutting out and refusing to restart. Brenhaul were following up some leads of various ideas that people had had, so it was off the road for Friday afternoon but we were hoping for a miracle cure in advance of Tuesday.

J841 TSC needed a thermal switch replacing that was not due until Friday, and in the meantime had been drained of all water and other essential fluids, and was therefore VOR for Friday although due back on the road Saturday morning.

So we already had the three casualty slots filled for Friday afternoon, but with the clock passing 5 (or 17 in my world), it was looking good...

Then the phone rang.

V7 GMT is our jinx bus. A perfectly pleasant drive, it is nevertheless accident prone. Of the mercifully small number of accidents that our fleet has experienced, V7 has been the company vehicle on well over 50% of occasions. It has also lost more panes of glass than any other bus. There is also an honourable tradition that something always goes wrong with one of our buses on the Friday of a Bank Holiday weekend.

Evidently on its way into Eastleigh to do the 1715 C1, one of the panes of glass in the door had smashed. We don't know how or why, we just know that it happened.

This immediately meant trouble, because the Bank Holiday weekend meant that the bus would be off for nearly a week. Our glass company are excellent, and will be able to source the glass first thing on Tuesday. But it will hopefully arrive on Wednesday and be fitted that day and - being bonded glazing - will then need several hours to cure putting it off the road effectively for Wednesday.

So, one pane of glass goes on Friday and the bus is off the road until Thursday. Delightful!

More urgently, that meant no bus for the 1715 C1, and no spare buses available because we now had four off the road.

So I pulled the bus that was due to go out on the 1720 Fair Oak Flyer, and stepped that up to the 1715 C1, which accordingly left 5 minutes late, albeit that I managed to warn the passengers that it would be a little late.

We then needed a bus for the 1720 Flyer, for which the most likely bet seemed to be the bus that comes back from the 601 college run to Hamble (due Hamble 1655) and then does the 1815 C1 after refuelling.

Taz (who drives the 1720 Flyer) went and warned his passengers of a likely short delay. Paul C eventually pulled in just after 1725 so we commandeered his bus and after a driver change and loading up, the 1720 left just before 1730.

The 1720 would normally come back to do the 1750 A but the delayed Flyer departure now put the 1750 at risk, so I had a bright idea. Pinch the bus coming back from the 612 college run - which goes straight to the yard and finishes - and use that for the 1750 A, using a driver on overtime (or - if need be - me) to cover it.

So I called Matt who had just arrived back, only to be told that a student had been sick on his bus, so that would not be available! And so it proved, Matt insisted on staying to do the clean-up job himself, but it took him an hour after his sign-off time such was the mess!

Next task was to speak to Brenhaul to see if they had any joy with 558. This was met with a resounding "no!" Not only not available for Friday, but not going to be available for Tuesday either.

Meanwhile I had sent messages to two drivers - normally good bets for overtime - to see if they would drive the trip, and for completely legitimate and unconnected reasons, both came back and said they couldn't.

The fates were determined that the 1750 A was not going to leave on time come what may!

So another trip to another stand to warn the waiting passengers, all of whom seemed grateful for the warning.

As it happened, Taz managed to make up some time on the 1720 Flyer, and in the end was back in the bus station and ready to go by 1755, so only a five minute delay after all that.

The only remaining task was to pinch the bus arriving on the A at 1800 (1710 from Boorley Green) to do the 1815 C1, and all Friday's work was finally covered.

As Friday evening peaks go, easily the most stressful for a long time. Three trips delayed - one by ten minutes, two by five minutes - so three commuter journeys disrupted. Not good!!! Some might argue that Friday afternoon peaks will always be troublesome, but for us this is way below acceptable performance.

And it also meant we were a bus short for Tuesday, but that's another story for another post.

But with apologies for anyone delayed by this sequence of events on Friday afternoon, there is the story of a pretty unpleasant hour in the life!!!