Niggly, frustrating day with lots of little problems - nothing too major, just lots of those "oh for (insert word of choice here) sake" moments.
However, that's not the reason for the title - this isn't some reflective musing on the state of the universe. No, Monday's theme was destinations. All our buses (apart from V384 which has a piece of laminated card - albeit a professionary produced piece!) have electronic destinations. That means we programme the destinations we want on a computer in the office, transfer them to the bus using something called a "Portable Memory Unit" that looks more like a dodgy prop from a 1970's sci-fi movie, and then at the touch of a button the driver can display the destinations on the front.
On the basis that it's really easy to do, I'm surprised that more bus companies don't have a little bit of fun with what they show on the front. When you are running on service, the rules are very very clear. Service number (or letter) and destination. If you don't show those things you stand to get fined, because the lovely Traffic Commissioner (if he/she catches you doing it) deems that failing to show the service number (or letter) and destination effectively means you haven't run the service - because if the public can't see which bus it is and where it's going, how do they know it's their bus.
However, when you have a bus parked up in the bus station for ages, or running out of service then I think you can have a bit of fun!
All our buses are programmed so that each driver can display a screen showing "Black Velvet Travel - (insert name here) says 'hi'". Slightly to my surprise, this has been universally accepted by the drivers (and Taz and me of course) as the normal thing to display if you drive a bus between the yard and the bus station, especially if you are leaving the bus in the bus station for lengthy periods. Numerous passengers and bystanders have commented favourably on this.
We have also done special destination screens for Maria's birthday and Nickie's birthday (see below), and for Taz and Jamie in particular (who have most got into the spirit of this exercise) have developed a number of variations to this theme, such as...
Black Velvet Travel - OMG it's Taz! :-)
and...
Black Velvet Travel - Jamie spreads the love
Now some people will look at these and think we are completely barking (or just not understand them) and we really should have far more important things to concentrate on, but my view is that this kind of fairly simply touch makes a big difference in whether we are seen to passengers as an approachable, friendly organisation or an impersonal, anonymous corporation. The main audience is probably the students of Wildern School, who see one of our double deckers just after 1500 every day, and I *hope* this kind of thing is appreciated by at least a few of them.
The moral of the story is, why don't more bus companies do this kind of thing???
By way of an afterthought, writing this paragraph much later in the week, SBL have an open-top Volvo Olympian on hire from Southern Vectis for the special Docks Tours they are running this weekend, and the destination that has been programmed for that is fabulous, matching the 'Do the Docks' logo complete with outline pictures of ships - but nothing too detailed or fussy - so it can be done!
Wednesday, 23 April 2008
Sunday, 20 April 2008
Three is the magic number
Finally achieved it on Friday...!
V7 went out on S1, V12 went out on S2 and V14 went out on S3. They all stuck to their lines all day, did their work and came back in the evening!
Amazing that it has been so elusive - especially as we have not had any major mechanical issues - but finally route A was 100% purple and 100% low-floor, the first time we've achieved both those things on the same day!
And we did it again on Saturday!
And now, having proved that it can be done, we can relax a bit, so the sole remaining Dart (V384 - because W558 was collected by Dawson Rentals on Friday) went out on the 8 today by special request of Steve, and it may well creep back on to the scene a little more over the next few days, as we will be less preoccupied with running DAFs for the sake of running DAFs!
V7 went out on S1, V12 went out on S2 and V14 went out on S3. They all stuck to their lines all day, did their work and came back in the evening!
Amazing that it has been so elusive - especially as we have not had any major mechanical issues - but finally route A was 100% purple and 100% low-floor, the first time we've achieved both those things on the same day!
And we did it again on Saturday!
And now, having proved that it can be done, we can relax a bit, so the sole remaining Dart (V384 - because W558 was collected by Dawson Rentals on Friday) went out on the 8 today by special request of Steve, and it may well creep back on to the scene a little more over the next few days, as we will be less preoccupied with running DAFs for the sake of running DAFs!
Thursday: Election Fever
Elections are always held on a Thursday of course, and today I won two that I didn't even know I'd entered!
I don't think it's a secret that there are moves afoot to create a "South Hampshire Bus Operators Association", to provide an effective lobbying voice for the bus industry as a whole in the region. This is particularly important as Transport for South Hampshire, the emerging successor to the local authority consortium Solent Transport, should have a very strong strategic role in determining the future shape of the transport infrastructure in the region, and needs effective input from the bus industry to ensure that our interests and contribution is not overlooked.
The Bus Operators' Association has a Board which will include one representative for all the small operators in the region, and it turns out that's me - by the unanimous vote of all the small operators present at the meeting!
By the same token, George Fair of Uni-link has done an excellent job of representing small operators' interests on the Solent Travelcard Management Committee since its inception, but now that the Uni-link operation is to be swallowed up by the Go-Ahead Group, they won't be a small operator any more so a new representative is needed. Once again, it turns out that's me!
May I take this opportunity to thank my parents, my brother, Taz's pet cat, my election agent (if only I knew who it was).....
Actually Taz's pet cat, Tommy, might start to feature a little more regularly on here from now on, because having my offered my flat as temporary cattery when Taz and his family go on holiday in a week's time, I now find I've won that contest as well and I will therefore have a pet cat from Wednesday 23rd for a week!
In the real world of buses and passengers and roadworks and traffic lights, the lights that have been appearing on and off at Haskins for the last week or so are on this afternoon, and causing big traffic delays.
So once again we can't keep three DAFs out, because delays to inbound journeys mean that V384 eventually has to go out on the 1350 to keep the service running on time (which once again we did, with 100% compliance from Eastleigh Bus Station despite the hold-ups), so the late-running 1335 arrival becomes the 1420 departure, and the similarly late-running 1405 arrival becomes the 1450 departure. By this time the lights have gone and the traffic calms down, so when V14 comes in 20 minutes late at 1455 it becomes spare for the rest of the afternoon, as V384 is well in time for the 1520 and Maria can simply keep going in that.
Thanks to Mikey's hard work in the office, we make a successful end to the day as we finally manage to get the service 8 route map up on the website!
I don't think it's a secret that there are moves afoot to create a "South Hampshire Bus Operators Association", to provide an effective lobbying voice for the bus industry as a whole in the region. This is particularly important as Transport for South Hampshire, the emerging successor to the local authority consortium Solent Transport, should have a very strong strategic role in determining the future shape of the transport infrastructure in the region, and needs effective input from the bus industry to ensure that our interests and contribution is not overlooked.
The Bus Operators' Association has a Board which will include one representative for all the small operators in the region, and it turns out that's me - by the unanimous vote of all the small operators present at the meeting!
By the same token, George Fair of Uni-link has done an excellent job of representing small operators' interests on the Solent Travelcard Management Committee since its inception, but now that the Uni-link operation is to be swallowed up by the Go-Ahead Group, they won't be a small operator any more so a new representative is needed. Once again, it turns out that's me!
May I take this opportunity to thank my parents, my brother, Taz's pet cat, my election agent (if only I knew who it was).....
Actually Taz's pet cat, Tommy, might start to feature a little more regularly on here from now on, because having my offered my flat as temporary cattery when Taz and his family go on holiday in a week's time, I now find I've won that contest as well and I will therefore have a pet cat from Wednesday 23rd for a week!
In the real world of buses and passengers and roadworks and traffic lights, the lights that have been appearing on and off at Haskins for the last week or so are on this afternoon, and causing big traffic delays.
So once again we can't keep three DAFs out, because delays to inbound journeys mean that V384 eventually has to go out on the 1350 to keep the service running on time (which once again we did, with 100% compliance from Eastleigh Bus Station despite the hold-ups), so the late-running 1335 arrival becomes the 1420 departure, and the similarly late-running 1405 arrival becomes the 1450 departure. By this time the lights have gone and the traffic calms down, so when V14 comes in 20 minutes late at 1455 it becomes spare for the rest of the afternoon, as V384 is well in time for the 1520 and Maria can simply keep going in that.
Thanks to Mikey's hard work in the office, we make a successful end to the day as we finally manage to get the service 8 route map up on the website!
Wednesday: Three out, two in
Started with three DAFs again Wednesday morning, and Pete our casual driver doing his first weekday stint for us (Alison is on holiday, so he's on duty 4).
V12 seemed to be running a bit hot though, so as a precaution we took her off at lunchtime to get the radiator cleaned out - the radiators on the DAFs are towards the rear on the nearside so in a prime spot to absorb all the muck and dirt on the road!
That solved the problem, but in the meantime V384 took over from 1420, so we'll have to wait another day to get three DAFs to start, stay out and finish their lines! Touch wood though, they're not showing up any new mechanical problems at the moment!
V12 seemed to be running a bit hot though, so as a precaution we took her off at lunchtime to get the radiator cleaned out - the radiators on the DAFs are towards the rear on the nearside so in a prime spot to absorb all the muck and dirt on the road!
That solved the problem, but in the meantime V384 took over from 1420, so we'll have to wait another day to get three DAFs to start, stay out and finish their lines! Touch wood though, they're not showing up any new mechanical problems at the moment!
Tuesday, 15 April 2008
PlusBus? Not us!
Eastleigh was beautifully calm and still (albeit freezing cold) at 0400 this morning. Don't ask me why I got there at that time, I just did, and liked it very much. Might do it again before long!
Had a bit of fun washing the bus windows in the yard at 0630ish. Did V12 and V14, Taz washed and I bladed the windows. Trouble is, we only had cold water available and it was freezing on to the glass so quickly that I couldn't dare let Taz do more than one pane ahead of me at a time - normally the washer gets on with it and the blader catches up in his/her own good time.
Lots of financial stuff to work through today so the morning was office-bound. All good though and very necessary, but was able to sneak away after lunch to Barton Park to check up on progress with the water hose on V7 and to put 303 in for safety service.
The bus service operated entirely uneventfully all day, with no changes required to buses, drivers or anything, and every bus observed on time.
We had an enquiry over the weekend from a gentleman who wants to use a Southampton Plusbus to get from Parkway Station to the Rose Bowl tomorrow afternoon, and wondered if we would accept it. My answer was of course that we are not in the scheme at present, but that I would make enquiries to find out how difficult it would be, thinking that it couldn't be very!
So after talking to everyone else on the planet I ended up speaking to Gordon Frost, good guy and Commercial Manager of First H&D. He said there was no problem joining, it was very easy, he would send me a formal offer letter and we could reply. That's all fine, only trouble is, provided we apply by May we will be admitted in September! Just in time for the end of the cricket season!
V7 emerged from Brenhaul late afternoon complete with new air bag to go with its water hose, so tomorrow we are aiming for the "three DAF trick" for the second time.
For those that care, as I've left it tonight, V12 is on line S1 (0708 B-E etc), V7 is on S2 (0738 B-E etc) and V14 is on S3 (0720 E-B etc) tomorrow.
Had a bit of fun washing the bus windows in the yard at 0630ish. Did V12 and V14, Taz washed and I bladed the windows. Trouble is, we only had cold water available and it was freezing on to the glass so quickly that I couldn't dare let Taz do more than one pane ahead of me at a time - normally the washer gets on with it and the blader catches up in his/her own good time.
Lots of financial stuff to work through today so the morning was office-bound. All good though and very necessary, but was able to sneak away after lunch to Barton Park to check up on progress with the water hose on V7 and to put 303 in for safety service.
The bus service operated entirely uneventfully all day, with no changes required to buses, drivers or anything, and every bus observed on time.
We had an enquiry over the weekend from a gentleman who wants to use a Southampton Plusbus to get from Parkway Station to the Rose Bowl tomorrow afternoon, and wondered if we would accept it. My answer was of course that we are not in the scheme at present, but that I would make enquiries to find out how difficult it would be, thinking that it couldn't be very!
So after talking to everyone else on the planet I ended up speaking to Gordon Frost, good guy and Commercial Manager of First H&D. He said there was no problem joining, it was very easy, he would send me a formal offer letter and we could reply. That's all fine, only trouble is, provided we apply by May we will be admitted in September! Just in time for the end of the cricket season!
V7 emerged from Brenhaul late afternoon complete with new air bag to go with its water hose, so tomorrow we are aiming for the "three DAF trick" for the second time.
For those that care, as I've left it tonight, V12 is on line S1 (0708 B-E etc), V7 is on S2 (0738 B-E etc) and V14 is on S3 (0720 E-B etc) tomorrow.
Monday, 14 April 2008
A smooth operation
At last, a quiet day where everything went to plan!
Started with the V- and W-reg Darts out together with DAF V12, 303 on the wall in Eastleigh Bus Station as spare bus.
V14's panel damage was repaired by lunchtime, so it went on for the 1450 to Botley in place of W558. The new hose for V7 is coming tomorrow, after Brenhaul managed to successfully track down the part they required (thanks to Volvo Bus rather than DAF, bizarrely) following a lengthy investigation by Shaun.
Not much traffic around this evening, so everything came home in good time, all fuelled and parked up without incident and nothing much to write about at all!
So all things being equal, tomorrow should see V14 on S1, V384 on S2 and V12 on S3, but then everything could change in the morning!
Started with the V- and W-reg Darts out together with DAF V12, 303 on the wall in Eastleigh Bus Station as spare bus.
V14's panel damage was repaired by lunchtime, so it went on for the 1450 to Botley in place of W558. The new hose for V7 is coming tomorrow, after Brenhaul managed to successfully track down the part they required (thanks to Volvo Bus rather than DAF, bizarrely) following a lengthy investigation by Shaun.
Not much traffic around this evening, so everything came home in good time, all fuelled and parked up without incident and nothing much to write about at all!
So all things being equal, tomorrow should see V14 on S1, V384 on S2 and V12 on S3, but then everything could change in the morning!
Sunday, 13 April 2008
Nice comment
Jamie is out doing service 8 today.
He just rung me from Southampton to tell me of his conversation with a woman who boarded at Millbrook Station.
There are about a zillion buses between Millbrook Station and Southampton City Centre on a Sunday, of which we run four - a mere drop in the ocean.
This lady has just told Jamie she always likes to wait for our buses, because we are such a nice company with such nice drivers! Aw bless!!
He just rung me from Southampton to tell me of his conversation with a woman who boarded at Millbrook Station.
There are about a zillion buses between Millbrook Station and Southampton City Centre on a Sunday, of which we run four - a mere drop in the ocean.
This lady has just told Jamie she always likes to wait for our buses, because we are such a nice company with such nice drivers! Aw bless!!
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