Greetings from Hampshire, where I am sitting in my living room surveying the view of the sunlit marina on this beautiful warm evening, sipping a glass of white wine and watching the cruise ships glide out into the Solent.
Various among you have commented on the lack of blog activity in recent times - and frankly you are right do so. Shameful performance!
So first and foremost, it's only 7pm, the night is young, why aren't I at work, I hear you ask! After all, it is daylight and it is the law that I should be at work during daylight hours (and most of the darkness ones too!). Well today was washing machine day! The washing machine that I inherited from my brother finally spun its last spin about two weeks ago and expired terminally. So I ordered a new one and it arrived today, so I had to stay home to say hello to it (and of course tell the delivery lorry where to come!)
In all the excitement I finally found out why the old one used to go careering round the floor at every opportunity, and it turns out it was for the simple reason that no one (least of all me) ever took the transit bolts out! Had I done so, it would apparently have sat there and burbled away quite happily in one spot instead of doing a scenic tour of the flat every time I wanted clean clothes!
Anyway the washing machine came at 0930 this morning but I - bad person that I have become - decided that I really didn't fancy going to the office and could quite happily work from home, so even at 2pm this afternoon I was telling my work colleagues that I had no idea when it would arrive and could be any time before 7 this evening! Let's hope none of them read this!!!!
To be fair, it is the first respite I have had after one of the most manic months in the history of history. Over the summer we expanded our fleet to ten vehicles in preparation for a new contract with Barton Peveril College in Eastleigh and on 1st September became responsible for transporting around 400 students a day into college on top of our other work commitments. Every day now six of our vehicles stream into the college just after 8 in the morning, and are lined up ready for the exodus at 4 in the afternoon.
One of the clinchers in us getting the deal was that we allow the students (most of whom live in the catchment area of our route A) to use their passes to travel around during the day, so in addition to the twice daily panic to make sure there are enough buses in the right places for all the students, we have had real overcrowding problems to deal with during the day. Luckily we have kept it together and I am proud to say that apart from day one when one of the buses missed three stops by mistake, every single bus on every single day has run faultlessly - on time, correct route, no complaints at all (apart from one lady who rung us every day for a week because her son insisted that the bus hadn't gone to his stop so he had to go home again, even though we knew full well it had because it picked up twenty other students there. We wondered how long it would take the penny to drop that he actually didn't have any intention of catching the bus. I don't know if it ever did or whether she simply got bored ringing us, but to be honest, tough beans!!!)
The downside of all this is that it is very time consuming. Apart from having our attention focussed on the college routes between 0630 and 0830 every morning and 1530 and 1730 every evening, we still have all our normal work to do as well, and apart from last Sunday which I managed to take off, today is my first day away from the office since August, and even then I've been working. But as time goes on and the students spread their journeys more and we get better at managing the hotspots so that we don't have to stay on top of it all the time, the pressure should ease and hopefully it will all work out.
Meanwhile, all these college buses sit doing nothing between 9 and 3 every day, so we decided to use some of the dead time to run a new service - the B. We worked hard to pick a route that avoided confronting Solent Blue Line in a competitive way and created something genuinely new. By linking a number of estates that Blue Line have dropped and providing new direct links that didn't exist before, we have created a route from Eastleigh to Southampton that manages to avoid Blue Line's main corridors.
Unfortunately for us, Blue Line have reacted as though we have marched into the Finance Director's office, held a gun to his head and demanded all their money. Immediately they found out about our new service, they registered their own route - also called the B - following an identical route with every single journey 3 minutes in front of ours. They branded it Beep! Bus B, use red buses that don't mention Blue Line or Bluestar anywhere on them, drivers wear red polo shirts and even the ticket machine 'till rolls' are plain white and do not mention Bluestar - all to try to dupe the public into thinking that Beep! is the innovative new service - not ours that we registered first.
They got over the fact that they were a week behind us getting their registration in (Because obviously it didn't exist until we registered it) by using a loophole to start on the same date but not charge any fares for a week. So, for a week, our brand new B route ran around with one of their buses running free of charge three minutes in front - and we still carried more passengers than them!!! Admittedly, not great numbers for either of us, but it's a start.
The balloon finally went up last Saturday when the Southampton Daily Echo made it front page news, and you can see it here...
http://www.dailyecho.co.uk/news/3690016.Bus_wars/
...but be sure to read the public comments below the article itself.
Since the press coverage, we have been getting more of the passengers because it took the newspaper article for many of them to realise that Beep! was in fact Bluestar in disguise. This week, the Beep! drivers have tried to get round this by pretending they are Black Velvet! But most of the passengers at least seem to have sussed it out and contrary to the widely held belief that passengers simply get on the first bus that comes along, it is a common sight to see people waving the Beep! bus past so they can wait for ours!
As if all the college work wasn't hectic enough, the b-b-bus wars have taken a fair bit of my time too, so 16 hour days have been the norm - sometimes more! Aaaaaaaah, I hear you all chorus!
So all the above, in a roundabout way, tells you why I haven't been writing much on the blog lately. So on that happy note, and with the oven bleeping at me to let me know it is dinner time, I shall wish all my impatient readers a happy weekend and hope to be back here soon :)
Friday, 26 September 2008
Sunday, 17 August 2008
Enjoying a week's holiday...
Everyone else that is, apart from me!!!
Normally we allow one person a week to be off on holiday. Via a combination of freak events we ended up with Taz, Jamie and Paul all away for the week, and Rob needed Tuesday and Thursday off, all of which left us a wee bit tight for staff!
Taz has been away with Nicki's family in the Italian Alps, although he kindly telephoned a couple of times to offer words of encouragement!
This meant that I had to sail the ship alone this week, apart from yesterday when even I needed most of the day off due to a social engagement, and Ant agreed to run the company for a day (and as far as I can see did a pretty good job apart from accidentally taking my office keys home with him).
And as if that wasn't enough, I have also had the pleasure of looking after Tommy, Taz's cat. Just to maximise the 'aah' factor here are some pictures of Tommy...
In the third one he is indeed lying on my computer and this was taken shortly before he decided to remove the 'i' key and space bar, which took me a fair while to reassemble.
Workwise, apart from Tuesday which was a complete mess and will shortly get a post all to itself, the week went surprisingly smoothly. Because of the number of people away, all the remaining staff worked every day apart from Sunday, and Pete joined us on Tuesday and Thursday. But everyone turned up every day on time and we had no staff problems and no major vehicle problems.
On Wednesday we collected J841 TSC from Qualiti Conversions at Botley, who have done a superb job of repainting it, and also recoated the hand poles yellow which has brightened up the interior a lot. This bus has original Edinburgh plastic seats which are perfectly comfortable and - like everything about this bus - in immaculate condition so don't justify retrimming. But they do look a bit, um, municipal!
Since Matt has adopted this bus, the plan was for me to meet him in Eastleigh Bus Station at 1500 on Wednesday when he finished duty 1, and take him down to Botley to collect the bus.
Mikey has been with us all week as well - doing a superb job of producing promotional material for the new service starting in September, promoting these routes in Eastleigh Bus Station and looking after our service A customers. It therefore seemed a good idea to take him too for the experience. Then Ant invited himself along - some excuse to do with needing someone to take photographs - and suddenly we had a carload to collect one bus!
Ant was on duty 3 which does the 1140 - 1425 portion of the Ringwood routes, then uses a double decker to travel empty back to Eastleigh, with the next piece of work in school holidays then being the 1650 A, so he had plenty of time assuming he would get back to Eastleigh at around 1500.
Then of course events intervened. At around 1400 Mikey had a problem with his phone and needed to get to the Vodafone shop in Southampton urgently, so we sent him off to Southampton on the bus. But this meant there was no prospect of him getting back in time to come with me and Matt, so I texted Ant and asked him to wait in town, meet Mikey and take him straight to Botley on the changeover bus.
So the definitive answer to "how many people does it take to collect a bus" is four - two people in a car and two people in a double decker bus. But at least it meant Ant could get these shots...
Looking good, don't you think???
We were running a bit late by the time we were ready to leave so Ant had to scurry off to do his A. I followed Matt back through Botley expecting him to turn right up Winchester Street, but of course he didn't. I guessed that Matt's coach driver instincts and love of 841 were going to seduce him into doing a scenic tour of South Hampshire and took the direct route back where I found the local bus paparazzi waiting on the corner of Barton Park to take piccies when the bus finally made it back.
By the time I had been into Brenhaul to talk about when we could service 841 and answered their questions about who those strange blokes were loitering on the entrance to the industrial estate with cameras, there was still no sign of Matt. Luckily he had Mikey with him, so I was able to obtain position reports from him. Eventually he appeared heading from completely the wrong direction and having taken a mere 40 minutes or so to do a journey that takes 15 minutes direct!
Steve fitted the ticket machine on Friday and the bus should be serviced tomorrow, so although it lacks graphics it should be ready for the road by early this week, if we choose to use it. The other two should emerge this week and next week respectively.
By now, Taz should be back from the Alps and Paul should be raring to go again so this week is looking a lot better staff-wise!
Normally we allow one person a week to be off on holiday. Via a combination of freak events we ended up with Taz, Jamie and Paul all away for the week, and Rob needed Tuesday and Thursday off, all of which left us a wee bit tight for staff!
Taz has been away with Nicki's family in the Italian Alps, although he kindly telephoned a couple of times to offer words of encouragement!
This meant that I had to sail the ship alone this week, apart from yesterday when even I needed most of the day off due to a social engagement, and Ant agreed to run the company for a day (and as far as I can see did a pretty good job apart from accidentally taking my office keys home with him).
And as if that wasn't enough, I have also had the pleasure of looking after Tommy, Taz's cat. Just to maximise the 'aah' factor here are some pictures of Tommy...
In the third one he is indeed lying on my computer and this was taken shortly before he decided to remove the 'i' key and space bar, which took me a fair while to reassemble.
Workwise, apart from Tuesday which was a complete mess and will shortly get a post all to itself, the week went surprisingly smoothly. Because of the number of people away, all the remaining staff worked every day apart from Sunday, and Pete joined us on Tuesday and Thursday. But everyone turned up every day on time and we had no staff problems and no major vehicle problems.
On Wednesday we collected J841 TSC from Qualiti Conversions at Botley, who have done a superb job of repainting it, and also recoated the hand poles yellow which has brightened up the interior a lot. This bus has original Edinburgh plastic seats which are perfectly comfortable and - like everything about this bus - in immaculate condition so don't justify retrimming. But they do look a bit, um, municipal!
Since Matt has adopted this bus, the plan was for me to meet him in Eastleigh Bus Station at 1500 on Wednesday when he finished duty 1, and take him down to Botley to collect the bus.
Mikey has been with us all week as well - doing a superb job of producing promotional material for the new service starting in September, promoting these routes in Eastleigh Bus Station and looking after our service A customers. It therefore seemed a good idea to take him too for the experience. Then Ant invited himself along - some excuse to do with needing someone to take photographs - and suddenly we had a carload to collect one bus!
Ant was on duty 3 which does the 1140 - 1425 portion of the Ringwood routes, then uses a double decker to travel empty back to Eastleigh, with the next piece of work in school holidays then being the 1650 A, so he had plenty of time assuming he would get back to Eastleigh at around 1500.
Then of course events intervened. At around 1400 Mikey had a problem with his phone and needed to get to the Vodafone shop in Southampton urgently, so we sent him off to Southampton on the bus. But this meant there was no prospect of him getting back in time to come with me and Matt, so I texted Ant and asked him to wait in town, meet Mikey and take him straight to Botley on the changeover bus.
So the definitive answer to "how many people does it take to collect a bus" is four - two people in a car and two people in a double decker bus. But at least it meant Ant could get these shots...
Looking good, don't you think???
We were running a bit late by the time we were ready to leave so Ant had to scurry off to do his A. I followed Matt back through Botley expecting him to turn right up Winchester Street, but of course he didn't. I guessed that Matt's coach driver instincts and love of 841 were going to seduce him into doing a scenic tour of South Hampshire and took the direct route back where I found the local bus paparazzi waiting on the corner of Barton Park to take piccies when the bus finally made it back.
By the time I had been into Brenhaul to talk about when we could service 841 and answered their questions about who those strange blokes were loitering on the entrance to the industrial estate with cameras, there was still no sign of Matt. Luckily he had Mikey with him, so I was able to obtain position reports from him. Eventually he appeared heading from completely the wrong direction and having taken a mere 40 minutes or so to do a journey that takes 15 minutes direct!
Steve fitted the ticket machine on Friday and the bus should be serviced tomorrow, so although it lacks graphics it should be ready for the road by early this week, if we choose to use it. The other two should emerge this week and next week respectively.
By now, Taz should be back from the Alps and Paul should be raring to go again so this week is looking a lot better staff-wise!
My last word on wheelie bins
Since this blog is in danger of becoming all about wheelie bins rather than buses, I think it's time to end the subject by reporting that the new bin for our yard arrived on Friday. If you want pictures, you'll have to take your own. Sorry! Unless of course someone captures it for Derek's site, which will now be our officially recommended point of reference for all matters relating to this particular form of four-wheeled transport :)
Saturday, 9 August 2008
The wonderful world of wheelie bins
There are people out there who think that bus enthusiasts are a strange breed.
But maybe those people would instead be inspired by the idea of wheelie bin spotting. The uninformed observer may be simply unaware of the variety of sizes, shapes and colours of bins available, the unusual settings in which they may be found and what they are used for.
It turns out that there is a special place on the internet for those who wish to pursue an interest in wheelie bins. Courtesy of that illustrious bus (and now, as it turns out, wheelie bin) photographer Derek Doling, I am delighted to introduce you to The Wonderful World of Wheelie Bins, where our wheelie bin has been immortalised.
And as if that wasn't enough on the subject of wheelie bins, we've ordered another one, this time for the yard to accommodate all the rubbish we sweep off the buses every night. This one is coming from a different supplier, so that should get the wheelie bin fraternity flocking to Eastleigh for a second time!
But maybe those people would instead be inspired by the idea of wheelie bin spotting. The uninformed observer may be simply unaware of the variety of sizes, shapes and colours of bins available, the unusual settings in which they may be found and what they are used for.
It turns out that there is a special place on the internet for those who wish to pursue an interest in wheelie bins. Courtesy of that illustrious bus (and now, as it turns out, wheelie bin) photographer Derek Doling, I am delighted to introduce you to The Wonderful World of Wheelie Bins, where our wheelie bin has been immortalised.
And as if that wasn't enough on the subject of wheelie bins, we've ordered another one, this time for the yard to accommodate all the rubbish we sweep off the buses every night. This one is coming from a different supplier, so that should get the wheelie bin fraternity flocking to Eastleigh for a second time!
Thursday, 31 July 2008
A terrible incident
As most people who read this will know, our colleagues at Wilts & Dorset suffered a terrible incident earlier today when one of their open-top double deckers overturned following a collision with a car, resulting in upper deck passengers being thrown clear of the bus.
Mercifully - almost unbelievably in fact - there were no fatalities and only a modest number of passengers were injured, and none of them too seriously.
This is the kind of incident that it just seems impossible to believe has really happened. The idea of an open top bus toppling over and passengers being thrown out is a concept almost impossible to visualise. What must have been going through their minds when they realised what was happening to them?
Tonight I am feeling sorry for the passengers who were caught up in this dreadful incident, and their families. I am also thinking of the bus driver, who I see is being praised by the police for minimising the severity of this incident. Thankfully I have never been personally involved in any serious collision as a driver, so find it difficult to truly understand what he must be going through, and so can only begin to imagine how he will come to terms with what has happened today.
But I also want to say a word for the other representatives of Wilts & Dorset who will have been involved. For all those who attended the scene, as well as all those left back at base trying to pick up the pieces, today will have been an horrific day. It is hard for anyone who hasn't been in a position of responsibility when something like this has occurred, to imagine that initial phone call which stops your world, and that dawning moment of realisation that something horrible has taken place. To then have to attend such an incident, to be confronted with the reality of what has taken place, will have taken their breath away.
I saw a brief interview with Andrew Wickham, Operations Director of Go South Coast, on the BBC website and although the interview was brief and factual, Andrew covered the essential information extremely well and clearly, impressively so. However, a 20 second interview barely touches the surface of a whole day of unfolding drama such as this, and whether it is now or later, I feel quite sure that today's events will leave emotional scars forever on all those involved.
While relieved at the low number of casualties and absence of fatalities, one must not underestimate the emotional impact of having to deal with an incident such as today's, and so right now my thoughts are very much with my colleagues at Wilts & Dorset.
Mercifully - almost unbelievably in fact - there were no fatalities and only a modest number of passengers were injured, and none of them too seriously.
This is the kind of incident that it just seems impossible to believe has really happened. The idea of an open top bus toppling over and passengers being thrown out is a concept almost impossible to visualise. What must have been going through their minds when they realised what was happening to them?
Tonight I am feeling sorry for the passengers who were caught up in this dreadful incident, and their families. I am also thinking of the bus driver, who I see is being praised by the police for minimising the severity of this incident. Thankfully I have never been personally involved in any serious collision as a driver, so find it difficult to truly understand what he must be going through, and so can only begin to imagine how he will come to terms with what has happened today.
But I also want to say a word for the other representatives of Wilts & Dorset who will have been involved. For all those who attended the scene, as well as all those left back at base trying to pick up the pieces, today will have been an horrific day. It is hard for anyone who hasn't been in a position of responsibility when something like this has occurred, to imagine that initial phone call which stops your world, and that dawning moment of realisation that something horrible has taken place. To then have to attend such an incident, to be confronted with the reality of what has taken place, will have taken their breath away.
I saw a brief interview with Andrew Wickham, Operations Director of Go South Coast, on the BBC website and although the interview was brief and factual, Andrew covered the essential information extremely well and clearly, impressively so. However, a 20 second interview barely touches the surface of a whole day of unfolding drama such as this, and whether it is now or later, I feel quite sure that today's events will leave emotional scars forever on all those involved.
While relieved at the low number of casualties and absence of fatalities, one must not underestimate the emotional impact of having to deal with an incident such as today's, and so right now my thoughts are very much with my colleagues at Wilts & Dorset.
Saturday, 26 July 2008
A new addition to the fleet
Today we are celebrating the newest addition to our fleet. Somewhat smaller in capacity than our other rolling stock, it nevertheless drives very smoothly, is highly manoeuvrable and will fit into the tightest of gaps, as this picture shows...
Sunday, 20 July 2008
A day on the 8
For the second week in a row, I found myself doing the service 8 duty today, as I did a deal with the scheduled driver (in this case Matt) to cover work for me later in the week if I covered their Sunday. That doesn't mean that it has to be me that does the duty, but I do like it a lot and so I am not too upset that no-one else really wanted the rest day work.
Having said that, last Sunday was great fun from start to finish. Today I wasn't really in the mood when I crawled out of bed, thinking of all the things I could have been doing instead. That's the only problem with driving. I love it, but it stops you doing anything else useful at all.
Added to which, I felt grotty - felt sick, headache, bad stomach - my body was truly in revolt. So I shuffled into work, devoid of any kind of spring in my step, just in time to prep the bus and go. Taz was there to say hi, which cheered me up. Ant was there with his entourage waiting to go to Alton Bus Rally. I was so rude - didn't even say hi to them. Just crawled into my bus, did the walk-round check, set up the ticket machine, drivers seat and destination blind and left.
My steed for the day V7 GMT - recently transformed by the fitment of a new throttle cable. Previously it was like driving a house brick. Now it glides along effortlessly. A ridiculous amount of money well spent! Almost overnight, V7 has gone from being "don't use on Ringwood except as last resort" to first choice Ringwood motor. (In case you are wondering, its because the Ringwood routes are by far the most demanding we cover. Way higher mileage and average running speed than anything else, lots of big hills, tight schedule, you name it.) It has also had four opening passenger windows fitted which has vastly improved the ambience.
So off I go, leaving at 0910 from the yard which should give me about 5 minutes waiting time at Hythe, and sure enough I pull in to the Ferry Interchange at 0939 for a 0944 departure, giving me a few moments to chat to the driver on the 0943 Bluestar 9 heading down to Fawley.
I'm not up for this though. I have already decided that today is going to be a day to endure. The object of the exercise is going to be simply to get to the other end of the day, having looked after my customers the best I can along the way. Last week the revenue was abnormally good, so I'm not expecting a repeat performance and while I like seeing the money come in, maybe a quiet day isn't such a bad thing.
Off I go, empty, and the first customers I meet are the elderly couple who always get on at The Mead stop, and as usual they are very cheery and it is a pleasure to welcome them on board. This is my fourth time on this duty, but I have travelled several other times on the first couple of trips to show drivers the route, so I know some of the regulars and that cheers me up a bit.
A quiet trip into Southampton is no surprise - last week more or less every seat was taken by the time we reached the city on this trip - and a quiet trip back puts me back in Hythe ready for the 1144, feeling a little bit better but still wishing I was in bed, and with a lot less cash in the bag than I had this time last week. One of our regulars, our friend in Pooksgreen who always buys a return to Totton travelling out at 1008 and back at 1732 even adds to the shortfall this week, only buying a single.
Then the day goes mad. On the next round trip I am besieged with people coming from all directions and £5 notes are being handed to me in unprecedented quantities! I am quite certain that the amount I take on this round trip must be the highest for any individual round trip on this route ever. Where are they all coming from? What's more, being busy seems to have perked me up a bit and by Marchwood I'm starting to cheer up a bit, and by Totton I'm positively in the groove! Now I'm checking the module every few seconds it seems to work out how much I've taken, trying to remember how much I'd taken this time last week, how much more I'd need to take to beat last week. I still don't think I'm going to do it - I doubt I'll even come close - but someone has pressed the 'cold start' button in my brain and it's now revving near the top of the green band, and that's always a good sign!
Then, heading back towards Hythe on the 1246 from town, the unthinkable happens. As we leave Totton, I suddenly realise that I have gone from a long way behind, to being actually ahead of where I was this time last week! There is a Magic Number (commercial confidentiality prevents me from disclosing what precisely) that you must pass on the way to the end of this duty, as any figure below this Magic Number would be a failure, but sometimes it passes quite close to the end of the duty - I have had plenty of nail-biting moments in the past wondering if it would ever come, and certainly you never pass it in the first half, except that last week I did, and to my complete amazement I have done it again, and more!
So I am a much happier camper when I pull in at Hythe for my break- running a few minutes late because of the volume of passengers - at around 1345.
A few minutes later, after a quick walk into the village, I'm back on the bus munching a Waitrose sandwich and a drink, door open as an invitation to anyone who might want to come aboard, but enjoying a few minutes peace and quiet.
Then a very posh Merc draws up alongside and four gents spring out taking a close interest in the bus. The whole thing looks very official, and my mind goes into overdrive wondering what could merit such a dramatic scene.
Then the cameras emerge and before I know it, the four guys are lined up shoulder to shoulder on the pavement opposite, they are bus spotters taking pictures of the bus! Never before have I seen such a slick, disciplined approach to bus enthusiasm! Nor has anyone else in Hythe, for it seems the taxi drivers also present and the locals in the area are now clustered in little huddles showing as much interest in the photographers as they are in me!
A brief conversation reveals that they have spent the morning in Bournemouth riding on open-top buses and are now on their way to a bus rally in Alton, but one of them realised that there would be a Velvet bus to be seen if they dropped into Hythe at around this time!
Back to work now, and I'm back in the groove again as I leave on the 1414. Now I am continually drawing comparisons with last week. This is normally a quiet trip, but seven days ago I took more than £10 just in Hythe alone. This week, there is hardly anyone around so I am behind last week's figure again. However, for some reason, there is quite a crowd at Marchwood Church - normally nobody at this time - and suddenly I think I am up again. I stay just ahead of last week's figure all the way through Totton and into town - stopping twice along Millbrook Road to pick up people who stay seated and don't put their hand out because they are determined to catch a blue bus, and a little explanation is required to help them realise that the purple buses do all the same things that the blue ones do, so there is no reason not to ride!
Then, disaster! In Southampton City Centre on the 1516 to Hythe, I take no money at all! Normally this is quite a busy trip, mostly returns and passes but the odd farepayer, but today hardly any passengers and no farepayers! Suddenly I go from being just ahead of last week to way behind once again! There's no coming back from this, is there?!?
There is an elderly lady who boards this trip every week and gets off at Batts Corner just after Totton town centre. I am convinced that she can't tell the difference between me and Jamie and thinks we are the same person. She's always very cheerful though and we briefly discuss the weather. Then she asks if I will be on again next week, or if I am on holiday. The possibility of there being any other options seems to pass her by! I inform her that it should be Jamie, and this seems to confuse her quite a lot - giving me further evidence that she cannot tell us apart.
Into the last round trip now and I would need an unprecedented performance on this trip to match last week's figure and so I start trying to tell myself once again that I already have a more than respectable figure and to calm down about the whole thing!
Sure enough, a quiet run into town makes this almost inevitable, but as I pull onto the stop at West Quay I am suddenly besieged with fare paying passengers! Single to Marchwood after single to Marchwood rolls into the bag and the pound signs in my brain are starting to light up after all!
But as we pull away, and finding no farepayers at Central Station, I know that we are £5 behind last week's figure. It's still a very good figure, but after all I have gone through today, it really would have been the icing on the cake to have beaten it. The only remaining hope is Totton, which usually yields a few passengers but mostly passholders so my hopes are not high.
But then, at Asda, I find myself selling a single to Hythe! A youngish guy needing to get to Blackfield will ride with me to Hythe then transfer to Bluestar 9.
This leaves me precisely £1.50 short of last week and I look hopefully at the two passengers getting on behind - but they both show me free passes and so the fat lady is starting to sing.
But then, as we cross over Rumbridge Street there is a guy stood at the Batts Corner stop. He hails me, unbelievably there is money in his hand, and it's a single to Marchwood - it's £2.60, it's the winning goal, it's £1.10 more than the figure for last Sunday that I thought I wouldn't touch, it's fireworks, it's lights and it's a good job he moved fast or I may well have given him a big hug!
An hour or so later, I'm back in Eastleigh after an uneventful run through to Hythe, and now suddenly everything is right with the world. Even Ant and his cohorts are there, so I have the opportunity to apologise for my lack of communication this morning. I go home happy, reflecting on another awesome day on the 8!
Having said that, last Sunday was great fun from start to finish. Today I wasn't really in the mood when I crawled out of bed, thinking of all the things I could have been doing instead. That's the only problem with driving. I love it, but it stops you doing anything else useful at all.
Added to which, I felt grotty - felt sick, headache, bad stomach - my body was truly in revolt. So I shuffled into work, devoid of any kind of spring in my step, just in time to prep the bus and go. Taz was there to say hi, which cheered me up. Ant was there with his entourage waiting to go to Alton Bus Rally. I was so rude - didn't even say hi to them. Just crawled into my bus, did the walk-round check, set up the ticket machine, drivers seat and destination blind and left.
My steed for the day V7 GMT - recently transformed by the fitment of a new throttle cable. Previously it was like driving a house brick. Now it glides along effortlessly. A ridiculous amount of money well spent! Almost overnight, V7 has gone from being "don't use on Ringwood except as last resort" to first choice Ringwood motor. (In case you are wondering, its because the Ringwood routes are by far the most demanding we cover. Way higher mileage and average running speed than anything else, lots of big hills, tight schedule, you name it.) It has also had four opening passenger windows fitted which has vastly improved the ambience.
So off I go, leaving at 0910 from the yard which should give me about 5 minutes waiting time at Hythe, and sure enough I pull in to the Ferry Interchange at 0939 for a 0944 departure, giving me a few moments to chat to the driver on the 0943 Bluestar 9 heading down to Fawley.
I'm not up for this though. I have already decided that today is going to be a day to endure. The object of the exercise is going to be simply to get to the other end of the day, having looked after my customers the best I can along the way. Last week the revenue was abnormally good, so I'm not expecting a repeat performance and while I like seeing the money come in, maybe a quiet day isn't such a bad thing.
Off I go, empty, and the first customers I meet are the elderly couple who always get on at The Mead stop, and as usual they are very cheery and it is a pleasure to welcome them on board. This is my fourth time on this duty, but I have travelled several other times on the first couple of trips to show drivers the route, so I know some of the regulars and that cheers me up a bit.
A quiet trip into Southampton is no surprise - last week more or less every seat was taken by the time we reached the city on this trip - and a quiet trip back puts me back in Hythe ready for the 1144, feeling a little bit better but still wishing I was in bed, and with a lot less cash in the bag than I had this time last week. One of our regulars, our friend in Pooksgreen who always buys a return to Totton travelling out at 1008 and back at 1732 even adds to the shortfall this week, only buying a single.
Then the day goes mad. On the next round trip I am besieged with people coming from all directions and £5 notes are being handed to me in unprecedented quantities! I am quite certain that the amount I take on this round trip must be the highest for any individual round trip on this route ever. Where are they all coming from? What's more, being busy seems to have perked me up a bit and by Marchwood I'm starting to cheer up a bit, and by Totton I'm positively in the groove! Now I'm checking the module every few seconds it seems to work out how much I've taken, trying to remember how much I'd taken this time last week, how much more I'd need to take to beat last week. I still don't think I'm going to do it - I doubt I'll even come close - but someone has pressed the 'cold start' button in my brain and it's now revving near the top of the green band, and that's always a good sign!
Then, heading back towards Hythe on the 1246 from town, the unthinkable happens. As we leave Totton, I suddenly realise that I have gone from a long way behind, to being actually ahead of where I was this time last week! There is a Magic Number (commercial confidentiality prevents me from disclosing what precisely) that you must pass on the way to the end of this duty, as any figure below this Magic Number would be a failure, but sometimes it passes quite close to the end of the duty - I have had plenty of nail-biting moments in the past wondering if it would ever come, and certainly you never pass it in the first half, except that last week I did, and to my complete amazement I have done it again, and more!
So I am a much happier camper when I pull in at Hythe for my break- running a few minutes late because of the volume of passengers - at around 1345.
A few minutes later, after a quick walk into the village, I'm back on the bus munching a Waitrose sandwich and a drink, door open as an invitation to anyone who might want to come aboard, but enjoying a few minutes peace and quiet.
Then a very posh Merc draws up alongside and four gents spring out taking a close interest in the bus. The whole thing looks very official, and my mind goes into overdrive wondering what could merit such a dramatic scene.
Then the cameras emerge and before I know it, the four guys are lined up shoulder to shoulder on the pavement opposite, they are bus spotters taking pictures of the bus! Never before have I seen such a slick, disciplined approach to bus enthusiasm! Nor has anyone else in Hythe, for it seems the taxi drivers also present and the locals in the area are now clustered in little huddles showing as much interest in the photographers as they are in me!
A brief conversation reveals that they have spent the morning in Bournemouth riding on open-top buses and are now on their way to a bus rally in Alton, but one of them realised that there would be a Velvet bus to be seen if they dropped into Hythe at around this time!
Back to work now, and I'm back in the groove again as I leave on the 1414. Now I am continually drawing comparisons with last week. This is normally a quiet trip, but seven days ago I took more than £10 just in Hythe alone. This week, there is hardly anyone around so I am behind last week's figure again. However, for some reason, there is quite a crowd at Marchwood Church - normally nobody at this time - and suddenly I think I am up again. I stay just ahead of last week's figure all the way through Totton and into town - stopping twice along Millbrook Road to pick up people who stay seated and don't put their hand out because they are determined to catch a blue bus, and a little explanation is required to help them realise that the purple buses do all the same things that the blue ones do, so there is no reason not to ride!
Then, disaster! In Southampton City Centre on the 1516 to Hythe, I take no money at all! Normally this is quite a busy trip, mostly returns and passes but the odd farepayer, but today hardly any passengers and no farepayers! Suddenly I go from being just ahead of last week to way behind once again! There's no coming back from this, is there?!?
There is an elderly lady who boards this trip every week and gets off at Batts Corner just after Totton town centre. I am convinced that she can't tell the difference between me and Jamie and thinks we are the same person. She's always very cheerful though and we briefly discuss the weather. Then she asks if I will be on again next week, or if I am on holiday. The possibility of there being any other options seems to pass her by! I inform her that it should be Jamie, and this seems to confuse her quite a lot - giving me further evidence that she cannot tell us apart.
Into the last round trip now and I would need an unprecedented performance on this trip to match last week's figure and so I start trying to tell myself once again that I already have a more than respectable figure and to calm down about the whole thing!
Sure enough, a quiet run into town makes this almost inevitable, but as I pull onto the stop at West Quay I am suddenly besieged with fare paying passengers! Single to Marchwood after single to Marchwood rolls into the bag and the pound signs in my brain are starting to light up after all!
But as we pull away, and finding no farepayers at Central Station, I know that we are £5 behind last week's figure. It's still a very good figure, but after all I have gone through today, it really would have been the icing on the cake to have beaten it. The only remaining hope is Totton, which usually yields a few passengers but mostly passholders so my hopes are not high.
But then, at Asda, I find myself selling a single to Hythe! A youngish guy needing to get to Blackfield will ride with me to Hythe then transfer to Bluestar 9.
This leaves me precisely £1.50 short of last week and I look hopefully at the two passengers getting on behind - but they both show me free passes and so the fat lady is starting to sing.
But then, as we cross over Rumbridge Street there is a guy stood at the Batts Corner stop. He hails me, unbelievably there is money in his hand, and it's a single to Marchwood - it's £2.60, it's the winning goal, it's £1.10 more than the figure for last Sunday that I thought I wouldn't touch, it's fireworks, it's lights and it's a good job he moved fast or I may well have given him a big hug!
An hour or so later, I'm back in Eastleigh after an uneventful run through to Hythe, and now suddenly everything is right with the world. Even Ant and his cohorts are there, so I have the opportunity to apologise for my lack of communication this morning. I go home happy, reflecting on another awesome day on the 8!
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