Introducing Daisy and Donald...

Following on from our success in winning a four-year contract for route 22 in Southampton, we needed to find a suitable vehicle with which to operate this route which starts on 8th February.

The Optare Solo was always going to be a favoured choice given its excellent layout for passengers. One of my grievances with the interior design of low-floor buses is that the first available seats are a long way back from the door (the DAFs are a spectacular example of this). This is bad news for dwell times at stops, as our drivers have to wait quite a long time for passengers to get to their seat, and for those with mobility difficulties makes the process of using a bus more traumatic than it need be.

The Solo avoids this problem, with seats available immediately inside the door.

However, different versions of Solo have differing reputations for reliability, so it took us a while to home in on suitable examples.

The upshot is that we have now acquired two Cummins-powered 8.8 metre examples from Mistral. They are Daisy (YJ55 YGN) and Donald (NX55 FFO), our fleet numbers 221 and 222 respectively, both with 28 seats.

Daisy arrives tomorrow as I write this and will go straight to Qualiti Conversions at Botley for paint, and Donald will turn up some time in the next few days. Since new they have been employed by Scarlet Band of County Durham, mostly on Durham Park and Ride, and we have high hopes for these vehicles!

One will always be allocated to route 22, and when the second one is available (which we hope will be most of the time) this will appear on the C.

Here are a couple of pictures of Daisy, taken before she knew she was going to be called Daisy, when we first went to look at her. No doubt the local Gricerazzi will come up with a few hundred more shots within a few minutes of her arrival!

On the Wagon

An interesting day today, the highlight of which lasted no more than a couple of minutes!

It was a typical Saturday, spent the morning and early afternoon washing buses and putting the world to rights in Brenhaul's rest room. Drove the second half of duty 56 - four hours on C3-C1 starting at 1500.

The world of Brenhaul can be quite surreal at the best of times but on Saturdays many of their clients and friends are not doing normal work, and when they are not doing their normal work, there is nothing that truck people like more than to hang around a workshop! So on a Saturday Brenhaul's Worldwide HQ at Barton Park takes on the role of a drop-in centre and like all the best soap operas, each week's episode has its own storyline.

Star of today's story was Steve, one of the owner-operators who parks (like us) in Brenhaul's yard. He set up in business on his own a year or so ago, using an X-reg DAF unit with which he hauls containers the length and breadth of the land.

Faced with the prospect of mounting repair bills and looking to build on a successful start to self-employment, Steve has decided to buy a new truck. Today was the day when much deliberation about his options finally came to a head, and he parted company with his faithful DAF and acquired a Volvo.

The happy twist in the plot is that after Shaun (part-owner of Brenhaul) had collected the truck for him and brought it back to Eastleigh, I got to take it for a spin round the industrial estate!

It is a little known fact that both Taz and I have obtained our LGV driving licences in the last couple of years. I have not used mine in anger at all, but occasionally get to have a play. Today was such a day.

Don't ask me any of the technical details, but all I can say is that this truck is gorgeous. Super-smooth to drive, equipped with every conceivable luxury (microwave, fridge.... as Ant jealously pointed out, more facilities than our office!) and in immaculate condition, spotlessly clean and well looked after. Thanks to the cherished registration you could easily believe it's a new truck, not the 52-plate that it really is. Needless to say, I am now hugely envious and I might just have to sell my car and buy one!

Anyway, recorded for posterity, here it is.... (I wonder if Steve needs any trips covering!!!)

An accessibility dilemma

Ok, here's a dilemma.

Most journeys on route C offer low-floor buses and we have a small number of regular wheelchair users.

Because of scheduling constraints and/or capacity issues, a small number of journeys use double deckers which are step entrance vehicles, not accessible to wheelchairs. Obviously we aspire to a 100% low-floor fleet one day, but we are not there yet.

Two such journeys - the 1715 and 1815 C1 from Eastleigh - always feature double deckers.

One day last week, Karl was about to pull his double decker on to the stand to do the 1815 - his last trip - when he noticed that one of our regular wheelchair users was waiting.

At his own initiative (but with my knowledge and consent), he "borrowed" a low-floor single decker from another running line that happened to be laying over on break in the bus station at the time, operated his C1 with this bus, conveying the wheelchair user safely home in the process. At the end of his trip, he went out of his way and stayed beyond his finish time to return the low-floor to the driver who was supposed to have it, reclaim his double decker and head back to the depot.

Today, Taz was about to operate the 1715 - also with a double decker - when he noticed the same wheelchair user waiting. Unfortunately, we did not have a low-floor available at the time - they were all out in service - otherwise he would have gone out of his way to get hold of one to operate this service with.

On the one hand, this is all very admirable. And if these were journeys that normally had low-floor buses but for one reason or another had had to be replaced with step-entrance buses, I would be leading the charge to make sure we got this guy home.

However, as I said before these journeys never feature low-floor buses.

So the question is this. Are my staff justified in putting this amount of effort into finding low-floor buses when they see this guy waiting to travel on a journey which is not scheduled to be accessible, bearing in mind that there is a reason why they are scheduled this way and therefore our ability to help him will depend more on good fortune in having a spare vehicle available, and very often we won't.

Or should we be managing his expectations by explaining to him that we can't reorganise ourselves in this way every time we see him waiting to travel, and therefore 'stick to our guns' and require him (or any other customer requiring an accessible vehicle) to limit his travel choices to the journeys that we know should be low-floor, but in doing so risk disappointing a regular customer when in fact we know that on some occasions we will be able to help him?

Clearly the drivers want to help him and it is hard to tell them that they shouldn't, but if he becomes accustomed to the idea that this will happen on his behalf, will he start to expect it as routine?

As a side issue, there is an argument for giving better information in our publicity about which journeys are and are not accessible, and I intend to add this to the website in the near future. However, this customer is a regular and our schedules are very repetitive so it is not hard to work out (or indeed obtain via a simple enquiry) which journeys are not wheelchair accessible.

An interesting dilemma, I think.

Your award winning local bus company!!!

We've won an award!

OK, we may not be quite ready for Bus Operator of the Year yet, but you have to start somewhere, and it doesn't get much better than "Best Float" at Eastleigh Carnival!!!!

The real credit goes to Karen and the team at Refresher's Cafe, who decorated the bus and entertained the crowds. Steve J drove the bus and Marie and Becci also represented Velvet (in fancy dress!)

Telling it like it is...

I found myself earlier this evening talking to an illustrious ex-colleague, someone for whom I have the utmost respect but haven't seen or spoken to for some years.

He said, "I've been reading your blog". Cue pregnant pause while I awaited the verdict.... "It's quite amusing.... in parts!"

The Curse of the Ham and Mustard Sandwich

While cleaning my car out a few months ago, after it had been used by a number of drivers over a long weekend for bus stop publicity duties, under a pile of unused bus stop flags I found a rotting ham and mustard sandwich.

Several days old, with the odour to prove it, someone had clearly eaten one of the two sandwiches in the pack and simply abandoned the other one in the back of my car, to gradually decompose.

None of our staff admitted responsibility for this act of wanton vandalism and it definitely wasn't me because I hate mustard!

Today, while giving 302 a deep interior clean prior to MOT, Steve J and Simon lifted one of the seats to discover.... a rotting ham and mustard sandwich of even greater vintage!

Indeed, they have not yet been able to positively establish beyond all doubt that it was ham and mustard - DNA tests will be required for final proof - but it seems to be the most likely candidate.

So the question is, who is the ghostly individual that visits our fleet when no-one is watching, can apparently penetrate the locked door of my car and lift the seats of our buses undetected, before declaring biological warfare with aged ham and mustard sandwiches?!?

Is our fleet haunted.......?

And is our mystery assailant limited to ham and mustard, or is this just to lull us into a false sense of security to be followed by a more comprehensive attack with such diverse flavours as cheese and tomato, chicken salad and the weapon to end all weapons...... egg mayonnaise!?!

How will we ever know????

A bad day at the office

Contrary to what we may sometimes wish to believe, everything is not always bright and shiny in Velvet World, and yesterday was one of those days that proved this.

The day started well, with twelve out of a possible twelve buses available for service. 511 is due for its four weekly inspection this week, so with the luxury of having the whole fleet available we decided to leave that one off the allocation so the engineers could do their thing.

Everything went smoothly, and indeed just before 9am Ant texted me to let me know he was off for a few hours. He has just bought another Leyland National (that’s an old bus for non-geeks) thus bringing his collection of these venerable old heaps to two, the main difference being that this one has most of its panels in their proper place stuck to the outside of the bus, rather than piled up on the inside waiting to be reattached as was the case with the last one he bought.

Anyway he was off to collect his new toy so that left me in sole charge of the empire. I was planning a quiet productive day, paying wages and suppliers, and then raising invoices to make me feel better about all the money i’d have spent.

The peace and quiet was rudely interrupted by a female resident of Velmore, who decided to drive into the side of 558 just before 10.00.

Luckily everyone was apparently ok, and the bus was able to continue in service albeit with some delay, and by all accounts the car was not in a position to continue anywhere, which frankly serves it right!

So I headed down to the bus station to meet the stricken bus, which arrived about 10 minutes late at 1015. Closer inspection of the damage revealed some dents and scratches to the battery flap under the driver’s window, which will not stop the bus being used, but some damage to the offside front indicator which will need to be sorted before the bus can go back out.

Luckily the scheduled 1005-1015 turnaround is also a driver changeover and I was able to get the outgoing driver installed in the spare bus, 841, in time to allow plenty of time for loading and a punctual departure.

Meanwhile, our accident driver was due back out again after a legal thirty minute break on the 1045 C2. Now bearing in mind our stipulation that drivers must be on the bus a minimum of five minutes before departure, this was clearly not going to work. Besides, although unhurt, our driver was a little shaken and deserving of slightly more civilised treatment than being kicked straight back out on the next bus. So that made me the driver of the 1045 C2!

This bus turned out to be 552 (Ant having swapped the allocation round extensively in the morning from how I’d left it the previous evening – I guess he was bored or needed something to distract him from the excitement that awaited him later on). I can never make up my mind about 552. Darts with that particular engine make a pretty unattractive throbbing, growling noise, usually accompanied by extensive vibrations when idling, and to be honest I find the noise really tiresome. This is as opposed to earlier Darts that just sound like overgrown hairdryers.

Anyway, for some reason 552’s noises didn’t bother me particularly today and on the plus side, the Darts are much nippier than the DAFs which is ideal on a fairly tightly timed urban route like the C1 or C2. So 552 and me got on just fine today, and a three minute late departure from Eastleigh occasioned by the uncharacteristically late arrival of the incoming journey, was effortlessly turned into an on time arrival at 1205, ready to hand back to our now rejuvenated accident victim for his next trip, the 1215 C1.

In the meantime, I learned that the 1115 C1 had been delayed on departure from Eastleigh because of a problem with the kneeling suspension. The DAFs have very complicated interlocks to stop you driving away when the suspension is lowered, and sometimes they get themselves a bit confused and won’t let you drive away even when the suspension is patently in its proper position. This had caused about fifteen minutes of annoyance to Steve and Simon while they tried to sort it out, and accordingly the 1115 from Eastleigh was about 10 to 15 minutes late.

Our normal practice now armed with such information is to go straight for Twitter and inform the general public of any delay. I was pleased to note that in my absence Mikey had done just that so the world was duly aware of this delay. (As an aside, the process of sending a Tweet is now known internally as “devaluing the brand”, for example in the expression “Please would you devalue the brand Mikey”, meaning please would you update the Twitter feed - an obscure in-joke that will be understood only be the more perceptive observers of the local bus scene, and there are absolutely no prizes for getting it!).

This of course now meant that the 1156 C1 would also be running late, and with a driver changeover due on its arrival in Eastleigh at 1240 before the 1245 C2 departure, I was able to commandeer another spare bus, 851, to enable Taz to go out on time on the 1245.

Having thus lost the entire morning, I grabbed a salad for lunch and headed back to the office, where I did at least manage to pay the wages.

Then I got two texts almost simultaneously. One from Ant to say that he would shortly be back in Eastleigh with his new toy, and one from Matt to say that he had an airbag warning light on 512 at Boorley Green, waiting to come back on an A. After an interrogation about any possible problems with the suspension, I judged 512 safe to drive and asked Matt to bring it back in service and said I’d meet him in Eastleigh.

So just over an hour after arriving back in the office, I was heading off back down the bus station. Sure enough, just before 3, a dark green Leyland National came romping into the bus station and glid to an elegant halt on the wall. Ant emerged from the driving seat commenting that it was one of the nicest Nationals he’d ever driven. Whereupon one of the friendly staff of the adjacent Sainsbury’s store wandered over and asked him, “who owns this piece of s**t then?”.

Chastened, Ant decided to make for the safety of the yard, and at that moment 512 trundled in, Matt announcing that in addition to the airbag warning, the speedo had failed just before arrival in Eastleigh!

So off I headed to Brenhaul in the stricken 512. As I passed the entrance to the yard, there was Ant’s toy surrounded by the local bus paparazzi who were out in force to greet it. Sadly, my arrival at Brenhaul met with a rather gloomier reception.

Upon carrying out 511’s inspection, Brenhaul had found a problem with the body at the rear, which will need the attention of the body repair company we use. They would be unable to look at it before the following morning, so it would be off overnight.

By some clever detective work I had established that the suspension on 512 raised and lowered fine, which suggests that the airbags themselves are not the problem – it was only the kneeling switch that didn’t elicit a response and therefore the problem i s much more likely to be the switch. And too much of a coincidence that the speedo failed at nearly the same time. So almost certainly an electrical problem.

But needless to say, our electrician would be too busy and unable to attend before the following morning, so 512 joined 511 and 558 on the casualty list, meaning that our available low-floor single deck resource would be halved from Wednesday morning to Thursday morning, with only three out of the six being available Thursday morning.

Back I trooped to the office, having now lost a good chunk of the afternoon as well. I managed to pay a few invoices, the joy of it, and was just thinking about how to prioritise the remaining time when Matt called again. He was on C stand, ready to depart on the 1615 C1 with 507, and it wouldn’t start! Electrics all ok, all the systems came to life exactly as they should, but when you hit the all-important ‘start’ button...... nothing!

So I arranged for him to decant his passengers on to the third spare bus of the day, 843, and off I went to the bus station yet again, having summoned Brenhaul to attend the scene. Sure enough, not long later, Rapid Response International Rescue came roaring into the bus station showing off the nice flashy orange lights on their shiny new van.

In about the only piece of good news, after some fiddling about under the engine flap (a land of mystery in my world), they managed to get it going again. Looks like it was something to do with the contact that tells the bus the engine flap is shut – if the contact is not made, the bus thinks the flap is open and won’t let you start the engine. The bus managed to start successfully for the rest of the day, so hopefully all is now well. My fear that this bus would have some terrible fault putting it off the road and taking the single deck casualty list to two thirds of the total happily proved unfounded.

By now it was approaching 5pm, or 1700 hrs as my brain doesn’t like 12 hour clocks, so I chatted to Taz for a bit and watched him go on the 1715 C1, then finally did manage an uninterrupted hour in the office before heading over to the yard for my daily game of helping the buses back into their parking spaces. I really need a set of table tennis bats for this for the full air traffic control effect... if anyone knows of any going spare!!!!

So that was the story of not the worst day ever by far, but just one of those niggly, frustrating days where nothing seems to go right and the “to do” list remains as long, or longer, than it ever was!