EWS

[52A]

EWS have announced 530 job losses, anyone heard anything?

[stembok]

52A: Announcement this afternoon on Sky news of 530 job losses at EWS. Gerry Doherty of TSSA stated that he had been told by the company that virtually all steel and car transporting had come to an end. The cut reportedly represents about one tenth of the EWS work force so it's extremely bad news both for the company and its workers.

[hq1hitchin]

What with the announcement by Stagecoach of 'headcount reductions' in their rail division (oddly not the buses, anyone hazard a guess why?) sadly suspect this won't be the end of it. Will Network Rail be the next?

[redtoon1892]

Its simple economics, your primary source income shrinks 5% you shrink 10%. Rail travel is vunerable as it is expensive in real terms as it does not receive "pensioners subsidies" as the bus companies do so it stands to reason bus operations will take precedent as a source of what is guaranteed income over rail operations. Rail freight is near the bottom end of the "food chain" so it will suffer accordingly.
I can see lines of redundant loocos in depots alongside the resident incumbent class 37s / 56s and 08s.
Such is life, what goes around comes around, once this would have been lines of 9Fs & Q 6/7s.
The saddest sight I ever seen was Silver Link in a very sorry state hauling a coal train towards Tyne Dock. Could you imagine a Q7 hauling the Talisman ?.
On another point I was walking the Tyne banks on Wednesday and it was very sad to see Swan Hunters huge cranes loaded onto a barge bound for India, along side that very old icon of the Tyne the floating crane Titan 11 bound for the same destination.
A sad reflection of these troubled times. I think all who frequent this site were born a 50 years to late, myself included.

[hq1hitchin]

Bus operations tend to have little of what they call now 'management focus' spent on looking after the passengers, mind, compared to the demands of rail passengers. Brian Souter of Stagecoach is on record as saying that if you upset bus passengers they might go down to the bus garage and throw a brick through a window wheras rail passengers will write to their MP.
You are so right about some things going round in circles, Redtoon. Not so long ago the conveyance of freight by rail looked as if it was doomed to extinction but mercifully that will never be the case now. Shame about our lack of shipbuilding capacity, though. The new Wightlink ferry for the Lymington - Yarmouth service has been built in Croatia and the new Fastcats for the Portsmouth -Ryde service are building in the Phillipines. As a marine engineer colleague of mine says, we no longer have the capacity to build a tugboat here....

[L&Y Man]

Its simple economics, your primary source income shrinks 5% you shrink 10%. Rail travel is vunerable as it is expensive in real terms as it does not receive "pensioners subsidies" as the bus companies do so it stands to reason bus operations will take precedent as a source of what is guaranteed income over rail operations. Rail freight is near the bottom end of the "food chain" so it will suffer accordingly.
I can see lines of redundant loocos in depots alongside the resident incumbent class 37s / 56s and 08s.
Such is life, what goes around comes around, once this would have been lines of 9Fs & Q 6/7s.
The saddest sight I ever seen was Silver Link in a very sorry state hauling a coal train towards Tyne Dock. Could you imagine a Q7 hauling the Talisman ?.
On another point I was walking the Tyne banks on Wednesday and it was very sad to see Swan Hunters huge cranes loaded onto a barge bound for India, along side that very old icon of the Tyne the floating crane Titan 11 bound for the same destination.
A sad reflection of these troubled times. I think all who frequent this site were born a 50 years to late, myself included.

Some bus operators have told me that the payments they receive for the "free" bus travel for over-60s are only a fraction of the fares they would otherwise pay. In some cases, buses have been so full of OAPs that fare-paying passengers have been unable to board. Consequently, the economics of these services can be so poor that seemingly well-patronised services are being withdrawn. It would appear that the free travel scheme was badly planned.

L&Y Man

[stembok]

Seems to be dog eat dog out there, between DB Schenker and Freightliner at the moment in the competition for rail freight business. The over 60s bus pass has caused real problems in some parts of the country, particularly in summer with complaints from regular travellers unable to get on buses in areas like Whitby and Scarborough, North Yorkshire. On my last local journey there were 13 of us on the bus all on passes. Mind you care and a dose of healthy scepticism is needed here, as the likes of Stagecoach have always been able to "tell a good tale" where their interests are concerned, ie squeezing out more subsidy.

[redtoon1892]

I cant see the countrywide bus passes lasting much longer than the life of the present Govt but having said that it has reduced car usage by millions of miles per year, my average was about 15k a year and since I retired is just over 4k a year as I tend to use the bus daily, something I would never have dreamed of in pre pass days and lets face it bus travel aint cheap if your on the basic state pension. Now how about a free countrywide rail pass to compliment our Metro concession Gordon ? that would be a real vote winner.
( An over 60s Metro pass is £12 per year, unlimited Metro travel after 9.30am)

[Boris]

Before the free bus passes, the revenue given to the companies was rated on the passenger loading

This was the figure the govenment took on board to give the companies after the passes were initiated.

Of course the 'twirlies' grabbed at the chance and the Coast Liner services out of Leeds are now full most mornings in the summer.

The bus companies expect to get full bus subsidies for that even though the original subsidy paid for the run anyway.

Personally I think they are just being greedy.

[hq1hitchin]

Think we're diverting this topic towards the bus garage, chaps! However, I was less than pleased when one of my family told me over Christmas that I would not now be receiving a bus pass on my 60th birthday this year as the government has decided to roll the age back, in stages, until only those aged 65 and over will qualify. Only means having to wait an extra four months so suppose not too much complain about. Along with many others, I reckon that national availablity seems too good to be true. In some places, the Isle of Wight, for instance, they have already barred them on the premium open top routes e.g Yarmouth - Needles (£10 return!) and cited them as the reason for withdrawing some routes altogether as they claim they need to make savings. A great pity we cannot follow the lead of Ireland and grant pensioners free rail travel as well.

[Ferrybridge Flyer]

It's okay giving them free rail travel-problem is the TOC'S wont put any extra carriages on.You can't get a seat coming back from Leeds now-imagine all those extra passengers!!Believe me,our trains are dangerously overcrowded on many occasions.

[mr B]

Buss drivers reflect in the way they collect fares, no cash taken then thats the way they drive. Also the general maintanance of the same bus's, no cash flow little work gets carried out - next time you'r out just listen to the brakes. Overcrowding on the trains, how many cattle would they be allowed to cram into a cattle wagon, or prisoners in a paddy wagon ?

Mr B enjoying his Arriva 'fee B'

[manna]

G'Day Gents
I would love a free bus pass, but I would have to travel 25 km to use it, and the bus only runs 3 times a week?? can't think of a railway station within 100km thats still open, things like that break down, when there's less than 10,000 people in an area the size of Wales, it's the car or nothing. There's only 130 people in the town were I live so when I go to work I AM the morning rush?????? And on some of the trains that I worked out of Waterloo there was 10 times more people than now live in Booborowie,Ah the peace of it all
manna

[L&Y Man]

It's okay giving them free rail travel-problem is the TOC'S wont put any extra carriages on.You can't get a seat coming back from Leeds now-imagine all those extra passengers!!Believe me,our trains are dangerously overcrowded on many occasions.

Several Local Authorities such as ours give us over-60s the choice of a bus pass or a Senior Citizen's Railcard. This is very welcome as in some parts of the borough there are no buses at all. As I don't use the bus anyway, the SCR comes in very useful.

L&Y Man

[mr B]

Since I crawled out of the 'bendy bus' (142) at Darlington on the morning of 3rd October last (see Darlington Dunch), most of my transport is by the Arriva bus, like Redtoon1892 the car now only covers around 3K miles per year. Northern have accepted full responcibility for the accident ( got some snaps of the front ends of the 142 & DVT), and we still await the enquiry result. I still travel on the train but are much relived when a 156 turns up.

Mr B ... Smiles the miles with Arriva.