21 May 2014

South East Cornwall VOSA

The South East Cornwall registrations for Western Greyhound  have now appeared on VOSA ...

Western Greyhound 572

PH0006741/41 - WESTERN GREYHOUND LTD, WESTERN HOUSE, ST. AUSTELL STREET, SUMMERCOURT, NEWQUAY, TR8 5DR Variation Accepted by SN: Operating between LOOE and PLYMOUTH given service number 572 effective from 01-Jun-2014. To amend Route and Timetable..

Western Greyhound 573 574

PH0006741/42 - WESTERN GREYHOUND LTD, WESTERN HOUSE, ST. AUSTELL STREET, SUMMERCOURT, NEWQUAY, TR8 5DR Variation Accepted by SN: Operating between LISKEARD and CALLINGTON given service number 574/573 effective from 02-Jun-2014. To amend Route and Timetable.

Western Greyhound 576

PH0006741/111 - WESTERN GREYHOUND LTD, WESTERN HOUSE, ST. AUSTELL STREET, SUMMERCOURT, NEWQUAY, TR8 5DR Variation Accepted by SN: Operating between PLYMOUTH and ST STEPHENS (NEWPORT) given service number 576 effective from 01-Jun-2014. To amend Route and Timetable.

Western Greyhound 593

PH0006741/45 - WESTERN GREYHOUND LTD, WESTERN HOUSE, ST. AUSTELL STREET, SUMMERCOURT, NEWQUAY, TR8 5DR Variation Accepted by SN: Operating between Liskard, Parade and Plymouth, Exeter Street given service number 593 effective from 01-Jun-2014. To amend Route and Timetable.

The next few weeks see a lot of changes across the board starting this weekend with both Plymouth Citybus  and First Devon . I will try and put together a full run down of all the changes starting this weekend shortly. Just need to find some spare time...

11 comments:

  1. Not sure what's happened to your post Graham, but I think I'm being subjected to an eye sight test! I failed and need NHS thick rimmed specs!

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    1. Fixed it now!

      Its annoying when they try to correct my mistakes - when they were not mistakes in the first place!

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  2. A change in timetables for PR1 and PR2 coming soon too.


    PH0004983/278 - FIRST DEVON & CORNWALL LTD, THE RIDE, CHELSON MEADOW, PLYMOUTH, PL9 7JT
    Variation Accepted: Operating between THE GEORGE PARK AND RIDE SITE and PLYMOUTH (Royal Parade) given service number PR1 effective from 15-Jul-2014. To amend Timetable.

    PH0004983/294 - FIRST DEVON & CORNWALL LTD, THE RIDE, CHELSON MEADOW, PLYMOUTH, PL9 7JT
    Variation Accepted: Operating between Coypool Park & Ride Site and Royal Parade given service number PR2 effective from 15-Jul-2014. To amend Timetable.

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    1. if i were them i would cut PR1 and PR2 to every 15 mins outside of Rush hours and use capacity from this and lost tender work to launch a new route or two comercially in the city to compliment 3a and 6 launched last year.

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  3. One registration yet to appear is the replacement for D.A.C.'s 79 group from Callington to Tavistock. However, it is in Devon County Council's West Devon book - and shows a severe reduction in service. If the timetable shown is complete, the X79 offering a direct service with a journey-time of 27 - 40 minutes, depending on where in Callington you wanted to go. The loss of the X79 would seem to leave at least two of the sections of the Callington town service unserved as well as the longer loop to Downgate. The 79 and X79 between them gave Gunnislake a half-hourly service all day and Calstock a bus every half hour with a couple of gaps of an hour.

    The replacement is Western Greyhound 574 which is an hourly service with all buses doing the double run to Calstock and also going through Metherell and Harrowbarrow - giving an end-to-end journey time of 55 minutes. Two of the buses within the hourly service are numbered 575 and replace the 79A - on those the time from Tavi to Callington is 65 minutes - just over double that of the current X79. It is shown as being a commercial service - as DAC’s was. The timings would seem to make it possible to run the whole service with two buses - the longer 575 being squeezed in by allowing no recovery time at all at either end - unless there is any through running with the Callington - Liskeard service. DAC used to carry good loads, especially between Gunni and Tavistock, and I fear that many passengers will be lost, possibly taking to their cars.

    It is not shown as being operated by low-floor vehicles - which suggests the Mercedes Varios. If that is so, it is a backward step as Citybus are using low-floor buses and DAC before them had three - a Dart and two Plaxton Primos. One of the Primos was bought new. I wonder where they went - there was a notice in the Western Morning News a couple of weeks back advertising the auction of all DAC’s vehicles and equipment. I doubt if WG bought them - although the pair of them would do the job nicely.

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  4. Oh, dear. Standards seem to be slipping at Western Greyhound. Yesterday afternoon, the second day of the new 574/575 service, there did not appear to be any timetables for the new service on display at the bus stops. Even the main stop in Callington still had a 573 timetable in the frame - together with a 576 display not showing the evening and Sunday service WG won on tender. The stop in St. Ive was still displaying 573 and one of the stops in St. Ann's Chapel still had an old and faded DAC display. How many people were waiting for buses which failed to arrive? First, on the other hand, had new timetables up at the weekend for their 76 service.

    I am not sure about this, but I don't think WG blinds are able to display 'Tavistock' either - which will not impress the Traffic Commissioners.

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    1. I wouldn't exactly call it slipping standards First Bus have a dedicated man and van who goes around updating bus stops all the time Western Grayhound send out one of their yard people or fitters when they can And when the timetables come back from the printers unlike first who print on stie

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    2. If I can 'reply' to my own contribution ...

      Another two days have passed and still no new timetables - and so, presumably, some very confused passengers.

      I saw a WG bus heading for Tavistock with just the company's phone-number as a destination. The Varios they are using still have roller-blinds so either the inserts they need have not arrived or else they have no intention of ordering any. Even a card in the windscreen would satisfy the Traffic Commissioners.

      In this morning's Cornish Times is an article on the vehicles in the DAC auction - interesting that a Plaxton Primo sold for £28,500 and a Vario Beaver for £23,500. That Vario result seems a large amount for a step-entrance bus at this stage of the game.

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    3. The owner of WG is returning from his holiday abroad so presumably the non updated timetables will be sorted out in time. WG are blaming Cornwall Council for their ills, as they always do - though they are saying the changes were 'approved' at a matter of days notice. In those circumstances it is a little more understandable that timetables etc aren't up. First on the other hand employ people to do this sort of work but even then I am sure they've been flat out to update the stops. They might have pre-prepared the displays having been in longer discussions with CC than WG evidently have been.
      The Varios are effectively scrap at the end of this year, and some are now being exported abroad, so I doubt very much destination blinds will be altered for buses that have 5 and a bit months of use left in front of them. This is where LED destinations score over paper blinds - simply update the file and upload it to the bus. A piece of paper in the windscreen would suffice but the interest of people to ensure its done, and is used will vary. A driver might simply take the view that it's his employers job to provide him with the right equipment, and if they can't be bothered to, why should he?
      The WG facebook page has a lot of negative comment - comments about buses either running late or not turning up at all aren't a great surprise compared to my own experiences of this company. Some timings on services have remained the same and not kept track with the increases in traffic on the roads, or just fudged (like you allude to the 575 above) to keep the PVR down, either way, it makes for an unreliable service.
      WG are the sort of firm who should have sold up and retired 5/6 years ago. Sadly they didn't and the death will be long, drawn out and painful.

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    4. Completely agree, ever since that fire last year WG have fallen down in standards. Those lovely E400s they had never seemed to be cleaned and where always looking untidy. Either the company will go bankrupt or Stagecoach will taken them over.

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  5. I cannot agree about First updating their timetables at bus stops. At Devoran slip on the 88 between Falmouth and Truro the timetable shows Nov 2013. It also omits all the evening services on weekdays on this route. First were told about this last December and it has never been updated. At Redruth station the last 46 bus at 1632 was not even listed. Hopefully with the latest change this will be eventually corrected.

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