Metropol

"Resting your feet".

Pfft.

Resting after *what*?

Walking to the bus stop.

Sanctimonious shit-stirrers.

if the relevant person in this thread matching said criteria would kindly put a sock in it i'd be most grateful.

Chie wrote:

If they're the buses you get on your route, I am envious. The buses on a route past my house are usually N reg (1996/1997ish) and one of them today an another route which normally has modern buses was using a J-reg bus (1992!) High floor too, so no wheelchair access. Many have moss growing in the windows.

How I long for a car..

woah wrote:

Chie wrote:

If they're the buses you get on your route, I am envious. The buses on a route past my house are usually N reg (1996/1997ish) and one of them today an another route which normally has modern buses was using a J-reg bus (1992!) High floor too, so no wheelchair access. Many have moss growing in the windows.

How I long for a car..

N reg is 1995/6

P reg is 1997/8

We have the most hideous buses in the country, I think. National Express clean them every time they have a rebrand, every 20 years or so, and clean the interiors, well, they don't clean the interiors. I am envious of you Chie.

I also find that people say "It's pointless cleaning buses because they end up messy again" annoying, because buses are never cleaned by the operators - save for Central Connect, so it's not an overnight, 'this was cleaned yesterday' thing, it's a this bus has never been cleaned thing.

I too, envy your bus service, Chie. Some of the local buses are aging quite badly now, and they never seem to have a clean out. It wasn't really that long ago that we got rid of some ancient buses from the 80's, which had an entrance and exit door... The most popular route, which I've never used, has the newest, nicest and cleanest buses. Back in the bus companies centenary, we got some double-deckers with '100 years' livelry, which are still under that livelry, even if the centenary was almost ten years ago now!

We've just got a few buses from London, mid-service, and they lack advertising, for some reason.

Anyway, enough about my local bus service.

Critique wrote:I too, envy your bus service, Chie. Some of the local buses are aging quite badly now, and they never seem to have a clean out. It wasn't really that long ago that we got rid of some ancient buses from the 80's, which had an entrance and exit door... The most popular route, which I've never used, has the newest, nicest and cleanest buses. Back in the bus companies centenary, we got some double-deckers with '100 years' livelry, which are still under that livelry, even if the centenary was almost ten years ago now!

We've just got a few buses from London, mid-service, and they lack advertising, for some reason.

Anyway, enough about my local bus service.

Well, before I drag this off topic, just quickly; National Express West Midlands recently retired their MCW MkII Metrobuses, and all of them left service immaculate, yet all new buses are in the worst state possible. Why is this?
Also, NXWM also acquire loads of London buses but make half hearted attempt to remove the second door, and so you get complete mismatch of interior AND dirt build up where the new panels join the old, looks a right state.

**Sorry - back to topic**

People who get the wrong end of the stick when you are talking about something to a group of people and who then assume you're a dumb cretin.

Even though they're asking to be patronised back, I'm too tired tonight to give a damn.

Beep wrote: N reg is 1995/6

P reg is 1997/8

P reg was 1996/97. The letter O wasn't used on UK plates then because it could have been mistaken for a 0, so we went straight from N to P, and R was 1997/98.

Beep wrote:We have the most hideous buses in the country, I think. National Express clean them every time they have a rebrand, every 20 years or so, and clean the interiors, well, they don't clean the interiors. I am envious of you Chie.

I also find that people say "It's pointless cleaning buses because they end up messy again" annoying, because buses are never cleaned by the operators - save for Central Connect, so it's not an overnight, 'this was cleaned yesterday' thing, it's a this bus has never been cleaned thing.

A cleaner at the bus station sweeps each bus between arrival and departure. I'd wager they are deep-cleaned at least once per week, if not more frequently. In the three years the current fleet has been operational, I've only seen a bus caked in mud once.

Everybody on the route treats the buses and their drivers with respect, because the bus company treats us with respect. We feel privileged to have leather seats, air conditioning and a regular cleaning service and we look after it accordingly. There are discreet cameras on the bus but no fugly screens. It's assumed in good faith that passengers can be trusted to behave themselves, so they do. Simple.

I've travelled on services in other parts of the country where the driver has been partitioned behind a perspex screen and there's a sign that says 'please deposit the correct change' pointing to a funnel. What message does that kind of thing send? 'We don't trust you one bit. Deposit the correct change and sod off.' Terrible.

Chie wrote:I've travelled on services in other parts of the country where the driver has been partitioned behind a perspex screen and there's a sign that says 'please deposit the correct change' pointing to a funnel. What message does that kind of thing send? 'We don't trust you one bit. Deposit the correct change and sod off.' Terrible.

Yup - we have those in Newport on the buses which go to the estates populated by the Buggy Chaffia.

Which is also where I work.

Alexia wrote:

Chie wrote:I've travelled on services in other parts of the country where the driver has been partitioned behind a perspex screen and there's a sign that says 'please deposit the correct change' pointing to a funnel. What message does that kind of thing send? 'We don't trust you one bit. Deposit the correct change and sod off.' Terrible.

Yup - we have those in Newport on the buses which go to the estates populated by the Buggy Chaffia.

Which is also where I work.

NXWM have them, granted the drivers are sods, but the drivers round here have a big sticker on the window reading "THE DRIVER HAS NO ACCESS TO THE CASH VAULT" and "Our staff have the right to work without fear of intimidation and assault and we will actively prosecute anybody who does not respect that right", just makes them seem like inhuman robots with no emotion, especially when interfacing with old women who've been made to stand out in the rain for two hours waiting for the driver to finally decide to press the accelerator.

Chie, West Midlands Police follow buses round here with iPads (Well, tablet computers) linked into the CCTV system on board, and if people are behaving anti-socially, they send a marked van to intercept them...