View Full Version : stagecoach
GrannyMags
08-Mar-10, 19:32
what would you do or say if your 13yr old child was left stranded in a village at 21.45 as the bus driver would'nt let him and his friend on the bus the driver told them he was over loaded but kids say some came of at the stop driver told them they would get next bus at 23.45 which was far to late.had to get my eldest son to go for them.thankfully he was at home.:confused
If people came off then surely he had space, I would call the company and query it.
Id complain to stagecoach!!
The kids came off at a later stop(driver cannot possibly tell where exactly people are getting off) and even if he did, you think he's gonna remember a bus full of peoples drop offs?
I know the driver in question as I often speak to him on my bus travels. He said it was absolutely packed and had to turn down a few people at several stops.
It's not a very common thing(in my experiences) but the driver did do his best and you can't find a fault in everything people do.
thats terrible i hope the bus driver can sleep at night i know i couldnt i would complain
porshiepoo
08-Mar-10, 20:13
Whatever his reasons were what concerns me most is that a 13 year old child can be left stranded like that and so late at night.
IMO the bus company has some responsibility toward making sure that they are providing an adequate service to the public and personally I think that this sort of incident proves just how diabolical the bus service is up here, especially if you live outside of the main towns.
In an economic climate such as we are in now where we are encouraged to use bus services as much as possible, you'd think that the bus companies would help us to make use of their service.
I've used the bus service up here once last year and I will never repeat the experience.
The drivers are fine and the buses themselves are fine but the amount of buses available to those of us living in places such as Lybster etc is terrible.
A trip to Lidl would have to be planned with military precision because if you miss one bus you're waiting an age for the next one, and lets not hope that ones full as we'll be stranded like this lad and his friend were.
And what's with the non existent seating at waiting points? While we were waiting for the bus during my one and only trip on it the kids took to sitting on the cemetary wall - not exactly pc I know but the alternative was the floor. Like I had to!!
Plus, while I'm moaning, why can the bus stops not have up to date information on bus times? Perhaps some of them do but certainly not the ones I had to use.
But surely if there were no vacant seats he isn't allowed to pick them up ?
changilass
08-Mar-10, 20:39
If the buss were overloaded then the insurance would be invalid if an accident were to happen.
Its not up to the bus company to ensure kids aint left stranded 'at that time of night', thats the parents responsibility, and they would be the first to scream blue murder if there were an uninsured accident.
Stack Rock
08-Mar-10, 21:24
Its not up to the bus company to ensure kids aint left stranded 'at that time of night', thats the parents responsibility, and they would be the first to scream blue murder if there were an uninsured accident.[/quote]
I agree its the parents (or whoever was looking after them that day) responsiblility to make sure they got on the bus OK.
how diabolical the bus service is up here, especially if you live outside of the main towns.
I've used the bus service up here once last year and I will never repeat the experience.
The drivers are fine and the buses themselves are fine but the amount of buses available to those of us living in places such as Lybster etc is terrible.
A trip to Lidl would have to be planned with military precision because if you miss one bus you're waiting an age for the next one, and lets not hope that ones full as we'll be stranded like this lad and his friend were.
The bus service is better now than it has ever been in Caithness and in particular south of Wick to Lybster. Dunbeath/Berriedale has a more restricted service but a number of folk use it regularly. At one time in the past there were but only 4 buses a day and that was it, with a late evening one on a Saturday at 10.30pm to take folks home from the pictures in Wick. Now there are ten buses to Wick up to 4.00pm each day Mon -Fri. From Wick there are thirteen buses throughout the day to the village (albeit five of them go to Inverness and not down the village). Evening buses run locally into and from Wick on Thurs, Friday and Saturday.
This is rural Scotland not the middle of an urban area.
Many folk elsewhere in Caithness would wish for a service like this.
IMHO if you use a bus one changes one's daily pattern to fit around the bus times and not to expect the bus times to fit around one's leisure time or free time, because it happens to suit that particular person.
onecalledk
08-Mar-10, 22:10
I would complain in the loudest possible terms to the bus company about this. This is a 13yr old child ! Bus driver should perhaps think about SAFETY......
To make a child wait that long til another bus is just incredible. Okay if there was one in ten minutes i could see his point but this is just not on .....
Until the bus company are informed they are none the wiser, for all you know that could well be against company policy ....
good luck
K
For jeebus' daddys sake!
If the bus was full, what can you expect the man to do? Would you rather the bus driver broke the law and drove overloaded (which could jeapordize his career and his ability to provide for his family) or kicked someone else off the bus to let someone else on?
People would only be on here gurnin if the driver kicked their Granny off to let a 13 year old on instead! (Granted I know you cannae kick a Granny off the bus)
It's not the drivers fault to ensure a child is home safely. That responsibility lies on the parents shoulders.
The world has gone soft!
northener
08-Mar-10, 22:27
If the bus cannot take any more - then it cannot take any more. Period.
It's the same with the Taxis, we get and endless stream of people at weekends asking if we can "take just one more - what's the harm?". It's simple - the insurance is invalid and it is illegal.
Don't whine at the driver for trying to do his job legally. It's funny how everyone is quick to complain about shoddy service, buses breaking down etc, etc...but the minute a driver tries to do his job properly - then some people complain because it may inconvenience them.[disgust]
No standing allowed on most of the buses.Driver gets grief either way,he`s in a lose lose situation. Give him a break.Mik.
what would you do or say if your 13yr old child was left stranded in a village at 21.45 as the bus driver would'nt let him and his friend on the bus the driver told them he was over loaded but kids say some came of at the stop driver told them they would get next bus at 23.45 which was far to late.had to get my eldest son to go for them.thankfully he was at home.:confused
Well i would expect the kid to phone me if there is a problem and then i would pick them up and then i would phone up and make a complaint.
onecalledk
08-Mar-10, 22:59
how big is the bus ???? sorry maybe I am being a bit simple here but how busy is the bus at that time of night in Caithness ?
There seems to be a very skeleton service of buses in the caithness area ?
K
how big is the bus ???? sorry maybe I am being a bit simple here but how busy is the bus at that time of night in Caithness ?
There seems to be a very skeleton service of buses in the caithness area ?
K
I don't think that really matters there was obviously some thing on some where and for some reason the bus was full it does happen every now and again, i can't belive that person complained about it tho it's far from stagecoaches problem or the driver you'd not see people complaining if there bottles of juice ran out just before some one went to buy it so why about seats running out? first come first served, this thread is rediculous!
To be honest the bus was full was an excuse I used many times when trying to get a couple of hours longer on the curfew ;)
To be honest the bus was full was an excuse I used many times when trying to get a couple of hours longer on the curfew ;)
Ahhhhhhh..haaaaaaaaa....now a person talks from experience....them were the days!
macbreeza
09-Mar-10, 08:27
If the bus was full it was full, why should the driver let any one else on??? I know i wouldnt if i was him. I have my doubts! i used all the excuses under the sun when I was younger to get out that bit later! You wont fall for it the next time though eh? :lol:
I know the drivers I get don't seem not to care how many people get on - I've been on the bus a few times packed with annoying non-paying college kids, who quite frankly shouldn't be at college in the first place; I'd love to see the entry and pass statistics for that place.
I doubt it was an excuse in this case, from what has been said earlier. I guess all you can do is complain to the company about not having enough capacity on the routes, maybe the council and local media also.
The buses up here are generally crap, they're freezing in the morning far more so than the early trains in my opinion.
Amy-Winehouse
09-Mar-10, 09:26
The bus service is better now than it has ever been in Caithness and in particular south of Wick to Lybster. Dunbeath/Berriedale has a more restricted service but a number of folk use it regularly. At one time in the past there were but only 4 buses a day and that was it, with a late evening one on a Saturday at 10.30pm to take folks home from the pictures in Wick. Now there are ten buses to Wick up to 4.00pm each day Mon -Fri. From Wick there are thirteen buses throughout the day to the village (albeit five of them go to Inverness and not down the village). Evening buses run locally into and from Wick on Thurs, Friday and Saturday.
This is rural Scotland not the middle of an urban area.
Many folk elsewhere in Caithness would wish for a service like this.
IMHO if you use a bus one changes one's daily pattern to fit around the bus times and not to expect the bus times to fit around one's leisure time or free time, because it happens to suit that particular person.
Best its ever been ?????:eek: Maybe on your route. I have to take the bus regularly from Inverness to Wick & vice versa & if your lucky theres a toilet on the way to Inverness. Once in the last 6 months in fact as for going north- dont bother having anything to drink in Inverness as you have to wait to Dornoch for a 5 minute stop & by that time it gets a bit uncomfortable.
The service itself is slower than before as we have to stop in Milton, Seaburn ? Why ? Ive yet to see anyone get on or off there.
And yes I have complained to Stagecoach about it but got little response, I would take the train but 4 1/2 hours to do a journey which should only take 2 hours is just not right in my book
porshiepoo
09-Mar-10, 10:13
The bus service is better now than it has ever been in Caithness and in particular south of Wick to Lybster. Dunbeath/Berriedale has a more restricted service but a number of folk use it regularly. At one time in the past there were but only 4 buses a day and that was it, with a late evening one on a Saturday at 10.30pm to take folks home from the pictures in Wick. Now there are ten buses to Wick up to 4.00pm each day Mon -Fri. From Wick there are thirteen buses throughout the day to the village (albeit five of them go to Inverness and not down the village). Evening buses run locally into and from Wick on Thurs, Friday and Saturday.
This is rural Scotland not the middle of an urban area.
Many folk elsewhere in Caithness would wish for a service like this.
IMHO if you use a bus one changes one's daily pattern to fit around the bus times and not to expect the bus times to fit around one's leisure time or free time, because it happens to suit that particular person.
That's your opinion and i respect that but I still believe the service up here is terrible.
Just because it's better than it's ever been before does not make it good. It just means that people such as yourself are willing to accept it that way.
Both my teenage daughters go to Thurso college and due to the naff bus service up here they have an almost 12 hour working day if you include the bus times.
They're up at 6am to get the just after 7am bus from Lybster. Get to Wick and get the connection to Thurso for 9am. They finish at the college at 4pm but have to wait to get the gone 5pm Inverness bus and finally get home about 6.20pm.
They used to get the earlier bus from Thurso to Wick but it meant waiting ages in the rain, snow etc for the connecting lybster bus.
The scary thing is that if the bus is late, full or they miss it (in either direction) they're stranded for an age with nowhere to go.
My kids cannot be the only ones that have this problem. There's obviously a need for more buses in the Caithness / Sutherland area.
I'm not suggesting that the bus driver is responsible for not accepting the lad and his friend. As many people have pointed out if the bus is full, it's full and to accept further passengers would void the insurance policy and such a scenario could possibly cost the driver his job.
However, the bus company IMO do have a responsibility to provide an adequate service and what they offer at the moment is nowhere near adequate.
A trip to Lidls for the weekly shop should not have to involve military style precision and should certainly not have to take an entire day to complete.
northener
09-Mar-10, 10:26
To be honest the bus was full was an excuse I used many times when trying to get a couple of hours longer on the curfew ;)
Actually, that my my initial thought too, my parents never believed me though.:(
Mr P Cannop
09-Mar-10, 10:51
That's your opinion and i respect that but I still believe the service up here is terrible.
Just because it's better than it's ever been before does not make it good. It just means that people such as yourself are willing to accept it that way.
Both my teenage daughters go to Thurso college and due to the naff bus service up here they have an almost 12 hour working day if you include the bus times.
They're up at 6am to get the just after 7am bus from Lybster. Get to Wick and get the connection to Thurso for 9am. They finish at the college at 4pm but have to wait to get the gone 5pm Inverness bus and finally get home about 6.20pm.
They used to get the earlier bus from Thurso to Wick but it meant waiting ages in the rain, snow etc for the connecting lybster bus.
The scary thing is that if the bus is late, full or they miss it (in either direction) they're stranded for an age with nowhere to go.
My kids cannot be the only ones that have this problem. There's obviously a need for more buses in the Caithness / Sutherland area.
I'm not suggesting that the bus driver is responsible for not accepting the lad and his friend. As many people have pointed out if the bus is full, it's full and to accept further passengers would void the insurance policy and such a scenario could possibly cost the driver his job.
However, the bus company IMO do have a responsibility to provide an adequate service and what they offer at the moment is nowhere near adequate.
A trip to Lidls for the weekly shop should not have to involve military style precision and should certainly not have to take an entire day to complete.
why not come up to thurso for the next caithness bus users group meeting ??
The service itself is slower than before as we have to stop in Milton, Seaburn ? Why ? Ive yet to see anyone get on or off there.
This is only on sundays and the 13:20 leaving thurso during the week and the 08:55 leaving inverness the rest for the journeys south are 3 hours 20min or less from begining to end.
onecalledk
09-Mar-10, 13:16
I just wonder if the people of caithness have any idea of how short changed they really are in relation to public services ?
I ask the question as someone who has moved from Inverness to the area. I spent a few years in the central belt and got so used to the trains/buses/public transport that coming back to Inverness was a bit of a culture shock. Good job really I stopped off in Inverness for a few years before moving here!
The bus services is terrible, the trains, well am currently fighting scotrail via the Groat on that one !
There seems to be a mentality that the people of caithness should be grateful for all these pathetic attempts at "service", which I dont understand.
Do you all not pay council tax ? Do you not expect to receive what other parts of scotland take for granted in the 21st century ? Its not being ungrateful, its not moaning, it is what you are due !!!!
Just because the population is smaller than other parts of scotland does not mean you should expect any less of a service than other parts !!!!
K
Tubthumper
09-Mar-10, 13:36
I know the drivers I get don't seem not to care how many people get on - I've been on the bus a few times packed with annoying non-paying college kids, who quite frankly shouldn't be at college in the first place; I'd love to see the entry and pass statistics for that place.
Bit of a sweeping statement that. I'd love to see what gives you the right to dismiss the aspirations of others in such a fashion.
Perhaps you'd prefer that these students were hanging around on street corners, mooching off the dole?
The buses up here are generally crap, they're freezing in the morning far more so than the early trains in my opinion.
Why not move to somewhere like Glasgow then, where the buses are warmer? All the college kids there are far more deserving of their places.
northener
09-Mar-10, 14:11
I just wonder if the people of caithness have any idea of how short changed they really are in relation to public services ?
I ask the question as someone who has moved from Inverness to the area. I spent a few years in the central belt and got so used to the trains/buses/public transport that coming back to Inverness was a bit of a culture shock. Good job really I stopped off in Inverness for a few years before moving here!
The bus services is terrible, the trains, well am currently fighting scotrail via the Groat on that one !
There seems to be a mentality that the people of caithness should be grateful for all these pathetic attempts at "service", which I dont understand.
Do you all not pay council tax ? Do you not expect to receive what other parts of scotland take for granted in the 21st century ? Its not being ungrateful, its not moaning, it is what you are due !!!!
Just because the population is smaller than other parts of scotland does not mean you should expect any less of a service than other parts !!!!
K
Sorry, but if you believe that such a widespread rural community will ever justify, or get the same transport facilites as the Central belt - or even Snecky, then you really are away with the faeries.
macbreeza
09-Mar-10, 14:21
I used to live in Manchester and I travelled twice a day on the busiest bus route in europe (so i was told) the oxford road route, you think its bad here for students??? Yes there were buses every 5 mins but it took about 30 mins to go 6 miles so I much prefer how it is here.
I have recently moved back and accept that what I have had in the cities I wont get here! its all about supply and demand, people have to make money and you have to compromise.
I travel on the Wick to Thurso bus every day as i work in Thurso and the students are just the same as they were when I was in the college. Myself and every one of my class passed and i went on to further my education by using my HND to get an honours degree. Its always been the case that students get their travel expenses back, its £4.50 return to Thurso not exactly cheap. I had to pay when i was at college and claim it back, I think now they get some sort of card. Its vital they get this travel for free as the location of the college means that some students have no choice but to travel, they cannot choose to go somewhere closer because there isn't anywhere else to go!
onecalledk
09-Mar-10, 14:24
Sorry, but if you believe that such a widespread rural community will ever justify, or get the same transport facilites as the Central belt - or even Snecky, then you really are away with the faeries.
you miss my point in the post. I am not saying for one minute you will get the infra structure that the central belt get or Inverness (which is poor) but you deserve SOME structure.....
all that comes across on the boards is how lucky you are to have a train for example, the fact that the train is cold, no refreshments, breaks down, doesnt turn up etc is just accepted !
Supply and demand , yep agreee wholeheartedly .... but how does one know there is a demand unless people speak up about the demand ....
K
Bit of a sweeping statement that. I'd love to see what gives you the right to dismiss the aspirations of others in such a fashion.
Perhaps you'd prefer that these students were hanging around on street corners, mooching off the dole?
Why not move to somewhere like Glasgow then, where the buses are warmer? All the college kids there are far more deserving of their places.
I'll still with the last paragraph first as it states the least: by your logic someone should move if they don't like anything or don't accept blindly there current location. If you know of a way for someone to move somewhere without a large reserve of cash please let me know. As you'll read later I'm not singling out college students in Caithness, it just has a higher than usual number of bad students.
Okay perhaps a wide sweeping generalisation, but let me try to qualify it (apologies for hijacking the thread). Its more of a general observation about all colleges and some universities in Scotland, I say this as a former university student, I have a first class honours (just to pre-empt the 'you're bitter at the system' argument), I know people who work in colleges and I've been privy to various horror stories.
I don't think I'm dismissing aspirations, someone needs to be a serious student to have them and the people I'm talking about aren't. They're only at college because they don't want to get a job or don't know what to do and the colleges will take them regardless.
People can spend three years or more at a college going the NC>HNC>HND route and come out with nothing, they'll get socially promoted if they promise to put in extra effort to pass missing modules but it never happens. Its just the same type of mooching in my opinion, mooching from bursaries and hard ship funds, mooching college resources, mooching from serious students. This is an entirely different discussion so I'm stopping there.
porshiepoo
09-Mar-10, 15:21
why not come up to thurso for the next caithness bus users group meeting ??
My cars broke at the moment and there's no way on fullers earth I'm using the bus service!
Caithness bus users group meeting???? What the heck is one of those anyway??
I have images of a bunch of bus spotters having a chin wag about their Caithness experience over a cup of tea and a Hobnob!
porshiepoo
09-Mar-10, 15:27
I just wonder if the people of caithness have any idea of how short changed they really are in relation to public services ?
I ask the question as someone who has moved from Inverness to the area. I spent a few years in the central belt and got so used to the trains/buses/public transport that coming back to Inverness was a bit of a culture shock. Good job really I stopped off in Inverness for a few years before moving here!
The bus services is terrible, the trains, well am currently fighting scotrail via the Groat on that one !
There seems to be a mentality that the people of caithness should be grateful for all these pathetic attempts at "service", which I dont understand.
Do you all not pay council tax ? Do you not expect to receive what other parts of scotland take for granted in the 21st century ? Its not being ungrateful, its not moaning, it is what you are due !!!!
Just because the population is smaller than other parts of scotland does not mean you should expect any less of a service than other parts !!!!
K
Hear Hear!
That's exactly what I'm trying to say.
We do not have to accept something just because it's deemed better than ever before and we do not have to accept second class amenities just because we live in the Scottish Highlands or Rurally!
In fact I would have thought rural living would benefit more from a decent bus service than many other places. If you live rurally and you miss a bus or are refused to board then you're generally well and truly stuck, especially if you've dared to stay out longer than 9pm and have missed the last bus.
Instead of those people ranting and raving about how much better the service is than what it used to be why not rant and rave about the fact that we rural livers are being discriminated against as it's nigh on impossible for us to leave our motor vehicles at home and use the buses.
We all have it rammed down our throats about the damage our vehicles are doing to the environment, we all get increased fuel charges, increased road tax etc but without a reliable bus service what the heck are we supposed to do???
northener
09-Mar-10, 15:36
And how is this network of buses covering the Far North going to be paid for?
That's the bottom line.
changilass
09-Mar-10, 15:51
Those folks living in Thurso and wick have what I would class as an adequate bus service. Any one living in the outlying areas have less so, but that is to be expected.
When we moved out of Thurso, the main requirement was that the house was on, or not far from, the Dounreay shift bus service as hubby doesn't drive.
Much as I would love to live in the country, it is my responsibility to make sure that we can get to where we need to be.
Yes, I would love to be able to come and go from Castletwon as and when I please, but who is gonna subsidise busses that are mainly running empty, just so that I can.
I have a cousin in Edinburgh and I love being able to catch a bus to wherever, whenever I want, but I wouldn't want to live there - its just not me.
Sharing the vehicles we already have might be an idea, but just how you would get this to work is a different matter.
porshiepoo
09-Mar-10, 16:14
[quote=changilass;673107]Those folks living in Thurso and wick have what I would class as an adequate bus service. Any one living in the outlying areas have less so, but that is to be expected.
Why?
This is a rural area, why should we expect a crappy service just because we live rurally?
Much as I would love to live in the country, it is my responsibility to make sure that we can get to where we need to be.
To an extent yes. But when local councils and the goverment is shoving it down our throats that our vehicles are killing earth and we need to ditch vehicles and get buses then they should make sure that we're all able to do so.
Don't forget that vehicle tax increases and fuel increases affect us just the same. There is no leniency toward those of us that have little choice but to use a car.
Yes, I would love to be able to come and go from Castletwon as and when I please, but who is gonna subsidise busses that are mainly running empty, just so that I can.
Palease, the local councils rip us off enough, they could help!
Then again most of their money, sorry our money, is probably spent on lawsuits for damage to vehicles due to all the ruddy pot holes that they don't get round to fixing until the end of the financial year.
changilass
09-Mar-10, 16:38
We do have a choice.
We can move somewhere that does have a better service.
Folks live in the country for the lifestyle, quiet country lanes ect, hardly that if a bus was passing every 10 mins. Might as well live in the city and buy a photo of the country.
You can't have everything in this life, there just aint the money to go round.
onecalledk
09-Mar-10, 16:49
People seem to be stuck in the "who will pay for it " loop. WE ARE ALREADY PAYING FOR IT.
Average petrol price in Elgin was 109.9p the other day. Inverness would be a penny more or so. Filled up in Thurso recenty and was charged 118.9p. Now in Inverness or Elgin I would take public transport, thus saving money on fuel and helping the environment. But alas I cannot as there is no adequate bus service.
The governments message is loud and clear, those driving vehicles are polluting the environment and therefore will get taxed to STOP THEM DOING THIS.
Now whilst that is all good and well in cities, why does someone need a 4X4 vehicle in the middle of glasgow or london ??! its crap for those who actually NEED the vehicle up here. It doesnt matter how much the road tax is nor petrol when you live up here , if you NEED a car you will USE THAT CAR.
We get no subsidy for being rural and NEEDING a car to get around. We get a little public transport but hardly any. Perhaps the reason the buses are half empty is because it would be pointless catching that bus as you wouldnt be able to get back again !
Rural living does not equate to EXPENSIVE living. It is NOT a luxury to have a car in Caithness its a NECESSITY.
So back to my point yet again, its not HOW this will be paid for its WHY are we paying for something WE DONT GET.
Petrol is cheaper in cities than it is rurally yet those in the city have public transport coming out of their ears .......
K
It has not been mentioned what sex these youngsters were, but is it wise to let any 13 year olds rely on public transport at 21:45 given how unreliable it is?
porshiepoo
09-Mar-10, 17:29
It has not been mentioned what sex these youngsters were, but is it wise to let any 13 year olds rely on public transport at 21:45 given how unreliable it is?
But some people just don't have the choice.
It's a sad state of affairs when we cannot rely on a transport system that we all pay for. What's the point in having one if it's not reliable?
It could be one of my daughters that is in the exact same position. If they are delivered to the college late from the equestrian centre, that's all it takes for them to be stranded.
If their bus is running late that's all it takes for them to miss their connecting bus and yes, maybe there will be another one in 40 minutes or so but once at college there's then no way of them getting to Halkirk for their course as they'll have missed the college bus.
I quite agree, you do not have choice.
Parents prime responsibility is to ensure childrens safety, at all costs
13 year olds are not at college, they've hardly started high school. None of my business what folk think is an 'acceptable' age for 13 year olds to be relying on buses at that time of night but the driver stuck to the rules. What would have happened if he'd allowed passengers to stand, then the bus had been involved in an accident?
Parents need to take responsibility for their children and have contingincy plans should arrangements go wrong.
I don't know why everyone has to have a rant.
It's simple:
If you really care about your kids safety, why didn't you just send a taxi or pick them up yourself?
At the end of the day, the driver takes on paying passengers, he has a certain limit he can take on and safety is the number one concern. He can't go over the amount of people on board, it's against the law. He couldn't(as Martin said previously) kick anyone off because they are people who have paid. No exceptions can be made.
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