highland/rapsons buses

[gravedigga]

I use the bus daily from Wick to Thurso and the condition some of them are in is despicable - i'm surprised they're road worthy. On a rainy day the floor is wet and slidy the windows are dripping with condensation, the windows sils are dirty(i've dirtied many a jacket on them [mad] ) and the seats are so patched together they look disgusting it makes me not want to sit on them :~(

It wasn't always too bad in the summer but in the winter it's terrible as the buses are cold and freezing. I've called the bus company and complained to them but still haven't seen any improvement - does anyone else use these buses and what do you think???

I know the Dounreay people always get the nice warm coaches and we're left with the scabby rattley double deckers. They did have a brand new single decker and it was really nice and clean and warm but i've not seen it on the go in ages.

Would it be worth my while speaking to the council???

[nicnak]

No good talking to the council you need to speak to the minsitry of transport in Inverness, theyre the only ones that can do anything.
Hope this helps

[gravedigga]

Cheers nicnak i wasna sure if it'd owt to do with the council or no.

Any ideas how i can get in touch with the ministry of transport an email addy or website?? Ive searched on google but i couldn't really find what i was looking for.

[Fran]

Gravedigger, try writing to Rapsons in Inverness or their head office, same with Highland, if you get nowhere, try your local councillor or even the local mp. :(

[William]

the busses have been the same for years it was like that every morning when i was in high school if it was cold or wet out side the inside was the same and you could not see out of the windows even the windscreen at time (which was a bit concerning) the only time it was good on the bus was in the summer and it was not raining out side

[Lynz39]

I know the Dounreay people always get the nice warm coaches and we're left with the scabby rattley double deckers.
Em If you think this then you want to try the Dounreay buses pal!. They may look better form the outside but they leak, drip water on your head, stink, breakdown regularly, and arent the cleanest and are no better than the service buses believe me![/quote]

[gravedigga]

I used to get the Dounreay bus when i lived on the wick side of the town and they were always clean, cozy and quiet - could even nod off for a while :D

No hope of doing that on the double decker :~(

Thanks Fran i think i'll give that a try - phoning them made no difference.

[2little2late]

You really need to get in touch with the Department of Transport. Any bets the buses aren't even road worthy, Because they are where they are, they probably think they can get away with it. Report them to the D.O.T.
Must admit, when I lived in Wick they looked an absolute disgrace, sounds like nothing has changed.

[jb]

It is worth telling the council as some of the Rapsons service runs during the day are subsidisied by the council. The man to speak with is Andy Summers who works in the office that issues the contracts. Best to have times dates etc and if possible bus numbers. Also worth phoning Rapsons Inverness with the same info but they ussually pass you on the Thurso depot.
After having spoken to Rapsons then phone the VOSA (Vehicle & Operator Services Agency) the lot who MOT the buses and pass them details of the dodgy buses. As part of a bus MOT the heaters must work, the bus interior must be clean and the windows etc must not leak, so they may be intrested in what you say. If the leak is associated with a certian seat only try and describe which seat it was.
Best of luck
JB

PS the VOSA website is www.vosa.gov.uk which gives addresses and phone numbers etc for all testing stations and also gives all the relevant info on transport licensing and testing etc.

[©Amethyst]

It's not just the busses. Admittedly we only have 2 or 3 forms of public transport here... the only decient one's the Hamnavoe! Busses are atrocious (spelling probably wrong... sorry) and the train south is absolutely disgusting. Just because we're not in a hugely populated area, we deserve the kind of transport that people in the cities get... nice trains... nice busses... it'd encourage me to use public transport more often.

We're human being in the north - not dogs... I wish someone down south could realise this.

[bacardibabe]

today on the bus from thurso to wick,leaving thurso at 3 25 on the double decker,after the school kids got on we made our way to halkirk,just between glengolly and halkirk as a schoolgirl was about to get of a tanker passed and as the bus pulled onto the verge the kids were screaming please be careful driver.we were lucky as the bus nearly toppled.only a few weeks ago a double decker toppled.these buses need to be taken off the road.there is no heating they are around 30 yrs old.do we wait to people get killed on one of these buses or start a petition now.comments please.

[©Amethyst]

bacardibabe - there are two things they might take heed of...

lots of awareness being raised - a petition is a good start...

or heaven 'n' hell forbid, a death.

I think you got a good idea there.

[Andrew]

You have to remember that Caithness gets all the scrap that they cant use in the bigger places i.e. Inverness. Sandy Crapson couldnt care less what state the buses are in as long as the pounds are rolling in.

Complaining about a bus on a run just means that the bus gets shifted to another run and it becomes another bunch of people's problem.

The staff in Thurso are always very helpful though. :D

Maybe many of the staff who attended the reunion a few weeks ago can mind the buses when they were brand new 100 years ago!!!!! :D

[gravedigga]

I went on to this Scottish Excutive website http://www.scotland.gov.uk/ and sent them an email to see what they recommend so they'll surely point me in the right direction.

I'll let you's know how i get on :)

[gravedigga]

This is the reply i got back

Thank you for your e-mail regarding the condition of buses in your area. Bus operators are licensed by the Traffic Commissioner for the Scottish Traffic Area and are legally obliged to keep their vehicles in a roadworthy condition. Operators who fail to maintain their vehicles to an acceptable standard may have their licence curtailed or revoked by the Traffic Commissioner. Complaints about buses which are perceived to be in an unfit condition in any respect should be referred to the Traffic Commissioner for investigation. If you decide you want to make such a complaint, the Commissioner can be contacted at: Office of the Scottish Traffic Commissioner, J Floor, Argyle House, 3 Lady Lawson Street, Edinburgh, EH3 9SE.

I hope this is helpful.

Karen Wastle
Scottish Executive Enterprise, Transport and Lifelong Learning Department
Transport Division 2
Tel 0131 244 0842

Well i must go and get typing out my letter. Hopefully get somewhere with this :)

[William]

that is a good idea maybay we should all write one instead of the pettition

[gravedigga]

That's an even better idea William :D

[William]

well i aint very good at writing as i am sure you have all seen but i would give it ago

[Fran]

[mad] I see what you all mean about the buses. i never use buses as i have a car but today i phoned Rapsons for the time of the bus near my home via Castletown to thurso.I was told 3pm. I waited till 330 then a bus came full of school children. We went to Acckergill, then the JohnO Groats Road and then turned, back to reiss, then Castletown and finally thurso. Aright tour. I was amazed that there were no supervisors for these primary aged children who were quite unruly and distracting the driver. i was the only adult passenger. coming back to wick was quite an experience on a fast double decker bus, i felt i was in a rowing boat in a storm, and couldnt even see out of the windows. Never again. i must add that the bus going to Thurso had trouble with his gears, so I was quite releived to arrive in thurso. I feel very sorry for all of you who have to go through this ordeal daily. [disgust]

[gravedigga]

It's like that every morning Fran, if i catch the 7:50 Wick to Thurso and about a dozen or more kids get on at Halkirk going to the high school and everyday there are about 10 kids standing on the stairs and downstairs, also kids going to the high school get on at Watten - i think there should be a separate school run.

With the kids standing, the floors wet and the icy roads in the winter it's a recipe for disaster.

Buses have toppled over before and i believe a bus clipped the verge the other day, at the junction at the top of the Halkirk turn off - it was the 3:25 Thurso to Wick double decker and i was told by a passenger that the kids were screaming 'be careful driver, be careful' as the bus toppled to one side - obviously the same incident bacardibabe referred to earlier.

What is it going to take til we get decent buses up here???

I'd like to see some of the council chiefs and the owners of these bus companies travel daily on these buses, but oh no they probably have company cars - the irony of it(i think irony's the word i mean :confused )!

[champagnebaby]

I usually get the 6:50 bus at Meiklejohns and it's in the same condition as the 7:50 just not as packed. I sometimes get the one at 7:50 and by the time it gets to Meiklejohns there's hardly any seats and the most annoying thing is all the students with bus passes rush past flashing their pass at the driver while the people paying have to queue to pay their fare, by the time i've paid my fare there's hardly any seats left.

I get the bus home at 4:30 and it's always cold, most of them sound as if they're going to conk out. Quite often there are people standing on this run too or if they've put on a separate bus for the college people and there's hardly anyone on the one that's come through the street they make you get of one bus and on to another at Halkirk - making your journey take even longer.

And it's true what was said about Dounreay getting the decent coaches - i've never seen one of the ancient buses coming in the road from Dounreay, dunno how many buses go to Dounreay but i'd imagine it's be about 15.

[©Amethyst]

Well... the busses ARE falling appart... literally.

I remember back in the days when I was on the school bus on my way to Castletown. We reached the square in Thurso and already a fight was in full swing. I think someone knocked a window (an upstairs window at that) and it fell out... putting other motorists and passers-by in danger.

It wasn't really the bus company's fault, but the busses are too shoddy to ferry kids to and from school.

(I'm a-wondering if William remembers that incident :p )

[johndy]

Well that is the problem you still get the kids, fighting, damaging the buses, which are then required for other services, so they then become damaged. Its winter what do you expect other than the floor to be wet, it the same in shops, supermarkets etc, The heating !! You get into a car after a night of frost it takes ages for it to heat, so a bus is the same but the door is always opening so any heat you do get built up you just lose, some people are never happy. :evil

[JAWS]

It's nice to see that some things never change!

[SPECKLED HEN]

Waste of time speaking to Department of Transport all these buses are roadworthy, they are all maintained to a high standard. All of these dounreay coaches have good heating and do not breakdown regularly and do not stink. No problems with the 3pm Wick, Castletown, Thurso run it gets you home and its warm what more do you want, no problem with kids they are only on it for 15mins. The 06.50 wick to thurso bus is not in the same condition as the 07.50 - ie the 06.50 is normally a warm Citylink coach or a 04 minibus the 07.50 is a Double decker thats no comparision. :eyes

[girnigoe]

I also would like to add that some of the drivers need to slow down!!

I have had a few journeys where Im almost like the pope when I come off those buses.

[2little2late]

Speckled Hen must work for Rapson's.

[dougleith]

Don't expect any change in your bus conditions for some time. Rapsons are in debt by an absolute fortune and are trying to pay their way out of it bit by bit every year, so that means keeping costs to an absolute minimum.

[gravedigga]

Well that is the problem you still get the kids, fighting, damaging the buses, which are then required for other services, so they then become damaged. Its winter what do you expect other than the floor to be wet, it the same in shops, supermarkets etc, The heating !! You get into a car after a night of frost it takes ages for it to heat, so a bus is the same but the door is always opening so any heat you do get built up you just lose, some people are never happy. :evil

Well Johndy if your last name's Munro the only reason you're sticking up for the buses is cos you work for them!!!

SPECKLED HEN - Are you trying to say i'm lying about these buses?? Have you not read the other postings on this thread??
they are all maintained to a high standard
High standard, LOL You obviously don't use the buses :roll:

Ohh and the 06:50 is NOT a warm citylink coach it's usually one of the minibuses as the citllink ones are kept for the Dounreay runs at around the same time!

[JAWS]

Anybody got any suggestions? Other than no buses at all that is!

[Lucy]

Fortunately i am not a regular user of the buses as i live & work in Wick. what about taking a small camera or even a camcorder on the bus with you some days and send the pictures and tapes to the Traffic commissioner. Surely they can't ignore evidence like that. the small (use once) cameras are handy to keep in your pocket or handbag. I will also write a letter in protest as even if i don't use them regularly we should all stick together for the benefit of everyone.

[2little2late]

Don't expect any change in your bus conditions for some time. Rapsons are in debt by an absolute fortune and are trying to pay their way out of it bit by bit every year, so that means keeping costs to an absolute minimum.

This is no excuse for them to have shoddy buses though is it?

[SPECKLED HEN]

Singapore by the way speckled hen does not work for Rapsons. And how would dougleith know if rapsons was in debt what a joke they have 2 brand new coaches sitting in Inverness. If all you people aren'a happy way eh buses why use them everyday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :roll: [para]

[gravedigga]

Some of us have no choice, well i could always walk i s'ppose. . . . . :p

But that's beside the point, they're supplying a service therefore it should at least meet at certain standard.

[dougleith]

err, the reason I know about the debt is because....it was in the papers the other week. And you can always take a look at the annual accounts.

[JAWS]

Does anybody else read Company Accounts for a little light reading? Mind you, I suppose it would be a good cure for insomnia if nothing else! :eek:

[Rheghead]

My Mrs has just come back from Wick on the bus, she is frozen. She has the advantage that age wouldn't affect her, but what if an infirm person in herplace was not so lucky?