stagecoach buses

[Mr P Cannop]

here is my letter and heres the papers version of my letter

I and another person was waiting for the 81 14.38pm service bus going to wick via Mount Pleasant/Towerhill Road at 14.40 i called up the stagecoach bus station to say the bus did not turn up and was told the bus was Rescheduled to 14.20pm and not at 14.40 as it says in the timetables book. so me and the other person had to get a taxi to Mount Pleasant road/Bower. I think stagecoach should up date their time tables and stagecoach are a shambles since they came to Caithness

Recently i was waiting along with another person for the 81 at 14.38pm service bus going to Wick via Mount Pleasant/Towerhill Road in Thurso At 14.40 I called the station to say the bus had not turned up and was told it was at 14.20pm stagecoach should update their timetables

[Mr P Cannop]

here is my letter and heres the papers version of my letter

I and another person was waiting for the 81 14.38pm service bus going to wick via Mount Pleasant/Towerhill Road at 14.40 i called up the stagecoach bus station to say the bus did not turn up and was told the bus was Rescheduled to 14.20pm and not at 14.40 as it says in the timetables book. so me and the other person had to get a taxi to Mount Pleasant road/Bower. I think stagecoach should up date their time tables and stagecoach are a shambles since they came to Caithness

Recently i was waiting along with another person for the 81 at 14.38pm service bus going to Wick via Mount Pleasant/Towerhill Road in Thurso At 14.40 I called the station to say the bus had not turned up and was told it was at 14.20pm stagecoach should update their timetables

whats everyone news and views about this ??

[dietcokegirl]

It does say in the paper that any letters sent in may be edited for length and content.
But i do agree that stagecoach is a shambles. I went down to Inverness on the bus last friday with my 3 year old son. There wasn't even a toilet on the bus! Needless to say my son nearly had a "wee accident" when the bus driver said he wasn't stopping to their designated toilet stop.

[Mr P Cannop]

It does say in the paper that any letters sent in may be edited for length and content.
But i do agree that stagecoach is a shambles. I went down to Inverness on the bus last friday with my 3 year old son. There wasn't even a toilet on the bus! Needless to say my son nearly had a "wee accident" when the bus driver said he wasn't stopping to their designated toilet stop.

so much for stagecoach saying they would have toilets on all their buses to inverness

[dietcokegirl]

I know!! I had just read in the paper a few weeks ago about someone complaining about the no toilet situation on the inverness buses.

Stagecoach said something like it was a one off. Perhaps this was just a 'one off' again.
But 3 and a half hours with no toilet is a long time for me, let alone a 3 year old!

[BINBOB]

I do not use the buses,but after all that I have heard and read,it does seem that we are being treated very differently from the rest of the country..........definitely not good enough.It is a very long way for children [and adults] to travel without basic facilities.

[rfr10]

The reason Stagecoach sometimes end up running buses with no toilets on them on the Caithness - Inverness service is because sometimes the buses with toilets are taken off the road for maintenance and replaced temporarily with other buses which may not have a toilet on board.

[Leanne]

I do not use the buses,but after all that I have heard and read,it does seem that we are being treated very differently from the rest of the country..........definitely not good enough.It is a very long way for children [and adults] to travel without basic facilities.

The buses in the rest of the country are far worse - they are luxury up here! At least there are air blowers and seat belts. And you are guaranteed a seat - try travelling those 3 hours stood :( I once waited an hour and 40 minutes for a bus that wasn't full to actually stop in Manchester!

I fully agree about the times. I decided when I moved here to do my bit for the environment and use the bus. The first day I got the bus is was 10 minutes early so I missed it (I did manage to get to the bus and bang on the door as it drove off [evil]). I then had the choice of a 2 hour wait for the next bus or an 8 mile walk home... In the rain! When I rang up stagecoach they said the driver had made and unscheduled early departure. They didn't even apologise...

Then the new timetables came out... I fininsh work at 17:30 and the nearest bus time to that is 17:15 and the next one isn't until 18:45!!!! I only live 10 minutes away... I now use my car and don't help the environment. I'd use my bike but I work in the blood bank at the hospital and have seen the result of accidents around here...

[chocolatechip]

When I have been on the busses to and fro from here to inverness they stop off in Dingwall and they will let you use the toilets there

[dietcokegirl]

When I have been on the busses to and fro from here to inverness they stop off in Dingwall and they will let you use the toilets there

And we did get one toilet stop. But it didnt help much when my 3 year old started hopping for the toilet around helmsdale :lol:

Maybe i should of called ahead to check that the bus in question would have a toilet on board, but me being me i just assumed that they would since it was quite a long trip.

[Kodiak]

When I have been on the busses to and fro from here to inverness they stop off in Dingwall and they will let you use the toilets there

This is NOT Good enough. There are plenty of People who for one reason or another can not last longer than 1 Hour before thaey require to use a Toilet.

Any Lady who is Pregnant would have Difficulty as would any Man who had any form of Prostrate Problems.

I for one will NOT be Travelling on any Bus that does not have an onboard Toilet and unless you have no other option I would suggest that if you can, Boycot Stagecoach until they use Busses with Onboard Toilets.

If everyone who did Boycot them wrote to them as well, explaining why they have stopped using their Transport they might just get message and do the decent thing.

I very Much Doubt it though !!

[vanman]

stagecoach prices are ridiculous too! £25 for a return to Inverness:eek: how much fuel does their bus use?? & what about the poor students from up here attending Inverness college They get a student rate of just over £22!! how come they manage to do glasgow to manchester for a £1 but we get charged stupid prices:mad:

[Kodiak]

stagecoach prices are ridiculous too! £25 for a return to Inverness:eek: how much fuel does their bus use?? & what about the poor students from up here attending Inverness college They get a student rate of just over £22!! how come they manage to do glasgow to manchester for a £1 but we get charged stupid prices:mad:

As far as I know, so please correct me if I am wrong, the answer to is lack of Competition. Since they have the Monopoly in Bus Transport between Caithness and Inverness they can charge what they like.

As to price I have just checked ScotRail's Web Site and the Price thay quote is this.

Single from Thurso to Inverness £16.20
Return from Thurso to Inverness £28.00 (If you book in advance the Price comes down as well)

So if the price you are quoting is a return for the Bus between Inverness and Caithness there is not much of a difference and all trains not have have a toilet but you can get up and walk around.

I know what I would do if I wanted to travel to Inverness, the train every time.

[The Angel Of Death]

stagecoach prices are ridiculous too! £25 for a return to Inverness:eek:

You can do it in the car for that price if you take it easy (not to mention go where you want when in ness) but as mentioned why make the effort to save a bit enviroment wise when your hit with sucker punches like the bus leaving early / no toilet stuff like that could be excused (just) if it was now and again but its becoming more and more common

I wonder if the driver would stop if you started going on the floor right next to him ;)

[KILTIECAULDBUM]

I wonder if the driver would stop if you started going on the floor right next to him ;)

Even better, get on the bus with an empty black plastic bucket in one hand & a toilet roll in the other. If the driver asks what they're for, tell him ''just in case, & yes I did bring my own air freshner'' [lol]

Seriously though, it's just not good enough. [disgust]

[Kodiak]

You can do it in the car for that price if you take it easy (not to mention go where you want when in ness) but as mentioned why make the effort to save a bit enviroment wise when your hit with sucker punches like the bus leaving early / no toilet stuff like that could be excused (just) if it was now and again but its becoming more and more common

I wonder if the driver would stop if you started going on the floor right next to him ;)


To go to Inverness and Back in my Car takes about 30 Litres of Petrol so this works out about £32.00 for the return Journey. So it would be cheaper to go by Rail if you were going by yourself.

On the other hand if four Adults were Travelling it would be so much cheaper to go by car as it would only cost £8.00 per person to the £28.00 per person by Rail. OK the car does not have a toilet but you can stop whereever you like and for as long as you like.

[northener]

stagecoach prices are ridiculous too! £25 for a return to Inverness:eek: how much fuel does their bus use?? & what about the poor students from up here attending Inverness college They get a student rate of just over £22!! how come they manage to do glasgow to manchester for a £1 but we get charged stupid prices:mad:

£25.00 for a 210 mile trip.

And you think this is expensive?

I don't know if you've noticed, but money for buses, drivers, fuel and overheads (not to mention a little thing called profit) all have to come from somewhere. It's not State owned......

[Torvaig]

http://www.scotrail.co.uk/content/highland-railcard.html

This link should take you to useful information on traveling by train. :)

[Leanne]

I got the train from inverness to wick and it was a 4 and a half hour journey!!! At least the bus is a bit quicker...

[joxville]

Stagecoach is well named-it's run by cowboys.

[©Amethyst]

£25.00 for a 210 mile trip.

And you think this is expensive?

I don't know if you've noticed, but money for buses, drivers, fuel and overheads (not to mention a little thing called profit) all have to come from somewhere. It's not State owned......

It might not be state owned as you put it but it is certainly heavily subsidised by the council.

I recall seeing a message here about Stagecoach being a sham since they came to Caithness. Trust me, friends... they were a sham long before!

[Alan16]

here is my letter and heres the papers version of my letter

I and another person was waiting for the 81 14.38pm service bus going to wick via Mount Pleasant/Towerhill Road at 14.40 i called up the stagecoach bus station to say the bus did not turn up and was told the bus was Rescheduled to 14.20pm and not at 14.40 as it says in the timetables book. so me and the other person had to get a taxi to Mount Pleasant road/Bower. I think stagecoach should up date their time tables and stagecoach are a shambles since they came to Caithness

Recently i was waiting along with another person for the 81 at 14.38pm service bus going to Wick via Mount Pleasant/Towerhill Road in Thurso At 14.40 I called the station to say the bus had not turned up and was told it was at 14.20pm stagecoach should update their timetables

In fairness to the newspaper (Courier I assume) your version did ramble a little - the fact that you got a taxi really isn't important to the story for example. The newspapers version is more succinct and has been grammar checked, and as somebody said, you are warned that it could be edited.

I'm not really sure if you were asking for our opinions on what the newspaper had done to your letter or on the issues in the letter. Therefore, so that I include both I give you the following comment: Stagecoach? BOOOOOOOOO! :Razz

[©Amethyst]

Stagecoach? BOOOOOOOOO! :Razz

Well said!!

[vanman]

£25.00 for a 210 mile trip.

And you think this is expensive?

I don't know if you've noticed, but money for buses, drivers, fuel and overheads (not to mention a little thing called profit) all have to come from somewhere. It's not State owned......

yes I do think its expensive! at least scotrail offer us a highland railcard which gives us a good discount making it around £9 return to Inverness:D
What do stagecoach offer us nothing! £26 return or £17.50 for a single & if your a student they give you a discount of a 1/3rd off but only on a single ticket not on a return! so your only saving £2![evil]
yes I understand they have overheads etc but does it really warrant a cost of £1300 if a full bus was to make a return journey?! I think not.
& they have the same overheads all over the country so how can they charge £1 for some journeys of the same length further down the country.

[joxville]

yes I do think its expensive! at least scotrail offer us a highland railcard which gives us a good discount making it around £9 return to Inverness:D
What do stagecoach offer us nothing! £26 return or £17.50 for a single & if your a student they give you a discount of a 1/3rd off but only on a single ticket not on a return! so your only saving £2![evil]
yes I understand they have overheads etc but does it really warrant a cost of £1300 if a full bus was to make a return journey?! I think not.
& they have the same overheads all over the country so how can they charge £1 for some journeys of the same length further down the country.

I suspect remote areas, which although sometimes subsidised, are actually penalised for their location and in actual fact they are subsidising the rest of the country. I see buses every day here, on the A4 & M4 with very few passengers so how can it be a viable service?

[northener]

Regarding £1 fares, I think you'll find that these are loss leaders on very busy routes to get people to use their services as opposed to the competition. I somehow do not think that these fares will be available to everyone on every coach......

£1300 for a return journey. Theoretically possible, but how many times is the bus full?

Certainly, when the evening bus pulls into Wick there are only a few people on board, and the bus hasn't dropped anyone off in Thurso yet, so your point about full bus loads isn't really valid apart from a description of what is theoretically possible.

Just for comparison. I decided to have a look at a National Express coach journey from Birmingham to London return - a journey of around 100 miles each way.
The price was around £18.00 with coaches leaving nearly every
hour. Leeds to Birmingham - 115 miles and around £20.00, again with lots of coaches leaving.

So, even between cities with a potential customer base of millions and the volume of customers to enable them to run coaches nearly every hour, you're still going to pay prices not far off what we are paying for a service in a remote area that does not have the sufficient number of potential customers to make the service really viable.

As I said earlier, we're not really getting a bad deal.......

[embow]

Fact: Caithness is better served by buses now than it has ever been.
As for costs, I have seen my own fares for the week go from nearly £27 pre-Stagecoach (5 days travel) to the current £20 which gives me unlimited travel 7 days a week in the county and to as far as Helmsdale. You can get a monthly deal slightly cheaper than this if you buy online. A big difference in every way.
Admittedly the fares to Inverness might seem a lot but in the current state of financial affairs they are not excessive in any way.
And yes there have been one or two issues of timetabling but generally this has been looked at. Some still need a tweak to bring a better service.
In general then, Stagecoach in Caithness? Bring them on any day as far as I'm concerned. :grin:

[vanman]

Just for comparison. I decided to have a look at a National Express coach journey from Birmingham to London return - a journey of around 100 miles each way.
The price was around £18.00 with coaches leaving nearly every
hour. Leeds to Birmingham - 115 miles and around £20.00, again with lots of coaches leaving.


The difference is that if you go onto the National Express website you can actually get the journeys you refer to for £9 return with their special funfare deals.Stagecoach offer us no discounts for lengthy journeys up here.

[purplelady]

if you go online and book think it is 48 hrs in advance you can get a day return fom wick to ness for just over £15 it is an apex return well worth doing am not sure if the travel agents do them worth asking x

[©Amethyst]

Fact: Caithness is better served by buses now than it has ever been.
As for costs, I have seen my own fares for the week go from nearly £27 pre-Stagecoach (5 days travel) to the current £20 which gives me unlimited travel 7 days a week in the county and to as far as Helmsdale. You can get a monthly deal slightly cheaper than this if you buy online. A big difference in every way.
Admittedly the fares to Inverness might seem a lot but in the current state of financial affairs they are not excessive in any way.
And yes there have been one or two issues of timetabling but generally this has been looked at. Some still need a tweak to bring a better service.
In general then, Stagecoach in Caithness? Bring them on any day as far as I'm concerned. :grin:

It's good that the changes within the bus companies over the past year or two have helped you with fare costs.

Although your closing statement... I don't think that you would still be saying that if you knew the ins and outs of 'Stagecoach Politics'. Even I don't know it fully, but the little that I do know makes me think Stagecoach should crawl under a rock and not return.

The way they treat their staff (maybe not so much at the Thurso depot but certainly in Inverness) is atrocious. Infact, the way they treat families of staff are just as atrocious :(

I wish you all could know just what a terrible lot of people run the company in the Highlands.

[joxville]

It's good that the changes within the bus companies over the past year or two have helped you with fare costs.

Although your closing statement... I don't think that you would still be saying that if you knew the ins and outs of 'Stagecoach Politics'. Even I don't know it fully, but the little that I do know makes me think Stagecoach should crawl under a rock and not return.

The way they treat their staff (maybe not so much at the Thurso depot but certainly in Inverness) is atrocious. Infact, the way they treat families of staff are just as atrocious :(

I wish you all could know just what a terrible lot of people run the company in the Highlands.
Their business ethics are questionable too.

[©Amethyst]

Their business ethics are questionable too.

Shall we agree that the whole company is questionable?

[Mrs Bucket]

When I have been on the busses to and fro from here to inverness they stop off in Dingwall and they will let you use the toilets there
When did the buses start going by Dingwall

[jim baxter]

Why not try a Highland railcard it costs 7.50 and then it's only 10.20 for a return, ok it takes a bit longer than the bus at least you get toilets and not stuck in you seat for the journey to inverness

[purplelady]

When did the buses start going by Dingwall
have to say i was thinking that never been on a bus that goes to dingwall x

[dietcokegirl]

have to say i was thinking that never been on a bus that goes to dingwall x

I assumed she meant dornoch - well that's where the toilet stop was the day i was on it anyways.

[©Amethyst]

You most certainly wouldn't want a toilet stop at that place in Dingwall!

Oh my... someone heard that I wasn't a Celtic fan in there one day while I was outside talking to a friend - I near got ran out the county!

[Twilight]

The only thing i see wrong with them is that the people going to college such like myself get the little crap bus when it shuld be a standard size bus or a big 1 whatever u want to call it but we cant all fit on it we sometimes have to stand which isn't very safe when theres so much prople feeling knackered after college nd all the other memebrs of public having to share with us :lol:

[ShelleyCowie]

I hate buses! [evil]

When i was pregnant and me, my OH and his 2 sons, my OH's mum and sister went to skye, on the way down we had to sit on a bus with no seat belts. It was hard for us to ensure the kids didnt fly forward at the same time protecting ourselves when the driver slammed on his brakes several times. Also no toilets (thats from thurso to inverness and inverness to Struan in skye)

Even worse on the way back we were told by the driver there was no seats even though ours was booked in advance. Me being 6 months pregnant and on crutches not 1 single person offered me a seat, the kids also had to stand all the way to inverness from skye! We all did! [evil] When we complained after we never got an apology. Rediculous!

I know that nobody has to offer anybody a seat but where is the common courtesy to even offer!???

To end it all.......I Hate buses! [evil]

[©Amethyst]

the kids also had to stand all the way to inverness from skye!

When was this?

By the way, I live just a 30 minute coach journey from Inverness, if it's a coach, no one is allowed to stand by law. At least that is my understanding of it.

Different on a low-floor, which they've started using for the busy rush-hour runs now.

Not sure if the low-floor busses are legal to carry standing passengers on roads up to 60 MPH though. Would have to check with known Stagecoach employee.

Sadly, complaints with Stagecoach rarely get listened to. I only had my complaint listened to one day because said employee's manager thought my chest was talking to him :(

[ShelleyCowie]

When was this?

By the way, I live just a 30 minute coach journey from Inverness, if it's a coach, no one is allowed to stand by law. At least that is my understanding of it.

Different on a low-floor, which they've started using for the busy rush-hour runs now.

Not sure if the low-floor busses are legal to carry standing passengers on roads up to 60 MPH though. Would have to check with known Stagecoach employee.

Sadly, complaints with Stagecoach rarely get listened to. I only had my complaint listened to one day because said employee's manager thought my chest was talking to him :(

This was last summer. We went to skye this summer and the service was still poor to be honest.

Well the bus driver told us we could get on the bus, we had no choice but to get on the bus because we had to get home to thurso that night! With 2 young children we could not just stand around and wait hours for the next bus.

I thought it was rediculous! The bus driver even laughed at us when we were most definetely not finding the situation funny.

Also he tried to advise that my OH's youngest may have to get off the bus half way because he had no ticket (He was under 5 so needed no ticket) which we did not appreciate him saying!

[©Amethyst]

This was last summer. We went to skye this summer and the service was still poor to be honest.

Well the bus driver told us we could get on the bus, we had no choice but to get on the bus because we had to get home to thurso that night! With 2 young children we could not just stand around and wait hours for the next bus.

I thought it was rediculous! The bus driver even laughed at us when we were most definetely not finding the situation funny.

Also he tried to advise that my OH's youngest may have to get off the bus half way because he had no ticket (He was under 5 so needed no ticket) which we did not appreciate him saying!

I am absolutely shocked at this!

I know quite a few people who work for Stagecoach. The ones I remain friendly with are nice people and good at their jobs, but they are just a small handful. There are a lot of them that act with such terrible unprofessionalism and drive worse than their attitudes.

It really shouldn't surprise me considering that because I am friends with some of their colleagues, some of these drivers think that it is okay to make unappropriate comments to me.

If you ever come across something like this again be sure to take a note of the driver number in order to report them as that seems to be the only way that management seem to realise who the driver is.

[William]

Stagecoach prices

Thurso (or anywhere in caithness) to Inverness

Single £17.50
Day return £22.00
Period return (valid for nearly a month) £26.25

In the event of a bus not having a toilet the driver will stop at dornoch if asked (he won't know other wise and there is no time in the timetable for this stop unless a passenger or more asks)

[ShelleyCowie]

Stagecoach prices

Thurso (or anywhere in caithness) to Inverness

Single £17.50
Day return £22.00
Period return (valid for nearly a month) £26.25

In the event of a bus not having a toilet the driver will stop at dornoch if asked (he won't know other wise and there is no time in the timetable for this stop unless a passenger or more asks)

Not bein picky (cos i know who u are :) )

But i thought we wasnt allowed to actually speak to the bus drivers whilst driving! And to be honest im always to shy to say! :eek:

[©Amethyst]

Don't you usually leave Inverness late anyway, William?

[Fran]

I always go by train, safer, more comfortable, cup of tea, stretch your legs, have a walk, plus toilet. The last time I went by bus to Inverness the driver was speeding and several passengers complained. I received a reply to my complaint where they agred the tachograph showed he was doing 80mph up here, and i was sent a £10 voucher.
Car sharing is a good idea, 4 of you in a car at £6 each....and room for all your shopping in the boot.

[William]

Not bein picky (cos i know who u are :) )

But i thought we wasnt allowed to actually speak to the bus drivers whilst driving! And to be honest im always to shy to say! :eek:

That's right your not ment to distract the driver but a quite word in his ear or even when he stops at dornoch just say they won't bite (well most of them) lol


tachograph showed he was doing 80mph

I find that hard to belive as all the coaches are limmited to 62mph (100 km) and 80km is about 50mph which is the speed limit for a bus on those roads


Don't you usually leave Inverness late anyway, William?

I always leave on time unless there is some reason for not being able to do so.

[ShelleyCowie]

I remember coming back on a bus from inverness a while back, william was driving and we had to wait for ages because there was a crash on a road so there was a delay in some passengers arriving. William still got us home in time. Not speeding, but a brill driver! :D Was delighted cos we was knackered!

[©Amethyst]

No doubt he is a great driver. I've been a commuter living near Inverness for a while, and during the time that my most convenient bus was one that he was driving... I did feel incredibly safe. There are some drivers that aren't so good... actually a LOT of them. Although it was rare that we left Inverness on time lol. Must just have been the time of day... lots of traffic, and lots of passengers.

[William]

I remember coming back on a bus from inverness a while back, william was driving and we had to wait for ages because there was a crash on a road so there was a delay in some passengers arriving. William still got us home in time. Not speeding, but a brill driver! :D Was delighted cos we was knackered!

Hells bells how much do i owe you for saying that lol

[©Amethyst]

I remember coming back on a bus from inverness a while back, william was driving and we had to wait for ages because there was a crash on a road so there was a delay in some passengers arriving. William still got us home in time. Not speeding, but a brill driver! :D Was delighted cos we was knackered!

Was on Williams bus on Yesterday. Such a comfortable journey - even if the bus was a heap of junk (deffo not his fault though lol).

I've been on busses up to Thurso with other drivers that weren't so comfortable... I don't know what it is, but he just seems to be able to keep the coach running along that road smoothly!

[upolian]

stagecoach slag match ..... turned william fan club.....payrise for you lad haha...........you should all try going in a car with him ill say no more ;)

[Tinkerbell09]

I have had many a problem with stagecoach, and complained 3 times!

The bus from Thurso>Halkirk>Wick bus at 16:10 stopped at the college where some the college pupils got on, for the rest to be told to wait as the bus driver wouldnt let anyone stand, when it has on the bus, so many sitting and so many standing. There were a number amount of folk NOT pleased with this and we were all told to wait for the next bus which wasnt till 16:35, although it never came till 16:55!! Stagecoach are in my bad books right now! [disgust]

[Mr P Cannop]

since stagecoach came to caithness its been a shambles

[William]

Was on Williams bus on Yesterday. Such a comfortable journey - even if the bus was a heap of junk (deffo not his fault though lol).

I've been on busses up to Thurso with other drivers that weren't so comfortable... I don't know what it is, but he just seems to be able to keep the coach running along that road smoothly!

Your going to have to let me know who you are i'll need to buy you a box of roses for those nice comments lol thanks.



stagecoach slag match ..... turned william fan club.....payrise for you lad haha...........you should all try going in a car with him ill say no more

In my defence i did tell you in advance i couldn't drive a car lol.



since stagecoach came to caithness its been a shambles

Not so long ago i'd have agreed with you but you need to remember that any company or person taking over a business is going to do things different an make mistakes untill they know what there up against i'm sure it's not all bad and in time they'll sort out all the little problems and you'll be able to go find some thing else to pick holes in.

[Mr P Cannop]

Your going to have to let me know who you are i'll need to buy you a box of roses for those nice comments lol thanks.




In my defence i did tell you in advance i couldn't drive a car lol.




Not so long ago i'd have agreed with you but you need to remember that any company or person taking over a business is going to do things different an make mistakes untill they know what there up against i'm sure it's not all bad and in time they'll sort out all the little problems and you'll be able to go find some thing else to pick holes in.



just the other week they have changed they bus timetables without warning

[Mik.M.]

Your going to have to let me know who you are i'll need to buy you a box of roses for those nice comments lol thanks.




In my defence i did tell you in advance i couldn't drive a car lol.




Not so long ago i'd have agreed with you but you need to remember that any company or person taking over a business is going to do things different an make mistakes untill they know what there up against i'm sure it's not all bad and in time they'll sort out all the little problems and you'll be able to go find some thing else to pick holes in.
And take pictures of:lol:

[butterfly]

i'm sure it's not all bad and in time they'll sort out all the little problems and you'll be able to go find some thing else to pick holes in.


Ha ha! Well said there.:lol:

[©Amethyst]

I'm the girl that laughed at you when all the suitcases fell out the bus when you went to put mine in :p You might also remember me from when we lived on the same street in Castletown and I was good friends with your sister!

As for it being a shambles and likely to get better, I have my doubts.... You spent much time with any of the Inverness drivers lately? Since the strikes things have been going from bad to worse and have now hit rock bottom. Maybe staff from the Caithness side of things can get it sorted out, but Inverness will take longer. I hope things do get ironed out up here though.

[purplelady]

I use the bus to inverness alot am not sure who william is but i know most of the drivers are really nice, went on a national express coach to london this week passed, yes they are nice new coaches but there is no room on the overnite buses to move and the driver well he was not a nice person , he was a badtempted miseriable man x

[Mr P Cannop]

And take pictures of:lol:

what do you mean ??

[William]

I'm the girl that laughed at you when all the suitcases fell out the bus when you went to put mine in :p You might also remember me from when we lived on the same street in Castletown and I was good friends with your sister!

Aww yeah i remember i can't belive they all fell out just my luck! in my defence the boot wasn't to big lol, you had alot of bags are you up on holiday?

[©Amethyst]

Aww yeah i remember i can't belive they all fell out just my luck! in my defence the boot wasn't to big lol, you had alot of bags are you up on holiday?

A little more permanent than a holiday. It's usually just one suitcase and a laptop bag that I take when I was coming for a holiday.

I was worried that the bus wouldn't make it up the braes!

And for the bags... you put them back incredibly neatly! lol

[William]

A little more permanent than a holiday. It's usually just one suitcase and a laptop bag that I take when I was coming for a holiday.

I was worried that the bus wouldn't make it up the braes!

And for the bags... you put them back incredibly neatly! lol


Oh i see that's not so good!

Yeah i think that to but i've not had a bus yet that's not made it up lol there was one that i'd honestly have been quicker walking but it still got there :P

Yeah i'm sad i always pop them in neatly if possible but that day i just let them all do it them selfs i was bein lazy seein as it was a sunday lol

[©Amethyst]

I think I know the bus you mean... I sat there texting my sister about it... "grrr, I could walk up this hill faster!" lol.

I'm not really so sad that I go out of my way to pay attention to busses/stagecoach... Comes from having lived with a bus driver lol.

Though, he just let them do their own luggage most of the time once he discovered that people didn't care how heavy their suitcases were, as long as they were full.

[upolian]

you say give the driver a shout at dornoch william.....what if you need the toilet before then....badly? and the concern i have is distracting drivers.....no point having stickers in the buses saying you cannot disctract them if you really have to go to toilet.....distractions would not be caused if there were toilets.......ALSO people do feel a little un-easy about asking the driver to stop for using the toilet this is the way of life....the rules are there!!! no distractions....no toilets SO WHAT ARE PEOPLE SUPPOSED TO DO?????? somebody should really bring this up with stagecoach

[upolian]

stagecoach are a joke end off...nothing against the drivers.william is not here to represent the company but the train has a toilet so this is more appealing to me,imagine bursting for the toilet and your in-between helmsdale-brora...you cant wait!! on a train you can just go :)

[arana negra]

I have never had a good word to say about them. When they first hit the village where I lived we had two other companies quite happily filling the village needs. They came in with fancy buses and fares under a £ and kept reducing till the competition gave in. At one point there would be two of their buses to one of the other companies, they tried every trick in the book to get to stops first and there where more than a few accidents and near misses. End result only Stagecoach on that route and fares climbed and climbed and for a while almost unroadworthy buses then they brought in much newer ones.

Any excuse they can think of to fob off customers especially when there is no competition and not much likelyhood of any. Especially if they can prevent it.

[William]

you say give the driver a shout at dornoch william.....what if you need the toilet before then....badly? and the concern i have is distracting drivers.....no point having stickers in the buses saying you cannot disctract them if you really have to go to toilet.....distractions would not be caused if there were toilets.......ALSO people do feel a little un-easy about asking the driver to stop for using the toilet this is the way of life....the rules are there!!! no distractions....no toilets SO WHAT ARE PEOPLE SUPPOSED TO DO?????? somebody should really bring this up with stagecoach

I'm not agreeing with them not having toilets i think they should have but on any occasion where there isn't one there's not much else the passenger or driver can do,

Yesterday an ealderly man asked me between helmsdale and brora about the toilet so we stopped at brora public toilets.

As for distracting the driver popping up to ask about a toilet stop is'nt as distracting as a bus load of kids or adults carrying on up the back, or passengers standing up on a bend cos they want off 2 miles up the road, honestly you'd be suprised how often that happens.

[Mr P Cannop]

you say give the driver a shout at dornoch william.....what if you need the toilet before then....badly? and the concern i have is distracting drivers.....no point having stickers in the buses saying you cannot disctract them if you really have to go to toilet.....distractions would not be caused if there were toilets.......ALSO people do feel a little un-easy about asking the driver to stop for using the toilet this is the way of life....the rules are there!!! no distractions....no toilets SO WHAT ARE PEOPLE SUPPOSED TO DO?????? somebody should really bring this up with stagecoach

aye i agree

[William]

You just can`t please every one, i recon no matter what is done or not done there will still be unhappy people out there to find something to complain about