Communities angered after Portland to Dorchester bus service faces the axe (From Dorset Echo)

To risk re-opening a debate that has already been well covered following similar recent stories involving withdrawals by South West Coaches, it reinforces once again that the high price of diesel, reduction in the subsidy paid to bus companies in fuel duty rebate (BSOG) and the paltry amount of reimnursement paid for the free transportation of OAPs, is putting the viability of many bus services under severe pressure.

I feel they are unfair to blaim First however - the increases in frequency to both services 1 and 10/X10 last year were modest, and the unreliability of both initially meant that SWC would have retained their regulars, and had scope to devlelop their operation.

What never helped their case was the use of time expired unreliable first generation Volvo low floor buses, which often saw ancient step entrance minis substituting, and the lack of service on weekends.

Simon N.

Simon N.

Lets set out a few truths about SouthWest Coaches withdrawing the 210 'service'.
Lewis Trehar of SWC has blamed 'increased' competition from First but before people accept this story let them consider these matters.
(1) When the meeting was held at Sureline at which the SWC directors were introduced and Sureline staff were told what was happening, Mr Alan Graham the owner of SWC stated very clearly to the staff the 'he could not go head to head with First'.
This was in response to a question to him about existing Sureline services.
(2) The former Sureline Portland - Dorchester service was revamped (mainly planned by Mr Trehar) as an attempt to cream-off some traffic from First services.
Sureline staff were told that SWC were investing in 'new' vehicles to operate the revised services - in fact the vehicles that turned up (4 Volvo single deckers) were former London Airport service buses withdrawn by National Express as life-expired and with thier age hidden under Northern Ireland registrations - they were in fact 'P' registered vehicles - the first arrived at Portland depot with its 'P' plate in place and the plate was changed in Portland yard.
As the writer above points out the service although advertised as 'low-floor' worked has frequently been substituted with much older step-entrance buses (mainly ex Sureline)due to the problems that these worn out Volvos suffered - i've known 3 of the 4 to be off the road in the yard at the same time, that have caused much problem for those less firm on their legs - i've witnessed passengers strugling many times in the past.
(3) When the revised SWC service started Lewis Trehar stated very clearly that EACH BUS needed to earn £150.00 PER DAY to break even. Its very doubtfull that the passenger loading, a high proportion of which are pass-holders, has EVER reached that figure except on one or two occasions - cirtainly not on the regular requirement stated by Mr Trehar to the staff.
(4) Mr Trehar states that job losses have been avoided at Portland depot - it would be more truthfull to point out that this is only the case because a number of drivers have left SWC at Portland and gone to First or in the greater number to Damory Coaches at Dorchester. Rather more a case of job losses absorbed by 'natural wastage' methinks.
Taking the above matters into consideration it can be seen that to say the problems are caused by increased competition from First is simply not true - the SWC service has never met its own targets financially, has been handicapped by running problems on occasions (yes of course First sufferes the odd problem but as a bigger organisation can usually find the resorces to keep things going) and being realistic was never going to compete with the frequent First services.
I totally agree that the loss of a day long through service from Portland to Dorchester will cause problems for some passengers and this is to be regretted (the through service goes back through Surline to the old Weybus operation and competition at that time from Dorset Transit/Southern National) but the frequency of the First service 1 combined with service 10/X10 is one of the best frequencies over such a distance IN THE COUNTRY - I think passengers should be gratefull for that fact.
It would of course be better if First could look at starting the 10/X10 from the bus garage so as to provide 'same-stop' connection between the Portland and Dorchester services - something that should not prove too difficult as the 10/X10 have a layover time at the Kings Statue between arrival from Dorchester and next departure.
In case anyone wonders about my comments above - yes I was a member of the Surline staff and subsequently SWC since the takeover and was at the meeting refered to or party to the conversations mentioned above.

Running the First 10/X10 from the bus station would not work as there is often congestion in that area due to too many buses. In my opinion First could quite easily run the occasional number 1 from the bus depot to the kings statue stops and then back down king street and along to Debenhams, this would work apart from the traffic problems that the town suffers during the summer and peak periods.

At least, people that live on Portland have the option of changing buses at Weymouth, unlike those of us that are served (?) by the farcical 5/5A route.

if the 210 leaves king statue at the same time as the x10 and follows it up Dorchester / Littlemoor road it will lose money, that's down to bad management, why can't the 210 take the Preston road and Littlemoor road route to Dorchester, that would leave only the 31 bus to contend with, which is hourly, 210 could leaves half hour after the 31 then it would have all the road to it's self.

Joe_Bloggs wrote:
Running the First 10/X10 from the bus station would not work as there is often congestion in that area due to too many buses. In my opinion First could quite easily run the occasional number 1 from the bus depot to the kings statue stops and then back down king street and along to Debenhams, this would work apart from the traffic problems that the town suffers during the summer and peak periods.

Some years back, First extended one service 10 per hour from the Kings Statue to Debenhams (the layby opposite the current service 1 stop), in order for passengers to have a connection.

Nobody ever used the connection unfortunately.......
.....

Simon N.

The sugestion by the writer above about running some service 1 buses round via the Kings Statue is an excellent idea and is one way (perhaps the best in fact) to get the close connection as the bus garage area is indeed often congested. Unfortunatly as the writer points out the summer traffic problems would play havoc with the timetable though. Perhaps First could try this on a 'use it or loose it' basis for several months (subject of course to licencing periods with the Traffic Comissioner) and then if the stated passengers do not in fact appear to justify its continuation (as regretably based on past history may well happen) then no-one could accuse First of not having tried.
As to the running of the 210 by SWC at the same time as the First 10/X10, this is simply tactics to gain passengers waiting at bus stops along the road.
No weekend service existed on the 210 as it was too much of a risk of making a loss.
As to running the 210 via Preston Beach Road, whilst this would have allowed a greater spread of the interval (allowing for the tactics as mentioned above not again comming into play!) but in actual fact the passenger loadings from the Kings Statue to the bottom of the Ridgeway via PBR/Littlemoor Road are much less due to the lesser number of stop between Greenhill and the new road and thus simply dont justify more buses via PBR/Littlemoor Road - the section from Kings Statue to Chalbury Corner is of course very well covered by the First number 4 family of services plus the 2 hourly X53.
It is also intesting to notice that SWC say that Portland depot has a future as it supplies buses for 4 other routes - perhaps Mr Trehar could enlighten us as to what those routes are as with the also soon to end SWC service to Upwey Wishing Well and the loss late last year of the Downclose, The Grove and Portland Bill services i'd like to know just what 4 services Portland depot will still work.
There is of course the as yet unmentioned Wyke village service that again duplicates a First route over much of its route, but I am led to wonder just how much longer that will contiue from SWC.
It cirtainly seems that SWC is now only interested in the school contracts it operates (again with very old vehicles) but then perhaps thats the reason SWC bought Sureline in the first place.

Strange story about not going head to head with First as this is what SWC is doing with newer buses in Yeovil???

Yeovil and Weymouth are two very different places. Not only is Yeovil SWC`s home area, and an area that they no doubt have considerable market acceptance, its an under performing area for First that they are unlikely to waste valuable funds on defending the route network there from competitors.

Weymouth is a different matter however, and any competitor knows that First will vigorously defend any incursions.

Simon N.

Simon N states the situation regarding Weymouth & Yeovil very well.
The Yeovil area has seen a very great reduction in the operation by First over the last few years to the point in fact where First Somerset & Avon pulled out entirely and First Hampshire & Dorset stepped in to run a few small routes as a sub depot of Weymouth. These reductions by First in Yeovil were due as Simon N points out to the underperforming in Yeovil (loadings on some routes were very tiny) plus changes to council tenders and competition from a new operator called Nippy Bus. Most routes operated in the Yeovil area by South West Coaches are former Wakes of Wincanton (this was bought and formed the basis of SWC) or former Safeway Services (South Petherton) routes that go back many years and in most cases did not compete directly with First routes - many of these routes are now also being discontinued by South West Coaches.
As to the writer who wonders about the 'not going head to head with First' comment by the owner of SWC - as can be seen from the above this does not apply that much to Yeovil for the reasons stated (NippyBus was the main competitor in Yeovil for First) and as regards Weymouth the facts are these - at the initial meeting at Sureline when we were introduced to the directors of SWC and told what was to happen several of us asked the owner of SWC what the future was for our services in the Weymouth area - it was at this point he replied that although they (SWC) would maintain our existing services he could not go head to head with First - these were his words. As is now all too obvious the former Sureline services have gradually disappeared and a very poor attempt was made to do exactly what the owner said he couldnt do - go head to head with First.
Whilst, as Simon N has pointed out so rightly, some of today's problems in the bus industry are caused by the ridiculous free pass system together with high fuel prices etc. an attempt by a small company to 'cream-off' passengers from a major operators routes was bound to fail as that big operator can hardly be blamed for taking action to protect its revenue.
It is noticeable that the great majority of those passengers who say they need the through bus (one only has to look at a typical loading during a days work) are people who travel without paying a fare - being realistic NO bus company can operate as a charity so a lot of the problem comes back to the very issues that are raised over and over again.
The only way to help solve this problem is a major change to the pass system to give bus companies a sensible return for carrying these passengers - until that happens regretably we will continue to see bus routes cut, people who need to rely on buses (perhaps they cant drive due to medical problems say) left in a very difficult situation and eventually myself and other bus drivers out of a job owing to our employers cutting back on staff and pulling out of local bus work or closing down alltogether - this has happened to a good few bus companies in various parts of the country over the last two years.
Somebody will have to pluck up the courage to sort this mess out before too long as we have reached the point that the time-bomb of public transport is ticking.
Over to the politicians methinks.