A Week of 12A's

The 12A's have been running for a week now and I was going the write a full, carefully considered, well worked out appraisal of the good point and the bad points.

But I'm too knackered.


The picture below sums it up nicely.



"When will the bloody bus turn up?"



Go to duplicatebus for an article in the Herald Express re the 12A and the now defuct number 3

Road Works Newton Abbot.

Yes, I know this is Paignton Bus Station and I know that Newton Abbot is 8 miles away but the road works there are begining to seriously affect bus running in the Bay.

If you come into Newton from the North there are two ways through town, either down East Street or along The Avenue. The buses come along The Avenue, usually without too much difficulty. However the first thing that has happened as part of the road works is that East Street is now one way heading north. This means that all the through traffic is coming along The Avenue and the buses are being delayed on every trip. This, coupled with that fact that the 12 has gone from being a 7 or 8 min service into Brixham to a 15 min service is the reason for this long queue for the Brixham bound number 12 at 5 o clock yesterday afternoon.

These road works in Newton are long term road works, lasting until mid December. Some thing positive needs to be done to ensure that passengers are not left standing around waiting long periods for a bus that never seems to turn up. At the moment the policy seems to be "Wait and see what happens." A more aggressive strategy is needed.

A follow on from the above situation was that half an hour later I managed to seriously upset an other driver. I was waiting to take over from the driver of the bus that all these people were waiting for. When it arrived an other bus also arrived, always happens, wait ages for a bus and two turn up. We both loaded up and I set off first. When I got to Brixham I loaded up and the second bus arrived, unloaded and set off for Newton without loading. No problem with that, I had all the waiting passengers on board and followed him up New Road out of Brixham. As I left a third bus arrived and the driver, as we passed each other pointed at his watch, asking how late I was. But I was gone before I could answer. The bus in front of me stopped at the first stop to pick up and I stopped behind him to drop off. I left enough to go round him but the eaderly lady wanted me to take her right to the stop so I had to wait until the bus at the stop had gone instead of pulling round it, as would be expected of me, and picking up passenger future up the road.

Then the radio went, a driver asking me how late I was, "15 mins". He said he was 30 mins late. At that point I though it was the driver behind me and I made a flippant remark about going for a world record. Drivers dislike running late even more than passengers and running seriously late makes me either flippant or sarcastic. On this occasion I was a mixture of both. It was only after I had made the comment that I reallised that it had been the driver of the bus in front who could not understand why I had not passed him at the bus stop. Sorry Mike, I would have passed you if I could and I absolutly would not have said what I said if I had know it was you on the radio.

Don't Press Buttons Marked EMERGENCY.......

........Except in an EMERGENCY!!!

I went into Brixham Bank Lane yesterday afternoon, I was running 11 mins late due to taking over the bus 15 mins late. There was a 12A on the bus stop, parked about 6 feet short (lack of proper training?) which did not leave me, a number 12 much room. As I had not seen an other 12 behind me I pulled on to the stop and loaded the passengers who were there. While I was doing this an other number 12 came into Bank Lane. Now there is defiantly not room for 3 buses and this latest arrival was blocking the whole of the Town Square except for the minor road that comes up from the harbour. As I had loaded all the passengers I could see I closed the doors, checked the mirrors and prepared to reverse back 3 feet so I could get out from behind the badly parked 12A. I moved back a foot and a car emerged from the side road so I stopped. I was just about to move off when a little old lady came and stood by the doors. Now at this point I was definatly what is know in the trade as "Committed to Go." I had reversing lights showing and cars behind me waiting to let me go; to have not gone now would have confused the car drivers and it is not conducive to road safety to confuse car drivers. I again made sure it was safe and released the brake to go when an other woman came up and gestured angrily that I should open the door and let the little old lady on. Again I refused pointing to the bus and the chaos behind. Where upon the woman opened the doors using the Emergency button. This was outrageous. This was not an emergency. A emergency is where someone's life or limb is in danger; not when some one wants to get on a bus that is committed to go with an other bus behind that was due out in 2 mins. Any way the little old lady got on and while I was dealing with her several other people came up and boarded the bus which ment I was causing even more confusion and adding to the possibility that Brixham would end up grid locked. All the car drivers behind must have been muttering nasty (nastier) things about bus drivers and how not to run a bus service. Finally I pulled away with 35 people on the bus. The bus behind (who was on time) left 2 mins later with two people on board. All that trouble to save a little old lady a two minute delay.

Look who's back!

Once again we have road works in the Corbin Head area. This is the 8th time in two years that this bit of road has been dug up and traffic has been disrupted.

It is to be hoped that with all this practice they will eventualy get it right and go away once and for all.

Free travel on Stagecoach Buses!

FREE FARE'S FAIR FOR GUIDE DOG TRAINERS

BY PHILIPPA WALKER for the Herald Express

Guide dog trainers in the Bay will be able to travel for free on Stagecoach's local bus services.The bus company has linked up with the Guide Dogs for the Blind Association in Torquay to boost the training and development of future guide dogs.
Young guide dog pups spend most of their first year with a puppy walker volunteer, who teaches basic obedience and gets them used to a home environment and the noise and bustle of towns.
They will also prepare the dogs for their working life ahead, which includes taking them on public transport including buses, trains and taxis.The new initiative will play a big part in helping the future guide dogs get used to public transport and busy environments at an early age.

Nice one Stagecoach!