First takes away easy access buses… and this might explain why…
onight’s Glasgow Evening Times quotes from various people along First Glasgow’s No. 11 route (Parkhall – Bishopbriggs), a fairly long two hours or so end-to-end trip, which was converted to ex-London Dennis Trident/Plaxton President’s last year. At the time, the recycled buses (remember they became surplus to First in London when Stagecoach won the 25 when it was converted to bendibuses, stating that the garage they had was not suitable for artic use) were put on the route under great fanfare. At the time, some people questioned why the fanfare for what was basically the same as the low-floor single deckers, and the Volvo/Gemini’s entering service on the south side, mostly at Larkfield depot, and the “investment” of a bus that had already done many hard years at work in east London. The press release at the time (4th August 2005) said…
Local bus passengers in Glasgow are set to benefit from significant improvements to service 11, thanks to an investment in higher quality vehicles from bus operator First.
From early August, this route will be upgraded to operate with low floor double deckers, in response to feedback from passengers and locally elected representatives. These new vehicles will benefit from bright modern interiors, equipped with heating and ventilation which will allow for a more comfortable, relaxing and pleasant journey for passengers. They will offer super low floor, easy access for parents with buggies, people in wheelchairs and the elderly, making public transport more accessible for everyone. All buses are fitted with a ‘kneeling’ mechanism, which allows the driver to lower the front passenger side door to the pavement for even easier access.
Commenting on this latest move, Eric Stewart, First’s Managing Director in Glasgow said:
“These low floor double deckers will be used on service 11, providing maximum comfort and capacity on one of our key corridors which provides vital links to key landmarks in Glasgow such as Asda at Robroyston, Tesco Extra in Springburn, the Royal Infirmary and Glasgow University. We hope that by offering customers better quality vehicles, journeys will be more pleasant and comfortable for our regular passengers and more people will be encouraged to travel with us ”.
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This most recent investment in new vehicles comes just months after First announced a £29 million investment in 220 brand new vehicles for Greater Glasgow. The first 84 of these vehicles are currently operating on services 16, 18 and 44, which serve the west end of the city. Last year, the route of service 11 was improved to operate to the St Mary’s Road area of Bishopbriggs to allow passengers greater access to shopping and leisure facilities.
First’s representative basically said that the reason for this was because the service was not busy enough. So, why use the PS types – a Volvo single deck bus with Alexander bodywork, which has a flat floor but three steps up at the front – instead of some of the new single deck Volvo/Wright easy access buses that are now flooding the city? They’ve got even less seats in them!
Yes, you might begin to wonder why. This is not the first route to lose easy access buses – the old 71 (now the 40), X8, 41, are just three random examples that spring to my mind – and I live around 90 miles from these routes! So, why did the 11 seem to qualify for an upgrade anyway? Well, former MD Eric Stewart, who has just left on medical grounds, used to live on the route…
I’ll let you write your own punchline on that one… suffice to say, it’s at times like this when those who like to stick it to privatisation and profits have it in the bag… if the 11 is reduced to a 30 minute daytime service due to “lack of demand” (and First has been fairly tight at removing low demand services, following their public enquiry and licence restrictions), well, just wonder “what might have been”.
posted by Suzy Scott @ 23:53
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