The dreaded FIRST BUS!

majorhoundii · Post by **majorhoundii** » Wed 15 Aug, 2012 10:19 pm

Riponian wrote: First West Coast aaargh!Business as usual for Worst? Promise earth, see if they can run the grottiest stock, reduce services, employ the surliest staff and of course - as a matter of policy - fleece the "customers" and then come cap in hand to the taxpayer when they've not enough to pay six figure bonuses to their board. Given that even in its short life this goverment's record of "looking after" its friends is well known, and given First's record the question has to be asked?

Bracken · Post by **Bracken** » Thu 16 Aug, 2012 10:28 am

With regard to Firstgroup winning the West Coast franchise i last month travelled to Cornwall from Paddington to Penzance on the overnight sleeper in a sleeping berth.The service was excellentand i could not find any fault in both going and return journeys.My only wish was that a sleeper service served Yorkshire withthe south west of England.

biofichompinc · Post by **biofichompinc** » Wed 03 Oct, 2012 2:39 pm

BIG N wrote: majorhoundii wrote: They've won the West Coast Main Line franchise. Just heard that on the lunch time news and quite frankly I think its a total disgrace.The west coast main line service is far from perfect but Virgin have improved it ten fold from what it was under B.R.On the other hand the Great Western has continually failed to produce a quality service under the owenership of First. Bit of a 'volte-face' on this. Have a look at......http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-19809717

somme1916 · Post by **somme1916** » Wed 03 Oct, 2012 3:17 pm

salt 'n pepper wrote: BIG N wrote: majorhoundii wrote: They've won the West Coast Main Line franchise. Just heard that on the lunch time news and quite frankly I think its a total disgrace.The west coast main line service is far from perfect but Virgin have improved it ten fold from what it was under B.R.On the other hand the Great Western has continually failed to produce a quality service under the owenership of First. Bit of a 'volte-face' on this. Have a look at......http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-19809717 Yes,S & P and has wiped £millions off the share value of First group !

biofichompinc · Post by **biofichompinc** » Wed 03 Oct, 2012 4:02 pm

somme1916 wrote: Yes,S & P and has wiped £millions off the share value of First group ! Isn't that only a cause for concern for shareholders?Sorry to sound uninterested, but I'm not one.

somme1916 · Post by **somme1916** » Wed 03 Oct, 2012 6:45 pm

salt 'n pepper wrote: somme1916 wrote: Yes,S & P and has wiped £millions off the share value of First group ! Isn't that only a cause for concern for shareholders?Sorry to sound uninterested, but I'm not one. Me neither just so long as they don't attempt to claw anything back via fare hikes.

biofichompinc · Post by **biofichompinc** » Wed 03 Oct, 2012 9:04 pm

More apologies coming your way from me Somme1916.I completely misjudged your earlier eMail. It sounded to me like you had taken a beating on the markets because of the North West mainline bidding fiasco.Hang on to those bank shares though!

somme1916 · Post by **somme1916** » Wed 03 Oct, 2012 9:22 pm

salt 'n pepper wrote: More apologies coming your way from me Somme1916.I completely misjudged your earlier eMail. It sounded to me like you had taken a beating on the markets because of the North West mainline bidding fiasco.Hang on to those bank shares though! No problems Salt & Pepper......tbh I don't possess shares of any monetary value,it's hard enough balancing the budget these days.Never mind,there's people out there a lot worse off than humble me.Think i've probably bought a few First buses several times over the last years !

raveydavey · Post by **raveydavey** » Thu 11 Oct, 2012 8:56 pm

Just out of sheer exasperation and indignation, I post this tale and hope it gives some explanation as to why bus passenger numbers in Leeds are in near terminal decline.Mrs ravey was on a bus travelling up York Road today, and when it stopped at Burger King (Killingbeck) a woman boarded and asked for a ticket to "Chiltern Mills" - this is opposite Coe's at Cross gates if you're not familiar with the area.The fare was an astronomical TWO POUNDS. This is a distance of a little over half a mile and just three stops. The poor woman could have booked a private hire cab for less. You might almost thinks she'd asked to be driven to the actual Chilterns at that price.How on earth can Worst justify these prices? I know you can buy day tickets, etc which clearly work out cheaper, but two quid to go three stops? It's nothing less than daylight robbery. Still, with Metro nicely in their pocket and no competition to speak of, it's clear they can charge what they like....

stutterdog · Post by **stutterdog** » Thu 11 Oct, 2012 11:11 pm

raveydavey wrote: Just out of sheer exasperation and indignation, I post this tale and hope it gives some explanation as to why bus passenger numbers in Leeds are in near terminal decline.Mrs ravey was on a bus travelling up York Road today, and when it stopped at Burger King (Killingbeck) a woman boarded and asked for a ticket to "Chiltern Mills" - this is opposite Coe's at Cross gates if you're not familiar with the area.The fare was an astronomical TWO POUNDS. This is a distance of a little over half a mile and just three stops. The poor woman could have booked a private hire cab for less. You might almost thinks she'd asked to be driven to the actual Chilterns at that price.How on earth can Worst justify these prices? I know you can buy day tickets, etc which clearly work out cheaper, but two quid to go three stops? It's nothing less than daylight robbery. Still, with Metro nicely in their pocket and no competition to speak of, it's clear they can charge what they like.... Me and Mrs SD were going to go from Farsley to St James yesterday on the no.16 bus,but as my appointment for my cancer check-up was for 09.10 we realised we wouldnt get free as it was too early to use our bus passes.I don't know what the fare would have been but if what you say is true it could have been about £6.00! So, we went in the car which cost us about £3.00 in diesel and £1.40 to park in the multi-storey at the Bexley Wing. It only took us 30mins to get there too,probably half the time the bus would have taken. How does the City Council think they can get people to travel by public transport when the fares are so high? There's no incentive at all for people to leave their cars at home! For anyone who's interested I was pronounced clear again!