Bus Vannin in Crisis

[0bserver]

48 minutes ago, Banker said:

Why how do you think they should be advised of cancellation? It was also on radio & app

I expect Bus Vannin to operate the timetabled services and not be swanning around doing private hire work for cruise ship passengers. 

[Katman]

2 hours ago, Banker said:

Presumably didn’t check Facebook for cancellation updates 

I checked their website and didn't see anything on there.

[Bazza Smurf]

2 hours ago, WTF said:

maybe the taxi drivers should all get mini buses and start competing with bus vannin ??  see how they like it.

The mini buses would likely need to be registered for private hire(pre-booked) only. I don't even know if it's possible for a private operator to gain a section 25 licence and use the bus stops. I'm sure Mr Long# wouldn't support the idea much.  

[Cambon]

1 hour ago, Bandits said:

The drivers are on an hourly rate. They just can’t be arsed working the hours they’re given. It’s the downside of zero hours contracts. If it’s sunny and they’ve got enough money in their back pocket they simply can’t be arsed turning up. They were offering double the standard rate for some shifts just to get people to accept work.

The sad thing here is that they clearly sacked off the taxpaying public so they had enough drivers to drive cruise passengers around. 

This is correct. I was talking to a driver that I know a few days ago. He said most drivers are on zero hour contracts and called in on an as and when basis. If it is a nice day, they cannot be bothered.

Wait until TT. That will be interesting. 

[Amadeus]

[Bandits]

27 minutes ago, Amadeus said:

Plenty of shiny new Sprinters on the pier this morning after the cruise ship berthed.  They seemed to have drivers for them.

[0bserver]

32 minutes ago, Amadeus said:

If you look at the edit history of that post on Facebook you can see they have cancelled a load, then un-cancelled some and then cancelled them again. 

It's absolute pandemonium. 

[Roger Mexico]

30 minutes ago, Cambon said:

This is correct. I was talking to a driver that I know a few days ago. He said most drivers are on zero hour contracts and called in on an as and when basis. If it is a nice day, they cannot be bothered.

Wait until TT. That will be interesting. 

Well it's not even a particularly nice day today and they've still managed chaos[1].  I suspect they put the full-time Longworth chums on cruise ship duty (because tips) and hope to drag in the casuals to cover the gaps.  And then realise that casual workers are ... casual.

Of course this is a typical example of how the government mindlessly copies the conventional economic wisdom of the UK and then is shocked when it doesn't work in a similar way to how it doesn't work there but with all sorts of additional local difficulties.  But then copying what the UK does, without thinking, is pretty much the only thing they are capable of and what they pay themselves so much to do.  (As we see from the Ranson case).

 

[1]  I see from the list Amadeus put up that they've apparently managed to arrange a 90 minute gap in services between the Island's two biggest towns at lunchtime on a weekday.

[0bserver]

The dishonesty is a big problem though. They're not short of staff. They've sent staff to do private hire work. 

[Banker]

Someone on Mannin line saying it’s because the drivers are tired from driving too long, all those empty buses to drive is tiring the poor lads out!

[0bserver]

11 minutes ago, Youaintseenme said:

I don’t think you have to be a genius to  figure out that there are legal restrictions on how many hours a bus driver can work in a set time, and how many consecutive days they can do without a day off.

I know a bus driver who is at home today and would quite happily be out earning, but for insurance purposes he has to have the day off.  It’s nothing to do with him being lazy

There's nothing wrong with those restrictions. The drivers should be limited to a maximum number of hours to protect the GMP. 

The problem is the inept management down at the Circus who have written a timetable that has no basis in reality... and tried to steal work from local coach companies. 

[Driver2020]

I know some drivers that drive HGV all day then drive buses in the evening.

[Banker]

3 hours ago, Driver2020 said:

I know some drivers that drive HGV all day then drive buses in the evening.

There’s a few with second job’s, bit like posties 

[0bserver]

They're truly in crisis. Even the Dark Overlord was out driving today.

[WTF]

14 minutes ago, 0bserver said:

They're truly in crisis. Even the Dark Overlord was out driving today.

is dark overlord a racist thing ?