Bus Vannin in Crisis

[0bserver]

11 minutes ago, Passing Time said:

as opposed to the regular bus services that were also arranged many months ago?  Go to tours if you want a wedding bus and leave the regular buses to look after the general public

 

Edited July 4, 2022 by 0bserver

[Amadeus]

47 minutes ago, Passing Time said:

as opposed to the regular bus services that were also arranged many months ago?  Go to tours if you want a wedding bus and leave the regular buses to look after the general public

This. BV should not be competing with private operators like this. 

[Roger Mexico]

1 hour ago, Passing Time said:

as opposed to the regular bus services that were also arranged many months ago?  Go to tours if you want a wedding bus and leave the regular buses to look after the general public

I presume Kevster's point was more that Bus Vannin will be having to deal with the consequences of Longworth's mismanagement for a good while yet.  Existing bookings will still have to be honoured and Tours (or other operators) may not be able to cover them at short notice, even if the clients were willing.  They're not going to want "Bus Vannin Ruined my Wedding" headlines.

Of course we'll all be living with the financial aftereffects of Longworth for years - all those unused minibuses need to be paid for.  But there also needs to close examination of all the 'revenue raising' schemes to see if they actually made money even in their own terms.  Whether there are the competent accountants in government to do so and the will to use them if there are is another matter.

[Boris Johnson]

27 minutes ago, Roger Mexico said:

I presume Kevster's point was more that Bus Vannin will be having to deal with the consequences of Longworth's mismanagement for a good while yet.  Existing bookings will still have to be honoured and Tours (or other operators) may not be able to cover them at short notice, even if the clients were willing.  They're not going to want "Bus Vannin Ruined my Wedding" headlines.

Of course we'll all be living with the financial aftereffects of Longworth for years - all those unused minibuses need to be paid for.  But there also needs to close examination of all the 'revenue raising' schemes to see if they actually made money even in their own terms.  Whether there are the competent accountants in government to do so and the will to use them if there are is another matter.

Or the equally as bad 

"Ian Longworth eat my hamster."

 

😉

[0bserver]

Another cruise ship is alongside Victoria Pier today and Bus Vannin are there... already reports of school children being abandoned again as buses have been cancelled. No advance warning on the Bus Vannin social media channels. 

[Dirty Buggane]

Is there non of the other 23 tosser's in the big white asylum going to say anything. You know like can we not get this sorted its making us look right chumps. Oh and if the minister in charge cannot hack it bin him off, or is there a shortage of back bencher's  whom want to get involved with this shit show. We all thought after Quayle it could not get any worse. SURPRISE

[Non-Believer]

On 7/4/2022 at 12:52 PM, Roger Mexico said:

I presume Kevster's point was more that Bus Vannin will be having to deal with the consequences of Longworth's mismanagement for a good while yet.  Existing bookings will still have to be honoured and Tours (or other operators) may not be able to cover them at short notice, even if the clients were willing.  They're not going to want "Bus Vannin Ruined my Wedding" headlines.

Of course we'll all be living with the financial aftereffects of Longworth for years - all those unused minibuses need to be paid for.  But there also needs to close examination of all the 'revenue raising' schemes to see if they actually made money even in their own terms.  Whether there are the competent accountants in government to do so and the will to use them if there are is another matter.

Well put Roger, and equally applicable to all the other legacies from political failures that the Island's population are going to be bearing for years to come, mostly financially.

Too many people don't understand that what these people leave behind after they've floated off, sweetly unaccountable in their cushioned lifeboats, takes many, many years of sorting out afterwards.

Edited July 6, 2022 by Non-Believer
extra bit

[0bserver]

1 hour ago, Dirty Buggane said:

Is there non of the other 23 tosser's in the big white asylum going to say anything. You know like can we not get this sorted its making us look right chumps. Oh and if the minister in charge cannot hack it bin him off, or is there a shortage of back bencher's  whom want to get involved with this shit show. We all thought after Quayle it could not get any worse. SURPRISE

They need to scrap all private hire and non-timetable work. 

Look at how many drivers they actually have (or perhaps don't have) and draw up a timetable based on that. 

It's not rocket science but it does seem to be beyond CanCom and the highly paid civil servants. 

People need a dependable bus service - it's better to have a reliable bus every 30 minutes than a possible bus that might show up every 15 minutes. 

[Roger Mexico]

3 hours ago, 0bserver said:

Another cruise ship is alongside Victoria Pier today and Bus Vannin are there... already reports of school children being abandoned again as buses have been cancelled. No advance warning on the Bus Vannin social media channels. 

There needs to be a much better policy from IOM Transport on their use of social media.  Like it or not people expect such sources to be useful for keeping them updated with service changes.  To do it a bit and then stop, just makes the endless stream of marketing blather they still seem to find the time to produce extra insulting.

There's a long-standing ideology in Manx Government that rather than do something that might be criticised, it's better to do nothing.  0% is somehow better than 99%.  This seems to be what is happening here and the DoI has to realise that people expect to kept up to date in these ways.  Obviously it's not just BV who suffer from this - we have seen the same with the Airport.

They claim that they're not cancelling school bus services, but what gets ignored is that certain other scheduled services get used heavily by schoolchildren to get to school (and even appear in school bus timetables) and if these are lost, then it has the same effect.

[0bserver]

8 minutes ago, Roger Mexico said:

There needs to be a much better policy from IOM Transport on their use of social media.  Like it or not people expect such sources to be useful for keeping them updated with service changes.  To do it a bit and then stop, just makes the endless stream of marketing blather they still seem to find the time to produce extra insulting.

There's a long-standing ideology in Manx Government that rather than do something that might be criticised, it's better to do nothing.  0% is somehow better than 99%.  This seems to be what is happening here and the DoI has to realise that people expect to kept up to date in these ways.  Obviously it's not just BV who suffer from this - we have seen the same with the Airport.

They claim that they're not cancelling school bus services, but what gets ignored is that certain other scheduled services get used heavily by schoolchildren to get to school (and even appear in school bus timetables) and if these are lost, then it has the same effect.

You're right - the railways need to be separated from Bus Vannin as they are not public transport. Bundle them in with MNH (or even better close them down). 

The messaging has been a joke - they advise of possibility of delays - that's no use to anyone. 

 

[Dirty Buggane]

Heads should be rolling over this.

As has been said Longworth has sailed off into the sunset with his wad of cash. Oh we have to pay his pension we are obligated.

We keep saying how we have our own Parliament and laws so change his contract(something he is more than happy to do to others) and give him sweet FA.

The Isle of Man where we are vindictive enough if you fuck up or try to screw us over.

Should be how it reads.

[Passing Time]

1 hour ago, 0bserver said:

You're right - the railways need to be separated from Bus Vannin as they are not public transport. Bundle them in with MNH (or even better close them down). 

The messaging has been a joke - they advise of possibility of delays - that's no use to anyone. 

 

Why close them down simply because you don't agree with them

[0bserver]

38 minutes ago, Passing Time said:

Why close them down simply because you don't agree with them

Keep them if you like, just stop funding them from taxpayers cash. Run them with volunteers. 

We need a smaller smarter government that only focuses on core services. The railways are a massive cost sinkhole. 

 

ETA bus services are a key public service - people rely on them to commute to work etc. so the subsidy for that is justifiable. 

Edited July 6, 2022 by 0bserver

[Passing Time]

1 hour ago, 0bserver said:

Keep them if you like, just stop funding them from taxpayers cash. Run them with volunteers. 

We need a smaller smarter government that only focuses on core services. The railways are a massive cost sinkhole. 

 

ETA bus services are a key public service - people rely on them to commute to work etc. so the subsidy for that is justifiable. 

They could also put trains on at a sensible time morning and evening and use them from south to Douglas and back

[english zloty]

Apparently a school was due to go to Port Erin beach but instead got taken to Douglas from Douglas due to a lack of drivers available to go south.

I really hope it’s not true but sadly it will be 😥