Bus Vannin in Crisis

[Kopek]

What were they going to PErin beach for???

The little buggers will be on 15months summer holidays soon. Get them in class and teach them English Grammar!!!!

1 hour ago, english zloty said:

Apparently a school was due to go to Port Erin beach

What? The whole building!!!!

[ellanvannin2010]

1 hour ago, english zloty said:

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 😥

But if you are a driver on a ZHC or full time doing an extra shift and you are offered a cruise shift with chance of some tips or a bus full of kids, which are you going to choose?.

Edited July 6, 2022 by ellanvannin2010

[0bserver]

19 minutes ago, ellanvannin2010 said:

But if you are a driver on a ZHC or full time doing an extra shift and you are offered a cruise shift with chance of some tips or a bus full of kids, which are you going to choose?.

That's fair. 

 

But then if Bus Vannin weren't scalping the cruise work it wouldn't be a situation. 

[offshoremanxman]

27 minutes ago, ellanvannin2010 said:

But if you are a driver on a ZHC or full time doing an extra shift and you are offered a cruise shift with chance of some tips or a bus full of kids, which are you going to choose?.

The problem is with the management not the drivers. The drivers will always make the right decisions by them to maximize their take home pay. 

[Nellie]

26 minutes ago, 0bserver said:

That's fair. 

 

But then if Bus Vannin weren't scalping the cruise work it wouldn't be a situation. 

I suspect that part of the problem is that Tours IOM could no longer handle these cruise contracts, as they only have a handful of full size coaches.

https://www.tours.co.im/Fleet

I don't know what regular daily work Tours do these days, (KWC and Buchan, Poker Stars) but their available resources look fairly limited. It looks like the Island can only handle the cruise traffic if BV vehicles are involved. 

[Kopek]

One who hope that a zero hours driver would try to provide the service required by that contract?

However, if zero hours is all that that person get , that is a different matter.

If a zero hours driver is more committed to Hermes than BV. then that is something that BV should take into account???

Whatever, it still leaves BV short of drivers, presuming that is the problem and they do need to sort it out, no matter that the problem arises from their permanent drivers or the contracted extras?

[0bserver]

2 minutes ago, Nellie said:

I suspect that part of the problem is that Tours IOM could no longer handle these cruise contracts, as they only have a handful of full size coaches.

https://www.tours.co.im/Fleet

I don't know what regular daily work Tours do these days, (KWC and Buchan, Poker Stars) but their available resources look fairly limited. It looks like the Island can only handle the cruise traffic if BV vehicles are involved. 

That's a fair point. 

Then DfE need to look at catering for smaller cruise ships or incentives for Tours (or another private operator) to cater for the cruise marker. 

We ended up here as Tours shrunk their fleet when Bus Vannin started scalping the lucrative work like swimming contracts and cruise work. 

[Kopek]

4 minutes ago, Nellie said:

I don't know what regular daily work Tours do these days,

They have probably trimmed their service to what is available. Possibly what has been made available to them by the DfE! It may be pointless to compete for a contract that BV were also in line for???

[0bserver]

So much of this is damage caused during the tenure of Longworth. It will take time and money to fix but it's worth doing. 

[Annoymouse]

43 minutes ago, Nellie said:

I suspect that part of the problem is that Tours IOM could no longer handle these cruise contracts, as they only have a handful of full size coaches.

https://www.tours.co.im/Fleet

I don't know what regular daily work Tours do these days, (KWC and Buchan, Poker Stars) but their available resources look fairly limited. It looks like the Island can only handle the cruise traffic if BV vehicles are involved. 

For a privately run company I’d say that’s quite a decent fleet, but it’s a fleet that relies heavily on secured contracts and they aren’t going to buy some coaches on the off chance they get a phone call asking for support. The cruise contracts should go out to tender and Bus Vannin should only be involved if those contract conditions aren’t met.

 

[WTF]

10 hours ago, Nellie said:

I suspect that part of the problem is that Tours IOM could no longer handle these cruise contracts, as they only have a handful of full size coaches.

 

the problem is tours costx X times more than taxpayer subsidised buses, the cruise ships go for cheap as possible.

[Nellie]

10 hours ago, Annoymouse said:

For a privately run company I’d say that’s quite a decent fleet, but it’s a fleet that relies heavily on secured contracts and they aren’t going to buy some coaches on the off chance they get a phone call asking for support. The cruise contracts should go out to tender and Bus Vannin should only be involved if those contract conditions aren’t met.

 

I have cruised a lot, and shore excursions are usually organised by the cruise line's local shipping agent, or a local travel agent. They will hire in the number of vehicles/seats that they need, based on ticket sales, and they can work with whoever they want to. Not 100% sure that is how it works here, but it would be unusual for anything else to happen.

We're also assuming that Tours feel hard done by, or want more of this work, but the reality may well be that buying/leasing several more coaches, hiring more drivers, and finding somewhere to keep them, for an occasional day's work, simply isn't viable, or doesn't fit their business model. 

I'm not defending some of the dubious, and sharp, practices which BV have indulged in, on Longworth's watch, but the whole situation is probably a bit more complex than it first appears.

[Annoymouse]

35 minutes ago, Nellie said:

I have cruised a lot, and shore excursions are usually organised by the cruise line's local shipping agent, or a local travel agent. They will hire in the number of vehicles/seats that they need, based on ticket sales, and they can work with whoever they want to. Not 100% sure that is how it works here, but it would be unusual for anything else to happen.

When on these cruise excursions do you normally travel by bus? short of an open top bus doing a city tour. I just can’t see the savings of using a bus over a coach being passed onto the passengers.

You do raise a valid point though, someone needs to approach Tours and ask for their opinion.

[Banker]

Saw several complaints on Facebook regarding a long planned school trip to port Erin beach has now been changed to Douglas beach as buses no longer available!!

Douglas beach is shit & full of rocks & seaweed which seems a major complaint 

[kevster]

everyone moans about the bus service losing money, but when they do some commercial activity to pull in extra funds - everyone moans