We’re 4 days into the Bee Network era and things are quite mutedly… business as usual.
The second sign of what was to come – after the ‘soft launch’ of the app the previous week – came on Saturday evening as the social media and website – a re-theme of the existing TfGM website – changed to Bee.
Over on Twitter/X the staff behind the newly rebranded @BeeNetwork account soon started jumping for joy and struggled to contain their enthusiasm that their usual passenger complaint response of ‘we aren’t the operator – here’s their details’ won’t wash their hands anymore by publishing/retweeting no fewer than 17 images of King Bee – sorry, Mayor B – at my last count over the weekend. And oh my, did the complaints soon flow into the in-tray of the “relevant departments” from the off.
With the Mayor B Fan Club busy fire fighting dispatches from confused passengers, the operators begun their battle in earnest. Early reports I saw from passengers suggested drivers weren’t using their ticket machines properly or at all – presumably the Stagecoach in-take not receiving training – resulting in many free rides. One grumpy hack at the local digi-rag Oldham Times tried the Bee app and vented after his QR code was rejected by First in the T2 area: “Despite my pleas, I was told I had to buy a new ticket, despite the app saying my original ticket was valid on any bus in Greater Manchester”. First confirmed their Ticketers haven’t had the new products setup. One bus I randomly picked out on BusTimes.org seemed to be flip-flopping between the two 10 routes despite being on the Brookhouse 10, wonder if system or driver got confused. The new on-board announcements were found to be on the quiet side and repetitive, using an AI-generated ‘posh’ voice to remind people of the bus route and destination at every stop. The voice is different to what I thought would be used – the lady who also does the Metrolink to keep things ‘similar’ would have been nice. I guess an AI voice makes things easier to update when changing stop names and won’t ever sound slightly different when re-recording. One well-intending message on the info screens reminding people to remember all their belongings felt it hit the wrong tone as it called a daughter “stuff”. “Thank you for travelling with us today. Phone? Bags? Daughter? Please check you’ve got all your stuff before you get off the bus.”
Other observations included one DBNW Enviro200 that spat out its rear axle on Chorley New Road near the end of the first day. Another photo showed an open interior access panel on a new BYD Enviro400.
Whilst at Bolton Interchange the proverbial hit the fan big time.
Messages started appearing on the information screens in the afternoon regarding “operational issues” with delays across the board. Things got that bad that Mayor B himself appeared to pass blame for the “teething problems” onto the new radio system, new IT system and drivers changing companies (that’s how I read the article. I wonder if this IT system means the duty system) with Go Ahead confirming itself so short of drivers it has brought in 85 drivers on 3 month secondments from elsewhere within the group – presumably also with paid-for hotels on top of the agency staff on higher wages. Ms Purcell earlier issued a statement in the late morning to media apologising but not elaborating further on what the issues were. One person observed on Facebook: “total chaos. Layover bays full, vehicles abandoned on stand, drivers milling around [without allocated duties]” and then went on to blame GNW’s lack of organisation. Another described “chaos” above a picture showing the apologetic live display with a 90-minute late 36: “load of buses parked up without drivers or with drivers that haven’t been shown how to drive the new buses yet”. I apologise for a second M.E.N. article link (I can only but apologise further for the amount of clutter, ads, and crap on their website) but one of their reporters chronicled their Monday morning sample of the network detailing some delays encountered (upto 1hr 45mins) with one passenger calling the situation “shit”. We must remember people feel more compelled to moan about bad things in life, especially when they see a notepad-wielding hack prodding for a scoop – the good things are then often drowned out by it.
I’m rather hesitant to blame the operators entirely at the moment. This is the biggest change to occur to the industry in 30-odd years and it wasn’t going to be smooth sailing on the maiden voyage. Not everyone seems to fully comprehend just what was involved – from the little things such as managing cleaning contractors to having to inspect and homologate 100+ vehicles from 3 fleets combining in one night. It isn’t just a case of dishing out new shirts (side note: I’m not a big fan of the new electricians, sorry.. Bee uniform – I hate cargo pants as they’re cumbersome and black polos seem ripe for showing off people’s dandruff problems, nobody needs to see that. Perhaps an exact replica of the mixed Metrolink uniform giving people a choice of yellow shirts & tie/scarf or black polos would be much better) and slapping a few stickers about the place. It wasn’t a total disaster and considering the scales of tasks involved that’s reassuring for the remaining 2 tranches. I recall the change from First to Diamond at Bolton WS wasn’t without similar bemoaning and disruption either. And bemoaning is what is happening by the bucket load. The admins of the Facebook group soon stepped in to stop the constant flow of complaints from enthusiasts grumbling about the smallest of issues by switching on ‘post approval’ in an attempt to stem the stream of consiousness.
I did go up and observe some movements on Saturday night – from public roads – at Bolton Weston St for a little bit. I didn’t quite know what to expect but things seemed to be moving steadily. A constant flow of vehicles in and out – Diamond taking some of their fleet up to Folds Rd or Eccles, First bringing in their Vantage fleet, GNW moving some fleet from Queens/Heywood and Wigan. Contractors and a fuel delivery weren’t allowed in until the official 0200 handover time. Signage people were already on site who soon got to work hanging up a mega 8ft+ banner above the front door with a slightly cheesy motivational poem emblazoned across it. A drive-by Folds Rd revealed little apart from a neatly and tightly parked yard as the gates were closed. Will we ever find out what the “operational issues” were exactly?
Later today there’s a Bee Network Committe meeting which are finally going from an odd ‘whenever’ irregular schedule to monthly. I’ll be making a trip up to Bolton and Wigan later this week to see things first hand, although they seemed to have stabilised a lot since Sunday. People need to remember this is the first week and things can only get better from here. Actually, the home-town of that song’s keyboard player is the focus for round 2 as Greater Manchester Buses South Limited move in and take over a current and former depot of GM Buses North in 177 days for Stagecoach’s turn.
