tjhyde.co.uk

Yet again, Stagecoach Manchester appear to want to outdo themselves when it comes to providing an abysmal service.  Yet again I’ve been pushed to complain.  Yet again I’m posting it here for you all to see.

And if you like it and/or agree with it and/or know someone who would,  then please, share it with your friends!  Let’s spread the word.

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Dear Sir,

I’m sure you’re probably sick of hearing from me by now but I am afraid that I once again feel the need to complain about the ‘service’ you provide to your loyal customers; who, by the way are only loyal as they have no real alternative, especially as you seem to delight in driving all competition to the point where they feel they must sell their business to you. Such a rampant display of sheer greed and capitalism cannot have been envisaged when the decision was taken to privatise public transport. Indeed it seems to fly in the face of the idea that privatisation would benefit the customer through increased competition. Anyway, I digress (forgive me, I’m a frustrated and non-practicing economist; it comes with the territory)…

I had thought my relationship with your company couldn’t possibly reach a lower level than that reached over the festive period last year, but once again you have managed to go beyond all my expectations and provide a service even worse than I could have imagined almost a year ago.

The sorry tale starts on the evening of Friday 30 October.  After a week of work I left my office at 5pm, looking forward a nice, relaxing weekend at home.  Imagine my disappointment then when I got to the bus stop in Piccadilly Gardens to catch the 17:08 231 to Ashton and it didn’t arrive!  “It’s ok”, I thought to myself, “It’s probably just late.”  So I waited.  And waited.  “Ok, so it looks like it’s not going to come.  Nevermind, there’s another one at 17:23.  I’ll be late, but it’s Friday so it’s not so bad.”  17:23 came and went.  “Ok, this is getting pretty annoying now, but I guess it must be late, I’ll wait a bit.”  Now in between all this, at least two 231 buses came through the stand, only they were turning back at Littlemoss, which is no good for me!  And that’s not to mention the few Stagecoach buses that came straight through bearing the destination no bus traveller wants to see… Sorry Not In Service.  I have no idea where this place is, but I can only imagine it’s overrun with buses.

An Ashton bus finally arrived at 17:38 and I was able to get on my not so merry way.  Take note of that time.  17:38.  That’s half an hour of waiting.  That’s two buses ‘missing’.  Where were they?  Has the Bermuda Triangle finally got tired of the fame and relocated to somewhere between Manchester and Ashton and developed a taste for buses?  Probably not, but that’s the only rational explanation I can find.

Fast forward now, if you would, to tonight, the 3^rd November 2009.  (I was lucky enough to get a lift home in a friend’s car yesterday so I didn’t have to suffer your service).  As usual, I arrived at the stand in time to catch the 17:08 231 to Ashton, and for once it was in the stand and people were boarding!  Quite a lot of people were queuing.  In fact, too many people were queuing and the bus left with quite a few of us still waiting at the stand.  To add insult to injury, just after this bus left two more 231s pulled into the stand.  Both were only going as far as Littlemoss, which again is no use to me.

Now where this gets interesting is that on both occasions you had a member of staff at the stand.  Is it really beyond the realms of possibility for you to ask your staff to keep your paying customers informed?  He has a radio so I assume he is in contact with the depot and possibly even the drivers themselves.  Failing that, we’re in the 21^st century now, there are miraculous devices around called mobile phones.  I can only assume that he knew what was happening and knew where the missing buses were.  Why could he not let your paying customers know on Friday that they could expect a 30 minute wait for a bus?  Perhaps it’s because you don’t want to lose the business, I don’t know.

Perhaps of more interest to me is why your employee could not let people know tonight that there were two Littlemoss buses coming around the corner and ask the passengers who would be getting off between Manchester and Littlemoss to wait a little while and let us Ashton-folk, who have the cheek to live just a bit further away than the rest, get on first as they would otherwise have to wait 15 minutes.  But no.  Common sense does not seem to have a home in the corridors of power at Stagecoach Manchester and so it was just a free for all and I was left cold and bus-less.  Or even better, why could he not ask the driver of one of the 231s which arrived later to run the whole route to let us unfortunate Ashtonians get home?  I assume this is possibly something to do with overtime payments and your penny-pinching ways, but come on, your business is all about providing a service to customers so DO IT!  Having said that, I’ve come to the conclusion that customers are just an annoyance to you and you’d enjoy things far more if we weren’t around.

Your first letter to me, in effect, described me as a nobody.  I have to admit that such a display of honesty was a refreshing change from your usual question-dodging, buck-passing ways.

I would appreciate it if you could address my concerns and explain why two buses were missing on Friday, why your staff are not afforded the flexibility to provide a basic service and why you continue to provide a wholly unsatisfactory and inadequate service.  However, I won’t hold my breath.  I will also be sending a copy of this letter to the Service Delivery Director at the GMPTE, for what it’s worth.

Yours Sincerely,