Stagecoach bus are unaccountable

MilesT6060842

Mids_Costcutter said:

Largs suggested trying Bus Users UK. They are the approved Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) Body for bus and coach passengers and nominated body for dealing with complaints under the Passenger Rights Regulation. It sounds like you've exhausted the complaints process with Stagecoach.

To use an ADR process you may need to show evidence of non-responsiveness to your complaint.  If you have a response and you think it is unfair/unreasonable, go back to Stagecoach, say you plan to take it to arbitration, and you want a "deadlock" letter/email for the complaint.  (You could also send the deadlock letter in a complaint to Stagecoach CEO).

This may be effective in getting the complaint resolved, although if the issue is consistently poor service performance at best you only be able to get a string of refunds....

Vanillaman

swingaloo said:

What makes you say lazy, incompetent drivers? That's a sweeping and probably unfair statement.

Could be many reasons at play, not enough drivers, badly organised schedules, traffic issues etc, etc.

Try reading the original post again. This time consider taking it in first before replying.

Pollycat

I disagree that stagecoach bus drivers are lazy and incompetent.
However, I do agree that the service provided by stagecoach is not great (although it has improved in my area since I last commented on this thread last year).
The fault lies with management. 
Not with the drivers, who have to contend with roadworks, over busy roads, poorly maintained buses (although we have new electric buses on our road now).
Bus drivers do not deliberately run buses late or decide to not drive a route at all.

Vanillaman

As I have said, "I exhausted...." every effort. Here is an update I received from the new director of operations yesterday following the failure of the usual morning bus to arrive. After the tracker app showed that the bus was absent, it became clear that it wasn't going to arrive, forcing JLR workers to order an Uber. I called the director of operations. He was unaware of any problems and assured me he would investigate. He emailed me yesterday, expressing his frustration at the unacceptable conduct of drivers. He informed that the reason for the bus not arriving was that the driver casually showed up 30mins late for work and that engineers had also not prepared his bus. This was confirmation of what I had argued for over a year about the attitude of Stagecoach drivers. The managing director at the time agreed with me and took steps to ensure a better service. Drivers were routinely caught parked up in side streets when they should have been picking up passengers. They had a book of excuses to give passengers when they routinely showed up late, eg. bus broke down, road works, traffic accident etc. It was the same excuse every day. They didn't take into account that the same passengers were catching the same bus every day, so they remembered being told the previous day by another driver. They also didn't take into account that passengers could check to discover that the excuses were false. I recorded every incident over a period of time as evidence.

Pollycat

What evidence did you have to support your allegation made last year that Stagecoach drivers are "lazy and incompetent"?

As mentioned in an earlier post, that is a sweeping statement and cannot be substantiated - unless of course you have contacted every Director of Operations in every Stagecoach area and have received the same message.

Bigwheels1111

An issue with Stagecoach is, they took over all the small depots
They now want them all to be run the stagecoach way.
They are using a hammer to enforce this.
Not good.
Driver after driver are leaving.
The office staff with years of experience are leaving.
So you get newly trained drivers, who do not know the routes like the back of their hand, unsure of the ticket machine.
Both these issues cause them to run late.
Plus not enough drivers or support.
Most drivers try their best, without help or support.
What are they too do.
Bad drivers run early so they get 10 minutes at the end of the route for a fag, 
So you miss their bus.
Can you drive for up to 5 hours and 30 minutes?. Without a break or toilet stop.
That is what they are expected to do.
Even HGV Drives only drive 4 hours 30 minutes.