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GleadlessLad

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Posts posted by GleadlessLad


  1. 1 hour ago, HeHasRisen said:

    You would assume anyone buying that product would be told they have less time to use them than usual. 

    Maybe, or maybe not; I see though that Supertram posted on their "X" feed about an hour ago "Tram only products will remain valid even if they cross the changeover date. The changes referred to in the link relate to Stagecoach tickets that currently include Stagecoach buses and tram."


  2. 42 minutes ago, Andy C said:

    The operator of Supertram will be changing from Stagecoach to a new publicly owned company which will be controlled by the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority.

     

    The only changes to tickets will be those that are Stagecoach only - they will no longer include tram as it will no longer be a Stagecoach service and of course tickets will no longer be sold via the Stagecoach website/app. 

     

    If you currently buy a Stagecoach only ticket such as the Silver MegaRider and still want a ticket that includes both bus and tram you'll need to buy an all operator ticket from the Travelmaster range instead - https://www.sytravelmaster.com/

     

    Customer information from Stagecoach at https://www.stagecoachbus.com/promos-and-offers/yorkshire/changes-to-tickets-march-24

    Thanks - but what about the"Tram Only" tickets e.g. "Tram Only Monthly Mega rider", "Tram Only Flexi 5" (5 Dayriders to be used within one month) etc?

     

    If I bought a Tram Only Flexi 5 on e.g. 12th March, normally I'd have until 11th April to use those 5 Dayrider Tram Only tickets.  But would I find instead, on 22nd March,  that I was unable to use any of the 5 tram tickets that I had remaining?


  3. 6 hours ago, HeHasRisen said:

    Ive explained why the Spring Lane one cant be used. There are no other crossover points between the Station and where the fault is.

     

    No idea why they arent doing a Halfway to Gleadless (?) shuttle, suppose most of the traffic on the route is into town so that would be taking people out of the way, may as well just jump on a bus direct at Halfway.

    Trams have run just between Townend (where there's a crossover) & Halfway & back - for weeks - during previous rail replacement work e.g. when they did City Rd, we had a rail replacement bus between town & Townend with folk then able to board a tram again Townend to continue their journeys towards Halfway.

     

    A number of trams were between those two stops when the break was discovered, but for some unfathomable reason they were all just immediately sent back to the depot (the break's on the outbound track).

     

    So I don't see why they couldn't have at least run the service between Townend & Halfway as they've successfully done in the past - on this occasion, they decided straight away not to bother.


  4. 4 minutes ago, hackey lad said:

    I think the weld is in the centre of  it , dark patch at top and flattened off on bottom. Looks like they cut it either side to take it out 

    If the weld's between the gaps, then the weld appears to be intact?

     

    That does look like the affected piece of rail, when I spotted it last week white marks had been painted further along the rail from the two breaks - possibly to indicate where to cut when the damaged rail's removed?


  5. 18 minutes ago, Irene Swaine said:

    I don't think The Star can be trusted as a reliable source of "journalism". Stagecoach themselves said it's curved rail that's defective. The Star probably picked a random picture from library stock.

    The Star's photo is - on this occasion - accurate - I know because I've seen the rail break myself.

     

    If anyone wants to check, it's on Ridgeway Rd, just as traffic turns left onto there from the one way westbound section of Hurlfield Rd after the entrance to Asda's car park.

     

    The break's in the outside rail, adjacent to the gap in the railings where there's a non-light-controlled pedestrian crossing point.

    • Like 1

  6. The unions pushed Sheffield Council into conducting a Job Evaluation exercise for all employees about 14 years ago.  Pay for some posts was then reduced, while pay was increased for other posts.  Obviously this caused a lot of upset & stress for those folk who'd been appointed to a particular grade, only to be told - often many years later - that the grade for their job was now being arbitrarily reduced & therefore their pay would be cut - often significantly - when they had mortgages to pay etc.

     

    A number of departments then suffered a loss of experienced staff as people left to work for other employers who were paying something like the original rates, while SCC subsequently struggled to fill the resulting vacancies with the right calibre of person because the remuneration wasn't judged as being competitive by potential applicants.

     

    Throughout that job evaluation process (circa 2009), SCC repeatedly said that it was necessary in order to protect the authority from any liability in future for large expenses resulting from equal pay claims.

     

    After the process had ended, all new posts ever since were run through the same Job Evaluation criteria to ensure "fair grading".

     

    Hence I find it difficult to understand why GMB seem to be trying to re-visit the process?

     

     


  7. Ah yes, the man who SCC appointed as Chief Exec during the late 1990s.  The first thing he did was to announce a wholesale privatisation / sell off of Council services "to reduce costs & improve the service to the public".

     

    The first batch was sold off to CSL (who later changed their name to Liberata because CSL had become extremely unpopular with the public due to a multitude of service delivery issues).  Then, when re-tendered at point of contract expiry, Capita got their hands on that tranche of work...

     

    The vast majority of the services he flogged off to the private sector have since been taken back in-house by SCC - hence a failed experiment.


  8. 2 hours ago, Lemmy117 said:

    Not sure about the doors, probably they are air operated the same as on buses.

    Yes, the doors on the trams are operated by compressed air - certainly on the "old" Siemens fleet, anyway.

    13 hours ago, dutch said:

    Lots of tram related issues and delays lately

    Yes, things do seem to be going downhill service-wise again recently, with regular tram failures yet again.


  9. I too live very close to a tram route & agree that some trams are definitely much noisier than others.  I don't think it's necessarily due to passenger loadings because there seems to be no difference, day or night.

     

    I suspect that it's to do with the condition of the tram itself - if wheels are a bit worn but not yet at the stage where they need reprofiling (or require new metal tyres if, like locomotives, they have those shrink fitted on to the wheels?) then that will probably cause a vibration making the bogies / chassis rattle?  Also, worn track is likely to exacerbate this situation?

    • Like 1

  10. Supertram's Twitter feed on Friday & Saturday evenings indicated a number of issues at the end of the day's festivities, the main ones as follows:-

     

    1) Some of the stops aren't being used (trams just going straight past) for reasons of safety.  List of stops seems to vary by tweet but the gist of it appears to be avoid Malin Bridge & all stops after Leppings Lane & before Shalesmoor.

     

    2) All trams being held for some time & not going anywhere when people are coming out of the park, causing a  very large gap in service frequency & severe disruption right across the network.


  11. 5 minutes ago, dutch said:

    Maybe just go back to the old fashioned horse drawn trams again without cables. It will be better than nothing.

    Ha ha there'd no doubt still be cancellations & disruption, with a new excuse of a lack of horses!


  12. There seems to be nothing at all on Supertram's website, at the moment, with regard to the service suspension between Birley Lane & Halfway.  Just a message about the forecast for hot weather on Monday & Tuesday, suggesting that customers should think carefully before using their service on those two days.

     

    Supertram did post about the service suspension on their Twitter feed at 07:16 this morning, just stating that this is until further notice; it's now 9 hours later & they've posted nothing else on there since 07:16.


  13. From 1994 until late 2019, the Herdings Park frequency (Mon to Sat) was 2 per hour in the daytime & 3 per hour in the evening.  The evening frequency was then reduced at the start of Dec 2019 (hence nothing to do with Covid) to 2 per hour.

     

    Following the removal in early summer 2021 of the Covid restrictions on socialising, the "late 2019" frequency of 2 trams per hour (Mon to Sat during all hours of service) was reinstated.  That lasted until the end of November 2021 when Supertram introduced a "Temporary Emergency Timetable", due to a shortage of drivers, cutting the Herdings Mon to Sat service down to one tram per hour during all hours of operation; other changes included an evening service reduction on Blue & Yellow Routes from 3 per hour to 2 per hour.

     

    6 months later now & these "Temporary Emergency" arrangements - which we were assured would be implemented for a short period only to give time for Supertram to recruit & train sufficient staff to provide the normal level of service - remain in place.  A few minor tweaks were made to the timetables at the end of May 2022 but the "temporary" reduced frequencies were not changed.

     

    I haven't commented about Sunday frequencies because I don't use the trams on Sundays.

     

    The Purple Route, while admittedly the least used part of the network, is a lifeline for many Herdings residents.  Additionally, for those tram users who live between the city centre & Gleadless Townend, it serves to alleviate some of the overcrowding on the Blue Route at busy times by providing an additional service into & out of the city.

     

    Perhaps more people would use the Purple Route if it ran more frequently e.g. twice per hour, as it did between early December 2019 & the start of the pandemic - & again between early summer 2021 & the end of November 2021?

     

     


  14. 6 hours ago, busdriver1 said:

    Dare I suggest that with the impending end of the contract Stagecoach may not feel inclined to purchase and hold in stock,  spares that may not get used during their tenure?  Cynical I know but thats the way they tend to work,

    A good point.  I used to manage (& re-let) public sector contracts & there was always a clause which stated that, at point of expiry, re-tender & new award, the incoming contractor would have to purchase the maintenance stock from the outgoing provider at a price which had been stated within the Invitation To Tender documentation.


  15. I believe that the contract with Stagecoach expires in 2024.  I've also read that the operation will then be "brought back in house" & operated by SYPTE, with a lot of central govt funded investment in the system.


  16. No Tram Train to Rotherham yet again this morning due to Network Rail issues.  Then as soon as that was resolved Supertram promptly cancelled a number of this afternoon's Tram Train services stating that they had no staff.

     

    You really couldn't make it up 


  17. Some of Mr Crouch's memories are recorded by Pauline Shearstone in her book "Gleadless from Village To Suburb".  His memories are on pages 125 to 130 of the edition which I own.

     

    He was born in the cottage kitchen on Croft Rd in 1896, his family having occupied the premises for many generations.  The ceilings were so low that you could reach up & touch them.

     

    His recollections include working at Woodthorpe Pit & his life in general.

     

    There are a few photos of the old cottages on the Picture Sheffield website I believe.


  18. I was involved in a nasty accident at this junction a couple of years ago, travelling as a passenger in a car which was heading from Bradway towards Meadowhead roundabout.  As we approached the junction at about 30mph, an oncoming vehicle, which was aiming to turn right into Greenhill Avenue, failed to give way at the "Give Way" line & hit us almost head-on.  We ended up on top of the traffic island at the top of Greenhill Avenue while the other (less substantial) vehicle was spun through 180 degrees & came to a halt about 30 feet back down the main road with all airbags activated.  A resident came out to help & she commented that this was the second such accident at that location within the last week.

     

    The first comment made by the driver of the other vehicle was that the the accident was our fault because he had a green light therefore we'd gone through on red.  I explained to him that the traffic lights were nothing to do with the junction & instead related to the Pelican Crossing; to his credit, when he'd realised what he'd done, he then accepted full liability for the accident.

     

    £12,000 of damage was caused to the vehicle in which I was travelling - both cars were written off.  I was lucky to escape with relatively light injuries (chest compression caused by the seat belt) but it could have been so much worse.


  19. Thanks Andy C - you're right, the timetable on the website via the link does indicate that, wef 12 April, the late evening trams will be running on the full Blue Route, thank you.

     

    It's a bit odd because I previously downloaded a Blue Route timetable, via a link which Supertram had posted on their Twitter Feed, which also states wef from 12 April - & that definitely shows that the last tram from Malin Bridge to Halfway departs Malin Bridge at 21:43, thereafter they terminate at Cricket Inn Rd instead of Halfway.  I guess that it's probably been updated since.

     

    For me, the reduced daytime frequency isn't really an issue at present because I'm fortunate enough to still be working at home, which won't change for the foreseeable future.

     

    Thanks again.


  20. Thanks Andy.

     

    Do you have any idea please of any plans by Supertram to reinstate the pre-Covid timetable for the Blue Route? 

     

    Currently the last tram from Malin Bridge to Halfway departs Malin Bridge at 21:43.  This means that there's no service whatsoever from  City Centre to Halfway after 22:00.

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