It’s Nice To Be Nice!

It’s always nice to know you are appreciated, and our drivers are very often the grateful recipients of generous tips and letters of thanks.  With that in mind, it was very interesting to read on the BBC’s website of a a phenomenon sweeping the internet, encouraging the public to be polite to their bus drivers and say thank you!  As our parents taught us, please and thank you cost nothing, and its refreshing to see that traditional values and manners still have a place in society today.  Have a look at the main article on the BBC website:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcthree/article/9ae046f9-323e-4215-8c22-0995b0a44a9d

Vacancies As John Dix Travel Continues to Grow

We are pleased to announce that our continued growth has led to the creation of a number of new positions that we are looking to fill with immediate effect.

Firstly, we are looking for a part time cleaner to join our team to aid in the preparation of our vehicles prior to going out on jobs.  This post involves cleaning the interior of the buses from top to bottom and helping to maintain the high standards that we set ourselves.  A willingness to use the jet wash and help with the cleaning of the exterior of the vehicles would be an advantage to any prospective applicant.

Secondly, we are recruiting for both full and part time drivers to join us.  Our workload is steadily increasing and we are looking for suitably qualified individuals to come on board.  Applicants should hold a full PCV driving licence and CPC.  The workload is varied and no two days are the same.  We currently operate both in the UK and in Europe and depending on personal circumstances and the applicant’s preference for full or part time employment, we can be quite flexible.

Both posts will qualify for a company pension and uniform and all applicants should be friendly, hardworking and enthusiastic.

If you feel that either of these roles would suit you and you are looking for a new challenge, please get in touch to arrange an interview.  Contact us info@johndixtravel.co.uk or 01452 886633.

School Routes Filling Up Fast!

After having a few technical issues with the school bus booking facility on our website, we are pleased to announce that it is now back up and running as normal.  A number of these routes are now very close to being fully subscribed – please book now to avoid disappointment.  If the route is showing as full, please register anyway as we will try to amend routes to accommodate everyone, or potentially lay on extra vehicles if necessary.

Those of you that used to use the Marchants service through Tewkesbury Road and Longford, we will amend our route accordingly if there are enough children in those areas that show an interest in using the service.

If you have any issues whilst registering or need to ask us a question, please email us info@johndixtravel.co.uk and we will get back to you as soon as we can.

School Bus Subscriptions 2018-19 NOW OPEN!

Although we are only in March, John Dix Travel have now opened the subscription for all school buses for 2018-19.  If you would like to enroll your children on any of our school routes, please follow the instructions below:

  1. Go to www.johndixtravel.co.uk
  2. Select ‘School Routes’
  3. Select the School your child attends
  4. Select the route that best suits you
  5. Fill in the form that is generated as accurately as possible
  6. Submit your details

No payment will be taken until September 3rd 2018 for places on our 2018-19 services.  If you get a receipt stating your subscription will start earlier please ignore it.

If you have any difficulty signing up, or questions in general, please let us know by emailing info@johndixtravel.co.uk or calling 01452 886633 and we will be glad to help.

Customer Service Fail!

Like most service industry providers, those of us in the bus and coach game know the importance of customer service.  The old adage ‘the customer is always right’ may not be applicable in all cases, but it is certainly true that we all need to go the extra mile to make sure the customer experience is the best that it can be.  This message obviously didn’t reach a bus driver in Halifax, who was involved in a tense stand off with a passenger on crutches, who asked him to move a little closer to the kerb to make his exit from the vehicle easier.

Now, we are fully aware that are always two side to every story, but something as easily avoidable as this should never have happened.  We pride ourselves on our customer service and actively encourage our drivers to go the extra mile, particularly with our school children, and try to treat everybody as we would like to be treated ourselves.  I’m sure the bus drivers of Halifax are a great bunch generally, but in this age of social media and cameras on mobile phones, we all need to remember that our performance is under greater scrutiny than ever.  Check out the story yourself by following this link:  http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5358953/Halifax-bus-driver-refuses-closer-kerb.html

Even the best of us encounter problems!

Premiership side Newcastle Falcons found themselves in a spot of bother late last week – proving the old adage that if it’s got wheels, it can cause you problems!  No operator in the country is immune to mechanical woes from time to time, and so it proved when The Falcons were en route to their challenge cup game in Tbilisi when the team coach become stuck, and despite their best efforts, it couldn’t be freed.  However, the key to problem solving in this industry is how you react, and in no time at all The Falcons were in replacement minibuses and back on the road.  Like all coach and bus operators, we experience technical issues from time to time, and we take our hat off to the quick response of the company in question!

Read the full story here:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/42746032

Home to School Services 2018-19

Although we are less than half way through the current school year, we will very shortly be opening up registration for our home to school services for the academic year commencing September 2018.  We are very close to launching the sign up process, which for the first week will be exclusive to current customers.  Please keep an eye on your emails and text messages as we will be notifying all parents that currently subscribe that registration is open.  We hope to do this before the end of this month.  As usual, demand for places will be extremely high, so it is vital that you respond at your earliest opportunity.  No fees are due until September.

We plan to operate all of our existing routes again from September, and would be very interested to hear of any other routes that you would like to see implemented.  Of course, there must be sufficient demand for us to put on a new route, but we are happy to look at any route where parents are struggling to get their children to and from school.

Keep an eye on your inbox over the coming weeks, as well as our Facebook and Twitter pages for further updates.

Cheap Rooms At Travelodge!!

You may just be recovering from the financial bombshell of Christmas, or maybe you’re waiting for the dreaded credit card bill to hit the doormat, so planning for a short break or getaway may seem miles from your thoughts.  But don’t despair, it may be worth taking a look at the recent offers that Travelodge have advertised, with a million rooms available for just £29.  These are spread across the country, and could give you a cheap break if booked quickly.  We are able to transport groups of any size from across Gloucestershire to anywhere in the country in our fleet of coaches and minibuses.  Why not have a look at the Travelodge Website and get us to provide the transport for your mini-holiday?  Here’s the story as reported on Gloucestershire Live: http://www.gloucestershirelive.co.uk/whats-on/whats-on-news/planning-school-holidays-travelodge-released-1025866

Day Trips 2018

Following some interesting feedback from our followers on social media, we are planning to re-launch our popular day trips for 2018.  These will hopefully have a broad appeal, with a strong family theme running throughout and lots of options for the half term breaks and summer holidays.  As well as the child friendly options, we will also be looking at running trips catered more towards adults such as theatre trips and race meetings.

We have been asking our Facebook followers to let us know the places they would like us to run coaches and minibuses to this year, and would be very appreciative of any further suggestions.  We are hoping to pick up in Tewkesbury, Cheltenham, Gloucester and Stroud if there is sufficient demand, and already have a good number of suggestions.  There are plenty of traditional favourites such as Cadbury World, Harry Potter Studios and London Theatreland, but we would love to have more feedback from you so we can make sure the trips we run are the ones you’d like to go on.  please email us info@johndixtravel.co.uk with your suggestions.

We are hoping to publish full details of this year’s day trip itinerary in the next month.

 

School Coach Trips – A Blast From The Past

As transport providers to many of the Gloucestershire’s schools and clubs, we are often asked to help out with coaches and minibuses for day trips around the country.  The destinations are very varied and can be as local as The Cathedral, or as far afield as Alton Towers, The Houses of Parliament or Warner Brothers Studios – the home of Harry Potter.  It was with great interest that we noticed a recent article on retro school trips on the Gloucestershire Live website, and a number of us recalled fondly visiting a number of these attractions that are now sadly no longer in operation.  A good number of them are though, and we regularly transport groups by coach and minibus to such places as The Corinium Museum, Sudeley Castle, Cotswold Farm Park and Clearwell Caves.

We of course go further afield, and in the past year have taken schools and clubs as far afield as Scotland, Ireland, Amsterdam, Lloret De Mar and Lille.  Why not give us a call and see if we can help with planning your next day trip or weekend away, but in the meantime have a read of this Gloucestershire Live Article and see if it brings back any memories!

http://www.gloucestershirelive.co.uk/whats-on/whats-on-news/you-went-school-gloucestershire-80s-1006233