Rate your local bus service/company!

[GusB]

Okay, let's stop this line of discussion here and not become too tangled up in Merseytravel. I think we've gone way beyond simply rating your local operator!

 

[L401CJF]

I fully agree with the original comments on Merseytravel. Yes funds are tight, but they're being spent in the wrong places. Don't even get me started on the farce that is the "Child" Myticket.

Moderators - Perhaps the thread could be split into a new thread to discuss Merseytravel and their various schemes and bus reviews?

Going back to topic my local bus route is route 7 Ellesmere Port to Rivacre operated by Stagecoach Chester. Fairly quiet little route, only a 30min round trip and runs at a 30min frequency. Definitely worth a 9.5/10. Pretty punctual, a mix of bus types and ages but generally clean and drivers usually alright. I have a staff pass for another operator so don't pay but the day ticket is great value for the huge area it covers. Usually runs late in peak times but what can you do given the amount of queues it sits in. Only reason it doesn't get a 10 is due to no evening or Sunday service.

 

[LucyP]

Leaving cars at home isn't a gimmick, it's basically the entire point of city public transport.

Please will you tell that to the public transport operators? In Harrogate, from bus stop closest to the New Park Roundabout into town is 1 mile, and the single fare is £2.80. If there are 2 of you, then it is the same price as a taxi. Any more than 2, then a taxi is cheaper than the bus. There is plenty of free parking in the town centre, especially at the moment. Driving the car 1 mile does not cost £2.80.

 

[Llandudno]

Please will you tell that to the public transport operators? In Harrogate, from bus stop closest to the New Park Roundabout into town is 1 mile, and the single fare is £2.80. If there are 2 of you, then it is the same price as a taxi. Any more than 2, then a taxi is cheaper than the bus. There is plenty of free parking in the town centre, especially at the moment. Driving the car 1 mile does not cost £2.80.

Super posh electric buses to pay for...it is Harrogate after all!

 

[LucyP]

The electric ones don't run on that route, and it's the same price whether you get the 36 with all waste of money features, or a clapped out 24 with none! And the New Park side of Harrogate isn't the posh part!

 

[Deerfold]

Please will you tell that to the public transport operators? In Harrogate, from bus stop closest to the New Park Roundabout into town is 1 mile, and the single fare is £2.80. If there are 2 of you, then it is the same price as a taxi. Any more than 2, then a taxi is cheaper than the bus. There is plenty of free parking in the town centre, especially at the moment. Driving the car 1 mile does not cost £2.80.

Do you usually only go one way? A return/day ticket is £4.80. If driving 1 mile doesn't cost £2.80, why does a taxi charge you £5.60? If you were running a car, how much would you expect depreciation and vehicles taxes to be per day?

 

[zuriblue]

My local outfit in Switzerland is called RVBW (Regionale Verkehrsbetreib Baden Wettingen - Baden and Wettingen regional transport service) It's an AG (Joint Stock company) 100% owned by the local authorities in the Baden AG area - a bit like the joint boards of olden tymes.

They're pretty good, with a small network of 12 routes. The main trunk routes tend to see 18m artics with 12m fixed buses evenings and Sundays, they also have a couple of dual door Sprinters for the smaller routes (mainly due to the roads, my local Sprinter route wouldn't work very well with a bigger bus due to some of the bends) and a couple of 9m fixed for routes with a heavier load and bad bends. Generally during the day the main trunk routes operate on a 15 minute headway and combine to give a 7-8 minute headway.

Fares are reasonably by Swiss standards, they are set by the Kanton and are integrated so they are valid on RVBW, Postbus and SBB. They work on a zonal system. All the buses are fitted with on board TVMs, the drivers don't sell tickets.

Most of the fleet is either Hess on a Scania chassis or MAN Lions City with a single Volvo hybrid artic.

They run most of their own buses but 2 routes are operated by contractors as there is not enough room in the garage for all the buses.

One interesting thing is they have an enthusiasts day once or twice a year in a local factory car park where you can try your hand at driving an 18m artic. It's harder than it looks.

 

[LucyP]

You are missing the point. Of course people travel one way. And £4.80 is still extortionate for a 2 mile return journey. A taxi is a private car that comes when you want, to where you want, you don't have to wait or share it, or get out where it says you have to, so of course it is more. Most people have a car. To tempt people not to use it for short journeys, public transport needs to be good value.

 

[Deerfold]

To tempt people not to use it for short journeys, public transport needs to be good value.

It does. And for that to happen, public transport needs subsidy. Outside London, we rarely vote for anyone who promises to spend money on public transport.

 

[bobslack1982]

The only company I have experience of recently is Transdev in Burnley and Blackburn and both times I was really impressed with the drivers - really friendly and helpful. The buses, despite being almost 20 years old in one case, seemed better maintained than some newer stuff I’ve seen locally. 8/9 out of 10 for me.

 

[Bletchleyite]

It does. And for that to happen, public transport needs subsidy.

I would say that isn't true, I don't consider bus day tickets and even more so season tickets expensive in most of the UK, and most UK bus services are operated commercially. Single fares tend to be inflated, but that's often because the ENCTS reimbursement is based on them so there's an incentive to set them a bit high. However, in a typical town setting, single fares apply only to a relatively small number of users; in most cases a day ticket is cheaper for a return trip of any considerable length. London is an oddity in that the single fare (or two of them) is what most people pay.

 

[northrob]

You are missing the point. Of course people travel one way. And £4.80 is still extortionate for a 2 mile return journey. A taxi is a private car that comes when you want, to where you want, you don't have to wait or share it, or get out where it says you have to, so of course it is more. Most people have a car. To tempt people not to use it for short journeys, public transport needs to be good value.

Ahh , that old chestnut - public transport needs to be "good value". We all know why some single fares are preceved as not "good value" thank to the rate of concessionary reimbursement.

A lot of people seem to imply that fares need to be lower yet are unable tell us how much lower they should be or how it should be funded. A lower fare may increase passenger numbers, however it the costs of running the service would still need to be covered somehow either through the farebox or subsidy...

Trying to drag this back on topic, where I live, First charge me £1.20 from my stop into town while Yorkshire Coastliner charge me £2.50. However, that doesn't mean that I'd rate First higher than Coastliner...

 

[Llandudno]

Ahh , that old chestnut - public transport needs to be "good value". We all know why some single fares are preceved as not "good value" thank to the rate of concessionary reimbursement.

A lot of people seem to imply that fares need to be lower yet are unable tell us how much lower they should be or how it should be funded. A lower fare may increase passenger numbers, however it the costs of running the service would still need to be covered somehow either through the farebox or subsidy...

Trying to drag this back on topic, where I live, First charge me £1.20 from my stop into town while Yorkshire Coastliner charge me £2.50. However, that doesn't mean that I'd rate First higher than Coastliner...

But I guess a fare paying passenger would time their journey to catch a First Bus, whereas a free pass holder will catch the next bus whatever the operator

It is possible that some free pass holders may even time their journey to travel on the Coastliner, as their vehicles are usually far more pleasant to travel on than First!

 

[py_megapixel]

OAPs have worked all their lives and are ENTITLED to a good bus service.

Nonsense. They're not "ENTITLED" to anything of the sort. I'm of the opinion that public transport for all is a good thing, but it's not an entitlement.

Whether to provide such services would be a good idea is a different conversation. I'm not familiar with Merseyside, however, I'd suggest that sending a bus once an hour just to pick up just a few people a day isn't really worthwhile, and I imagine they would be better served by a minibus that they can request to pick them up from their home, or even reimbursements for taxi fares.

Of course, those who are retired are generally pretty flexible anyway, so having to wait 10 minutes for the minibus to turn up is unlikely to be an enormous inconvenience for them.

Good quality public transport doesn't have to be in the form of buses, don't forget.

 

[DragonEast]

Must be my eyesight because I've not noticed much change in the third of the Essex fleet observed in Barbie over the last decade! As for service quality, pretty average for the Shires, we have to work around the bus, and it's best to ignore the timetables. No bus today, try again tomorrow. Employers too have to get used to it!

So generally I'd say not much has changed locally since the 1960s/70s in terms of service quality, save for the obvious service cuts though locally not as dramatic as we might think on weekday daytimes, OMO/internet tech (no paper timetables) and legislative change, though the post 2000 fleet gives a far better ride quality than the sixties fleet! Route numbering is beyond human understanding. As in much of the Shires, evenings and Sundays are now pretty much a washout. Overall 7-8/10 provided you know how to play the game, and fairly decent drivers which is quite a compliment given what they have to put up with on the job. Thank our lucky stars we still have a bus, and never mind the quality, feel the width (well, quantity) probably best sums it up.