How to lose a PTE bus contract. Fast.

[anthony263]

Greenback, yes i know about service 31 & 43 in swansea, personally think if they ran as 1 route it would make a great orbital bus route around Swansea, providing links with passengers not having to travel into the city centre.

servie 119 has been scrapped now by FGW, instead service 115 also runs on sundays

 

[Greenback]

I am no longer up to speed with Swansea bus route numbers!

Is the 115 the North Gower bus?

 

[anthony263]

I am no longer up to speed with Swansea bus route numbers!

Is the 115 the North Gower bus?

Its the small opatre solo that runs from Burry Green in the north of the gwoer to Port Eynon and connects with service 116 Llanrhidien cross - Penclawdd -Swansea & 118 Rhossilli - Swansea.

Service 115 only operates 4-5 trips in each direction per day.

 

[snail]

Yes I feel sorry that hes 98 and blind, but he is riding round and round on a circular bus route 'just to keep warm'. The bus isnt there to act like a public house.

I think you've misinterpreted the comment, I read it as meaning he got the bus going the 'long way' round the loop to his destination as an alternative to standing at a chilly bus stop waiting for the one going the shorter way round. If I'm still able to stand at bus stops at that age I think I would be doing the same!

 

[Greenback]

Its the small opatre solo that runs from Burry Green in the north of the gwoer to Port Eynon and connects with service 116 Llanrhidien cross - Penclawdd -Swansea & 118 Rhossilli - Swansea.

Service 115 only operates 4-5 trips in each direction per day.

Thanks Anthony.

I think you've misinterpreted the comment, I read it as meaning he got the bus going the 'long way' round the loop to his destination as an alternative to standing at a chilly bus stop waiting for the one going the shorter way round. If I'm still able to stand at bus stops at that age I think I would be doing the same!

Yes, that's how I read it too. If I've missed anything, pelase could someone correct me?!

 

[WestCoast]

I think you've misinterpreted the comment, I read it as meaning he got the bus going the 'long way' round the loop to his destination as an alternative to standing at a chilly bus stop waiting for the one going the shorter way round. If I'm still able to stand at bus stops at that age I think I would be doing the same!

That's also how I read it.

 

[mbonwick]

To be fair in that clip he is stood a few yards away from the bus stop and could have been wanting to cross the road...

If he was stood at the bus stop then there is no excuse.

 

[anthony263]

If i were the driver i would stop.

In fact if this happened when i was with veolia, i think we would be getting a call into our bosses office, something about disability discrimination

 

[HSTEd]

I don't see anything in particular in going the long way around on a loop service to avoid having to wait for the "short" one to arrive, isn't that rather the point of having a loop in the first place? If nothing else it helps spread loads between both directions.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

The o.a.p pass still needs to be issued a paper ticket, this is so the council pay the operator for journeys undertaken by old people.

This is not now strictly true, as the machines now fitted in the Stagecoach Manchester buses require that the pass to which you refer is electronicallly scanned. There are no paper tickets issued on these buses for such occurrences. The scanned details contain all the required information required by the area PTE or local council transportation sections. I do wish that people would refer to this pass by its correct name of National Concessionary Travel Pass.

Do any other areas now have such a system in operation? I would be interested to hear of those who use similar machines to those operated by Stagecoach Manchester. Arriva North West run the majority of the services in my area and have been monitoring the current Stagecoach Manchester situation.

 

[talltim]

I'm pretty certain that in SYPTE area the showing of ENCTS passes is recorded manually on the machine, but no paper ticket is produced. In fact, I recently set up the software for analysing the returns from the operators for calculating their payments. These 'free' tickets (not just for old people) are referred to as 'Zero fares' at SYPTE

 

[Seacook]

This is not now strictly true, as the machines now fitted in the Stagecoach Manchester buses require that the pass to which you refer is electronicallly scanned. There are no paper tickets issued on these buses for such occurrences. The scanned details contain all the required information required by the area PTE or local council transportation sections. I do wish that people would refer to this pass by its correct name of National Concessionary Travel Pass.

Do any other areas now have such a system in operation? I would be interested to hear of those who use similar machines to those operated by Stagecoach Manchester. Arriva North West run the majority of the services in my area and have been monitoring the current Stagecoach Manchester situation.

The same system operates in the West Midlands on National Express and Diamond buses (not sure about other operators). Boarding buses is now slower than it used to be, especially as the readers are not very reliable.

There is no similar machine on the Metro or local trains. National concessionary travel passes are valid on these if the passes were issued by the local PTE.

 

[mbonwick]

This is not now strictly true, as the machines now fitted in the Stagecoach Manchester buses require that the pass to which you refer is electronicallly scanned. There are no paper tickets issued on these buses for such occurrences. The scanned details contain all the required information required by the area PTE or local council transportation sections. I do wish that people would refer to this pass by its correct name of National Concessionary Travel Pass.

Do any other areas now have such a system in operation? I would be interested to hear of those who use similar machines to those operated by Stagecoach Manchester. Arriva North West run the majority of the services in my area and have been monitoring the current Stagecoach Manchester situation.

All Stagecoach regions (bar the former North West region) operate the same machines as Manchester, made by ERG.

Manchester is being used as a trial for smartcard technology, and depending how that goes it'll be rolled out to the rest of the company via a simple software update.

Where North West features in this I don't know!

 

[bb21]

Do any other areas now have such a system in operation? I would be interested to hear of those who use similar machines to those operated by Stagecoach Manchester. Arriva North West run the majority of the services in my area and have been monitoring the current Stagecoach Manchester situation.

Arriva Midlands installed the new Wayfarer 200 machines a year ago and have recently activated the auto-scan function. I believe that some of the earlier versions of ENCTS cards still cannot be read so paper tickets can still be issued manually.

 

[142094]

This is not now strictly true, as the machines now fitted in the Stagecoach Manchester buses require that the pass to which you refer is electronicallly scanned. There are no paper tickets issued on these buses for such occurrences. The scanned details contain all the required information required by the area PTE or local council transportation sections. I do wish that people would refer to this pass by its correct name of National Concessionary Travel Pass.

Do any other areas now have such a system in operation? I would be interested to hear of those who use similar machines to those operated by Stagecoach Manchester. Arriva North West run the majority of the services in my area and have been monitoring the current Stagecoach Manchester situation.

The North East does for the bigger operators, data goes back to Nexus to be analysed. I assume that Phoenix will have a ticket machine and scanner enabled (however this bus service in question is 'free' and tickets aren't normally checked. I've often got on after using the ferry and never been asked to show a ticket).

 

[Eagle]

Do any other areas now have such a system in operation? I would be interested to hear of those who use similar machines to those operated by Stagecoach Manchester. Arriva North West run the majority of the services in my area and have been monitoring the current Stagecoach Manchester situation.

NX Coventry have had them for a couple of years, and Stagecoach Warks are looking to introduce them on services that enter the Centro area (but right now they're still issuing paper tickets with ZERO in big letters).

 

[anthony263]

This is not now strictly true, as the machines now fitted in the Stagecoach Manchester buses require that the pass to which you refer is electronicallly scanned. There are no paper tickets issued on these buses for such occurrences. The scanned details contain all the required information required by the area PTE or local council transportation sections. I do wish that people would refer to this pass by its correct name of National Concessionary Travel Pass.

Do any other areas now have such a system in operation? I would be interested to hear of those who use similar machines to those operated by Stagecoach Manchester. Arriva North West run the majority of the services in my area and have been monitoring the current Stagecoach Manchester situation.

All National Concessionary Travel Passes have to be scanned electronically now. We had the wayfarer 200 machines equiped a good few years ago and they are excellent machines to use and work well.

There has been a problem with the pases not scanning proposerly on the latest almex machines though, even though they work fine on wayfarer's etc.

When the pass is scanned, some machines will issue a paper ticket with zero fare on it, but this sometimes doesnt happen. the wayfare 2 machines will always print a paper ticket after scanning the pass. Although the driver can select the zero fare ticket is the pass wont scan properly.

 

[HugePilchard]

When the pass is scanned, some machines will issue a paper ticket with zero fare on it

I'm sure someone wiser than I may be able to comment on why this is. On Go North East buses, the machine will issue paper tickets when presented with a concessionary pass, but I have no idea what purpose they serve.

On the other hand, my monthly ticket is loaded onto a proximity card, and the machine seems happy enough for me to travel without spitting out a useless bit of paper to join the wad of receipts that line my pockets.

 

[142094]

I'm sure someone wiser than I may be able to comment on why this is. On Go North East buses, the machine will issue paper tickets when presented with a concessionary pass, but I have no idea what purpose they serve.

Think this mainly was to keep count of how many were being issued - before you had to 'touch in' on the machine the driver was the one who pressed the button to print the ticket (so could be easy for the driver to add more journeys than actually were made).

 

[markydh]

Despite passes now being scanned, all holders of concessionary passes in the NEXUS area still receive paper tickets. I have no idea why, but there you go.

 

[Statto]

It varies where you go, Arriva Merseyside, only Wirral depot routes issue paper tickets[& even then it depends if the driver fancies pressing the button to print the ticket the ticket machine], other AM depots don't issue tickets

 

[cainebj]

Some areas request that a paper ticket is issued, in the event of a bus changeover.
A pass may be read on one machine as going from a to b, but if the bus has to change in the middle due to a defect, or late running meaning 2 buses running at the same time with all passengers being moved onto the same bus, at say point c, without a paper ticket to validate travel the user may have to scan the card again, resulting in the local authority paying for a ticket a to b and a ticket c to b, when the card holder has only made an a to b journey.

 

[trentside]

In Nottinghamshire, most operators issue paper tickets to pass holders. These show the actual journey undertaken, so presumably can be used to bill the council correctly. The majority of operators now have machines capable of scanning the passes, but paper tickets are still issued. Stagecoach East Midlands are the most major operator to still only issue the tickets and not scan the pass, despite having their new machines for a couple of years.

In Lincolnshire, many operators still use machines not capable of scanning passes, or issuing zero fare tickets. I'm not sure how journeys are recorded in this case. Presumably, requirements of ITSO will eventually force these operators into the 21st Century.

 

[bb21]

In Lincolnshire, many operators still use machines not capable of scanning passes, or issuing zero fare tickets. I'm not sure how journeys are recorded in this case. Presumably, requirements of ITSO will eventually force these operators into the 21st Century.

Not all councils operate a distance-based scheme. Many councils pay operators on a flat-fare per journey basis I remember reading somewhere.

 

[142094]

Not all councils operate a distance-based scheme. Many councils pay operators on a flat-fare per journey basis I remember reading somewhere.

Just about all do, unless it has changed recently. That is why a good few bus routes were being withdrawn - too many pensioners and not enough money coming from the councils.

 

[bb21]

That is why a good few bus routes were being withdrawn - too many pensioners and not enough money coming from the councils.

... or broken up into several different services so that one journey becomes two or even three.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

We were in Middleton yesterday and had used the number 18 bus there operated by First Manchester from Manchester Shudehill bus station, as my wife's car is being serviced. On both the journey there and the journey back, we showed our NCTP to the driver as the bus did not have any scanning system, but both times, we were just "waved through" without a paper ticket being issued.

Since First Manchester run many services in the northern part of Greater Manchester, is that their normal policy? If so, how can they know how many such pass holders use their services ?

 

[starrymarkb]

... or broken up into several different services so that one journey becomes two or even three.

That's down to the driving hours regulations, if the route is over a certain length then different rules apply to driver rosters and the vehicle must have a tachograph. Most split routes have through fares so you pay once...