What makes a good bus service?

[Bletchleyite]

Even just single / daily fares that are easy to pay (Contactless!) and are reasonably conducive to 'Pay as You Go' use, i.e. not a relatively high single fare only slightly less than an All Day Ticket

The primary cause of this is how ENCTS is calculated in most areas, it'd really make more sense for it to be calculated based on the ticket that that person would be likely to use normally rather than just the single fare, i.e. if a day ticket would be cheaper it should be that, or if they use the bus every day on an ongoing basis it should be based on a monthly.

That said, if you applied London style caps (2-hour[1], day and week) it wouldn't overly matter.

[1] to allow connectional single journeys.

 

[Ianno87]

I’d also add, a rounded amount to the nearest 10p. NX once charged £1.15 for a child single and Banga charge £1.05 for a child single. It is a bit of a random number. Also, it is easier to lay for say a £1.20 fare as you’d likely just use a pound coin and a 20 pence piece.

Depends how contactless payments takes off, when coinage no longer becomes relevant. E.g. in Cambridge where Contactless payment has been available for approaching 3 years, Cash payment is now very rare.

In fact, you could dispense with sticking to muiltples of 5p if you really wanted to.


Reminds me of how it took my Mum years to get out of the habit of trying to fill her car up with *exactly* £20 of petrol, even when she was paying by card and a total of £20.04 didn't *really* matter any more...

 

[Statto]

Something else that gets overlooked is comfort. My car has nice, comfortable seats, air conditioning and no interior noise to speak of - the alternative if I go by bus is over an hour on a rattling, plastic seated Enviro400, usually stinking of hot oil and radiator fans blaring if it's a warm day...not what I'd call pleasant to travel on.

Indeed, the amount of vehicles i've been on[in London in particular] were you have to be 5ft or under to have any comfort with the lack of legroom, i hate that raised floor on the upper deck from the front seats on some Optare deckers & early Enviro 400s. London buses lower deck seating layout often have worse legroom because of the extra door than the conventional single door version of the same model of vehicle

 

[markymark2000]

I think it depends on which type of people you are talking to. For new passengers I would say the cost (not specifically value for money). If a bus is too expensive, no matter if it is on time all the time or if it runs every 30 seconds, people won't use it unless the price is right.
If you are looking at existing passengers, service reliability will be the number 1 followed by value for money, drivers and the reliability of on board features working (USBs, Wifi) I think are the top few.

I think for both existing and new passengers, going where people want to go and the journey time is a big factor for getting people onboard.

For ticketing, you can't have stupid confusing ticket schemes (I'm looking at you Surrey Independants). Having a different price for the weekly ticket for each section of a route is bonkers. IF you are having a route specific weekly ticket, it should cover the whole route (Surrey operators base weeklys on each areas fare so if the fare is £1, the weekly is £7 and if your fare is £3, the weekly pass is £21. This is confusing and is overly limiting. Just have town/network weekly passes)

In no particular order:

- Punctuality. The timetable needs to be realistic, with enough padding that, unexpected situations like car crashes aside, the service is near-always punctual. Most traffic congestion is eminently predictable, and far too many bus timetables appear to be planned on the basis of the office junior ragging round the route non-stop in his souped-up Citroen Saxo.

- Add to that ABSOLUTELY NO early running under any circumstances whatsoever, time should always be waited at the timing point unless a Police Officer instructs the driver not to do so. Timing points should be frequent (every few stops) and realistic (i.e. it shouldn't cause an obstruction to wait for time at them). For what it's worth I've noticed that GPS tracking has largely solved this

- Keep things moving to keep journey times short. Ticketing should be off-bus or touch in/out contactless, and dual door should be used on any route where at a considerable number of stops you have both boarding and alighting passengers, though it is probably not necessary on classic "suburb to central bus station" type routes as these don't have much of that.

- The vehicle should be of good quality, the seats comfortable, the pitch not just set for dwarves and the design, inside and out, look attractive.

- Attention to detail is important. Buses should be cleaned frequently and be designed for easy cleaning (e.g. don't design in awkward-to-get-to but visible spaces). Panels shouldn't be left vibrating - such issues should be properly fixed. Windows should be cleaned properly, including removing the scruffy-looking crayon marks round the safety markings you get post-MoT.

- Information is key. Timetable information should be easily available, online, at stops, in a mobile app etc, and should be in Google Maps too. The same with real time information. Also London-style spider and stop layout maps are good for highlighting connections etc. All buses should have next stop displays and audio announcements on board including connection and "important landmark" information - indeed, I'd like to see this a required part of PSVAR because of how much it helps the blind and partially sighted, it's not just good customer service.

- Connections - where these are important they should be co-ordinated properly, with connections waiting for a delayed bus where feasible. Ticketing should not penalise making connections (notably some bus companies do now do this - for instance Stagecoach in the Lakes can issue through single and return tickets between any two locations even if a change of bus is needed).

- The service should be actively controlled, with a combination of GPS, IT systems and experienced staff, so that if an incident occurs vehicles can be repositioned to maintain service, rather than the classic "well, they all went out this morning but we have no idea where they are now" as I have actually been told when I phoned a bus control room about disruption a while ago. London gets this bang-on right.

- The infrastructure (bus stations, stops etc) should look as good as the buses do (as above). Ideally, operators should work closely with local Councils to get overtakes etc put in place to ease the effects of traffic as well as quality stop infrastructure.

- The fare should be reasonable - what's remarkable about UK bus operations is that while most of it is wholly commercial and there is little actual competition in most areas, they by and large are!

That's a starter for however-many-it-was. For what it's worth, you see much of this in bus companies that Alex Hornby has had a hand in, but it's much bittier in others - though Stagecoach in the Lakes does manage much of it.

For timing points, the solution to no waiting is reducing the time en route and putting recovery time on the last timing point - terminus section. The issue is here while the bus may always arrive on time at the terminus, people don't judge that by how on time a bus is, they judge it by how on time it is for their stop and with the majority of stops showing approximate times, it is impossible to make it work.
Timing points every few stops vastly increases the length of driver duty boars (as the boards have to show all timing points). Longer duty boards means more paper used and more office stuff to deal with (stapling duties together, laminating them etc.

Off bus ticketing and dual doors leads to more fare evasion. Look at Manchester Metrolink and the New Borrismaster.
Dual door for boarding and alighting has the issue of less seats per bus, wheelchair ramps then go through the middle doors as well and you need to adapt stops to accomodate dual doors.

Connections is a bit harder. The only way to solve connections is have all buses on the same frequency and make them all leave and arrive at bus stations at the same times so people can make the change (similar to how most of America works). The down side of making connections work everywhere is that on interurban routes, you have to meet a lot of connections (thus increased journey time for through passengers), the routes don't always meet workplace times along the route because they focus is on meeting connections.
With return fares slowly being phased out, a return is normally a day ticket anyway so you aren't penalised for it.

For actively controlled service, I think something like 98% of buses have AVL now which is good. The operators don't want to reposition buses to catch up journeys and the passengers just want to get home so even if something happens and you are 1h late, even if the company knows no one normally gets on at a certain section, they tell you to run it so you keep going and the only time you catch up is by having little layover time. This is an operator and passenger issue as you can guarantee, that one time you try to catch up services to make them on time, the person will be waiting and will go ape about you missing out their area.

Reasonable fares aren't around in a lot of places. If you live in a town ticketing area, you normally aren't as bad but you go 1 stop outside of the town area and the price sky rockets. This 100% depends on exactly where you are and the competition but from my experience, the prices can go quite high which is understandably very annoying and I know some of the bus fares do discourage usage.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Timing points every few stops vastly increases the length of driver duty boars (as the boards have to show all timing points). Longer duty boards means more paper used and more office stuff to deal with (stapling duties together, laminating them etc.

Paper? How quaint. Why is this not done as a module on Ticketer? Wonder if they offer it? They should. I'm pretty sure, thinking about it, that Arriva MK's ticket machines do include this information, because you seem to get a "ping" when they pass a timing point on time, and another sound as a warning (I forget what) if they are early or late (you can see that this is why as it appears on the screen too).

Off bus ticketing and dual doors leads to more fare evasion. Look at Manchester Metrolink and the New Borrismaster.
Dual door for boarding and alighting has the issue of less seats per bus, wheelchair ramps then go through the middle doors as well and you need to adapt stops to accomodate dual doors.

I didn't mean boarding and alighting through both doors, I meant board at the front and alight at the back. This does not require the ramp to be at the back, that's just a London decision. Most stops across the country don't obstruct the rear doors, and for those that do you can always have an automatic announcement and keep them closed. You lose 4-6 seats, but that's resolved by having a larger bus.

If the ramp isn't at the back, you can do things like have one way "gates" at the back door, First Manchester used to do this on their bendies.

Connections is a bit harder. The only way to solve connections is have all buses on the same frequency and make them all leave and arrive at bus stations at the same times so people can make the change (similar to how most of America works). The down side of making connections work everywhere is that on interurban routes, you have to meet a lot of connections (thus increased journey time for through passengers), the routes don't always meet workplace times along the route because they focus is on meeting connections.

High frequency is another option, but looking at rural networks, yes, I'd use the US approach. The Lake District for example really needs this - there are useful connections, but far too often you have to stand around waiting for them, and the infrastructure isn't set up for it - for instance Ambleside sorely needs an attractive-looking full-service bus station, not a too-small layby by a car park with a couple of draughty plastic shelters. (The car park would be a perfect site for one!)

With return fares slowly being phased out, a return is normally a day ticket anyway so you aren't penalised for it.

Though you still are if not making a return journey. A two-hour ticket would mostly solve that.

 

[LancasterRed]

and far too many bus timetables appear to be planned on the basis of the office junior ragging round the route non-stop in his souped-up Citroen Saxo.

Rotala have a computer generate their timings, which makes them virtually impossible to follow. It's a big complaint especially for the service 88 in Preston, which had a near totally changed route due to a major road closure earlier this year.

I wouldn't be surprised to hear that other companies do this too.

 

[Cesarcollie]

Rotala have a computer generate their timings, which makes them virtually impossible to follow. It's a big complaint especially for the service 88 in Preston, which had a near totally changed route due to a major road closure earlier this year.

I wouldn't be surprised to hear that other companies do this too.

Even computerised scheduling allows things like running time to be set by a human!

 

[markymark2000]

Paper? How quaint. Why is this not done as a module on Ticketer? Wonder if they offer it? They should. I'm pretty sure, thinking about it, that Arriva MK's ticket machines do include this information, because you seem to get a "ping" when they pass a timing point on time, and another sound as a warning (I forget what) if they are early or late (you can see that this is why as it appears on the screen too).

The majority is in the Ticketer machine but duty or bus boards HAVE to be provided at the moment as they are proof of driving hours if Vosa/TC were to pull you over. Also, they have the trip numbers which you normally have to put into the ticket machines. Ticketer does have the information for on time tracking but the driver always has paper as well for the rest of the duty. It could be made electronic but paper is still the choice (Laminated normally so they can keep being used).

I didn't mean boarding and alighting through both doors, I meant board at the front and alight at the back. This does not require the ramp to be at the back, that's just a London decision. Most stops across the country don't obstruct the rear doors, and for those that do you can always have an automatic announcement and keep them closed. You lose 4-6 seats, but that's resolved by having a larger bus.

If the ramp isn't at the back, you can do things like have one way "gates" at the back door, First Manchester used to do this on their bendies.

Ramps are normally at the back on dual door buses because its easier for the wheelchair space and I think you can fit an extra seat or two in between the front and back doors because you don't need to fit a wheelchair in the space. There is no legal requirement for it but it's normally easier for the operators.
While most stops do not obstruct the back doors, you have to be able to pull the whole bus into the stop otherwise it poses a risk to passengers using the rear doors as they may have to step down onto the road and back up to the pavement. The vast majority of bus stops would need updating to accomodate dual doors.
Bendy buses are very different and I don't believe could be compared to dual door deckers.
Longer buses aren't always the solution because longer buses fit into less roads so you end up limiting where the bus can go.

High frequency is another option, but looking at rural networks, yes, I'd use the US approach. The Lake District for example really needs this - there are useful connections, but far too often you have to stand around waiting for them, and the infrastructure isn't set up for it - for instance Ambleside sorely needs an attractive-looking full-service bus station, not a too-small layby by a car park with a couple of draughty plastic shelters. (The car park would be a perfect site for one!)

Very rural networks a US approach might work but you have to look at how many people are making connections. It can be more hassle than it's worth trying to link up the routes at so many points. The 555 linking at Lancaster, Kendal, Windermere Station, Ambleside, Grasmere and Keswick. It could be done but it can lead to a lot of operational issues making services all connect somehow.

Though you still are if not making a return journey. A two-hour ticket would mostly solve that.

Two hour tickets are not the way forward. That is just reducing revenue possibilities. You might want to go and look at how much money TFL lost as a result of the Hopper fare. Singles, returns and day tickets work fine. Hour tickets can be useful in tourist areas where people generally have short stays but even then, day tickets make more sense from a revenue protection and revenue taken perspective. Revenue protection doesn't have to work out the 24h validity for tickets, it's just the end of the day listed on the ticket. Also, is a 24h ticket valid if you board a bus at 23h 45 minutes and make a 2 hour journey? It introduces grey areas and complicates things.

 

[anthony263]

1) Reliable service
2) Vehicle presentation
3) Value for money fares
4) Friendly & helpful drivers

I always used to help the elderly off with their shopping even carrying it to their front doors . Used to get cards etc at Christmas as well as chocolate etc.

Also when I used to drive the 88 barry to penarth service till I was laid off in march thanks to this virus I would often drop customers off close to their houses if I could

 

[cnjb8]

Oh and also having a destination screen that works

 

[philthetube]

The most important thing for me is the App which tells me where my bus is, it has made my local service usable for me where before it was hopeless, especiallty in bad weather.

 

[scotrail158713]

Oh and also having a destination screen that works

It seems basic, but it’s very true. Too often I’ve seen a screen showing the completely wrong message, or no message at all, when in service. (And this is I’m Edinburgh, where Lothian are supposedly an example to follow for the rest of the country )

 

[Bletchleyite]

Oh and also having a destination screen that works

I think a change in attitude is needed. Like some TOCs (cough Northern), the vast majority of bus companies seem to work on the basis that "if the wheels turn that's good enough". No, it isn't.

It's better to send out a bus with a PIS fault than to cancel a service (though in such a case a bit of A4 in the windscreen does help), but I think the attitude goes much further than that, namely that it doesn't matter at all and there's no point spending money on enough maintenance staff to keep such things 100%.

 

[py_megapixel]

All buses should have next stop displays and audio announcements on board including connection and "important landmark" information - indeed, I'd like to see this a required part of PSVAR because of how much it helps the blind and partially sighted, it's not just good customer service.

I will add that the same stop name needs to be used across next stop displays, announcements, the company website and app, the PTE website and app where applicable, timetable booklets, flags and timetable posters at stops, and anywhere else a bus stop needs to be described. Additionally, where possible, local businesses and attractions need to be encouraged to indicate the name of the nearest bus stop when providing direction information to make public transport a more attractive option for passengers less familiar with the areas.

Some thought needs to be put into these names as well. For example, I would suggest that naming a stop after an obscure side-road is probably not the way to go, especially if the flow of passengers is likely to be going somewhere else (for example "Sometown Leisure Centre" would be preferable to "Sometown, Some Road" if the stop primarily serves the leisure centre).

 

[Stan Drews]

I will add that the same stop name needs to be used across next stop displays, announcements, the company website and app, the PTE website and app where applicable, timetable booklets, flags and timetable posters at stops, and anywhere else a bus stop needs to be described. Additionally, where possible, local businesses and attractions need to be encouraged to indicate the name of the nearest bus stop when providing direction information to make public transport a more attractive option for passengers less familiar with the areas.

Some thought needs to be put into these names as well. For example, I would suggest that naming a stop after an obscure side-road is probably not the way to go, especially if the flow of passengers is likely to be going somewhere else (for example "Sometown Leisure Centre" would be preferable to "Sometown, Some Road" if the stop primarily serves the leisure centre).

Stop naming convention is an interesting point.
The ‘obscure side-road’ often provides the only unique option, although I agree that it does sometimes make it less easy to immediately identify the relevant stop for more prominent landmarks etc. There is certainly no common standard when it comes to the information on bus stops and shelters, let alone publicity!

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

Stop naming convention is an interesting point.
The ‘obscure side-road’ often provides the only unique option, although I agree that it does sometimes make it less easy to immediately identify the relevant stop for more prominent landmarks etc. There is certainly no common standard when it comes to the information on bus stops and shelters, let alone publicity!

It's a difficult one. The argument for it is that road names seldom change whereas the use of buildings or businesses do. I recall in Bath that a stop on London Road was still marked as Safeway Store about 10 years after that chain had been subsumed into Morrisons. Perhaps the most common aspect was the use of pubs as timing points, and we know how many of those have disappeared over the years.

 

[Bletchleyite]

It's a difficult one. The argument for it is that road names seldom change whereas the use of buildings or businesses do. I recall in Bath that a stop on London Road was still marked as Safeway Store about 10 years after that chain had been subsumed into Morrisons. Perhaps the most common aspect was the use of pubs as timing points, and we know how many of those have disappeared over the years.

As these names primarily exist on stops and in a database, changing them is not greatly challenging - and it's unlikely a major Tesco store would close (say) without anyone noticing.

Of course this has a cost, but this is a key part of my point - and some of the industry does agree with me, certainly the Alex Hornby led parts - which is that there is value, possibly intangible, but goodwill value, in spending money on attention to detail. It's amazing just how close to my "utopia" both Trent Barton and Transdev Blazefield are (both of course having Hornby and Best Impressions in common), and clearly they are making money out of it or they wouldn't be doing it. I'm not saying they're perfect[1], but they do seem to prove that many of the "just keep the wheels turning" naysayers are not necessarily right.

(There are also islands of this sort of quality in the big groups - I'm not sure lackadaisical Arriva and First have a lot of it, even Vantage is decidedly shoddy in actual presentation, while Arriva Sapphire is more chavvy chic than quality, but Stagecoach in the Lakes for instance seems to have a lot of effort put into the "soft product")

[1] Most notably TB's owning group Wellglade also have a "low quality" subsidiary for less profitable routes, Notts and Derby, is it?

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

As these names primarily exist on stops and in a database, changing them is not greatly challenging - and it's unlikely a major Tesco store would close (say) without anyone noticing.

Of course this has a cost, but this is a key part of my point - and some of the industry does agree with me, certainly the Alex Hornby led parts - which is that there is value, possibly intangible, but goodwill value, in spending money on attention to detail. It's amazing just how close to my "utopia" both Trent Barton and Transdev Blazefield are (both of course having Hornby and Best Impressions in common), and clearly they are making money out of it or they wouldn't be doing it. I'm not saying they're perfect[1], but they do seem to prove that many of the "just keep the wheels turning" naysayers are not necessarily right.

(There are also islands of this sort of quality in the big groups - I'm not sure lackadaisical Arriva and First have a lot of it, even Vantage is decidedly shoddy in actual presentation, while Arriva Sapphire is more chavvy chic than quality, but Stagecoach in the Lakes for instance seems to have a lot of effort put into the "soft product")

[1] Most notably TB's owning group Wellglade also have a "low quality" subsidiary for less profitable routes, Notts and Derby, is it?

What you say is true but as per the example I quoted, the local authority who were responsible for that stop did not change it for years.

You can change it on the database and that is reflected in Traveline but then you have a disconnect between the system and the physical stop.

 

[Stan Drews]

It is the NaPTAN database that holds the details of every bus stop in the UK.

National Public Transport Access Nodes (NaPTAN) - National Data Library

data.gov.uk

The official name is generally the name of the road the stop is on with the nearest side road (on the same side as the stop) as the unique identifier. However these official names can be too long to display appropriately in digital based publications, apps etc, although they all have a unique numeric code which is what is translated across to software used within the industry for timetables, scheduling, mapping etc. This software also allows for alternative names to be used, which companies can make use of for drivers duty boards, printed publicity etc.
In the Strathclyde area, where I live, the standard SPT bus stop flag includes the unique numeric code, which can also be included on driver duty boards, to help identify particular timing points.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

Services should be numbered or lettered. No colours (nobody will say "catch the magenta bus from town") and absolutely no stupid names instead of numbers (to me, Spira is a sadly discontinued chocolate bar, not a way of getting from Mansfield to Chesterfield). Also, no contrived numbering systems using decimal points- it might make you stand out but it just confuses occasional users... and if you want to grow, those are the users you need to get on board (pun intended).

The latter is of course a criticism of Trent Barton, who are otherwise one of the best operators around in my experience. Just cut out the marketing school frippery!

 

[Pat1105]

I always used to help the elderly off with their shopping even carrying it to their front doors . Used to get cards etc at Christmas as well as chocolate etc.

Also when I used to drive the 88 barry to penarth service till I was laid off in march thanks to this virus I would often drop customers off close to their houses if I could

That’s what really stands out - a company who’s drivers are willing to go the extra mile and who know their passengers. I sometimes use the 80 (Bilston - Moxley) and often find the same drivers on it. They know the passengers and always try their best to drop them at their door. Sometimes, the passengers need not press the bell as the driver knows where they want to get off. Although it may be boring for the driver, I think that companies should try to keep the same drivers on the same route, as they get to know the passengers. My local company, Banga, have some very friendly drivers and they are willing to go the extra mile. They are also happy to talk buses!

 

[Bletchleyite]

The latter is of course a criticism of Trent Barton, who are otherwise one of the best operators around in my experience. Just cut out the marketing school frippery!

I'm no fan of the "French style" names (the ones that bear no resemblance to the service), nor do I think it's sensible to avoid having numbers, but I do quite like naming and branding as a marketing thing in a way that explains what it does. To use a Milton Keynes example, if you named the route that goes past Willen Lake (a popular local day-out destination) "The Willen Lakesider" (the 8, I think) with branding showing the scenery and activities you can do, people driving around might see it and go "oh, we can get the bus next time, and we can both have a pint in the pub?"

Another one that might work is calling the 7 "The Wolverton Codebreaker", running as it does from Wolverton to very near Bletchley Park.

Won't happen here, though, as Arriva just aren't interested in image - certainly not Arriva MK, which is a dire operation in the extreme with no attention to detail or image whatsoever. A definite "bare minimum" operation.

 

[cnjb8]

I'm no fan of the "French style" names (the ones that bear no resemblance to the service), nor do I think it's sensible to avoid having numbers, but I do quite like naming and branding as a marketing thing in a way that explains what it does. To use a Milton Keynes example, if you named the route that goes past Willen Lake (a popular local day-out destination) "The Willen Lakesider" (the 8, I think) with branding showing the scenery and activities you can do, people driving around might see it and go "oh, we can get the bus next time, and we can both have a pint in the pub?"

Another one that might work is calling the 7 "The Wolverton Codebreaker", running as it does from Wolverton to very near Bletchley Park.

Won't happen here, though, as Arriva just aren't interested in image - certainly not Arriva MK, which is a dire operation in the extreme with no attention to detail or image whatsoever. A definite "bare minimum" operation.

French names? Most TrentBarton service names have local resemblance.

 

[Bletchleyite]

French names? Most TrentBarton service names have local resemblance.

They indeed do, though I was referring to the "Spira" brand noted in the post I was referring to, also stuff like the old Rainbow 5 and "indigo".

Regarding "French names" I was referring to things like the way Orange mobile phones used to randomly name tariffs after animals, or things like "inOui" etc. The French do like "silly" brand names, generally.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

It's about 18months since I was in that neck of the woods, but if I recall correctly the "Spira" wasn't a Trent Barton service- don't remember who it was if it wasn't though. The "nines" (9.1, 9.3) was though, and I just thought the decimal was a pointless complication for the sake of it. Had those services been 91 and 93 they could still have been branded or promoted together, but they'd have stuck to the convention that's been established for decades.

 

[Llandudno]

Services should be numbered or lettered. No colours (nobody will say "catch the magenta bus from town") and absolutely no stupid names instead of numbers (to me, Spira is a sadly discontinued chocolate bar, not a way of getting from Mansfield to Chesterfield). Also, no contrived numbering systems using decimal points- it might make you stand out but it just confuses occasional users... and if you want to grow, those are the users you need to get on board (pun intended).

The latter is of course a criticism of Trent Barton, who are otherwise one of the best operators around in my experience. Just cut out the marketing school frippery!

Perhaps the hip ‘Spira’ name didn’t quite cut it in the former mining villages of Notts/Derbys as the route was totally scrapped last year!

 

[anthony263]

That’s what really stands out - a company who’s drivers are willing to go the extra mile and who know their passengers. I sometimes use the 80 (Bilston - Moxley) and often find the same drivers on it. They know the passengers and always try their best to drop them at their door. Sometimes, the passengers need not press the bell as the driver knows where they want to get off. Although it may be boring for the driver, I think that companies should try to keep the same drivers on the same route, as they get to know the passengers. My local company, Banga, have some very friendly drivers and they are willing to go the extra mile. They are also happy to talk buses!

Had a £5 tip from a happy customer today because I dropped him.off closer to his house

Due to my daughter onmy being 7 months old I onmynwork part time usually doing the same shift each sunday which my colleagues were very pleased to get rid of.

I must be one of the few bus drivers who actually likes to work sundaysv

 

[Pat1105]

Had a £5 tip from a happy customer today because I dropped him.off closer to his house

Due to my daughter onmy being 7 months old I onmynwork part time usually doing the same shift each sunday which my colleagues were very pleased to get rid of.

I must be one of the few bus drivers who actually likes to work sundaysv

I know some companies cover Sunday’s as overtime, as drivers put their name down to work Sunday if they want to.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

It's about 18months since I was in that neck of the woods, but if I recall correctly the "Spira" wasn't a Trent Barton service- don't remember who it was if it wasn't though. The "nines" (9.1, 9.3) was though, and I just thought the decimal was a pointless complication for the sake of it. Had those services been 91 and 93 they could still have been branded or promoted together, but they'd have stuck to the convention that's been established for decades.

Was Spira a TM Travel rather than TrentBarton?

 

[darloscott]

Was Spira a TM Travel rather than TrentBarton?

It was indeed, Trent handed it to TM a while ago, maybe about 10 years ago?