Britain’s Bus Crisis: BBC One Monday 16th March

[mmh]

A morning bus for commuters, a late morning bus for shoppers, a mid-afternoon bus for shoppers and school/college students and a teatime bus for commuters.

Perfectly useful for most day to day occasions.

Indeed. Here, one route is 3 buses a day, another 4 a day timed exactly that way, and both do shoppers, commuters and college students and are well patronised. It's when a route is one or two a day that it tends to be a single purpose, shopping only type service in my experience.

Although we do have a once a day route to serve both a local government and a central government site.

 

[HSTEd]

A morning bus for commuters, a late morning bus for shoppers, a mid-afternoon bus for shoppers and school/college students and a teatime bus for commuters.
Perfectly useful for most day to day occasions.

Such a bus does not remove the need for a car so at best serves only as a fuel replacement.
If anyone misses the bus they need for whatever reason they are completely stuffed unless they have a car anyway.

You are not going to achieve meaningful environmental changes with that.

 

[carlberry]

Such a bus does not remove the need for a car so at best serves only as a fuel replacement.
If anyone misses the bus they need for whatever reason they are completely stuffed unless they have a car anyway.

You are not going to achieve meaningful environmental changes with that.

The 'lifeline' type services are not aimed at getting people out of cars, just the basic need for a bus service.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

Your mate made an appearance

Was he stroking a white cat.....

 

[Llandudno]

A morning bus for commuters, a late morning bus for shoppers, a mid-afternoon bus for shoppers and school/college students and a teatime bus for commuters.

Perfectly useful for most day to day occasions.



I didn't see the programme but the answer is "it depends". The all-modes day SystemOne ticket is strictly off-peak only (including it being not valid during the evening peak on trains). The WY DayRover is the same. So if you need to travel in the peak you have to buy separate tickets.

The myriad of so called ‘network’ tickets in Greater Manchester (and some places just over the border) is mind blowing, potential customers and transport staff have very little chance of understanding them all!

The best post deregulation multi-mode travel tickets were probably in Merseyside with relatively simple travel zones.

 

[Tetchytyke]

Such a bus does not remove the need for a car so at best serves only as a fuel replacement.

I never suggested that it did. But then no buses can truly replace the need for a car.

It does, however, provide a useful and useable service for those who can't drive, or who would prefer not to drive. You can get to work/college/Tesco and, crucially, you can get back.

The myriad of so called ‘network’ tickets in Greater Manchester (and some places just over the border) is mind blowing

To be fair to TfGM, it used to be simpler before the DfT waded in and forced these tickets to be barred from evening peak train services. But even before then there was no one-day all-modes ticket valid in the morning peak.

Presumably there isn't a peak version of the all-modes because the DfT won't agree to it. The bus/tram and bus tickets come in a peak flavour, as they do in West Yorkshire.

IME the best multi-modal tickets used to be in Tyne and Wear with the excellent Transfares, but they've been mutilated by the bus companies. The SaverStrip in West Yorkshire was good too (not least because the machines never worked properly!)

 

[deanmachine]

Tyne & Wear Network One tickets are still great imo, full week tickets valid on the bus, metro, ferry and train throughout Tyne & Wear! Just a shame it doesn't extend into Durham and Northumberland for the people who need to use GNE and Arriva in those areas.

 

[NorthOxonian]

Tyne & Wear Network One tickets are still great imo, full week tickets valid on the bus, metro, ferry and train throughout Tyne & Wear! Just a shame it doesn't extend into Durham and Northumberland for the people who need to use GNE and Arriva in those areas.

There is the North East Explorer (which covers all of the major North East bus companies, and was also recently extended to cover all Stagecoach services in Carlisle), but that is only available as a day ticket, has seen a rather rapid rise in price, and it is unclear as to its validity on independent services (generally not valid but apparently it is accepted on contracted services).

 

[bussnapperwm]

The best post deregulation multi-mode travel tickets were probably in Merseyside with relatively simple travel zones.

The Midlands is just as easy for period passes

For Bus only you have a choice of Coventry only, Black Country only or Midlands called nBus
For Bus+Train+Tram you have one option (nNetwork)
For train only there is the nTrain (with a out of county varient)

The day options are the same for bus/all modes with the additional bus zones of Sandwell and Dudley only and Walsall only (with peak/off peak all modes and Add On/Plus for all mode tickets)

All mode and nbus products are valid on all buses in the TFWM area bar "The Green Bus" and services X16 (as that does not serve any stops after the city centre until it comes off the M42).

 

[harz99]

Back to the actual subject...

The one thread throughout the programme was of unreliability, either buses not turning up at all, or late running due to insufficient running time for the prevailing traffic conditions - yet no enforcement action to speak of by the authorities. The Traffic Commisioners appear to be fiddling whilst bus services burn!

 

[Dai Corner]

Back to the actual subject...

The one thread throughout the programme was of unreliability, either buses not turning up at all, or late running due to insufficient running time for the prevailing traffic conditions - yet no enforcement action to speak of by the authorities. The Traffic Commisioners appear to be fiddling whilst bus services burn!

Traditionally it must have been very difficult for TCs to monitor reliability and timekeeping and I imagine they only did anything at all when complaints came in from the public? How many people even know TCs exist let alone complain to them?

Will they be looking proactively at the data from real-time tracking in future I wonder?

 

[Typhoon]

Back to the actual subject...

The one thread throughout the programme was of unreliability, either buses not turning up at all, or late running due to insufficient running time for the prevailing traffic conditions - yet no enforcement action to speak of by the authorities. The Traffic Commisioners appear to be fiddling whilst bus services burn!

I do have some sympathy with bus companies having to take account for changes in driving conditions beyond their control. On the nearest route to me there are 2 diversions and 2 sets of roadworks on a journey which is timetabled for 40 minutes. All are long term - about a month, two couldn't be planned for (such as wall of a building collapsing in storm Dennis). There are ways round this but most involve having spare drivers sitting round but I dare say the professionals amongst you will tell me that those days are gone!