If there is little difference between singles and returns, is that not penalising those buying singles?
Yes it is. I never said it wasn't though.
If there is little difference between singles and returns, is that not penalising those buying singles?
Tell us how you'd structure a fare scheme in a city like Glasgow then. My ears are open to your ideas.Yes it is. I never said it wasn't though.
£17 for a weekly isn't that bad, most places are on par or far worse..
Tell us how you'd structure a fare scheme in a city like Glasgow then. My ears are open to your ideas.
Would make the short hop single at least from an area to the end of the next one- £1.50
City single- £2
Network single- £3
City all day- £3.50
Network all day-£5
Weekly- £12
Network weekly-£17
4 weekly city-£35
4 weekly network- £55
10 weekly city- £75
10 weekly network-£120
As someone who used to be on universal credit this is where the basis of the pricing comes from. With how many people are on low income/unemployed you need fares to drop a fair chunk
Have you estimated the likely increase in passenger numbers that would be required to maintain current revenues?
If there is likely to be a gap, how would suggest bridging that financial gap?
I never said it was! I said not everybody can afford to part with £17 every week(ie: people on low incomes/unemployed). These are the folks who have to rely on single fares but with single fares being extortionate in Glasgow they sometimes even struggle to pay them.
I also think PaulMC7 is forgetting about the Subway and the Train network in Glasgow which makes it alot harder to complete.
Why would you need a consultation to get rid of quiet buses? Ticket machines store this data. Why do you think services get cut?
Have you ever been to a consultation on bus services?
Why would you need a consultation to get rid of quiet buses? Ticket machines store this data. Why do you think services get cut?
So every service that has been cut on ticket machine information was wrong?Sometimes those machines lie, its been proven they have done so on too many occasions.
Sometimes those machines lie, its been proven they have done so on too many occasions.
Next time you see there's a bus consultation I suggest you go. You will see some of the ideas the public throw out there. For every 1 good idea you get theres 100 bad ones.Personally no
Next time you see there's a bus consultation I suggest you go. You will see some of the ideas the public throw out there. For every 1 good idea you get theres 100 bad ones.
That will probably mean more buses being put on to the 57 which maybe won't be justified with the passengers numbers it takes to Asda.Yeah some people do say wild things that I absolutely agree with. The thing is though good ideas are out there. One that springs to mind was extending the 57 every 2nd bus when it went to Auchinairn Road on through Briarcroft, Glendale and Robroyston Asda when the 19A was cut. Apparently First just shot that reason down. Shame as well because the X2 turned out to be such a waste from what I seen of it. Carried fresh air more than anything I've seen
I’m not sure going to the boss and suggesting to slash fares and cut the frequencies on the most popular routes is likely to go the way that you might be envisaging!Best way to bridge any gap is knocking the high frequency services down a bus. For example 8 mins to 10, 10 to 12 etc. As far as the first question goes you'll bridge it considerably as the service is more affordable plus for example if the running cost was £35 an hour which is a figure mentioned on here before to cover that in the city you'd need 10 all days or 7 for the network services which is certainly doable. Even every single fare contributes so you may not even need those 10 and 7 figures. Also still a fair few purchases of weeklys around down my way so that eats a great deal into it. 3 an hour on a city zone bus would cover that even if you took nothing else.
Obviously the other thing you could do to strategically run services is with consultation so you know exactly what people want. Seen it a fair few times where I've used a bus that's fairly frequent end to end that's fairly empty the whole way that probably didn't need to run
So every service that has been cut on ticket machine information was wrong?
Can you give examples of said services being cut?
That will probably mean more buses being put on to the 57 which maybe won't be justified with the passengers numbers it takes to Asda.
Also Robroyston now has its train station. Maybe First where trying to compete more with the train by offering an express service.
So every service that has been cut on ticket machine information was wrong?
Can you give examples of said services being cut?
I'm just having a look at the 57 timetable just now. Is the service interworked with anything else? The 10 possibly? When I used to drive it you where a 56 leaving Auchinairn then changed to a 57 at the bus stop on Peat Road before going into the Pollok Centre (Silverburn)Yeah I definitely think that was the plan but definitely wasn't a clever one when local politicians had already taken the complaints from the residents regarding the fact the ones who weren't able bodied couldn't get from Glendale to Provanmill and Royston Road and ones further along Royston Road had to get 2 buses to get to Asda which I can understand tbh given that the 8 is every 30 mins. The main problem I found with the route idea of extending the 57 is the reliability more than anything. The route is pretty big as it is. Would maybe work with the 87 as it's shorter but the 87/88/89 set interwork. Only way interworking wouldn't be a problem is if they stopped that completely to allow flexibility
I’m not sure going to the boss and suggesting to slash fares and cut the frequencies on the most popular routes is likely to go the way that you might be envisaging!
Lets just consider day and weekly City tickets, as an example.
Current 4.70 day ticket sales per month = 50,000 >> Revenue = £235,000
Current 17.50 weekly ticket sales per month = 20,000 >> Revenue = £350,000
Therefore total monthly revenue of £585,000
New revenue from existing 50,000 day ticket sales @ 3.50 = £175,000
New revenue from existing 20,000 weekly ticket sales @ 12.00 = £240,000
Therefore total monthly revenue from existing sales would become £415,000
That means that you have to generate £170,000 worth of NEW business every month just to maintain your current revenues. That would need to be just over a 40% increase in passenger numbers. Alternatively you could cut 4,857 operating hours every month, although I’m not sure how on earth you’d carry all your new passengers if services were being slashed to that extent.
Bearing in mind that is likely to be a very conservative estimate of existing First Glasgow monthly revenues, and only uses two ticket examples, I hope that perhaps illustrates the magnitude of the challenge faced when you propose reducing fares by significant margins.
I'm just having a look at the 57 timetable just now. Is the service interworked with anything else? The 10 possibly? When I used to drive it you where a 56 leaving Auchinairn then changed to a 57 at the bus stop on Peat Road before going into the Pollok Centre (Silverburn)
Targeting low income/ unemployed people with a fare reduction across the board is the way the bus can get more competitive because as unfortunate as the whole concession subsidy situation is it won't change.
There may well be some merit in fare schemes that provide some benefit to people in those categories, however significant across the board fare reductions is definitely not the way to go about it. That just dramatically erodes you’re existing revenues and would be commercial suicide!
There is interworking between the 57 and the 10.I'm just having a look at the 57 timetable just now. Is the service interworked with anything else? The 10 possibly? When I used to drive it you where a 56 leaving Auchinairn then changed to a 57 at the bus stop on Peat Road before going into the Pollok Centre (Silverburn)