How late are the buses you use most?

[PaulMc7]

Hi guys, I'd love to know how often the buses you use are late and how late they are. Was on a First Glasgow 9A today that ended up 40mins late by the time it got through Hillington into Braehead due to a lot of congestion near the motorway. I use the 1s the most in Glasgow and these are normally late by 10/15mins a lot of the time. The 1Cs are the exception though compared to the rest and these can be on time a lot. The 8 and 90 are very often late in Glasgow too. What buses do you use?

 

[Darklord8899]

I use the Skylink 300 the most (Sighthill to Southside)
In the morning I catch the 6:10 journey from Sighthill which should arrive Surgeon's Hall at 6:32 ....
It usual arrives either on time or up to 5 mins late at Sighthill
Arriving Surgeon's Hall anything up to 8 minutes late
As there is a 35 due around the same time, I tend to find if the 300 is late at Sighthill it's nearer it's right time by Surgeon's Hall, as the 35 has hoovered up the passengers going to Lauriston Place/Forrest Road.
Conversely, if the 300 is on time, then it usually looses time as it's hoovering up passengers that could use the 35.

In the afternoon, usually catching bus at Southside between 2 and 4pm, buses tend to be no more than about 5 mins late, though can loose up to 10 mins between Southside and Sighthill.

 

[scotrail158713]

I use the 113 from various places along the route to Ormiston. If I’m waiting for it in Tranent it is at least 10 minutes late more often than not - regardless of the time of day. At this time of year the Festival means that lots of buses are often up to 30 minutes late. I now have the tracker on my phone which is a bit better though as I used to be waiting at a bus stop for 30 minutes not knowing when the bus would turn up - I now know if it’s running late.

 

[route101]

Hi guys, I'd love to know how often the buses you use are late and how late they are. Was on a First Glasgow 9A today that ended up 40mins late by the time it got through Hillington into Braehead due to a lot of congestion near the motorway. I use the 1s the most in Glasgow and these are normally late by 10/15mins a lot of the time. The 1Cs are the exception though compared to the rest and these can be on time a lot. The 8 and 90 are very often late in Glasgow too. What buses do you use?

Yeah ive heard the 90 is a nightmare , cant rely on that .

The 31 is not too bad is it starts at Osborne St . Its usually on time but being every 30 mins or hourly , you can get screwed if theres a no show . I use the tracker on the app , i get worried if the time is not in green ha , other week had bus due in 2 mins on green and never showed up .

The 6 can be hit and miss , when you just miss one often its long wait till the next .

 

[hexagon789]

First Glasgow I would say on average probably 5 mins late. Often at times when the service is (supposed to be) more frequent one doesn't turn up and the wait goes from the published 10 mins to 20.

 

[route101]

First Glasgow I would say on average probably 5 mins late. Often at times when the service is (supposed to be) more frequent one doesn't turn up and the wait goes from the published 10 mins to 20.

Yep , the 5 is good bet for on time though there was a 20 min gap today . Its the every 12 min routes like the 6 that are worst performers .

 

[hexagon789]

Yep , the 5 is good bet for on time though there was a 20 min gap today . Its the every 12 min routes like the 6 that are worst performers .

No. 3, used to be every up to 10 mins (now 12) and at times when it is/was every 10/12 minutes not uncommon for one bus to not run, doubling the frequency gap; seems far less common when the frequency is lower, very rare in my experience for one to not show up when it's down to every 30 mins.

 

[PaulMc7]

No. 3, used to be every up to 10 mins (now 12) and at times when it is/was every 10/12 minutes not uncommon for one bus to not run, doubling the frequency gap; seems far less common when the frequency is lower, very rare in my experience for one to not show up when it's down to every 30 mins.

The 3 is horrendous for reliability to be honest. Up there with the 6. Think that's typical of a 2 hour plus route though and that's why I think they need reworked and trimmed a bit

 

[hexagon789]

The 3 is horrendous for reliability to be honest. Up there with the 6. Think that's typical of a 2 hour plus route though and that's why I think they need reworked and trimmed a bit

Yes, the length doesn't help. Often 10 late getting into the city centre, so not surprising they run late at the outer ends.

I've often wondered - do bus schedules have recovery time like railway ones?

 

[PaulMc7]

I will say one thing though. The tracker app for First is an absolute must use

 

[PaulMc7]

Yes, the length doesn't help. Often 10 late getting into the city centre, so not surprising they run late at the outer ends.

I've often wondered - do bus schedules have recovery time like railway ones?

Usually between 5 and 15 mins at each terminus but sometimes that's nowhere near enough as I've noticed a few times. 9A 40mins late into Braehead yesterday because of traffic and the 1A 20mins late into Balloch today and it was already meant to have left as a 1 to go back to Glasgow 5mins before it got to the terminus

 

[hexagon789]

Usually between 5 and 15 mins at each terminus but sometimes that's nowhere near enough as I've noticed a few times.

So it's just turnaround time each end then.

9A 40mins late into Braehead yesterday because of traffic and the 1A 20mins late into Balloch today and it was already meant to have left as a 1 to go back to Glasgow 5mins before it got to the terminus

Traffic is always a killer because of its unpredictability, the service is always worse at 1700 than at say 1130.

 

[PaulMc7]

So it's just turnaround time each end then.



Traffic is always a killer because of its unpredictability, the service is always worse at 1700 than at say 1130.

With some services there's a couple of minutes at random places mainly bus stations but it's very rare. Yeah where I stay the buses can be horrific all day because Dumbarton Road can be busy all day and the route timings don't make it easy for buses to stick to schedule. Out of the 9 1s between Clydebank and Scotstoun an hour I'd say about 7 or 8 are late towards the City Centre and Scotstoun and it's no fault of anyone or anything except scheduling

 

[Darklord8899]

I think it is much harder building in recovery time into bus timetables, than it is into railway.

Road traffic is far more unpredictable, also even just looking at Monday to Friday, you will probably find that at the same time each day traffic patterns vary for whatever reasons (certain things which happen on a Monday or a Thursday for example)
The above can also apply to passenger loadings as well - eg an OAP special Thursday bingo session causing more people to use a particular journey than other days of week.

Also passengers are fickle!
Passengers will complain if bus is early
Passengers will complain if bus sits for a minute or two at various points along their journey
Passengers will complain if bus is late

Then an operator needs to be aware of penilties from the TC if buses are running early/late due to poor timetabling....

Hope this makes sense to folks....

 

[SeveerYeliab]

In East Kent services generally run to schedule however some routes run late.

For example the 10/17/70 are all interworked but only give about a 5 minute stand time.
Also most times even if a bus is 3 or 4 minutes late it can start the route up to 10 minutes late as there are often driver changeovers.

There are also other stupid scheduling scenarios too. On a 10A from Folkestone to ashford it gets about 15 minutesfor a 6 minute drive! So can leave the timing point before a few minutes late and tech the next timing point about 10 minutes early!

However some will run 20 mins late all the time.

 

[PaulMc7]

I think it is much harder building in recovery time into bus timetables, than it is into railway.

Road traffic is far more unpredictable, also even just looking at Monday to Friday, you will probably find that at the same time each day traffic patterns vary for whatever reasons (certain things which happen on a Monday or a Thursday for example)
The above can also apply to passenger loadings as well - eg an OAP special Thursday bingo session causing more people to use a particular journey than other days of week.

Also passengers are fickle!
Passengers will complain if bus is early
Passengers will complain if bus sits for a minute or two at various points along their journey
Passengers will complain if bus is late

Then an operator needs to be aware of penilties from the TC if buses are running early/late due to poor timetabling....

Hope this makes sense to folks....

Yeah I find that passengers are the biggest reason for a bus running late outwith peak time but traffic in Glasgow is a major issue. Even off of motorways it's very easy for delays of 30/45mins to happen

 

[NorthOxonian]

Most of the main bus routes near where I live are high frequency. Whilst there is a timetable, I think the priority is having 6/8 buses an hour rather than necessarily being exactly to time.

 

[Jordan Adam]

I live on the route of First Aberdeen's Platinum 13 service, if i'm being honest i can't recall the last time i ever had a 13 late. It's a very reliable route, especially now given that they added an extra but in to the PVR with more running time and layover. I suppose the only time it's ever late is occasionally after a football match.

I also sometimes use the 1/1B/2, however they're on such a high frequency (Every 7 minutes or better) that you wouldn't notice if it came late.

 

[route101]

I will say one thing though. The tracker app for First is an absolute must use

I use it too , if the bus time is black i worry . Did get let down by it last month though .

 

[route101]

Yes, the length doesn't help. Often 10 late getting into the city centre, so not surprising they run late at the outer ends.

I've often wondered - do bus schedules have recovery time like railway ones?

Waited a good while yesterday for a city bound 3 at Silverburn . Feel like it could be split here , good to see more deckers on it , the e300s seem make i feel slower

 

[route101]

The 31 gets more running time in the peaks , a bus in the morning is given ten minutes more into city .

 

[hexagon789]

Waited a good while yesterday for a city bound 3 at Silverburn . Feel like it could be split here , good to see more deckers on it , the e300s seem make i feel slower

It's always bad waiting at Silverburn, of all the stops it seems to be the worst for getting the number 3 and I often wonder if they miss it out sometimes on late running runs. Would explain why services are shown as running on the PIS but then fail to actually turn up.

 

[PaulMc7]

Waited a good while yesterday for a city bound 3 at Silverburn . Feel like it could be split here , good to see more deckers on it , the e300s seem make i feel slower

Remember the old 23? Could do something like that again City Centre to Govan or even from Silverburn to Govan so the 3 can shorten. Would even do a similar thing with the 6 and split it at the Gorbals or Govanhill from Clydebank then have City Centre to Calderwood as a separate bus and make them both every 12mins

 

[scotrail158713]

I think it is much harder building in recovery time into bus timetables, than it is into railway.

Road traffic is far more unpredictable, also even just looking at Monday to Friday, you will probably find that at the same time each day traffic patterns vary for whatever reasons (certain things which happen on a Monday or a Thursday for example)
The above can also apply to passenger loadings as well - eg an OAP special Thursday bingo session causing more people to use a particular journey than other days of week.

Also passengers are fickle!
Passengers will complain if bus is early
Passengers will complain if bus sits for a minute or two at various points along their journey
Passengers will complain if bus is late

Then an operator needs to be aware of penilties from the TC if buses are running early/late due to poor timetabling....

Hope this makes sense to folks....

Possibly one of the best posts I’ve read on here. There are so many things that affect timekeeping on a bus route. Take a look at Lothian Buses’ Twitter though and the concept of traffic congestion doesn’t seem to occur to most passengers.

 

[PaulMc7]

Possibly one of the best posts I’ve read on here. There are so many things that affect timekeeping on a bus route. Take a look at Lothian Buses’ Twitter though and the concept of traffic congestion doesn’t seem to occur to most passengers.

Yeah First's Twitter is a lot like Lothians for that. People just love to complain about anything they can with travel though. Scotrails Twitter is up there with the most vicious and nasty customers around

 

[scotrail158713]

Yeah First's Twitter is a lot like Lothians for that. People just love to complain about anything they can with travel though. Scotrails Twitter is up there with the most vicious and nasty customers around

I’m not saying that what’s been said to Scotrail on Twitter is ok but some of the things that Scotrail tweet could be thought through before tweeting - they do bring some of the criticism on themselves.

 

[PaulMc7]

I’m not saying that what’s been said to Scotrail on Twitter is ok but some of the things that Scotrail tweet could be thought through before tweeting - they do bring some of the criticism on themselves.

Yeah I think they try to respond too quickly but the sad thing is that none of it is deserved regardless

 

[scotrail158713]

Yeah I think they try to respond too quickly but the sad thing is that none of it is deserved regardless

Sorry I think you’ve misunderstood what I meant - just a couple of months ago they were still tweeting about “Delivering the best railway Scotland has ever had” despite HST introduction delays meaning 158/170 substitutions and gross overcrowding. They’d have been better dropping the phrase instead of constantly banging it out, in the hope the situation would improve.
Anyway that’s away off topic

 

[PaulMc7]

Sorry I think you’ve misunderstood what I meant - just a couple of months ago they were still tweeting about “Delivering the best railway Scotland has ever had” despite HST introduction delays meaning 158/170 substitutions and gross overcrowding. They’d have been better dropping the phrase instead of constantly banging it out, in the hope the situation would improve.
Anyway that’s away off topic

Yeah they repeat themselves an awful lot tbh but then again so does everyone lol. I've seen people practically abuse drivers for buses being a couple of minutes late. Seen it about the 89 from Kilsyth a lot too

 

[Get Out There]

McGill's 757 used to be horrendous from Paisley to Clydebank. Scheduled to take an hour but circa 2013 the Caetano Darts had repeated breakdowns on route. Passengers were forced to wait 30 minutes for the next full length. Giving 90 minute end to end instead of 60. Luckily one morning a Caetano managed to limpalong from Inchinnan Business Park to the depot just as Wee Andy was running light in a Bluebird to Clydebank area, so Clydebank passengers were ferried direct to Clydebank on this via Red Smiddy and A726 whilst intermediate Erskine pax either waited on a replacement 757 or used a 22/23/A/X