The supertram in Sheffield has seen a year on year increase of 7% to 12.3million customers from 11.5m in 2002/3. This is one of the biggest % increases of any light rail/supertram system in the Uk.
Today First buses in SY have announced a 3 week price cut starting Saturday 28th August for its FirstDay ticket.It will now be just £2 instead of £2.90 Peak/£2.50 off Peak.If successful the offer may be extended says a spokeman.The number of customers using First have dropped 10% since the strike and the spokeman says this could be due to several factors Bad weather/major change to bus network/Customers have found other ways of travelling around!!

Bus passengers may have dropped because it is the summer holidays.

The roads are quiet at the minute, but I bet it will be bedlam next week!

Yes we Know its the summer holidays however what First will be looking at is it passenger number levels this year and compare them with last year. Most large companies use this type of data to forecast what to purchase in materials/services/staffing levels.

Originally posted by alchresearch
Bus passengers may have dropped because it is the summer holidays.

The roads are quiet at the minute, but I bet it will be bedlam next week!

It's not next week they go back, it's the week after :D

6th of Sept.

Originally posted by Rich
It's not next week they go back, it's the week after :D

6th of Sept.

Heh, it's next Tuesday for schools near me!

I expect first will get it's customers back sooner or later,we are a nation of habit.
I was a little disapointed with the supertram system not being extended,especially to the northern general hospital.

A short while ago I went to visit my brother in London and the buses there a £1 for any length of journey (i.e. cheaper than up here!) the buses were cleaner, faster and frequent - admittedly not hard. Perhaps if First emulated this they might be a better used - or is this too radical an idea!?

Originally posted by royjames
I expect first will get it's customers back sooner or later,we are a nation of habit.
I was a little disapointed with the supertram system not being extended,especially to the northern general hospital.

Trouble with that, is that it's a good idea in theory but in practice there be would too much complaining about the fact that they'd have to rip Herries Road to shreds to build the tracks, which would cause problems with access by road to the very thing it would be intended to serve, ie the Northern General, not just for the general public, for Ambulances and other emergency traffic as well.

The way buses are operated in London is different to the rest of the Uk.In London the network and level of service per route is planned by Transport for London( a form of PTE)and this is then put out to tender for 'x' number of years. I personally think this system should operate in all the major urban areas.

Just seen this on BBC south Yorks newspage. Things must be bad for First....

Town's bus services under threat
========================
Nearly 600 people in an East Yorkshire town have signed a petition after a bus company said it was withdrawing some of its services
First said its services around Goole will be withdrawn in October due to the effect of a three week strike by South Yorkshire drivers.

The company says that following the industrial action it has been forced to "assess its trading position".

It is hoped the services will be taken over by another operator.

Originally posted by Rich
Trouble with that, is that it's a good idea in theory but in practice there be would too much complaining about the fact that they'd have to rip Herries Road to shreds to build the tracks, which would cause problems with access by road to the very thing it would be intended to serve, ie the Northern General, not just for the general public, for Ambulances and other emergency traffic as well.
as well as what it would do to the area in between the hospital and the current track. It would be death to any businesses and house sales in the area for a couple of years at least, and studies from similar schemes indicates it would take another five years for things to really improve. Given that any track would have to go through the New Deal for Communities area, it aint ever going to happen because it would all but destroy the regeneration work they're doing.

In Nottingham, the buses are still owned by the city, and it's a cheap service integrated with the rail, and other services.

I lived in Nottingham when I didn't have a car. Although I tended to cycle, if I had heavy items to carry or a longer journey, I used the bus.

Even though I was on the dole, or rather 69.60/fortnight "income support" then (hence the tendency to cycle) I didn't find the fares excessive and because of the way the system was arranged, I could get pretty much anywhere with ease, from the bus stop at the end of my street.

What struck me when I moved to Sheffield 10 years ago was how awkward the arrangement of routes were. I'd go somewhere, and then stand at the bus stop at the opposite side of the street waiting for the bus for my return journey, blissfully unaware that the stop for the route in the opposite direction was actually on a totally different street 1/4 of a mile away.

Fares are obviously one way of getting people back on the buses, but having a sensibly arranged route is another issue that should be addressed.

Originally posted by rtapper
Just seen this on BBC south Yorks newspage. Things must be bad for First....

Town's bus services under threat
========================
Nearly 600 people in an East Yorkshire town have signed a petition after a bus company said it was withdrawing some of its services
First said its services around Goole will be withdrawn in October due to the effect of a three week strike by South Yorkshire drivers.

The company says that following the industrial action it has been forced to "assess its trading position".

It is hoped the services will be taken over by another operator.

If you have a look at First's South Yorkshire site, there are only a handful of services they run in Goole/Old Goole/Refurbished Goole (whatever!). I think it's probably two drivers doing the job anyway!!

Originally posted by commie pig
In Nottingham, the buses are still owned by the city, and it's a cheap service integrated with the rail, and other services.

How did Nottingham escape deregulation ?

it wasn't South Yorkshire/ Sheffield, and was not a "successful Socialist area"...

Therefore, Nottingham missed Maggie's knives, where Sheffield got it pretty much square between the shoulder blades.

PT

Originally posted by rtapper

First said its services around Goole will be withdrawn in October due to the effect of a three week strike by South Yorkshire drivers.



Aww, can't First withdraw all its buses in Sheffield, getting to and from work in my car has been a real pain since the drivers went back to work! :-)

One of the best ways to attract customers back onto the buses is to make sure there are no more strikes. I have said it before: the bus industry is over-unionised which is the cause of at least some of its problems.

Originally posted by KangaREW
Aww, can't First withdraw all its buses in Sheffield, getting to and from work in my car has been a real pain since the drivers went back to work! :-)

*sigh*

Do you car drivers constantly have to moan about buses?! It's very tiresome IMO.

Buses are a fact of life, there will always be buses (except when they're on strike) no matter how much moaning about them is done by car drivers.

You see, not all of us can afford driving lessons much less a car to drive what with the other expenses of running a vehicle such as petrol, insurance, tax, repairs, and whatnot.

Originally posted by Rich
Trouble with that, is that it's a good idea in theory but in practice there be would too much complaining about the fact that they'd have to rip Herries Road to shreds to build the tracks, which would cause problems with access by road to the very thing it would be intended to serve, ie the Northern General, not just for the general public, for Ambulances and other emergency traffic as well.

Yorkshire Water are very successfully managing to rip up Herries Road at moment. It is closed outside the hospital for serveral months. Can't the just lay some tracks whilst it is up :)

Originally posted by Rich
*sigh*

Do you car drivers constantly have to moan about buses?! It's very tiresome IMO.

Buses are a fact of life, there will always be buses (except when they're on strike) no matter how much moaning about them is done by car drivers.

You see, not all of us can afford driving lessons much less a car to drive what with the other expenses of running a vehicle such as petrol, insurance, tax, repairs, and whatnot.

Maybe cos the bus users bite so easily when being wound up.

Nottingham Buses are operated by a stand alone company ie private not council owned according to its web site it sold off a stake to another company. When the bus market was deregulated all former council/pte's had to set up stand alone companies to compile with the Transport Act.