Was I the only one left virtually stranded yesterday evening in Sheffield city centre once the snow began to fall? At 6.45pm I started queuing for a bus on west street. Either one of the 51,52 or 60 services would have done, but not one of the buggers could be seen anywhere. Eventually, 45 minutes later, a 51 turned up. Apparently the 95 service gave up the ghost completely. And for what? A snow shower. God save us when the weather starts to turn really nasty....

I was on a tram on West Street and it took forever to get from one end of West Street to the other. Normally I'd have been waiting for the 95 but last night was supermarket night, so I'm pretty pleased that I didn't have to wait around!

What normally seems to freak the 95s out is the slog up to Commonside; I've seen busses get half way up there and then get stuck in the past, but normally when there's been a couple of inches and some serious freezing.

How much of the problem is due to drivers panicking at the first sniff of snow?

Joe

Well, a few factors

> We all know that come a few flakes of snow nearly all worst bus (sorry First bus) services go fleeing back to the depot.

> Too many stupid people have cars and stop where they shouldn't, causing gridlock, which of course the buses get stuck in.

> Roads off the main drags get lower priority for gritting, which may mean buses having to divert or terminate short if conditions get bad, with the inevitable disruption.

However I am please to report I got home only 5 minutes late last night, getting my usual 18:10 bus from Arundel Gate, after getting my usual 17:10 train from Derby to Sheffield.

The bus I got was the 293 Dronfield bus, operated by TM Travel, which goes via Abbeydale, Millhouse, Hutcliffe Wood, Beauchief, Greenhill, Bradway and Dronfield Woodhouse. Not sure if it made it to Dronfield OK, but it certainly got to Bradway fine using the normal route, despite the roads being a bit dodgy from Beauchief onwards.

Bus was an old 'Metrobus' double decker, which may have been heavier than one of the new low floor type buses, that may have helped.

the snow was seteling on the roads in high green yesterday, the roads were icy & there went a gritter in sight yet the busses continued to run. i took my bro to footy practice up at shirecliffe, the SUFC acadamy, the snow was setaling on the roads there too, infact i was behind one bus & we were both wheel spinning to get up the hill, the bus made it i made it. if busses can still get up to high green, shireclife, grenoside & stanington then why not other places, its these bus drivers they just want the time off!

Originally posted by SaxonLeigh
the snow was seteling on the roads in high green yesterday, the roads were icy & there went a gritter in sight yet the busses continued to run. i took my bro to footy practice up at shirecliffe, the SUFC acadamy, the snow was setaling on the roads there too, infact i was behind one bus & we were both wheel spinning to get up the hill, the bus made it i made it. if busses can still get up to high green, shireclife, grenoside & stanington then why not other places, its these bus drivers they just want the time off!

It's not the snow that's slowing the busses down - it's all the other traffic that's in the way.

I was driving the 95 up West Street(or not as the case may be!) at about 17.30,i was stuck on there for 25 minutes behind more then 30 odd cars going through the Bus gate as per usual which made a bad situation even worse. I only made it as far as Brook hill as i had to turn around as a should have been at Crystal Peaks! We had two 95's stuck at the Terminus so they stopped the whole 95,52's etc up until 21.00ish

Well further to these posts and to all the other posts slagging off bus drivers, I would like to tell you about a First bus driver that I know who did a very kind thing in the snow last night.

He had come in on an 80something bus into town from Bents Green. That bus was due to go back out to Hall Park Head but was running extremely late because of the weather conditions and the driver was due to knock off. However, there was nobody else to take the bus and lots of passengers waiting. He didn't have to do this but he took them all as far as he could considering the snow, to the flats on Stannington Road when by rights he should have been at home by then.

I think it's worth remembering that bus drivers are ordinary people doing a job who also have to get home in the same conditions that we are trying to get home in and have to put up with abuse, things thrown at them etc. etc. Also I think that the drivers get a lot taken out on them when it might be better directed to the bus company itself.

Originally posted by ptigga
It's not the snow that's slowing the busses down - it's all the other traffic that's in the way.

Interesting point - but if you ever see a queue of slow moving traffic you can almost guarantee a bus will be at the front of it.

buses are a neccesary evil, get over it. Unless, that is you'd like to chauffer me to work in the mornings? :)

Yup, was waiting from 3:45ish till 4:35 for my 53 last night - but it then made the run pretty fast for rush hour to ecclesfield.

I think I was on the 51 that you just missed. It took me about an hour and 15 minutes to get home.

Originally posted by Andy C

> Too many stupid people have cars and stop where they shouldn't, causing gridlock, which of course the buses get stuck in.



Why are they stupid?
Where are they stopping where they shouldn't?

Well on Thursday First managed to do better than have done before...
After two 25s, two 25As, one 43, one 253, on Depot... Still waiting for a 53 I got a taxi, that cost me 4.70£ instead of the usual 0£ when showing my pass. It's the second time this week I've had to rely on taxis because buses just won't show up !

Originally posted by Captain_Scarlet
Well on Thursday First managed to do better than have done before...
After two 25s, two 25As, one 43, one 253, on Depot... Still waiting for a 53 I got a taxi, that cost me 4.70£ instead of the usual 0£ when showing my pass. It's the second time this week I've had to rely on taxis because buses just won't show up !

Where abouts do you catch the 53 from? I was waiting at Castle Markets stop for god knows how long around 4:15ish

[I think it's worth remembering that bus drivers are ordinary people doing a job ]

who's told you they are ordinary? strangest bunch of cowboys i've ever seen. ;)

I had to walk up to stanningtonm from Malin Bridge even though the cars were running normally and Yorkshire Terrier were getting to High Bradfield.

First are pathetic. They should adopt a new slogan: 'mediocraty is our aim'.:rant:

First are pathetic. They should adopt a new slogan: 'mediocraty is our aim'.:rant: [/B][/QUOTE]

:clap: :clap: :clap:
well said slimsid2000 i'm in total agreement on that one.

Originally posted by nuf_said
Why are they stupid?
Where are they stopping where they shouldn't?

The main offence is on traffic light controlled cross roads and also roundabouts, where they enter junctions before the exit is cleared, stopping anyone driving across the junction the other way. Everyone behind them then has to stop too, even if they are leaving the roundabout/crossroads in a different direction, and before you know it the whole road system for a mile in every direction is gridlocked!

Originally posted by Internetowl
Interesting point - but if you ever see a queue of slow moving traffic you can almost guarantee a bus will be at the front of it.
Proberly waiting to pull out of a junction and no one will let us in.Makes me laugh when drivers dont let us in, as like you said there are loads of cars behind us waiting also.

Originally posted by Alex C.
Where abouts do you catch the 53 from? I was waiting at Castle Markets stop for god knows how long around 4:15ish
On Chesterfield Road, the Arnold Laver/Valley northbound stop.

When I finish work, I never get 53, and I don' tknow when it's supposed to run as the stop has no timetables, (though SYPTe found room to put ads). There's a list of the buses running with no time... Plus with no 25/25A services in the evenings, the 53 is the ONLY service to go from Woodseats down Chesterfield Road.

I swear one day I'll punch a bus driver, bring back SYT or Mainline.
Screw First and its "I don't give a monkey" attitude.

Maybe its just a case of poor training. Knowing the possible inclement weather conditions combined with the freaky hills you get in Sheffield you'd think there'd be some extra specialised bus driving skill school available with perhaps overtime rates being paid to the higher trained bus drivers who can operate during these conditions thus making us all happy bunnies :)

It's probably not the skills of the drivers that is the issue it's more likely to be a combination of

1) First's drivers are less inclined to take risks

or

2) The design of the low floor buses giving poorer traction than the older style buses in slippy conditions.

I'm sure there must be a knack to getting them buggers up hills in icy/snowy conditions.
Don't bother me..I just drive or walk up them.

I don't blame the drivers, I BLAME THE OPERATOR. I bet you those poor drivers have to put up with all sorts of grief from first and from the passengers.
What Sheffield needs to do is provide a reliable service of busses, with no excuses. the problem isn't the traffic, its because there are't enough buses on the road. if the timetable says every 10 mins then there should be a bus every 10 mins, either get the timetable right or get the busses right.
If you want to blame the traffic, do something about it city council. I'l give you a hint:
The solution isn't to make the jouney longer or more difficult for cars as that will just cause more congestion which will affect the buses and the cars.
The solution isn't to introduce traffic calming to try to stop people driving in the city, people will drive as long as the busses are crap.
I do have to say that I have driven less now that I have the tram outside my house, its much more reliable than the bus.

Originally posted by Andy C
It's probably not the skills of the drivers that is the issue it's more likely to be a combination of

1) First's drivers are less inclined to take risks

or

2) The design of the low floor buses giving poorer traction than the older style buses in slippy conditions.

1. I'd hate to say that First drivers regularly drive onto pavements.
and Last Tuesday a 53 scrapped the back bumper of the Police Community mini bus coz traffic was turning right (onto Little London Rd) and thought that waiting 3 seconds would kill him...

2. Well if they hadn't changed buses such problems wouldn't arise...

the 52, and 51 services are crap at the minute!! i wa stood in town with ma mate at about 530 on friday outside MacD's and not one 52 or 51 came untilll 615!!!

it was freeezing too!! and we got no apology from the driver or owt!! a fair few people had a go at him and the service!.

but come on at 530 when the 52's are suposed to be every 6 mins and the 51's at least 1 every ten mins!

we should have seen about 7 52's and at leats 4 51's!!!

sort your self out First!!

Originally posted by Fletch
the 52, and 51 services are crap at the minute!! i wa stood in town with ma mate at about 530 on friday outside MacD's and not one 52 or 51 came untilll 615!!!

it was freeezing too!! and we got no apology from the driver or owt!! a fair few people had a go at him and the service!.

but come on at 530 when the 52's are suposed to be every 6 mins and the 51's at least 1 every ten mins!

we should have seen about 7 52's and at leats 4 51's!!!

sort your self out First!!

And why have a go at the driver? The timetables are ridiculous. According to the copy I have, the 53 (I reference that because I use it the most often) takes 32 minutes from Ecclesfield to City Centre. at 0800, at 1200 and at 1600. Guess what? It takes nearly an hour at 0800, 30 minutes at 1200 and its been known to take 12 minutes at 4pm going into town.

The problem is there is no allowance for traffic problems in the timetable, because that would mean recruiting more drivers, and buying more buses.

It is not the drivers fault - would you rather he/she went past stops picking no-one up to keep to time, or for example if the bus in front had broken down, he picked up 2 loads of passengers but ran the route 20 minutes late?

badly formed sentences and phases I know :p