Andy C

Sheffield BID organise the Fringe outdoor stages on Devonshire Green and the Peace Gardens, this is their website https://www.sheffieldbid.com/coming-soon/fringe-at-tramlines-2022#:~:text=While the main Tramlines music,host The Fringe at Tramlines.

Various pubs, clubs and bars but events on too.

Ones to look out for include

Washington https://www.facebook.com/search/top/?q=tramlines 2022 - the washington

Maida Vale https://www.facebook.com/maidavalesheff

Bloo88 https://www.facebook.com/events/700094104659833?active_tab=about

Green Room https://www.facebook.com/GreenRoomSheff/

Shakespeares https://www.facebook.com/ShakespearesShf

Church House https://www.facebook.com/TheChurchHouseSheffield

Crystal https://www.facebook.com/crystalbarsheff

Frog & Parrot https://www.facebook.com/frogandparrot

Dorothy Pax https://www.facebook.com/thedorothypax

(feel free to add to the list!)

Oh and if you'd prefer to literally get the tram in the opposite direction to Tramlines to see a gig Chantry Brewery in Parkgate has a band on the Friday night! https://www.facebook.com/ChantryBreweryRotherham (they have just opened an on site bar!)

14 minutes ago, busdriver1 said:

Having read the release from sypte and looked at the facts this is beyond any doubt totally misleading and I think intentionally so. There will NOT be a reduction of 1/3 of bus services at all.
There will be a loss of JOURNIES on 1/3 of tendered JOURNIES.
The intentional implication that this is the fault of the operators is a typical attempt from the PTE to divert blame for their own incompetence.  And these people want full control of the buses. The grant that was given to all local authorities to try and get people back on buses after covid is ending but since it was spent on projects to win votes rather than actually do what it was intended for they are cutting services to prop up these vote winners for their political masters.
This has to be the worst case of PTE abuse in recent years.
BE VERY AFRAID OF THESE IDIOTS.

just to be pedantic....

it isn't SYPTE anymore, it is SYMCA (South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority). The organisation led by the mayor elect, Oliver Coppard, which is responsible for a number of things in the region including transport.

But yes, they've funded the Zoom Beyond pass giving young adults cheap travel and they are funding a pointless City Centre shuttle bus (including rebuilding a road junction so it can physically run!) at the same time as having to axe important community bus services they can no longer afford to fund!

The list of service changes from 25 July is here https://travelsouthyorkshire.com/en-gb/newsupdates/service-changes#sheffield, In Sheffield there is one route (32/32a) withdrawn whilst four routes  (73, 135, 208 and X74) have cuts.  In addition there is the M17 not listed that has already had cuts and no longer runs on Saturdays or mid afternoon. There are also  two routes where the operator is changing  (44 and 76a). Not a huge list to be fair and they are clearly making a political song and dance about it to try and get some more money out of the government after they declined to fund South Yorkshires Bus Service Improvement Plan after the budget for the government's "Bus Back Better" scheme was slashed.

However potentially there will be huge cuts to services previously operated commercially come October when the Covid money runs out unless passenger numbers recover or new funding is found.

14 minutes ago, HeHasRisen said:

Its a tricky balance. If buses arent being used as much, what price are people prepared to pay for tickets to keep the services running?  Lets also not forget bus companies also have to buy diesel which is also going through the roof in terms of cost.

You are right in that the cost of providing the service is shooting through the roof, as is the cost of motoring (and life in general!)

I think the important question right now ahead of the Covid money running out in October is why are people using public transport less? Of course it doesn't help that the authorities have been telling people not to use public transport as they will catch covid and die if they do, it also doesn't help that our politicians are regularly shouting  about how bad public transport is, again putting people off using it!

However more seriously, what needs to change for more people to use public transport? Are people simply not leaving their house as much? Are people now using other modes of transport instead? Is where people want to travel to different to before and not as well catered for by public transport? Or do people simply need reminding what services exist and what reasons they may find for travel?

1 hour ago, Resident said:

There was funding. He decided to use it to extend the 18-21 scheme which has had ZERO impact on passenger numbers during the first 9 month scheme. The thing is that it's 18-21 year olds that are paying passengers.  So reducing the prices to child fares & giving a poor subsidy in return is damaging not helping.

The other issue is the number of non-paying passengers, subsidised by the taxpayers. The eldery and disabled, from here known as NPT. One driver was telling me not long ago that in his first half of his duty (4.5hrs) he had processed 138 passengers. 136 of them being NPT. From what I understand the subsidy payments for these NPTs are absolutely abysmal and do NOT cover the cost of the journey. 

I'm not blaming the elderly/disabled but something needs to change in the way the services are paid for. I have spoken to quite a few elderly passengers and they have said that they really should pay something. 

TSY gives students a £1 single fare so why can't that be extended and used for NPTs, with the subsidy topping up the shortfall. Free travel is no longer viable as the number of elderly/disabled card holders has increased massively in recent years. 

An issue on a lot of the tendered network as you imply is that the majority of passengers don't actually pay a fare at all, and the reimbursement rates for carrying senior and disabled pass holders is insultingly low. Those rates are set by the government.

You are right in that a good chunk of bus patronage is 18-21 year olds, they've gone from buying weekly/monthly commuter passes to paying 80p a ride subsidised by the mayor, it may have generated some extra trips, I'm not sure.

The student £1 fare is a promotional deal offered by the bus companies, it started as a way of Stagecoach luring students off First buses back in the days of competition on the University routes and the fare seems to have stuck, I guess these days it is buses competing with Uber for the student traffic.

There was an article in the Star recently about the M17 bus (Dore-Jordanthorpe) which is currently running a reduced timetable. The contract to operate this held by Hulleys was due to expire in July/August but they have agreed to keep operating it until October under the current terms but have made clear they have no intention of bidding for the next contract. Operating costs have shot through the roof (cost of diesel, wages and everything else), the bus takes very few fares and the reimbursement rate for concessionary travel isn't enough. At the funding levels the SYMCA is willing to pay it simply isn't viable to operate.

7 minutes ago, RollingJ said:

I realise that - just pointing out that the services are now mainly  run on a commercial basis.

Yes, indeed, that has been the system since deregulation - core network run commercially at no cost to the public purse with local authorities funding tendered services to supplement it.

I do think it is important to point out that the changes in July are entirely tendered services specified and funded by the mayor though, they are not the commercial services which have Covid funding to support them until October when the issue of patronage being well down compared with pre-covid becomes a problem.

31 minutes ago, belperite said:

The apps and the electronic signs all seem to lie quite a lot. The only reliable way now seems to be to look at the GPS map on bustimes.org and see if there is a bus physically en route.

that is a very useful website, I use it a lot! https://bustimes.org/districts/263

48 minutes ago, RollingJ said:

Anna, it isn't the councils fault -this time - bus services are mainly operated on a commercial basis, and if the operator makes a loss, they apply to cancel the service.

 

Actually all the ones changing in July are tendered services not commercial ones but you are correct in that it isn't the council - it is the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority. The issue with commercial services doesn't hit until October when the Covid support money runs out.

There are two parts to this story.

July service changes

https://travelsouthyorkshire.com/en-gb/newsupdates/service-changes

July is when most of the contracts end for buses on the tendered network - these buses are specified and funded by the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority (SYMCA) to supplement the commercial network. They are services that aren't financially viable commercially but considered socially or economically important to the communities they serve. Of course since the last contracts were let the cost of providing bus services has rocketed - cost of fuel, drivers wages, parts and everything else. The bus operators are also still struggling with driver availability coming out of Covid, however it appears on the face of it the mayor simply doesn't have the funds available to pay for these bus services to continue. He has however found money to pay for under 21s to travel incredibly cheaply and also for the new City Centre shoppers shuttle bus. I can't help wonder if the mayor has chosen to pay for those things instead of the axed bus services.

Potential October service cuts

The commercial bus network is currently operating with government Covid recovery support funding which ends in October. Public transport usage is still well down compared with pre-covid (passenger numbers currently down by about a third) which means many bus services that used to be financially viable aren't any longer and come October when the government support is withdrawn could face the axe. There are two answers to this - people need to buy tickets and use the services or the mayor needs to find funding to add them to the tendered network.

Current Sheffield depots are:

First - Olive Grove

Stagecoach - Holbrook and Ecclesfield

TM Travel - Halfway

Sheffield Community Transport - Montgomery Terrace

Also operating in our area are:

Hulleys of Baslow - depot in Baslow

Powells - depot in Hellaby, Rotherham

Stagecoach buses from Stonegravels depot in Chesterfield and Stagecoach buses from Mansfield depot

First buses from Doncaster depot.

One Valley Festival is back post Covid this weekend!

There are actually two events running side by side - One Valley (in the town centre and suburbs) and One Valley Extra (at further out venues).

List of venues below. Check their Facebook pages for more information.

Note this isn't related to the old 3 Valleys festival that ran until 2018, however it is many of the same venues, each are organising their own things independently.

One Valley

• Cross Daggers (bus 44)
• 2Underdog (bus 44)
• Dancing Anchor Spirits (bus 44)
• Beer Stop at Dronfield (bus 44)
• 3White Swan (bus 44)
• 4Dronfield Arms (bus 44)
• Fox in the Box (bus 44)
• 5Coach & Horses (bus 43)
• 6Jolly Farmer (bus 43)
• 7Hill Top Club
• 8Victoria (bus 43)
• 9Blue Stoops (bus 15 or 16)
• Manor House Hotel (bus 15 or 16)
• 11Green Dragon

One Valley Extra

In addition to the normal local bus services shown, a minibus will be shuttling between these venues and Dronfield railway station charging affordable fares.

• Drone Valley Brewery (bus 43 or 44)
• 13Pioneer Club (bus 15 or 44)
• 14Miners Arms (bus 15)

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Miners Arms

Hundall Lane, Hundall, S18 4BS

TM Travel bus 15 stops right outside

Minibus will also shuttle from the railway station and the other "One Valley Extra" venues

https://www.facebook.com/minershundall

2 days of Live Music. Kicking off on Friday with the Genie Lamps at 3pm. Saturday starts with a warm up spot from Milly Ballington followed by Georgie Mills with Ribeye closing the day in style.

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Jolly Farmer

Pentland Road, Dronfield Woodhouse, S18 8ZQ

Stagecoach bus 43

https://www.facebook.com/jollyfarmerdronfield

we open from 9am to set you up for the day with a farmers breakfast

Full indoor bar service is also available from 9am

Outside bar will open from 1pm and will be set up with Stancill Brewery ales and Birra Moretti UK Lager with also a selection of traditional ciders

We will fire up the BBQ from 1pm too so grab yourself a tasty treat from the food we have on offer while the drinks are flowing.

Our entertainment this year will be a DJ entertaining you all afternoon on the beer garden with a mix of old classics right up to current music. There will be something for everyone’s taste.

Inside we will be featuring a selection of brewers with a number of different real ales and also a nice selection of fruity and traditional ciders.

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Green Dragon

Church Street, Dronfield, S18 1QB

Walkable from Dronfield railway station and bus routes 16/44 or from bus 43 at Dronfield Sainsburys 

https://www.facebook.com/GreenDragonDronfield

Opening at 12pm-DJ Clarkey playing all day

Two outside bars only - pub shut inside

Lockdown Gin & Vodka bar /Prosecco/Peroni

Other bar for spirits , wine ; lager & cask ales

Accepting card & cash

We have a Pizza Van in the car park

We hope to see you enjoying the day & our beer

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Blue Stoops

Dronfield High Street

Nearest buses: TM Travel 15/16 to the Civic Centre or Stagecoach bus 43 to Dronfield Sainsburys

https://www.facebook.com/thebluestoopsdronfield

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Dronfield Arms

91 Chesterfield Road, Dronfield Bottom, S18 2XE

https://www.facebook.com/dronfieldarms

Stagecoach Bus 44 stops close by or it is a short walk from the railway station

Over the Queen's Jubilee holiday weekend many pubs, clubs and even a brewery are putting on events under the collective banner of "One Valley" and "One Valley Extra".

Expect beer festivals, live music, street food stalls, DJs and family entertainment.

Check out publicity from individual venues for more details but here is a summary of venues I'm aware of:

One Valley - Dronfield town and suburbs, many are within walking distance of Dronfield railway station and most are served by Stagecoach bus 43 or 44 from Sheffield.

• Cross Daggers (bus 44)
• 2Underdog (bus 44)
• 3White Swan (bus 44)
• 4Dronfield Arms (bus 44)
• Fox in the Box (bus 44)
• 5Coach & Horses (bus 43)
• 6Jolly Farmer (bus 43)
• 7Hill Top Club
• 8Victoria (bus 43)
• 9Blue Stoops (bus 15 or 16)
• 10Manor House Hotel (bus 15 or 16)
• 11Green Dragon

One Valley Extra - real ale orientated venues out of town. A minibus will shuttle between these venues and Dronfield station charging affordable fares to supplement the normal local bus service.

• 12Drone Valley Brewery (bus 43 or 44)
• 13Pioneer Club (bus 15 or 44)
• 14Miners Arms (bus 15)

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Hill Top Sports and Social Club

https://www.facebook.com/HillTopSSC

Longacre Road S18 1UQ

Nearest bus route is the Stagecoach 43 on Hollins Spring Avenue.

A free guided walk of the bounds of Bradway on Sunday 29 May, 10:30am to 1pm.

This is an annual event , originally led by local resident and historian Tony Smith, this has become an annual tradition in Bradway and is now led by Chris Morgan, the Chairman of the Bradway Community Action Group (BAG).

Walkers will learn about the history of this small suburb of Sheffield, which used to be part of Derbyshire. You may find corners you hadn't realised were there! You'll hear explanations of things you may have passed many times.

Note part of the walk may be on muddy paths. Suitable for families with enquiring minds!

Meet at the top of Twentywell Lane outside the Age UK charity shop from 10am (postcode S17 4QH).

The event is part of Sheffield Environment Weeks which is lottery funded and supported by Sheffield City Council.

On 21/05/2022 at 00:10, creweblade said:

Terrible service from 52a and 52 to woodhouse tonight on west st - got to stop at before 1030pm and no sign of either 52 - fortunately a reliable 30a turned up at 1105. The 52 bus service has definitely gone from one of the best to one of the worst- shambolic is putting it politely 

Is that towards Woodhouse - the 52/52a doesn't use West Street in that direction on Saturday nights due to the council often closing Carver Street and Division Street at night https://www.stagecoachbus.com/service-updates/serviceupdatesarticle?SituationId=ID-19/08/2021-12:07:07:261

This website is always useful to have bookmarked - choose the area then click on map to see buses tracking live https://bustimes.org/districts/263

23 hours ago, HeHasRisen said:

I cant imagine thats the reason they are moving the 120, 52 and 95 routes tbh, in my mind they seem to be very high frequency routes anyway. Can @Andy C shed any light on why this change is being made?

As far as I am aware the diversions have been in place since last August - that is when Stagecoach announced the service update https://www.stagecoachbus.com/service-updates/serviceupdatesarticle?SituationId=ID-19/08/2021-12:07:07:261

It is council policy for safety reasons to close Carver Street on busy Friday and Saturday nights - there are a lot of lively bars/clubs on there and it is quite chaotic with a mix of revellers and taxis in the street. To be honest this is quite sensible policy and Carver Street / Division Street frankly isn't suitable as a bus route - however that was the alternative the council implemented when they closed Leopold Street and Pinstone Street to buses. When this route is closed on a weekend the buses now basically miss a great chunk of the City Centre out and use the ring road and go non-stop University to Moorfoot.

Unfortunately at the council and SYMCA the left hand doesn't seem to talk to the right hand.

The council do have development work going on in the area and once that is complete the bus route will be Rockingham Street all the way from West Street to Moorhead with a new mini-interchange constructed to replace the stops on Leopold Street. However 2 years after they closed Leopold Street this still hasn't materialised.

3 minutes ago, hackey lad said:

Ok, so in your world Supertram are totally blameless in all this and it’s partly my fault 😂😂😂

before Brexit such shipping would take a day or two and by the time the contractors were appointed the parts would have been received. Now following Brexit it takes weeks to ship them. So yes, if you voted Brexit I guess you do have yourself to blame! (although to be fair Boris never put increased red tape for import/export on the side of a bus....)

11 minutes ago, sheffbag said:

There has been a general aspiration for 15years to have daily/weekly capping. Going back to the original Yorcard trials which used a £3 daily cap

So we already have Travelmaster for within South Yorkshire which is admittedly a good product and a fair value but the problem you have is that the money is then divvied up between the operators so of course the larger ones will introduce their products to get 100% of the income. So how will the new mayor stop that?

improving public transport in the city - punctuality and reliability need to be the biggest thing - Sorry, i thought the mayor was after funding for the whole of South Yorkshire, not just Sheffield. You use the school run as an example, that is generally 10-15 minutes out of a day of increased localised traffic. Which bus lane areas are hit by school run traffic? 

 

Yes, the mayor is in charge of South Yorkshire however this is the Sheffield Forum...

A lot of people travel between South Yorkshire and Derbyshire (to places like Dronfield and Chesterfield for example), especially those that live in South Sheffield by the border and they aren't catered for by South Yorkshire ticketing schemes so there have to be other tickets to cater for them.

Traffic gets bad during the afternoon school run across much of the city around 2.30 to 3.30pm. My own experience is of buses taking 20 minutes longer than scheduled around this time and just have to sit in the traffic jams as the bus lanes don't come into operation until 4pm. By the time the bus lanes become active the buses are already late which impacts the evening peak commute.

To use bus route 25 towards Bradway as an example there are secondary schools on the route coming out of Woodhouse, coming out the City Centre (Granville Road/Queens Road) and at Meadowhead.

2 minutes ago, hackey lad said:

Oh that’s ok then  

If you want someone to blame for it taking so long, blame those that voted for Brexit or the politicians that lied and misled the electorate.

There are two issues

• Covid related driver shortages, planned cancellations are published on the day at https://www.firstbus.co.uk/sheffield/plan-journey/timetables/journey-cancellations
• Sheffield's worsening traffic congestion. I've noticed buses suffer most during the afternoon school run (around 3pm) as bus lanes etc don't start operating until 4pm.

I'd recommend bookmarking the bustimes.org website on your phone, the map that tracks buses live is very useful! The following link takes you to the list of areas of Sheffield https://bustimes.org/districts/263. Click on the area then you can either click on map to show you everything in the area, alternatively click on a bus stop to show scheduled times then you can click on a particular departure to show you where that bus currently is along with all the other buses on the same route.

17 hours ago, hackey lad said:

Did they say why it took so long fix ? And  , any apologies for the delay?

One of the reasons, which they stated on Twitter, is waiting for the specialist parts to be shipped into the UK.

Another Brexit bonus.

Service is running again now anyway.

1 hour ago, HeHasRisen said:

If people simply werent getting buses because they thought it was £2.80 per journey, when a £4 day saver or £15 weekly ticket exists, then its just a case of educating people about these, the "no single journey more than £2" is a meaningless soundbyte in reality.  Exactly the same as when Burnham announced a similar thing in Manchester a few weeks back.

I think there is a general aspiration to introduce smart ticketing with daily/weekly capping (ie you tap your contactless bank card or smart card each time you travel and it charges you the single fare but stops charging when you hit the price of an all day pass or weekly pass, making sure you always get the best deal) and the practicalities on a system where you don't tap off as well as tap on require it to be a flat fare, so these schemes help things down that road.

However the biggest thing for South Yorkshire, which is something our new Mayor has said so clearly understands, is making the ticketing system much simpler and easy to understand. We have the Travelmaster range that works on all buses, trams and trains in the county which is nice, simple and good value, however operator specific tickets also exist alongside them - and are necessary to cover cross boundary journeys such as into Derbyshire.

Yes, ticketing needs much better promotion, communication and making simpler. However actually the prices in Sheffield are quite reasonable and I don't believe that should be the top priority for improving public transport in the city - punctuality and reliability need to be the biggest thing and this will require improvements to the bus priority measures (just for example a lot of buses are delayed in traffic during the afternoon school run around 3pm and the bus lanes don't come into use until 4pm) then the next biggest thing, which will require an increased public funding, is to improve the tendered part of the network to improve rural/community service frequencies and hours of operation and to fix some missing links.

We need to make sure that the buses are there to use in the first place and are running reliably before we start worrying about tinkering with ticketing.

Just now, RollingJ said:

Interesting, @Andy C- all on routes already easily accessible from the current transport set-up, apart from the Interchange/Sheffield Station bit.

Assuming there won't be any stops on Trippet Lane, the only bit of route not served by existing buses or trams is Surrey Street and Leopold Street! Buses such as 56 and 95/95a provide regular services down Brown Street/Paternoster Row past the station.  In my opinion it would have been more sensible to better promote existing services and invest in improving the bus stop environments.

From what I've seen posted elsewhere the new City Centre shuttle bus is expected to launch on 13th June on a circular route:

Sheffield Interchange > Flat Street > Arundel Gate > Theatres / Town Hall Square > Leopold Street > Trippet Lane > West Street > Carver Street > Rockingham Street ("Heart of the City") > Moorfoot > Moorhead > Rail Station (Howard pub) > Sheffield Interchange.

Normal fares/passes to apply. Initially to operate using Euro6 diesel buses until the electric buses and charging infrastructure is in place. Currently out to tender for potential operators and hours of operation etc will depend on what the costs of subsidy look like.

---------------------

Meanwhile the buses that used to serve the stops on Leopold Street and Pinstone Street are still suffering from using temporary stops in unattractive locations. There are plans for their replacement which are a long time coming:

Rockingham Street (for buses that arrive in town via West Street such as the 52 and 120) - a new mini bus interchange is to be built as part of the new Pound's Park on the site of the old demolished fire station (more recently a temporary P&D car park). You can read more at https://heartofsheffield.co.uk/news/pounds-park-consultation-summary

Arundel Gate (for buses that arrive via Fitzalan Square and are heading towards Abbeydale Road / Ecclesall Road such as the 75/76, 81/82/83/88 and 97/98: There are proposed changes to the roads in the area to better accommodate buses https://connectingsheffield.commonplace.is/proposals/city-centre-proposals

11 hours ago, Planner1 said:

So everything has to work perfectly 100% of the time does it?

 

Is it causing the buses any real problem or delay? Has anyone bothered asking the Council why it's still stuck?

Buses are having to divert to Bowshaw and back to avoid the failed traffic lights.

Extra journey time which means extra fuel cost and late running. 

All because the council haven't bothered to do their job and clearly aren't interested in buses. 

It's been two weeks now!

We're told by some the public sector should be in charge of running the buses. They aren't even capable of managing the bits of the bus system they are already responsible for such as traffic lights and bus stops!

The replacement bus stops in town for the ones the council closed on Leopold Street and Pinstone Street still haven't been built, that's been nearly 2 years now.

6 hours ago, HeHasRisen said:

Serious question - did people need to pay at Ikea and Valley Centretainment before today? If so, how was this enforced when people parked there for other uses?

Before it was the free parking and pay tram fare arrangement at Meadowhall, IKEA and Centertainment whilst it was a dedicated park and ride ticket that operated car park barriers at Halfway, Nunnery and Middlewood - therefore the changes mean the same arrangement across all car parks.

2 hours ago, sheffbag said:

So the Village people at the YMCA have decided that people should pay more for travel if they are doing more than 1 return journey in a day?

Is this a permanent thing as the TSY website says "From Monday 21 March 2022 parking will be temporarily free at this site while the ticket machines undergo maintenance. You will just need to pay for a tram ticket to travel." 

No, you buy whatever the best value tram ticket is for your needs, a whole range of daily, weekly and monthly unlimited travel passes are available as well as single journey fares.

You can buy a tram DayRider pass from the conductor for £4.60 or on the Stagecoach app for £4.50. Either way no more using the self service car park machines, just park up and jump on the tram.

The journey planner on the Supertram website will tell you the single/return ticket prices for the journey you make are and what daily/weekly/monthly passes are available .

Officially it is temporary as the ticket machines and barriers are out of action,  however the word on the street is it is likely to become permanent following a review.