Sheffield Bus Changes

[lazarus 68]

Are you suggesting nothing should ever change then?

Why should they change things, ie route numbers and routes, if money has to be saved, off peak buses that currently run every 10-15 minutes change times to every 20-30 mins. The buses have run reasonable well for years so what's the fault there.

Edited November 10, 2015 by lazarus

[frankster 10]

Or if the bus doesn't turn up at all. I was stood on the Wicker last night from 17:40 until 18:25 waiting for a 97 until I finally gave up and got on a 98 to Totley Brook Road and finally trudged up the hill at Totley reaching home at 19:20.

 

And another 50 minute wait for a 97 on the Wicker tonight. This service is abysmal

[Daven 10]

I think the problem is that people don't like change and seem to struggle with the concept of using those 2 things hanging down from their pelvis to do what they were put there for - walking !

The bus companies have been advertising the changes for many many weeks and yet many folk are still being caught out. It beggars belief really tch !

Edited November 9, 2015 by Daven

[Guest]

I think the problem is that people don't like change and seem to struggle with the concept of using those 2 things hanging down from their pelvis to do what they were put there for - walking !

 

Its not Albert Square or Coronation Street where people all seem to work a 2 minute walk from were they live.

[Daven 10]

Most people would benefit from a brisk walk twice a day tbh.

Edited November 10, 2015 by Daven

[I1L2T3 10]

I think the problem is that people don't like change and seem to struggle with the concept of using those 2 things hanging down from their pelvis to do what they were put there for - walking !

The bus companies have been advertising the changes for many many weeks and yet many folk are still being caught out. It beggars belief really tch !

 

That is absolutely not the problem. The changes are a shambles.

[kidneystone 23]

My daughter can't get to work on time now since the changes. She can't leave any earlier because she has to take her children to Breakfast club at their school and that doesn't start until 8am. Due to her now having to change buses and a long wait between the change she is always late. Her employer is not very happy and neither is she.

[kay1 13]

Most people would benefit from a brisk walk twice a day tbh.

 

Sorry but not everyone can manage a "brisk" walk, It takes me a slow ten minute walk to my nearest bus stop and more often than not could get a seat on the bus now I am lucky if the bus even stops to pick passengers up as they have changed to single deckers. Please think of older people that still want to be independant and still want to go shopping whilst they are able to do so.

[Fudbeer 12]

Went for 2 buses today the 86 into town this morning and the 97 this evening both were no shows (24 hour clock times on next bus)

[molar 10]

This morning I checked the live feed for my nearest stop and there was only one bus tracking and that was 65 minutes away. The service is meant to be every 10 minutes and several buses were missing in-between.

 

It wouldn't surprise me if there are people now faced with losing their jobs because they are consistently arriving late at work everyday.

[I1L2T3 10]

I drove in to work today. Passed bustop after bustop full of people waiting for buses. People were rolling into work anywhere between 15-45 minutes later than normal because of the buses.

 

---------- Post added 09-11-2015 at 23:54 ----------

 

The Star gets it right -

 

http://www.thestar.co.uk/news/chaos-and-confusion-as-sheffield-bus-cuts-hit-home-1-7557319#axzz3qzYCWuen

 

 

We knew it was never a consultation from the start - it was all about cutting services and cutting costs.

 

- And of course, come January, it's all changing again. (This must be true, a bloke in the pub told me)

 

---------- Post added 09-11-2015 at 11:31 ----------

 

 

Depends on the route, and on the time.

 

 

There's nothing to stop you setting up as a bus company, and running buses to a timetable from, say, Darnall to Sheffield Lane Top via the City Centre.

 

As long as you can prove you're able to do it safely, there's no reason why the PTE should turn you down.

 

But it's up to you to try and operate it at a profit.

 

If the council identified a social need to move people from Westfield to NGH at certain times of the day, they could advertise it as a "Subsidised Service", and you could bid for it, and, if your tender is accepted, then you run it with fares at the agreed levels.

 

 

(This. btw. Is a gross over-simplification. But you get the general idea)

 

I get the general idea but it still doesn't answer the question.

 

If as we were told a couple of pages back that the bus services aren't subsidised then how does a cut in funding to SYPTE cause buses run by private companies to disappear from the roads?

 

Does not compute.

[Andy C 86]

I drove in to work today. Passed bustop after bustop full of people waiting for buses. People were rolling into work anywhere between 15-45 minutes later than normal because of the buses.

 

---------- Post added 09-11-2015 at 23:54 ----------

 

 

I get the general idea but it still doesn't answer the question.

 

If as we were told a couple of pages back that the bus services aren't subsidised then how does a cut in funding to SYPTE cause buses run by private companies to disappear from the roads?

 

Does not compute.

 

Right, here is how the system generally works:

 

LONDON - Transport for London sets all the timetables, fares etc and keeps the revenue. They pay operators a fee to operate the service on their behalf with operators bidding for the contract to run each route.

 

NOT LONDON - Bus operators choose to put on a service as a commercial business venture. They take the financial risk, standing the cost of putting the service on and keeping the revenue, hoping to make a profit. The only regulation is the timetable has to be registered with the traffic commissioner and stuck to, an operating licence is required and the vehicles roadworthy. However there are cases where the public interest, for social or economic reasons, it is judged essential for a community to have a bus service but it wouldn't be financially viable to run commercially. In these cases public funds are made available to support such as service and it is put out to tender, with the operator bidding to provide the buses at the lowest cost getting the contract. These may be services to rural areas or perhaps evening/Sunday services. The other areas public funds are used is to provide concessionary travel for Seniors, disabled and children and provide community transport services. The PTE also have to pay for infrastructure such as bus stops, shelters, interchanges etc.

 

IN SHEFFIELD - the bus operators in Sheffield were still engaged in a bit of competition with a view that some routes were overprovided with buses, at the same time the PTE with the funding cuts were struggling to keep the tendered services running. The competition was keeping the operator specific ticket prices unsustainably cheap and unprofitable, whilst the more flexible all operator tickets were price at a premium higher than some viewed reasonable. Also in the background there is a lot of political pressure to have local authorities design the network as a public service rather than leaving it to private businesses, have cheap all operator tickets, new low emission buses and smart card ticketing. Along with this is the Greater City Region devolution.

 

So the local authorities got consultants in, designed a new, simpler more efficient network that costs less to run which could mean cheaper all operator tickets, some money for smartcards, less tendered services to subsidise and allow the bus operators to actually make some money too.

 

I suspect another benefit intended from there being much less buses on the road is the politicians that came up with the idea have more road space for their private car....

 

Of course the problems are quite obvious already, made worse by launching at a time of year when traffic in Sheffield can be quite bad...

Edited November 10, 2015 by Andy C