Why do buses have Timetables if they aren't going to stick to them?

[DnAuK 10]

Well we had the lovely experience of the last bus to Barnsley on Saturday (No.2 at 21:55) driving straight past the stop at the Rutland with the driver waving his hand to indicate that he couldn't pick up. With no trains, this meant a £27.50 taxi home. Something I am currently in the process of claiming back from Stagecoach and requesting a full explanation. 

 

The bus had the right number and destination on it and the lights were on. The driver clearly saw us. So will be interested to hear what the explanation is.  But either way it doesn't inspire confidence in bus services at the mo.

[1295galaxy 20]

Same old story again 1A bus late again this morning so late for work again,Wish we could sue First for this

[jerseylad 10]

On 19/07/2018 at 23:12, 1295galaxy said:

We have a new set of buses in Sheffield now,and instead of improving the relibilty of or bus services it getting Worse,Drivers can not keep up to date with there times,and are making people late for work or late getting home,Drivers can get away with being late as there is nobody checking if late regulary,Stage Coach use to be reliable but there Number 2 or Number 1 Buses have got really bad and so unreliable and the First 1a buses is the same,Why?can"t something be done to Charge the Drivers if they are late and Improve our Bus services in Sheffield,you can never plan a trip now in Sheffield with our buses so unreliable

Drivers are tracked so the traffic department know exactly where they are and how late that bus is, the driver has no influence on morning rush hour traffic nor do they have influence on accidents that happen on their route.  It is down to the traffic team to keep the buses running ontime.  Charging a driver to be ontime would result in more accidents due to them trying to stay ontime, I guess that is okay though as long as you get to work ontime or home for your dinner.  Daily driver are physically and verbally abused, threatened with violence usually due to circumstances that they can not control. So maybe before you launch a ridiculous post about late drivers and how poorly they keep to time you may want to look at the depot not the driver. 

[Resident 1,181]

25 minutes ago, jerseylad said:

Drivers are tracked so the traffic department know exactly where they are and how late that bus is, the driver has no influence on morning rush hour traffic nor do they have influence on accidents that happen on their route.  It is down to the traffic team to keep the buses running ontime.  Charging a driver to be ontime would result in more accidents due to them trying to stay ontime, I guess that is okay though as long as you get to work ontime or home for your dinner.  Daily driver are physically and verbally abused, threatened with violence usually due to circumstances that they can not control. So maybe before you launch a ridiculous post about late drivers and how poorly they keep to time you may want to look at the depot not the driver. 

If a bus is regularly late due to traffic then yes you are correct, it's down to the company's poor route planning. 

[sheffbag 224]

The buses have timetables, which have certain allowances in for travelling delays, however they cannot forecast

Slow traffic (especially rush hour, i can do sheff to rotherham in 10 min during the day, in rush hour 40 minutes)

Staff shortages

Accidents causing delays

Passengers not having correct change or buying a Travelmaster or waiting till they get on the bus before getting their pass out so delaying  on the bus ( you might not think that's a lot but if it takes an extra 5 seconds per passenger to get their pass out while on the bus or getting change and you have 150 passengers on a route then that's an extra 12.5 minutes delay added to the journey time.)

 

All of those can affect punctuality. As Jerseylad has put, the vast majority of buses now have tracking devices either on the bus or in the ticket machine so their location is know but short of having someone at each bus stop explaining to customers that their bus is late there is no way, outside of the routes that have the PIDS, to relate to passengers that their bus is late so its the driver that takes the brunt of the abuse despite them having no control. They cant speed up  if delayed as they can be monitered and then lose their jobs if caught.

 

But think about it a little, when you are giving a driver grief for being late, is it their fault and do they give you grief if you don't have the right change or are buying a TM which is delaying them from getting to the passengers down the route?

 

to be clear, i'm not a driver or have anything to do with any bus company, i just think that they get a bad deal at times. Having to ferry around some of the undesirables who are trying to abuse them , trying to abuse other passengers, keep to a timetable they didn't set despite outside influences all whilst trying to maintain a good customer front for the money they get at unsocialble hours can't be easy.  Yes, you will have some drivers who have a bad attitude but you get that with all people and in every job same as they encounter passengers that also have a bad attitude too. 

Edited January 25, 2019 by sheffbag

[1295galaxy 20]

First & Stagecoach should introduce a online Top=Up for Bus passes to help the Drivers out,as it can be very annoying how long it takes a Driver to produce the passes on buses,just wish there were two sets of Doors available on Buses to make it quicker for passengers to get on or off buses when there over crowded

[Guest busdriver1]

23 minutes ago, 1295galaxy said:

First & Stagecoach should introduce a online Top=Up for Bus passes to help the Drivers out,as it can be very annoying how long it takes a Driver to produce the passes on buses,just wish there were two sets of Doors available on Buses to make it quicker for passengers to get on or off buses when there over crowded

Two door buses would not be practical in South Yorkshire, the entire infrastructure is set up for single door buses. Bus stations and Bus stops only have a single width entry point and the cost of rectifying this would be massive.

[Padders 2,833]

40 minutes ago, busdriver1 said:

Two door buses would not be practical in South Yorkshire, the entire infrastructure is set up for single door buses. Bus stations and Bus stops only have a single width entry point and the cost of rectifying this would be massive.

Used to have plenty of double door buses in the 70s, I used to drive them, we called them Jumbo"s.

[Guest busdriver1]

22 hours ago, Padders said:

Used to have plenty of double door buses in the 70s, I used to drive them, we called them Jumbo"s.

But this isnt the 70's anymore. Times change and  local authorities have seen fit to cater only for dingle door buses at bus stops. One major factor was the amount of claims against them when they ran the buses for centre door accidents.

[dutch 68]

1 hour ago, busdriver1 said:

But this isnt the 70's anymore. Times change and  local authorities have seen fit to cater only for dingle door buses at bus stops. One major factor was the amount of claims against them when they ran the buses for centre door accidents.

They are more concerned that driver check everyone has a valid ticket than so called concern for safety.

[Guest busdriver1]

On 26/01/2019 at 16:35, dutch said:

They are more concerned that driver check everyone has a valid ticket than so called concern for safety.

Really? I have worked in the area of claims against bus companies and its scary. Centre door claims are one of the highest in London where they still maintain this outmoded system. But there again, I have no doubt that in certain parts of Europe etc etc etc ..........yawn.

Oh and yes, in a commercial environment like we have here there is a responsibility to collect fares unlike in Europe where buses are run as a burden to all irrespective of use.

I wonder at times why our country is so attractive to foreigners if it is so bad.

Edited January 28, 2019 by busdriver1

[Martin C 81]

Having to enter and pass by the driver is at least some disincentive to the thieving scrotes who obviously believe they're entitled to travel for free.