Sheffield Bus Network Changes - September 2019

[Vaati 11]

49 minutes ago, busdriver1 said:

The times and route are laid out in the specification of the tender. A company can however submit what is called a non conforming tender for consideration. For example (this may be the answer to your question) if it takes 2 hours and 5 minutes to complete the round trip on a route, they may off to run it every 2 hours and 10 minutes for a much lower price so the same bus can do all the trips. They may also offer to run it with a route revision for a similar reason. It is then up to the PTE  to decide if they want to accept the lower priced bid and lose out on what they originally asked for.

That would seem to explain it. It would appear what they have done with the 268 (soon to be 58) is run that 1 hour and then run the M92 in the other, then vice versa. So they 'merged' the two routes kinda thing. Thanks.

[Michael_N 36]

16 hours ago, Groose said:

That would seem to explain it. It would appear what they have done with the 268 (soon to be 58) is run that 1 hour and then run the M92 in the other, then vice versa. So they 'merged' the two routes kinda thing. Thanks.

They are making a lot of cutbacks this time around, particularly to the evening and Sunday service provision.

 

As an example:

 

Rotherham to Thorpe Hesley/Chapeltown - will now just see a 1hr 30 min service provided during the day on Sundays,  on service 136. Thorpe Hesley to Chapeltown will now no longer have a bus on a Sunday. Unlike some other areas, this will also not have an evening service on a Sunday.

 

SYPTE are cash strapped due to government cutbacks.

Edited August 29, 2019 by Michael_N

[Andy C 86]

18 hours ago, Groose said:

That would seem to explain it. It would appear what they have done with the 268 (soon to be 58) is run that 1 hour and then run the M92 in the other, then vice versa. So they 'merged' the two routes kinda thing. Thanks.

The service change information talks of "Timetable to reduced to every 2 hours in order to retain within approved tender criteria cost per passenger thresholds."

 

Presumably not many people are actually using the M92 so when you divide the cost of providing an hourly service by the number of passengers the subsidy per passenger comes out way too high to justify the spending of public money. This way with the M92 and 58 running alternate hours using 1 vehicle shared between the two then it is half the cost of the bus for the day on each route, divided by the number of users, which comes out more favourable.

 

In more simple language, support your local community's bus service by buying tickets and travelling on it - or lose it!

[Andy C 86]

9 minutes ago, Andy C said:

The service change information talks of "Timetable to reduced to every 2 hours in order to retain within approved tender criteria cost per passenger thresholds."

 

Presumably not many people are actually using the M92 so when you divide the cost of providing an hourly service by the number of passengers the subsidy per passenger comes out way too high to justify the spending of public money. This way with the M92 and 58 running alternate hours using 1 vehicle shared between the two then it is half the cost of the bus for the day on each route, divided by the number of users, which comes out more favourable.

 

In more simple language, support your local community's bus service by buying tickets and travelling on it - or lose it!

just looking at the old timetable versus new:

 

old M92 timetable - round trip from Harley to Fox Hill and back is 58 minutes and uses one vehicle to provide an hourly service with 2 minutes between each trip at Harley.

 

new M92 timetable with revised route - 72 minutes Hillsborough to Harley and back (with just 1 minute turn round at Harley!), so to provide an hourly service you would now need 2 vehicles instead of 1. The route change partially replaces withdrawn service 35.

Edited August 29, 2019 by Andy C

[Andy C 86]

A reminder the timetable and route changes take place tomorrow, Sunday 1st September.

 

See https://www.travelsouthyorkshire.com/servicechanges/

Edited August 31, 2019 by Andy C

[Retro Queen 1]

The 32 bus from Herries Road, what a joke. Its changing to First so I would have thought there would be an improvement. No chance. Its now going to run once an hour, even at peak times,  and the times it runs will make me either far too early or too late for work so I will have to go back to the 98 which takes ages and goes round the houses before getting to town. Why can't they leave things alone?

 

I have also heard that some areas, like Grenoside and some parts of Walkley will be without a bus service at all which is just outrageous. How are people supposed to go to work and get around, we don't all have cars nor can afford taxis all the time. The buses in Sheffield are turning out to be running a service that would run in the country and the middle of nowhere and we are a city.  Time to listen to what the public what.

[Andy C 86]

3 hours ago, Retro Queen said:

The 32 bus from Herries Road, what a joke. Its changing to First so I would have thought there would be an improvement. No chance. Its now going to run once an hour, even at peak times,  and the times it runs will make me either far too early or too late for work so I will have to go back to the 98 which takes ages and goes round the houses before getting to town. Why can't they leave things alone?

 

I have also heard that some areas, like Grenoside and some parts of Walkley will be without a bus service at all which is just outrageous. How are people supposed to go to work and get around, we don't all have cars nor can afford taxis all the time. The buses in Sheffield are turning out to be running a service that would run in the country and the middle of nowhere and we are a city.  Time to listen to what the public what.

Those are buses that are specified and subsidised by the local authority in the form of SYPTE.

 

Not enough fare paying passengers actually use them to be financially viable  as a commercial operation.

 

Unfortunately SYPTE have again had their budgets cut as part of the government's austerity policy across the public sector. 

 

Grenoside isn't completely without buses - the 86, M92 and 135 will still run, however it is a much reduced level of service. 

 

Walkley still has it's main bus service - the 95/95a but loses the little bus around the estates  

Edited September 1, 2019 by Andy C

[Retro Queen 1]

31 minutes ago, Andy C said:

Those are buses that are specified and subsidised by the local authority in the form of SYPTE.

 

Not enough fare paying passengers actually use them to be financially viable  as a commercial operation.

 

Unfortunately SYPTE have again had their budgets cut as part of the government's austerity policy across the public sector. 

 

Grenoside isn't completely without buses - the 86, M92 and 135 will still run, however it is a much reduced level of service. 

 

Walkley still has it's main bus service - the 95/95a but loses the little bus around the estates  

The 32 bus at Herries Road is always full of people and through Shirecliffe, its hardly running on empty. I have heard that the 31 isn't going to serve most of Walkley and that's not on the 95 route.

 

My friend's nephew lives at Grenoside and his bus has already been taken off completely. Also there isn't a bus that goes up to the crematorium which again isn't acceptable.

 

As for where I live, on Scraithwood Drive, we have the 98 bus which is every half an hour, the 18 bus to Hillsborough which is now every hour and the 32 bus which is every hour. Its an inner city suburb where a lot of people live - there is my estate, Southey, Shirecliffe - all putting up with this rubbish service yet you can't blink for 52 buses! All estates should have the same service.

[catmiss 12]

I appreciate that some of the services are not economically viable (the 31 service is known colloquially as the old farts bus) but when the council provide housing for elderly and disabled people at the top of steep hills do they not have a responsibility to subsidy a bus service? Many of the people using who used the 31 service have said they would pay a top up fee on their concession pass to maintain a service which served the whole area

[Andy C 86]

5 hours ago, catmiss said:

I appreciate that some of the services are not economically viable (the 31 service is known colloquially as the old farts bus) but when the council provide housing for elderly and disabled people at the top of steep hills do they not have a responsibility to subsidy a bus service? Many of the people using who used the 31 service have said they would pay a top up fee on their concession pass to maintain a service which served the whole area

You'd think that would fall into the social need category to justify funding wouldn't you?

 

The problem with the 31 mon-fri daytime is Sheffield Community Transport was being operated commercially without any funding, but on water thin profit margins. This was possible as community transport has lower overheads and it shared a pool of drivers with other routes which were run under contract with a subsidy. 

 

Sheffield Community transport lost all their other contracts except the H1 so the resource is lost, the 31 carried very few full fare paying passengers so they had to withdraw it as unviable.

 

From SYPTE point of view, they simply don't have the money to fund extra routes.

 

The money that funded the evening and weekend service is now being used to extend the 52a to Loxley to replace that bit of the withdrawn 31/31b. Not sure if any subsidy is involved in diverting the 135 via Upperthorpe to replace that section of 31b.

 

I'm not saying that's right - the publically funded side of the system (be that concessionary pass reimbursements or supported socially necessary services) simply hasn't enough money going in, ultimately because of the Conservative government austerity policy. 

Edited September 2, 2019 by Andy C

[Temuchin 13]

10 hours ago, Andy C said:

...

Grenoside isn't completely without buses - the 86, M92 and 135 will still run, however it is a much reduced level of service.

...

"completely without buses " should never be an option! You have to think of Greno in terms of Upper and Lower and the hill walks necessary to move between the two, making the 86 a difficult option for lots of Upper Greno residents. The fact remains that the main Upper Greno service has gone from a peak of every 20 minutes on the 85 to the current hourly 135.  And given the persistent lack of reliability on this route, it's likely to mean upto a two hour wait!

10 hours ago, Retro Queen said:

...

My friend's nephew lives at Grenoside and his bus has already been taken off completely. Also there isn't a bus that goes up to the crematorium which again isn't acceptable.

...

The M92 does still service the crem according to the latest timetable, but the route has changed.

[Pat&Cat 0]

I went to  catch a 75 at the top of Sicey Avenue to go to Meadowhead as usual this morning. UK buschecker showed the next 75 coming at 13:45! Very surprised. Then 2 76s came in quick succession. When I checked  bus checker for Firth Park it showed 3 75s in quick succession. I have since discovered that they're changing numbers half way round the route! What's the point?