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South Yorkshire Bus Service Needs Improvement

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On 22/05/2021 at 12:18, busdriver1 said:

It was re-routed missing out large parts of Lower Walkley because of the inconsiderate parking of local residents. Given that the buses used were of a smaller dimension than a fire engine lets hope they are not called upon to visit that area in an emergency.

Can’t fully agree with that. There were problems with parking on Carr Road but bus company stopped this part of route, there is the option of the 95 route for those north  of Walkley Road. The old 31 smaller bus route used to pass from Burnaby Green, along Walkley Road and  down wide Whitehouse Lane this serving both sides of the area. The new double decker 135 stops just above Walkley school, travels along Walkley Road, then a narrow double parked steep Whitehouse Road where next stop is located at the bottom, this removing service from many residents. Parking and bad weather results in regular diversions. It’s  well known, from drivers’ own testimony, (they do seem to be the most belligerent drivers I’ve ever encountered)  that First didn’t want this route and opted to bypass majority of users to make it unviable.

Edited by catmiss
Typo

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@catmissFYI, the single deckers are the same width, and (mostly) the same length as the 'deckers - just not as high.

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.

4 hours ago, catmiss said:

Not sure what you mean by that! But if a local you’d know that the term applies to anything below South Road. Area comprises of owner occupiers, private rented and  social housing. Does ‘less desirable’, which I don’t believe the area is, equate to less deserving of public transport ?

Didnt say that, was just a question. At ease, soldier.

Edited by HeHasRisen

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On 22/05/2021 at 00:26, busdriver1 said:

Try explaining to me why traffic got held for 25 minutes round the meadowhall ring road while traffic coming from brightside was virtually non existent. ( the only reason for it getting held there would be to clear traffic from brightside).  The were over 10 buses with passengers on stuck there never mind at least a hundred cars. Not acceptable under any circumstances. 

Some cars managed to escape through the car parks but the buses remained trapped as did most of the cars. 

This happened 3 days in a row at exactly 16.30 ( coincidentally the time the bus company officer left UTC)  and on the 3rd day the bus operators just missed out meadowhall. Hardly satisfactory. 

If it happens at exactly the same time every day, it’s likely to be an automatic timing plan change. They usually happen by time of day and day of week, but can also be brought in automatically by the system when queuing traffic is detected on a particular approach.

 

Difficult to say exactly what the problem was, it could have been any one of a number of potential issues.

 

Obviously whatever was wrong, was fixed, or it would still be happening.

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7 hours ago, catmiss said:

Can’t fully agree with that. There were problems with parking on Carr Road but bus company stopped this part of route, there is the option of the 95 route for those north  of Walkley Road. The old 31 smaller bus route used to pass from Burnaby Green, along Walkley Road and  down wide Whitehouse Lane this serving both sides of the area. The new double decker 135 stops just above Walkley school, travels along Walkley Road, then a narrow double parked steep Whitehouse Road where next stop is located at the bottom, this removing service from many residents. Parking and bad weather results in regular diversions. It’s  well known, from drivers’ own testimony, (they do seem to be the most belligerent drivers I’ve ever encountered)  that First didn’t want this route and opted to bypass majority of users to make it unviable.

Whilst it's true the route was forced upon First by the PTE, it was the PTE that set the route not the bus company. 

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On 22/05/2021 at 00:26, busdriver1 said:

Try explaining to me why traffic got held for 25 minutes round the meadowhall ring road while traffic coming from brightside was virtually non existent. ( the only reason for it getting held there would be to clear traffic from brightside).  The were over 10 buses with passengers on stuck there never mind at least a hundred cars. Not acceptable under any circumstances. 

Some cars managed to escape through the car parks but the buses remained trapped as did most of the cars. 

This happened 3 days in a row at exactly 16.30 ( coincidentally the time the bus company officer left UTC)  and on the 3rd day the bus operators just missed out meadowhall. Hardly satisfactory. 

I think it’s called intelligent traffic management (Sheffield)

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1 hour ago, Bigal1 said:

I think it’s called intelligent traffic management (Sheffield)

There's nothing intelligent about Sheffield's traffic management 🤣

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19 hours ago, Resident said:

There's nothing intelligent about Sheffield's traffic management 🤣

Indeed hence my use of brackets to make the point

 

 

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I live on the Winn Estate (somebody has to). We have the STL bus and the tram. There's no direct regular bus into Hillsborough and town (there's a community one that goes a few times a day to Hillsborough if it's still running but it's not a direct route). The STL go to and from Middlewood Terminus to Stocksbridge and back.

 

So, this bank holiday weekend.....Supertram works......no trams coming up past Shalesmoor.  There will be no replacement buses for the 4 days of the work!!!  Even more annoying ,for those who come from further up Middlewood Road towards Oughtibridge and for folks like me who have limited mobility, the STL will not be running into Hillsborough.

This means unless you can walk to/from Leppings Lane there is nothing in the way of public transport on the Middlewood Road corridor going towards Hillsborough.  Fourth biggest city in England running a beyond dire rural service. It stinks.

 

I fail to understand how leaving an entire area of Sheffield without public transport for a few days is allowed.  If Stagecoach can't make provision then why are they even allowed to operate???

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1 hour ago, julado said:

I live on the Winn Estate (somebody has to). We have the STL bus and the tram. There's no direct regular bus into Hillsborough and town (there's a community one that goes a few times a day to Hillsborough if it's still running but it's not a direct route). The STL go to and from Middlewood Terminus to Stocksbridge and back.

 

So, this bank holiday weekend.....Supertram works......no trams coming up past Shalesmoor.  There will be no replacement buses for the 4 days of the work!!!  Even more annoying ,for those who come from further up Middlewood Road towards Oughtibridge and for folks like me who have limited mobility, the STL will not be running into Hillsborough.

This means unless you can walk to/from Leppings Lane there is nothing in the way of public transport on the Middlewood Road corridor going towards Hillsborough.  Fourth biggest city in England running a beyond dire rural service. It stinks.

 

I fail to understand how leaving an entire area of Sheffield without public transport for a few days is allowed.  If Stagecoach can't make provision then why are they even allowed to operate???

All public transport in the UK, be that bus, train or tram, is currently operating under emergency Covid funding from the government to agreed service levels. In Sheffield South Yorkshire PTE are administrating the funding and service agreement. Whilst Supertram are not operating due to track renewal work they have taken the view it cannot be justified using public money to provide more buses than the services 7, 8, 52, 57, 58, 81, 82, 86 and 135 they are already providing to Hillsborough, Malin Bridge and towards Middlewood/Stocksbridge. These services operated by Stagecoach Yorkshire and First bus will be accepting tram tickets. Passengers on Stagecoach Yorkshire service SL1 can connect with the 57/58 to Hillsborough, Shalesmoor and the City Centre in Oughtibridge.

 

Details of the tram service over the bank holiday weekend is at https://www.stagecoachbus.com/news/yorkshire/2021/may-2021/engineering-work-taking-place-over-the-bank-holiday-weekend-29-to-31-may

 

2 hours ago, Baron99 said:

This is the normal January fares increase, last years prices have been frozen until June.

 

At this point it is only the Travelmaster tickets that are valid on all operators going up, individual operators ticket prices will remain frozen a little longer.

 

Prices have to go up to cover increased costs of providing the service with inflation etc, unless Dan Jarvis is going to find some public funding to subsidise the fares. which are among the cheapest in Britain?

 

The new prices are here: https://www.sytravelmaster.com/post/price-changes-from-7-june-2021

Edited by Andy C

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On 24/05/2021 at 03:00, catmiss said:

Can’t fully agree with that. There were problems with parking on Carr Road but bus company stopped this part of route, there is the option of the 95 route for those north  of Walkley Road. The old 31 smaller bus route used to pass from Burnaby Green, along Walkley Road and  down wide Whitehouse Lane this serving both sides of the area. The new double decker 135 stops just above Walkley school, travels along Walkley Road, then a narrow double parked steep Whitehouse Road where next stop is located at the bottom, this removing service from many residents. Parking and bad weather results in regular diversions. It’s  well known, from drivers’ own testimony, (they do seem to be the most belligerent drivers I’ve ever encountered)  that First didn’t want this route and opted to bypass majority of users to make it unviable.

Whilst it is true the old 31 bus did suffer disruption from inconsiderately parked cars now and again, the reason it was withdrawn was the service wasn't financially viable and due to government austerity policies inflicting budget cuts on SYPTE there was no funding available to support it.  Changes to existing services 52a, 61, 62 and 135 were able to cover some bits of the route but unfortunately it did still leave some parts of the old route without a bus, although there are alternatives a short walk away.

 

Question is for the wider discussion, the funding that is available to support buses, including any extra money found, what is the priority. For example talk of using taxpayers money to pay for a free bus shuttling around the City Centre - is that need more important than a community bus service in Walkley?

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