South Yorkshire Bus Service Needs Improvement

[Resident 1,185]

On 09/04/2022 at 10:59, 1295galaxy said:

Planning a journey with our bus service can be very annoying,so now have to set off a bit early than we use too,as you don:t now,how many stops the drivers are going to stop at,as they are now stopping a lot than they use to,mobile phones have now become so popular that people can"t live without looking at them and bus drivers stop and look at theres to often now,if they have cameras watching bus passengers,then why not on drivers to see how many times they stop and what they are doing

Right. It's already been explained to you numerous times but I'll recap for the benefit of others and throw in an answer to the last sentence. 

Buses have time points. These are fixed points on the route schedule and the driver is not allowed to pass these point before the published times. 

For instance if a time point is set at 1800 and the driver arrives at 1757 then the driver MUST wait at that stop until 1800. A driver stopping at a time point does NOT delay your journey as they are designed to keep the bus on schedule. Routes now stop more often as traffic during peaks times delays the service. Addtional time points are added to these routes for periods where traffic is lighter and as a result lessens the delay. 

As long as the vehicle is stopped, handbrake on and engine off then the driver is free to do with this waiting time as they wish. If this means looking at their phone then no issue. 

Buses are tracked EVERY inch they move, even when the public facing trackers aren't working the operator knows EXACTLY where it is. Each bus has a telematics device which live reports back to control several parameters, the main ones being GPS location and speed.  Other parameters are recorded but not needed for live tracking but can be accessed if required, usually this is done if there is an incident/injury involving the bus. 

You are correct that buses have CCTV. On an average single deck there are a minimum of 9. 6 external, 3 internal. One of those internal cameras is directly above the driver and has a view of the cab and the entrance door. 

 

[HeHasRisen 3,374]

Why are you even giving him the time of day, he started this thread over 18 months ago with a similar ill informed rant yet here we are, still explaining it to him.

[RollingJ 1,999]

Some just don't get it, @HeHasRisen🤨

[BigAl1 143]

13 hours ago, Resident said:

Right. It's already been explained to you numerous times but I'll recap for the benefit of others and throw in an answer to the last sentence. 

Buses have time points. These are fixed points on the route schedule and the driver is not allowed to pass these point before the published times. 

For instance if a time point is set at 1800 and the driver arrives at 1757 then the driver MUST wait at that stop until 1800. A driver stopping at a time point does NOT delay your journey as they are designed to keep the bus on schedule. Routes now stop more often as traffic during peaks times delays the service. Addtional time points are added to these routes for periods where traffic is lighter and as a result lessens the delay. 

As long as the vehicle is stopped, handbrake on and engine off then the driver is free to do with this waiting time as they wish. If this means looking at their phone then no issue. 

Buses are tracked EVERY inch they move, even when the public facing trackers aren't working the operator knows EXACTLY where it is. Each bus has a telematics device which live reports back to control several parameters, the main ones being GPS location and speed.  Other parameters are recorded but not needed for live tracking but can be accessed if required, usually this is done if there is an incident/injury involving the bus. 

You are correct that buses have CCTV. On an average single deck there are a minimum of 9. 6 external, 3 internal. One of those internal cameras is directly above the driver and has a view of the cab and the entrance door. 

 

Perhaps you could use words of one syllable and draw some pictures to help him finally understand

 

What I fail to understand is why the same rules do not apply to tram drivers I am fed up with them leaving early

[driver151 27]

On 09/04/2022 at 10:59, 1295galaxy said:

Planning a journey with our bus service can be very annoying,so now have to set off a bit early than we use too,as you don:t now,how many stops the drivers are going to stop at,as they are now stopping a lot than they use to,mobile phones have now become so popular that people can"t live without looking at them and bus drivers stop and look at theres to often now,if they have cameras watching bus passengers,then why not on drivers to see how many times they stop and what they are doing

and you are one of the sort of people of many making the driver shortage worse, as we are fed up of people telling us how to do our job and know better, keep it up we are dropping mileage like there is no tomorrow now due to no drivers make more leave by moaning like that and more will leave Less Drivers= Less Buses

 

[BigAl1 143]

18 minutes ago, driver151 said:

and you are one of the sort of people of many making the driver shortage worse, as we are fed up of people telling us how to do our job and know better, keep it up we are dropping mileage like there is no tomorrow now due to no drivers make more leave by moaning like that and more will leave Less Drivers= Less Buses

 

.........and probably driving people of this forum with his uninformed ranting

[northernboy 13]

I wonder if our new Mayor is looking to introduce something like this :
https://www.examinerlive.co.uk/news/local-news/west-yorkshire-bus-fares-capped-23924147?utm_source=yorkshire_live_newsletter&utm_campaign=breaking_daily_newsletter2&utm_medium=email&pure360.trackingid={~TrackingId~}

"West Yorkshire bus fares to be capped at £2 as mayor announces plan to combat cost of living crisis"

The are also reducing the cost of day tickets and working towards a  ‘tap-on, tap-off’ system with a capped daily maximum.

[HeHasRisen 3,374]

31 minutes ago, northernboy said:

I wonder if our new Mayor is looking to introduce something like this :
https://www.examinerlive.co.uk/news/local-news/west-yorkshire-bus-fares-capped-23924147?utm_source=yorkshire_live_newsletter&utm_campaign=breaking_daily_newsletter2&utm_medium=email&pure360.trackingid={~TrackingId~}

"West Yorkshire bus fares to be capped at £2 as mayor announces plan to combat cost of living crisis"

The are also reducing the cost of day tickets and working towards a  ‘tap-on, tap-off’ system with a capped daily maximum.

It really wouldnt benefit many people, the number of people who are paying over £2 per single journey will be tiny as people are sensible enough to buy daily, monthly or weekly tickets anyway. Its all political posturing.

Edited May 12, 2022 by HeHasRisen

[BigAl1 143]

1 minute ago, HeHasRisen said:

It really wouldnt benefit many people, the number of people who are paying over £2 per single journey will be tiny as people are sensible enough to buy daily, monthly or weekly tickets anyway. Its all political posturing.

It is not about the people already using the bus it is about attracting non users and increasing patronage . 

[HeHasRisen 3,374]

Just now, BigAl1 said:

It is not about the people already using the bus it is about attracting non users and increasing patronage . 

...and if those people become regular travellers they generally wont be buying single journeys either, unless they are idiots.

[BigAl1 143]

8 minutes ago, HeHasRisen said:

...and if those people become regular travellers they generally wont be buying single journeys either, unless they are idiots.

So what if they convert into regular travelers that is a win I rather think you do not understand transport economics 

[HeHasRisen 3,374]

2 minutes ago, BigAl1 said:

So what if they convert into regular travelers that is a win I rather think you do not understand transport economics 

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.