Bus Timetable Changes From 2nd January 2022

[Guest busdriver1]

23 hours ago, BigAl1 said:

 In the real world you might have expected to see First trying to attract drivers from Stagecoach who are clearly dissatisfied with their salaries.

A large percentage of Drivers at Stagecoach have previously been employed by First resulting in them being where they are now. Either of their own free will or at First's choosing.

23 hours ago, Michael_N said:

Struggle to think how a 2-4hr reduction can save a full drivers duty and require less drivers. All this is doing is reducing the amount of buses on the road to save on costs - while being blamed on driver shortages.

 

Most of the reductions take place between 7-9pm, apart from some such as the 75/76 which run right the way through.

 

Poor excuse, next! 

Clearly you have little or no knowledge as to how drivers schedules are run on a major firm.

The drivers rotas will be completely rewritten spreading the savings across the full day resulting in less drivers being needed overall

On 04/12/2021 at 08:50, Resident said:

You're forgetting this is Sheffield. Remembering how to breath each day is an achievement to many

And how they love to prove it

[BigAl1 143]

11 hours ago, dutch said:

I know you prefer to just go and wait.

https://bustimes.org/map#14/53.381/-1.47

Now this is not the golden solution cause not all buses GPS function properly.

But it does help locate most of them.

I do not use mobile phone. The times when I might want to know about the bus is when I am out and about

[dutch 68]

2 hours ago, BigAl1 said:

I do not use mobile phone. The times when I might want to know about the bus is when I am out and about

30 years ago I shuffled a deck of cards and pull three cards to predict when next tram bus or train would come.

 

It is perfectly fine you do not use a mobile but you do give a golden lecture on how to take a tram or bus and wait for it looking at the stars. Your advice is out of date and incomplete for todays travellers.

 

Now all that is needed is for me to speak to my phone asking when the next tram to meadowhall is and it speaks back to me giving me the answer.

Edited December 5, 2021 by dutch

[Resident 1,185]

7 hours ago, busdriver1 said:

A large percentage of Drivers at Stagecoach have previously been employed by First resulting in them being where they are now. Either of their own free will or at First's choosing.

As they say excrement runs downhill . . . .:hihi:

 

Quote

And how they love to prove it

Almost certainly through their mouths. 

[FORE 12]

18 hours ago, dutch said:

https://bustimes.org/map#14/53.381/-1.47

that's helpful!

 

Is there a similar one for trams, or haven't I managed to spot one on the map?

[Andy C 85]

it is most disappointing to see service cuts but given the circumstances only to be expected.

 

Driver shortages - this is an issue throughout the transport industry, not just on buses. Part of this is simply Covid having impacted training up new drivers to replace those that have moved on in their career. However it does mean that the drivers they do have are having to be focused on providing services at times they are needed most. It would be silly to have full buses leaving people behind in the daytime whilst buses carried fresh air around at night.

 

Declining passenger numbers - numbers using buses and trams at night were already falling before Covid with the increasing popularity of the likes of Uber, however now since Covid more people are working from home, more people are having their shopping delivered to their home, less people are going out to pubs, restaurants, cinemas, special events etc which all adds up to less demand for bus travel.

 

Financial difficulties - less fare paying passengers with numbers not back to pre-covid levels means bus companies are struggling to cover operating costs and the government Covid support is coming to an end - the services simply have to be cut to match demand or face bankruptcy.

 

Anyway, all the new timetables can now be found at https://travelsouthyorkshire.com/en-gb/newsupdates/service-changes

Live bus tracking map at https://bustimes.org/districts/263

Travel passes valid on all operators at https://www.sytravelmaster.com/

[RollingJ 1,999]

Thanks for that information, @Andy C, but it raises an interesting point about trying to get said details from either the operator (First, for my service), or TSY . For reasons I am not going into, I rang both organisations yesterday enquiring about the Jan 2 changes and neither of the helpful ladies had any idea what the changes were, one of them actually agreeing with me that they were helpless, as they were never given any advance details, even though they were supposed to be able to 'help' the public.

 

From this, I am convinced that the management at both organisations is not fit for purpose, and I'm not surprised anyone who can avoid public transport does so. Unfortunately I can't but do wonder why the communication service in SY is so diabolical, it isn't the case everywhere, so why so here??

[Resident 1,185]

22 minutes ago, RollingJ said:

Thanks for that information, @Andy C, but it raises an interesting point about trying to get said details from either the operator (First, for my service), or TSY . For reasons I am not going into, I rang both organisations yesterday enquiring about the Jan 2 changes and neither of the helpful ladies had any idea what the changes were, one of them actually agreeing with me that they were helpless, as they were never given any advance details, even though they were supposed to be able to 'help' the public.

 

From this, I am convinced that the management at both organisations is not fit for purpose, and I'm not surprised anyone who can avoid public transport does so. Unfortunately I can't but do wonder why the communication service in SY is so diabolical, it isn't the case everywhere, so why so here??

New senior management has been brought in at First recently but as with any restructure, changes aren't going to be immediate.

[RollingJ 1,999]

1 minute ago, Resident said:

New senior management has been brought in at First recently but as with any restructure, changes aren't going to be immediate.

I know that, but they have been in place for some time, and apart from spending money they claim not to have repainting buses, they haven't addressed the fundamental problems, as evidenced by my experience yesterday.

[BigAl1 143]

26 minutes ago, RollingJ said:

Thanks for that information, @Andy C, but it raises an interesting point about trying to get said details from either the operator (First, for my service), or TSY . For reasons I am not going into, I rang both organisations yesterday enquiring about the Jan 2 changes and neither of the helpful ladies had any idea what the changes were, one of them actually agreeing with me that they were helpless, as they were never given any advance details, even though they were supposed to be able to 'help' the public.

 

From this, I am convinced that the management at both organisations is not fit for purpose, and I'm not surprised anyone who can avoid public transport does so. Unfortunately I can't but do wonder why the communication service in SY is so diabolical, it isn't the case everywhere, so why so here??

I have long argued (many times on this forum as well as elsewhere in the media) that as far as communication goes the SYPTE is a complete basket case and that it is operationally led and not consumer led. It stems from the top of the organisation and a lack of will or even ability to view their service from a customer perspective. It can be summed up - better to provide information even if we know it is wrong than to provide no information rather than how can we provide correct information  

[RollingJ 1,999]

1 minute ago, BigAl1 said:

I have long argued (many times on this forum as well as elsewhere in the media) that as far as communication goes the SYPTE is a complete basket case and that it is operationally led and not consumer led. It stems from the top of the organisation and a lack of will or even ability to view their service from a customer perspective. It can be summed up - better to provide information even if we know it is wrong than to provide no information rather than how can we provide correct information  

I agree totally re: SYPTE - that 'organisation' is a jobs for the boys set-up led and staffed (at the higher levels) by individuals with no ability to do the job - the only problem is, so far as I can see, that they don't provide any information.

[BigAl1 143]

5 minutes ago, RollingJ said:

I know that, but they have been in place for some time, and apart from spending money they claim not to have repainting buses, they haven't addressed the fundamental problems, as evidenced by my experience yesterday.

Surely a great idea to repaint the buses if they are off the road cause of staff shortages and not do have to take them out of service to do it later Hahahah