81 & 82 Bus Routes To/From Stannington

[FIRETHORN1 58]

I'm sure that many people in Sheffield experience poor service on their local bus routes, but the 81 & 82 services to and from Stannington must certainly rate pretty high up in the "unreliability" stakes. It doesn't seem to matter what time of day it is - these services are very, very poor. It's not unusual for 2 out of 3 buses to just fail to turn up at all - and the one that eventually does turn up can be 10 or 15 minutes late, as per the published timetables. Stand at any bus stop on these routes and there's usually a load of unhappy people moaning about the length of time they've been waiting. A relative who lives in the Stannington area says that it's not unusual to have to wait more than an hour for a bus in either direction - even at peak times of day. Surely a well populated area like Stannington deserves a better, more reliable bus ervice than this? 

[HeHasRisen 3,394]

Thank yourself lucky First arent on an indefinite strike, thats the alternative in some areas of Sheffield at the moment.

[pattricia 575]

49 minutes ago, FIRETHORN1 said:

I'm sure that many people in Sheffield experience poor service on their local bus routes, but the 81 & 82 services to and from Stannington must certainly rate pretty high up in the "unreliability" stakes. It doesn't seem to matter what time of day it is - these services are very, very poor. It's not unusual for 2 out of 3 buses to just fail to turn up at all - and the one that eventually does turn up can be 10 or 15 minutes late, as per the published timetables. Stand at any bus stop on these routes and there's usually a load of unhappy people moaning about the length of time they've been waiting. A relative who lives in the Stannington area says that it's not unusual to have to wait more than an hour for a bus in either direction - even at peak times of day. Surely a well populated area like Stannington deserves a better, more reliable bus ervice than this? 

I agree with you. I live in Stannington and catch the bus on Liberty Hill down to Hillsborough and back. There have been roadworks, hold ups, postponements and notices put up saying that no buses will be running on the Stannington routes until February 2022 ! Next day they are then running as normal.! We don’t know whether we are coming it going !

[FIRETHORN1 58]

Cheers Pattricia. Glad you agree. A non-driver member of my family moved to live quite near to Liberty Hill last August. He really likes the area, but is horrified by the practically non-existent bus service. He tends to walk to and from Hillsborough to do his shopping, or walks to catch a tram to and from Malin Bridge if he wants to go into town. The positive benefit is that he's much fitter and has lost some weight from all that walking, but it's a pretty poor situation for the elderly and infirm, those with young kids or heavy shopping to lug around. I did the walk to and from Hillsborough with him 2 or 3 times in the week before Christmas. It took us about 40 minutes each way and not one single bus passed us, in either direction, on any of these walks. This was how poor the bus service was between about 1pm and 6pm on weekdays - so heaven knows how bad it must be late in the evenings or early in the mornings.

[Andy C 86]

The  81/82 does encounter a lot of delays and disruption on its cross city route, mainly traffic congestion at locations such as Hillsborough corner and Ecclesall Road where the bus priority measures don't apply all day which can particularly be a problem  with gridlock during the afternoon school run. It can often also have problems with inconsiderately parked cars and unannounced roadworks in areas like Stannington and Millhouses.

 

You can track the buses on a map at bustimes.org.

 

Stannington does also have the hourly Powells bus 61/62 which runs on a loop between Hillsborough and Bradfield via Stannington, for those travelling from the parts of Stannington served by this bus it may be a more reliable - albeit less frequent - service that offers a connection at Hillsborough with trams and other buses into Sheffield City Centre. Timetables at travelsouthyorkshire.com.

 

Tickets from the Travelmaster range include travel on buses of all operators with options that also include trams if required - see sytravelmaster.com.

[lawro 10]

Used to use this service but gave up a year ago because reliability was so poor. Cannot see any proposal to make it better. The service by Powell's is so much more reliable and a more pleasant experience but it is hourly

[FIRETHORN1 58]

Thanks everyone. Of course I accept that traffic congestion and road obstructions will inevitably lead to some delays and cancellations, but the 81/82 route seems to be particularly affected. The 52A route, for example, which goes to Loxley & Wisewood, also hits some quite "trafficky"  areas, like Hillsborough Corner & Crookes, is far from perfect, but is a much better service than the 81/82. I do feel that a quite large residential area like Stannington deserves a more reliable bus service.

 

The Powell's 61/62 service seems more pleasant and reliable, although infrequent - and you do need to live near the route and quite near your first or  final bus- stop  - particularly if you are a vulnerable person, travelling home alone from work,  after dark.

[Jeffrey Shaw 90]

Now that the southern end of the routes goes to Dore (81) or Millhouses (82), rather than both services running round the Bents Green loop, there are more likely to be delays- e.g. obstruction of relatively narrower residential roads.

[peteh1 10]

3 hours ago, Andy C said:

The  81/82 does encounter a lot of delays and disruption on its cross city route, mainly traffic congestion at locations such as Hillsborough corner and Ecclesall Road where the bus priority measures don't apply all day which can particularly be a problem  with gridlock during the afternoon school run. It can often also have problems with inconsiderately parked cars and unannounced roadworks in areas like Stannington and Millhouses.

 

You can track the buses on a map at bustimes.org.

 

Stannington does also have the hourly Powells bus 61/62 which runs on a loop between Hillsborough and Bradfield via Stannington, for those travelling from the parts of Stannington served by this bus it may be a more reliable - albeit less frequent - service that offers a connection at Hillsborough with trams and other buses into Sheffield City Centre. Timetables at travelsouthyorkshire.com.

 

Tickets from the Travelmaster range include travel on buses of all operators with options that also include trams if required - see sytravelmaster.com.

Having bus routes that cross the city rather than terminate and then return from the centre simply compounds any issues that arise from the double (or more) chances of congestion either side of the centre.

Will give bustimes.org a try though, thanks.

[NERVY-OWL 195]

I used to live at the top when I lived with parents and it wasn't great, not helped the 81 sending it to Dore.

It's a shame the SL2 wasn't used enough, I enjoyed driving that and more reliable than First. 

[pattricia 575]

I would class it as the worst bus route in Sheffield. ! 

[BigAl1 143]

1 hour ago, pattricia said:

I would class it as the worst bus route in Sheffield. ! 

On what basis have you tried them all or have you conducted robust research?

18 hours ago, FIRETHORN1 said:

Thanks everyone. Of course I accept that traffic congestion and road obstructions will inevitably lead to some delays and cancellations, but the 81/82 route seems to be particularly affected. The 52A route, for example, which goes to Loxley & Wisewood, also hits some quite "trafficky"  areas, like Hillsborough Corner & Crookes, is far from perfect, but is a much better service than the 81/82. I do feel that a quite large residential area like Stannington deserves a more reliable bus service.

 

The Powell's 61/62 service seems more pleasant and reliable, although infrequent - and you do need to live near the route and quite near your first or  final bus- stop  - particularly if you are a vulnerable person, travelling home alone from work,  after dark.

is Hillsborough Corner one of the problems? sorry not convinced the trams seem to manage OK. Yes I agree at certain times there may be a build up of trafic but not an all day thing. Certainly agree cross city does not help but bear in mind  these buses often have 5 minute or so catch up time