Labour in Manchester beginning to re-regulate the buses is being watched by other regions with interest. I know Brabin was pushing for it here in West Yorkshire.
I was involved in some work a few years ago about trying to set up a common back-office system for buses in Manchester - precisely so that Hopper-style fare could be introduced. The bus operators were absolutely dead against any form of collaboration, any idea of sharing or indeed any concept that this was best for the passengers - you know, those people that actually make a bus service viable and profitable.
Nottingham has an in-house bus service, it was one of very few regions that managed to avoid the deregulation drive and as a result the bus network there is routinely voted one of the best outside London on pretty much all metrics in nationwide passenger surveys.
@crazy-legs They do like running buses up Wilmslow Rd though?
I live in Nottingham, the bus service is one of the few things the council got right - in fact it's too good - they could probably reduce the number of stops on all routes, in many places there's a stop every couple of hundred metres.
bus service viable and profitable.
Bus services shouldn’t be profitable. They should be subsidised.
This shit show of a 'govt' is more interested in trying to get votes from the typical slob who never leaves home, has never been abroad, has never wanted to be educated and is totally shagged when it comes to health issues. They'll use the car to go to the corner shop where they'll buy fags, vapes and plenty of booze. They'll vote for this shite because all they want to do is fester... and of course, they'll never reach pension age. Win win for the tories.
Reading also has public owned busses.
Powered by gas not diesel so they're warm to cycle behind but not coughing and horrible!
Also free wifi, charging, and generally newer than most cars.
Only fly in the ointment is because they're so good, they also run most of the inter-town services for other councils. Which means the bus costs about double if I catch it on one side of the junction or the other depending if it's Reading busses for Reading people or Reading busses making a profit.
They're introducing some sort of tap on/off system but I don't understand it, the TfL system works because the busses are a flat rate (AFAIK?).
Bus services shouldn’t be profitable. They should be subsidised.
100% agree.
The situation we're in with buses now though is they got deregulated and flogged off to the private sector who DO need to make a profit hence very high fares.
TfL buses are cross subsidised from Tube fares to the tune of about £700m. Of course there did used to be a Government grant to TfL of about that amount but the fat blond sofa got rid of that when he was London Mayor.
@crazy-legs They do like running buses up Wilmslow Rd though?
Because Wilmslow Road is a busy and therefore profitable route. Lots of bus companies all desperate to get in on that which leads to the insane situation of 4 companies running near identical services along the road, all trying to oust the others; meanwhile 300m away on a parallel road there's bugger all service because it's not profitable.
Absolute madness.
grimep
Free MemberOxford is at the forefront of 15 minute city initiative…
TBH Oxford is in the 100th year of dealing with being a medieval city with a river with ony 2 bridges running right through the middle that's totally overwhelmed by cars, and the 75th year of trying to make the Plain roundabout work. Mureno wasn't even born when they started. Just about everyone seems to approve of the existing restrictions in the city centre but the attempts to un**** the east side is somehow different and scary, even though you can summarise it all as "getting people to use the A40 so that people who need to go into the city can do so without getting stuck in a vortex of doom" and "giving locals tons of exemptions"
bigrich
Full Memberwhy wouldnt you want loads of services and jobs within 15 minutes of home?
Something something communism eating bugs The Jews, generally.
Because Wilmslow Road is a busy and therefore profitable route. Lots of bus companies all desperate to get in on that which leads to the insane situation of 4 companies running near identical services along the road, all trying to oust the others; meanwhile 300m away on a parallel road there’s bugger all service because it’s not profitable.
Yep. And it's a total PITA (or at least was *mumble* 25 years ago *mumble* when I was a student at UoM) as tickets for one bus company aren't valid on the others.
Someone keen on this stuff was in a meeting with Brian Soutar of Stagecoach, who just couldn't understand why it would be desirable to cross-subsidise unprofitable routes from profitable ones. This is exactly why deregulation has led to places having no bus service.
Elsewhere in Europe, PT is considered a public utility, and there's a decent amount of evidence that the economy in the North is dragged down by the sheer difficulty of getting around.
On the plus side, we have a very successful Sustrans project, called E-Move. Locals can hire a Tern GSD (free) for a week to bomb around on. It's a great way to help transition people out of cars. Not sure how many users have gone on to buy a (electric) bike after using it, but 4 bikes have been booked solid for the last year or so.
And for the tinfoil hatters, yes, they are all tracked!
