Oh yes. Still stuck in the 19th century I see. Public services ran by shareholders doesn't work.
(26 Nov 2020, 11:04 pm)IRHardy wrote [ -> ]Come and look at London and see how brilliant services run by politicians are.
At least you still have printed timetables in the North East, TfL stopped doing those years ago, if you don’t have access to the web, you are buggered.
First, we had the bendy buses (Ken Livingstone introduced those).
Then Boris got rid of them because he was a cyclist and one cut him up, so then we got the Boris Bus. Also, we have all these cycle superhighways which have reduced traffic speeds in central London so that it is quicker to walk.
Now we have Sadiq Khan who decided to have a 5-year fares freeze even though he knew that the Government grant to TfL was being removed. Service frequencies have been reduced and routes shortened because bus usage is going down as a result of the slowing down of traffic speeds.
And no, we don’t have any public transport on Christmas Day either, but we do have a normal Sunday service on Boxing Day & New Year’s Day.
Sounds like you described the North East there to be fair.
- Timetables most people don't care about really but the bus stop information as of late is horribly out of date up here.
- The same bendy buses which because London didn't want them ended up here on the 58 and had the same awkward problems they had down there.
- The Borisbus was stupid tbf, but they were popular and it's lead to the Enviro City and the new Wright bus aswell.
- Tyne Bridge down to one lane, Askew Road shut, numerous local bridges shut - all for cycles.
- Buses have been cut here for years, including some with Arriva in the next weeks, half of Stagecoach routes are still in Covid timetables and GNE couldn't cut more if they tried and we've had price increases above inflation to add salt in our wounds.
- Also with TFL they have an excellent Tube / Train service, integrated tickets so you can use that slow bus to nearest tube and get somewhere quick, much newer fleets which have a lot of requirements for USB etc coming in, next stop information for over a decade now (we've still barely got it), contactless for years now (we've just got it).
There's definitely issues down there like a large black hole where it's unsustainable and it making stupid losses every year but it's much better than up here tbh.
(26 Nov 2020, 11:23 pm)Storx wrote [ -> ]Sounds like you described the North East there to be fair.
- Timetables most people don't care about really but the bus stop information as of late is horribly out of date up here.
- The same bendy buses which because London didn't want them ended up here on the 58 and had the same awkward problems they had down there.
- The Borisbus was stupid tbf, but they were popular and it's lead to the Enviro City and the new Wright bus aswell.
- Tyne Bridge down to one lane, Askew Road shut, numerous local bridges shut - all for cycles.
- Buses have been cut here for years, including some with Arriva in the next weeks, half of Stagecoach routes are still in Covid timetables and GNE couldn't cut more if they tried and we've had price increases above inflation to add salt in our wounds.
- Also with TFL they have an excellent Tube / Train service, integrated tickets so you can use that slow bus to nearest tube and get somewhere quick, much newer fleets which have a lot of requirements for USB etc coming in, next stop information for over a decade now (we've still barely got it), contactless for years now (we've just got it).
There's definitely issues down there like a large black hole where it's unsustainable and it making stupid losses every year but it's much better than up here tbh.
Bus stop information in the north east provided by Local Authorities - run by politicians
Tyne Bridge one lane - political decision
Tube / Train service up here is Metro - run by politicians
Integrated tickets called Network One
Much newer bus fleet paid for by TfL cross subsidising from the Tube, with its very high fares
Of course the is the Congestion Charge in London, bringing in lots of extra money to pay for bus services, as well as the Low Emission Zone - we haven't either in the North East so services will never be as good.
(27 Nov 2020, 12:01 am)busmanT wrote [ -> ]Bus stop information in the north east provided by Local Authorities - run by politicians
Tyne Bridge one lane - political decision
Tube / Train service up here is Metro - run by politicians
Integrated tickets called Network One
Much newer bus fleet paid for by TfL cross subsidising from the Tube, with its very high fares
Of course the is the Congestion Charge in London, bringing in lots of extra money to pay for bus services, as well as the Low Emission Zone - we haven't either in the North East so services will never be as good.
tbf I wasn't really saying it's better ran by politicians more that its the same up here really. Neither way works really and they both have massive cons. Edinburgh or Nottingham would be a fairer comparison and integrationwise (Bus / Trams) they're much better than here and their service isn't any worse. Not sure on Boxing Day or NYD services mind.
The Network One is a right mess right now mind since you can only buy them at Metro ticket machines or via the GNE app which isn't ideal since every ticket office has closed now. Not to mention we have Pop aswell which just confuses things even more why they aren't together when Nexus is supposed to be about everything and not the Metro (which it forgets) is just stupid really.
Let’s turn the clock back to before the 26th October 1986. Much better in terms of Public Transport.
(27 Nov 2020, 4:43 am)Economic505 wrote [ -> ]Let’s turn the clock back to before the 26th October 1986. Much better in terms of Public Transport.
Was it really? - Rose tinted spectacles in use again!!
If we are going back then we need to close the Metrocentre, close shops on a Sunday, start writing letters to each other as there weren't mobile phones or internet, close Quorum and Cobalt (no Business Parks in difficult to serve places), scrap the Metro extensions to the Airport and Sunderland.
(27 Nov 2020, 10:54 pm)busmanT wrote [ -> ]Was it really? - Rose tinted spectacles in use again!!
If we are going back then we need to close the Metrocentre, close shops on a Sunday, start writing letters to each other as there weren't mobile phones or internet, close Quorum and Cobalt (no Business Parks in difficult to serve places), scrap the Metro extensions to the Airport and Sunderland.
Conversely, if we do put the clock back to 26.10.86, at least a majority of contemporary songs would be memorable.
I only meant turn the clock back to 1986 in terms of public transport. However, the Metrocentre is awful and I can count on one hand the number of times I have been in last 20 years. That’s just my personal opinion.
Get a copy of a T&W bus timetable from 1985 and I guarantee you , bus services were better.
(26 Nov 2020, 11:23 pm)Storx wrote [ -> ]Sounds like you described the North East there to be fair.
- Timetables most people don't care about really but the bus stop information as of late is horribly out of date up here.
- The same bendy buses which because London didn't want them ended up here on the 58 and had the same awkward problems they had down there.
- The Borisbus was stupid tbf, but they were popular and it's lead to the Enviro City and the new Wright bus aswell.
- Tyne Bridge down to one lane, Askew Road shut, numerous local bridges shut - all for cycles.
- Buses have been cut here for years, including some with Arriva in the next weeks, half of Stagecoach routes are still in Covid timetables and GNE couldn't cut more if they tried and we've had price increases above inflation to add salt in our wounds.
- Also with TFL they have an excellent Tube / Train service, integrated tickets so you can use that slow bus to nearest tube and get somewhere quick, much newer fleets which have a lot of requirements for USB etc coming in, next stop information for over a decade now (we've still barely got it), contactless for years now (we've just got it).
There's definitely issues down there like a large black hole where it's unsustainable and it making stupid losses every year but it's much better than up here tbh.
Might be more appropriate on Arriva threads but what cuts are due to happen?
Are Sunderland depot running the South Shields services this year