Reversing the decline in passenger numbers

Adrian

9616

11 Aug 2021, 12:47 pm

#122

(11 Aug 2021, 11:08 am)Ambassador I know it's a seperate issue but the bus was pretty rammed and only 2 or 3 people were wearing masks which was a little offputting

For the 2 days a week I'm in the office I'm gonna stick to Uber.

I think you've been unlucky there. I've used buses quite a bit since July 19th (given that my 2nd jab was brought forward) and I've not really noticed any real difference in the amount of people wearing face coverings. I'd still say more do than don't. The only time I personally haven't, is if I've been the only passenger on the bus. If someone else boards, I'll quickly put a covering on.

(11 Aug 2021, 11:51 am)Jimmi It's amazing how seriously things like WiFi and plug sockets can be taken by some passengers, I've even seen passengers kicking off with drivers when the plugs don't work especially when the passenger think the driver is just being awkward and not turning them on to annoy the passengers, will admit in the past I have been annoyed when I'm short on data or battery life and a basic spec Bus turns up instead of the advertised bus with these features.

Getting people out of cars now is always going to be a struggle as the bus is seen as not good value alternative option due to high priced fares and long indirect journey times.

I don't condone customers 'kicking off', but I think when something is so heavily advertised as being part of the product, then they have the right to feel aggrieved if they're not provided as advertised. Just as you would if you ordered a meal in McDonalds, and they sent it over without the fries and chips.

I agree its a mixture. Some operators are putting a lot of good work into fares, but its not tackling the problem of inconvenient routes and journey times.

(11 Aug 2021, 11:57 am)mb134 Just as an illustration of the points made, here's a quick snapshot of some of the vehicles on 'premium' (Sapphire for ANE, X-Lines for GNE) NE routes at present/at some stage today:

ANE:
43/44/45: 1574, 1581, 1582, 1583, 7562
X21/22: 4664, 7411, 7446, 7484, and a couple of MAX E400s.
22/23/24: 1476, 1579, 1580
X3/X4: Various Temsas and standard Pulsars

GNE:
X1: 6099, 6168, 6169
X15: 6919
X20: 5486, 8342
X21: 6142, 6173
X30/31/45/46/70/71: 9056, 5441, 5409

That's about 5 minutes of having a look at Bustimes (with the usual caveat there). Appreciate there are day to day challenges, but it isn't a great look - particularly in some cases where the allocation should be brand new buses, having that many off isn't a good sign.

I agree. There's always going to be day to day challenges, but it goes back to the 'any bus will do' mentality. Like Ambassador was yesterday, I'd be a bit miffed if 6168/69 turned up for an X1 into the town, and I'd likely wait for the next one. The average customer isn't going to do that, so that'll be their impression of the operator.

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