(03 Jan 2019, 1:17 pm)Andreos1 wrote https://www.stokesentinel.co.uk/news/sto...witter.com&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=sharebar&__twitter_impression=true

Interesting figures to come out of Stoke.
Operators blame the bus station.

That's some photoshop skills on the Omnicity there. 

I believe the Stoke situation is a toxic combination of a disinterested council and a disinterested operator - Potteries is now a single depot operation for  First, out on a limb around 60 miles from the next nearest First Midlands outpost. 

The bus station is marginally out of the way, though it's also adjacent to the previous (derelict, undeveloped) bus station. There is the opportunity for First to easily have their buses run in a terminal loop fashion to serve both the retail quarter and bus station, like D&G bus do, but they choose not to. 

First Potteries' apparent contempt for their customers may have more to do with the present situation. To indicate my point, First have just bumped up their annual ticket to £715 - blatant robbery when you realise the local council regulated multi-operator ticket (akin to Network 1), which covers everything the First ticket covers plus a larger area, comes in at £540!! This is in the face of accelerated service cuts, with yet more to hit later this month. Entire corridors have been abandoned in the few years I've lived here, 2 depots have closed and evening & Sunday services have been decimated. Vehicles are hardly attractive either; there's not a single on-board USB port to be seen in the North Staffs area and of the grand total of 9 buses which are meant to have wi-fi, I've never known it to actually be on. The mainstay of the fleet are 13-15 year old Transbus E300s, a number of which still wear the Barbie livery discontinued 7 years ago. 

The other factor is the council. They have the bundled several roles together and now have the bizarre department of 'Regeneration, Transport & Culture'. How on earth can one team be simultaneously responsible for bus priorities and museum cafes? The dangerous fool quoted in the article, Daniel Jellyman, sums up the council's stance on bus users succinctly; 'Bus operators are private firms that are free to make their own decisions'. Read: 'Not our problem'. Since taking over, he's been busy removing bus lanes, cancelling the last scraps of subsidised services and selling off gifting away for free the council's house fleet of Solos and Versas.  

Bus use in Stoke-on-Trent is in free-fall and I can't see things getting any better. Certainly interesting to watch - glad I have a car.