(01 Jul 2020, 9:39 pm)streetdeckfan wrote Even before all this, I always went out of my way to make sure I was as far away from other people as physically possible!

The thing is, if the operators are saying that they are not going to be enforcing the rules, then what incentive do passengers have to follow them.
As I've said before, it is the LAW to wear a face covering on public transport, if you're not exempt from wearing one, then you shouldn't be allowed on board without one!
Drivers might not want to enforce it, but they'd have no issue asking someone to get off if they can't pay, so why is wearing a face covering any different?

I get that it's a pretty hard thing to enforce without proof of exemption, but drivers should at least try and make an effort, as I said, yesterday I got 4 buses and not once was I asked why I wasn't wearing one. When they first started requiring it, I used several buses without a mask and it wasn't questioned then either. 

If this is going to go on for the foreseeable, then maybe they need to look into some sort of scheme like the blue badge for parking

So are you saying you've broken the law? Any other crimes you want to admit to when you're on?

(01 Jul 2020, 10:33 pm)streetdeckfan wrote Well, for start they could actually bother asking them to wear a mask!
Seriously though, if they then respond saying they're exempt, the driver lets them sit down, if they feel comfortable asking why they're exempt, then they should.
If they respond "Nah, you're alright", the driver should say "It's the law to wear a face covering when using public transport, unless you're exempt I'm going to have to ask you to leave".
If they then proceed to sit down, they should follow the same policy they use when someone boards without paying (whether it's a case of 'get over it and move on', or report them the police).

My main issue isn't necessarily with the people not wearing the face coverings, but the fact they're picking and choosing which rules to enforce

I mean, my asthma isn't severe enough to be shielding, but bad enough where I can't breathe through a mask.
Although if I'm not mistaken, they can leave the house from the 6th July as they don't fall under the ones that need to keep shielding until the end of July

Already is schemes in place, maybe you should use your excellent keyboard warrior skills to find them out. However here's a clue, Helping Hands on GNE page and a similar scheme on nexus page, both of which I have seen on numerous occasions. As Andreos 1 says, maybe stop breaking the law, you might want to get a hold of an exemption card and stop the endless and somewhat boring ramblings on about passengers not being challenged by drivers who are much better placed than yourself.

(01 Jul 2020, 8:08 pm)streetdeckfan wrote Yeah, they've started doing it in Spennymoor and Bishop as well. Not so bad in Bishop where most of the traffic is buses anyway, but in Spennymoor, between filling in the stops and blocking off the parking bays, it's a complete nightmare!

The roads in spenny are narrow enough already!

I could clearly see the problem at the hospital, this afternoon. Everybody overtakes the stationary bus, crossing over onto the wrong side of the road, in the process. Give it a couple of months, when the end of furlough means we have rush hour back and a bus stopping would cause a tailback as far as county hall.

---

(01 Jul 2020, 10:03 pm)James101 wrote What can the driver realistically do though?

’You should be wearing a mask’

’Nah you’re alright’, beeps pass, sits down.

Whole world of safety and liability issues if the driver is expected to leave the cab to deal with the passenger. Refuse to proceed and the ensuing disruption is greater than just allowing the passenger to ride. The police can take a week to follow up a burglary, good luck getting them to come out for an errant face covering.
 

Bet you’re over the moon you’ll finally be able to leave the house at the end of the month when the advice on shielding with those for severe asthma comes to an end.

Not all people with asthma were in the shielding group, to start with, and a lot got removed from it a few weeks ago.

https://www.sunderlandecho.com/news/poli...es-2913580

North East bus companies could be forced into changes in return for handouts from authorities


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

It would make life easier if councils can ensure bus operators don't change routes around whenever they please. Sunderland's network is one example where bus routes are changed so much, it is hard to manage to know the timetable, when it changes months later...

Stagecoach have made vast cuts the last few years, and shipped off older MAN's to Sunderland and Shields, therefore making services less reliable and less attractive to use. It would be nice to see if Stagecoach intend to get any newer cast-offs for these two Depots as it will greatly increase reliability on many of the routes they run on.

The E services seem to be neglected at the moment, with a very mixed allocation of MAN200s, Enviro 200s, Enviro 300s, Enviro 400s & Gas Buses. Personally I think 28001 - 28017 would make a good allocation, seeing as 27726 - 27740 regularly end up off the road or on other services, although with Stagecoach everything is mixed at the moment, including opinions on the new livery, lol...

Yesterday's Newsnight touched on the the likelihood of companies permanently adopting home working or at least downsizing workplaces. The associated impact on public transport was discussed. As less people travel to work at all and many workplaces are decentralised, public transport requirements are less straight-forward. The hub-spoke orientated around the city centre will not be relevant for many people. The conclusion was public transport will become less profitable and there will need to be a grown-up conversation about whether government takes control over transport or we collectively decide we don't need it to the same extent we did.

Up to 4 pubs in Sunderland have had to close, due to some ****, deciding to go out last night while waiting for a Covid-19 test result... which was then came back positive.............

The Golden Fleece
The Cavalier
Ryhope Cricket club
The Foresters

Are all effected



I bet more appear later.

Has The Foresters been confirmed?

(01 Aug 2020, 5:57 pm)idiot wrote Has The Foresters been confirmed?

Apparently he didn't go in it now,so its open, just been confirmed

What an absolute clown he was. Hoping he is named and shamed.

I regularly see on Social Media that people are complaining about specific passengers, or groups of passengers, not wearing face coverings on public transport. You never know how this stacks up to the reality, as people are always quicker to complain than praise, so I was wondering how wide spread are people finding this in reality?
Do you feel it is a barrier to returning to regular public transport use (if you haven't already)?

One thing I've noticed from a number of operators now in response, is a claim that they *cannot* enforce the wearing of face coverings. I'm wondering why they think this, as the guidelines available from the Government, titled 'Safer Transport Guidance for Operators', seems to state otherwise.



This regulation is clear that operators do have the powers of enforcement, but also points out that they're not obliged to use those powers. So this isn't a case of *cannot* - it's a case of *will not*

(29 Aug 2020, 7:38 pm)Adrian wrote I regularly see on Social Media that people are complaining about specific passengers, or groups of passengers, not wearing face coverings on public transport. You never know how this stacks up to the reality, as people are always quicker to complain than praise, so I was wondering how wide spread are people finding this in reality?
Do you feel it is a barrier to returning to regular public transport use (if you haven't already)?

One thing I've noticed from a number of operators now in response, is a claim that they *cannot* enforce the wearing of face coverings. I'm wondering why they think this, as the guidelines available from the Government, titled 'Safer Transport Guidance for Operators', seems to state otherwise.



This regulation is clear that operators do have the powers of enforcement, but also points out that they're not obliged to use those powers. So this isn't a case of *cannot* - it's a case of *will not*

I made that very point a few months back on here and was basically told I was wrong

Basically, they're too scared to enforce it

(29 Aug 2020, 7:41 pm)streetdeckfan wrote I made that very point a few months back on here and was basically told I was wrong

Basically, they're too scared to enforce it

I don't know about scared, but certainly some operators have made a business decision not to enforce. That should be made clear in response to customers that direct complaints on this matter.

The law is clear that they have this power: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2020...ion/5/made

(29 Aug 2020, 7:44 pm)Adrian wrote I don't know about scared, but certainly some operators have made a business decision not to enforce. That should be made clear in response to customers that direct complaints on this matter.

The law is clear that they have this power: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2020...ion/5/made

I'd say they're more scared of the backlash from the drivers and unions if they decided to enforce it. 
Drivers on here have said they don't want the confrontation, but let's be real, if you don't like confrontation, then maybe a public facing job isn't right for you!

The business aspect is also obviously a decision, they're quite happy to enforce the rule about passengers paying to board, but enforce the law to wear a mask, nah, that's too much!

Even as someone who is medically exempt from wearing a mask, I still try and wear one as much as possible. If I'm on a double decker and I'm sat by myself upstairs, I'll take it off, but if someone comes up I'll put it back on. Unless it's too humid then I can barely breathe without the mask!

(29 Aug 2020, 7:48 pm)streetdeckfan wrote I'd say they're more scared of the backlash from the drivers and unions if they decided to enforce it. 
Drivers on here have said they don't want the confrontation, but let's be real, if you don't like confrontation, then maybe a public facing job isn't right for you!

The business aspect is also obviously a decision, they're quite happy to enforce the rule about passengers paying to board, but enforce the law to wear a mask, nah, that's too much!

Even as someone who is medically exempt from wearing a mask, I still try and wear one as much as possible. If I'm on a double decker and I'm sat by myself upstairs, I'll take it off, but if someone comes up I'll put it back on. Unless it's too humid then I can barely breathe without the mask!

Wasn't it more to do with kicking someone off the bus who has medical reasons and the legal implications behind it such as a court case and a criminal offense against the driver rather than an argument.

I wouldn't want to go there personally.

Right, so here we go again? One of the proposals for the regional lockdown is a return to essential journeys only on public transport. Of course, the defenition of essential is always rather fuzzy but for the time being we still have schools and workplaces open.

(16 Sep 2020, 6:50 pm)BusLoverMum wrote Right, so here we go again? One of the proposals for the regional lockdown is a return to essential journeys only on public transport. Of course, the defenition of essential is always rather fuzzy but for the time being we still have schools and workplaces open.

Its not even public transport journeys that are the problem (apart from what has been said on the other thread, about social distancing). The cases seem to be coming from pubs, working mens clubs and schools. Yet in typical fashion, they target what isn't the problem. 

I'll leave it at this:

(16 Sep 2020, 7:00 pm)Adrian wrote Its not even public transport journeys that are the problem (apart from what has been said on the other thread, about social distancing). The cases seem to be coming from pubs, working mens clubs and schools. Yet in typical fashion, they target what isn't the problem. 

I'll leave it at this:

I'm organising a get together with my mates. Gonna go dressed in hunting gear, stand on the moors and there's gonna be 20 of us. Police can't do a thing!

(16 Sep 2020, 7:17 pm)Andreos1 wrote I'm organising a get together with my mates. Gonna go dressed in hunting gear, stand on the moors and there's gonna be 20 of us. Police can't do a thing!

Yeah, its fine to go out with a shotgun and shoot some innocent animals, but heaven forbid that you look after your grandkids for a morning.

(16 Sep 2020, 7:17 pm)Andreos1 wrote I'm organising a get together with my mates. Gonna go dressed in hunting gear, stand on the moors and there's gonna be 20 of us. Police can't do a thing!

Don't forget your dogs, if you want people not to think you're merely minglin'.

I have a sneaky feeling a lot of people are going to simply ignore the restrictions this time, and with good reason.

The whole point of the lockdown was to give the NHS enough time to build capacity, they've done that so there should be no need for another lockdown.

They should close the pubs before they even think about restricting anything else. Pretty much every outbreak has involved drunks, so why penalise everyone else for what they've done!

Sent from my LM-G710 using Tapatalk

Hang on...

(16 Sep 2020, 7:57 pm)BusLoverMum wrote Don't forget your dogs, if you want people not to think you're merely minglin'.

The best we can come up with is a neighbours chihuahua and a mates cockapoo.
As long as we put on pretendy tory voices and do lots of guffawing, I'm sure we will blend in just fine.

I had a bit of a moan about the politics side of the local lockdown in the politics thread, but as for the public transport side, judging by MG's Tweet, it doesn't look like there's going to be any restrictions on using public transport, or even advise against it like there has in other regions (which, if true, really does point towards it being politically motivated rather than by the science).

(17 Sep 2020, 12:20 pm)streetdeckfan wrote I had a bit of a moan about the politics side of the local lockdown in the politics thread, but as for the public transport side, judging by MG's Tweet, it doesn't look like there's going to be any restrictions on using public transport, or even advise against it like there has in other regions (which, if true, really does point towards it being politically motivated rather than by the science).

I was due to bring all of my support and admin teams back into the office next week after 6 months at home. The vast majority of them (around 110) rely on public transport - specifically buses to get them into our offices.

As the guidance now states public transport is only for essential travel only (which includes work) we've taken their views on a Teams call today and we'll be asking them all to continue working from home until further notice. 

I'm hearing similar things from my peers across businesses as well.

(17 Sep 2020, 4:51 pm)Ambassador wrote I was due to bring all of my support and admin teams back into the office next week after 6 months at home. The vast majority of them (around 110) rely on public transport - specifically buses to get them into our offices.

As the guidance now states public transport is only for essential travel only (which includes work) we've taken their views on a Teams call today and we'll be asking them all to continue working from home until further notice. 

I'm hearing similar things from my peers across businesses as well.

Good to see that you've taken the views of the staff into account, that seems very rare these days!

I personally don't see how they can say public transport is for essential travel only, yet still allow pubs to remain open. Surely there's a higher chance of catching COVID at a pub than their is getting the bus

Ive been to loads of pubs since they re opened and don't think I have/had covid. from experience i would have more chance of catching it at my local supermarket than at the pub due to the none social distancing that goes on there!

So if public Transport is not restricted it is just making a mockery of the whole lockdown. Nothing to stop someone getting the 24 from Durham to Hartlepool to have a longer night out ( although why anyone would come here is a different matter and they might have trouble getting back) or jumping on the X10 from Gateshead into Middlesbrough or even people going into Darlington from Bishop Auckland on the 1. If it really about controlling the spread then all they doing is just tempting people to spread it about in other areas which are already struggling to keep the numbers down.

Extract from an email I've had tonight from the DCC Chief Execs office -



Sent from my SM-G965F using Tapatalk

Now we are in local lockdown and advised not to travel at peak will we still have dupes on the schools routes