Sheffield Scheme Shocker (Part 3)

Buses for Sheffield Revealed

Various links to Sheffield Bus Partnership web sites are diverted here ...

... where we read:-

Have we not read something very like this before? Wasn't there once a "Sheffield Bus Partnership" that offered much the same "guff"?

And who is/are "Buses for Sheffield"?

Anther bit of "déja vue"? Who remembers who the partners were in the now abandoned Sheffield Bus Partnership. There is a passing similarity, is there not?

And there is a special fares offer from "Buses for Sheffield" ...

... which, unless fbb's aged brain is failing (again?) has a strange affinity for the special fare deal offered by the Sheffield Bus Partnership; a fare, incidentally, that has risen twice (from £4) in the declining years of the passenger (un)friendly "partnership".

But there's even more - and in this case the wording is slightly different.

But "Buses for Sheffield" hasn't done that at all. The "partnership" (and before that Optio Orange and Optio Red) did bring together timetables to create "joint" routes but overall there was almost NO INCREASE in frequency anywhere in the city. In fact the partnership removed about 50 buses from the roads of South Yorkshire; most of them from the streets of Sheffield.

Nothing has changed.

Perhaps we should wait in eager anticipation for the new web site, due this month?  We will, soon, see the new logo on the buses which will make it all so much better.

So, let us get this straight. To encourage the public to use the buses more, and to deliver a "better" and "more integrated" service, all you have to do is to stick a pretty label on all the First Bus vehicles.

And there is still more.

To encourage the public to use the buses more and to deliver a "better" and "more integrated" service, all you have to do is to stick a pretty label on all the Stagecoach vehicles.

What a fantastic idea! Will it "con" Sheffield folk.

Not a chance.

Remember this document from the "partnership"?

Remember Promise 4? Of course you don't - why should you, it was simple guff. But. for the record, here it is.

We will achieve this by:- 

There is nothing in the "Buses for Sheffield" publicity (so far - it may improve?) ...

... to suggest that ANY of the above will improve.

BUT ... pause for tumultuous applause ... "we will provide a London Underground style bus map" which, BY DEFINITION, will confuse most of our passengers and mislead many of them.

fbb will review the new map when it appears; lets hope it is at least a bit better than the last one.

Talking of Maps?

Correspondent Bob (from Sheffield) gently upbraided fbb for not reporting that the PTE has already displayed excellent network maps in a few selected places. The maps are (as fbb ignorantly suggested yesterday) a composite of the paper route maps for North and South Sheffield.

Here is one on the city end of platform "B" at Pond Street Bus Station or Central Bus Station or Sheffield Interchange, depending on how old you are.

There are a few problems with this publication.

It misses out much of Parson Cross, Chapeltown and High Green which is a pity. But fbb has a suggestion.

Firstly, omit the city centre stops list and produce a separate and clearer map for these.

Re-present the map in "portrait" format, a better shaped space for the majority of Sheffield.

Finally, do a substantial amount of simplification; there is just too much information for a poster situated where folk do not usually have the time or inclination to to peruse!

At least one well known web site and App has done this.

With a bit of tweaking to highlight good places for interchange, this would be FAR BETTER than an Underground style map.

For a modest fee (?), fbb will design it for you!

Tomorrow Snow and More Snow!

And a very warm thank you to Bob who ravelled into Sheffield on 28th inst to get the picture for fbb. This was his return bus ...

...  service 83 diverted away from Greystones and Bents Green to terminate at Ecclesall. The dedication of Bob (and many of fbb's correspondents) is truly admirable.

Thanks muchly!

 Next precipitative blog : Saturday 3rd March