Beyond Belief - Yet Again!
Did you spot what was wrong with the timetable extract from South Yorkshire PTE, operating under one of its cloaks of mystery as Travel South Yorkshire? The extract is from service 1/1a jointly operated by First and Stagecoach.
Because it is a long cross city route we need to look at it in three sections. Travelling from south to north, we see route 1 (Stagecoach) looping at Jordanthorpe and Batemoor ...
... being joined by route 1a (First) from Herdings and proceeding into city via the lower reaches of East Bank Road. The route through the centre is convoluted but the best that can be done with the historic road layout and the restrictions brought by the dreaded Supertram.
Happily we trundle on northbound via Firth Park, still an important suburban shopping centre.
Mainly because the Stagecoach depot is at Ecclesfield Common, the routes bifurcate at Ecclesfield before continuing to Chapeltown where most daytime First buses terminate leaving Stagecoach to continue up the hill to High Green.
Now, back to the PTE timetable extract left as a challenge from yesterday. fbb asked what was wrong with it but a better question would be, "what is right with it?"
The obvious mega mash-up is that the First bus journeys are in the wrong order. Look at the times from Hemsworth: 0620, 0711, 0727, 0738, 0646, 0701 and so on.
But hang convention; why bother to be helpful to passengers? Let them struggle through the quagmire of timetabular trauma - anything to discourage passengers.
Logically the line for Herdings times should by just above Hemsworth where it belongs geographically (see map) but what about Hazlebarrow Road? It would appear that only a few Stagecoach buses call there, e.g the 0627 from Jordanthorpe. The majority of buses do not, e.g. 0605 and 0642 from Jordanthorpe. In fact ALL service 1 journeys run that way, but the timetable only shows those journeys which start their day's work there.
Poor.
But it is when we get lower down the table that nonsense becomes horror.
Remember this is a "Buses for Sheffield" partnership route, "One City One Service".
So, in yet another policy to confuse the passenger, First has a time at Sheffield Lane Top Kinnaird Avenue (0920, 0936) which was, historically, the site of the former bus turning circle. But Stagecoach, ever willing to be different, times their buses at Homestead Road (0907, 0928, 0943), one stop nearer town.
Why?
And why does First have an extra time point at Chapeltown Park View Road. Both operators' buses stop there.
And the third nonsense is at Chapeltown itself. It is true that First's journeys that terminate there swing round a roundabout and stop outside the station, ready for their return run ...
... whereas buses continuing to High Green use the stop north of the roundabout.
But why show the two as if they were a totally different place? Distinctive labelling at the stops should ensure people find the correct journey.
The cumulative chaotic consequence is that a fairly simple joint timetable becomes a total disaster in terms of clarity and communication to the customer.
There are many other similarly awful timetables produced by the PTE's sustainable but potty computer systems. Of course, the operators, in the true spirit of Partnership, do not always advertise joint services on-line, merely promoting their own bit. Here is Firsts's 1a ...
... and our reader can amuse himself by spotting the different stop names from the PTE's version, in particular "Sheffield Lane Top" without the extra side road nomenclature.
Crazy!
Stagecoach have recently given up putting their own correct information on line, preferring to link to the PTE's incorrect tables.
Crazy!
But it could be so much better. Here is the same extract as shown at the head of this post, as included in a well known and highly successful (???) Sheffield timetable app (click to enlarge it).
It is possible to be helpful to the passenger.
But being helpful does not extend to having printed information available. Sadly fbb's leaflet "ferret" went on holiday to Barbados at this critical time so full information has been episodic in the extreme.
But there were no timetables available in Sheffield for any of the changes in advance of Sunday 3rd March change day. Towards the end of last week, a Sheffield correspondent reported that he had found Stagecoach 88 and X17 leaflets at the Arundel Gate office. A further report on Wednesday of this week suggested that more Stagecoach leaflets had appeared but nothing for First's routes.
Rumours sourced from highly reliably (but anonymous) sources suggest the following.
Four parcels (two each) containing "all" leaflets for services that were changing were delivered direct to the two outlets (Arundel Gate and the Interchange) from the printers and signed for on dates at the end of January and early in February.
That was the last that was heard of them!
A second rumour with an equal claim to reliability was forwarded by email to fbb yesterday.
Generally speaking Arundel Gate has stagecoach TTs for the March changes I believe it’s the same for the Interchange
With regard to missing leaflets - I understand but don’t quote me - the timetables were delivered but PTE management refused to allow them to be put out before the date. However please don’t quote me on that to protect my source.
Correct or just plain mischievous?
Oddly, another report revealed that there was plenty of information at Rotherham outlets (where the changes were more substantial) even, shock horror, BEFORE it all happened.
All round a typical Sheffield mess-up, created by the bus companies and PTE operating in Partnership!
Remember:-
We are Buses for Sheffield
We’re a voluntary partnership between the city’s bus service providers. We share a passion to improve bus travel across the city. Our aim is to provide an efficient, accessible and reliable service to make travel easier and more convenient for everyone in Sheffield ...
... but we will not be telling you about it!
And this came in from a Sheffielder yesterday evening, yet another example of the skill of PTE systems..
Perhaps someone in High Places should make sure that the PTE itself is only Temporay.
And this came in from a Sheffielder yesterday evening, yet another example of the skill of PTE systems..
Next seafaring blog : Saturday 16th March
While it's true that service 1's route in Ecclesfield is slightly nearer to Stagecoach's depot, thereby making crew changes easier, the split between the two routes through the village reflects practice since before the war- though the services then wee longer-distance ones and there were fewer buses, the area being far more rural then.
ReplyDeleteNo new leaflets were evident at Arundel Gate or the Interchange last Monday at any rate.