tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7432323264902617108.post8083954393178901446..comments2024-03-29T08:14:43.839+00:00Comments on Public Transport Experience: Buzzing off to Bradford [5]fatbusblokehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06833340546527596517noreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7432323264902617108.post-35659289527948661482014-01-30T00:59:16.045+00:002014-01-30T00:59:16.045+00:00And very welcome you are. If you come and say hel...And very welcome you are. If you come and say hello we may manage to find some buns! and tell you what we've still got planned but haven't got around to yet.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7432323264902617108.post-13027760261829137522014-01-29T23:17:43.422+00:002014-01-29T23:17:43.422+00:00There is ticket inter availability with the two ne...There is ticket inter availability with the two neighbouring parts of First. What we don't know is what proportion of customer journeys are made by customers who want a day ticket (as opposed to those who simply buy one because it is cheaper than a return), or who make cross operator journeys. To suggest that buses are only for pensioners because of a rise in the price of a ticket which you don't know the usage numbers of is somewhat presumptive. Like all parts of First, and indeed other bus operators, Buses of Somerset is a business. It's no secret that it hasn't been among the most viable of such UK bus businesses. The changes are the first of a series of measures that will have been carefully thought out and which are therefore designed to make the business profitable and give it a long term future. The fares are presumably those that the management believes will make the business a financial success, not a set of fares that will please everyone!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7432323264902617108.post-16004963660546638522014-01-29T21:06:13.407+00:002014-01-29T21:06:13.407+00:00This is some price hike. A FirstDay South West is ...This is some price hike. A FirstDay South West is £7 and valid on First throughout the region. The new max return fare is more than that without the wide validity and the £10 day ticket is only valid on the Somerset network, not the whole of First in the South West. I like the imagery but it is a huge price hike for farepayers. Are these buses only for pensioners now?SotonBushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14300971557135804834noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7432323264902617108.post-71791508108072402382014-01-29T09:31:33.268+00:002014-01-29T09:31:33.268+00:00Probably to do with concessionary fares and how da...Probably to do with concessionary fares and how day tickets affect the average fare calculation. Better for operators to sell returns than day tickets. Another madness created by ridiculous concessionary fares reimbursement rules.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7432323264902617108.post-83318331635839293352014-01-29T09:21:59.110+00:002014-01-29T09:21:59.110+00:00Interesting to see how the First name has been dro...Interesting to see how the First name has been dropped from public view here in Taunton. From what I can see it's even more invisible than the miniscule mention of the operating company on Southampton's red buses operating as The Three.<br /><br />Is this the start of a trend, where we will now be discouraged from mentioning the F word, after all the effort over years past to promote a company that was Transforming Travel ?Petras409https://www.blogger.com/profile/04036674245734936601noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7432323264902617108.post-15557963078466346162014-01-29T09:15:41.831+00:002014-01-29T09:15:41.831+00:00I would have said from your experience that the in...I would have said from your experience that the information supplied by methods within the operators control was pretty good (not perfect and still room for improvement but in an on-line offering the bus industry is pretty good as long as you can keep them away from Traveline, rail is slightly different as it is difficult to find timetables rather than journey planners that are really just trying to sell you tickets for a journey you aren't sure about taking) and that anyone who just set off for somewhere without at least checking there was a service and what it was needs their head examined. West Yorkshire is in fact particularly good for off-line customer enquiries as each bus station has a staffed enquiry office, all the large operators have telephone enquiry lines whose numbers are advertised in the relevant printed publicity and WY PTE, Metro, have their own line - the Metroline number is not Traveline and is on a local Leeds number (so less expensive than the 0844 Traveline number) before you have to resort to Traveline. Yes, the bus stop information supplied by Metro in West Yorkshire is particularly unhelpful in confirming the route to passengers but then I wouldn't expect something like a crematorium to appear on most bus maps, timetable timing points or list of points served anyway.<br /><br />Traveline is pretty much useless, unfortunately it is largely out of the industries control to influence improvements. In most parts of the country the operators don't even have access to check whether the base data it is working from is correct, the south-west region used to do so and the number of errors I found when checking for an operator in that area doesn't give me any confidence in the accuracy of the base data in Traveline in the rest of the country where such checking is not possible.dwarfer1979noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7432323264902617108.post-90687583805216288362014-01-29T09:07:45.253+00:002014-01-29T09:07:45.253+00:00Last time I was at Bradford, beside the door to th...Last time I was at Bradford, beside the door to the travel centre a laminated copy of the local area map thing was stuck up.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7432323264902617108.post-17986677388186703482014-01-29T08:37:40.338+00:002014-01-29T08:37:40.338+00:00That should read "look at the new look"That should read "look <b>at</b> the new look"fatbusblokehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06833340546527596517noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7432323264902617108.post-52123106075837726152014-01-29T08:24:13.637+00:002014-01-29T08:24:13.637+00:00Thanks Anonymous. I shall miss the tea and buns! I...Thanks Anony<b>mous</b>. I shall miss the tea and buns! I will trek to Taunton to have a look ar he new look next week; doubtless bloggification will follow. I do agree, however, with Anony<b>bus</b> (top) that £10 for a day travel is too high to attract most casual passengers. £7.50 (i.e.maximum return fare) would be better and is unlikely to lose revenue. fatbusblokehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06833340546527596517noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7432323264902617108.post-67887437720102357072014-01-29T08:21:20.790+00:002014-01-29T08:21:20.790+00:00I don't understand this objection to PDFs - I ...I don't understand this objection to PDFs - I love them! You can take them with you and they're usually graphically designed by a real person! I use an iPad - maybe it depends on the device.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7432323264902617108.post-90129923156101949872014-01-29T08:06:19.730+00:002014-01-29T08:06:19.730+00:00The fare structure used to force people into buyin...The fare structure used to force people into buying a day ticket when they wanted a return. In the new fare structure, as explained on the website, there is now a maximum £7.50 return fare, which is between any two point even where a change of buses is required. The next stage of the fare review will see a network wide fare chart and a simplification of single and return fares, which will then be simple enough to communicate on the website. There was indeed no launch. The introduction of the new brand was an element of the introduction of better communication - a new comprehensive timetable booklet, maps and timetable displays in Taunton, the new website, and other actions. The whole Buses if Somerset project is an ongoing process of improvement. It isn't a lick of paint on the buses to paper over the weaknesses of the current operation. A launch would have suggested that we had done what we had to do. We haven't - far from it, we have only just started. So no buns and cakes yet, but maybe as we reach a few of our milestones in the future, and mark successes rather than launches! Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7432323264902617108.post-77757060695425726702014-01-29T02:19:06.776+00:002014-01-29T02:19:06.776+00:00Nice looking livery and website, but...
- too much...Nice looking livery and website, but...<br />- too much reliance on PDFs instead of pages and images<br />- the usual lack of detailed fares information<br />- day tickets look overpriced when compared to multi-day ticketsAnonybusnoreply@blogger.com