tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7432323264902617108.post9200115627937583981..comments2024-03-25T22:17:35.616+00:00Comments on Public Transport Experience: Humming Birds and Cigarette Lighters [2] ...fatbusblokehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06833340546527596517noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7432323264902617108.post-46253755180340729442014-02-18T10:39:51.564+00:002014-02-18T10:39:51.564+00:00Bus operations in France are very different to the...Bus operations in France are very different to the UK. Outside towns they are contracted by the Department, often with a heavy bias towards the movement of schoolchildren. Most networks are inward looking and rarely cross boundaries. Longer journeys are done by train as part of a TER network.<br />Very few parts of France have historically had major bus networks. There were more before WW2 but these were strangled by legislation to protect the newly formed SNCF national railway.Daddysgadgetshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12892897553855129226noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7432323264902617108.post-69080762495467779462014-02-17T09:51:56.179+00:002014-02-17T09:51:56.179+00:00Don't forget the "main road" Car-Ain...Don't forget the "main road" Car-Ain routes, approx 3 an hour.which run direct to Lyon.<br /><br />There are now no DIRECT buses from Killamarsh, a small ex-mining town / large village) to Sheffield (for donkey's years every 30 min). But, of course, Killamarsh is across the boundary in dreaded D*rbysh*r*.<br />.<br />I suppose it depends on where you live. Here in UK and "en France"!fatbusblokehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06833340546527596517noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7432323264902617108.post-28234826528754193652014-02-17T09:05:43.620+00:002014-02-17T09:05:43.620+00:00Not sure I see the service as being better than th...Not sure I see the service as being better than that provided in the UK, though it may look all wizzy and interesting. Given the proximity to Lyon (one of the largest cities in France) and from your map on the previous blog the extent of the urban area you would expect a much better level of service to the area than a half-hourly minibus connecting to a frequent city service at the boundary. You would be expecting decent frequency services running direct in the UK from these outer suburbs directly to the city centre - you just need to look at the frequent networks of services from any major town in the UK to its neighbouring settlements at hourly or better frequencies which are considered the minimum necessary. That level of service as a local service for a small town doesn't appear to be that special either as you can find many locations with similar levels of service. Forcing customers to change buses just because you have reached an arbitrary authority boundary, with the consequent affect on the level of service at the outer bit which will naturally be a bit more marginal as a stand alone, is hardly a good advert for regulated service controlled by local authorities regardless of how much money they get given to do it.<br /><br />It may look wizzier with its nice (largely geographically irrelevant) branding, there may be lower (heavily subsidised) fares & services at more unsociable hours (again heavily subsidised) that are nice to haves, but the basic bus network across the whole country in small towns & rural areas tends to have better coverage in the UK than in most other parts of Europe in terms of being able to get somewhere useful at decent frequencies at the times most people want to travel.dwarfer1979noreply@blogger.com