What's your opionion on buses? and their customer service either passenger or/and cyclist related.?

[postman]

Is that not the correct quote?

Yes it is.Well done.

 

[welsh dragon]

Where i live the busses run only every 2 hours or so and the last bus from the nearest town is at 5 pm. On Sunday there are no busses at all. Most of the time there are only 4 or 5 people on the bus and it tends to be older people. The only busses that are full are school busses.

I can't temember the last time i went on a bus. The bus service in Birmingham was excellent, however the choking fumes especially in the summertime wasn't. I certainly don't miss that.

 

[Accy cyclist]

I find buses are similar to my dog. When out walking him i can't get into '4th gear' as he's constantly stopping to sniff at things or cock his leg up on them. Buses are similar because as soon as they start to pick up speed someone sticks their hand out at a stop and the bus loses its momentum. I had a nice bus driver incident yesterday. Nothing special,the bus was coming downhill as i was climbing uphill ,so i suppose i had the right of way,but the driver didn't barge his way through as many would do,instead he stopped not to close away so as to kind of intimidate me and then flashed me to let me carry on my ascent. As i waved my thanks and looked at him he gave me the thumbs up. Not as good as the double decker bus driver a few years ago who'd give a little toot on the horn to warm me (and i presume other cyclists) that he was approaching,then indicate his intentions,both to pull out and to move in,then he'd put his hazard lights on as he safely and courteously passed.

 

[vickster]

They are around here.
Quite often see double deckers on the road between Ilfracombe and Barnstaple with just 2 or 3 passengers on board.

Maybe they should use smaller more efficient vehicles. Folk don’t like losing their bus service but then don’t use it. In cash strapped times it can be hard to justify

 

[Electric_Andy]

Good service, considering most of the routes are not designed for large buses. For the price, no complaints really

Just to embellish a bit. Plymouth has a good network of bus routes and bus lanes, however it can get congested at peak times. My friend used to rely on the bus for work, and had to do a 55 min journey (for what would take 25 mins in a car). Having said that, most drivers are courteous and respectful of cyclists. At worst they are a bit blunt when trying to pay with anything other than a pre-paid bus pass.

The roads are just not built for big buses though, there are lots of narrow single lane roads with even narrower traffic islands, and mini roundabouts. As I said though, I can't really complain. I use the bus to get into town fairly often now, as they've just introduced paying my contactless card. And yes, there are many rude and smelly people on the bus but that can't be helped

 

[ianrauk]

Buses in London are great. Just sayin'. The drivers are considerate to cyclists, the services are regular and reliable and the fares are reasonable. A while back they introduced a new scheme whereby you can pay once, then take a second ride on another bus free, so long as it's within an hour.

100% agree. And along with the above.
London Buses are contactless payment. No more faffing with cash or waiting for people to find the right change.
Kids under 11 travel free with an adult and all the diesels are being phased out being replaced with hybrid, hydrogen and electric vehicles.

 

[classic33]

That's one difference here as well: someone with epilepsy [Edit: Epilepsy, sorry] is entitled to transport, so it would have to be provided one way or the other so she could get to work.

You were right the first time, no capital "e" required.

It's one of those conditions that isn't very visible, so drivers will question if I actually qualify for the pass. One or two have asked for it from me. I, in return have asked for their badge number or just phoned their head office.

@Drago, councils decide who qualify and administer the scheme. They passes are funded by central government.

 

[byegad]

In our village there used to be several services that ran around the side streets on their way through the village. Most of the day they were empty or had a single passenger. They no longer run! Now we have two routes than run through the main road in the village, one runs most of the day at 30 minute intervals, the other at 15 minute intervals. They have charging points and free WiFi. To get to the towns at either end of the 15 minute service takes about 50% longer than driving and faster than cycling. Fares are around £5 from the village to either end so about double the petrol and parking fee for a few hours stay. The buses never go past empty and at peak times are pretty much full.
Locals have complained at having to walk a couple of hundred yards to the stops, when the old services meant a 50 yard walk on average, but honestly if you're catching the bus to a town you're going to need to be able to walk a lot further than that anyway.
To me they are a great service which I use during the finer weather, I don't risk them in the winter because of possible coughs and colds from other users, I have asthma and last year had a severe, long lasting chest infection making me even more careful this year.

 

[Andy in Germany]

You were right the first time, no capital "e" required.

I think in my original post I wrote 'elipepsy' which sounded more like a soft drink.

It's one of those conditions that isn't very visible, so drivers will question if I actually qualify for the pass. One or two have asked for it from me. I, in return have asked for their badge number or just phoned their head office.

Good for you.

Now I come to think of it, a disabled ID card is a bus pass here, you don't need another. The only problem is that it's quite big, which I think is discriminatory because it makes it obvious to everyone on the bus that the user has a disability, and you can't tuck it into a wallet: a normal credit card sized ID would be more inclusive.

 

[Milkfloat]

I pay close to £1000 a year for my 11 year old to get to school in the next town. The bus has never once been on time (within 5 minutes), but if she risked getting to the stop later and it is magically on time she would have to wait over an hour for the next one. On a plus note, occasionally she gets a seat for the second half of the journey.

 

[mustang1]

There is one thing that annoys me about bus drivers and that is when they put on their hazard flashers to indicate they are stopped at a bus stop .

The other thing that annoys me is when they indicate that they are about to move away from the bus stop, then they wait for me to ride right up to them, and then they start moving, thus making me lose my momentum.

Edit: typo

 

[Drago]

I pay close to £1000 a year for my 11 year old to get to school in the next town. The bus has never once been on time (within 5 minutes), but if she risked getting to the stop later and it is magically on time she would have to wait over an hour for the next one. On a plus note, occasionally she gets a seat for the second half of the journey.

And a few years ago our wonderful government raised the "school leaving" age by a year, but failed to also raise the age for free bus travel to school by a year. I wrote to my MP, Andrea Leadsom, about the matter, but she was so thick/obtuse/deliberately obstructive (delete as you feel appropriate) that she appeared not to even understand the problem.

 

[Andy in Germany]

And a few years ago our wonderful government raised the "school leaving" age by a year, but failed to also raise the age for free bus travel to school by a year. I wrote to my MP, Andrea Leadsom, about the matter, but she was so thick/obtuse/deliberately obstructive (delete as you feel appropriate) that she appeared not to even understand the problem.

Are we assuming these are mutually exclusive qualities in a politician?

 

[Nigel-YZ1]

I was deliberately left hooked by a bus a few years ago. They're one step higher than SUV drivers. Stuff em!

 

[tom73]

When government put money into public transport is a subsidy and seen as bad and every government set's about cutting it. When public money is used for road building it's an investment and every government fall's over themselves to be seen as the one who can spend the most.

When Mrs 73 myself and the hound go on holiday once I park up the car it stay's put till home time. we make a point of using public transport to get about. It is getting harder and some services have been cut. Due to funding or lack of it. One thing we do notice is the high number of free bus pass users on any given service. Once out of 40+ who got on the bus only us (inc the dog) and 2 other's paid you don't need to be a expert to know you can't run on that income stream.

Fares have gone up to fund the high number of free passengers. I don't have an issue with them they clearly are not funded enough (even from the start) Until the penny drop's that good public service cost's and on the whole the pubic need to pay for it it can't stay as it is.

Have the bus pass idea but even paying a token amount will help out a bit. Many who I know who have them are more than happy to pay something. I don't mind my taxers going towards it but not so a multi millionaire or extremely well off pensioner can travel for free.

As for my own area if you want a bus after 6pm we have one every hour and the 2 mile ish ride in will cost you getting on for almost £4 a long way from when me and my mum and dad did the same trip for 2x5p and a 2p. Then they deregulated them oh but not in London can't think why As for contactless though ticket's we can dream.