The Public Transport System

[Croker]

I don't normally take buses as they are normally choker full of muggers, expensive, slow and smell of urine. However, I just threw caution to the wind and took one home. Two of us got on and it cost £2.60.

For that distance I could have got a "proper lift" in a taxi which would have cost about a fiver and would have took about an eigth of the time.

Prat prescott & team could do better than, when not in one of his jags etc, to calmly reflect on what we want here - a profit making utility or a public service

[STONEISLAND]

Buses waste of time I drive every where the goverment will have to do a lot to get me out of my car.

[Paul]

Since it's "public" transport the state of the bus is often a good indication of the type of people using it
I use public transport here quite often and on some routes the busses are terrible as the school kids use them to get to school, on other routes the busses are nice and clean as they are used more by the elderly to get into the town center etc.
£1.30 seems a lot of money but here we pay one fare no matter how far round the route we travel so you pay the same ammount for sitting on the bus 2 mins as you do for sitting on it 40 mins. £1.20 here can take you 5 or 6 miles down the road on some routes
Yes the public transport infrastructure needs improving but then so does the public use of it, busses don't smell of urine unless someone has taken it upon themselves to go for a **** on the bus.

[zoombini]

I'll echo what Paul said.

It's the public that abuse the busses that make them stink.

However, some companies do not clean them properly anyway.
There is a bus company near me that has filthy & old busses that sometimes scare the crap out of you when on them.

The noises that some busses make are really scary when you get the constant banging etc & what's worse, they are still using the same bus the next day without repairing it.

Routes are dissapearing on a regular basis, perhaps replaced by the cheaper company that has older busses who then double the fare (compared to similar more popular routes) and halve the timetable.

It now costs me less to use the car to get to/from work & only takes 7 minutes instead of 45. Which means I get an extra 40 minutes in bed & my tea a lot earlier.

[punky]

Top gear made me laugh the other day. It was about the Greenpeace handcuffing themselves to Land rovers in a protest at 4x4s.

They decided to join in, and handcuff themselves to large, over polluting vehicles that take up too much space in London, and only have 1 person on board. They handcuffed themselves to buses.

I doubt i'll ever get on a night bus again, especially as my route from central London to my house goes through east London which is notorious for crime. It isn't worth it.

Some buses are kept in a reasonable condition. The ones round here are reasonably clean anyway. Its just the scrotes that ride them, that worries me.

[Russ]

It'll take a HUGE incentive to get me out of my car. Right now, public transport doesn't offer me one.

[Croker]

it's the old story! some numpty jobsworth sitting with an excel speadsheet in an office (we all know them, the type of sneaky telltale ntl bloke you instinctively want to punch for no apparent reason) wokring out how to 'reduce costs'.

They should never have got rid of the conductors (like they did here) as they were a sort of lawmaker on the bus and companion to the driver.

So what we see now, like we see on the trains, is less people using them and the costs going up to compensate for the lack use

Please don't copy and paste any pratprescottlike statistics to "prove me wrong"

[Mr_love_monkey]

hang on, hang on......

we have a public transport system??? you learn something everyday... I thought we had a collection of mobile public toilets, driven by madmen, that seem to charge stupid sums of money for a 15 minute journey that would take 10 if you walked, and 5 if you drove yourself.
Of course you can only do the journey one way, since whilst on there, someone will either a) have picked your pocket, or b) mugged you, so you don't have any money to get back with

[ian@huth]

Originally Posted by Croker

it's the old story! some numpty jobsworth sitting with an excel speadsheet in an office (we all know them, the type of sneaky telltale ntl bloke you instinctively want to punch for no apparent reason) wokring out how to 'reduce costs'.

They should never have got rid of the conductors (like they did here) as they were a sort of lawmaker on the bus and companion to the driver.

So what we see now, like we see on the trains, is less people using them and the costs going up to compensate for the lack use

Please don't copy and paste any pratprescottlike statistics to "prove me wrong"

Every company has, or should have, someone working on minimising costs and increasing profitability. Same thing applies for your home as well with someone keeping track of outgoings and trying to minimise them.

I don't know how NTL and violence have crept into this thread, there is no justification at all for that comment.

[Croker]

Originally Posted by ian@huth

Every company has, or should have, someone working on minimising costs and increasing profitability. Same thing applies for your home as well with someone keeping track of outgoings and trying to minimise them.

I don't know how NTL and violence have crept into this thread, there is no justification at all for that comment.

Like I said earlier - its a public service or a profit making company -and never the twain shall meet

[Stuart]

Originally Posted by Croker

it's the old story! some numpty jobsworth sitting with an excel speadsheet in an office (we all know them, the type of sneaky telltale ntl bloke you instinctively want to punch for no apparent reason) wokring out how to 'reduce costs'.

What would you rather have? A good, free, bus service that you pay through the nose for in taxes (the money has to come from somewhere), or a service where they try and control costs? I don't think privatisation has really worked on public transport, but do think the bus and train companies can be run efficiently under public ownership (look at the South Eastern Rail company for proof of this - clean trains, fairly reliable and fast and the lowest government subsidy in the industry)

They should never have got rid of the conductors (like they did here) as they were a sort of lawmaker on the bus and companion to the driver.

Having said all that.

Agreed.

So what we see now, like we see on the trains, is less people using them and the costs going up to compensate for the lack use

I really *wish* fewer people would use the train I do in the morning. I might get a seat then. Seriously, I can't comment for the rest of the country, but I believe that in London, public transport usage is rising. This may be due to investment in the infrastructure (bus companies buying new buses, train companies buying new trains and rebuilding lines).

Having said all that. All is not rosy. When I do get on buses I do find that people have often used them as a rubbish dump, or have urinated. The companies should be cleaning their vehicles, but the public also need to clean up their act as well. It's not difficult. If you have rubbish, take it with you and find a bin. If you need a P, then wait until you get home.

[Croker]

I only know about my own area really - ie south wales. A couple of years back I got a train into Cardiff saturday morning (there was a rugby match on - international) so the train arrives from the Rhymney valley was and it consists of one car! we are all crammed in like sardines and going the other way is a train consisting of three cars with about two or three guys on.

To top it all, I got to Cardiff queen street station and no one is taking tickets ( presumably long since sacked by an excel spreasheeet crazed 'cost cutter') - so i didn't end up paying for the journey anyway

[Chris W]

Public transport in London is improving- increased frequency of buses, lower costs, cleaner and oyster means more convenient as well

London is the only place where i would live and consider selling my car... everywhere else i have been the public transport is poo!

[Croker]

Originally Posted by scastle

A good, free, bus service that you pay through the nose for in taxes

what do we pay for then - other than for jumped up civil service demigods to retire early with 'sickness' and indexed linked pensions

[Paul]

Originally Posted by Croker

what do we pay for then - other than for jumped up civil service demigods to retire early with 'sickness' and indexed linked pensions

Well there's a sweeping comment that isn't quite correct not all civil servants are in a position to retire early on a very good pension. I know a number of people who have just been told that their age of retirement has been increased and the value of their pensions decreased.