Cycling UK Forum

Ruadh495 wrote:Why would you use the bus? Between the indirect routing and the stops bus journey times are equal to slow cycling. It doesn't run at the times you want. You can't take any luggage you can't carry. Then the tickets cost as much (in Hampshire, more) than fueling a car.

Local buses are not suitable for journeys beyond cycling range, so why not cycle instead?

Yes, I know this isn't true for everybody, but with the availability of e-bikes it's true for an increasing proportion of the population. The bus subsidy could pay for taxis for the remainder and some improved cycling infrastructure. Just removing the buses would make cycling significantly safer and more pleasant.

I had a bus season ticket to get to work, used the bus a lot for short hops. After a while I realised that walking would often be quicker, usually neither the start or the destination are right by a bus stop. Good for everyone if people walk a bit more, or even cycle, and fewer buses would be good too

I live in Brighton and you can take as many buses as you like in the city for £5, which offers decent value if you are going to be using them throughout the day. However, this means that a return journey can be a little excessive as you are still required to pay the £5. Still, it is better value than the train...I recently got the train from Brighton to Hove (4 minute journey) and it cost me £2.90...and it got stuck at a signal for 10 minutes

The last time that I used a bus was when there was a gale and it was too bad to cycle.
Then you can be too sick to cycle. Or you can be too young to cycle. Or too drunk to cycle.

The problem is that having a bus available for such rare occasional journeys isnt worth it. You need either a permanent core of bus users or government subsidies.

scotsmanincumbria wrote:I live in Kendal, and about 4years ago as a family we were going to take the bus to Windermere to the airshow. On checking the bus fares it was going to cost for 2adults & 2children £30.00. We decided to take the car which cist a total of £10.00 including parking. Total distance was 8 miles.
If they reduced the prices the buses would be used more!!

That is a ludicrous price, in fact so ludicrous I don't believe you.

Boyd wrote:

scotsmanincumbria wrote:I live in Kendal, and about 4years ago as a family we were going to take the bus to Windermere to the airshow. On checking the bus fares it was going to cost for 2adults & 2children £30.00.

That is a ludicrous price, in fact so ludicrous I don't believe you.

I don't know that specific journey but that fare is perfectly believable. I have found other very high Lake District fares.

The walk-up fares are aimed at tourists making rare trips and mainly willing to pay because it is so rare: they can afford it once or twice a year, especially if the views along the way are an attraction in themselves. Regular local travellers, and visitors planning to use lots of buses all week, buy passes which work out costing far less per trip. E.g. a weekly pass for the whole area might cost £28 when one single trip is £9.50.

That marketing model works well enough for most users but not for local yet occasial travellers who don't want a weekly pass and won't spend like tourists.

Mick F wrote:Why should it cost over seven quid to sit on a bus for an hour's journey?

To sit on a train for that long could cost a lot more.

More realistically, you covered 24 miles for £7.20 which is 30p/mile, so only 67% of the 45p/mile HMRC allow for motorists mileage claims. Since the motorists seem to be always complaining that the taxman is mean to them, presumably that rate is not overgenerous in indicating the real cost of cars. (However it is true that a car can carry multiple people - but they often don't - and is probably faster - but might incur parking fees).

pwa wrote:Then the family from hell sat opposite. A loud argument ensued...... They used words I can't use here .

From the cyclist's POV isn't it better that aggressive anti-social people "from hell" are on buses rather than driving?

PH wrote: to get to work, I need to use two bus companies which don't accept each others tickets

It is bizarre that although when trains were privatised the operators were compelled to offer tickets valid on all operators trains between any two stations, bus companies are actually banned from doing the same as that is counted an anti-competitive practice. The end result is exactly as you state: making buses less competitive.

[

al_yrpal wrote: reduce fuel tax for commercial transport by having seperate pumps like they do in France.

Al

Already done in a different way.

81% of fuel duty on diesel refunded.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bus_Servi ... tors_Grant

jgurney wrote:

Mick F wrote:Why should it cost over seven quid to sit on a bus for an hour's journey?

To sit on a train for that long could cost a lot more.

Glasgow - Edinburgh train. 50min £18 single

Gunnislake to Plymouth return is £5.80. Single is £5.70
45min ride each way, and maybe 15miles each way.

Goodness knows how much it would cost by bus!

Mick F wrote:That was £7.20 total, and if I'd not had a bus pass, it would have been double = £14.40

Really? You don't have duo tickets (maybe by another name) there?

tanglewood wrote:Imagine the perfect bus service. Small, hybrid or electric vehicles. Journey starts at your door and ends where you want to go. Available 24/7. Personal service, especially for the elderly and disabled. The whole family travels on the same ticket. The bus pays tax instead of consuming it.

It's called Uber!

Sorry, what was the question? Was it "would you like to be sexually assaulted by any motorist who downloads an app?"

More seriously (if that's the right term), I disagree that "Journey starts at your door and ends where you want to go" is necessary for a bus service. I think most people would be OK with walking from home to their nearest main through routes if it meant the services are faster, more frequent and/or cheaper because it means the bus stops would be on busier routes where they can be more secure/overseen and better lit - a surprising number of people won't use buses because they fear they'll be unsafe while waiting at a remote stop. The next most important things to address are probably through ticketing/connections and contactless payments (so you don't need exact change).

Ruadh495 wrote:You can't take any luggage you can't carry.

You can take any luggage that you can push, from what I've seen. I agree ebikes are a good alternative to short-distance buses, but the purchase and battery-replacement costs are beyond some people. More folding bike hire at bus stations would also be a very good idea, allowing people to take one when they changed buses to handle any annoying gaps between bus routes and destinations.

mjr wrote:

Mick F wrote:That was £7.20 total, and if I'd not had a bus pass, it would have been double = £14.40

Really? You don't have duo tickets (maybe by another name) there?

Never heard of them.

A quick Google shows up that you can have them on Day Rider tickets.
https://www.plymouthbus.co.uk/fares/day ... rider-duo/
We would be Zone4.

£13 for all day. ie we would have saved £1.40 but been quids in if the busses ran in the evenings!

Mick F wrote:

mjr wrote:[Really? You don't have duo tickets (maybe by another name) there?

Never heard of them.

Yeah, this is a problem: I think duo and group tickets are fairly common now, but still not well-known (I know about them because they used to advertise them on the outsides of buses past my house), so people assume that multiple people travelling together costs a straight multiple of the one-person fares, which it doesn't because transport operators do like the advantages of groups sharing (such as they'll more readily share seats, plus two people together rarely have double the luggage).

Mick F wrote:£13 for all day. ie we would have saved £1.40 but been quids in if the busses ran in the evenings!

Yep, that's another thing that sucks. Most rural and interurban buses finish at 6pm, which makes them harder to use even for workers on 10-6 shifts, let alone anyone on nights or twilights, or even just ordinary people wanting to go for an evening meal, cinema and/or theatre in town. Adding just a few night services could make them useful for that and most of the twilights and nights, thereby unlocking a lot more daytime use too... but it would probably be another thing that needed them to use main routes rather than drive into residential areas where non-bus-users would probably complain about the noise.