Bus Journey Prices

[Mick F]

Yep.

Going back to the train ticket prices Gunnislake/Plymouth, you can't buy a period return.
If you buy a return, it's only a day return. ie if you stay overnight, you need a single both ways.
Two singles are £10.40 ........... one return is £5.80

[irc]

Perhaps an hour in total in travelling time, but maybe an hour and a half start to finish.......

.........home by taxi, and that was a fast half hour door-to-door service.

..........I was shocked at the cost of bus journeys.
No wonder there are so many cars on the roads.

Never mind the price. The bus was 3x longer. Which is why those who can will go by car.

My commute - 18 miles. Car - 30-45mins. Public transport? Can't get me there for my 7am start. If it could - bus journey time - 1hr50 - when they are running to schedule. So 3X longer than the car.

Cycling? My work has no showers or lockers and I have some kit to carry each way. So while I have commuted 18 miles each way before it won't work for this job. I'd guess 99% of the general public wouldn't cycle 36 miles per day.

[Cyril Haearn]

Rural and urban bus services are quite different. In Berlin the buses and tubes are often full in the "rush hour". Help is to hand in the shape of an unelected activist group that wants to promote cycling. The plan is to f o r c e people to cycle for short trips so there is more room in the vehicles for those going longer distances

[mjr]

Help is to hand in the shape of an unelected activist group that wants to promote cycling. The plan is to f o r c e people to cycle for short trips so there is more room in the vehicles for those going longer distances

Do they have any power to force people to do that?

I've never understood why there's discounted fares for short journeys (Kurzstrecke) on Berlin's transport network.

[Ruadh495]

You can take any luggage that you can push, from what I've seen.

Here (Southampton) they seem quite strict on luggage. There's a small luggage area with a rail round it, requiring quite a high lift, and nothing else. There's a disabled space, but the drivers insist on keeping that clear in case a wheelchair user would like to board. It's led to my wife being refused boarding with a buggy and small child, since she wasn't able to fold the buggy, carry it and the baby up the steps whilst simultaneously controlling a two year old. No question of letting her use the disabled space.

The only way to take a bike on would be a bagged folder, and then there's only room for one, maybe two, per bus.

[pete75]

No question of letting her use the disabled space.

And rightly so.

[mjr]

Here (Southampton) they seem quite strict on luggage. There's a small luggage area with a rail round it, requiring quite a high lift, and nothing else. There's a disabled space, but the drivers insist on keeping that clear in case a wheelchair user would like to board. It's led to my wife being refused boarding with a buggy and small child, since she wasn't able to fold the buggy, carry it and the baby up the steps whilst simultaneously controlling a two year old. No question of letting her use the disabled space.

And there probably shouldn't be, if there's any disabled person wanting it... but here, they seem to allow buggies to be wheeled aboard and folded while next to the luggage rack. Seems a bit mean to do otherwise.

Some of our buses have floor-to-ceiling luggage racks, but the bottom shelf is just too low for a folding bike to stand up under, which is a bit irritating... so I usually keep it next to me in between seats unless the service is busy, when I either slide the bike into the bottom shelf or lift it up.

I've just used the links on http://www.klwnbug.co.uk/space4cycling/bikes-on-buses/ to check Stagecoach ("Subject to space being available and the discretion of the driver, we will carry small prams and unfolded buggies on low floor buses within the designated area but only when it is not required by a passenger in a wheelchair or approved mobility scooter (passengers in wheelchairs have absolute priority by law)") and First ("When not occupied by a wheelchair or mobility scooter user, the wheelchair space on most vehicles can accommodate up to two small prams or normal-sized unfolded pushchairs") luggage policies. If it was one of those, seems like the driver was out of line

[Cyril Haearn]

Help is to hand in the shape of an unelected activist group that wants to promote cycling. The plan is to f o r c e people to cycle for short trips so there is more room in the vehicles for those going longer distances

Do they have any power to force people to do that?

I've never understood why there's discounted fares for short journeys (Kurzstrecke) on Berlin's transport network.

No no, that is from unelected activists who are in the media a lot because they push their half-baked ideas. The Kurzstrecke is only for a couple of stops, usually walking would be better and quicker. Berlin has two rings, the inner ring (S-Bahn) is very good, nearly every station has an interchange with other lines, trams, buses. And the outer ring, one may orbit Berlin on that too, but with many changes. It was built so that Ostberlin could be accessed from all directions without going through Westberlin so that the wall could be built (1961)

[irc]

No question of letting her use the disabled space.

And rightly so.

Why? So an actual person is denied travel just in case a theoretical person wants to use that space later on.

Though in any case it shouldn't be beyond the wit of man to design fold up seats so that more than one pram/wheelchair can travel on one bus but the seats fold down when needed at peak hours.

[Cyril Haearn]

No question of letting her use the disabled space.

And rightly so.

Why? So an actual person is denied travel just in case a theoretical person wants to use that space later on.

Though in any case it shouldn't be beyond the wit of man to design fold up seats so that more than one pram/wheelchair can travel on one bus but the seats fold down when needed at peak hours.

Maybe it would be best to remove most of the seats, many more people are could be carried standing

[pete75]

No question of letting her use the disabled space.

And rightly so.

Why? So an actual person is denied travel just in case a theoretical person wants to use that space later on.

Though in any case it shouldn't be beyond the wit of man to design fold up seats so that more than one pram/wheelchair can travel on one bus but the seats fold down when needed at peak hours.

From many stories in the press it appears that people with push chairs occupying disabled spaces often won't move when a disabled person needs it. It even reached teh Supreme Court and this case maybe what it is influencing bus driver/companies attitudes. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-38663322

It's not much to ask someone with a folding push chair to fold it before getting on a bus though is it. They were denied travel because they weren't prepared to do that.