More people are using bus services since the introduction of a £2 fare cap, a survey by a transport watchdog suggests.https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-65177420
Transport Focus surveyed more than 1,000 people and more than one in 10 said they were using the bus to travel more.
I remember seeing fare stage plaques but haven't seen one since the early 90s, if not before. Might be a thing that survived longer in Scotland, if indeed they are still in use?
The tap in, tap out system makes boarding so much simpler and speedier.
The tap in, tap out system makes boarding so much simpler and speedier.Don't know what that is.
Instead of asking the driver for a ticket to ..., you tap your bank card on a card reader when boarding and, ideally, the same again (usually a separate reader in a more convenient place) on exiting. You don't have to tap out but if you don't, it will just charge you for a single fare, whereas if you tap out, your combined total of all trips that day is capped – the exact cap varies from place to place. Here it is, I think, £8.The tap in, tap out system makes boarding so much simpler and speedier.Don't know what that is.
Last time I used one, the Middle Earth buses just tap in. If you do it once, you pay a single fare. If you do it more than once it's capped at the day ticket price. Simple.
Last time I used one, the Middle Earth buses just tap in. If you do it once, you pay a single fare. If you do it more than once it's capped at the day ticket price. Simple.
That's a horrible system that people seem to think is good because they've never had he good fortune to use something better.
Unless the day cap is very low (under a fiver). It grossly disadvantages those who are not very fit, but also don't qualify for a disabled pass.
Do I need to explain trip chaining again ? And why it's crucial that public transport supports it ?
I used to use buses very occasionally (mostly train strike days) but it was a fellow passenger waiting for a late bus that told me about the £2 fare being if you use their app - doesn’t seem to be available from the driver. I live in the next town to work, and this year the train fare went to just over £10 for a return at getting to work time; the cash bus all day ticket £7.50; or £4 to get a cheap single each way.Sounds like too many fare types!
There is also a tap on and off system, that seems to be based on the cash fare but with a discount for multiple days of use and a weekly cap. Though the description is suspiciously salesy and the prices buried. There is also a £1.70 short hop ticket, a combined bus and rail ticket and an “as many trips as you like” day ticket.
Though for lots of short trips I can imagine a budget scooter soon becomes a financial win.This. And a convenience win too – not bound by timetables, routes and stops.
If anything, I'd have said it's the tap in, tap out system that disadvantages trip-chainers. If you fail to tap out, you'll get charged the maximum. At the moment, at least on First WoE and their subsidiaries, this doesn't make much difference if any to the fare you pay – and it seems very few people actually do tap out – but once the cap has gone, it will.
QuoteThough for lots of short trips I can imagine a budget scooter soon becomes a financial win.This. And a convenience win too – not bound by timetables, routes and stops.
What a faffy system.If anything, I'd have said it's the tap in, tap out system that disadvantages trip-chainers. If you fail to tap out, you'll get charged the maximum. At the moment, at least on First WoE and their subsidiaries, this doesn't make much difference if any to the fare you pay – and it seems very few people actually do tap out – but once the cap has gone, it will.
If you fail to tap out on a bus in Amsterdam, you get charged 4 euro. Then you wait 48 hours, and claim back the difference by filling in a form on a website.
What a faffy system.
On London buses that would be 1.65 x 4
You're able to claim the money back because you're computer-literate, intelligent, able bodied, have internet access at home and work, and because you're familiar with the system through living there. Why should there be a need to reclaim money? If you fail to tap out here, you just get charged the single fare (currently £2).
What a faffy system.
Not really. I'm quite a heavy public transport system, and it happens to me about twice a year.
The chip card readers are by every door. Often one on each side of the door.
Failures to check it are rare. And when you do. You can still get the money back.
J
On London buses that would be 1.65 x 4
Not to argue with the general point you're making, just a slight correction to the detail: the daily payg cap on London buses is £4.65.
The daily payg cap to cover all bus, tram, DLR etc is £9.60 for zones 1-3 (varies depending on which zones you're travelling in).
This. And a convenience win too – not bound by timetables, routes and stops.
So a single tube run increases your limit by a fiver ?
I'd have to try very hard to spend they much on transport here.
After all there's no timetable for when the road outside your house is open for you to drive on it...
People living in Bristol and the surrounding area are to get free bus travel during the month of their birthday.
The new £8m plan, which will see eligible people given bus passes, starts in July.
And in about 10 seconds the local rags and anti-social media will be full of people born in February bemoaning the unfairness of it.
I can’t think of a worse present.https://www.bristol247.com/news-and-features/news/8m-birthday-buses-scheme-criticised-gimmick/
A month on Bristols Buses!!
🙏
I imagine one of the fundamental differences between buses in the UK and the Netherlands is that in the latter they are run as a service for the public while in the former they are run as a profit-making scheme for shareholders.You forgot to add "and this is why the UK system is superior, offering a better service at a lower price".
Reinvesting in transport
We are committed to reducing costs and reinvesting all our income to run and improve services.
We are a public body, with no shareholders or parent companies, which means we can reinvest every pound of income in the transport network
For every pound we receive, around 80% is spent on the everyday running costs of the network and around 20% on renewing and improving it for the future.
https://tfl.gov.uk/corporate/about-tfl/how-we-work/how-we-are-fundedQuoteReinvesting in transport
We are committed to reducing costs and reinvesting all our income to run and improve services.
We are a public body, with no shareholders or parent companies, which means we can reinvest every pound of income in the transport network
For every pound we receive, around 80% is spent on the everyday running costs of the network and around 20% on renewing and improving it for the future.
Well, the firms actually running the buses and trains in London are certainly private profit making companies with shareholders, so the above is misleading and dishonest.
The road I live in has bus stops but no buses, thanks to Tory cuts* quite some years ago. Indeed, last summer some road repairs were carried out near our house and I watched a couple of blokes carefully erect “BUS STOP SUSPENDED” signs and put in temporary bus stops elsewhere and only when they had finished did I tell them that there were no buses using those stops in any case.
*Labour cuts are also available but not so frequent
Several years ago, pre-covid, I went to a talk by professional train nerd Christian Wolmar, in a town that was a pleasant 20-mile bike ride away. He was supposed to be talking about Crossrail but he started by telling us of his failed attempt to become a Labour MP and even more failed attempt to become mayor of London and then making some general points, such as: outsourcing the peripherals is fine but outsourcing your core business means you no longer have a core business. He was referring to Network Rail outsourcing their signalling capabilities.https://tfl.gov.uk/corporate/about-tfl/how-we-work/how-we-are-fundedQuoteReinvesting in transport
We are committed to reducing costs and reinvesting all our income to run and improve services.
We are a public body, with no shareholders or parent companies, which means we can reinvest every pound of income in the transport network
For every pound we receive, around 80% is spent on the everyday running costs of the network and around 20% on renewing and improving it for the future.
Well, the firms actually running the buses and trains in London are certainly private profit making companies with shareholders, so the above is misleading and dishonest.
It's always tricky where to draw that line. You probably wouldn't think it unreasonable for TFL to buy computers or paper towels or concrete or diesel from for-profit companies, if only on the no-ethical-consumption-under-capitalism principle. But when it's a fundamental part of the business, it does seem irksome.
See also: NHS.
My busserviceis once every two hours, which for a contiguous suburb in a town of 125,000 people explains why everyone uses a car. If I want to get into the town centre, or catch a train, I walk.
My busserviceis once every two hours, which for a contiguous suburb in a town of 125,000 people explains why everyone uses a car. If I want to get into the town centre, or catch a train, I walk.
My busserviceis once every two hours, which for a contiguous suburb in a town of 125,000 people explains why everyone uses a car. If I want to get into the town centre, or catch a train, I walk.
Quite likely because every uses a car, it is a vicious circle of decline in public transport use, unless there is serious subsidising going on. (Ideally funded by squeezing the motorists more...)
Trouble is that the motor car means that desire lines are now more massive desire meshes.Good point.
big out of town shopping disaster zoneGood phrase, which should be popularized.