Better Transport

Bus companies aren't cooperating with one another because they're worried about breaking competition law. And it's passengers who are losing out. We recently asked people to tell us about disjointed buses where they live. These are the stories we received.

"We have two services from Thornton village into the city of Bradford. The main one is run by First Bradford, the other by Keighley & District. First Bradford runs a fabulous electronic smart card, but it can't be used on the Keighley & District bus. Both companies sell good value 'day rider' tickets, but again, they aren't valid on each other's services. All I want to do is travel by bus into town, yet this crazy system means I have to stand back and watch buses go past the stop because they're the wrong colour!" - David Pendleton.

"In Glasgow, you can get around by bus, local rail, Subway (underground), and ferry. The local Passenger Transport Executive, SPT, runs the Subway, and there are many bus companies, the biggest being First and Arriva. The problem is that the inter-modal ticketing for individual journeys (not season tickets) is very inadequate. SPT has a Daytripper pass from £8.50, aimed at families, and a Roundabout ticket which combines Subway and local rail (but not bus or ferry) for £4.50. For those coming into the area by rail, a PlusBus add-on to a rail ticket is £2.00. This includes most bus services, but no other mode, not even local rail! In a city where different modes complement each other, and it is very often quickest to combine two modes of public transport, this situation is abysmal. Please could someone introduce a one-ticket-per-journey arrangement which would work for all modes?" - Duncan MacKenzie.

"Since many First evening services in Portsmouth were withdrawn, an unacceptable situation now exists whereby if I am working late, the only bus I can get home is operated by Stagecoach, who generally operate relatively infrequent services throughout the city as a whole (compared to First). I now have to buy either a First Week ticket, thus having to pay extra fares on top when Stagecoach is the only bus left at night, or a Stagecoach Megarider, which inconveniences me at all other times, as neither ticket is valid on the other company's services. It seems as if we are expected to accept this situation for the rest of eternity" - Andy Gray.

"The 285 Feltham to Kingston-upon-Thames route at peak hours is a disgrace. Every time I've been on it in the morning or late afternoon it's been overcrowded, whilst there are other buses lining up all empty. Bus drivers on the route are some of the best I've come across and I've witnessed them being placed in farcical situations under pressure" - Penny Baker.

"The 310/311 route has recently stopped running to Enfield. However, the Hertfordshire County Council / Broxbourne free pass is still valid as far as Enfield, which now involves three changes of bus. Why do some companies issue free pass tickets and some don't? Hope these problems are sorted out when the all-England bus pass starts in April" - Len Lambley.

"I work for an agency doing supply work in education and need to travel around Bristol frequently. Most of the time I need to take at least two buses to get to any destination as the bus services all go into the centre and out again, except the few circular ones that come once an hour and take up to two hours to get anywhere, and often do not run at all. If you buy a special ticket for First Line, you cannot use it for some of the other buses that run on suburban routes. There is never information - the 'information' telephone number puts you through to a national number, and you cannot find out if a bus will be late or why it hasn't shown up. The map you can get at the central office takes the equivalent of military planning to be able to read and decipher" - Halima Brewer.

"There are a number of problems with buses from Englefield Green, Surrey. The 41 goes from Slough to Staines via Englefield Green. The 441 goes from Heathrow via a huge number of places, passing through Staines and looping through Englefield Green. The two buses often arrive together at Englefield Green to pick up as many as 15 passengers who have been waiting for up to 45 minutes. There are also several other types of bus, for which you need different tickets: the Peterbus that connects up the hospitals, the dial-a-ride for elderly people, the school bus services, and the most frequent and generally half-empty ones run by the local university. It would be great if residents could use these for commuting" - Jenny Gould.

"In Sheffield there seem to be two competing transport companies, each with their own week/day passes. If you want to use the tram you usually have to buy a Stagecoach dayrider for £2.70. However Stagecoach busses do not run to my area after 8pm or on a Sunday which means that if I want to use the tram I usually have to also buy a day ticket for First buses for either £2 or £3" - Rhiannon Price.

"In Bournemouth / Poole we have a ridiculous 'bus wars' situation. Two companies are competing with each other over the profitable routes, with absurd results. There are now frequent services, totally beyond what is required, over a few routes (some having up to 17 buses an hour each way, which were previously quite adequately served by a 15-minute service). But at the same time, both companies have been cutting back elsewhere, and, certainly in Bournemouth, there are now large areas of the town without evening or Sunday services" - Ian Graham.

"Lots of children go to school in Sheffield (South Yorkshire) from Dronfield which is across the border in North East Derbyshire. If they have a Derbyshire bus pass they can travel on certain services; if they have a South Yorkshire one they can travel on other services. However, if one bus doesn't turn up they can't get on the next one and end up waiting for long periods of time" - Andrew Jeffrey.

"I live in Ilfracombe in North Devon and we have two companies running buses to Barnstaple from here. They both run infrequent services, one of them only running one bus an hour, and yes, this is within five minutes of a bus run by the other company. Many young people use these bus services to go into town - the tickets are very expensive and cannot be used on both services. If they are unlucky enough to miss their last bus home, they cannot use the other service and they have to get a taxi or call parents to pick them up, thus negating the whole purpose of public transport" - Frances Nehme.

"I live in Glossop in the northern tip of Derbyshire. On Sundays we have two buses an hour to Ashton, five minutes apart operated by different companies who don't accept each other's tickets. I used to live in London where all the buses were regulated, co-ordinated, all operated seven days a week, many 24 hours a day and most importantly one bus pass took you on any bus anywhere in Greater Lndon day or night! I've had to learn to drive and buy a car because the bus to Stockport where I work just stopped running completely last year" - Robin Flynn.

"In Chippenham, Wiltshire, there are several examples of uncoordinated bus services. For instance, two companies run buses from Chippenham Bus Station to Pewsham Estate at the same frequency but approximately five minutes apart" - Pete Brown.

"In North Wales we have two bus companies competing on routes 9 and X5. The timings are very close together. This does not give a balanced timetable and wastes resources. Another example is route X1 from Blaenau Ffestiniog to Llandudno. It would appear this was put on to compete with a subsidised rail service. The timings are roughly the same as the train" - M A Lilley.

"Every UK city / county needs a system like the London Oyster Card. When one is travelling by bus, tram or local train in Manchester one can never be sure which will be the best ticket for a particular journey if it involves using more than one bus. For example if one catches a First Bus into Manchester (from say Prestwich) and then wants to travel south towards Withington, is it best to buy single tickets or a GM day bus pass? One can find these things out but one needs to know how many journeys one will be making and with which bus companies" - Dominic McCann.

"Hertfordshire County Council has some good points on bus services locally (around Broxbourne) but lacks coordination. The operators vary widely in their standards and services, particularly on time-keeping. An oddity is that some operators issue zero-rated tickets to concessionary bus pass holders and others do not! Timetables are not issued frequently by the Council and we rely on bus drivers having copies" - Len Lambley.

"Two companies run buses between Leicester, Hinckley and Nuneaton. The two companies’ buses regularly follow each other all the way there and back (40 miles), leading to gaps in service of 20 minutes or more followed by two buses in less than a minute (and that's scheduled!). And the fares are a confusing morass – for instance both operators issue their own runabout tickets, but they’re not valid on the other operator's buses. In fairness, the service frequencies are much better then they were, but the way it has been done is totally uncoordinated and very confusing for the casual customer" - Terry Kirby.

"Who do you complain to when you've had a bad experience on the buses? There are so many bus companies in Manchester, including Stagecoach, Magic Bus, Bullocks and First" - Darren Hamlyn.

"If you want to use the bus and tram services in Sheffield you have to buy separate tickets. There used to be a Switcha Ticket that allowed you to use both, but this has been scrapped. To get to work, I sometimes had to combine the tram and bus, which cost me £5.40 for a distance of around two or three miles" - Aaron Walters.

"Amsterdam is a positive example. The strippencard is shared nationally between all public transport companies, even local trains! It saves time and time is money, so the journeys are cheaper. These things are possible! Go there and have a look" - Henk Smit.