Local bus usage figures for 15/16 published

[Bevan Price]

RE: Local bus usage figures for 15/16 published
I think that buses are increasingly unable to compete with cars because, in many locations, they are simply too slow. Things are not helped by many councils & highway authorities, e.g.

1. Far too many traffic lights at minor road junctions, often poorly phased, causing maximum possible delay to traffic (including buses) in every direction.

2. Blighting bus routes with things like road humps, raised junctions, chicanes, etc., all of which make buses even slower - and the humps create a bumpy, unpleasant ride for passengers.

The bus companies are not free from blame. Continually changing timetables & frequencies is unhelpful for passengers - a stable, reliable timetable helps to retain passengers. That may not matter too much for some shoppers, but it can be unhelpful for anyone using one bus to connect with a train, or another bus, especially if it stops them using public transport to get to/from work. .

Also, because lightly used services to villages & small estates have been withdrawn, trunk routes have often been diverted, meandering around indirect road layouts, and substantially increasing journey times for passengers travelling the full route. I don't know the solution to this problem; one way might be to run most buses by the "most direct" route, and send only a few buses via the "meandering diversions".

Away from busy trunk routes, some timetables seem devised more for operational convenience than to attract passengers. If service changes make it impossible to get to & from work, people will have to seek alternative transport, e.g. a car. And having got the car, these people will probably also stop using buses for leisure purposes on "non-work" days.