Britains bus coverage hit 28 year low

[Sandy Lane]

See http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-42749973
One lobbying group fears the scale of the miles lost are a sign buses are on course to be cut to the same extent railways were in the 1960s.
UK buses now drive 134 million fewer miles each year - the equivalent of more than 5,000 trips around the equator.

[Kevin]

Ever decreasing subsidies aren't exactly helping

[monkeyjoe]

8% décline in the West Midlands. Operators cutting corners as not making enough money which makes sense , so much for privatisation,

[Solo1]

If operator ran between rather than just in front  more would use the bus I know they want to make a profit  but would encourage more to use the if spaced out not bus 3 mins then another in  2 mins s then not o e for 17 min when could be a 10 min service between 2 firms

[Tony]

8% décline in the West Midlands. Operators cutting corners as not making enough money which makes sense , so much for privatisation,

In this weeks staff Business brief

"It is really encouraging to see that this year so far we've carried twenty thousand more fare-paying passengers than over the same period last year. This patronage growth is really encouraging"

[Steveminor]

That's good Tony but there are other things going on in the west midlands that myself Martin Hancock & other operators have been discussing in recent weeks.
Which of course are not for an open forum such as this.

[monkeyjoe]

Any insight that's allowed to be shared how east Brum patronage is performing since last years review ?

[lauren1993]

It's because of concessionsry passes! They need to be scrapped ASAP! It's not doing the operators any favours and no other countries use that stupid system.

[Other Walsall Tony]

It's because of concessionsry passes! They need to be scrapped ASAP! It's not doing the operators any favours and no other countries use that stupid system.

Without concessionary passes what would happen to off peak patronage? Even more cuts? Plus the ability to get around can make a real difference to the lives of older people. In April I shall be taking part in a campaign backed by the TUC to defend the passes and encourage more use.

[Tony]

Without concessionary passes what would happen to off peak patronage? Even more cuts? Plus the ability to get around can make a real difference to the lives of older people. In April I shall be taking part in a campaign backed by the TUC to defend the passes and encourage more use.

Correct. If the passes are doing so much harm to operators why are NXWM running advertising campaigns to try and encourage more use of concessionary cards

[Other Walsall Tony]

Correct. If the passes are doing so much harm to operators why are NXWM running advertising campaigns to try and encourage more use of concessionary cards

I have seen a wolverhampton district timetable from about 1975, before passes. All services were reduced by 33-50% between 9am and 4pm. The (5)29 was down to every 13 minutes. Who wants a return to this?

[Steveminor]

To be honest the pass scheme has it's plus points & it's negatives. In urban areas it has kept off peak pvrs high. But in rural areas it has meant service cuts due to the reimbursement rate.
I don't think a one size fits all is the solution & maybe transport tokens would be better for some areas.

[Other Walsall Tony]

To be honest the pass scheme has it's plus points & it's negatives. In urban areas it has kept off peak pvrs high. But in rural areas it has meant service cuts due to the reimbursement rate.
I don't think a one size fits all is the solution & maybe transport tokens would be better for some areas.

The whole point of the scheme is that it is national, a pass holder from Cumbria can use it in Cornwall. If you started using tokens etc in some areas this would be lost.

[Steveminor]

But if you look not to far away from us. The tamworth to B vained someurton route used to be quite busy. Under the national transport token scheme this service was viable. But under the national pass scheme & the dft reimbursement m& all thats left now id odel even though it had lost no passengers but in fact had gained some, it was no longer commercially viable

[dingding]

Off peak travel back in the 70s was lower because most people had jobs and were at work hence more buses in the AM and PM peaks