"Lack of buses key election issue" according to the BBC

[ellspurs]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-56827739

I've quoted the Coventry/Warwickshire part below:

Late buses 'just an unfortunate reality'

Jack Spawton-Rice relies on buses throughout the day every day as part of his job as an adolescent support worker in Coventry.

The 27-year-old visits families across the city and sometimes further afield, relying on regular public transport to get him there.

"I try and plan it so if I'm seeing families, I think about where they are in the city and try and plan my day, minimizing the travel time where I can."

He uses the Citymapper app to simplify his journeys, to ease the stress of timings and getting lost. However, it doesn't account for buses being late or not showing up.

"Buses being late happens quite a lot. And for families it can be an experience that sometimes can [cause] anxiety. So I'll ring them apologise and say, 'I'm just running about 10 minutes late with the bus' or I've missed one bus 'sorry I'm going to be 25 minutes late because of my bus'.

"I think it's just an unfortunate reality."

In his previous job he often cycled to work for 45 minutes, as buses didn't cater for the early hours it demanded.

Now living in rural Burton Green in Warwickshire, Jack said if he missed his hourly bus or if it was late, he had to walk for more for 30 minutes to get to Tile Hill, his nearest town.

"Burton Green is really out on a limb. I definitely question our choices now we are living here," he joked.

Jack said he'd like to see transport leaders consider improving connections on a more long-term basis between rural and city areas, especially ones which don't have many local amenities.

"I'd like to see more regular buses into Coventry from Burton Green, [that] would be really great. But also a service between Kenilworth and Burton Green... I don't understand why that does not exist.

"Where we are, I suppose it is difficult to argue for more buses because of the cost and use. They will say that it's not a hugely popular route, you know, and it's my fault for choosing to live in the middle of nowhere - so suffer the consequences."

He added: "At the minute there's lots of young families, but in a couple of years' time, and [the children] need to go to school and get around, buses are going to be required."

Burton Green falls into that grey zone where it lies just outside the WMCA boundary, so isn't subject to the standards held within Coventry, although I'm surprised to hear that the 87/87A is as unreliable as is suggested.

[Kevin]

Man moves to small village and complains the small village has a small village style bus service....
Why is this news?

[Solo1]

people need to  research the bus services before you move into a small village no good people moaning about the bus service if you don't check yes they can change it but if enough people use the bus they could increase it

[Pat]

people need to  research the bus services before you move into a small village no good people moaning about the bus service if you don't check yes they can change it but if enough people use the bus they could increase it

But enough people don't use the bus service, hence why it is low frequency.  People in small villages should be grateful that they have a service, as many areas around the country don't.

I think it is a lack of realism for some people.  Operators can't up the frequency to a small village without enough people using it.

[Stu]

Me personally, I've reached a stage in my life now where I would love nothing more than to move to some small rural village in the middle of nowhere.  8)

But the problem for me is that I don't drive - never have done, probably never will - which sort of rules that out for me.

Even if I did, and all I had was an hourly service, I'd make best use of it.

Younger people in particular should be pretty adept at using apps and websites, and this is another reason why there is a push for this Bus Open Data service, and realtime provision of bus arrival times. Gone are the days when you just turn up at a stop, look at the timetable, and hope that the bus comes on time.

Check online when the next bus is due, and plan to arrive at the stop in advance of that time.

One gets a sense though that much of the younger generation has become accustomed to 'instant gratification', or being able to get stuff 'on demand', so likewise it is not surprising that people expect to turn up at a bus stop and only have to wait a few minutes for a bus to arrive.

If you read between the lines of that BBC article, there is a subliminal message being sent out to youngsters - 'leave your rural town/village and move to the big city'.

Bus companies aren't going to run empty buses every 10 minutes through rural villages/areas if passengers aren't going to use them, and local authorities aren't going to subsidise such services either.

But perhaps this is where the 'demand-responsive' model of services could prove to become useful, particularly in such areas.

[Ian Hardy]

But so far none of the demand responsive bus "services" have lasted very long before the startup funding has run out as they have not been very well used so have never covered their costs let alone made a profit.

E.g. The Pick Me Up service on the east side of Oxford operated by the Oxford Bus Company only lasted 2 years:
    PickMeUp service withdrawal after 20th June 2020

We withdrew our PickMeUp service after operation on Saturday 20th June 2020. The decision was not taken lightly and comes at the end of a two-year pilot scheme of the innovative ride-sharing service. We worked hard to establish the service and have exhausted all external funding avenues to make it viable.

https://www.mynewsdesk.com/uk/oxford-bus-company/pressreleases/oxford-bus-company-to-withdraw-pickmeup-service-following-two-year-pilot-scheme-2997978

If it won't work in a city like Oxford with lots of tech savvy students, what hope is there elsewhere?

[ellspurs]

https://www.networkwestmidlands.com/ways-to-travel/buses/on-demand-buses/

This one seems to be a new attempt of that in Coventry, but it cuts out Tile Hill/Burton Green (from looking at the map) and seems geared more towards the students?