The shrinking bus network

[Heartland]

There must be a concern amongst regular bus users in Birmingham as to the present bus service standards and the routes that have disappeared. Revision of timetable and mergers of routes seem to have created a poorer service in general.

Trade unions have fought to maintain pay levels for their members but in doing so there have been reductions in services as a result. There are campaign groups attempting to preserve services, but is it a battle they are doomed to lose?

How many bus routes have been lost? An example is the 36 which has been incorporated into a service that follows housing estates and is now designed to serve community needs.

 

[Pedrocut]

“Trade unions have fought to maintain pay levels for their members but in doing so there have been reductions in services as a result.”

So it is the fault of the Trade Unions !

 

[mw0njm.]

bus services are bound to shrink if every one uses cars and not the bus. some routes here run all day with no one on board they are bound to cut the service or even all together. to cut costs......use it or lose it

 

[Eric Gibson]

It's the same countrywide if you don't have paying passengers how can you afford to buy buses at over a quarter million pounds each and staff to drive and service.
The taxpayer picks up a big chunk of the cost in subsidies whilst the buses run empty for most of the trip.

 

[devonjim]

bus services are bound to shrink if every one uses cars and not the bus. some routes here run all day with no one on board they are bound to cut the service or even all together. to cut costs......use it or lose it

I feel I may have said this before. We are fortunate to have a excellent bus timetable and I have a senior's bus pass so why wouldn't I use the bus BUT buses can't be relied on to show up, shortage of drivers, aborted journeys because of traffic hold-ups so you can finish up late or in this weather very cold. So out comes the car and one less passenger on the bus.

 

[Richard Dye]

bus services are bound to shrink if every one uses cars and not the bus. some routes here run all day with no one on board they are bound to cut the service or even all together. to cut costs......use it or lose it

Exactly! Why pay for something that is not used. When the bus runs empty the cost per passenger mile is very high regardless of how much £ the driver earns.

 

[Heartland]

There is a concept of on-demand buses, which is presently on trial in certain parts of the country. And, then there is the autonomous bus which is presently on trial in Scotland. So ways are being looked at to reduce the cost of a timetabled service.

But sadly strikes are part of the problem too with trade unions targeting those services that can cause the most disruption. But then such actions were common in the 1970s and 1980s in Britain. Now the Union takes action in response to a ballot of their members. There is no auditing of this process and if strikes happen at the whim of the leaders there seems to be no way of preventing it.

 

[Pedrocut]

I do hope you are referring to the union that represents personnel involved in bus services and not unions in general, which would include the Royal College of Nursing.

 

[mikejee]

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