Question: I live out of the town and the bus times are not that good. If you miss a bus at 9o\'clock in the morning you have to wait till 12 noon for the next - how would change this?
Bus services have probably got worse over the years rather than better – its a vicious circle, if the bus service is bad then people don’t use it, the bus companies lose money and cut back on services. The regional transport partnership SWESTRANS subsidise some services in more rural areas which are not commercially viable. One of my colleagues in the Scottish Parliament wanted to introduce laws to re-regulate the bus services, which would give councils more power to control public transport in their areas.
I’m a member of the SWestrans Board and have to say that we are finding it extremely difficult, given the budget situation, to introduce any new services. What we have agreed, though, is a root and branch review of all bus routes, region wide, to try to identify any routes that can be altered or provided in a different way to save money. Every time we tender a route, the price increases and we spend over £3m a year on the existing timetable by way of subsidies, etc. Let’s hope the review flags up inovative changes we can make to routes to enhance the service available.
Murron, your question is very appropriate and I know how you feel. I live out of town too and the latest idea is to cut our bus times so that we won’t have a bus into town from 9 till 3. My wife is very angry about this as she doesn’t drive. The trouble is, the council doesn’t have control over the bus timetables and we don’t even talk directly to the bus companies. That’s done through a committee called SWESTRANS who try to get a good deal with the bus companies, but because the companies can say exactly what they will provide for the money they are given, we often end up with less buses on a route than we would like. Until we can give the companies more money to give us a better service, or the council takes over the routes itself, things won’t really get much better until the economy is better and we have more money. Sorry to sound so depressing but that’s the truth.
PS My wife moans to me all the time about it and I can’t blame her!
Bus services have probably got worse over the years rather than better – its a vicious circle, if the bus service is bad then people don’t use it, the bus companies lose money and cut back on services. The regional transport partnership SWESTRANS subsidise some services in more rural areas which are not commercially viable. One of my colleagues in the Scottish Parliament wanted to introduce laws to re-regulate the bus services, which would give councils more power to control public transport in their areas.
0
I’m a member of the SWestrans Board and have to say that we are finding it extremely difficult, given the budget situation, to introduce any new services. What we have agreed, though, is a root and branch review of all bus routes, region wide, to try to identify any routes that can be altered or provided in a different way to save money. Every time we tender a route, the price increases and we spend over £3m a year on the existing timetable by way of subsidies, etc. Let’s hope the review flags up inovative changes we can make to routes to enhance the service available.
0
Murron, your question is very appropriate and I know how you feel. I live out of town too and the latest idea is to cut our bus times so that we won’t have a bus into town from 9 till 3. My wife is very angry about this as she doesn’t drive. The trouble is, the council doesn’t have control over the bus timetables and we don’t even talk directly to the bus companies. That’s done through a committee called SWESTRANS who try to get a good deal with the bus companies, but because the companies can say exactly what they will provide for the money they are given, we often end up with less buses on a route than we would like. Until we can give the companies more money to give us a better service, or the council takes over the routes itself, things won’t really get much better until the economy is better and we have more money. Sorry to sound so depressing but that’s the truth.
PS My wife moans to me all the time about it and I can’t blame her!
0