Sheffield Bus Network Changes - September 2019

[Annie Bynnol]

8 hours ago, busdriver1 said:

So where are they spending the BSOG money they are retaining?  Fact finding missions to the algarve? 

Then:

All the Government  BSOG money went directly to the commercial  operators.

This did not affect the operation or profitability of a route.

Authorities subsidised some routes/times.

Now:

Government directed some of the BSOG money to be used by local government  for infrastructure.

Government reducing the local government grant, so less cash available to  local government for subsidy.

 

 Most Local Government across the country is having to deal with this problem.

 

The problem is far, far worse in rural areas, including parts of South Yorkshire.

[Andy C]

On 24/08/2019 at 16:45, busdriver1 said:

So where are they spending the BSOG money they are retaining?  Fact finding missions to the algarve? 

The thing is the 31/31b daytime service on weekdays is not currently subsidised. To continue it needs to become subsidised. SYPTE doesn't have the money to subsidise more buses than it does now.

 

However not many fare paying passenger use the service, most are on free concessionary passes. The bus operator does get reimbursed for each concessionary pass scanned, but the level of reimbursement is nowhere near the proper fare.

 

Community Transport, due to its status, are able to run a bus like that commercially on thin margins where a normal commercial operator can't, however in a lot of these cases it relies on shared resource with tendered routes. Community Transport have lost every contract they had except the H1 hospital shuttle so their public bus operating side is pretty much out of business with drivers presumably made redundant other than a few for the NHS contract. 

 

So, no operator finding it viable to run buses in that area and no money to subsidise a tendered service.

 

Solution for Upperthorpe and Langsett was found in diverting the 135/135a. Solution for Loxley and Wisewood found (and funded) in extending the 52a and diverting the 61/62.

 

Walkley has the 95 on the main road, but the estates below are narrow roads with parked cars so cannot be covered by diverting a main bus service, it has to be a minibus. If only more fare paying commuters had supported the 31 rather than just sticking with the 95...

 

If local politicians are getting involved with a campaign to save the 31, maybe the council may find an alternative source of funding... fingers crossed!

Edited August 26, 2019 by Andy C

[Andy C]

incidentally not sure if anyone has noticed but the 135a won't be serving the area on Sundays as it operates as a Hillsborough-Grenoside shuttle on Sundays.

 

 

[Andy C]

just a bump note to remind these changes take place from this coming Sunday 1st September.

 

The new network maps and timetables are available at www.travelsouthyorkshire.com.

 

Also from this weekend is the end of the Supertram rail replacement works with trams going back to their normal timetable on the entire network.

[Vaati]

Andy, you may know the answer to this. If not would you be able to point me in the right direction?

When the companies put in their tenders for the routes, do they have to state what changes they will make to the route? I.e the 268 to 58. Every 2hrs and 10mins, rather than roughly every hour that it was before?

[Guest busdriver1]

1 hour ago, Groose said:

Andy, you may know the answer to this. If not would you be able to point me in the right direction?

When the companies put in their tenders for the routes, do they have to state what changes they will make to the route? I.e the 268 to 58. Every 2hrs and 10mins, rather than roughly every hour that it was before?

The times and route are laid out in the specification of the tender. A company can however submit what is called a non conforming tender for consideration. For example (this may be the answer to your question) if it takes 2 hours and 5 minutes to complete the round trip on a route, they may off to run it every 2 hours and 10 minutes for a much lower price so the same bus can do all the trips. They may also offer to run it with a route revision for a similar reason. It is then up to the PTE  to decide if they want to accept the lower priced bid and lose out on what they originally asked for.

[Vaati]

49 minutes ago, busdriver1 said:

The times and route are laid out in the specification of the tender. A company can however submit what is called a non conforming tender for consideration. For example (this may be the answer to your question) if it takes 2 hours and 5 minutes to complete the round trip on a route, they may off to run it every 2 hours and 10 minutes for a much lower price so the same bus can do all the trips. They may also offer to run it with a route revision for a similar reason. It is then up to the PTE  to decide if they want to accept the lower priced bid and lose out on what they originally asked for.

That would seem to explain it. It would appear what they have done with the 268 (soon to be 58) is run that 1 hour and then run the M92 in the other, then vice versa. So they 'merged' the two routes kinda thing. Thanks.

[Michael_N]

16 hours ago, Groose said:

That would seem to explain it. It would appear what they have done with the 268 (soon to be 58) is run that 1 hour and then run the M92 in the other, then vice versa. So they 'merged' the two routes kinda thing. Thanks.

They are making a lot of cutbacks this time around, particularly to the evening and Sunday service provision.

 

As an example:

 

Rotherham to Thorpe Hesley/Chapeltown - will now just see a 1hr 30 min service provided during the day on Sundays,  on service 136. Thorpe Hesley to Chapeltown will now no longer have a bus on a Sunday. Unlike some other areas, this will also not have an evening service on a Sunday.

 

SYPTE are cash strapped due to government cutbacks.

Edited August 29, 2019 by Michael_N

[Andy C]

18 hours ago, Groose said:

That would seem to explain it. It would appear what they have done with the 268 (soon to be 58) is run that 1 hour and then run the M92 in the other, then vice versa. So they 'merged' the two routes kinda thing. Thanks.

The service change information talks of "Timetable to reduced to every 2 hours in order to retain within approved tender criteria cost per passenger thresholds."

 

Presumably not many people are actually using the M92 so when you divide the cost of providing an hourly service by the number of passengers the subsidy per passenger comes out way too high to justify the spending of public money. This way with the M92 and 58 running alternate hours using 1 vehicle shared between the two then it is half the cost of the bus for the day on each route, divided by the number of users, which comes out more favourable.

 

In more simple language, support your local community's bus service by buying tickets and travelling on it - or lose it!

[Andy C]

9 minutes ago, Andy C said:

The service change information talks of "Timetable to reduced to every 2 hours in order to retain within approved tender criteria cost per passenger thresholds."

 

Presumably not many people are actually using the M92 so when you divide the cost of providing an hourly service by the number of passengers the subsidy per passenger comes out way too high to justify the spending of public money. This way with the M92 and 58 running alternate hours using 1 vehicle shared between the two then it is half the cost of the bus for the day on each route, divided by the number of users, which comes out more favourable.

 

In more simple language, support your local community's bus service by buying tickets and travelling on it - or lose it!

just looking at the old timetable versus new:

 

old M92 timetable - round trip from Harley to Fox Hill and back is 58 minutes and uses one vehicle to provide an hourly service with 2 minutes between each trip at Harley.

 

new M92 timetable with revised route - 72 minutes Hillsborough to Harley and back (with just 1 minute turn round at Harley!), so to provide an hourly service you would now need 2 vehicles instead of 1. The route change partially replaces withdrawn service 35.

Edited August 29, 2019 by Andy C