South Yorkshire Bus Service Needs Improvement

[Andy C]

A free bus is a waste of tax payers money. Pretty much any popular journey around the City Centre that there are roads suitable for buses  is covered by the existing bus network. Pensioners/Disabled have free bus passes. Most regular users, both adult and children, now buy unlimited travel tickets. As far as I can see the biggest beneficiary of a free City Centre bus would be car users to hitch a free ride to/from their car park and visitors arriving by train who would otherwise have been quite happy to pay a bus or tram fare.

 

The idea of bus franchising is also a waste of tax payers money. You are paying for a huge restructuring of how public transport is managed yet is unlikely to solve the core issues facing Sheffield's bus system, which is largely a result of failings of Sheffield City Council or SYPTE (public sector, not private operators) who are responsible for the infrastructure (bus stops, bus lanes, impartial information etc), tendered services and of course the more political championing of public transport as part of a green travel policy.

 

Forget the comedy proposals being made in the run up to the local elections and lets focus on the basics of our bus & tram network being reliable, effective and attractive.

Edited April 29, 2021 by Andy C

[RollingJ]

Couldn't have said it better, @Andy C👍

[butlers]

I used the FreeBee often and it seemed well used often full.

Would I care car users used it, not at all if they had to pay for parking and then pay again for a bus that's a disincentive to come to the city centre.

I believe Leeds and Manchester still run similar services .

As the core of the shopping area is going to be the Moor it's unfortunate it's away from the tram route.

Sheffield was always odd in that the shopping area was strung out ,quite a hike from Lady's Bridge to Moorfoot.

 

[RollingJ]

IIRC - the FreeBee was a minibus? So it didn't take many to fill it.

[butlers]

True but was very frequent service .

It also ran a route that a normal bus could not run

[Thirsty Relic]

If this is the bus I think it is, it was very handy for aged shoppers who otherwise could not have made the length and gradient of the Moor from top to bottom.  They would certainly welcome it back!

[butlers]

Was packed with oldies who disproportionately don't have cars.

Ran from the B and C , Arundel Gate ,Surrey St  then down to the new Moor Markets.

Returned via Paternoster Row ,handy for train station, and Pond St.

 

Off hand I can't think of a service that duplicates many of those points without having to change bus 

[RollingJ]

35 minutes ago, butlers said:

True but was very frequent service .

It also ran a route that a normal bus could not run

Agreed on both counts - BUT it was very labour intensive, and therefore disproportionately expensive (someone has to pay) and  most of that route was covered by very nearby stops. People do have legs.

19 minutes ago, butlers said:

Was packed with oldies who disproportionately don't have cars.

Ran from the B and C , Arundel Gate ,Surrey St  then down to the new Moor Markets.

Returned via Paternoster Row ,handy for train station, and Pond St.

 

Off hand I can't think of a service that duplicates many of those points without having to change bus 

But they already had a free bus pass.

Thought that was the route - haven't had time to dig my old records up yet. Admitted it was good if you wanted Pond St/Station - providing you were coming from that side of the city centre.

 

Today. there certainly isn't, and in the past there wasn't.

Edited April 29, 2021 by RollingJ

[Mr Allen]

I live in S3, near the Infirmary Road Tesco, and I used to frequently use the old 31 service between upper Walkley, Hillsborough and Pond St Bus Station, but a couple of years back they took that service off, and replaced it with the 135, which is considerably less reliable IMO even though it goes on more or less the same route.

 

[RollingJ]

3 minutes ago, Mr Allen said:

I live in S3, near the Infirmary Road Tesco, and I used to frequently use the old 31 service between upper Walkley, Hillsborough and Pond St Bus Station, but a couple of years back they took that service off, and replaced it with the 135, which is considerably less reliable IMO even though it goes on more or less the same route.

 

Which bus operator runs/ran each service? Why less reliable, bearing in mind that it is probably a tendered service, and that traffic has got heavier and more congested in certain areas?