Proposed Bus Changes April 2024

[Guest busdriver1]

3 minutes ago, Retro Queen said:

Will the TM 32 bus still be going down Herries Road?

 

When the Council take over the buses will they be owning them like they did before privatisation?

IF not when, if they follow what is going on in Manchester the companies own them and run them to a service level decided by the council at fares set by the council and are paid irrespective of the amount of passengers carried. In the meantime they will make a small profit paid for by the local tax payers.

[Planner1]

9 hours ago, Retro Queen said:

When the Council take over the buses will they be owning them like they did before privatisation?

It’s the Mayoral Combined Authority who are looking to introduce bus franchising. They are the public transport authority, not the council. They are different organisations.

[Michael_N]

12 hours ago, Retro Queen said:

Will the TM 32 bus still be going down Herries Road?

 

When the Council take over the buses will they be owning them like they did before privatisation?

Looking at the proposed network map for Fox Hill / Parson Cross, the only change to the 32 route is between Wadsley Bridge and Parson Cross to run up Halifax Road, rather than divert into Fox Hill. 

 

Map of services: https://www.travelsouthyorkshire.com/getmedia/4174c1cc-f8b6-4636-a6ce-a3be6daaea34/Fox-Hill-Parson-Cross-consultation-April-2024.pdf

Proposed 32 timetable: https://www.travelsouthyorkshire.com/getmedia/b0e8f563-53ea-4f55-965a-668289218c5b/TM-Travel-32-Timetable-from-8th-April-2024.pdf

 

Looking at it from an outsiders perspective, it seems like a sensible change. Speeds up the journey time on the 32 to make it more reliable, while having the 31 cover the Wadsley Bridge, Fox Hill and Parson Cross sections of the 32.

[Retro Queen]

3 hours ago, Planner1 said:

It’s the Mayoral Combined Authority who are looking to introduce bus franchising. They are the public transport authority, not the council. They are different organisations.

Thanks, will this make the services better or worse?

[RollingJ]

36 minutes ago, Retro Queen said:

Thanks, will this make the services better or worse?

Worse, more than likely - SYCMA couldn't plan their way out of an open door.

[Planner1]

2 hours ago, Retro Queen said:

Thanks, will this make the services better or worse?

How would you expect anyone to know that?

 

Neither have run a major bus network in recent times, although SYMCA do fund subsidised services.

 

It would probably still be private sector operators who actually deliver the services under a franchise arrangement. 
 

Transport for London have been doing this for decades but lose huge amounts of money. Transport for Greater Manchester are the only ones outside London who are actually implementing franchising and they have only just started.

 

Bus industry people on here will tell you the private sector does it better and the bus network was operated very poorly by the public sector operators pre 1986. Others hark back to the days of cheap fares and will try to tell you it was some kind of utopia.

 

Its anybody’s guess how it will all pan out. 

[RollingJ]

@Planner1I suppose it depends if they let the people who know how to run a bus service do it, or like the bankrupt TfL, it is run by people with zero knowledge.

[RollingJ]

1 minute ago, RollingJ said:

@Planner1I suppose it depends if they let the people who know how to run a bus service do it, or like the bankrupt TfL, it is run by people with zero knowledge.

Bloody stupid 1 minute edit window.

Following from the post above, TfL have been bailed out to the tune of Billions.

[Resident]

23 minutes ago, Planner1 said:

Transport for London have been doing this for decades but lose huge amounts of money.

Last reported figure for TfL was £15.03 BILLION in the red. (October 2023)

This is after billions to bail them out (£3.4 billion in 2021/22 and a further £1.2 billion March 2024)

 

 

29 minutes ago, Planner1 said:

Others hark back to the days of cheap fares and will try to tell you it was some kind of utopia.

As someone old enough to remember SYT buses, they were death-traps on wheels and not very nice places to be as a passenger. They were far from utopic. 
 

[Guest busdriver1]

2 hours ago, Planner1 said:

How would you expect anyone to know that?

 

Neither have run a major bus network in recent times, although SYMCA do fund subsidised services.

 

It would probably still be private sector operators who actually deliver the services under a franchise arrangement. 
 

Transport for London have been doing this for decades but lose huge amounts of money. Transport for Greater Manchester are the only ones outside London who are actually implementing franchising and they have only just started.

 

Bus industry people on here will tell you the private sector does it better and the bus network was operated very poorly by the public sector operators pre 1986. Others hark back to the days of cheap fares and will try to tell you it was some kind of utopia.

 

Its anybody’s guess how it will all pan out. 

It is estimated the TfGM have spent approx 20% of their bus budget on 12% of the network to press, Its not the work of a genius to see how it will go.