Bus Ticket Prices (Moaning)

[zebedee]

And I thought bus prices on the Isle of Wight were bad! However, recently hit the big 60, now got a 'Senior Citizen' bus pass. Love it!

[Incy]

On a normal day I bike 5 miles+ , it's fine apart from the ruddy terrible standard of driving I encounter (sad to say, but school run mums are the worst).

Sadly, I have to agree that a large number of school run mums and dads are incredibly inconsiderate/dangerous drivers. When my son went to primary, I used to walk him there as often as possible even though he has cp and we were out of the normal catchment area, we just allowed more time to get there. The number of times I've seen kids nearly hit by careless parents in cars
I like to think I am more considerate than alot of these people delivering/collecting kids who like to drive in the wrong lane then queue jump or carve straight across to park on the double yellow lines ( they don't of course apply to them) putting other peoples kids at risk as well as other road users. Personally I don't think I could live with myself if I caused an accident through selfish/careless driving. I have found that leaving a few minutes earlier means you don't have to rush and can be more careful.
Thank goodness it's the holidays so no school runs

[NOG]

I don't use the bus any more...if I want to be stabbed, I abuse Mrs Nog when she is making the tea.

[Bramble_killer]

If it helps, I pay �3800 for my train ticket............





it's an annual pass though

[SarzWix]

The buses are equally ridiculous here... We live within 5 minutes of the county border (about 5 stops) and it costs as much to travel those 5 stops as it does to get 5 miles into town on the other side of the border!! That's because West Yorkshire have subsidised buses, but North Yorkshire doesn't

[jackie j]

When I was a carer for my sister I was getting carers allowance, my husband at the time worked too far away to get public transport and also he sometimes had to go to site meetings so needed the car, his car broke down so he used mine as I only needed it to get to my sisters and back a 6 mile journey each way. It took me nearly an hour each way and cost me �5 for a return ticket. The allowance I recieved was �48 ish pounds a week for 35 hours a week ( i didnt do it for the money ) so if I went every day it cost me �35 a week, of course my sister came first.
Bus fares are so expensive if they want more people to leave the car at home and use public transport they need to bring the prices down and make them more available, until they lower the cost people wont use them.

[Two_Sheds]

if they want more people to leave the car at home ...they need to bring the prices down

This is where the bike comes in. You can cover a mile in 5 minutes, you can carry shopping, park where you like for free... you just have to dodge all the irate car drivers

[Hilary B]

This is where the bike comes in. You can cover a mile in 5 minutes, you can carry shopping, park where you like for free... you just have to dodge all the irate car drivers

Depends a bit on geography doesn't it? You have to be a lot fitter than I am to ride a bike around here, especially if you carry things on it!

[julesapple]

Was it last year when the price of fuel went through the roof, or the year before? Whenever it was, bus fares here also went up by large amounts and the buses were plastered with poster explaining that fare price increases were due to this. When the fuel prices dropped, the bus fares didn't.

A few years ago, DD & I were going into town on a bus driven by an eastern european driver. He went over or around three major roundabouts the wrong way. Scary, scary stuff.

I think our gov't needs to take lessons from the Swiss when it comes to public transport. We've been there a lot and never had the hassle we get here, it's cheap, clean and runs on time and you never miss connections.

On a lighter note, the double decker trains were amazing!

Jules

[Two_Sheds]

Depends a bit on geography doesn't it? You have to be a lot fitter than I am to ride a bike around here, especially if you carry things on it!

No, it depends on having a good range of gears, and a lighter weight bike - a touring bike like mine is ideal ... light but very strong. A �99 Halfords thing is no good.
Hilary, you know that cycling would make you fitter

[Incy]

No, it depends on having a good range of gears, and a lighter weight bike - a touring bike like mine is ideal ... light but very strong. A �99 Halfords thing is no good.
Hilary, you know that cycling would make you fitter

I wish we could cycle more. My boy has just astonished everyone by learning to ride a bike but he still falls off a lot particularly when the ground is wet, and it will be a while before he's able to ride as far as his school. Plus OH does the afternoon run and as he doesn't cycle......yet........we'd have a problem getting the bike back as it doesn't fit in the car.

[maytreefrannie]

In recent years I haven't visited another country where public transport has cost nearly as much as in the UK. How much would your French students have expected to pay at home.

You haven't been to Ireland then?

We hear a lot of talk about getting people out of cars and into buses or on bikes but how can this happen with such high public transport costs and consequently such busy roads that it deters cyclists. Also it needs regular, punctual-within-reason buses which again isn't going to happen when the roads are very busy with people who've found out that it's cheaper to drive.

[Hazel at the Hill]

So what we want is more buses which are clean, reliable and which run frequently, even in rural areas. Oh, and cheap too.

Nice wish list, peep, but all those shiny buses have to be paid for, it's either out of the fares you pay, or out of your taxes....

On the subject of bikes, any round trip journey has the same amount of uphill as downhill - so although it takes me 16-17 minutes to cycle the 3 miles to the Hill and quite a bit of effort on my heavy shopper 3 gear bike, it only takes 11-12 to get home again....

Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

[jackie j]

Suely if the fares were cheaper more people would use them therefore they would be able to afford clean buses. Dont use and they take them off the route cos its not used, bring fares down, more people use them. Afterall if we see a sale on in a shop we all rush to buy.

[Hazel at the Hill]

It's a catch 22 isn't it? People aren't going to use dirty/unreliable/expensive buses, but you aren't going to raise the money needed to invest in new buses/routes without people using the buses!

So we need is someone to come along to invest squillions to subsidise all the bus travel (and buy new buses) and lay them on the unprofitable rural routes too - then we'd all use the buses more and it would get more cost effective to run.

I'm not saying it couldn't/shouldn't be done - after all, a similar thing has been done in the air industry (ryan air, easyjet), but you have to find either private enterprise or local authorities with very deep pockets, and that's tricky in the current economic climate.