Author Topic: Public Transport  (Read 33242 times)

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Offline Fester

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Re: Public Transport
« Reply #30 on: June 10, 2012, 12:12:39 am »
Yes SDQ, for all of THREE STOPS!

It was 90p only 2 year ago.... and it has gone up several times a year since then.

The driver told me (in front of all my lady pensioner friends) that he worked an 8 hour shift on Sunday on the Orme Summit to Llanrwst route, and his bus was always full of passengers.

But, his total cash takings amounted to THIRTEEN POUNDS .... because almost everyone rode for free!

I'm sorry, but this is neither fair, nor sustainable.

Fester...
- Semper in Excretum, Sole Profundum Variat -

Offline Paddy

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Re: Arriva stopping return fares on buses
« Reply #31 on: June 10, 2012, 06:03:52 am »
The notoriously unreliable No19 Gt Orme bus which I use regularly is now £1.40 to get me into town.
Of course I am usually the only one paying it, as all the passengers are pensioners who ride for free.

A taxi, door to door and available when I want it, is £2.20

I believe that this is known as a no brainer.

Fester, you will find that if there are more than two passengers, a taxi is almost always cheaper than the bus.


Offline Cambrian

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Re: Public Transport
« Reply #32 on: June 10, 2012, 11:36:43 am »
I don't think the bus company is not paid for the "free" journeys.  I recall Express Motors creating because the train company were getting more for the Llandudno - Blaenau journeys than they were from WAG on their X1 service.

Offline Nemesis

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Re: Public Transport
« Reply #33 on: June 10, 2012, 11:43:10 am »
I rode to Rhyl on the bus a year or so ago-- what for I don't know, but I did-- and curiosity got the better of me-- I started counting. The bus was packed all the way and only 5 people paid. !!
Mad, Bad and Dangerous to know.

Offline DaveR

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Re: Public Transport
« Reply #34 on: June 10, 2012, 02:21:02 pm »
I don't think the bus company is not paid for the "free" journeys.  I recall Express Motors creating because the train company were getting more for the Llandudno - Blaenau journeys than they were from WAG on their X1 service.
That's not really Fester's point though, I think. He's sort of saying that working people are having to pay inflated fare prices, as well as effectively paying for everyone else on the bus to travel free via subsidies paid to the bus companies from their taxes.

I think a fair case could be made, given the state of the country's finances, that the free bus ride scheme be replaced with a 75% off normal fare scheme or similar.

Offline DaveR

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Re: Public Transport
« Reply #35 on: July 30, 2012, 09:00:40 am »
Wales' £70m free bus passes let alcoholics travel to the pub free

Wales' £70m-a-year free bus pass scheme is highly vulnerable to fraud – with alcoholics using them to travel to the pub among other widespread problems, say industry insiders.

The cost of the free travel scheme has soared from £17.7m to £69m in the decade since it was launched by the Welsh Government in 2002.

Bus managers say nearly a third of free journeys are taken by under-60s who have been judged to need a pass, even though 90% of the free passes are issued to pensioners.

And they argue that many of the passes are routinely misused, with alcoholics using passes – issued to them because of their dependency – to travel to the pub.

A Welsh transport consultant, who also asked not to be named, said he had heard evidence of this from drivers on a route between rural towns.

“There’s been some animosity from other passengers that alcoholics have a free pass to get drunk and they have to pay a fare, which is a pint or two,” he said.

The Scottish Government has launched a 24-hour hotline for people to report misuse, such as passengers using dead relatives’ passes, which costs Scotland millions of pounds every year.

The Welsh Government is not following suit, but urges people to report possible fraud to councils.

One bus manager said the new smartcard technology invited fraud because passengers now placed their passes face-down on the scanner in the bus.

“In the old days, you showed the pass to the driver. The visual assessment isn’t there any more,” he said.

He said councils “should be out there on the buses, checking that the passes are being used by the people they’ve been issued to”.

He added: “I would expect to see some prosecutions if somebody was there to check the passes.

“It’s the government’s money and they pay the local authorities to administer the system, but the authorities are all cutting down on staff.”

None of the six bus managers we spoke to could recall council inspectors checking passengers’ passes.

The Association of Transport Coordinating Officers (Atco) Cymru, representing council transport officers, said most authorities had bus monitoring officers whose job includes checking passes.

Atco Cymru chair Richard Cope said: “Three authorities in South Wales are currently investigating the fraudulent use of passes, the result of which, although unknown at present, may conclude that a prosecution will be brought.”

A Welsh Government spokesman said each council was responsible for managing the scheme.

He said: “Local authorities undertake spot checks on services to monitor the actions of bus drivers and the use of bus passes.”

The Welsh Government could use data from electronic ticket machines to scrutinise bus-pass use, he added. “This information allows us to identify possible cases of inappropriate use of bus passes, which can then be pursued with the local authorities and bus operators.”

John Gould, of Stagecoach South Wales, said: “In any system there will be abuse, but we rely on drivers picking up these things. We’ve had drivers confiscating passes. There have been occasions where daughter will be using mum’s pass or next door’s pass.”

More than 25% of free journeys on his buses are with passes issued to people aged under 60. At Neath-based South Wales Transport, those passes account for up to 29% of free journeys.

SWT managing director Bev Fowles said: “The concessionary scheme is being over-burdended, not by over-60s, but by higher usage by the other concessionaries.

“That’s a serious problem. It (the funding) should come out of social services or the NHS if they think somebody can’t live their life properly without a bus pass.”


Read More http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/2012/07/30/wales-70m-free-bus-passes-let-alcoholics-travel-to-the-pub-free-91466-31502080/?utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=twitterfeed#ixzz225gfiIRK

Offline Fester

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Re: Public Transport
« Reply #36 on: July 30, 2012, 10:26:52 pm »
(A possible candidate for the Scum thread,Dave?)
The more that I read things like that, the more I despair about how lax we have become as a society.

Another potentially good and benevolent idea ruined, due to mis-management and those who abuse the privilege.  &shake& &shake&



Fester...
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Offline DaveR

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Re: Public Transport
« Reply #37 on: November 27, 2014, 09:26:07 am »
Proposals have been drawn up to improve Transport links in the North Wales area, here are the schemes mooted for Conwy:

http://www.taith.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Conwy-Transport-Schemes1.pdf

...and here is the Overall Transport Plan:
http://www.taith.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Draft-North-Wales-Joint-Local-Transport-Plan1.pdf

Of interest to Llandudno is this proposal:

"A package of traffic improvements in Llandudno town centre to improve safety, improve car parking and reduce congestion. This will involve exploring a range of options to improve capacity
and/or reduce demand for travel through the town centre as traffic patterns change due to development."


Other local plans include a proper roundabout at Penhyn Bay Tollbar to replace the current mini roundabout, and Bus Stops at the top of Penrhyn Hill to enable bus users to access the 12 service.


Offline Michael

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Re: Public Transport
« Reply #38 on: November 28, 2014, 05:48:05 am »
I don,t know what the bus stops at the top of Penrhyn hill are all about. They are already there, and have been for at least 75 years to my knowledge, and the 12 service stops there

Offline wrex

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Re: Public Transport
« Reply #39 on: November 28, 2014, 06:46:56 am »
12 does not use Bryn y bia rd,i think Arriva dictate where they go and will not cross the main road twice to get in and out of Bryn y bia road,

Offline Bri Roberts

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Re: Public Transport
« Reply #40 on: November 28, 2014, 07:26:38 am »
Don't the 12B, 14 and 15 currently use Byn y Bia Road?

Offline Gwynant

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Re: Public Transport
« Reply #41 on: November 28, 2014, 08:33:09 am »
               I think that the regular 12 Service becomes the 12B once the 14 and 15 buses stop running (eg. after 7pm daily and all day Sundays), and then the 12B serves Bryn-y-Bia Road including the Penrhynside stops from that time.

Offline DaveR

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Re: Public Transport
« Reply #42 on: November 28, 2014, 09:18:50 am »
               I think that the regular 12 Service becomes the 12B once the 14 and 15 buses stop running (eg. after 7pm daily and all day Sundays), and then the 12B serves Bryn-y-Bia Road including the Penrhynside stops from that time.
That's it. I think the idea of the change is to enable Penrhynside residents to be able to use all the 12 buses and end the Practice of diverting 12B, 14, 15 down Bryn Y Bia Road.

Offline DaveR

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Re: Public Transport
« Reply #43 on: December 08, 2014, 10:30:39 am »
Welsh train services could be run by not-for-profit company says Edwina Hart
Dec 06, 2014 07:00

Transport Minister tells AMs Welsh Government is establishing firm to deliver better transport in Wales.

Edwina Hart has announced the extra fundingEdwina Hart says Welsh railways could be run by not-for-profit firm
A not-for-profit firm could run Welsh train services in the near future Transport Minister Edwina Hart has said.

Ministers have powers to decide who runs the Wales and Borders franchise routes currently run by Arriva Trains Wales (ATW) when the contract ends in 2018.

Mrs Hart told AMs the Welsh Government is establishing a “not for dividend wholly owned subsidiary company” to deliver better transport in Wales.

Initially, the company will advise on electrification, the rail franchise, and plans for a South Wales metro transport network.

The former trade union chief said officials would look at expanding its operations in the future.

She said in a written statement: “While, in its first iteration, the company will concentrate on providing advice, its remit and role will be able to be extended, as appropriate, to take on the delivery of key aspects of transport delivery and is therefore in line with the commitment to examine the feasibility of the Wales & Border rail franchise being run on a not-for-dividend basis.”

A pledge to look at setting up a not-for-profit company to run the services - along the lines of Dwr Cymru Welsh Water - was included in Welsh ministers’ Programme for Government after the 2011 assembly election.

Mrs Hart told the Assembly’s Enterprise and Business Committee the company would be run “as professionally as possible”.

She added: “I am determined when we go to the full issue of the franchise we’re prepared for a not-for-dividend company to be established. I think that’s popular in terms of people’s perceptions.”

Last year, the Welsh Government bought Cardiff Airport - with the cost of bringing it back into public ownership being £52 million.

Plans to effectively renationalise the Wales & Borders franchise was met with mixed responses from Labour’s Senedd rivals.

Plaid Cymru transport spokesman Rhun ap Iorwerth said: “We’ve long believed that rail has to work for the people of Wales, and that putting the next franchise in public hands is the way to do that.

“The minister was clear that there are pitfalls ahead, but having called for this in the last election Plaid Cymru fully supports this option.”

However, the Welsh Conservatives described Mrs Hart’s ideas as “marxist”.

Shadow transport minister Byron Davies said: “Preventing private businesses from running Welsh railways is another example of Labour’s ideological aversion to the private sector and inability to create wealth and prosperity in the Welsh economy.”

An ATW spokesman said rail electrification and devolution of the franchise meant there were “exciting times ahead” for the industry.

http://www.dailypost.co.uk/news/welsh-train-services-could-run-8237839

Offline born2run

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Re: Public Transport
« Reply #44 on: December 08, 2014, 04:07:44 pm »
The Tories and capitalists will be frothing but why is it ok to run a theatre non profit (actually at a big loss) that people decide to go to for a bit of a jolly, but not ok to run railways that people need to get to work and about?