Scott
Former TS Team Member
- Favourite Ride
- Nemesis
Public transport in the UK... the bane of most peoples lives, or at least so it seems.
I feel like I am fairly versed in public transport considering I cannot drive, although I know that there are many people about who use it one hell of a lot more than I do. I have a mixed opinion on it to be honest as while I see some elements of it being appalling, there are other areas which I enjoy or find to be pretty good. This is what annoys me; some areas can be fantastic whilst others are frankly piss-poor.
The issue is that these large changes seem to vary massively across the country - something that could be slightly more excusable if it was only certain companies which were doing well. However, the quality can rapidly change within single transport companies! First are a great example of this... Some people enjoy their services (with the TransPennine stuff seeming to receive positive reviws generally) yet people like me think they are awful. Like, really, really bad. Their bus service in Norwich ranges from over-priced, dirty and late to extremely regular, reasonable and clean - and unfortunately I live on one of the over-price, dirty and late routes. Not to mention the fact that my route has now stopped going all the way through to the Hospital - meaning that elderly people with passes have to get off and make a change and those who pay now have to buy a more expensive ticket to take that change into account! It's not all like this with FirstBus though as when I was in York not too many years ago they had fleets of brand new busses operating tonnes of routes at what seemed like good prices!
Stagecoach are another... The services I've always experienced with East Midlands Trains and the citi buses in Cambridge have been nothing but fantastic (with a few exeptions of late with missed out buses) yet I know that in other areas of the country they run clapped out old buses and are generally looked upon as a negative company.
There is also the unreliability of local offerings in various areas. Here we have Anglian Bus as a rival to First. They gained a stronghold by mimicking First's key routes, using newer buses and undercutting their prices. The prices are now on par and its simply a case of 'getting whatever bus comes first' but I guess that makes me slightly lucky in having a decent local operator as opposed to having one or two major chains with a bus monopoly alongside a grotty local company that doesn't get much of a look in (see First and Arriva in Leicester against the minority Centrebus).
Basically, I wondered what other peoples experiences of the big companies are and whether they also think their services vary far too much across the company. The brand should provide equal status and promise across the country - rather than having a good effect in one area and a negative in another.
Thoughts?
I feel like I am fairly versed in public transport considering I cannot drive, although I know that there are many people about who use it one hell of a lot more than I do. I have a mixed opinion on it to be honest as while I see some elements of it being appalling, there are other areas which I enjoy or find to be pretty good. This is what annoys me; some areas can be fantastic whilst others are frankly piss-poor.
The issue is that these large changes seem to vary massively across the country - something that could be slightly more excusable if it was only certain companies which were doing well. However, the quality can rapidly change within single transport companies! First are a great example of this... Some people enjoy their services (with the TransPennine stuff seeming to receive positive reviws generally) yet people like me think they are awful. Like, really, really bad. Their bus service in Norwich ranges from over-priced, dirty and late to extremely regular, reasonable and clean - and unfortunately I live on one of the over-price, dirty and late routes. Not to mention the fact that my route has now stopped going all the way through to the Hospital - meaning that elderly people with passes have to get off and make a change and those who pay now have to buy a more expensive ticket to take that change into account! It's not all like this with FirstBus though as when I was in York not too many years ago they had fleets of brand new busses operating tonnes of routes at what seemed like good prices!
Stagecoach are another... The services I've always experienced with East Midlands Trains and the citi buses in Cambridge have been nothing but fantastic (with a few exeptions of late with missed out buses) yet I know that in other areas of the country they run clapped out old buses and are generally looked upon as a negative company.
There is also the unreliability of local offerings in various areas. Here we have Anglian Bus as a rival to First. They gained a stronghold by mimicking First's key routes, using newer buses and undercutting their prices. The prices are now on par and its simply a case of 'getting whatever bus comes first' but I guess that makes me slightly lucky in having a decent local operator as opposed to having one or two major chains with a bus monopoly alongside a grotty local company that doesn't get much of a look in (see First and Arriva in Leicester against the minority Centrebus).
Basically, I wondered what other peoples experiences of the big companies are and whether they also think their services vary far too much across the company. The brand should provide equal status and promise across the country - rather than having a good effect in one area and a negative in another.
Thoughts?