Manchester Buses

Arriva smarten up in Bolton

Bus passengers in Bolton are to get a taste of the future.  The Bolton News reports that GMPTE are trialling a scheme in which Bolton Council's Leisure Smart Cards will be accepted on Arriva's services in the town.  Cardholders will soon be able to top up their smart cards using the sQuid electronic money transfer service and then use them to pay for bus journeys.

The Bolton scheme joins a handful of other smartcard schemes around the country.  London's Oystercard is of course the most high profile scheme.  First passengers in Bradford have had Firstcard for several years but it hasn't spread to other parts of First's UK bus business yet.  The new free travel scheme for over 60s in England will use smart cards but it's unlikely that many of the holders will see their card's 'smart' capability used.  One of the main reasons for this has to be the cost of upgrading ticket machines to read the cards (not to mention producing the cards) but it's still surprising more operators haven't introduced smart cards.  The increased convenience for passengers (especially when coupled with an online top-up system) combined with quicker boarding times make them a winner with us.

Maybe schemes such as Bolton's are the way forward.  Many people in Arriva's catchment area will already have the cards and be used to using them (for access to leisure facilities as well as electronic payment in participating shops in the area).  Therefore once Arriva have upgraded their ticket machines they have a ready-made smartcard system.

It'd be great to see System One's travelcard range in Greater Manchester move onto smartcards but that's unlikely in the near future due simply to the huge cost in introducing such a scheme.  Good job smart cards are part of the TIF Bus Strategy, eh?

The C-word - Consultants.

The Manchester Evening News published a story on Monday giving details on the number of consultants involved in the TIF Bid here in Manchester.  There's definitely a general public contempt for taxpayers' money being spent on consultants.  People like their money spent on 'things' - school meals, street lights, bus shelters - not private companies who charge seemingly over-the-top sums for little obvious immediate public benefit.

The thing is, if we are to get the top-notch public transport service we deserve here in Greater Manchester it needs to be planned.  The TIF Bid is our best chance at a 'big bang' change to our public transport.  The alternative would be to let the already busy GMPTA and GMPTE put together a bid on their own, using only their existing staff. It would be unlikely to be the killer bid needed to guarantee success though.  Those staff already have jobs they need to do and they can't be taken off them forever.

The truth that those with an aversion to consultants need to understand is that many public bids use consultants, and those bids can bring a positive change.  Think of the 2012 Olympics - it's going to bring a lasting legacy of improvements to east London.  Okay, as we've learned in Manchester this week, these bids aren't always successful.  We clinched the Super Casino, only to have it snatched away again.  It's a gamble to spend public money in this way but the benefits should certainly outweigh the outlay.

Looking at the comments on the Evening News story mentioned above, there a few comments on the amount of money being borrowed to fund the scheme, stating that the London C-Charge scheme only works due to fines on people who dodge the charge.  The implication being that people behind the TIF bid have done their sums wrong and that the scheme will never work here.  If they have indeed done their sums wrong then maybe they should lose their jobs, but let's give this a chance, people!

By the way, MEN journalist David Ottewell has the full list of consultancies used in the bid on his blog.

We'll close this piece with a quote from the comments from the Evening News article.  One 'Munky Boy' of Audenshaw says something that sums up exactly where we stand on the issue here at Manchester Buses:

"I'm not pro-toll, I'm pro-public transport investment, and a little less car dependency would go a long way too."

Amen.

We're 100 posts old!

Okay, we don't usually talk about ourselves here on Manchester Buses, but what with yesterday's radio interview, one more piece won't hurt!  Yes, this is the 100th post at the blog.  We've only been going since October, and buoyed by every increasing visitors we're going to continue bringing you regular updates on the latest news on Manchester's bus network.

In the meantime, we're celebrating with a Mars Bar and some Hot Chip on the stereo.

By the way, thanks to Omnibuses for the piece about us today!

No casino, but TIF Bid more likely to succeed?

As expected, Manchester's Super Casino was officially axed today.  However, the government is offering the city a package of benefits as compensation.  This includes various new sport and media developments in east Manchester which will generate jobs.  However, the Manchester Evening News' article on the subject also makes a brief mention that:

"As part of the deal, the government is ready to throw its weight behind Greater Manchester's bid for £1.2bn from the Transport Innovation Fund, plus permission to borrow £1.8bn more. That would pay for radical improvements to tram, train and bus services - but with a peak-hour congestion charge of up to £5 a day."

It's not a guarantee, and it could just be lip service to pad out the compensation package but it's still a positive sign that all those improvements could be on the way to us.  (By the way, we found the image above on the Wikimedia Commons site.  How perfect is that for this article?  If you can't read the neon sign in the background click on it for a closer look!).

How about a Carbon Charge?

While at the BBC this morning, it was good to see Angie Robinson again.  She's Chief Executive of Manchester Chamber and we'd met her previously a few years ago (interesting trivia: she knew Robbie Williams in his pre-Take That days).  She was on the show talking about the scrapping of Manchester's proposed Super Casino.

Anyway, checking our news feeds later in the day we discovered she's written a column in the Manchester Evening News today suggesting a Carbon Charge an alternative to the controversial Congestion Charge plan.  This is of course what London has recently introduced, with vehicles paying different amounts depending on the amount of CO2 produced by their journeys.

It's an interesting proposal.  One of the main criticisms of the congestion charge plan is a suggestion that congestion statistics are being manipulated to make Manchester seem more congested than it is in order to force a charge on us.  We don't know if that's true or not, but we do think that drivers are likely to be more receptive of a charge that has an environmental slant rather than one which emphasises the congestion.

Of course, some people are in denial that congestion is actually a problem.  They also seem to reckon attacking buses' record on emissions is a good move.  Yes, a bus emits more pollution than a car - it's a lot bigger!  However, a fully loaded bus can carry around 80 people.  The average fully loaded car can carry 5.  Now consider how many cars on our roads carry a full load.  Very few.  As the Americans would say, "Do the Math".

This suggestion may be moot, though.  The TIF Bid to bring huge improvements to our public transport requires Congestion Charging, whether Carbon Charging counts as the same thing is unclear.

Catch the radio interview before it's gone!

At 5:45am this morning the Manchester Buses alarm clock woke us from our slumber so we could head into the BBC Radio Manchester studio for a 7:15 slot talking about this blog, and the whys, whats, whos, wheres and whens behind its existence.  If you missed it then you can catch the show at the 'Listen Again' link on the Radio Manchester website.  It's Eamonn O'Neal & Diane Oxberry's show.  Make sure you listen before 9am tomorrow morning though as the next show replaces it then.

One of the staff on the show told us she got the bus from Rawtenstall to Manchester this morning, arriving before 6.30am.  How come the first bus from Northern Moor (which is actually in Manchester, unlike Rawtenstall) to the city centre arrives at 7.12am?  There's something wrong there!

Manchester Buses takes to the airwaves

Tune into the BBC Radio Manchester Breakfast Show tomorrow because just after 7am they'll be debating Greater Manchester's bus services.  Not only that but we'll be in the studio to discuss this site and why re-regulation of buses would be a good idea.  If you're up that early then those of you in Greater Manchester can catch it on 95.1FM.  Those outside the area can catch it live online through their website.

Ironically, we told the BBC bod who booked us that we would be coming by bus.  Turns out the earliest you can get to Manchester from Manchester Buses HQ is 7.12am.  Funnily enough we'll be mentioning that on air if we get the chance!

Update: The time's been changed (slightly): the discussion will now be on the show at 7.15am.

Bluebird 'bounce' back from a 'smashing' time

Imagine you run an independent bus company.  Imagine how hard it must be to make a profit with fuel costs always rising and strong competition from the local arms of the big operators.  Now imagine you have to spend £4000 a month on new windows for your buses because morons insist on throwing bricks at them.

That's exactly the situation Bluebird boss Mike Dunstan found himself in.  Luckily Mike's got an enterprising brain in his head and worked out a solution to the problem.  The Manchester Evening News reports that Bluebird have switched from glass to polycarbonate windows.  Now when a yob throws a brick at one of their buses it just bounces off.

Admittedly there is quite an outlay for kitting the entire fleet with Polycarbonate.  At a reported £250 per window with a fleet of 45 buses we reckon you be looking at a total bill around £150,000.  That said, the new solution will have paid for itself in under a year based on Dunstan's previous £4000 glass bill.

Other operators looking to follow in Bluebird's footsteps should beware - there are hurdles to jump with the Department of Transport.  They don't like windows that are difficult to break in emergencies,funnily enough.  However, now one operator's done it hopefully more will follow.

Now all we need is a solution to drivers' hair being flammable...

Sunday is D-Day for Mayne fares

Following on from their recently completed purchase of Mayne, Stagecoach announced that Mayne services would be absorbed into Stagecoach in due course.  Well, 'due course' is 'this Sunday'.  As of the 24th of February all Mayne services officially become Stagecoach services.

That means that passengers will now be paying Stagecoach fares, which means the likelihood of higher single journey prices and the abolition of return fares.  That said, Stagecoach's Day Rider and weekly Megarider ticket are very good value so we can't see too many of the passengers complaining, especially as those tickets give them access to the whole Stagecoach Manchester network.

Mayne haven't been completely removed from the streets of Manchester yet.  There's still a fair few buses in the red and cream  livery still waiting for their turn in the paintshop.

Operator co-operation - sense prevails!

Omnibuses has a piece today about how the new Local Transport Bill is going to allow operators to co-ordinate timetables.  That is most definitely a relief - common sense prevails at last!

Here at Manchester Buses HQ we once wrote an email to Stagecoach complaining about the lack of co-ordination of their journeys on service 41 with Finglands' journeys on the same route.  At the time, Stagecoach and Finglands both operated 20 minute frequencies on the service, but with buses from each operator arriving within 2 minutes of each other.  This meant gaps in service of 18 minutes, followed by 2 minutes.  A stupid situation I'm sure you'll agree, and one that meant nothing but inconvenience for passengers.

To their credit Stagecoach replied (Finglands never bothered replying to our similar email to them).  The reply read:

Many thanks for your email about our 41 service. I agree with your comments
entirely and we are aware that this is a situation that could be improved
upon.

Unfortunately there are two factors to consider other than common sense -
the fact that for two bus operators to co-ordinate timetables for the
benefit of customers is deemed to be anti-competitive as things are
currently and that both operators allow differing amounts of running time
from point to point. We review our timetables regularly to try and ensure
that we can adhere to them, as traffic congestion continues to worsen. We
will certainly keep your suggestion in mind for the future.

Thank you for your time and for your valued custom.

Under the new bill situations like this could be resolved much more easily.  Of course the whole point's moot these days as Stagecoach, suffering reliability problems on service 41, have dropped their frequency down to every 30 minutes.  This makes for a combined frequency of every 10 minutes for most of each hour, except two 20 minute gaps punctuated by the Finglands and Stagecoach services arriving together.  It's not perfect but better than it was.

Still, bring on the new Bill and let's hope operators start talking to each other!