I have this problem with West Midlands travel. They even have an app showing you in real time the ETA based on their location, yet buses will often time down every minute from 10 mins to 1, then apparently fall off the planet.
This shit happens with Stagecoach as well. They used to have buses every 10 minutes, then for some reason after the pandemic was all but over, they reduced them to every 20 minutes.
Now to go to an appointment in town which normally takes 10 minutes travel time tops, I have to go on a bus that leaves here 40 minutes earlier. Assuming the bus even turns up, half of them come over 10 minutes late. It’s a fucking joke.
The same thing happens with the tfl bus app. It’s getting so frustrating I’m starting to cycle to work
Trentbarton has actually got better in the last month or so. For a while it was almost daily that at least one of the busses I catch wouldn’t turn up.
Have the same issue with First buses, it’s infuriating.
First Bus do the same. They even bypass those stops that don’t have trackers on them , leaving people stranded, to make up time.
Yep, first bus in Cornwall is a fucking nightmare. Many a time I’ve sat at the bus stop watching the ETA count down on the screen: 25 minutes… 15 minutes… 5 minutes… 1 minute… 49 minutes…
First bus is so bad for this.
If it says the bus is 5 minutes away, it’s 10 – 15 minutes away or longer. They’re never on time, frequently cancelled and all around trash.
Funny to see everyone listing every bus company in the comments – they ALL DO IT – because they’re all going to be using the same tech – and it’s all because they can *appear* to be running the services they claim to an outside observer, whilst actually not, and getting away with it.
Uber are currently under investigation for the same thing – including deliberately Midas using law enforcement to stop their drivers being caught.
It’s blatant misinformation but, because there is no regulator, or the one that exists is a toothless charity with no ability to enforce its own rules, we are just the cattle from whom the bus companies (almost all owned by American or European conglomerates now) extract an ever increasing profit.
It’s going to keep happening unless we get rid of the Tories and their anti-regulation, free market kink – until they stop getting wet at the sight of exploitation, we will continue to be actively exploited.
It’s a very interesting story as to why our busses are so awful. They were supposed to be privatised to encourage competition, which we know improves value and service, but instead of actually allowing privitisation to do it’s thing the bus companies have a nice little monopoly arranged with local governments, monopolies require government intervention by definition. No competing rival bus company is allowed to actually put busses on to compete with the current horrendous service because it would mean more busses on the roads, which local councils say would be dangerous, so it’s not allowed. Brilliant logic eh, and then people complain that privitisation hasn’t worked! So sneaky and slimy.
This is rampant in Bristol. E-scooters seem to be the best form of public transport here lol.
Happened to me with a bus to Gatwick. I went to the bus stop and waited two hours before paying for a 60 pound Uber. That was 2018 so very expensive for that time
Happens a lot with Arriva, I’ve been late for work so many times, I have to arrive way before my shift to make sure I’m not late .
Used to happen constantly when I still lived in Middlesbrough and it was always fucking Arriva.
I had their app which used to show the busses on their route and I’d be stood there at the stop and it’s sail past on the app and no physical bus ever came past.
Complaining to Arriva got me fucking nowhere.
Busses are fucking useless in this country and so many drivers are fucking dickheads for no reason at all.
14 comments
I have this problem with West Midlands travel. They even have an app showing you in real time the ETA based on their location, yet buses will often time down every minute from 10 mins to 1, then apparently fall off the planet.
This shit happens with Stagecoach as well. They used to have buses every 10 minutes, then for some reason after the pandemic was all but over, they reduced them to every 20 minutes.
Now to go to an appointment in town which normally takes 10 minutes travel time tops, I have to go on a bus that leaves here 40 minutes earlier. Assuming the bus even turns up, half of them come over 10 minutes late. It’s a fucking joke.
The same thing happens with the tfl bus app. It’s getting so frustrating I’m starting to cycle to work
Trentbarton has actually got better in the last month or so. For a while it was almost daily that at least one of the busses I catch wouldn’t turn up.
Have the same issue with First buses, it’s infuriating.
First Bus do the same. They even bypass those stops that don’t have trackers on them , leaving people stranded, to make up time.
Yep, first bus in Cornwall is a fucking nightmare. Many a time I’ve sat at the bus stop watching the ETA count down on the screen: 25 minutes… 15 minutes… 5 minutes… 1 minute… 49 minutes…
First bus is so bad for this.
If it says the bus is 5 minutes away, it’s 10 – 15 minutes away or longer. They’re never on time, frequently cancelled and all around trash.
Funny to see everyone listing every bus company in the comments – they ALL DO IT – because they’re all going to be using the same tech – and it’s all because they can *appear* to be running the services they claim to an outside observer, whilst actually not, and getting away with it.
Uber are currently under investigation for the same thing – including deliberately Midas using law enforcement to stop their drivers being caught.
It’s blatant misinformation but, because there is no regulator, or the one that exists is a toothless charity with no ability to enforce its own rules, we are just the cattle from whom the bus companies (almost all owned by American or European conglomerates now) extract an ever increasing profit.
It’s going to keep happening unless we get rid of the Tories and their anti-regulation, free market kink – until they stop getting wet at the sight of exploitation, we will continue to be actively exploited.
It’s a very interesting story as to why our busses are so awful. They were supposed to be privatised to encourage competition, which we know improves value and service, but instead of actually allowing privitisation to do it’s thing the bus companies have a nice little monopoly arranged with local governments, monopolies require government intervention by definition. No competing rival bus company is allowed to actually put busses on to compete with the current horrendous service because it would mean more busses on the roads, which local councils say would be dangerous, so it’s not allowed. Brilliant logic eh, and then people complain that privitisation hasn’t worked! So sneaky and slimy.
This is rampant in Bristol. E-scooters seem to be the best form of public transport here lol.
Happened to me with a bus to Gatwick. I went to the bus stop and waited two hours before paying for a 60 pound Uber. That was 2018 so very expensive for that time
Happens a lot with Arriva, I’ve been late for work so many times, I have to arrive way before my shift to make sure I’m not late .
Used to happen constantly when I still lived in Middlesbrough and it was always fucking Arriva.
I had their app which used to show the busses on their route and I’d be stood there at the stop and it’s sail past on the app and no physical bus ever came past.
Complaining to Arriva got me fucking nowhere.
Busses are fucking useless in this country and so many drivers are fucking dickheads for no reason at all.