jesus, it’s even worse in Stoke now? They were unreliable and late years ago.
Why not companies run their shuttles to collect and drop employees?
It’s a death spiral, low usage so cut frequency and late/early buses, which leads to even less usage.
I went to Stoke during the 2019 General Election campaign. Outside the station was a poster, with a picture of a man who was offering nationalised public transport. The man was described as a threat to our safety and democracy.
In 2019 Stoke on Trent returned Tory MPs. The people of Stoke are getting exactly what they asked for.
In many places they also got rid of bus shelters and just placed bus stop signs. The justification was that it was to help stop spread the virus.
The bus shelters never got installed back. If you are disabled, like my friend is that simply sucks, as she can’t comfortably wait for a bus anymore.
Commuting to work by bus/train pre 2022 was soo much better from 4 buses every hour to 2 buses an hour makes me wish i got my drivers licence way sooner
The Government needs to find ways to satisfy the ‘strikers’, without further affecting the economy.
As there too is a shortage of drivers, cutting back back buses and usage of drivers in busier areas.
Last Thursday it took me over an hour todo a 20 minute journey as the local stagecoach has deicaded its not worth running half the services with them pulling busses out of service at low times meaning busses are supposed to show up according to the time table, semi useless buss stop screens and the shite app which still has a bug where if the buss is some what late it vanishes from
I’m from stoke and I can’t get a bus to work after 8.30pm. On a main route. Its absolutely shocking. No bus service at all on a Sunday from my estate to the city centre. Its a disgrace.
It is the same with most public services. The government thinks of them as a business which should be making money.
This is the principle issue. Stop treating them like a business and as a service to the public. As a service they offer really important benifits which shouldn’t be overlooked
We don’t need no stinking essential public services!
Unrelated, but after getting used to the bus service in london, the one in manchester is almost unusable on some routes for more than double the price
I assumed this would be talking about Bristol. It’s crazy to think that there are actually places worse off for bus services.
I don’t think there are many places in the country that are so gloomy and horrible than Stoke. The people are miserable, the place is miserable and now they have this stuff too. The country will end up getting some mad radical leader soon on the back of shit like this and it wont shock me if they are very right wing.
I have a friend who used to work for FirstBus in Yorkshire (Leeds). Unless they made a huge profit on a route, once the subsidy from the councils were cut they would just cut the route entirely.
They are under no obligation to run routes that either break even or make a loss.
Where I lived at one time out in North Yorkshire there was *no* bus service or public transport. Unless you had a car or cycled, there was no way to get out of the village that had no shops and the nearest supermarket was 17 miles away.
Nearest bus stop was on the A64 7 miles away.
I grew up in the West Midlands & London that had amazing public transport. Up here in Yorkshire the public transport is utterly and completely abysmal and shambolic, and where it is available it’s insanely expensive.
Busses in Stoke are awful. Cut to the bare bone over the past 5/10 years by First.
They’re always late, it wasn’t unusual to be waiting 30 minutes for a bus. The roads around Stoke are shocking when it comes to traffic. We have the A50, A500 and M6 all running through Stoke or skirting around the edge, if there’s an accident on the M6 the whole of Stoke know about it and if there’s one on the A500 or A50 at the same time I wouldn’t bother leaving the house, you can not get around and the city is clogged. This obviously all has an impact on busses being late.
They also started limiting bus times and services so it was impossible to get a bus to work in the morning or back at night and if you could you’d have to give yourself a good hour and half to make sure you got there on time. This has also had a knock on effect when it comes to nightlife and shopping which are both now mainly non existent.
They cut certain routes which may be unprofitable but these routes were the ones that feed into the main network which was profitable. And then over time those routes became unprofitable.
Taxis are cheaper and more reliable and I found myself getting taxis all the time just to make sure I got to work all the time.
The city itself is extremely spread out, it’s hilly and doesn’t lend itself well to walking/cycling. It’s impossible to apply for jobs over the other side of the same city because chances are if you don’t drive you can not get there.
Due to its geography it’s a city that lends itself well to a really well integrated metro/bus routes but there’s more chance of Jezza becoming the next PM than that happening.
One of many such stories from around the country
Im from Stoke and this wasn’t done “quietly”. Everytime a bus route was cancelled the Sentinel did a Story, people got pissed off, nothing happened. Same old same old. Stoke council are beyond useless.
Went for a couple pints in town on saturday, been a while but I know the bus home is every 30 mins and the last one is half 11. Called it a night just after 10pm and walked to the stop only to be faced with over an hour of waiting or over an hour of walking. Then I realised I could have an hour of sitting in the closest pub instead. I get to the stop at 20 past 11 but then no bus turns up. By quarter to 12 I decided i’d just have to walk or get a taxi.
It’s a joke really. I’d happily get a bus to work but it turns a 20 min car journey into 2 bus rides totally an hour and a half with a 1.5 mile walk between my workplace and the bus stop. It would cost £4.30 for a day ticket which I don’t think entitles me to use the 2nd bus, so there’s potentially another £2-4 on top. So i’m faced with a worst case scenario of getting out of bed 2 hours before I do now, paying £7 on bus tickets, and getting soaking wet when it inevitably rains on the 1.5 mile walk. But it’s okay, because i’d be at work half an hour before I need to be and I only have an hour to wait for a bus to get home PLUS the hour and a half journey. So instead of getting home at 6pm i’ll be home at 8pm. On top of all that, i’d have to put my daughter in the child minders for at least 2 hours before school and 5 hours after instead of 3. So we’ve got £7 in bus tickets, an additional £21 a day childcare, i’m home too late to cook anything decent, i’m still wet from the walking, and to top it all off you have to deal with everyone else on the bus. So that’s £28 per day which is £140 a week, £6720 for 48 working weeks in the year and a loss of 40 days per year in travel….seriously. 4 hours per day is 20 hours per week, 960 hours (or 40 full days) of time I would lose IF the busses were on time.
Lets contrast that, I bought a little diesel Renault clio for £950 for the sole purpose of doing the 16 mile each way commute. It costs £225 per year to insure, £22 a month to tax, £35 for the MOT, £350 for 4 tyres, £85 for front brakes. That’s £1667 for the car. It does about 50mpg so that’s about £2.30 assuming £1.60 per litre. So £4.60 per day working out at £1104 in fuel. £2771 per year to drive, plus gaining back 40 days not sat on a bus, and an extra 4 hours per day I get to spend with my daughter. I could run 4 cars costing £1000 until they die a death and still come out the same as getting the bus, not accounting for the scrap value of the car.
18 comments
jesus, it’s even worse in Stoke now? They were unreliable and late years ago.
Why not companies run their shuttles to collect and drop employees?
It’s a death spiral, low usage so cut frequency and late/early buses, which leads to even less usage.
I went to Stoke during the 2019 General Election campaign. Outside the station was a poster, with a picture of a man who was offering nationalised public transport. The man was described as a threat to our safety and democracy.
In 2019 Stoke on Trent returned Tory MPs. The people of Stoke are getting exactly what they asked for.
In many places they also got rid of bus shelters and just placed bus stop signs. The justification was that it was to help stop spread the virus.
The bus shelters never got installed back. If you are disabled, like my friend is that simply sucks, as she can’t comfortably wait for a bus anymore.
Commuting to work by bus/train pre 2022 was soo much better from 4 buses every hour to 2 buses an hour makes me wish i got my drivers licence way sooner
The Government needs to find ways to satisfy the ‘strikers’, without further affecting the economy.
As there too is a shortage of drivers, cutting back back buses and usage of drivers in busier areas.
Last Thursday it took me over an hour todo a 20 minute journey as the local stagecoach has deicaded its not worth running half the services with them pulling busses out of service at low times meaning busses are supposed to show up according to the time table, semi useless buss stop screens and the shite app which still has a bug where if the buss is some what late it vanishes from
I’m from stoke and I can’t get a bus to work after 8.30pm. On a main route. Its absolutely shocking. No bus service at all on a Sunday from my estate to the city centre. Its a disgrace.
It is the same with most public services. The government thinks of them as a business which should be making money.
This is the principle issue. Stop treating them like a business and as a service to the public. As a service they offer really important benifits which shouldn’t be overlooked
We don’t need no stinking essential public services!
Unrelated, but after getting used to the bus service in london, the one in manchester is almost unusable on some routes for more than double the price
I assumed this would be talking about Bristol. It’s crazy to think that there are actually places worse off for bus services.
I don’t think there are many places in the country that are so gloomy and horrible than Stoke. The people are miserable, the place is miserable and now they have this stuff too. The country will end up getting some mad radical leader soon on the back of shit like this and it wont shock me if they are very right wing.
I have a friend who used to work for FirstBus in Yorkshire (Leeds). Unless they made a huge profit on a route, once the subsidy from the councils were cut they would just cut the route entirely.
They are under no obligation to run routes that either break even or make a loss.
Where I lived at one time out in North Yorkshire there was *no* bus service or public transport. Unless you had a car or cycled, there was no way to get out of the village that had no shops and the nearest supermarket was 17 miles away.
Nearest bus stop was on the A64 7 miles away.
I grew up in the West Midlands & London that had amazing public transport. Up here in Yorkshire the public transport is utterly and completely abysmal and shambolic, and where it is available it’s insanely expensive.
Busses in Stoke are awful. Cut to the bare bone over the past 5/10 years by First.
They’re always late, it wasn’t unusual to be waiting 30 minutes for a bus. The roads around Stoke are shocking when it comes to traffic. We have the A50, A500 and M6 all running through Stoke or skirting around the edge, if there’s an accident on the M6 the whole of Stoke know about it and if there’s one on the A500 or A50 at the same time I wouldn’t bother leaving the house, you can not get around and the city is clogged. This obviously all has an impact on busses being late.
They also started limiting bus times and services so it was impossible to get a bus to work in the morning or back at night and if you could you’d have to give yourself a good hour and half to make sure you got there on time. This has also had a knock on effect when it comes to nightlife and shopping which are both now mainly non existent.
They cut certain routes which may be unprofitable but these routes were the ones that feed into the main network which was profitable. And then over time those routes became unprofitable.
Taxis are cheaper and more reliable and I found myself getting taxis all the time just to make sure I got to work all the time.
The city itself is extremely spread out, it’s hilly and doesn’t lend itself well to walking/cycling. It’s impossible to apply for jobs over the other side of the same city because chances are if you don’t drive you can not get there.
Due to its geography it’s a city that lends itself well to a really well integrated metro/bus routes but there’s more chance of Jezza becoming the next PM than that happening.
One of many such stories from around the country
Im from Stoke and this wasn’t done “quietly”. Everytime a bus route was cancelled the Sentinel did a Story, people got pissed off, nothing happened. Same old same old. Stoke council are beyond useless.
Went for a couple pints in town on saturday, been a while but I know the bus home is every 30 mins and the last one is half 11. Called it a night just after 10pm and walked to the stop only to be faced with over an hour of waiting or over an hour of walking. Then I realised I could have an hour of sitting in the closest pub instead. I get to the stop at 20 past 11 but then no bus turns up. By quarter to 12 I decided i’d just have to walk or get a taxi.
It’s a joke really. I’d happily get a bus to work but it turns a 20 min car journey into 2 bus rides totally an hour and a half with a 1.5 mile walk between my workplace and the bus stop. It would cost £4.30 for a day ticket which I don’t think entitles me to use the 2nd bus, so there’s potentially another £2-4 on top. So i’m faced with a worst case scenario of getting out of bed 2 hours before I do now, paying £7 on bus tickets, and getting soaking wet when it inevitably rains on the 1.5 mile walk. But it’s okay, because i’d be at work half an hour before I need to be and I only have an hour to wait for a bus to get home PLUS the hour and a half journey. So instead of getting home at 6pm i’ll be home at 8pm. On top of all that, i’d have to put my daughter in the child minders for at least 2 hours before school and 5 hours after instead of 3. So we’ve got £7 in bus tickets, an additional £21 a day childcare, i’m home too late to cook anything decent, i’m still wet from the walking, and to top it all off you have to deal with everyone else on the bus. So that’s £28 per day which is £140 a week, £6720 for 48 working weeks in the year and a loss of 40 days per year in travel….seriously. 4 hours per day is 20 hours per week, 960 hours (or 40 full days) of time I would lose IF the busses were on time.
Lets contrast that, I bought a little diesel Renault clio for £950 for the sole purpose of doing the 16 mile each way commute. It costs £225 per year to insure, £22 a month to tax, £35 for the MOT, £350 for 4 tyres, £85 for front brakes. That’s £1667 for the car. It does about 50mpg so that’s about £2.30 assuming £1.60 per litre. So £4.60 per day working out at £1104 in fuel. £2771 per year to drive, plus gaining back 40 days not sat on a bus, and an extra 4 hours per day I get to spend with my daughter. I could run 4 cars costing £1000 until they die a death and still come out the same as getting the bus, not accounting for the scrap value of the car.