Empty vehicles as 'bus wars' continue in Plymouth
BUS wars have left some areas of the city swamped with empty buses, according to a transport expert.
But passengers on other services may be paying the bill as the two main Plymouth operators battle for market share, says Ray Bentley of Travelwatch South West.
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Mr Bentley was giving evidence to a Plymouth City Council inquiry into subsidised bus routes yesterday.
"The bus war between First and Go-Ahead [Citybus] has fizzled out in some areas of Plymouth," Mr Bentley told a growth and prosperity scrutiny panel.
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"But it is in full flow in Barne Barton with 14 buses an hour."
He said that was eight buses an hour more than was needed to serve the area. If you stood at St Budeaux Square you would be able to see empty buses going in and out of Barne Barton, he said.
"These are paid for by losses to the operators or cross-subsidy from other parts of the network."
But passengers were not the winners, Mr Bentley said. They could not benefit from the extra buses because the bus companies were not working together on shared ticketing.
Citybus had won a long-running battle in Plympton, but the focus had now switched to Plymstock, he said.
Plympton, with a population of 30,915 now has nine buses an hour, one of them subsidised by the city council.
Plymstock, where the population is 25,325, has 19 buses an hour, of which two are council-subsidised.
And the wars have now spread to Saltash and Ivybridge, Mr Bentley said.
Mr Bentley urged the council to bring the two companies to the table to negotiate a deal to redeploy buses from the "war zones" to areas that did not have enough buses.
He said Oxfordshire County Council had managed to strike such a deal with Citybus' owners Go-Ahead and rival firm Stagecoach.
The council spends £382,000 a year contracting bus services that would not otherwise be provided by bus operators.
There are 12 subsidised routes, plus Taxibus services.
Most of the subsidised services are provided by Target Travel.
Mr Bentley said: "Target Travel are the saviours of the subsidised network, and long may they continue."
The amount spent on subsidies is not set to change, but the council is to review the "existing provision and criteria" for the services.
One option could be "through ticketing", which allows passengers to buy tickets that are valid with more than one public transport company.
Last month the panel heard evidence from two members of Plymouth's Youth Cabinet, who branded bus fares "a rip-off".
Yesterday Matt Callow, regional development manager for First, told the panel that fares in Plymouth were among the lowest in any comparable cities.
He accepted that fares were expensive for low-paid young people, but said: "The cost of providing the service is what it is. The question comes back to who should subsidise young people.
"If it's the bus company, do we put up fares for older people? That is just moving the problem around."
Comments
by kevinretallic
Wednesday, November 21 2012, 4:01PM
“Having worked for them Lastgroup are ruthless but toothless, all about profit not service”
by nothalf
Wednesday, November 21 2012, 3:27PM
“Yes definately get PCC involved, thats sure to fix the problem”
by blackbeard9
Wednesday, November 21 2012, 3:06PM
“The irony of all of this is that we are supposed to be encouraged to use public transport in order to reduce congestion on the roads and pollution and even the bus companies in question have at least in the recent past tried to get us to use their buses for, they say the same reasons
It is time the bus companies sat around the table and made public transport more accessible through properly timed schedules that would certainly make the phrase "PUBLIC TRANSPORT" more real and they could still make the profits that their shareholders demand and their may even be respect for both First Bus and Ciitybus
PUBLIC TRANSPORT as we know it is no longer a PUBLIC SERVICE....PUBLIC TRANSPORT is now, more than ever, A PRIVATE BUSINESS and it's definitely profits before staff or passengers
As for subsided routes, I wonder how many Citizens of Plymouth realise they pay for these non profitable but "socially required" routes through the council tax they pay and are we getting value for money from these routes or are these routes, which guarantee payment to the operator just another source of income for the private bus operators shareholders?
This is a three way problem that needs to be sorted by Plymouth Citybus (local management) First Bus Devon and Cornwall and our dear old Plymouth City Council. Lets get it sorted now and give the people of Plymouth back a service that we could call PUBLIC TRANSPORT”
by paperlantern
Wednesday, November 21 2012, 2:01PM
“PlymTransit - they do not seem to have many people on them during the day and they are very frequent, but take your point. Very often I catch the No. 29. This is now a double decker also. It serves City Centre/Derriford. A lot of people going to the hospital would not be able to get up on the top deck and the downstairs is a hideous mess of seating, most of which is crammed up at the back facing backwards and forwards and with little leg room. Whoever designs some of these buses obviously never has to ride in them. I sometimes think that we have the old past their best vehicles brought in from somewhere else. Check the number plates!”
by LTW39
Wednesday, November 21 2012, 1:54PM
“Its a joke, Ives only used the bus down here once in the 20 years ive lived here. Its way to expensive I could have traveled across london on a bus or the tube using a pass that is cheaper than a return from town to plymton and back and london is 5 times bigger than plymouth”
by PlymTransit
Wednesday, November 21 2012, 12:44PM
“and yet when Citybus recently took most of the doubledeckers off the 26 their facebook page was flooded with complaints that the buses were too full. Cant win.
Plymouth could do with more competition not less.”
by martinadams
Wednesday, November 21 2012, 12:38PM
“Until recently, I got a return ticket on citybus to get to & from work. I finish at 11.30pm & got the 21 home at 11.47pm. Now that they have cut back the service, the last bus is now at 11.05pm leaving me no option other than to walk home as I can't afford a taxi 6 nights a week. Thank you citybus. I now catch a first bus into work each day as I no longer intend to give citybus my custom.”
by Hermes_001
Wednesday, November 21 2012, 12:25PM
“It's not unusual to see two number 26 buses standing on Royal Parade stop A2 at the same time, blocking access for other buses. What does need looking into is the lack of bus services on Sundays, bank holidays and evenings to some parts of the city.”
by superwoman123
Wednesday, November 21 2012, 12:07PM
“plymouth city bus are a joke in my case it took me an hour and a half to get from stoke to southway how stupid the service they charge for is rubbish
with all these bus changes who sorts all the routes ? i realy wish they.d get another bus company to give them a run for there money first bus is so much better i,m now using park and ride. with city bus i give up if i never have to get on one of there buses again will be a god send
on top of the bad service some of the drivers are rude and offencive goodbye plymouth city bus
your rubbish and please don,t insult me by telling to to email or phone in as thats a waste of my time as i have done numerous times with no responce waste of my time and effort”
by paperlantern
Wednesday, November 21 2012, 11:02AM
“He's right about buses in St. Budeaux Square - awash with No. 26 double deckers.”