Jesdo Posted January 22, 2008 Share Posted January 22, 2008 IOM Online: Buses being test-driven around the Island Surely the DoT should be buying little "hoppa" type buses rather than huge double deckers? I can see a limited need for the big buses on well-used journeys (not least for the school pick-ups), but surely single-deckers would give more opportunity for increasing frequency and diversity of routes? They're also much more pleasant to be stuck behind in a car and must be more environmentally friendly when carrying smaller numbers of passengers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keyboarder Posted January 22, 2008 Share Posted January 22, 2008 Is Onchan pensioner Billy Pickett an omnibus expert? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
triskelion Posted January 22, 2008 Share Posted January 22, 2008 Its crazy; they haven't even reassessed the routes yet. Before they spend money on buses so that we can have some more sitting about in the depot for most of the day, they should look at installing a proper modern RAID card system. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nitro Posted January 23, 2008 Share Posted January 23, 2008 At rush hour the number 3 bus is full to the brim, with sometimes people standing up aswell.....so a few double deckers are needed, for non rush hour a single bus would do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Silentbob Posted January 23, 2008 Share Posted January 23, 2008 Its crazy; they haven't even reassessed the routes yet. Before they spend money on buses so that we can have some more sitting about in the depot for most of the day, they should look at installing a proper modern RAID card system. Well, since you are boviously averse with the terminology, you could at least use it as a pun by changing it to RAIB Redundant Array of Inexpensive Buses??? I'll get my coat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
manxy Posted January 23, 2008 Share Posted January 23, 2008 They probably need the extra buses to get to Jurby now to see not only Jurby Junk, but the islands Junk too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skig Posted January 23, 2008 Share Posted January 23, 2008 In 1997, the then bus controller, Robert Smith, purchased 25 brand new state of the art single deck buses. Around about the same time the Government brought in free travel to school for all children. There was insufficient capacity to meet the demand and a load of clapped out old double deckers were bought to fill the gap (several of these vehicles never actually got into service) By 2003 Mr Smith had been replaced by David Howard whose strategy was completely opposite. Replace the SD buses with DD buses, so they started to sell off 15 of the 25 SD buses (3 went as far as south island, New Zealand) The cost of running DD’s instead of SD’s is very small and the extra capacity is available when needed. If you go down to Tescos around 3.30 – 4.00PM on a school day you will hardly see any spare buses apart from those in the depot for servicing etc. Before Robert Smith left, IOM transport produced a consultative document (March 1998) showing proposed new routes etc. This obviously went into the bin when the new headman took over. All that happened then was the style of painting of a lot of the buses was changed, and the Ramsey route was renumbered from 15 to 3 for no reason whatsoever. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frances Posted January 23, 2008 Share Posted January 23, 2008 The Ramsey number was changed I think to avoid confusion with #5 which also went to Ramsey via Peel not via Laxey - the number 3 had become spare IIRC the new all-Island circular bus route proposed was greeted with a lot of flak at the time and quietly dropped by the new man - there are relatively few routes (other than the Ramsey hopper) that don't need a DD at peak times (those to Dalby, Cronk-y-voddy + the Peel/Casstletown are the only 3 I can think of. A more sensible ticketing scheme (eg like the Dutch strip tickets in which you self cancel the correct number of zones would speed up journies (like the Dutch policed by plainsclothed inspectors + hefty fines for cheating) - the London Oyster card system looks much too expensive for the Island but could remove most cash transactions on board the bus. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlexMcC Posted January 23, 2008 Share Posted January 23, 2008 A more sensible ticketing scheme (eg like the Dutch strip tickets in which you self cancel the correct number of zones would speed up journies (like the Dutch policed by plainsclothed inspectors + hefty fines for cheating) - the London Oyster card system looks much too expensive for the Island but could remove most cash transactions on board the bus. Oddly enough the Dutch type strips are being phased out in favor of a card similar to Oyster. Oyster is fantastic to use in the city but it would be so expensive to install top up machines everywhere on the island as well as installing the system. I guess they could be used on the heritage stuff too, give the conductors portable readers etc...... Nanny state controls over entrances etc, perfect excuse! (Though like the barclaycard oyster card, it would be great if you could 'tap' for small cash transactions and other tourism/leisure attractions island wide). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tugger Posted January 23, 2008 Share Posted January 23, 2008 Make all buses free! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amadeus Posted January 23, 2008 Share Posted January 23, 2008 Make all buses free! Sure - if you pay for it... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
b4mbi Posted January 23, 2008 Share Posted January 23, 2008 Make all buses free! Sure - if you pay for it... i'd be happy to pay a penny extra income tax for free buses, even though I don't really use them now.... how much a year does it cost to run the buses? anyone any idea (i'm too lazy to look it up).... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moghrey Mie Posted January 23, 2008 Share Posted January 23, 2008 IOM Online: Buses being test-driven around the Island Surely the DoT should be buying little "hoppa" type buses rather than huge double deckers? I can see a limited need for the big buses on well-used journeys (not least for the school pick-ups), but surely single-deckers would give more opportunity for increasing frequency and diversity of routes? They're also much more pleasant to be stuck behind in a car and must be more environmentally friendly when carrying smaller numbers of passengers. The IOM must be the only place buying double-decker buses these days. Smaller ones holding 20-30 people would be more suitable especially out in the countryside. And while they are about it perhaps a small shuttle bus to the hospital. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sunset Posted January 23, 2008 Share Posted January 23, 2008 Talking about buses - anybody know anything about the one that nearly lost a wheel in Kirk Michael this morning? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moghrey Mie Posted January 23, 2008 Share Posted January 23, 2008 The Ramsey number was changed I think to avoid confusion with #5 which also went to Ramsey via Peel not via Laxey - the number 3 had become spare IIRC the new all-Island circular bus route proposed was greeted with a lot of flak at the time and quietly dropped by the new man - there are relatively few routes (other than the Ramsey hopper) that don't need a DD at peak times (those to Dalby, Cronk-y-voddy + the Peel/Casstletown are the only 3 I can think of. A more sensible ticketing scheme (eg like the Dutch strip tickets in which you self cancel the correct number of zones would speed up journies (like the Dutch policed by plainsclothed inspectors + hefty fines for cheating) - the London Oyster card system looks much too expensive for the Island but could remove most cash transactions on board the bus. Did you hear Mr Earnshaw in HOK saying he couldn't carry out a review of the bus services until they have brought in a new ticketing system? It's as though they can't do 2 things at once. Why are they buying new buses before they have carried out a full review of the routes and passenger numbers???? Privatise the buses and get the government out of the day to day running of them.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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