Bus Vannin in Crisis

[Declan]

1 minute ago, Cambon said:

Some European countries have one standard fare. For example, £2 regardless of distance. This encourages use for longer journeys instead of using a car, and discourages use for short journeys, better to walk and get some excercise. 

Basically, iom bus and rail makes so little money, if it were made free iomg would probably save money on not having to administer concessions, collect fares, audit and bank. Got to be 20-30 people minimum, wages, pension, cost of office space, sick pay, holidays, etc. Plus the green credentials it would give the island. But then, iom are not really interested in that. 

 

 

Would there then be an increase in demand? And therefore those staff would need to be redeployed as drivers?

[Cambon]

43 minutes ago, Declan said:

 

Would there then be an increase in demand? And therefore those staff would need to be redeployed as drivers?

I am certain there would be an increase in demand. However, most buses at the moment are travelling around half hull or less. 

[Declan]

If only the new passengers could be persuaded to only get the bus when they’re half full. 

[kevster]

1 hour ago, Declan said:

If only the new passengers could be persuaded to only get the bus when they’re half full. 

or half empty

[Harry Lamb]

If they get on the bus when they're too full, they could end up vomiting like the Speaker did

[Roger Mexico]

4 hours ago, Cambon said:

Some European countries have one standard fare. For example, £2 regardless of distance. This encourages use for longer journeys instead of using a car, and discourages use for short journeys, better to walk and get some excercise. 

Not just Europe.  There's a flat fare for buses in London of £1.65, no matter how long or short the journey.  It was changed a few years back to also cover more than one bus journey providing they all start with an hour of the first start.

5 hours ago, Cambon said:

Basically, iom bus and rail makes so little money, if it were made free iomg would probably save money on not having to administer concessions, collect fares, audit and bank. Got to be 20-30 people minimum, wages, pension, cost of office space, sick pay, holidays, etc. Plus the green credentials it would give the island. But then, iom are not really interested in that. 

There may be less in the way of savings than you think.  There was a recent WQ to Ashford who had asked: What the costs, in each of the last three years, have been for the collection of bus fares; to include cash handling, system and machine maintenance, and passenger card administration.  They claim there are no dedicated staff (and those that handle the cash are low grade) though there are other costs and they didn't give the cost of handling card payments.

And FoI from June 2021 (Case ID: 1836529;Title: Bus Vannin Budgets) showed income for the buses at around £4 million a (non-Covid) year) though that may cover some other things.  So you would need to find savings to cover that.

[Banker]

Chris Thomas is answering questions on Twitter about buses & also airport if anyones interested 

[NoTailT]

58 minutes ago, Banker said:

Chris Thomas is answering questions on Twitter about buses & also airport if anyones interested 

This particular exchange made me laugh. Politics in action folk. No decent communication between DFE and DOI.

 

[Dirty Buggane]

Knob

[Omobono]

I was in Liverpool recently and took the regular bus from the Airport to the  Albert dock  only £2  which I thought was excellent value , there were several route  options with a bus arriving about every 10 minutes ,  but where I live in Douglas  we don't have a regular  bus route anymore it is almost half a mile to the nearest bus stop  which when shopping is just not convenient , or very practical . 

[hissingsid]

If they made it free for six months it would help, especially families.     I was on the bus, three quarters full, and no one paid all silver riders.

[Boris Johnson]

9 minutes ago, Omobono said:

I was in Liverpool recently and took the regular bus from the Airport to the  Albert dock  only £2  which I thought was excellent value , there were several route  options with a bus arriving about every 10 minutes ,  but where I live in Douglas  we don't have a regular  bus route anymore it is almost half a mile to the nearest bus stop  which when shopping is just not convenient , or very practical . 

Sorry but that would be because the island has about 80,000 residents in the whole island

And the area of Liverpool you are talking about has about 1,000,000 in a similar area if not more.

 

 

[WTF]

6 minutes ago, hissingsid said:

If they made it free for six months it would help, especially families.     I was on the bus, three quarters full, and no one paid all silver riders.

they should make it free for maybe 3 months and see what the take up is.

[John Wright]

From 1 November to 31 March. 5 months. Rest of financial year.

40 minutes ago, hissingsid said:

If they made it free for six months it would help, especially families.     I was on the bus, three quarters full, and no one paid all silver riders.

 

32 minutes ago, WTF said:

they should make it free for maybe 3 months and see what the take up is.

 

[Dirty Buggane]

How much do the admin staff/managers, and the managers to the managers+ pa to ceo assistant/assistant ceo/pa to ceo/ and ceo and what other bullshit management positions cost as compared to bums on drivers seats/ maintenance crews and vehicle support cost.