Bus Vannin in Crisis

[BriT]

PSM was clogged yesterday afternoon with two buses arriving at exactly the same to go in two completely different directions. 

[Declan]

New timetable that starts today fixes that. 

[Declan]

11 minutes ago, WTF said:

59 and 39 minutes past ????    in english that is 1 minute and 21 minutes to.

Only use scum use that kind of language; they do it to be awkward.

[Passing Time]

2 hours ago, Ringy Rose said:

Where do you mean by upper Douglas? The area around the bottom of Bray Hill is a bus desert, definitely, and I don’t understand why they don’t send some of the buses from Willaston down Bray Hill.

Surely that would work, The Ramsey buses could cover St Ninians to town centre

[Banker]

4 hours ago, Ringy Rose said:

Summer timetable out, very few changes. Before Covid the south buses were four an hour and the Douglas-Peel buses were three an hour. Neither are back to that frequency.

Chris Thomas, of course, is out stating that Bus Vannin are “back to a pre-pandemic timetable”. Round where I am the buses used to be hourly now they’re two-hourly. 

Does Chris Thomas not arse himself to check anything the DOI tell him?

Wow!, have to wait 5 extra minutes for bus down south!,

[John Wright]

1 minute ago, Banker said:

Wow!, have to wait 5 extra minutes for bus down south!,

Maths not your strong point Banker?

Think about it carefully.

Clue, if buses used to go at .00, .15, .30 and .45 past the hour, and now go at .00, .20,  .40; is the extra waiting time 5 mins for each service, or something different?

[Ringy Rose]

6 minutes ago, Banker said:

Wow!, have to wait 5 extra minutes for bus down south!,

It’s not just the wait, though, it’s the capacity, with four buses of people on three buses. You can really tell the difference, especially on a nice day and at peak times.

Its also an extra 30 minutes in Port St Mary, as they only have one an hour instead of two, although at least there’s the option of going the long way round now.

Edited April 24, 2023 by Ringy Rose

[Banker]

6 minutes ago, John Wright said:

Maths not your strong point Banker?

Think about it carefully.

Clue, if buses used to go at .00, .15, .30 and .45 past the hour, and now go at .00, .20,  .40; is the extra waiting time 5 mins for each service, or something different?

FFS you’re pedantic! OK for 1 service it’s 10 minutes, the others are 5 ! Fact remains it’s not a large reduction in service, I’ve used an morning one & afternoon Douglas/ port Erin return & bus was never more than 60% full

[Declan]

14 minutes ago, Banker said:

Wow!, have to wait 5 extra minutes for bus down south!,

Capacity is the main issue at certain times. 

Long ago it was two double-deckers an hour. That became four single-deckers an hour. So three single deckers an hour leaves people standing and cramped conditions at busy times. Unfortunately, because they got rid of many of the double deckers they can't just replace the single-deckers at busy times because that's when the double-deckers are doing the school run.

Edited April 24, 2023 by Declan

[John Wright]

Just now, Banker said:

FFS you’re pedantic! OK for 1 service it’s 10 minutes, the others are 5 ! Fact remains it’s not a large reduction in service, I’ve used an morning one & afternoon Douglas/ port Erin return & bus was never more than 60% full

Actually it’s 5, 10, and 15, and they’ve replaced double deckers with singles at peak times because the doubles are used for school times ( as Declan has pointed out ).

It’s a 25% reduction in service but more like a 35% reduction in capacity.

I don’t think that’s pedantry, but it is a significant, large, service and capacity reduction

[littlebushy]

Electric bendy buses must be the answer.

[Ringy Rose]

37 minutes ago, Banker said:

OK for 1 service it’s 10 minutes, the others are 5

Are you sure, because if you miss the xx40 bus you’ve got a 20 minute wait till xx00, rather than a 5 minute wait to xx45.

The south buses in a morning are usually full and standing by the time they get to me at Anagh Coar lights, so I’m assuming people have been standing since at least Mount Murray. It wouldn’t be so bad if they were double deckers but, as Declan says, the deckers are all out on schools duty. It’s even more amusing when they put one of the short wheelbase Citaros out.

It’s also the principle: a 25% service cut is not the same as pre-pandemic, in the same way a car tax rise from £40 to £65 is not a 10% tax rise. But clearly Chris Thomas is comfortable with lying in press releases.

[John Wright]

45 minutes ago, Banker said:

FFS you’re pedantic! OK for 1 service it’s 10 minutes, the others are 5 ! Fact remains it’s not a large reduction in service, I’ve used an morning one & afternoon Douglas/ port Erin return & bus was never more than 60% full

You’re confusing the increase in the gap between services with increased waiting time. If you had turned up at .44 previously you’d have had to wait for 1 minute. Now it’s 16. 

[Banker]

24 minutes ago, John Wright said:

You’re confusing the increase in the gap between services with increased waiting time. If you had turned up at .44 previously you’d have had to wait for 1 minute. Now it’s 16. 

Well if you turn up at .34 you now wait 6 minutes previously 11 minutes so swings and roundabouts!

[Roger Mexico]

1 hour ago, Declan said:

Capacity is the main issue at certain times. 

Long ago it was two double-deckers an hour. That became four single-deckers an hour. So three single deckers an hour leaves people standing and cramped conditions at busy times. Unfortunately, because they got rid of many of the double deckers they can't just replace the single-deckers at busy times because that's when the double-deckers are doing the school run.

It's not just at 'busy' times though, when there's an overlap with schools I've been on over-crowded mid-morning and early afternoon buses recently, including one where about a dozen passengers were left at the Airport as an already fullish bus couldn't take everyone.  Maybe it's a cunning DoI plan to fill the empty car parks.

And it's not just overcrowding.  Heavier usage means the buses go much slower, with more and longer stops needed, and fall behind the timetables more and more.

I suspect this goes back to Longworth's legacy of relying increasingly on casual drivers and reducing the number of full-timers.