Anon OpinOct 13
Growing up, the main bus in my town was every 10 minutes and always packed. I didn't worry about timetables I just left the house and knew it would be there. Now it's every half hour and completely deserted. This is no coincidence. Fund buses properly and people will use them.
Show threadEstarriol, Terrorist DragonOct 13

@anon_opin

have them reliable and plentiful and people use them.

Show threadMike Taylor 🦕Oct 13
@Thebratdragon @anon_opin But also: as usage falls off, running routes becomes unprofitable, so companies run the buses less frequently. It's a vicious circle.
Show threadCYBER_RISK_MITIGATION_REMINDEROct 13
@mike @Thebratdragon @anon_opin have you considered that not everything should be required to run at a profit?
Show threadMike Taylor 🦕Oct 13

@pikesley @Thebratdragon @anon_opin Yes, I have considered it and agreed the heck out of it.

The real question is whether the companies running these routes have considered it. I doubt it.

Show threadCYBER_RISK_MITIGATION_REMINDEROct 13
@mike @Thebratdragon @anon_opin ok, I'll go you one further: have you considered that none of this should be in private hands?
Show threadMike Taylor 🦕Oct 13
@pikesley @Thebratdragon @anon_opin Yes, I have considered that and agree the heck out out it. But I don't see how to fix it.
Show threadStuart Oct 14
@mike @pikesley @Thebratdragon @anon_opin London managed to mostly go against this trend by not having deregulation forced upon it by central Government unlike most of the rest of E&W e.g. https://constituencies.open-innovations.org/themes/transport/bus-service-changes/
Show threadpurple: licenced to sticky plasterOct 19

@slowe @mike @pikesley @Thebratdragon @anon_opin Reading presents another exception, walk around the town centre and there are colourful town-owned buses everywhere, people using them too.

I'm sure the locals have their complaints, but it's about the one ‘deregulated’ place where buses still ‘work’ — specifically because the council worked against the ‘spirit’ of deregulation 🫣

(and whilst London retained powers over bus services, the buses were still, and are, privatised, unlike Reading)

Show threadMike Taylor 🦕Oct 19

@purple @slowe @pikesley @Thebratdragon @anon_opin That's brilliant!

Are they free in Reading, or just cheap?

Show threadpurple: licenced to sticky plaster

@mike @slowe @pikesley @Thebratdragon @anon_opin I think the description would be ‘cheap-er’.

Certainly not free, but still, less than most places I think.

Really the key though is that the service is actually usable, naturally cheaper would be better, and then even more people would use it, but it goes to show people will pay when the service is frequent and varied enough to reliably get people where they need to be.

Oct 19 at 5:37pmWeb
Show threadMike Taylor 🦕Oct 19
@purple @slowe @pikesley @Thebratdragon @anon_opin Yes, it's a tricky balance to pull off: frequent vs. cheap.
Show threadpurple: licenced to sticky plasterOct 19

@mike @slowe @pikesley @Thebratdragon @anon_opin ah but see that's half the fun, frequent can lead to cheaper!

You both start to unlock economies of scale, reducing the running cost of the fleet itself, and increase overall utilisation, which reduces those costs per passenger.

More people paying fares means increase income as well, even with lowered fares.

15,000 trips at £1.50 produces more revenue than 10,000 at £2.10.

This is without even considering, shock horror, the idea of using public funds to support a public service.

Really the problem is having the initial rush of capital to get things started, private entities really have no incentive to do so and public ones, for one reason or another, largely can't.

Show threadMike Taylor 🦕Oct 20

@purple @slowe @pikesley @Thebratdragon @anon_opin Yes indeed. Once the ball starts rolling, virtuous circles are available. But in any given moment, when a council gets a 20% funding boost for public transport, say, it can EITHER run services 20% more often OR reduce fares by 20%. It can't do both.

One important question would be: which of these measures would most quickly lead to further revenue increase?