Council check: Northamptonshire County Council

Each week, we see how a local transport authority informs potential passengers about the bus services on its patch. This week, Northamptonshire County Council.

Where do the buses go?

Maps are provided of the whole county, including enlarged versions of the major towns. 5 out of 5.

Timetables

Timetable for all bus routes in the county can be found here. 5 out of 5.

Fares

Information is given about the Buzz Card, the multi-operator ticket for Northampton. But that's it. Nothing about single and return fares or operators' own day tickets. Plusbus, available in Northampton, Wellingborough, Corby and Kettering, is also ignored. 1 out of 5.

Summary

Top notch maps and timetables, but totally inadequate fares information. Northamptonshire County Council scores a total of 11 out of 15.

Counterfeit cash but no jail for bus boss

A man found guilty of handling counterfeit banknotes has escaped a jail sentence because he owns a bus company.

Full details over on our sister blog, Southampton Bus Update.

BANES botches bus help

Bath And North East Somerset Council, also known as BANES, have managed to get a good news story carried by Now Bath regarding the acceptance of First Day tickets on a tendered evening service between Bath and Midsomer Norton. Sadly, the much trumpeted help isn't actually much help at all, as the first commenter on Now Bath quite rightly points out. So what's going on?

Commuters between Bath and Midsomer Norton have a choice of five routes from First:

But if you need to get back to Bath in the evening, there's a problem. Here are extracts from First's timetables:

The evening service is operated by Wessex, while First run the daytime service. There used to be an agreement in place whereby Wessex would accept First's return tickets, but with the introduction of First's 'Fairer Fares' return fares were scrapped. This left passengers needing to use both with a choice of two singles or a multi-operator Avon Rider at £7.20.

BANES's new arrangement with Wessex means that passengers can use a FirstDay to return on a Wessex bus. The cheapest FirstDay that is valid for Bath to Midsomer Norton?

A whole 20p cheaper than Avon Rider.

Passengers will be left thinking that BANES doesn't have a clue how much it costs to use the bus on its patch and that it doesn't really care as long as it can spin some positive publicity out of it.

Shame on Now Bath for not researching the impact on passengers and allowing themselves to just regurgitate local authority propaganda.

City-not-so-Smart

Edinburgh has launched its Citysmart card in a blaze of publicity, trumpeting it as the Scottish capital's version of Oyster.

But, as the Edinburgh Evening News points out, some bus passengers will find it cheaper to keep buying paper tickets.

Lothian Buses operate a flat fare of £1.50 per journey. They also offer a day ticket at £3.50, which it makes sense to buy if you're going to be making more than 2 journeys in a day. But the Citysmart will only register single journeys, charging you £1.50 a time. So if you will be using more than 2 buses in a day, you should shun Citysmart in favour of a paper day ticket.

The same applies to Edinburgh Trams, providing you're not travelling to or from the airport.

Citysmart is not valid on the buses of operators other than Lothian and also cannot be used on trains. So while it is a step forward, it's a bit misleading to call it an Oyster equivalent.

Council check: Lincolnshire County Council

Let's see what Lincolnshire County Council have to say about bus services on their patch.

They use the snazzy Lincsbus website, separate from the rest of the council's online presence:

Where do the buses go?

There's an easy-to-use interactive map of all bus routes in the county, including PDF enlargements for the major towns. You can't ask for more than that. 5 out of 5.

Timetables

Times for all routes are easily available via the interactive map. 5 out of 5.

Fares

After such an encouraging start, it's a bit of a shock that Lincolnshire provides no information on fares or tickets at all, not even mentioning the operators' own tickets. As far as we know, there is no multi-operator ticket. Plusbus doesn't even get a mention, even though it is available in Lincoln, Grantham and Skegness. 0 out of 5.

Summary

First class maps and accessibility to timetables, let down by the complete absence of any information about tickets and fares. Lincolnshire County Council scores a total of 10 out of 15.

Report rues deregulation

The IPPR has issued a report that calls bus deregulation outside of London a failure. What was promoted as a way to bring better services and lower fares has in many cases brought fewer services and fares that are so high, many people find it cheaper to drive or use taxis. BBC News and the Guardian report on the report, while the Independent has an editorial on the issue.

London's regulated, but still privatised, system comes in for praise. Its success is backed up by a 99% rise in passenger numbers since 1986. Over the same period, passengers numbers across the UK excluding London have dropped by around a third.

The big difference in London of course is the level of subsidy the bus network receives, which is per capita far in excess of that granted to any other region of the UK.

As an illustration of the parallel universe that passengers outside London have to contend with, MPs in Warrington are lining up to criticise fare rises at Warrington Borough Transport of up to 65%, which were implemented in August. Full story in the Warrington Guardian.

Which other industry could get away with a 65% price rise overnight? There is a lot of innovation in the bus industry, but it is often far too patchy and companies have frequently lost sight of how things appear from the point of view of the existing or prospective customer, not to mention the wider economic and social impact of service changes.

Council check: Suffolk County Council

This week it's the turn of Suffolk County Council to show us how well they promote bus use.

Where do the buses go?

There is no county-wide map. We do have a page listing each are of Suffolk, where if you click on an area, you see timetables for all routes and a basic route diagram. Some diagrams are easier to follow than others however. This one for Ipswich Northeast is horrifically unclear:

You'd be better off using the maps produced by the bus operators, presuming of course, that you already know which operator you need. Traveline is a bit more useful and can be used to find a list of all routes serving a location. 2 out of 5.

Timetables

They're all here and you can search by service number, area or exact location. 5 out of 5.

Fares

This page explains that the operators set the fares and that you should check directly with them. Factual, but not exactly helpful. There's no multi-operator ticket in the area, so if you need to use two different bus operators, you pay twice. Plusbus is mentioned - it's available in Ipswich and Bury St Edmunds. 1 out of 5.

Summary

The only thing Suffolk does well is provide bus timetables. But there's no decent overview map to help visitors and those considering public transport for the first time find their way around and the fares information is pitiful. Suffolk County Council scores a total of 8 out of 15.