On Thu, 03 Apr 2014 12:52:40 +0100, David Cantrell
wrote:

On Wed, Apr 02, 2014 at 04:12:12AM -0700, Mark Hynes wrote:

[Re transfers] Someone might
need to take 2 or 3 buses to travel the distance someone else does on 1 bus,
and it's not their fault the routes don't favour them.

It's a good policy, because it gets rid of all the faff of transfer
tickets and the ripoff that results from the vast majority of passengers
not knowing about them and drivers not bothering to inform them. But I
don't buy your argument. Unless you're a child you choose where you
live. And you choose where you work. If you choose to do inconvenient
journeys that's your problem.

If we can agree that people move to be near particular railways or
motorways, and I'm sure they do -- I did -- I can't accept that it's
ever the case for a bus route. They're just too ephemeral. Like a
cheap Ryanair destination, they can be gone in a moment.

It's a bit like people in Bromley moaning about not having any tubes.

Well, I moan about the lack of transfers, but don't think it's the
same at all. South London is bereft of the Underground thanks to
history, corporate decisions and, some say, geology. I'll never agree
with what Bromley did, by the way, but I see the objection they had.

On the other hand, I am as very well served as almost everyone else in
Greater London, with one of the world's best bus networks. It just
doesn't necessarily go where I want, although it might have done a
year ago and it might do in future. I have no complaint about the
level of service, I just want the *same* treatment that rail
travellers get, a ticket to where I'm going, not some arbitrary point
along the way.

I wonder what the figures are? What would the PAYG single fare need
to be for a change to transfers to need no extra subsidy? Yes,
occasional return journeys might be made, in the same way that a
second journey might be possible with a rail OSI. You could make a
transfer only to a different route, but that would remove the benefit
of not faffing about with transfer tickets during disruption (or a
planned event).

Richard.