On 02/03/2019 20:47, Roland Perry wrote:
But a bus an hour is enough to go out for the day - after all that's the
service on a great deal of the railways (outside of very big cities).

The problem in many villages is that the only buses you see are either
school contract vehicles, which do a run in to town in the morning and
come back out at about 4 pm, or a weekly service, which is usually on
market day, and lets you stay in town for three hours or so to do your
shopping.

Government cutbacks are now putting the weekly services under threat, as
the subsidies they rely on as "socially necessary services" are optional
and are being withdrawn all over England because councils can't afford them.

Other services that are going are ones in the suburbs outside core
hours, so the last bus which used to be at 23:00 or even later, now runs
at 20:00, or 21:00 on a Saturday.

--
Tciao for Now!

John.

On 02/03/2019 17:48, Arthur Figgis wrote:
On 02/03/2019 07:06, Graham Harrison wrote:
I live in Somerset and hold a concessionary bus pass (a "twirly pass"
as some have it). When I visit London I sometimes buy a combined
paper/orange train ticket/Travelcard. On other occasions I will use my
bus pass.

With the Travelcard it can go through the gates but when I board a bus
I just show the driver the orange ticket. My bus pass works on readers
outside London but in London I'm back to simply showing my pass. The
driver seems to push a button when I show either pass.

All that set me wondering. He might have a "paper travelcard" button
but I find the idea that he has a "Somerset bus pass" button difficult
to believe if only because I doubt he has time to read "Somerset" on
the pass. How do TfL get paid for my use of TfL services when I'm
using either a paper travelcard or my bus pass? For that matter do
they get paid?

While I'm asking, one of my most frequent uses of my bus pass is in
and around Salisbury which, of course, is in Wiltshire. How do
Wiltshire get paid (do they get paid)?

Hang on - surely public transport in London is only ever used by people
who live in London, which is why it makes 100% perfect sense to do all
those "OUTRAGE as London gets GBP X per head spent on transport" reports
that make the provincials spill their Wetherspoons mild over their ferrets.


Wetherspoons do a mild now?

--
Graeme Wall
This account not read.

In message , at 21:39:24 on Sat, 2 Mar
2019, John Williamson remarked:
On 02/03/2019 20:47, Roland Perry wrote:
But a bus an hour is enough to go out for the day - after all that's
the service on a great deal of the railways (outside of very big
cities).

The problem in many villages is that the only buses you see are either
school contract vehicles, which do a run in to town in the morning and
come back out at about 4 pm, or a weekly service, which is usually on
market day, and lets you stay in town for three hours or so to do your
shopping.

I agree that's a problem for all potential bus users, but the size of
the market for such villages is so small (even if the fares were zero
for everyone) that the best solution is a community "dial a ride".
....
Other services that are going are ones in the suburbs outside core
hours, so the last bus which used to be at 23:00 or even later, now
runs at 20:00, or 21:00 on a Saturday.

Ditto. If they are running almost empty, which they tend to, they are
easy prey.
--
Roland Perry

On 04/03/2019 16:15, Roland Perry wrote:
In message , at 21:39:24 on Sat, 2 Mar
2019, John Williamson remarked:
The problem in many villages is that the only buses you see are either
school contract vehicles, which do a run in to town in the morning and
come back out at about 4 pm, or a weekly service, which is usually on
market day, and lets you stay in town for three hours or so to do your
shopping.

I agree that's a problem for all potential bus users, but the size of
the market for such villages is so small (even if the fares were zero
for everyone) that the best solution is a community "dial a ride".
..
Which the council can't or refuse to afford to run either. :-/

Public transport is an "optional service", which means that when money
is tight, as it has been for a while now, and getting tighter by the
year, councils cut it first, before things like meals on wheels,
community policing and councillors allowances.

--
Tciao for Now!

John.

On 04/03/2019 16:15, Roland Perry wrote:
In message , at 21:39:24 on Sat, 2 Mar
2019, John Williamson remarked:
On 02/03/2019 20:47, Roland Perry wrote:
But a bus an hour is enough to go out for the day - after all that's
theÂ* service on a great deal of the railways (outside of very big
cities).

The problem in many villages is that the only buses you see are either
school contract vehicles, which do a run in to town in the morning and
come back out at about 4 pm, or a weekly service, which is usually on
market day, and lets you stay in town for three hours or so to do your
shopping.

I agree that's a problem for all potential bus users, but the size of
the market for such villages is so small (even if the fares were zero
for everyone) that the best solution is a community "dial a ride".
...
Other services that are going are ones in the suburbs outside core
hours, so the last bus which used to be at 23:00 or even later, now
runs at 20:00, or 21:00 on a Saturday.

Ditto. If they are running almost empty, which they tend to, they are
easy prey.

What I've never quite understood is why no-one has started to join up
two things that are suffering for various reasons - public transport and
pubs. Particularly as use of the latter often requires the use of the
former.

Community dial-a-ride vehicles are often unused (or underused) in the
evenings, so why don't rural pubs subsidise them (or as a minimum help
organise a service) to use for carrying punters of an evening?

Often a small town can be surrounded by several villages and residents
of the villages may want a night out in town and vice versa (assuming
the nice village boozer hasn't shut down).

Even without pub subsidies, these are servicees that would attract a
fare that may make the "community" uses of such vehicles viable outside
of when they are doing the pub run.

Someone Somewhere wrote:

What I've never quite understood is why no-one has started to join up
two things that are suffering for various reasons - public transport and
pubs. Particularly as use of the latter often requires the use of the
former.

Community dial-a-ride vehicles are often unused (or underused) in the
evenings, so why don't rural pubs subsidise them (or as a minimum help
organise a service) to use for carrying punters of an evening?

Often a small town can be surrounded by several villages and residents
of the villages may want a night out in town and vice versa (assuming
the nice village boozer hasn't shut down).

Even without pub subsidies, these are servicees that would attract a
fare that may make the "community" uses of such vehicles viable outside
of when they are doing the pub run.


Very difficulty to cater for everyone ,some would like to drink to the
bitter end ((sorry) others would wish to leave earlier . Getting someone
willing to drive and clean the vehicle which would mean working till the
early hours will not be easy either, with the best intentions in the world
someone will make a fool of them seriously and be sick which means an
unattractive vehicle for the users next day .
And to be honest I don’t think there would be that much of a demand and in
addition pubs that would subsidise such a service would be rare. Those that
need such a service bringing half dozen or so customers
won’t be viable enough in the first place to support one.

There is the odd pub that has tried running their own minibus to take
customers home but the one that tried it
In a village near Southampton had to give up as the local authorities felt
they were providing an unlicensed taxi service.
And that was a pub that is buzzing anyway and not depending on some old
farts from Camra turning up.

They have hit a new niche now and specialise in catering for dog owners
with organised walks and dog friendly facilities.
http://www.compassinn.co.uk

That is how a pub survives now , finding a niche and getting known for
it,in this case so successfully that people with children have moaned that
they are less welcome than people with dogs.

All power to the pubs elbow then.

GH

In message , at 16:50:33 on Mon, 4 Mar
2019, John Williamson remarked:
On 04/03/2019 16:15, Roland Perry wrote:
In message , at 21:39:24 on Sat, 2
Mar 2019, John Williamson remarked:
The problem in many villages is that the only buses you see are
either school contract vehicles, which do a run in to town in the
morning and come back out at about 4 pm, or a weekly service, which
is usually on market day, and lets you stay in town for three hours
or so to do your shopping.
I agree that's a problem for all potential bus users, but the size
of the market for such villages is so small (even if the fares were
zero for everyone) that the best solution is a community "dial a ride".
..
Which the council can't or refuse to afford to run either. :-/

They are still going in Cambridgeshire, and someone mentioned a similar
service in Essex the other week. See the thread "TfL demand-responsive
bus trial".

--
Roland Perry

On 04/03/2019 18:32, Marland wrote:

There is the odd pub that has tried running their own minibus to take
customers home but the one that tried it
In a village near Southampton had to give up as the local authorities felt
they were providing an unlicensed taxi service.
And that was a pub that is buzzing anyway and not depending on some old
farts from Camra turning up.

As a life member of CAMRA I take exception to that remark..! I am
neither old (well not all that old) nor do I fart (much).

That seems rather a shortsighted attitude to take. I assume they'd
rather have people attempting to drive home whilst plastered, then..?

A pub near where my mother lives does this and they've never had a problem.

--
Ria in Aberdeen

[Send address is invalid, use sipsoup at gmail dot com to reply direct]

On Sun, 24 Mar 2019 15:41:01 +0000, MissRiaElaine wrote:
On 04/03/2019 18:32, Marland wrote:

There is the odd pub that has tried running their own minibus to take
customers home but the one that tried it
In a village near Southampton had to give up as the local authorities felt
they were providing an unlicensed taxi service.
And that was a pub that is buzzing anyway and not depending on some old
farts from Camra turning up.

As a life member of CAMRA I take exception to that remark..! I am
neither old (well not all that old) nor do I fart (much).

That seems rather a shortsighted attitude to take. I assume they'd
rather have people attempting to drive home whilst plastered, then..?

If you give the plastered a ride home,you are depriving
the Filth of customers, you they don't like being deprived of
easy kills.



--
In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act.
- George Orwell