To think people don't use public transport as its so unreliable

[Outandabout43]

Have drove for the last 15 years so not really used public transport, however since moving area and now in walking distance to a train station have started to use this more.

It's actually cheaper to use the train to visit family if it's just myself and DD then it is to drive, and also takes an equal amount if time. Also cheaper to use the train into city centre then to pay for parking.

However, everytime I use the train, the train is either cancelled or delayed meaning we miss the connecting train and have to sit and then wait over an hour which is not fun with a 3 year old. Also nearest bus stop into the city is a 40 minute walk away.

Now I actually prefer public transport to driving, but not so much when an hours journey ends up taking 3.

We are being encouraged to use public transport more, but is there any wonder people don't.

Meaning that rail, like road, is also used for freight

Thatcher's bus reforms mean that (outside of London, and now Manchester), bus companies don't have to offer joined up ticketing. Nor are there any penalties for lack of reliability. This is especially frustrating when the service is tendered by the Local Authority as it meets a social need.

Our village is served by a service subsides by the LA, but there are no accountability or audit processes as part of the contract, which I think is the fault of legislation that ties the hands of the LA. So the bus just never turns up and the bus company rakes in the cash.

It all got so expensive! I hate being held to a timetable and I hate having to sit with people I don't know. Some of them can be right crackers (mainly on the bus it has a different kind of clientele to put it politely).

If you're going to a city then parking is often expensive. Although if there are a few of us it's cheaper to go by car and pay the parking. For instance I'm about £5 return to city centre. Parking for the day can be as cheap as £9 booked on the app.

I also get a special rate nearby my work at an ncp which is cheaper than the train and much more convenient. I pick kids up from school so I need to know I'll be there. I have no back up and if the train is delayed or cancelled I'd have to jump in a very expensive taxi!

Buses are also extortionate even just for a few miles.

I 100% agree. Public transport is an utter joke where I am.

Makes me nervous using it because I might get sticks somewhere

I went to uni for 2 years at the city where I live. Lived in a village about 5 miles from where I live. At least one day of the week, I had a lecture at 5pm and at 6pm I had to run to the bus stop which was about 15 min walk to catch the 6:20pm bus, the last one to the village. By the time it takes to get out of the lecture theatre and out of the building - missed it about 90% of the time as two major roads to cross too. Got the more frequent bus service to the town about 2 miles from home, ringing my parents who collected me.

Fast forward 5 years. I got the HND which the uni agreed to do and convert that to BA (Hons) at another uni 100 miles away. I was back living with my parents after splitting up with my ex and was made redundant. First job I got was in the city centre. By this time I passed my driving test. Drove down to the town mentioned above, parked down a residential street and got the bus. There was no way I could do this without doing this as one week, shifts started at 8am and the other, shifts finished at 8pm.

West Yorkshire buses and trains are covered by WY Metro. Can buy a ticket for buses or buses and trains. As my ex had to take two buses to work and both were different operators - First and Arriva. Took advantages of it on our days and weeks off work going to places about 25 miles away.

I use trains, it’s a pain when there’s a strike but other wise they’re okay

And its like a fucking sauna. I wonder what people will choose this week Sweatbucket public transport or their cars with built in air conditioning

Want people to use public transport/ PUT AIR CONDITIONING IN

They do have air conditioning, sometimes it is too cold.

Not round here they dont Im not in London.

They should bring back 1st, 2nd and 3rd class travel on all services, including buses.

I don't drive and use buses all the time for short journeys/shopping. What amazes me is that the buses are packed and there is clearly a demand for the service yet they never put on more buses at peak times.
In London there is a high demand for public transport.
And we have the ridiculous non routes that take 5 mins by car and yet there is no bus connecting those two points, yet there is a big main road. For example I live very near Kew Gardens....by car. Yet no bus connecting those points within two miles. Tube requires a change and several flights of stairs. Old people want to use buses and people with pushchairs. The planners never factor it in.

They already have first class on longer distance trains. Trouble is that either the guard doesn't bother enforcing it (especially on shorter duration routes - they're make an effort on very long distance but that's usually because they feed you, not because they're wanting to weed out the dross!), or you get chavs with money who buy first class tickets and are chavvy in first class. Money is no longer a distinction of behaviour!

It would never work on buses because there'd be no one to enforce it unless you wanted to double the fares so they could afford to employ conductors/inspectors again!

@Nettleskeins

yet they never put on more buses at peak times

They don't have car parks full of buses standing idle that can be brought out at peak times. Nor do they have drivers who they can employ for just a couple of hours per day.

The logistics just wouldn't work. The bus companies start and end the day with a skeleton service, but during the bulk of the day, they have the full quota of buses and drivers doing the full timetable. Inevitably the buses are a lot quieter at the beginning and/or end of each route, but pick up more passengers as they travel through the busier areas.

Not only would you need lots of extra spare buses to be bought, and lots of extra "zero hours" drivers to just work a few hours, but you'd also need buses with shorter routes just where the bulk of the passengers are. Cost would be astronomical.

We already have buses virtually carrying fresh air for large portions of their journeys outside of the peak periods.

You can't have even more buses and drivers just stood around idle for several hours per day just so that they can put on an extra few services at the busiest times.