Such poor service (From York Press)
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Such poor service
11:23am Thursday 10th January 2013 in Letters By Readers' letters
I AM a regular passenger on the Number 6 (Purple Line) in York. I use the bus to travel from home to work almost every day.
I work at the hospital, which is on the Purple Line route. There was a distinct lack of buses over the festive period. There was a reduced Saturday service on some days, and none at all on others. This was a problem for colleagues commuting at the end of shifts.
I waited on January 4 at my local stop (Glen Road) for the bus, which should come at approximately 7.15am. It finally arrived at 7.32am. The driver also waited at Rougier Street in the city centre for a number of minutes. This made me late for work.
This is not an isolated incident. I am more shocked when the bus does arrive on time. The buses have regularly been late on a morning, and sometimes do not turn up at all.
A lot of the bus drivers do not come from York, and don’t seem to know the routes. Some even argue about the fare. I pay £1.90 from Glen Road to Clarence Street, or the hospital and drivers often try to charge £2.20.
This is an appalling service.
Emma Allison, Hawthorn Grove, Heworth, York.
•I READ with interest Mr Haughton’s letter of December 31 about the Christmas bus service.
I used to work at a major tourist attraction and the only days of the year we closed were Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year’s Day – three days out of the year.
We were open all other bank holidays, even the extra ones if Christmas fell on a weekend, and still some people seemed to begrudge us those three days off.
When the buses ran a Sunday service on bank holidays, I had to get a taxi to work if I couldn’t get a lift, but that’s just the way it went.
We have Park&Ride sites on all sides of York and as I understand it, these were all operational.
I have had my gripes about First buses in the past, but on this occasion I think the criticism is most unfair. Surely bus drivers are entitled to three days off a year to spend with their families?
P Witlea, Grey Place, Bishopthorpe, York.
Comments(13)
sheps lad
says...
11:47am Thu 10 Jan 13
yorkiemum wrote:PP will no doubt advise you to get a bike!
Oh how I agree with you Emma. I am on the number 6 purple line route but unlike you don't use the bus regularly for this reason!! 2 weeks ago I needed to go into town so checked the online timetable and went out for the scheduled bus, 25 freezing minutes later I was still waiting having seen 3 go up to Tesco! What on earth are these buses doing! in the end I rang home and begged a lift into town in a nice warm car!!
Fat Harry
says...
12:27pm Thu 10 Jan 13
yorkiemum
says...
2:14pm Thu 10 Jan 13
sheps lad wrote:Except I was intending to have a few glasses of wine and the last thing I could manage was riding my bike when sloshed!!!! Not a pretty sight
yorkiemum wrote:PP will no doubt advise you to get a bike!
Oh how I agree with you Emma. I am on the number 6 purple line route but unlike you don't use the bus regularly for this reason!! 2 weeks ago I needed to go into town so checked the online timetable and went out for the scheduled bus, 25 freezing minutes later I was still waiting having seen 3 go up to Tesco! What on earth are these buses doing! in the end I rang home and begged a lift into town in a nice warm car!!
Marc77
says...
4:28pm Thu 10 Jan 13
sensationalism
says...
5:09pm Thu 10 Jan 13
trian at various times.
Emma Allison's address is Hawthorn Grove, right next to the Sustrans bike path that terminates near the hospital.
Ten mins cycling would be the obvious choice if this was my journey to work.
daveyboy25
says...
11:44pm Thu 10 Jan 13
Magicman!
says...
4:29am Fri 11 Jan 13
Marc77 wrote:What about those who work at Monks Cross who now have had their shifts altered to work up to 9pm? no bus for them back home.... and if they start work after 5pm and don't live on the route of the 9 there's no bus to work either!
Perhaps you could try catching a First York service numbered 10 upwards on a regular basis. Then you will realise the length of time you had to wait for the number 6 is nothing compared to users of these services, some of whom regularly have to wait for over an hour for a bus.
I waited on January 4 at my local stop (Glen Road) for the bus, which should come at approximately 7.15am. It finally arrived at 7.32am. The driver also waited at Rougier Street in the city centre for a number of minutes. This made me late for work.
To be fair, the number 5 is just as bad. One morning in June I needed to be at the NRM for 9am - so you'd think that using the 5, which goes along Leeman Road would be ideal. Well the bus was due at my stop (as best as could be worked out from the 4 calling points listed on the timetable for the entire route) at 8.15am and I was there by 8.10am.... the bus rolled up at 8.32am. You'd think because he was already late he'd try to make up the time but no! he crawled along a perfectly clear Museum Street (of which there was a shiny green light at the bottom of Lendal Bridge waiting for us) at no more than 10mph until the traffic light went red and then he picked up speed. He got to Station Road monument and decided to shut down the enging and take a break!! he was over 20 minutes late by then and he took a break!! It is astounding and appauling, but not isolated. When I was having to rely on the 5 to go to and from college there were several times when I had to wait over 70 minutes for a bus as vehicle after vehicle would roll up at the terminus and go out of service.
A lot of the bus drivers do not come from York, and don’t seem to know the routes. Some even argue about the fare. I pay £1.90 from Glen Road to Clarence Street, or the hospital and drivers often try to charge £2.20.
The problem there is that the fare stage changes along Wigginton Road - the hospital stop opposite Clarence Gardens is in one fare band whilst the next stop along opposite Vyner Street is the next band up, so you pay and extra 30p for goign 100 meters.
But York's bus drivers not being from York is not a recent thing.... back when I lived in a different house and went to Huntington School I used the H5 (which later became the H6) bus service home. And it was a weekly occurance that the driver would miss the turning for Byland Avenue and carry on along huntington road, often going to Hayleys terrace to use the roundabout to turn around - but once or twice they did a 5-point turn in Huntington Road at the entrance to what was Yearsley House! Quite a sight I'm sure to see a green leyland atlantean blocking the entire road sideways! Oh, and of course the incident where a driver decided to knock on my head with a £2 coin telling me off that I hadn't changed it up into something smaller to make his life easier! And that was in the EARLY days of Firstbus in York.
Tragic Man!
says...
8:09pm Fri 11 Jan 13
Malcolm
says...
12:47am Sun 13 Jan 13
bicky98
says...
5:40pm Sun 13 Jan 13
Tragic Man!
says...
8:10pm Sun 13 Jan 13
bicky98 wrote:meanwhile, back in the real world.....
First York have terrible service I suggest abandon them and Use Transdev or other operators and make other arrangement's so Maybe stagecoach can come in
Dennis.Dart
says...
9:25am Fri 18 Jan 13
ndence for the Office of The Traffic Commissioner & Public Inquiry Team:
Hillcrest House
386 Harehills Lane
Leeds
LS9 6NF
Telephone: 0300 123 9000
Fax: 0113 249 8142
yorkiemum says...
11:35am Thu 10 Jan 13