At the last full meeting of Bury Council I asked a question of Bury’s representatives to Transport for Greater Manchester about their plans for ‘Real-Time’ bus information at bus stops.
People might be familiar with the signs that we now have on Metrolink Platorms which show (after many years of them being unused) show what time the next trams are coming. People might also have seen the same thing at bus stops in other towns in this country, and also abroad.
The answer seems to be that Greater Manchester has NO plans for real-time bus information displays at bus stops. It does have plans for a ‘smart phone’ app which would enable people to look on their phone when the next buses were coming to their stop. This is great, but obviously no use at all for people who do not have smart phones, which is probably includes quite a few people who use buses.
What people have found in other places is that bus stop information increases people’s confidence in the bus system, and is one of the ways that people can be encouraged to use public transport more.
So why not Greater Manchester? We invested the computer here, surely we can manage some automated signs on key bus stops (I don’t think anyone is suggesting every single bus stop, but at important/busy stops this could be very useful.)
The answer we were given is: “I take your point but we’ve got many thousands of bus stops in Greater Manchester so for example we might be able to have them in somewhere like Bournemouth but Greater Manchester is just too big.”
We asked friends from around the country and here are just some of the places – big and small – that already have real-time bus information at their bus stops.
Birmingham
Sheffield
Leeds
Edinburgh
Norwich
Southampton
Maidenhead
London (all over, not just central London)
Milton Keynes
Reading
Guildford
Reigate
Redhill
Woking
Nottingham
Bedford
Bristol
Oxford
Brighton
Halifax
Huddersfield
Cambridge
Huntingdon
Maidstone
Cardiff
Gwynnedd
York
Abbots Langley
Aberdeen
Horsham
Crawley
Worthing
Chelmsford
Guildford
Poole
Hull
Newhaven
Aylesbury
Peterborough
Eastleigh
Sandwell
Colchester
Harrogate
Greater Manchester needs to do better!
Tim Pickstone- Holyrood Councillor
In other words, there are other towns and cities in England, Scotland and Wales whose councillors have their wits about them and show greater gumption than the Labour councillors of Bury can muster. Now there’s a surprise!
I’ve made MANY written complaints to Greater Manchester Transport and to First Bus concerning the PATHETIC service I regularly experience on the 524 Bury to Bolton via Radcliffe Service.
Not only do the arrival times of 524 Buses at intermediate stops BEAR NO RESEMBLANCE to the Published Time Tables, but buses on this service REGULARLY don’t even COMMENCE their journeys On Time !
I’ve experienced Public Transport in Perth, Australia, where many Bus Stops do have Electronic Displays.
Bus Departure Times are displayed at the Main Terminus, along with a Real Time Clock, and information about Following Departure Times. At Intermediate Stops the Displays show the Arrival Time of the next bus, TIMED TO THE SECOND.
TransPerth operates its Bus, Train and Ferry Services SO ACCURATELY that you can set your watch from the arrival of its Buses !
Greater Manchester Transport has made NO EFFORT to answer any of my complaints, and has redirected them all to First Bus.
I appreciate that Traffic Congestion, Road Works, Closures, Diversions, Bad Weather, Unusual Demand resulting from some Special Event, and Road Traffic Accidents can all interfere with the Punctuality of a Bus, especially on a long and complicated route such as the 524 route, and First Bus have used them all in their replies. But NONE of those problems can explain why a Bus FAILS to COMMENCE its journey ON TIME.
For this problem First Bus quote Shortages of Drivers, Serious Delays to Buses arriving, which prevents their timely Turn Around and Departure, and having to Withdraw Drivers to prevent them from Exceeding their Permitted Driving Hours.
These are Administration Problems and a “Proper” Bus Company would Recruit More Staff, Insert Extra Buses to Replace Buses Running Late, or have “Replacement Drivers” ready to step in and replace a Driver who was approaching his Maximum Hours.
Instead we often see Crowds Growing at Stand O at Bury Interchange, the Published Departure Time of the next 524 comes … and goes ….. with NO SIGN OF A BUS !
Five or Ten Minutes later, and sometimes EVEN LONGER, a 524 (from Bolton) arrives, discharges its Passengers, and then its Driver alights and Locks His Bus.
OK, he might well be due his Break, or have reached the End of His Shift, or would Exceed his Maximum Hours if he departed on another journey, but all these things should be known at Control, and they should have either Inserted an Additional Bus that could have DEPARTED ON TIME, or at the VERY LEAST have had a Replacement Driver waiting with the HUGE CROWD of Passengers, ready to take the Bus out as soon as it could load its passengers.
I blame LOWEST PRICE TENDERING for this, and MOST of the rest of the Nation’s Problems.
Civil Servants who DON’T HAVE A CLUE ABOUT ANYTHING, make decisions that affect (and usually ruin) most peoples’ lives.
They have NO IDEA whether or not a Company can Provide a Decent and Reliable Service for the price they have quoted. They HOPE that they CAN, and HOPE that the only reason that every other quote was Dearer, was simply because all the other Companies wanted to make More Profit.
But if they CAN’T, then it’s the Public who Suffer, or the Company they gave the contract to, Goes Out of Business.
Sadly, a consequence of this SICK SYSTEM of Awarding Contracts often means that Companies who submit HONEST and VIABLE Prices, also go out of business through a Lack of Work.
Electronic Bus Information Displays would be PRETTY USELESS in Bury, until we get a Bus service that can RUN ON TIME.