The big plan for better buses
(32 votes, 4.59 out of 5)
Loading ...Affordable Buses
Buses I can afford to use for my regular journeys and that makes bus travel the obvious option when travelling to work, the shops, school and for a night out.
The cost of catching the bus is just one of the things that can put people off leaving their cars at home, and prices in Glasgow are much higher than in many cities. Those who can afford to buy a pass up-front can often get a good deal, but individual tickets are much more expensive. It’s unfair that people on low incomes, or who only use the bus a few times a week, have to pay so much more.
Bus companies can put the price up whenever they want and there is no limit to how much they can charge. There is no need for consultation with the Commissioner for Transport, SPT, and certainly not with you, the passengers.
How do you feel about the cost of the buses? Would you like to see cheaper fares, or tickets that integrate better with other forms of transport? Or here’s a radical idea – how about buses that give change?
Yes, I’ve always wondered how much extra profit First Bus are making from their ‘no change’ system…
Bus companies need to recognise a simple fact: buses are the runt of the transport family. Slower than trains, less comfortable than trains, and unlike trains they have to share the roads with cars. And unlike a taxi, they don’t take you straight to your destination (unless your destination is a bus stop). Buses are a compromise in comfort and convenience. As a result, they should be blatantly cheaper than any other forms of transport, because this is effectively the only advantage they can give over cars to someone who isn’t concerned about pollution. It certainly shouldn’t be cheaper for a person to fill up a tank of petrol and drive about instead of taking the bus.
But as I’ve tweeted to you, if you think Glasgow buses are bad, you should see Aberdeen – First’s monopoly on buses lead to fares that will make a grown man weep.