App-y at First Cymru

Technology. It's long been my opinion that some bus operators have been slow to embrace it.

First Bus have produced an app available for iPhone or Android, now available for download. First impressions of it are very positive. It automatically selects the region, though this can be changed easily. Users can search timetables which, while they appear as a long list for the region selected, are searchable and easy to navigate. Fare information is available (but not single or return fares, strange that most bus operators want to keep those to themselves....) plus service updates and links to their Facebook and Twitter pages. Users can view route maps and there's a section for checking the times of the next buses at a particular stop, though whenever I try to do something with that, the app crashes, but bugs can always be expected of a new app. One pity so far is that it doesn't seem possible to view or download whole timetables or even the booklets on the First Cymru site, but for me it's more user friendly than their website and is more likely to be my port of call for information. 

Great work by First.

Now a Stagecoach app would be very handy as I use them more often, but I'm not holding my breath of one appearing any time soon.

Green and red

Stagecoach in South Wales are rolling out a green-light system to show how well their drivers drive. GPS equipment on board which detects numerous movements each minute is able to show how harshly a driver brakes or accelerates, how much they swerve in and out of traffic and so on. The system, which can be seen by the driver using a green, amber, red light system, can show immediately how well a driver drives a bus, plus they can also find out online afterwards how they perform.

Such a system is common in a few other parts of the UK. The main motivation for installing such a system is to provide savings on fuel costs, especially with the reductions in BSOG (Bus Service Operator's Grant, which provides a tax rebate on fuel used in service).

However, if drivers are going to be penalised for harsh acceleration and braking, tight timetables are going to struggle even more. Routes that struggle to maintain time are going to struggle even more to the point where they may well have to be rescheduled, or Stagecoach will feel the wrath of fines from VOSA. In some cases, any efficiency savings from using less fuel may well be cancelled out, or may even cost the company more, in using extra vehicles/drivers to maintain the timetables. Who knows, maybe the system will cost some routes more than it will save them? What will happen then? Frequency cuts rather than extra buses to maintain the same service levels?

Interesting times ahead, that's for sure!

Then Three Come Along....

What's the old saying? Something along the lines of you wait for one bus and three turn up at once? Well, there's three little bits of news to post so I thought I'd do it in the same post. 

On Monday, Stagecoach started operating their new 10 minutely 120/130 service as they had hoped to run back at the end of last year. The 244 Pontypridd - Bridgend is slightly amended and no longer runs to the Royal Glamorgan Hospital. Also, all 132 services run between Maerdy and Cardiff when previously the 18 past from Cardiff only went as far as Pontypridd and passengers wishing to go further had to change onto the X32. The X32 timetable leaves Maerdy 7 minutes later at 12 minutes past each hour and Cardiff at 45 minutes past (3 minutes later than before) but services before 8am remain the same. The 120/130 services no longer serve Trehafod but the 132, which previously didn't, does. The X32 doesn't. It'll be interesting to see if the extra 132 service eases the pressure on some of the morning X32s, which seemed to be more popular than the 132 between Maerdy and Pontypridd, despite running exactly the same route and timetable.

Stagecoach have also announced the return of the Rhondda Megarider. Two years ago it was removed and the only weekly ticket option was the Megarider Gold. Priced at £18 I believe it is cheaper than it was before its removal. With the addition of a number of new vehicles, Stagecoach are clearly targetting the area and believe they can generate more growth. I can well imagine that the disappearance of the Rhondda Megarider would have caused a number of complaints. Compare this with First Cymru, who haven't invested in new vehicles for a long time now and operate a fleet of mainly P to T reg vehicles around South Wales. Bridgend doesn't have its own weekly ticket; passengers buy a First Week ticket that covers them across their network (cunningly disguised as a Bridgend weekly ticket with bonus of travel across all of First's buses in South Wales). Bridgend now has the highest cost of a local weekly ticket anywhere in South Wales. Terrible.

Mentioning First Cymru, they have decided to extend their Greyhound service to Newport and Bristol Airport from Cardiff and Swansea. Tickets from £6 from Cardiff and £10 from Swansea (the Bridgend option doesn't work for some reason). Pity the £1 fares from that date appear to have gone but tickets between Swansea and Cardiff are available for £2.50. Does South Wales need 15 coaches a day between Swansea and Bristol Airport? Who knows? It's certainly a brave venture by First and good luck to them with it.

Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!

Today saw a spot of snow around South Wales. Actually lots of snow. Many roads are unpassable. Yet despite the weather, people need to travel and hope that their buses and trains run despite the conditions. Back in December 2010, around 10 inches of snow fell on a Friday. Needing a few important items (not bread and milk!!!) I trudged through the snow to my nearby supermarket. Very few cars had dared to venture out, yet a local bus operator had managed to get a minibus to operate a service. I was gobsmacked to see it crawling along in deep snow, more amazed by the fact that it was, in fact, full. Were there really people waiting for a bus in such snow despite the fact that hardly any cars on the road? It would appear so. Incredible! This operator certainly doesn't have a website so it couldn't have informed passengers it was operating a single bus.

Talking of keeping passengers informed, needless to say bus companies phones would have been red hot all day, not to mention Traveline. Increasingly, operators are turning to the power of the internet to pass on information. Most decent sized operators have their own website for conveying information and Cardiff and Newport Bus kept regular updates.

Social media is also becoming a very popular way of getting in contact with passengers. More and more people use the likes of Twitter and Facebook as a way of keeping in touch and as such is a useful, sometimes vital tool. Here are two examples from Cardiff Bus and First Cymru, who along with Newport Bus must be commended on their efforts to keep people up to date with their travel situations.

Of the major operators only Stagecoach's social media presence is lacking. They don't currently offer updates on Twitter or Facebook. As has been previously mentioned, their website updates can be hit and miss and today saw another example. Nothing updated from 13.21 yet later that day they operated a few services in the Cwmbran area as can be seen on a Traveline update. I wonder if the passengers who used them were like the ones I saw on a clapped out minibus just over 2 years ago who must have been waiting for a bus purely in hope that something might turn up despite all the odds! Surely it's time now for Stagecoach to embrace social media? As a certain fictional market trader would say "You know it makes sense!"