Wanted: smaller buses and real-time travel info
Monday 12th July 2010, 11:30AM BST.
PAID parking, smaller buses and real-time travel information would encourage more people onto public transport, according to Bus Users Group coordinator Fergus Dunlop.
The group has released a report looking into the proposed rise in fares which is due to come in this August.
A Bug survey found that people were keen for paid parking in Town, a timetable better suited to office workers and real-time information on buses available on the internet.
‘Bug accepts that some of these measures have political or financial costs,’ said Mr Dunlop. ‘However this fare hike cries out for at least some pro-bus measures to balance the message.’
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Smaller buses – good
Real-time travel info – good
Paid parking – bad
Paid parking will just hit the worse off. Those that could afford paid parking already have private car parks where they work.
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Paid parking again, well I suppose we haven’t heard about it for a while…. :-/
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Mmmm…sounds like good common sense really doesn’t it.
Soften the blow of increasing fares with some decent improvements and people might even get to like using the bus. Let’s hope that a timetable better suited to office workers doesn’t mean a timetable less suited to shoppers, tourists and people who just want to use the bus for getting around. Not everyone wants to go to town on a bus.
I enquired on which bus would be best to go from the Hampshire Lodge area to Cobo a while ago and was told I would need to catch a bus to town then another bus to take me to Cobo, you wouldn’t get on the Sark boat to go to Herm eh!
As for smaller buses…what an amazing conclusion.
The large buses may be fine for the Town to bridge routes and others that are well used but out to the country they are just a menace.
It was no coincidence that an exemption was drafted into the oversize vehicle law that allowed the large buses to roam freely around the island, any private individual or company with a truck or other vehicle of that size would be forced to use an escort for every journey.
If you go to places such as Dinan in France, they use a small bus which must seat about 15 or so people and would be ideal for the rural routes we have here.
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Smaller buses – what a great idea !!!
So rather than standing on a big bus that is full I can instead stand waiting for the next bus and watch the one I used to catch drive on, still full, without me on it.
How is me waiting for a later bus going to enhance the service ? Or do BUG think we should run 2 smaller buses at the same time when things are busy ?
As for paid parking ….. drivers should count themselves lucky. Yes bus services are subsidised, but car drivers get parking spaces laid on all over the island absolutely free !!!
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Ted,
I’m not sure you are right about ‘those who can afford paid parking’ all having private car parks. There’s plenty of very nice cars on the North Beach, and plenty of people seem to be able to afford to get to work at silly-o-clock (or even worse, sit in their car for an hour doing nothing!) so they can guarantee a space. Paid parking is partly about giving people the option to pay for better parking availability, so they can spend that time with their families.
Still, I’d like to see a much more inventive approach to dealing with this question.
Here’s one idea:
Permits could be issued for the 10 hour spaces to residents and employees who work in Town and do not have access to private parking. They could then be given the option to retire their permit at any time, in return for which they would receive from Environment a one-off sum equal to, say, a year’s worth of long-term parking at the prevailing rate (funded out of the parking revenue).
Permits could be privately resold, and might end up attracting a higher market value than the buy-back rate, in which case holders could stand to make a bit of a mint by selling them on. People who receive a permit but don’t use a car could immediately sell them.
To wind the system up, the permits could gradually be phased out (over a few years) by reducing the number of spaces covered, in which case eventually everyone will opt to sell them back.
The niggly bit of course is how you decide who gets a permit in the first place…
Another much simpler idea is just to phase in paid parking very gradually over a few years, i.e. starting at a very low rate like 5p an hour.
Anything has to be better than the current system – it’s just madness!
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Paid parking will NOT get me to use the bus, it will get me to shop on line more. So less money for Guernsey and there shops. Why would I spend money on petrol to drive to town THEN pay to park THEN pay higher amounts for products in town then on the net. Why would I or anyone else pay this needles money when i can save so much money ordering it online and have it delivered to my door.
Really people are keen on paid parking?? Where did you find these crazy people or are the people who are keen the ones that will be getting the money from the paid parking.
Smaller buses a good idea, im shocked, about time the states had a good idea. Shame they didnt think of this when they spent all our money not long ago on all these over sized buses. I suppose it would be to much to ask them to use there brains all the time.
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