The Bus Chronicles: Better Days

Tiny bus

Having reached a nadir of disappointment on Monday, I'm pleased to report that the 385 did manage to turn a corner this week and began providing a better service on the 4:30pm bus on Thursday and Friday.

By which I mean that it was only 5-10 minutes late both days and on one of those days (Thursday) we actually got a decent sized bus.

Truly, my expectations of what makes a great bus service have really lowered since January.

Bigger bus

On Friday we were back on the tiny bus again, but it was at least a tiny bus with more seats than Wednesday. We seemed to be back to the full complement, rather than the all time low of 15 seats a few days before.

The driver seemed very energetic and vigorous in his approach and took a distinctly robust approach to the  first set of Offerton speed bumps, leading to passengers being slung about like sacks of potatoes and much loudly acerbic real time commentary from the wincing sixth formers.

Then, by St John's Church, the bus impishly (and, it has to be said, adorably) zipped past the double decker jam packed 383 like a youthful Fiat 500 zipping past a 4X4. 

He must have taken the real time passenger feedback on board as he took a much less bracing approach to the second set of Offerton speed bumps. 

It felt surprisingly invigorating when I stepped off the bus. Like the 385 and I were both finishing the week very much back in the game.

The Bus Chronicles: ...And then, with a judder, it closed it's doors in my face

On Monday the 4:30pm 385 was late again, as it is most days. 

The bus stop was at what I'd describe as 'peak full' for the week in that there was probably in the region of 15-20 people waiting for the bus to turn up.

When it finally arrived at 4:45pm, we could see that Diamond had sent the tiny bus again and that it was absolutely rammed: There were people standing all down the aisle and all the seats were taken. 

This wasn't the first time that Diamond had seen fit to send the tiniest possible bus to cover the always busy post school and college rush, but it was the first time that they hadn't been able to fit everyone at the bus stop onto it. 

The first time, in fact, that they had slammed the doors in our faces and driven off, leaving the two thirds of people who hadn't been able to get on standing in shocked disbelief.

The more sensible/cynical amongst us didn't stand in disbelief for long: We had about 15 minutes to hot foot it down the road to catch the 5pm 383. If it had been a strike day, we'd all have been walking home. As it was, anyone from Mellor was probably walking it from Marple, and that was only if they managed to get the 383, which - needless to say - was also rammed full.

It seems so short sighted to send such tiny buses to cover such a busy period of the day: It's like Diamond and the Bee Network don't realise how busy the bus stops are between 3pm and 5pm. Or like they think that everyone at 6th form college drives. The 385 actually goes past three sixth form colleges on it's route: Two at the Stockport end, one at the Marple end, and you'd think that they'd be maximising that by putting bigger buses on at peak times. But they don't. Anyone would think they didn't want the custom.

When the 385 was run by D&G, pre Bee Network, they used a series of little red buses, which could probably seat in the region of about 24 people. By contrast, the tiny yellow Bee Network buses can seat about 20 people. So we've actually lost capacity since joining the Bee Network. Alongside that, we don't always get the yellow buses anyway and, of the alternatives we're provided with, some are distinctly ropy: We had a bus a few weeks ago that looked like a converted ambulance, accompanied by a very embarrassed driver. 

Having been betrayed and abandoned by the 385 on Monday, I left work at 4:30pm on Tuesday with mixed feelings. The bus stop that had been so full on Monday was standing empty so I assumed that the bus had arrived on time for a change and that I'd missed it. I began walking to the 383 stop. About five minutes later, the 385 sailed past me: Bigger... but also emptier.

Trust is a finite thing: If you break it too often, or too brutally, you lose it forever.

People had clearly decided to make other arrangements. 

On Wednesday we were back to tiny buses and, if anything, the little yellow bus provided was even tinier than usual. It turned up at 4:45pm and most of the estimated 15 seats were taken. 

15 seats! That's not a bus service - it's a minibus.

It feels like the bus is shrinking before my very eyes. Next week it'll be 10 seats, then 5, then it'll disappear altogether in a puff of smoke. 

Photo of a dying pink rose by Alexander Grey on Unsplash

The Bus Chronicles: Unpaused and let loose - Strikes again

A press release from Unite, issued on Friday 3rd October, has confirmed the following:

That drivers at First have accepted the new pay offer put to them, and will no longer be taking part in the bus strikes due to resume this week.

That drivers at Stagecoach have rejected the new pay offer put to them, and will be resuming strike action this week (having paused last weeks strikes). 

Drivers at Metroline, who were on strike last week, will also be on strike this week.

Or, as lifted directly from the aforementioned Unite press release:

Over 1,900 workers at Metroline and Stagecoach will now walk out on 10, 11, 13, 18, 23 and 24 October.

I am incredibly relieved that the cat doesn't need to go to the vets this week...

The Bus Chronicles: An industrial pause

Some hours after I last blogged about the bus strikes it was announced by TfGM that both Stagecoach and First had paused their strike action, and that this weeks strikes by them will not go ahead.

It was announced earlier today that Metroline buses will still strike on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday of this week.

An offer has been put on the table, which Stagecoach and First are considering, but Metroline are not considering it. Hence striking instead. 

I await further developments with interest...

The Bus Chronicles: Insights gained from four days of strike action

Now that the initial series of strikes by First, Stagecoach and Metroline have ended, I've had time to reflect on both the sheer level of disruption caused and some of the wider issues raised. It seems easiest to present these in a list:

1) Traffic congestion on strike days was awful: 

Conclusion: On Monday, the final day of the strikes, I'd estimate the number of cars on the road at 4pm to be about three times the volume that would normally be on the road at that time. Faced with no other way of getting to work, or to education, people clearly opted for lifts or taxi's as their only way of getting where they needed to go. With this in mind, it would interesting to see what footfall was like in major shopping areas around Greater Manchester over the two strike days at the weekend. 

2) This made what few buses were running very late indeed.

Conclusion: The number of cars on the road slowed down the smaller number of buses on the road. To give an example of this, the 4:30pm 385 didn't arrive until 5pm on Monday. OK, it didn't arrive until 4:55pm on Friday either - when the buses weren't on strike - but I think that was a weird coincidence and doesn't entirely undermine my point.

3) People have no idea who is running their buses and how they are run

Conclusion: Not a surprise as, pre Bee Network, no one had a clue how their buses were being run either. This sense that the average passenger has no idea of the ins and outs of bus franchising (and why would they unless they are a bus geek and/or campaigned for public control in 2019...) was reinforced by overhearing a passenger on the 385 on Monday telling someone on her phone that the 385 was running because it was a "private" bus and wasn't part of the Bee Network. As opposed to the truth of the matter, ie that it's run by Diamond, who do operate buses as part of the Bee Network, but who - unlike First, Stagecoach and Metroline - haven't voted for strike action. 

4) A lot of kids didn't make it to class on Friday and Monday

Conclusion: Expect more of this. If there aren't back channel communications going on within Greater Manchester between schools and colleges and various high ups in transport and the Mayors office, I will be amazed. While schools and colleges can offer advice to students and their families about alternative ways to get their kids in, there isn't a lot that they can do if parents and carers can't drop the kids off themselves, can't afford taxi's, and there is literally no other way to get their kid in that doesn't involve a lengthy walk. I mean, you could walk from Heaton Norris to Heaviley if you got up at stupid o'clock in the morning, but there sure as hell isn't going to be a bus or a train service running that you could catch. And, of course, we do not have a tram network in Stockport so that isn't an option either. Also, speaking as someone who did occasionally walk from the Heatons to Stockport during Covid, and who wasn't 16 at the time, even if students were prepared to walk from Heaton Norris to Heaviley to get into school/college... they'd be too exhausted to learn anything once they arrived. 

5) Bikes aren't going to be a viable strike busting option when it comes to the next run of strikes

Conclusion: Because cyclists will just be stuck in the same traffic jams as everyone else.

Overall thoughts?

While I feel that my journey to work is secure next week (because the 385 is running on strike days and I get up horrifically early...), I am fully expecting to be walking home at least once on Tuesday, Wednesday and/or Thursday. I honestly think it will be quicker than any road based method of transport. 

Future strike dates:

• Tuesday 30th September
• Wednesday 1st October
• Thursday 2nd October 
• Friday 10th October
• Saturday 11th October
• Monday 13th October
• Saturday 18th October
• Thursday 23rd October
• Friday 24th October

(Source: Unite)

The Bus Chronicles: The inevitable 'bus strikes' post

I have resisted blogging about the bus strikes by Stagecoach, First and Metroline that we are currently suffering because it feels so... obvious to write about them. And while it feels obvious, it also feels too complicated an issue to cover adequately. 

Firstly, it needs to be stated that the drivers at Stagecoach, First and Metroline have a perfect right to strike, as do the workers at TfGM who are also being balloted at the moment over similar concerns around pay and conditions. 

There is, however, a major elephant in the room/bus station and that is that the strikes reveal the extent to which both First and Stagecoach still dominate the bus sector in Greater Manchester, despite the buses being taken back under public control. 

Surely one of the major reasons for taking the buses back under public control was to avoid the kind of natural monopolies enjoyed by First and Stagecoach, who, under de-regulation, effectively carved up the whole Greater Manchester area into two fiefdoms? First having North Manchester, Stagecoach having South Manchester.  

Need I also remind readers that when the Bee Network was first mooted, First threatened to flounce off and leave Greater Manchester altogether if it went ahead, and Stagecoach took the GMCA to judicial review (and ran a disinformation campaign) to try and stop it happening at all.

Not that this is why the drivers are on strike; just that the current strike is probably giving the owners of First and Stagecoach a certain amount of Greater Manchester related shadenfreude at the moment, given they never wanted the Bee Network to be a success in the first place. 

Locally, two of my three buses are not available and I am finding myself entirely at the mercy of the 385. Six months ago this would have been a terrible state of affairs given the horrific unreliability of the service but now, things have ever so slightly improved.  I gave them a chance throughout the summer holidays and September, and I'm currently finding the service... marginally better than it was earlier in the year. By which I mean there are fewer occasions of it simply not turning up all and that it generally arrives within 20 minutes of when it should do. Not great, but liveable with if you significantly lower your expectations of what a good bus service should look like.

So, commuting to work on strike days should be fine, but only on days when life doesn't get in the way.

As such, I survived the Friday obstacle course of dropping the cat off at the vet in the morning*, going to work, coming home from work, and then collecting the cat from the vets after work by asking a friend if she would mind giving me lifts. 

Similarly, I yesterday commuted to work on my bike, it being the one weekend of the year where I have to work a Saturday. Having picked what was surely the wettest day of the year to do this, I really wouldn't recommend this as a strike busting form of transport long term. Visibility was awful, I am chronically unfit, and probably spent about 75% of the time walking, not riding. Not to mention getting so soaked I thought I would never be dry again.

The 385 does run on Saturdays by the way; it just doesn't start running until 8:27am, which is no good if you're expected at work for 8:30am.

Further strikes have been announced for the 30th September plus the 1st and 2nd of October. Managers at all three companies remain intractable on the pay and conditions front and, given that the contracts Stagecoach and First were given by the Bee Network were for five years and that they are amongst the top five largest bus companies in the UK, it seems unlikely that we can expect to see any change in service provision locally anytime soon either. A winter of discontent beckons I fear. 

*We changed vets because we needed to be with a vet we could get to by bus. Until the strikes happened, this was working well.

The Bus Chronicles: Why it sucks to live in Cheshire or Derbyshire but commute to college in Greater Manchester

Some young people. Possibly with free bus passes.

Because of my day job, I've become increasingly aware over the past few years of a basic injustice that exists when it comes to the cost of 16-18 year olds commuting for education purposes. 

Those under 16 have their own issues, some of which a recent campaign in the Manchester Evening News also highlighted.  Most of the problems stem from the fact that free travel to school is linked to the distance from the students house to the students place of education. If you're in high school and live over three miles away from your school, you will get free travel to school. If you live nearer than that, you will have to pay to travel to school or else walk it or get a lift. Which isn't always possible. 

My high school was two and a half miles away from my house. The only bus was the school bus and if it didn't turn up, you had to walk. Travel on the school bus wasn't free but you could apply for an Under 16's Bus Pass and buy a weekly 'clipper card' at a concessionary rate. So far, so predictable.

The problem came when I enrolled at college and discovered that I was no longer eligible for the concessionary rate of travel.

This was because I was now sixteen and therefore had to pay adult fare. 

The only way to get concessionary travel on the buses as a college student was to apply to what was then the Greater Manchester Transport Executive (GMPTE), now Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM), for a Scholars Permit. The scholars permit was free to apply for but you had to state very specifically the two geographical locations you were travelling between. This was because the pass was only for travelling to college, not anything else. If you wanted to go shopping after studying, or travel at the weekend, you'd be paying the full adult fare. Many of my college friends were either unaware of the Scholars Permit, or else couldn't be arsed applying for it. They paid for weekly Megariders on Stagecoach instead, at the full adult fare, as it was less hassle. 

These days, we live in more generous and (in some cases) enlightened times. Those who live in Greater Manchester, ie those who are under the Greater Manchester Authority as led by Andy Burnham, who - it's fair to say - seems to like both buses and young people, are eligible for the Our Pass scheme. For a one off £10 fee, 16-18 year olds (or 25 for care leavers) can have free bus travel across Greater Manchester. But only if they live in Greater Manchester.

This might seem blindingly obvious: Why would you need an Our Pass if you didn't live in Greater Manchester? but.. it's not as straightforward as that.

If you go to college in Greater Manchester, you might well be commuting in from outside the area. An example of this would be sixth form students who live in Derbyshire or Cheshire East who are being educated outside of the area in Stockport (Greater Manchester). Thanks to the random discrepancies and idiosyncrasies of cross boundary travel, they are having to pay to travel to college every day whereas their classmates who live in Greater Manchester are not. 

So, if you live in Hazel Grove, you can get an Our Pass and travel for free.

If you live literally next door in Poynton, you will have to pay.

A student I worked with a couple of years ago was regularly so upset about the basic injustice of this that I was moved to write to TfGM on her behalf. The response I received at the time was helpful and it did pinpoint the essential problem: Money.

TfGM would be willing to extend free travel to college kids commuting in from outside the area, they said, but the local council areas in question would have to pay for it. I would therefore need to take the matter up with Cheshire East council and Derbyshire County Council.

I took it up with both Cheshire East and Derbyshire last summer and, while I did receive a helpful response from Derbyshire, I don't think they'll end up doing it.

I received no response at all from Cheshire East which, given the dire straits the council find themselves in, came as no surprise whatsoever. 

Cheshire East do offer the 16-19 Bus Saver, which means students can apply for a pass and, on production of that pass, they can pay the concessionary rate of £1 per single journey so long as their journey starts in Cheshire East. I think this means that commuting from Macclesfield or Poynton to Stockport would cost £1, but commuting from Stockport to Macclesfield or Poynton would mean having to buy an Adult Bee Anybus ticket on the 391. I have no idea how much Belle Vue, who operate the 391, advertise this ticket. Or how much it costs. 

Derbyshire County Council offer the confusingly named b_line2 card, which gives concessionary travel on buses and trains to 16, 17 and 18 year olds. Access to the scheme ends on the students 19th birthday, which is a bit of a bummer if you fucked up your GCSE's and are doing three years at college. "In most cases these are issued by schools" says the website, adding that those at colleges, doing apprenticeships, or other training courses need to apply themselves. The pass covers travel within Derbyshire, at any time of day and on any day of the week, and it also covers neighbouring counties: But only if travelling on a direct route. So, if you got the 199 from Stockport to Whaley Bridge it would be fine, ditto the 199 from Whaley Bridge to Stockport. But if you were commuting to college in Manchester from Whaley Bridge, you'd be paying for the Stockport-Manchester leg separately. 

What we currently have does feel very much like a two tier system. One that has evolved by accident, and which impacts a comparatively small amount of students, but one that exists all the same. 

Given that a report by MP's recently called for free bus travel for under 22 year olds in order to help them into work and into education, and that such a scheme already exists in Scotland, it seems I'm not alone in thinking about this. It will be interesting to see what happens next. 

Photo by Simon Maage on Unsplash