I hope the bus user panel will take First Bus to task for their recent inflation-busting price rises. 16.7% increase in the fare from Peasedown to Bath, when inflation is around 2%, plus oil prices are low and falling.
The panel last week had strong words about some of the increases. Sadly, the customer is pretty toothless and the service operator has congestion and staffing problems amongst others which mean that their costs go up, and (for Bath) investment is needed for midlife re-engining of vehicles, or a potential daily extra charge for running "dirty" diesels.
Some specific area were identified where the fare increase has been very large, with a look at re-introducing some lower fares for journeys within a number of towns. We were alerted that such need to make commercial sense in terms of journey generation. Put a £2.50 fare down to £2 and you need an extra 25% of riders ... and that's assuming you have capacity on the existing buses for those extra riders, and time in the bus schedules to collect the extra fares.
The "greater" solution really involves a greater range of players, I suspect. Operators, local authorities, communities all looking at a public transport and fare network that runs more smoothly, more efficiently, more integrated - increasing the passenger numbers and passenger satisfaction, and decreasing the cost paid per journey, congestion, journey time and air pollution as other outcomes.
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