FIRST BUS: FORTHCOMING CHANGES
Skeptic posted on the 30/04/2013 10:47:05 AM
I've been trying to get to grips with what the forthcoming changes (i.e. cuts) will mean for bus travellers in Dennistoun.
Some observations (please correct me if I am wrong - the information provided is pretty poor).
1) The 40 is being changed to a 60 and it says that it will go from Parkhead to the city centre. Does this mean that it will now cut out Dennistoun?
2) The 42 is being completely cut from the city centre to the Barlanark. Customers advised to use a 38 instead. THIS IS SCANDALOUS - THE ONLY EAST END-WEST END DENNISTOUN BUS IS BEING COMPLETELY REMOVED AND REPLACED WITH A EAST-SOUTH BUS.
3) The 41 which terminates in the city centre is not being extended to the west-end, or even Charing Cross. This is a major omission and will ensure that anyone wanting to go from Duke St to the heart of the west-end will still need to buy 2 £1.85 single tickets. What a rip-off and a massive missed opportunity to provide a more useful route.
4) The 36 is being scra pped. Replaced with a 38. Will there be extra 38's to replace the frequency of the 36 and the 42? No is the likely answer.
So, as far as I can see Dennistoun is once again getting hammered by First Bus. We are charged the same fare to travel into the city centre as those coming from the outskirts of the city and it is now impossible to get from Alexandra parade to anywhere west of Hope Street. On top of that services are being cut without evidence of a linked increase in the frequency of supposedly rationalised services. I also don't see any plans to improve night bus services and to remove the idiot double charging of those with season tickets who want to use an evening bus.
Anyone else had enough?
- 25 Replies :
#1 - anon_l replied on the 30/04/2013 2:30:38 PM
Ill say it again - use the trains! If you need to get to the west end you can just on the underground. It so much better than the busses - i refuse to use them.
#2 - anon replied on the 30/04/2013 2:31:26 PM
yea somebody out there hates Dennistoun.A **** bus service,a **** postal service,dog filth everywhere and not a decent pub to boot.
#3 - Skeptic replied on the 30/04/2013 3:35:34 PM
Re anon_l - The trains aren't ideal for all of the west-end though. There is no stop between Charing X and Partick which is a considerable distance to walk (for example to Gibson St or Great Western Road). The bus is notionally better as it can drop you closer to your stop even though the journey may take longer (and is likely less pleasant).
I also prefer being able to just walk down to Duke Street or the Parade and hop on a bus without worrying about timetables. Why should we just accept buses are rubbish in Dennistoun? I've never lived in any city with such a pathetic greedy service.
First are going to be mauled when they change the whole network on one single day. It'll be carnage.
#4 - anon_l replied on the 30/04/2013 5:27:20 PM
Skeptic I do agree, but you can always get off at Queen Street and jump on the tube to the west end.
#5 - Mr Anderson replied on the 30/04/2013 9:09:26 PM
I couldn't agree with anon_l more.
I usually walk into town and back from work, but I was running late this afternoon so got the train. It's £1.90 for a return to Queen Street from Alexandra Parade. That's only slightly more than a single bus costs, and you don't need to find change cos you can pay by card.
Give up on buses. They're atrocious.
And going back to the changes in buses. I thought First Bus said it was to be a consultation? To me, a consultation is a two way process. When did the consultation take place? //
#6 - Malarki replied on the 30/04/2013 10:53:30 PM
Walk, bike or train - never use the buses. Thing is if there's more than one of you it's usually cheaper to get a black cab anyway. If Glasgow wants to be taken seriously as a green city it needs a decent integrated public transport system where you don't notice if you're using different private providers and you can pay for it all using a Oyster type system (and what is it with the metro stopping so early on a Sunday? And when they going to extend/reopen it?)
#7 - Kerrry replied on the 2/05/2013 12:03:11 AM
Really unhappy about this news. I use the 42 to get to Yorkhill hospital and now the journey will be longer and more expensive.
#8 - The Mentalist replied on the 2/05/2013 1:47:34 PM
the whole "consultation" is just a way to split journeys to make the customer pay more. Prices have, yet again, gone up recently. The north and east of the city is being hammered with cuts which seems a bit daft as we are the area of the city with the least car ownership. Glasgow City Council needs to step in to do something about this. Re-regulation is the answer.
#9 - Suz replied on the 3/05/2013 12:28:32 PM
Maybe Hendersons could step in to fill the gap? I caught their 213 a few weeks ago from the Royal to the sports centre at Haghill. The driver was friendly, they give change, and it only cost me £1. They also take ZoneCards. Couldn't recommend them more. First shouldn't be allowed to have such a monopoly in the city.
As someone says above though, the train is much better, even though the service is very limited.
#10 - Mort replied on the 3/05/2013 4:07:59 PM
I live in Partick - Great - I won't be affected much.
I live in Shawlands - Great - I won't be affected much.
I live elsewhere - Not great - I'm going to be affected.
Nice to see the 44 all air conditioned with it's wi-fi though.
Maybe spend the money elsewhere and we might not have these kinds of cuts to the service.
Where was the consulting in the consultation?
#11 - The Mentalist replied on the 3/05/2013 10:03:28 PM
Doesn't the 44 go to Newton Mearns??
#12 - anon replied on the 4/05/2013 1:07:00 PM
I honestly can't believe First are making such a big deal about the fact that all their buses will now be wifi.
Who on earth would use wifi on a first bus? 99% of people have data on their phones and people are only on the bus for a short time.
It says a lot about the company when they are looking at added on things such as this when they can't even get us across town on a single bus. Talk about wrong priorities.//
#13 - googler replied on the 6/05/2013 4:33:15 PM
Agree that providing Wi-Fi (free or otherwise) on local bus services is a spectacular waste of everyone's time and money.
On an airport shuttle service? Fair enough. Â On the 40 into town? Â Completely pointless.
The only reasonable explanation I can think of would be if the public Wi-Fi provision was some kind of residual benefit above and beyond the installation of some sort of telemetry system that they're upgrading to, which will hopefully inform the electronic bus stop displays of where buses actually are in realtime (rather than the current situation where very few bus displays are based in the reality of where buses actually are, but are just a fancy version of the fixed printed version). Â Unlikely, though.
#14 - Jay replied on the 3/06/2013 8:02:10 PM
Encountered my first experience with the new 38s No one at my bus stop on the Parade had a clue which bus they were taking. Â You would have thought First Bus would have had the new timetables changed before putting the 38s into the service routes. I could see one bus stop where employees were handing out leaflets but not all stops. Â Not everyone jumps on a bus every day and the confusion just goes to show what First bus think of their bread and butter (the public)
#15 - Mr Anderson replied on the 4/06/2013 8:18:46 PM
Apparently, it's being done to be more simple (simplicity).
What I really like about it, is that if you search for the page on the first bus glasgow site, they've called it "simpicity" (without the "l" )in the text above the logo. I would post the address here, but I think the moderator strips links out. If you search for "first bus glasgow simplicity" in google it should be around the 2nd suggestion.
It's so simple, they cannot even spell it themselves.
"Me am no speel. Me am work for First Bus. Me am create great Markating Skeme."
#16 - simpicity replied on the 5/06/2013 12:48:13 AM
Ha ha, they have.
www.is.gd/simpicity
at
www.firstgroup.com/ukbus/glasgow/journey_planning/simplicity/
#17 - The Mentalist replied on the 5/06/2013 8:34:42 AM
Simpitico Simpiton Simpes (insert Ls where you like)
All good fun. How many 38s does it take to change a lightbulb?
500, but only if they are going to Woodfarm.
#18 - Jay replied on the 10/06/2013 7:04:42 PM
According to the bus timetables on the bus stop outside Alexandra park gates, all the 38's go in the direction of Cumbernauld Road/riddrie/Easterhouse. They will get it right yet
#19 - Doll replied on the 11/06/2013 10:39:56 AM
The timetables they have put up for the 38's are ridiculous! Apparently there will be a bus every 10 minutes or better even though the 38E (the old 213) runs less than 2 per hour! There may be a 38 "something" every 10 minutes but considering they all go in different directions lumping them all on one timetable under the umbrella of "38" is pointless! Not helpful in the slightest!
#20 - The Mentalist replied on the 11/06/2013 8:23:34 PM
But Doll, this means that First can say there is a 38 (insert letter here) every 10 minutes and what a brilliant service it is!!
#21 - Mr Anderson replied on the 21/08/2013 10:02:29 AM
Dragging up an old thread again, and I'm going to rant again about the trains over the buses. My "friends and family" rail card is about to expire and I was looking at getting a new one. They're about 30 quid usually which is a little bit of an outlay, but until Monday you can get a card for 20 quid instead of 30, using the code "SAVING10" (according to the martin lewis money saving expert site) on the friends and family railcard site.
You might not think you would save money with offers like "kidsgofree" available on the train, but for 2xadult + 1xkid from the parade to edinburgh is £19 with the card and £25.20 with kidsgofree. Doing the sums.... that's over 6 quid already on a trip to the other side.
Even a return over to the west end saves a whole quid, reducing the journey cost from 6 to 5 (Parade to Partick). The cheapest you can do that with buses to Partick is 8 with a family bus ticket.
Fancy a return trip to London from Glasgow?Time it right and the price drops from 103 at it's lowest to 63 quid or so.
We've had the card for about 3 years now and its paid for its self several times over during the year, especially when we buy it discounted.
Rant over.
I genuninely don't like buses in Glasgow
Rant definitely over.
#22 - anon replied on the 21/08/2013 12:35:10 PM
I want to know why Dennistoun gets rickety scabby old buses while other routines (the 6, the one etc) get brand new, air conditioned leather seated buses.
We pay the same fare as others in the city - why we getting the old buses?
#23 - anon_l replied on the 21/08/2013 12:36:34 PM
I wouldn't consider that a rant at all...just a wee post full of common sense!
#24 - The Mentalist replied on the 21/08/2013 8:37:22 PM
"I want to know why Dennistoun gets rickety scabby old buses while other routines (the 6, the one etc) get brand new, air conditioned leather seated buses.
We pay the same fare as others in the city - why we getting the old buses?"
I'd like to know that answer too. Any why are we back to single decker buses, which are full to bursting by the time they get here?
#25 - Doll replied on the 22/08/2013 9:55:33 AM
Mr Anderson, i would love to get the train! I tried on Monday but when i went to duke St station i was told the trains via there were cancelled. I walked along to Bellgrove only to be told that all trains were cancelled! I had to get a bus and was very late. On Tuesday i went to Duke Street station again only to be told the train would be delayed by 4 minutes. it eventually arrived 9 minutes late so by that time i had missed my connection. i had to get the bus again! On Wednesday i just went straight for the bus!
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