Category: Opinion

Harry Barker is Chairman of The Omnibus Society and regular contributor to the professional bus press and media.

We may have to accept that it is unlikely that a major increase in the number of services or frequency will be seen in the foreseeable future for financial reasons, both the commercial operators and the Council being restricted in this regard.

Therefore any improvement will require to come from better practices within the current network which are not expensive to implement.

Passengers should expect the following minimum standards to be available:

Continue reading Opinion piece: How to improve bus services from a passenger perspective

Philip Immirzi is a part time consultant and helps Relbus campaign for better public transport. He maintains this and many other websites, with the aim of improving local democracy

Although some choice is undoubtedly better than none, is more better than less? Well it just depends, say psychologists, and certainly not when less equals nothing at all. If you live in a rural area, the bus may well be just a fond memory, part of the folklore/history along with the village pub, with maybe an overgrown bus shelter as the only surviving evidence.

Competition thrives on the notion of choice, but as there is no broader public obligation duty built into the running of a bus service since deregulation [1. except that once permitted you run them to schedule and safely] rural areas tend to lose out as they are uneconomic. Significant public subsidy is required and this potentially distorts the market further. But equally, if you are on a commuter route, chances are you are spoilt for choice. In fact such choice could be downright confusing, with out of date or unreadable timetables, too many operators, different liveries and competing /opaque fare and ticketing regimes.

Continue reading Opinion Piece: More or less

Morag Haddow started promoting safer cycling and walking to school while she was a member of the Parent Council at Dunbar Primary. She now works part time for Sustaining Dunbar on green transport issues. She is studying for an MSc in Transport Planning at Napier University.

Last summer the RAC estimated that the average car cost its owner over £6000 a year to keep on the road. It’s hard to believe, and perhaps your own car costs you less than that, but from time to time it’s useful to consider how expensive our car habit really is, and maybe to think again about how we get about. Do we all really need a car sitting on standby 24 hours a day when modern technology makes it easier than ever to work from home and have shopping delivered? East Lothian is leading the way in alternative transport in Scotland with locally run car clubs such as SpareWheels in Dunbar providing an alternative to owning a personal car but sometimes driving and parking is a hassle in itself. Have you considered getting the bus?

Continue reading Opinion Piece: Working together for better rural buses