On Sat, 3 Jun 2006, Neil Williams wrote:

Any word on what these teething difficulties are, and why it's so
difficult to operate what is basically a fancy bendy bus with fancy
ticket machines and a few extra decorative bits of plastic on the
outside?

The ticket machine was prone to breaking down at first - much to our (the
passenger's) delight - quick boarding and a free ride. The ticket machine
when working is so slow that it must throw the schedules out (which were
reduced from ever 8 mins to every 10 mins when the ftr started).

A few of the busses broke down on the first day, which led to some slating
in the local press. At least one of the 'ftr's must be out of service, as
there's a normal "park and ride" bendybus on the 'ftr' route that
occasionally turns up.

The doors can sometimes misbehave, and theres a big "open" button but
thats only for use in emergencies apparently - which confuses people.
have been incidents (in the local rag) about the doors closing on people.

The bendyness of the busses probably causes more problems in York's
streets - they will fit along "the route" but any obstruction probably
causes them more problems than a tradional bus.

The view of most people i've spoken to seems to be that it was all a lot
of fuss for no gain. I think we're going to be stuck with it as a) they
have the vehicles now and b) it's such a high profile thing for first
(with their new busses) and york council (who did a load of road works to
enable them to run) that they won't admit it's no good.

Cheers

Chris
--
Chris Johns

Chris Johns wrote:
The bendyness of the busses probably causes more problems in York's
streets - they will fit along "the route" but any obstruction probably
causes them more problems than a tradional bus.


It'd certainly be interesting to see which routes they can and can't be
used on. I would guess that the twisty bit of route 6 through Osbaldwick
will be problematic for them!

Not sure what the next routes planned for ftr are - 1, 3 or 5 would seem
to be the logical next choices.

through traffic - most of York's bus routes are radial, serving two
entirely different areas on opposite sides of the town. Osbaldwick and
Clifton Moor have relatively little in common; neither do Acomb and
Heslington (4) or Poppleton and Stamford Bridge (10). First could have a
much more reliable schedule if they split these routes in town.

pete
--
"That is enigmatic. That is textbook enigmatic..." - Dr Who
"There's no room for enigmas in built-up areas." - N Blackwell

In message
Pete Fenelon wrote:

Chris Johns wrote:
The bendyness of the busses probably causes more problems in York's
streets - they will fit along "the route" but any obstruction probably
causes them more problems than a tradional bus.


It'd certainly be interesting to see which routes they can and can't be
used on. I would guess that the twisty bit of route 6 through Osbaldwick
will be problematic for them!

Not sure what the next routes planned for ftr are - 1, 3 or 5 would seem
to be the logical next choices.

through traffic - most of York's bus routes are radial, serving two
entirely different areas on opposite sides of the town. Osbaldwick and
Clifton Moor have relatively little in common; neither do Acomb and
Heslington (4) or Poppleton and Stamford Bridge (10). First could have a
much more reliable schedule if they split these routes in town.

pete

I think this is probably the thinking behind Nottingham's system of
not having buses running straight across the city centre -as you well
know, suburbs directly opposite each other over the city centre rarely
have much in common, traffic between them is slight, and there is no
reason why traffic North - South or East - West should balance, the
buses one side might be overfull one side and half empty the other
side.

Instead Nottingham runs buses into a city centre loop, this loop (the
same loop for busses coming from all direction) runs round the city
centre, at a comfortable distance from all city centre destinations,
and then the busses go out the way they came in. If you want to
continue your journey the other side of the city centre, you wait at
the same stop, or just along the pavement, for the bus that goes your
way. I think it is a very good idea. In middle-sized cities, I think
it would be a good idea for trams too.

Michael Bell

--

"Pete Fenelon" wrote in message
...
Chris Johns wrote:
The bendyness of the busses probably causes more problems in York's
streets - they will fit along "the route" but any obstruction
probably
causes them more problems than a tradional bus.


It'd certainly be interesting to see which routes they can and can't
be
used on. I would guess that the twisty bit of route 6 through
Osbaldwick
will be problematic for them!


I think the next route planned for ftr buses is the 4 ....


Not sure what the next routes planned for ftr are - 1, 3 or 5 would
seem
to be the logical next choices.


that being route 4 in Leeds.