(18/03/2017 09:16)SF07 Wrote: [ -> ]They are actually now listed on the Stagecoach website. 
Similar to First Manchester, Stagecoach are offering tickets cheaper on their new mobile app compared to cash fares. Also, new smartcards issued after 2 April will incur a 50p charge for the first use.
Changes are:
Single fares:
- Fares upto £2 increased by 10p, Fares over £2 increased by 20p (concessionary fares increase 5p and 10p respectively)
- 11-16 without igo card goes up 10p
- Magic Bus £1 ticket increased by 50p
Day tickets:
- Adult ticket goes up from £4 to £4.30
- Mobile adult ticket priced at £4.20
- Child ticket goes up from £2 to £2.10
- Group and dayrider+1 tickets remain unchanged at £8.50 and £5.50
- Middleton dayrider ticket goes up from £3.20 to £3.50
- Magic dayrider goes up from £3.40 to £3.60
- Quays day ticket goes up from £3.30 to £3.50
Weekly/monthly tickets:
- Adult weekly ticket goes up from £13.50 to £14.50
- Mobile adult ticket priced at £14.00
- Child ticket goes up from £6.75 to £7.20
- Middletonrider weekly ticket goes up from £11 to £12.50
- 38 weekly ticket goes up from £10 to £12
- Magicrider weekly ticket goes up from £7.50 to £9
- Quays weekly ticket goes up from £10.50 to £11.50
- Stepping Hill weekly goes up from £5 to £6
- 28 day ticket goes up from £52 to £56
The return fare on the 314 route is withdrawn.
https://www.stagecoachbus.com/promos-and...april-2017
Those are really substantial ticket rises, unless First raise the fare on the 41/42 then students will just go to First or Arriva. I live at home still so thankfully I'm unaffected.
Most of those are consistent with fare rises in other areas of the North West. The Magic Bus one is obviously much higher than average increase but then the Magic Bus single fares are probably less than half the price of an average fare in the North West currently.
(18/03/2017 12:55)acocker96 Wrote: [ -> ]Those are really substantial ticket rises, unless First raise the fare on the 41/42 then students will just go to First or Arriva. I live at home still so thankfully I'm unaffected.
Why would students go for Arriva if they don't operate along Oxford Rd? (Except hourly tendered 130 journeys)
130 Mon - Sat daytime is commercial, there's also the 263 along some of the route as well
Those rises are certainly inflation-busting - they're outrageous in my opinion. The Dayrider, Megarider and monthly megarider look be increased by around 7.5%. Inflation is around 1.8%.
Overall, transport inflation fell by 0.6% between December 2016 and January 2017. The car is now better value than ever.
Stagecoach are cashing in before franchising arrives.
a lot of students live along stretford road and booth street so if stagecoach fares are going up its only £1 on the arriva's 263 between stretford road and piccadilly so could tempt more students and passengers aboard arriva.
(18/03/2017 17:15)Dentonian Wrote: [ -> ]Worse still, even compared to First, they are undermining the industry's own fatuous argument about loading times, by increasing the amount of coinage needed to give in change for the DayRider.
Would you prefer a flat £5 return fare like D&G Bus have (which is valid for return journeys requiring a change of buses)?
Or perhaps the £5.50 day ticket which Howards Travel have which you can use on the 200 service to Wilmslow from the Airport but then once you get there you can't make any further use of it (other than back in the direction you came from) unless you first take an Arriva or D&G Bus service which your £5.50 day ticket isn't valid on!
I recall in 2008 an Arriva North West day ticket was £3.50, now it's £5.30.
Have you seen who uses buses in Knutsford? Ignoring over 60s and under 19s most live on council estates (including Longridge which was built as an overspill estate for Wythenshawe) so I imagine on average they have less money than your average Trafford bus user.
You're making an inconsistent argument about day tickets. If you live outside a PTE area in the North West and Arriva run the bus then you usually pay £5.30 for a return journey. Yet you're saying that ticket is good value because of how many routes it covers but £4.30 is poor value for a Stagecoach Manchester one because most people only use it for one return journey. Also it sounds like you don't want a small increase to the ticket price so would you prefer it being frozen this year and going up to £4.50 next year?
A difference between Cheshire and GM is more parking spaces (usually work places offer free parking for all employees) and, on average, less congestion so unless you make the bus fares cheaper and the buses more frequent the car users won't switch to using the bus. They might use buses to get to the pub in the evening if they didn't stop at 7pm!
From my experience buses in GM are more reliable than Metrolink on the Altrincham line, even when everything seems to be running fine they randomly turn trams around at Timperley (without advance warning) to get them back to Manchester quicker when the service is being disrupted on other routes. Very annoying for those who then miss their connection to Northern services at Altrincham as a result.
My local bus to work is the 256. Timetabled from Davyhulme Circle (08:05) to Lostock Circle (08:14), a journey of 4 stops (0.9 miles). The timetable gives the morning peak bus 9 minutes - it should only take 5 minutes at the very max. The road is rarely busy, and you only queue at the motorway junction for a minute or two.
A couple of weeks ago, a drive actually apologised saying she wouldn't be going anywhere soon, because of the timetable.
With such a slow timetable where it is arguably not required, and slow journeys stuck in traffic, coupled with inflation busting fare rises, it's no wonder more and more people are cycling to work or getting in their cars. I thought smart cards, mobile ticketing and contactless were supposed to speed up the boarding process, but we're yet to see the improvements in journey times.
(18/03/2017 17:15)Dentonian Wrote: [ -> ]Unfortunately, it might be because TFGMC seemed to have stepped back from committing themselves (or advising the incoming Mayor) to Franchising, according to the latest Buses Mag (April 2017). "Partnerships" are back on the table, but surely these will only cover certain services.
Passenger Transport suggests that "Andy Burnham, the Labour MP for Leigh and the contender considered to be the frontrunner to become Greater Manchester’s first metro mayor in May, has pledged to push ahead with the introduction of London-style bus franchising if elected." - March 2017
http://www.passengertransport.co.uk/2017...egulation/
I am not sure what the other candidates policies are.