From the Arriva Website:
From Sunday 8 March 2015, changes will be made to fares in North Wales and Chester.
Adult single fares will be revised and some fares will increase by a maximum of 10p. However, some single fares will be reduced between 10p and 40p. Others will stay the same.
Proportionate changes to return and child fares will also be made.
Wales Area and Wrexham Zone day and weekly saver tickets will also be revised:
Day Saver Ticket
Wales Area
£5.50 adult, £3.50 child
Wrexham Zone
£4.20 adult, £2.80 child
Weekly Saver Ticket
Wales Area
£17.50 adult, £11.50 child
Wrexham Zone
£13.50 adult, £9.00 child
The Passengers are angry about the price rise and i cant help but wonder how long its going to be until Arriva North West put their fares up as well!
All this while the price of fuel is on or around an all time low - disgraceful.
Absolutely, we understand that they have to make profits but their outlay on fuel even if bought in advance has shot down, so very poor. As for fares going up elsewhere wellI I feel that it's inevitable.
(24/02/2015 07:28)MPTE1955 Wrote: [ -> ]Absolutely, we understand that they have to make profits but their outlay on fuel even if bought in advance has shot down, so very poor. As for fares going up elsewhere wellI I feel that it's inevitable.
Bus companies are a bit like the Energy companies - when one puts prices up, they all put prices following like sheep.
One thing i notice is how their £10 Weekly that they are using to compete with Townlynx has remained the same....
Hopefully other companys take advantage of that
(24/02/2015 14:40)bolton bus basher Wrote: [ -> ]One thing i notice is how their £10 Weekly that they are using to compete with Townlynx has remained the same....
Hopefully other companys take advantage of that
You make a good point.
Competition is as Dentionan says above just that... Competition, but it's ironic that where two or more bus companies compete (for example Stagecoach and First along student alley in Manchester), fares often stay lower and passengers get a much better deal.
But in the suberbs it just goes to prove that de-regulation has gone t#ts up. Don't get me wrong I'm all for de regulation and up till about 8-10 years ago it was working to a point (yes in areas there were bad aspects), but in my opinion the very government bodies such as the OFT and CMA, or whatever there calling themselves this month have failed, and as a result small ops after small ops have been swallowed up by the big boys resulting in huge areas or corridors being dominated by one large operator (just look at Stockport) who generally charge a higher fare, and the sad fact is they can charge what they want and people have no choice but to pay it.
(24/02/2015 16:44)Dentonian Wrote: [ -> ]Funnilly enough, my "Timeline" (if you pardon the pun - as an appropriate example), is almost the opposite of yours. In principle, I have always been dead against Deregulation - an attitude hardened by the fact that London (where the market IS strong enough for competition) was spared, and so too was Rail. However, it eased slightly once the cowboy "run where the orange bus goes, but just in front of it" operators began to fall by the way side. In many ways the current bus war is no different to earlier skirmishes, except that First do run something approximating what they have registered. The main point about the cowboys was they constantly ran "on the edge of the law" (at best), but escaped TC sanctions for years. They also showed a distinct lack of innovation, because ALL they did (east of the Rochdale Rd/Stockport Road axis) was copy GMB/GMN/GMS/First/Stagecoach.
Apologies to those in Merseyside or other low car ownership parts of the North West, if your "indies" are/were more innovative and legal.
Trouble is now, whilst First, Stagecoach and possibly Arriva are bending over backwards to score Political own goals, what are the Politicians rubbing their hands at taking control back after 30 years actually planning? I fear it may be a case of "be careful what you wish for?"
I think Merseyside is quite lucky in that there are still a few independants willing to try and run commercial services, in Manchester they have all but died commercially and seem to survive on picking up odd tenders and I find that really sad.
I carnt really comment on regulation as I was all but a glint in my mothers eye
but growing up in the 90's de-reg seemed to work ok. Taking the legalities out of the window the fact you had 2 or 3 smaller ops competing with the big company on a particular corridor meant that prices stayed lower, and we have seen just that more recently with UK North, Bullocks and Finglands competing with Stagecoach. Yes UK North were extremely dodgy but the fact you could get from A to B for less than a pound proves compititon can be good.
Would we be in this situation now if GM Buses had been splitt in to 4 instead of 2 I wonder?
Bangor zone £13 weekly has stayed the same and student wales ticket has stayed the same at £14.00. Bangor - Menai Bridge - Llanfairpwll & Bangor - Caernarfon day ticket still remains £3.20
(24/02/2015 19:33)Dentonian Wrote: [ -> ]I think you are only talking about Oxford Road though. There have been plenty of occasions where the likes of Bee Line (under UTI ownership, before Drawlane/Arriva), Pennine Blue, Stuarts, UK North & Dennis' have competed against GMB/GMBS/ Stagecoach in and around Tameside and there were no fare reductions for the majority of passengers. Just two buses running together (both earlier than registered) and then up to 29 minutes wait. In fact Bee Line and Stuarts both charged more.
The spat between Stagecoach and Dennis's saw very low fares along Ashton new/old road in the final few years before the takeover as did the 330/347.
Speedwells 'S' services saw flat fares introduced with First bringing in the Tameside day ticket.
Maynes also had for a while a droylsden return special latterly as well.
(24/02/2015 20:08)Dentonian Wrote: [ -> ]Sorry, but the only fares offers on 347 were a pensioners reduction -not sure how that was financed - by Dennis' and the Ashton Day Ticket (Stagecoach) between Guide Bridge and Ashton. Denton/Haughton Green passengers saw no benefits from that war. And, as with 219, many Dennis' journeys simply didn't run.
I seem to remember Stagecoach offering a flat £1 fare from Ashton to Manchester on the 216 on magics with Dennis's offering something similar. I admit Dennis's were never that confrontational on the 219/330 espically around school chucking out time.