Bus prices

[megilleland]

Here is a post I made in December 2015

 

I agree with you Clarkester. The amount of money to build a mile of tramway, as spent already on the existing systems in Uk, is way out of proportion to its benefit.
 
Figures published by the Department for Transport put the average cost of building tramways in urban conurbations at £25 million per mile, though this does not include Edinburgh, where costs have rocketed by £231m and the route has been curtailed due to a funding shortfall.
 
The report came as the true extent of traffic congestion in Edinburgh caused by tram repairs to Princes Street was seen for the first time.
 
The latest figures suggest that, at £776m, the predicted cost of building an eight-mile route connecting the airport to St Andrew Square in the city centre will be nearly £100m per mile.
 
This paper although several years old gives a good background into how these schemes have originated and been costed.

I am surprised that the idea of a tram line is being pursued. Of course it would enable the council to play around with any funding and lose more money in the process as witness their previous schemes mentioned on this forum. A big effort with vision is needed to utilise what we already have and operate it to its full potential.

The answer is to reduce prices on the bus to attract more customers - a flat fare across the city ie a pound. Also routes need to connect places where people need to go ie station, hospital, retail centres, leisure centres and future university locations. These routes should be based on figure of eight routes centered on Tesco in the city. Since I have been living in Hereford the bus routes have never changed with the exception of the building of the link road as mentioned by Adrian.

As a witness to the use of our city buses where most evenings there are only three or four people travelling. Also the frequency and curtailment of evening service results in the proliferation of expensive taxis.