 |
| Speaker Roger French OBE (left) with BUG Chair, Jim Davies |
Members of Lancaster District Bus Users' Group were treated to an inspiring talk on the present and future state of the bus industry at their last meeting. The talk was given by Roger French, a well-respected former bus manager and now well known commentator on public transport through his blog Bus and Train User
Here is how the talk was reported in the Lancaster Guardian
"Members of the Lancaster Bus Users' Group enjoyed an inspiring talk about the future of the bus industry at their last meeting. Retired bus manager and now respected bus industry commentator Roger Ford, who was awarded the OBE for services to public transport, set out his views on how buses could recover from the Covid pandemic. The current problems of attracting back passengers who stopped travelling during Covid and recruiting drivers following Brexit would be overcome.
Roger felt buses were a local business and should be locally run and he cited Stagecoach's recent decision to centralise all its customer service staff in Scotland as a move in the wrong direction. Measures to attract passengers back should include reliable services, simple and easy-to-understand timetables and value-for-money fares. Continuing to issue paper timetables alongside those available on the internet was important and he pointed out that Lancaster was lucky to have retained its bus station as a focal point of the local bus network and a means of maintaining a "presence" for buses in the city.
The Bus Users Group meets regularly at Lancaster Library, with the next meeting being on 18th May at 2pm."
Roger's views accord closely with those of the BUG, especially his comments about the closure of all means of contacting Stagecoach's local offices - and even those in Carlisle - in favour of a "customer service centre" in remote Perth.
However, our branch of Stagecoach has at least re-started printing timetable leaflets, something that many other bus companies who stopped during the pandemic, have neglected to do. We are pleased to see them - and happy to have been asked to contribute towards the work involved in producing them - although we do wish that someone at the company would sort out the issues with distribution and fill up those empty leaflet holders on the buses again.
 |
| Lancaster bus station |
Lancaster's bus station is another issue on which Roger and the BUG agree. Both think that it is a very important feature of the city's bus network and that bus passengers would be a lot worse off without it.
It's not perfect of course, with ongoing problems of cleanliness and graffiti and the current closure of both the tea bar and the toilets, both issues that our group is trying to raise with the city council without much success. There are, however, elements within the city and county councils who would be glad to see it closed down and the site sold off and although there is no immediate threat, the Group will be keeping a close eye on developments.
