First Manchester

[Mayneway]

RE: First Manchester

(22/12/2016 21:31)Dentonian Wrote:  True, but thinking about it more deeply, I think the System One prices are ultimately determined by GMBOA, rather than TFGM, as far as Bus only tickets are concerned I think you are right about Stagecoach as well. Doubtless, they will put there's up on 23 April, to maximise any additional revenue gained from the closure of 2x First depots.

There's (finally) something in the MEN about First claiming that using smartphone apps reduces boarding times by 75%. What utter nonsense! They claim 50 (conventional) users take 10.5 minutes to board. This is surely exaggerated even for Mon/Tues morning rush hours (when people are buying Weekly & 28 day tickets). As for the rest of the day/week, I would say that it is much nearer the 2.5 minutes claimed for mticket users. There is many a time in the evening peak, when a 203 comes into Stockport Bus Station late, it will load up in barely 3 minutes and leave with a lot more than 50 pax - and that's always been the case, before mTickets came along. Don't forget in the majority of cases, even if a bus arrives on time, it is only allowed five minutes stand - so are First claiming that they normally carry less than 25 passengers out of Bus Stations. If a Stagecoach service had such poor peak loadings they would scrap the service - unless it was numbered 38 or 192, of course!
Away from Bus Stations, we all know that the biggest delays are due to Traffic lights turning red, and the sheer number of other vehicles on the road combined with ever worsening driving and parking standards. Boarding at bus stops, the biggest delay is being allowed back into traffic, so stop blaming it on the people paying the Shareholders dividends.
As for the minor difference in boarding times, had it not occured to those making these decisions that this might be due to the fact that passengers without smartphones (never mind apps) tend to be older and slower!!!

I actually like the First app. It's a good bit of kit and I think it's disappointing Stagecoach haven't come up with anything similar.
A friend of mine works and lives in the city centre but during the summer would occasionally work in Newton Heath. The tickets on through the app worked perfectly as she simply used the app when she was required to work out of town. It's a bit like a modern day clipper card as the single trip tickets are dateless so your not forced to use them within a week or a month. There attractive for regular bus users as there cheaper than on bus tickets but they also appeal to occasional bus users, it's a clever bit of kit and I actually think it does speed up boarding. If say 75% of passengers queing in the bus station simply flashed thier phone at the driver rather than messing about with smart cards or coins for single tickets. The downside is some drivers see you clutching your phone and just wave you on without checking.

You mention the 203 which is obviously Stagecoach, and to be honest one of the biggest problems with stagecoach and boarding times is still thier ticket machines. I constantly watch passengers with both connesionary and smart cards struggling to get them read by the machine, then the driver has to take it off them and do it for them, another issue is under 16's buying singke tickets, it seems to take ages to find the correct stage/fare.
The ticket machines really let them down and I think if they had something like Go North east where the scanner was seperate from the machine and was fitted to the outside if the cab door lower down and more accesable instead of through a tiny hole in the screen it would make things easier and speed up boarding slightly.