We are too quick to expect others to solve the problem of slower journeys, when there is plenty more that we could do ourselves to speed up our services — why are we not doing more to remove ticket issuing?
INSIDE TRACK
Department for Transport figures published in December showed that bus usage in England from April 2016 to March 2017 was 1.5% lower than in the previous year – the third consecutive year of decline.
The reasons are numerous. The report accompanying the figures highlights a sharp reduction in supported service mileage, increased levels of online shopping and ever-worsening congestion as being among the causes. But it is that last issue that I want to scrutinise in more detail.
Road congestion is a serious problem. It pushes up costs, makes our services less appealing for customers and places us at risk of incurring the wrath of the traffic commissioners. It is right that operators collectively press upon our partners in government, the public sector and the wider business community the need to do everything they can to ease the passage of buses through crowded streets.
But I worry that we have become too complacent in believing that traffic congestion is the only thing that slows our bus…
