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Buses World News
Buses World News
In brief: Worldwide montly news & informations about Buses, Busmakers, Passengers' and the Transport Industry
15.4.10
RIDER COMPLAIN * UK - Angry passenger wages war on the buses
Manchester,UK -The Manchester Evening News, by Katherine Vine -April 9, 2010: -- A passenger is so fed up with his bus being late he has written to transport bosses EVERY DAY for three weeks to complain...Anthony Henderson, from Partington, has also set up a Facebook page about the unreliable 255 Stagecoach service to central Manchester... The 27-year-old office worker calculated that over 20 days it was a total of four hours 55 minutes late...Anthony says the bus – which is supposed to run every half hour – sometimes doesn’t arrive at all... He first wrote to Stagecoach last year but when nothing changed stepped up his campaign in the last few weeks – prompting bosses to add nine minutes to the journey time from next week...(Picture: Anthony Henderson waits for the 255 bus)
PASSENGER'S COMPLAINS * Singapore - Buses used in Jurong too old and noisy
Jurong,Singapore -Singapore Trivia, by eugenebeo -8 June 2009: -- He elaborates:“I am writing in to hope to bring attention to SBS Transit on this issue... I would like them to focus on the old double-decked buses travelling along Jurong West St 91...There are some of these buses serving the 241 route that are producing too much noise pollution to the neighbourhood... Besides that, these bus engines roar when they pass by, some of these buses produce high pitched whining, hissing sound and some even emit black smoke...I am very disappointed by SBS Transit.Despite sending feedback to them about this issue, there seems to be no improvement to these buses.Perhaps LTA or PTC should step in to this issue towards improving this bus service.”... (Picture: STOMPer Lim is annoyed with the bus 241 service route along Jurong as he claims the buses are too old and noisy)
Biggest Gripe * USA - Bus drivers who don't stop to pick up riders
CTA complaints are down, agency says
Chicago,ILL,USA -The Chicago Tribune, by Jon Hilkevitch -May 20, 2009: -- CTA bus drivers who don't stop to pick up riders are responsible for causing the most common complaint to the transit agency, although the number of gripes in almost all the major categories has fallen since last year, according to new data based on customer phone calls and e-mails... In the first three months of this year, riders have contactedthe CTA to complain about 468 "pass-up" incidents in which bus drivers failed to stop at bus stops or wait for people flagging down a passing bus, according to a summary compiled by the transit agency to track complaints, kudos and trends. More than 600 pass-up complaints were received in each of the last two quarters of 2008... Rude bus and train operators ranked as the second-biggest irritant to riders so far this year.Complaints about rude operators totaled 458 in the first quarter, down from more than 500 in each of the two previous three-month periods, the records show... The replacement of aging buses with a modern fleet as well as track work to reduce rail slow zones may account for a decrease in complaints about service delays, officials said. The reduction in complaints overall his year is occurring amid a ridership increase of 2.5 percent through April, compared with the same four-month period in 2008... (Tribune photo by Kuni Takahashi/May 19, 2009: The CTA says complaints from passengers, such as ones waiting at a stop Tuesday at Madison and Clark Streets in downtown Chicago, are down this year)
PASSENGERS' COMPLAINS * Vietnam - HCMC debate over bus services continues
Unhappy passengers
Ho Chi Minh City,Vietnam -Look At Vietnam -March 25, 2009: --Duong Hong Thanh, deputy director of the municipal Transport Department, admitted that bus services needed to be improved, including the unwelcoming attitudes of drivers toward some passengers and their poor treatment of monthly pass holders... The city has a total of 3,225 buses operating on 151 routes, 36 of which are non-subsidized routes... He said the buses serve about 5.4 percent of resident's travel demands, carrying an average of 936,000 passengers a day with projections of a 5.8 percent increase by 2010 and 6.2 percent by 2012...Nguyen Thi Bich Hangfrom the HCMC University of Transportsaid their recent survey confirmed many passengers were unhappy with the service...The survey of 45,000 bus passengers shows more than 28 percent complained of confined spaces and bad smells, while 18 percent said they had experienced discrimination from drivers and assistants for using monthly passes...(Photo: Top officials of Ho Chi Minh City inspect an environmentally friendly bus fueled on natural gas that is expected to serve passengers in July)
PASSENGERS' COMPLAIN * India - Chennai buses not disabled-friendly
Chennai,India -ND/TV, by Sanjay Pinto -February 12, 2009: --The ordeal disabled passengers face everyday inChennai was shocking enough.Out ofChennai`sgovernment-run fleet of 3262 buses, hardly a handful are disabled-friendly.That`s for about a lakh disabled people in the city. This too was only after this young man with cerebral palsy took theTamil Nadu government to Courtin 2005... Since that court battle, the government has rolled out 1034 new buses.It claims some of them have low floors and are suitable for the disabled... But what happens when drivers don`t halt properly at bus stops? Or when route numbers are just not displayed at stops?...
PASSENGERS' COMPLAINS * Vietnam - HCM City residents demand better bus service
Survey:The Institute for Research and Developmenthas revealed that the public is increasingly dissatisfied with the service
Ho Chi Minh,Vietnam -The Vietnam Business Finance -Jan 12, 2009: --To reduce traffic jams,HCM City authoritieshave taken efforts to make the city’s bus service more attractive...The "satisfactory index" for the bus service decreased from 79% in 2007 to nearly 50% last year...Passengers said that unreliable schedules, discomfort, a lack of information on bus routes and poor customer service were major reasons for their attitude...Nearly a fourth of passengers surveyed who took the bus daily said they faced discrimination from bus crews if they used monthly tickets... According to the department’s figures, the city bus service has met only 7% of local residents’ demand for transport, while over 90 per cent of demand is based on individual means of transportation, especially motorbikes...Duong Hong Thanh, deputy director of the department, added that improving bus crew service was by no means easy, since 28 of the 31 bus operators in HCM City were under ‘transportation co-operatives’ which were poorly managed...(Photo: allposters)
* Ireland -Plans to reduce Dublin bus fleet criticised as 'highly illogical'
Dublin,Ireland -The Irish Timesby ALISON HEALY -15 Jan 2009: --Plans to reduce the Dublin Bus fleet to save money are “quite extraordinary and highly illogical”,the Consumers’ Association of Ireland said yesterday...Siptu will meetDublin Bus tomorrow andBus Éireann next Tuesday to discuss plans for the two semi-State companies. It has been suggested thatDublin Buswill reduce its fleet by more than 100 buses and cut some 200 jobs... Siptusectoral organiserWillie NoonecriticisedMinister for Transport Noel Dempseyyesterday for comments he made about the need for changes in theCIÉ companies...
RIDERS' PROTEST * South Africa - Free-ride buses torched
About 5 000 protesters set 10 Putco buses alight early on Monday on the Moloto road inCullinan, Gauteng policesaid
Cape Town,South Africa -Independent Online -August 11 2008: --... Sergeant Miranda Scoltzsaid the protesters burnt the buses in Cullinan following confusion about tickets..."Apparently they got the wrong information about the tickets. Putco buses sent out a message stating that no tickets were on sale, so they could use the buses for free, but someone sent out the wrong message"... No one was injured and no arrests had been made.The Moloto road in Cullinan leading to Umhlanga was closed to traffic...
COMPLAINS * UK - Fears over safety of ageing buses
Road safety campaigners have criticised councils who are licensing ageing minibuses for the school run rather than demanding new vehicles to meet new legislation
Cardiff,South Wales,UK -The South Wales Echo, by Moira Sharkey -Jan 2, 2008: --... Converted ambulances and minibuses which are more than 10 years old have been licensed to take children with special needs to school to meet the amended Road Safety Actwhich comes into force this week...Welsh campaigners such as Pat Harris, who foundedBusk, the Belt Up School Kids initiative, say they are disappointed that councils, which can now put an age limit on vehicles used to carry children, are opting to use the same buses – many more than 10 years old – to save money...Cardiff, the largest local education authority, has 70 contracts with seven operators taking 360 pupils to schools in 150 cars. A further 180 pupils with special needs are driven in 50 adapted minibuses...
Off the buses * Australia - 'Mayhem' on Sydney buses
No buses stopped at my stop for about 45 minutes, easily 10, 15 buses went by..
Sydney,Australia -The Sydney Morning Herald, by Edmund Tadros -December 11, 2007: --Sydney travellers have reported delays of up to an hour this morning after 300 buses were pulled off the road due to a mechanical fault discovered byState Transityesterday...Commuters watched in frustration as packed buses drove past their stops, with the problems extending eastward and westward...Many readers also criticisedState Transitfor providing no information about the bus availibility problems, despite knowing about it from yesterday afternoon... It took David Simon one hour and 20 minutes to travel to Surry Hills from Kingsford, a trip that would normally take 20 minutes, he said this morning...(Video YouTube, by DaveSpencer32 -January 28, 2007 : "SYDNEY NSW AUSTRALIA SUBURBAN BUS 2007 " - This is a low resolution trailer for a film covering buses in Parramatta, Liverpool and Hurstville)
Manchester,UK -The Manchester Evening News, by Katherine Vine -April 9, 2010: -- A passenger is so fed up with his bus being late he has written to transport bosses EVERY DAY for three weeks to complain... Anthony Henderson, from Partington, has also set up a Facebook page about the unreliable 255 Stagecoach service to central Manchester... The 27-year-old office worker calculated that over 20 days it was a total of four hours 55 minutes late... Anthony says the bus – which is supposed to run every half hour – sometimes doesn’t arrive at all... He first wrote to Stagecoach last year but when nothing changed stepped up his campaign in the last few weeks – prompting bosses to add nine minutes to the journey time from next week... (Picture: Anthony Henderson waits for the 255 bus)
