[hisimp-chat] Citi 7

[John Dover]

Paul

I was trying to make a point about the situation faced by the elderly or infirm who rely on public transport. I would not wish to appear critical of your remarks but your point about park and ride ignores what I consider to be this most important issue. These are the very people who probably do not have any alternative to public transport so are unable to "park" and therefore do not have access to the "ride".

I realise that your last two paragraphs represent a ludicrous situation and a cause of great frustration, but I venture to suggest that compared with the problems faced by the group I am trying to bring to the attention of all of us- and I wonder how many of that group have access to internet or are aware of the issues and capable of making representations on their own behalf -they are comparitively minor.I hope that this does not sound too condescending but I feel very strongly that there is a very real risk of an underprivileged and under-represented group becoming even more isolated unless we intercede on their behalf.

John Dover



----- Original Message ----
From: Paul Malpas <paul at malpas-house.co.uk>
To: Chat about Histon and Impington <hisimp-chat at the-hug.net>
Sent: Thursday, 22 October, 2009 7:11:48
Subject: Re: [hisimp-chat] Citi 7

We have found the citi 7 to be an insufficiently reliable service as a daily commute into cambridge.  It's the uncertainty about waiting up to half an hour for a late bus (an hour, on one occasion!) added to the overcrowding on a school day. The dawdle around h&i just seals its fate.  Much better we find to use the new milton p&r - we can actually aim for and reliably catch a particular bus, know it will be there to the minute, and then get to the far side of the city centre fairly sharply with only limited stops.

It seems Stagecoach might be applying the p&r model to both the citi 7 and the busway, omitting any stopping service for those that need the interim journeys, as described here by others.  Clearly this would leave a hole in the service provision.  Perhaps there is a case for an interleaved service that alternates express and stopping routes.  The mix could be tailored to the time of day, if that was manageable by the operator and easy to follow for the passengers.

Of course, these are the considerations for the commercial operators to contemplate, which leaves the usual difficulty of how to align social advantage with commercial attractiveness. 

On that subject, and perhaps even more daft at a customer's face value, is the fact that your ticket on the busway will EITHER be for a Stagecoach OR a Go Whippet bus and will not be cross-compatible for your return journey!  So your commute home may be longer than you thought while you wait for the appropriate bus to match the one you bought your ticket on in the morning!

Plus if getting on on the guided section you'll need to buy the ticket from a machine on the platform and not on board. Imagine the scene of a dozen commuters poised with change ready, waiting to catch sight of the next bus' livery before committing en masse to one of the 2 ticket machines on offer!  We should sell tickets to watch the scrums that will result!

Paul
Sent from my BlackBerry® wireless device

-----Original Message-----
From: John Dover <jjdoverhiston at yahoo.co.uk>
Date: Wed, 21 Oct 2009 21:57:13 
To: Chat about Histon and Impington<hisimp-chat at the-hug.net>; <hisimp at the-hug.net>
Subject: Re: [hisimp-chat] Citi 7

-- 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
List info and how to unsubscribe from hisimp-chat at:
  http://the-hug.net/lists/listinfo/hisimp-chat

-- 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
List info and how to unsubscribe from hisimp-chat at:
  http://the-hug.net/lists/listinfo/hisimp-chat