You only waited galf an hour for a bus in Glasgow? We allegedly have an hourly service and we are only about 2 miles from Central Station. It frequently does not turn up or is so late we have given up and gone home. Yes. We have a railway station but it is below ground and if you have a disability, are frail or have a kid in a pram, it is unusable.
Agree with the lack of drivers. Plus the Sunday service getting worse. They need to remember a large majority still start early shift on a Sunday. Then my electric bus only going half the journey because it ran out of charge 🙄
The worst bus experience of my entire life was coming back from some suburb on the southside that I had never previously been to. I knew that my bus home was the number 4 scheduled for 17:35: I had looked this up in a bunch of different places, because I was very new to this part of town and had no other means of transport home, and everywhere reassured me to get the number 4 scheduled for 17:35.
I show up at the correct stop with time, and (thank the Lord!) a bus arrives at the stop on time at 17:35 bearing the number 4. I get on, and half an hour later I realise it has taken me the complete wrong direction.
Some frantic Googling later, I find that two different operators ran two different buses to that same stop, both at exactly the same time (to the minute, every half an hour), both proudly displaying the number 4, but on completely different routes. It took all my willpower to stop me from producing the most guttural, violent scream of hatred on this crowded bus full of children. I eventually got off in a different completely unknown part of town and made it home three hours later - not helped by the two connection buses I needed to take both being delayed.
I think the quality of bus services everywhere has taken a sharp nosedive over the past year or so, largely due to the driver shortage and struggles getting back up to capacity following covid.
For example, Lothian Buses currently has a similar issue with the information boards (and the official app!) to the one you describe, with buses disappearing just as they are supposed to arrive. The problem apparently is that so many buses are now cancelled due to the lack of drivers that the information boards and app can't handle it!
I've read about similar issues in other parts of the UK. Unfortunately it goes chronically under-reported because the UK media is much more interested in trains than local bus services...
Waiting 40 minutes for a bus into Leicester a few weeks ago….. It was packed as a scheduled bus had not arrived. An unpleasant experience… doubt I’ll bother again, even though I have a bus pass !
I remember when I was driving to work in my early twenties. I was teaching in London at the time & not enjoying it. However, it cheered me up when I passed a bus-stop & saw lots of people standing in the heavy rain, waiting for a bus! I decided then that buses were to be avoided if possible!
You only waited galf an hour for a bus in Glasgow? We allegedly have an hourly service and we are only about 2 miles from Central Station. It frequently does not turn up or is so late we have given up and gone home. Yes. We have a railway station but it is below ground and if you have a disability, are frail or have a kid in a pram, it is unusable.
Agree with the lack of drivers. Plus the Sunday service getting worse. They need to remember a large majority still start early shift on a Sunday. Then my electric bus only going half the journey because it ran out of charge 🙄
The worst bus experience of my entire life was coming back from some suburb on the southside that I had never previously been to. I knew that my bus home was the number 4 scheduled for 17:35: I had looked this up in a bunch of different places, because I was very new to this part of town and had no other means of transport home, and everywhere reassured me to get the number 4 scheduled for 17:35.
I show up at the correct stop with time, and (thank the Lord!) a bus arrives at the stop on time at 17:35 bearing the number 4. I get on, and half an hour later I realise it has taken me the complete wrong direction.
Some frantic Googling later, I find that two different operators ran two different buses to that same stop, both at exactly the same time (to the minute, every half an hour), both proudly displaying the number 4, but on completely different routes. It took all my willpower to stop me from producing the most guttural, violent scream of hatred on this crowded bus full of children. I eventually got off in a different completely unknown part of town and made it home three hours later - not helped by the two connection buses I needed to take both being delayed.
I think the quality of bus services everywhere has taken a sharp nosedive over the past year or so, largely due to the driver shortage and struggles getting back up to capacity following covid.
For example, Lothian Buses currently has a similar issue with the information boards (and the official app!) to the one you describe, with buses disappearing just as they are supposed to arrive. The problem apparently is that so many buses are now cancelled due to the lack of drivers that the information boards and app can't handle it!
https://twitter.com/cocteautriplets/status/1578834837338611715?t=mKdVcUA-3SavKm5Nne5QmA&s=19
I've read about similar issues in other parts of the UK. Unfortunately it goes chronically under-reported because the UK media is much more interested in trains than local bus services...
Waiting 40 minutes for a bus into Leicester a few weeks ago….. It was packed as a scheduled bus had not arrived. An unpleasant experience… doubt I’ll bother again, even though I have a bus pass !
I remember when I was driving to work in my early twenties. I was teaching in London at the time & not enjoying it. However, it cheered me up when I passed a bus-stop & saw lots of people standing in the heavy rain, waiting for a bus! I decided then that buses were to be avoided if possible!