First Greater Glasgow

[Trnsprt4Sctlnd]

Surely if there are inconsistencies with drivers charging different amounts, this will be eliminated by using tap on tap off (TOTO), as you'll be charged the correct fare as determined by the distance that you travel.

If there is a GPS glitch or you're otherwise charged the wrong amount, this can be raised with the company, and you can check your journey history through the website.

Tap On, Tap Off

The new way to pay where you only pay for what you use! TOTO just got even more flexible. Our 3 and 5 Day Bundles allow for even more savings when you travel across multiple days. Simply ‘Tap On’ with the driver as you board, and ‘Tap Off’ using one of the new readers on board the bus as you exit.

www.firstbus.co.uk

Furthering the hassle in using a public bus service…

It would be far simpler and easier if the single fare was a flat fare like it is in London.

Unquestionably it would make it far simpler with no doubt involved if the fare was only a flat £1.80.

Also, do concession card holders still have to state destination? By eliminating that, it would help to speed up boarding.

No, Edinburghs Lothian Buses has this arrangement in place, scan your card and sit down, not even a ticket is needed, as a result the bus isn’t littered with discarded concession tickets.

I'm not surprised by that to be honest. An all day is handy to have just incase you need it randomly and they're not much more expensive that the Tap on Tap off system. The monthly direct debit is such good value to be honest and the fact it didn't change price is confusing but I'm definitely not complaining at all.

A lot of what we see in recent ticket price changes doesn’t make things any easier and not really anymore inexpensive, it just jiggles things about abit, personally I think most will still buy the city day ticket because of the way these tap-on-off systems are misunderstood or information about them is misinterpreted.

 

[GusB]

Furthering the hassle in using a public bus service…

People elsewhere get used to using it, and if you really want to be a Luddite, you can continue to pay cash. For now, anyway.

The system is designed so that you're appropriately charged for the amount of travelling you do. So, if you plan to travel to work and back and would usually buy a day ticket, then somebody offers you a lift home, you haven't wasted money and will only be charged for a single.

 

[singlemalt]

Furthering the hassle in using a public bus service…


Unquestionably it would make it far simpler with no doubt involved if the fare was only a flat £1.80.


No, Edinburghs Lothian Buses has this arrangement in place, scan your card and sit down, not even a ticket is needed, as a result the bus isn’t littered with discarded concession tickets.


A lot of what we see in recent ticket price changes doesn’t make things any easier and not really anymore inexpensive, it just jiggles things about abit, personally I think most will still buy the city day ticket because of the way these tap-on-off systems are misunderstood or information about them is misinterpreted.

As I understand it because Lothian operate a flat fare system they do not need to issue tickets

 

[duffers2324]

I have always thought the idea of having flat fare in Glasgow is a good idea and have it set roughly between the 2 ticket prices just now so say £2 but there will be those who use the £1.80 and go for a short hop who might think that the price is unreasonable, then there will be the people who pay the £2.65 fare normally and First might be thinking they are losing money from each of those due to a longer distance travelled.

It would massively simplify the whole thing

Having seen some comments on Facebook etc about tap on and tap off a lot of people where saying they were being charged £2.65 for a journey they say they only paid £1.70 in the past for, now it could just be me being cynical but i get the feeling most people will have been putting the £1.70 fare in and travelling more than the 5 stops that the £1.70 fare covered and now with TOTO they are now thinking that they are being ripped off due to it calculating the right fare, when they should be paying the £2.65 fare in the first place.

Can i just say about that subject right enough First have never been great at letting people know that there is 2-3 distinct single fares in the city zone and probably in local zones also IE £1.80 and £2.65 and that the £1.80 only applies if your going less than 5 stops then it goes up to the £2.65 fare. I have seen on some other posts there was a £2.20 fare now £2.35 i think so where would that fit in with everything?

 

[92002]

I have always thought the idea of having flat fare in Glasgow is a good idea and have it set roughly between the 2 ticket prices just now so say £2 but there will be those who use the £1.80 and go for a short hop who might think that the price is unreasonable, then there will be the people who pay the £2.65 fare normally and First might be thinking they are losing money from each of those due to a longer distance travelled.

It would massively simplify the whole thing

Having seen some comments on Facebook etc about tap on and tap off a lot of people where saying they were being charged £2.65 for a journey they say they only paid £1.70 in the past for, now it could just be me being cynical but i get the feeling most people will have been putting the £1.70 fare in and travelling more than the 5 stops that the £1.70 fare covered and now with TOTO they are now thinking that they are being ripped off due to it calculating the right fare, when they should be paying the £2.65 fare in the first place.
Perhaps t

Can i just say about that subject right enough First have never been great at letting people know that there is 2-3 distinct single fares in the city zone and probably in local zones also IE £1.80 and £2.65 and that the £1.80 only applies if your going less than 5 stops then it goes up to the £2.65 fare. I have seen on some other posts there was a £2.20 fare now £2.35 i think so where would that fit in with everything?

Perhaps there should be 2 fares into the future, a £2. 50 for shorter journeys up to around 10 miles and a £3 beyond.

There was and is quite a bit if abuse with the £1.80 who would be the Losers.

 

[Falcon1200]

No, Edinburghs Lothian Buses has this arrangement in place, scan your [concession] card and sit down, not even a ticket is needed, as a result the bus isn’t littered with discarded concession tickets.

A simple system which should be adopted everywhere, or would it cause too big an issue with the way operators receive revenue from concession cards ?

 

[Trnsprt4Sctlnd]

A simple system which should be adopted everywhere, or would it cause too big an issue with the way operators receive revenue from concession cards ?

It would reduce there revenue hence why ticket prices don’t come down, First Glasgow operations is a profitable one and there won’t be any change which reduces that from a private company point of view.

A £1.80 cash fare is worth about £1 in concession travel, the £2.65 cash fare, about £1.48 in concession reimbursement.

Say you scan 100000 concession cards at a 55.9% reimburse rate and the single cash fare is £1.80, the total amount you receive would be approx. £100k in revenue.

For the £2.65 cash fare if 100000 concession cards was scanned? £148k in revenue.

Obviously this is a rudimentary calculation but it gives you an idea for basic disabled or OAP concession cards.

Cards for young travellers have 2 different rates of reimbursements, up to 16yr its 43.6% and 16-21yr olds it’s 81.2%.


Q. Are 39101-39110 still off the road?

 

[JumpinTrainz]

It would reduce there revenue hence why ticket prices don’t come down, First Glasgow operations is a profitable one and there won’t be any change which reduces that from a private company point of view.

A £1.80 cash fare is worth about £1 in concession travel, the £2.65 cash fare, about £1.48 in concession reimbursement.

Say you scan 100000 concession cards at a 55.9% reimburse rate and the single cash fare is £1.80, the total amount you receive would be approx. £100k in revenue.

For the £2.65 cash fare if 100000 concession cards was scanned? £148k in revenue.

Obviously this is a rudimentary calculation but it gives you an idea for basic disabled or OAP concession cards.

Cards for young travellers have 2 different rates of reimbursements, up to 16yr its 43.6% and 16-21yr olds it’s 81.2%.


Q. Are 39101-39110 still off the road?

39101-39110 are still off the road not sure if they are returning, they’ve been gone for so long now.

 

[Trnsprt4Sctlnd]

39101-39110 are still off the road not sure if they are returning, they’ve been gone for so long now.

Are they being stored within a First Depot?

 

[92002]

Are they being stored within a First Depot?

Think they are at Scotstoun. 49201 was reported out on a 6A at the end of March for a day.

 

[ginge8991]

Think they are at Scotstoun. 49201 was reported out on a 6A at the end of March for a day.

That might have been a borrowed ticket machine situation from bustimes I think.

 

[JumpinTrainz]

That might have been a borrowed ticket machine situation from bustimes I think.

Seems more likely. I haven’t seen them since the start of the pandemic. Not sure why they’re being stored and not used.

 

[Glasgowbusguy]

Just seen 33433 (41 branded) broken down on Duke Street. A relief bus has now arrived in the shape of 34387 (38 branded).

And yes 34387 had been parked in the active lane right in front of traffic lights.

 

[PaulMc7]

Another day of people on my bus moaning about buses being late and not actually realising the fact it's car congestion that causes it most. The 2 and 3 have began to become rather problematic since the timetable change though. 3 3s together after work there and 2 2s.

 

[Glasgowbusguy]

Another day of people on my bus moaning about buses being late and not actually realising the fact it's car congestion that causes it most. The 2 and 3 have began to become rather problematic since the timetable change though. 3 3s together after work there and 2 2s.

The 2 does seem to run in convoy a lot currently but only 1 bus shows up on the bus stop display

 

[PaulMc7]

The 2 does seem to run in convoy a lot currently but only 1 bus shows up on the bus stop display

Those bus stop displays are worse than First's app and that's saying something.

 

[Glasgowbusguy]

Those bus stop displays are worse than First's app and that's saying something.

Tbf the ones at stops I use tend to be more reliable than the first app as quite often the missing buses don't show up on the bus stop screens

 

[PaulMc7]

Tbf the ones at stops I use tend to be more reliable than the first app as quite often the missing buses don't show up on the bus stop screens

To be fair with First's app the problem is that a lot of people don't know how to use it properly. It's poor but 9 times out of 10 a bus that says due with no capacity beside it isn't running at a minimum. That tends to be the most accurate thing about it though.

 

[Trnsprt4Sctlnd]

To be fair with First's app the problem is that a lot of people don't know how to use it properly. It's poor but 9 times out of 10 a bus that says due with no capacity beside it isn't running at a minimum. That tends to be the most accurate thing about it though.

this is because of the way the “boarding” & “alighting” works on the ticketers, me included.

I recall getting off of buses and the boarding on my bus was over 100, according to the ticketer.

When someone buys a single the machine will +1 for a passenger being boarded and that should correspond with the amount of people shown on the app.

the ticket machine will then remove that person on the fare stage they said they were meant to alight at.

With concession cards many a driver just leaves the ticket machine on the same fare stage so they aren’t searching a considerable list full of destinations therefore the ticketer isn’t removing them automatically based on the passengers actual destination they alight at.

With day tickets or weekly’s, the ticket machine will +1 a passenger boarding but won’t remove them, drivers are meant to be using the machine to guesstimate those on board but I don’t blame them that they aren’t.

Again, this is why buses are turning up relatively empty but the app may say full.

 

[PaulMc7]

this is because of the way the “boarding” & “alighting” works on the ticketers, me included.

I recall getting off of buses and the boarding on my bus was over 100, according to the ticketer.

When someone buys a single the machine will +1 for a passenger being boarded and that should correspond with the amount of people shown on the app.

the ticket machine will then remove that person on the fare stage they said they were meant to alight at.

With concession cards many a driver just leaves the ticket machine on the same fare stage so they aren’t searching a considerable list full of destinations therefore the ticketer isn’t removing them automatically based on the passengers actual destination they alight at.

With day tickets or weekly’s, the ticket machine will +1 a passenger boarding but won’t remove them, drivers are meant to be using the machine to guesstimate those on board but I don’t blame them that they aren’t.

Again, this is why buses are turning up relatively empty but the app may say full.

I wasn't even thinking of it in that sense more the fact that people don't get if it doesn't have any capacity mentioned below the number it's probably not running if it's meant to have left the terminus. To be fair, First at least try to get it close to accurate with this compared to McGill's and Stagecoach.

It's very rarely miles off for me too. A few out either higher or lower but very rarely outrageous unless it gets stuck saying 0 seats free when in reality the bus is basically empty.

 

[stevenedin]

I always thought that the driver presses a button when people get on or off? I’ve seen them press something when people get off at least

 

[PaulMc7]

Had a lot of fun getting to work this morning from my stop. 8:00 2 didn't run, 8:10 only went to Scotstoun, 8:20 didn't run. Thank goodness for the 3 getting me to work on time. I'm okay with them being short of drivers but they need to do a much better job of scheduling around the issues so 3 buses in a row aren't missing.

 

[92002]

Had a lot of fun getting to work this morning from my stop. 8:00 2 didn't run, 8:10 only went to Scotstoun, 8:20 didn't run. Thank goodness for the 3 getting me to work on time. I'm okay with them being short of drivers but they need to do a much better job of scheduling around the issues so 3 buses in a row aren't missing.

Perhaps a 1 should have been re-routed to replace some of the missing 2s. Preferably a double decker. Assuming the Dumbarton driver knew the route. Even turning it short in the city centre is better than none at all

 

[Glasgowbusguy]

Multiple issues again on the 9A today with 3 consecutive not turning up from town but plenty of standard 9s running.

Also hearing more and more people getting annoyed over the whole situation as the McGill's 38 seems to run perfectly and there was cross operator ticket acceptance at the start of COVID (surely this could be brought back in)

 

[PaulMc7]

Perhaps a 1 should have been re-routed to replace some of the missing 2s. Preferably a double decker. Assuming the Dumbarton driver knew the route. Even turning it short in the city centre is better than none at all

It's usually fine to be fair. Since the change my bus in the morning has been far better than after work. After work is a lottery especially as today is showing. No 3s seemingly due then 4 within 9 mins according to the app. I've said for years the 3 needs split somewhere. It's the worst of the over 2 hour routes from experience.

 

[92002]

It's usually fine to be fair. Since the change my bus in the morning has been far better than after work. After work is a lottery especially as today is showing. No 3s seemingly due then 4 within 9 mins according to the app. I've said for years the 3 needs split somewhere. It's the worst of the over 2 hour routes from experience.

That's why First employ a service manager at Clydebank. To deal with situations that need to be improved on for passengers. Missing buses being one of them. He could even have started a service from Clydebank by using a 6, M60 or 81. Even driven a spare bus in the bus station himself.

 

[PaulMc7]

That's why First employ a service manager at Clydebank. To deal with situations that need to be improved on for passengers. Missing buses being one of them. He could even have started a service from Clydebank by using a 6, M60 or 81. Even driven a spare bus in the bus station himself.

I've seen one of the guys I used to always see at Clydebank covering the 1C a couple of times. I'm amazed Partick doesn't have something similar and other key parts of routes like Parkhead, Silverburn etc

 

[92002]

I've seen one of the guys I used to always see at Clydebank covering the 1C a couple of times. I'm amazed Partick doesn't have something similar and other key parts of routes like Parkhead, Silverburn etc

A good solution would be Faifley, expressway to City. Then M8 to Shettrleston and Baillieston.

With the X4 going via Partick then back on the Expressway.

 

[PaulMc7]

A good solution would be Faifley, expressway to City. Then M8 to Shettrleston and Baillieston.

With the X4 going via Partick then back on the Expressway.

To be honest out of Scotstoun's buses the X4 seems to be the main one that's very rarely missing. I did see a couple of training buses this morning too though so hopefully it does get a little better. Other than a big payrise and a lot of conditions being changed to balance driver shift patterns I don't see anything helping.

Money is a key thing but even though there's a lot of jobs below bus driving in terms of pay it's still not quite enough.

 

[92002]

To be honest out of Scotstoun's buses the X4 seems to be the main one that's very rarely missing. I did see a couple of training buses this morning too though so hopefully it does get a little better. Other than a big payrise and a lot of conditions being changed to balance driver shift patterns I don't see anything helping.

Money is a key thing but even though there's a lot of jobs below bus driving in terms of pay it's still not quite enough.

The X4 could service Partick and join the Expressway from the bottom of Byres Road. It really could use sone more passengers. Usually very lightly loaded.