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First Buses
Kayl06
Posts: 83 Forumite
Have just come off the phone to these and i'm so angry with them.
On the 6th of December the timetables are changing, notices have been up for about 2 weeks which would be fine except nobody knows what the new timetables are going to be!
I've been asking the drivers for the past week if they have any idea about the new times, each one has told me no, they haven't been told anything.
I've been looking online, i've gone through every single link there and there's nothing about the new times on there. Its now 3 days until they get changed over, you think there would be something on there by now!
So now i've had to phone them up, wasting my money, just to find out something that should have been available weeks ago.
The times they have come out with are just rediculous, they've gone from 5 past the hour and 35 past the hour to just quarter to the hour!
So to get to work for 10 o'clock you would have to catch the 8.45 and wait around for around 40 minutes, and you would probably have to wait to come home as the bus is now 5 past the hour instead of 25 past and 5 to!
They want people to catch more buses, how can they when they are at such stupid times and have been reduced to one an hour. This bus is always busy so i can't understand why they feel the need to reduce services!
Completly useless company.
On the 6th of December the timetables are changing, notices have been up for about 2 weeks which would be fine except nobody knows what the new timetables are going to be!
I've been asking the drivers for the past week if they have any idea about the new times, each one has told me no, they haven't been told anything.
I've been looking online, i've gone through every single link there and there's nothing about the new times on there. Its now 3 days until they get changed over, you think there would be something on there by now!
So now i've had to phone them up, wasting my money, just to find out something that should have been available weeks ago.
The times they have come out with are just rediculous, they've gone from 5 past the hour and 35 past the hour to just quarter to the hour!
So to get to work for 10 o'clock you would have to catch the 8.45 and wait around for around 40 minutes, and you would probably have to wait to come home as the bus is now 5 past the hour instead of 25 past and 5 to!
They want people to catch more buses, how can they when they are at such stupid times and have been reduced to one an hour. This bus is always busy so i can't understand why they feel the need to reduce services!
Completly useless company.
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Also, in Leeds they are on strike for 3 days this month. Cheers for that, FirstLeeds.0
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Where I used to live the buses came at least every ten minutes *supposedly* problem was they didn't. There probably was at least 6 of each number per hour (2 numbers passed my house into town) but they always seemed to come along in 2's or 3's! This was FirstGlasgow, and was over 5 years ago so might not be the same now!Ermutigung wirkt immer besser als Verurteilung.
Encouragement always works better than judgement.0 -
This is why I learned to drive
Mind you my dads an ops manager for them so I am biased towards the drivers **dons protective gear**0 -
This is why I learned to drive
Yes but it won't be long before we are all forced out of the car by:
high road tax/insurance/fuel prices
pedestranisation of everywhere
roads available only to busses (i.e. bus lanes taking over)
no parking/not enough parking (except for rip off pay to park spaces and NCP like car parks).
It wont be long before driving is once again a privilege for the rich.0 -
The times they have come out with are just rediculous, they've gone from 5 past the hour and 35 past the hour to just quarter to the hour!
So to get to work for 10 o'clock you would have to catch the 8.45 and wait around for around 40 minutes, and you would probably have to wait to come home as the bus is now 5 past the hour instead of 25 past and 5 to!
They want people to catch more buses, how can they when they are at such stupid times and have been reduced to one an hour. This bus is always busy so i can't understand why they feel the need to reduce services!
Completly useless company.
First obviously aren't making a profit on the route, it must be a loss leader. Perhaps its all concessionary fares and not worthwhile. If it was only running half hourly before hand it suggests it wasn't a major route anyhow.
The pressure on the bus network as a result of free travel and its chronic underfunding means that companies are looking to cut routes and costs and concentrate on core flagship services, ironically cutting the services that concessionary fare travellers may use0 -
First obviously aren't making a profit on the route, it must be a loss leader. Perhaps its all concessionary fares and not worthwhile. If it was only running half hourly before hand it suggests it wasn't a major route anyhow.
The pressure on the bus network as a result of free travel and its chronic underfunding means that companies are looking to cut routes and costs and concentrate on core flagship services, ironically cutting the services that concessionary fare travellers may use
It is all the oldies getting on, they annoyed me today actually. They shout at you if you every 'push' infront of them, but its totally acceptable for them to do the same to you. I was waiting there for half hour and they came along five minutes ago, what gives them the right to get on first. Was very close to shouting at them i was that annoyed.
Finally managed to find a timetable and i am so confused with it.
There's another bus company which does the exact same route, they say it takes 20 minutes, first have come up with 30. Where has the extra 10 minutes come from? Useless.0 -
I have some issues with First myself, which I hadn't really thought about much until I realised how happy it makes me when a journey goes smoothly! I really rely on buses, I go to university in another town and have 2 children who go to the college nursery so they come with me. I am so grateful for buggy-friendly buses, if they didn't exist I don't think I'd have even contemplated going to study until the kids were at school!
We do OK in the mornings, it's very rare that the bus isn't buggy-friendly but we do leave enough time in case we have to wait for the next one. However on the way home I've been having a lot of bad luck lately, yesterday being the worse journey yet. Having just collected two tired toddlers from nursery we went to the bus stop and a bus came along...it wasn't buggy-friendly, so since these buses are every 10 minutes I decided to wait for the next one. The next one came...it had steps...the girls were about to fall asleep...so I said I'd wait for the next one and they promptly fell asleep. The 3rd bus in a row was not buggy-friendly at which point I'd been stood there half an hour and had to admit defeat and wake the kids up and fold the buggy up. I know them being tired isn;'t the fault of First at all but having been woken and pulled out of their buggy and marched onto a bus then me having to get back off the bus for the buggy made them somewhat unhappy and they were groggy and cried most of the way home. I felt like joining in. I appreciate that nobody wants to listen to a crying child on a bus but nothing I could do would soothe them so the dirty looks truly did not help. Anyway, I digress.
I understand that there are still buses in circulation with steps but this particular route is advertised as being completely buggy-friendly and it states in the timetable that 'only extraordinary circumstances will result in a non-buggy-friendly bus being put on the route'. I now know this to be BS as several drivers have told me that when they pick their buses up from the depot they are told to take whichever one is handy. The fact that this route should very rarely be a problem was a deciding factor in me applying to go to uni at all and dreading the uncertainty of the journey home is stressing me out! Probably sounds totally OTT but if you don't know how many buses you'll have to let go, whether it's worth taking the kids out,will we be able to get the next one, it doesn't really fill you with joy.
I complained to First a few weeks ago when one of the buses didn't even stop for us, and I could plainly see that there were no buggies on. Just what you want when you're stood in the pouring rain. I got a lovely email back saying 'we'll look into it', no sign of a 'sorry'. I fully expect the result of their investigation to be 'the driver didn't see you'. Which makes me wonder, if a driver can't see a person wearing a red coat who has come right to the edge of the pavement, stood under a street light, with their arm out...why the hell are they driving.
Anyway sorry about the length of my rant. It's been p!ssing me off for some time now and I needed to get it out!:heartpulsSpoiling my two baby girls with love - it's free and it's fun!:heartpuls
I'm not very good at succinct. Why say something in 10 words when 100 will do?
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Another problem with first is that around half of thevery early or late buses (which usually have fewer people on them) tend to magically dissappear the moment they set off from the depot, not even managing to make the first stop. The next bus tends to come early, with the driver having no idea if he is the 0027 or the 0057....0
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What do you think this is? A public service ? Nahh ...C'mon ,,,,get that bas ahht...!
Feudal Britain needs land reform. 70% of the land is "owned" by 1 % of the population and at least 50% is unregistered (inherited by landed gentry). Thats why your slave box costs so much..0 -
Blakie for the win!
Of course, First Group is famous for being set up, owned and run by the drivers and not just a group of bus managers...0
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