Dave Brotheridge, Operations Manager at First Bus, Bury Depot will attend to answer questions relating to service provision in Bury West.
Minutes:
Dave Brotheridge, Steve Shaw and Dwayne Wells from First Bus attended the meeting to report on First Bus services across the borough and to answer questions relating to First Bus and the bus services they provide.
Dave reported that First Bus would be holding a customer event on 27 January at Bury Interchange between 11am and 1pm outside the Travel Shop.
Dave also stated that representatives from First Bus would be more than happy to attend the Township Forum meetings regularly to update their customers and listen to concerns or ideas.
Those present were given the opportunity to ask questions or make comments and the following points were raised:-
· A member of the public referred to the 472/474 Ramsbottom service which should be every 10 minutes and stated that sometimes you could wait for half an hour without a bus and then 3 would arrive at once.
Dave explained that the high frequency services such as this were prone to bunching if there was a problem on the route. The company had undergone redevelopment and an advanced vehicle location tracking device had been introduced which could see where all first bus vehicles were when out on the road. This would help with issues such as bunching. It was also explained that Ramsbottom is a very popular place to live with just single track roads in and out. If there was any disruption this would have a knock on effect to the whole service.
· Councillor Walker referred to the 98 service which was every 15 minutes and ran from Manchester to Bury via Whitefield, Radcliffe and down Ainsworth Road. The service was not very reliable and was problematic every day. Councillor Walker asked if consideration could be given to some of the buses turning back at Whitefield.
· Mr Berry explained that he spend £50 a month for a bus pass only to receive a very unreliable service. The 98 which went past Whitehead Park was early more than not. If the 7.29am bus was early the next after was 7.49am which was mostly late and always a single deck and therefore very busy.
It was explained that the tracking device would be able to highlight these issues and would show up where vehicles were persistently early.
· Mr Berry also stated that the app did not show in real time where the buses were and this had meant that he had missed buses on occasions.
Mr Brotheridge stated that he was aware that the 98 service could be better and it was hoped that the tracking would show where problems were and then these could be looked at.
· Mr Berry suggested that information could be provided at bus stops informing when the next bus was due as was done at tram stops.
It was explained that this type of service would have to be provided by Transport for Greater Manchester. It had been trialled on a few occasions but the funding hadn’t been enough to cover the cost.
· A member of the public stated that there were also issues with the 471 service being late and more than one vehicle turning up at the same time.
Dave explained that there were three main junctions in Bury :-
Heap Bridge, Bury Bridge and Moorgate. If any of these junctions were experiencing problems this would have an effect on the buses and if all three were experiencing problems it could cause gridlock across the town centre which would have knock on effect on the network across the town and further. It was also explained that the removal of the bus lane on Rochdale Road was causing issues with the buses running to time.
It was also reported that any incidents in Manchester could have an effect on other areas due to drivers not being available.
· A member of the public explained that there was a lot of different information available in relation to timetables. When you looked online the information was different to that provided at the Travel Shop.
· A resident from Brandlesholme explained that she had recently had the need to attend the Moorgate Medical Centre on a number of occasions whilst using crutches. To do this on public transport she had to get off the bus (474) at the interchange and then get back on to continue to the Moorgate or catch the other bus (472) and go through Ramsbottom and then down Walmersley Road to get off at the Moorgate. She asked whether it would be possible to make the 474 a true circular route.
It was stated that this would be considered as an option.
· A member of the public stated that some of the buses currently in operation were old and very uncomfortable.
It was anticipated that the older buses would be phased out.
It was agreed:
That Dave, Steve and Dwayne be thanked for their attendance