Public transport cleanliness survey

I hope you are all enjoying the Summer Holiday series: more posts in the pipeline. For now, I would be very grateful if anybody could spare 5 minutes to fill in this survey about cleanliness on public transport for a project I'm working on. It won't take longer than 5 minutes. Thank you in advance.

Link: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/KYBR2PJ

Niagara Falls-Toronto with Megabus

As our trip in Niagara Falls drew to a close, our thoughts turned to continuing our holiday. We booked a Megabus to Toronto, which would depart from the Bus Terminal in Niagara Falls, adjacent to the Niagara Falls Transit depot. We took a taxi to the bus terminal for logistical reasons, before boarding the 1235 Megabus to Toronto, operated as a code share by Coach Canada.

With the best seats on the coach, namely the pair at the front, we enjoyed panoramic views of urban Niagara Falls, and after about half an hour we arrived into St Catherines, our final stop before Toronto. We picked up a few passengers then drove onto the Queen Elizabeth Way, the motorway that would take us to Toronto. We travelled fast, the driver keeping her foot firmly on the accelerator as we maintained a steady speed of 110km/h, until downtown Toronto was visible in front of us.

At this point we stopped. Abruptly. For as we approached downtown Toronto the previously free flowing motorway became a sea of traffic, delaying us by around ten minutes. With no priority lanes here, we were reduced to a crawl, as construction in downtown Toronto caused chaos at every intersection. Earlier in the journey, when traffic had flowed freely, there had been special lanes for buses, taxis and cars with more than one person in, but here where they were most needed non were present.

Still, we fought our way through the traffic, called at Union Station in an impressive feat of road-rail integration, and arrived into Toronto Coach Terminal only 12 minutes late. The next challenge was to find our hotel.

Niagara Falls, ON to Love Canal, NY

After a day enjoying the sights of Niagara Falls from the Canadian side, we decided to take a trip to the USA to see the Falls from an alternative angle. In addition, we decided to take in a trip to Love Canal, a contamination disaster that resulted in the introduction of the US Superfund and is widely regarded as the birthplace of modern contaminated land research.

Getting to Love Canal was complex, with no scheduled buses serving the specific settlement, but Google did take things to new heights of randomness when it suggested a 4.5 hour trip involving Amtrak trains for a distance of under 15KM, all because it refused to accept that walking across Rainbow Bridge (the link from Niagara Falls Ontario to Niagara Falls New York) was possible. A little lateral thinking found us paying our 50 cents toll (only to the Americans-entry to Canada is free!), passing through US customs and attempting to locate our bus stop. Google Maps got us to the correct intersection but here failed again, directing us to a bus stop not served by the 50, our intended service. Fortunately a kind local directed us to the correct location, and we boarded the number 50, with only a handful of passengers aboard. Most passengers got off as we progressed along the route towards Niagara Transit Centre, and we alighted under a nondescript road bridge and began our walk through Love Canal.

Exploration over, we arrived early at the bus stop and decided to continue away from central Niagara Falls to see the Transit Centre, and get out of the rain. With a bus less than every 45 minutes, we were in no danger of delaying our arrival back in Niagara Falls, and the Transit Centre provided a toilet stop and area to refill water bottles. That was all it yielded, other than a few bus timetables, and it was also devoid of buses and passengers as we re-boarded our bus and headed back to the City Centre.

Once we had arrived we started exploring the Niagara Falls Park, to compare it to the facilities on the Canadian side. No fancy WEGO buses, but the Parks Service were operating heritage diesel trolley buses on a 30 minute loop linking various attractions to the three car parks (parking lots!) on the other side of the Niagara River. The trolleys were running on a ten minute frequency, with an all-day pass costing only US$2 (or free if only being used as a car park shuttle). As I only had Canadian dollars I was charged a ten percent service fee, but they kindly held the trolley as I paid at the ticket office-no cash is taken on board. Issued with a bright green wristband to indicate the fare paid I jumped on for the loop. The ride was busy and bumpy but quite fun, with great views of the Horseshoe Falls and the American rapids. Trolley ride over we returned across Rainbow Bridge, then headed for our cruise operated by Hornblower Cruise Lines.

The bus network in Niagara Falls, NY, is severely lacking, more so than that in Niagara Falls, ON. Very few passengers were using the services, and frequencies were low and irregular. Even the tourist shuttle T55 ran less than hourly on a non-clock face timetable and from what I saw was not well used. It is clear that car use is so endemic that the public transport system, heavily subsidised, exists only for those who cannot afford a car, and this view was confirmed by the locals who we spoke to. Hopefully this is not the situation in other cities on our itinerary.

For our summer holiday this year we flew from Manchester to Toronto with Air Canada Rouge. A taxi from home to Derby station allowed us to connect with the 0640 East Midlands Trains service to Crewe, a single carriage class 153 unit. We travelled through to the end of the line, at Crewe, as the train got steadily busier, and we were full and standing before Stoke on Trent. The conductor made a valiant, and mainly successful, effort to pass through the train and collect fares, as many stations along the line have no ticket purchasing facilities.

At Crewe there was time for a coffee before we boarded the 0833 Northern Rail service to Manchester Piccadilly, a class 323 unit which was well maintained and presented, with very little litter. Our ticket was checked before we set off, but we had an anxious five minutes as we sat at Crewe past our departure time, wondering if we were ever going to move. We were soon on our way however, and as we sped towards Manchester we ate a breakfast of the leftover food from our house, all removed as we departed. At Manchester Airport we checked in in good time, passed through security, and prepared to board Air Canada Rouge flight AC1931 to Toronto Pearson Airport.

We were an hour late taking off due to a broken down plane blocking the runway, but when we were finally airborne the pilot was able to make up twenty minutes. We were disappointed when we discovered that we were travelling with Air Canada Rouge, Air Canada's budget subsidiary, and the lack of inflight entertainment and plug sockets did affect our flight experience. Entertainment is available on your own device, but with nowhere to charge it an eight hour flight puts a dent in even the best battery capacities. Inflight service however was friendly and attentive, with a tasty meal and snack along with complimentary soft drinks being provided at appropriate times in the flight. I did have to explain to the Canadian flight attendant what a fizzy drink was, and I learned that a Sprite was a Sprite and not a lemonade, but all in all there were no major issues. Seat pitch was acceptable if a little tight, and we arrived into Toronto relatively fresh for our 90 minute limo transfer to Niagara Falls.

Niagara Falls-the start of a journey

The start of our family summer holiday this year takes me to Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada, where along with the breath-taking views of the falls there is a variety of interesting transportation options. A stretch limo shuttle transported us from Toronto Pearson Airport to our hotel in central Niagara Falls, this being cheaper than four fares on a shuttle and only ten dollars more than a taxi. Upon arrival, the brightly coloured articulated buses on the WEGO BRT system are immediately conspicuous. WEGO, introduced in 2012 to replace the Niagara Parks’ ageing people mover service, operates four lines all year round at varying frequencies, using mainly articulated BRT style vehicles. Designed for tourists, the system is fully integrated into the Niagara Adventure Pass, which includes entry to various attractions on the network and two days of WEGO bus travel.

We purchased one of these passes each, and they were issued on an RFID enabled smartcard. Consequently the WEGO system is almost entirely cashless, with day passes being issued on single use RFID smart cards and no cash fares sold to tourists. Some hotels do issue WEGO vouchers, and local residents using the red line can pay cash, because it serves a large number of residential areas, but at least 95% of journeys are validated by smartcard. This speeds up boarding times tremendously, which is vital given that at peak times thirty or more passengers can board at each stop. The card is validated by simply swiping it on a reader, resulting in a triple beep which is audible throughout the bus and must be intensely irritating for the driver, although some passengers struggle with the concept of validating a smartcard. Each member of a particular family tried validating their card in various incorrect ways, attempting to place it into the note acceptor, showing it to the driver, waving it in the vicinity of the reader and tapping it too quickly to be registered. The 19 year old son, with a combination of embarrassment and exasperation, grabbed each card, validated it correctly and then sent his relations on their way, but it is interesting that such a simple operation could cause so many problems.

WEGO runs with a fleet of 26 Nova Bus LFX buses, 20 of which are the articulated LFX60 version. There are also 6 rigid buses of the LFX40 type, used on early morning red line services and shuttles to Niagara on the Lake and Fort Erie that WEGO run during the summer tourist season. The arrangement between the City of Niagara Falls and the Niagara Parks’ Department is fairly complex, with the City owning all the vehicles, but only operating the purple, red and blue lines, which are operated by state owned transit company Niagara Falls Transit. The green line is operated by the Niagara Parks’ with buses leased from the City for Can$1, this route being the original people mover route. There are small differences between the two operations, for example the green line calls at all stops with no need to request stops, and also carries customer service assistants, whilst stop request buttons are used elsewhere. The green line also operates with vehicles in a slightly different layout to the rest of the network.

Services operate from 0600-0100 with varying headways from 12-30 minutes. Different lines have different start and finish times, with only the red line operating in the early mornings. The network functions relatively well, and the green line is often extremely busy with tourists during the day. The purple line however is less well used, and the red and blue lines, although providing useful links to hotel accommodation, both travel round the City Centre loop in the same direction. This means that journeys from outlying hotels into the City Centre can be very long.

With freedom to alter the network, I would curtail the green line at Table Rock Transit Centre, and used the vehicles saved to increase the frequency to every ten minutes. To serve the section of route between Table Rock and Rapidsview I would extend the blue line from Marineland through the car park area and down into Table Rock as a linear service, removing its City Centre loop function. I would do the same with the red line, streamlining inbound journeys from Lundy’s Lane, and introducing a new line circling the City Centre frequently in both directions. To provide vehicles for this I would withdraw the purple line, serving the bus and rail stations by making Niagara Falls Transit routes 104/204 (Ferry and Main bus terminus to Bus Station) part of the WEGO network, extending it at each end to the rail station and Table Rock. This would provide a network more matched to demand in my opinion, whilst not increasing costs dramatically.

The 104 is Niagara Falls transits most frequent route, running every thirty minutes, but they also operate a variety of local services to more residential areas of Niagara Falls, which are frequented by fewer tourists. Overall, the quality of service on these routes was very high, and buses were generally clean and punctual with friendly drivers. My Niagara Falls adventure pass was also valid on these buses, although this was not well advertised. I did get strange looks when travelling and unsurprisingly very few tourists made use of the facility. All buses were fitted with audio visual next stop displays and live tracking information was available via the internet, but some buses did run early, and my first trip on the 104 was delayed due to a staff shortage. Some things never change! Early running is probably a result of low passenger numbers-even when travelling into Niagara in the morning peak there were fewer than ten passengers on board-but should still be stamped out, especially in areas where frequencies are low. Niagara Falls Transit also participates in Niagara Regional Transit, a partnership of regional transit authorities providing interurban journeys throughout the Niagara region. This service was poorly publicised and it was unclear where and when buses ran, or how much they charged. As a result I didn’t use it, but the vehicles I saw on it were not well patronised.

Overall Niagara Falls has a very efficient visitor transportation system, but for the locals the bus truly is the transport of last resort. Most are firmly wedded to their cars, and although the large number of roads means traffic jams were uncommon, the amount of City Centre real estate devoted to car parking was staggering. Better integration between the three networks within the city, all three of which Niagara Falls Transit have interests in, would reduce duplication and better match demand to supply, whilst increased frequencies could lead to higher passenger numbers and less car use.

110 and 111 become 510-NCC service changes

As part of a Nottinghamshire-wide review of supported bus services, Nottinghamshire County Council has made changes to services 110 and 111 in the Stapleford area. These services will be combined into a new service numbered 510 from the 4th August 2014, which will run from Beeston through Attenborough and Toton along the route of the 110, serving the new tram terminus when it opens, and then continuing into Stapleford before serving the majority of the roads currently served by the 111.

The service will run hourly on Mondays to Saturdays, with no Sunday service, and will be operated in-house by Nottinghamshire County Council under the NottsBus Connect brand. This is an enhancement in terms of service provision, providing a through link to Beeston and a larger part of Stapleford for those currently served by the 110, and later buses and a Saturday service for people currently served by the 111. The 110 runs hourly at the moment, meaning most passengers will not lose out frequency-wise, but for those who use the 111 their frequency will fall from every 30 minutes to every 60.

I travelled on both services end to end in each direction to assess demand and try and gauge whether the frequency reduction would cause problems. I travelled first on the 110, which, for an urban minibus service, was relatively well loaded in both directions. Although there were never more than 5 passengers on board at any one time, overall 10-15 passengers used the service in each direction. There was a good turnover of passengers, and the 20 seat Fiat Tucano was never crowded, despite transporting a buggy and a good quantity of shopping. The majority of passengers were free pass holders rather than fare-paying passengers, which means that the council would only directly have taken a few pounds on each trip-the rest just goes from one part of the transport budget to the other! It was a similar story on the 111, and although the vehicle, a short-wheelbase Alexander Dennis Enviro 200, was slightly larger, there were never more than seven passengers on at any one time. From a capacity point of view a lower frequency will cause no problems, and if NCC decides to use the smaller Fiat minibus rather than a full sized vehicle this would still provide more than adequate capacity.

There was little talk of the impending frequency reduction, although the changes were a hot topic onboard the 111. This is likely to have been because the driver was incorrectly informing passengers that buses would still run every thirty minutes, as he had not been provided with a copy of the new timetable. In addition, he didn't know if he had a job past the changeover date, the new service requiring fewer vehicles and fewer drivers. The most controversial change is the removal of a 0.3 mile section of Brookhill Street, because with a lack of clear publicity about the changes people have misunderstood and assumed that the whole of Brookhill Street will no longer be served. Although it may seem a little melodramatic, petitions have been started, and the Evening Post ran a story that was highly critical of the council.

The publicity for the changes is lacking, and as is so common in the transport industry, frontline staff members have been kept in the dark, which upsets them and affects their ability to effectively inform passengers. Overall however, the change itself is beneficial to most residents. The Stapleford estates will gain earlier and later buses along with a Saturday service, whilst the Toton area will gain a new link to Beeston, and although some areas see a frequency reduction at least they still have some form of service. A new post will follow in early August with an analysis of the new route.

Yourbus Citylink withdrawn

Yourbus has announced its intention to fully withdraw its Citylink service between Nottingham and Derby from 27th July 2014. The service, first introduced in January 2013, has had many frequency and timetable alterations since its inception, including the addition of several new stops. Originally buses ran every ten minutes Nottingham to Derby direct calling at just Upper Parliament Street and QMC before travelling direct down the A52 to Derby.

Pressure from Broxtowe Mayor Stan Heptinstall led to new stops at Bramcote Leisure Centre and The Nurseryman being introduced in April 2013 but then over the summer the frequency was halved to every twenty minutes, and weekend night buses were withdrawn. From then frequent timetable alterations saw new stops added at Priory Island, University North Entrance and most recently Savoy Cinema, and the evening service was also curtailed with earlier last buses.

Loadings on the service have been variable, due in part to unreliability caused by traffic congestion on the A52. However, the operation of the service has left something to be desired, with more late buses and cancellations than might be expected. In particular, the hourly evening service, which runs with just one bus, has been especially unreliable, with the 1015 or 1115 from Nottingham and its associated return working from Derby often cancelled at short notice, leaving passengers with no option but to wait an hour for the arrival of the next bus. It is possible that this situation forced the withdrawal of the last two evening buses earlier this year, because to operate an additional bus would have raised costs substantially.

I have seen buses running completely empty, or with only yourbus employees on, but at the same time I have personally travelled on vehicles when they were full and standing, so there clearly is demand for the service. Trent Barton’s Red Arrow is a testament to this, but the service offered by yourbus clearly could not tempt enough people, either from the Red Arrow or out of their cars. Whether or not there is enough demand to sustain any kind of slower, cheaper service via the A52 remains to be seen, but yourbus are clearly exiting the market, transferring the four vehicles to the Y1 for its new extensions to Alfreton and Eastwood. Due to driver shortages the Citylink has seen extremely poor reliability in the recent past, with an unadvertised Sunday service operating last Saturday, and it is clear to see that the route has been firmly abandoned.

Sadly I will be unable to travel on the final journey, but just as the buses appeared with very little hype almost a year and a half ago, they will disappear, and soon there will be no trace left, leaving Bramcote with just the i4 and the 21, the situation we faced several years ago before the “Nottingham Bus War” began. Stan Heptinstall has asked Trent Barton about the possibility of a stop in Bramcote for the Red Arrow, but received a firm and resounding no. Information about this is available here, on the Bramcote Today website. Maybe in the future another operator will revisit this route, but for now, we wave goodbye to the Citylink.

District line rail replacement

Having travelled down to London yesterday, and taking the number 14 due to the suspension of the District line, I decided to sample the Rail Replacement offering from TfL to maintain a service whilst no District line trains could run westbound from Earls Court due to track renewal works within the station. Three replacement bus services were running to replace the District line, services A, B and C. I sampled the A and the B over their entire lengths, running from Wimbledon to Hammersmith and Earls. Court respectively. The B was fast from Wimbledon to Putney Bridge, serving all stops to Earls Court, whilst the A served all stops to Putney Bridge then ran direct to Hammersmith.

I started in Fulham, taking a number 14 service bus from Munster Road to Putney Bridge. My decision to photograph my ride at Putney Bridge led to me narrowly missing an Ensignbus double decker on the B. Upon asking the member of TfL staff stationed there I was informed there would be a five to ten minute wait, but soon a red Alexander Dennis Enviro 400 with railway replacement on the blind came over the hill. Sadly it sped straight past, but an identical vehicle followed close behind. Within three minutes of arrival I was ushered straight on to the next phase of my journey, with a question about validating my Oyster card met with "Just go straight on, it's a VIP service". This despite a special sign warning of a penalty fare or prosecution for failing to travel with a valid ticket on rail replacement services.

The bus was almost empty, and I had the top deck to myself. We passed many people waiting for the service bus (number 93), and continued nonstop through Wimbledon village. Upon arrival at Wimbledon, I photographed the bus as I alighted from it and then set about finding where service A left from. Enquiring with some inspectors at the B stop, I was told to cross the road and turn right. The first right led down a tiny side road, but a handy map placed inside the station entrance directed me to Argos. As I arrived I saw a Go-ahead Trident turning in, and the TfL CSA kindly made the driver wait as I sprinted down the side of the bus. Jumping on, I took a seat upstairs for the ride to Hammersmith.

This bus was similarly lightly loaded, with only one person upstairs. We made good progress on clear roads, stopping at the local stations between Wimbledon and Putney Bridge. From Putney Bridge, we continued to Hammersmith, where I alighted and made my way to the tube station.

After just missing a Cockfosters train, I waited a couple of minutes until an Arnos Grove bound service arrived. This was shown correctly on the departure boards, but the manual PA announcement described it as going through to Cockfosters. The driver made clear announcements regarding the District line disruption, and had a very cheerful tone within his announcements.

Upon arrival at Earls Court we were directed up some stairs, where clear green arrows directed us towards rail replacement buses. It could not have been much more clear, and it was definitely needed as despite Echo noise barriers the noise of the track relaying activity was horrendous. The District line platforms were visible from the concourse, and they were certainly a hive of activity, as the picture below shows. Various teams in orange did countless tasks, all contributing to the smooth running of trains at one of TfLs busiest underground stations. Clear signs directed passengers to bus stop A for service B, and a quick hop across the road led me to a Tower Transit Alexander Dennis Enviro 400 bound for Putney Bridge. It was announced as being for Wimbledon. But the driver was having none of it, saying he was terminating at Putney Bridge. 

We skipped one stop, and stations such as Fulham. Broadway and Parsons Green flew past. Soon we were passing Munster Road, and I waved as we drove straight by. Alighting at Putney Bridge, I crossed the road and hopped on to a 14 again to take me back. On its iBus system the disruption on the District line was advertised, and it was very heavily loaded, perhaps due to people being unaware of the replacement buses, as I was initially.

The service was good, and staff at most stops helped smooth the operation along. Better destination displays would have been helpful, as ironically the only buses that actually displayed District Line were the one hired in from Ensignbus and Arriva from outside of London, which had LED displays. The frequency of the service made up for many faults, as a missed bus or even two was usually of no consequence whatsoever. The revenue protection could be better though, even if the solution was just to activate bus Oyster readers and charge £1.40 a trip. This is especially important for Oyster PAYG users, who have no way of validating their card but the threat of an £80 fine or prosecution hanging over them were an RPI to board. TfL staff directly contradicting their own notices doesn't exhude confidence either.