RELBUS

For straightforward bus journeys mobile technology is becoming increasingly useful, though there’s a long way to go if you live in rural areas, or the signal is poor or you are using old technology or you are yourself old and struggling to keep up with the times.

Some say we should concentrate on getting services improved. And we agree that we need to see significant improvements in services based around passenger needs, but we recognise that widening access to useful information about bus services is important too. We also like the idea that services like twitter could be used to provide feedback to operators and councils, or even to provide cheap crowd-sourced real time information about problems or delays.

Continue reading Is technology the answer to improving rural bus services

RELBUS, the Rural East Lothian Bus Users group welcomes the formation of East Lothian Council’s Local Bus Forum. We recognise it is not easy for the public’s needs to be met in a competitive and deregulated environment and that  operators justify investment and operational decisions in the interests of shareholders. However the structural deficiencies in public transport are significant and are barriers to employment and business development, as well as access to health services and education according to East Lothian’s latest Economic Development Strategy (2012-2022). There is a need for change, so we were pleased to be able express passenger concerns and begin the conversation on the key issues that we feel will lead to: greater innovation in service provision and fares, better integration and connectivity of public transport, much improved information and publicity and, above all much more public involvement in the shaping of these services. We see the forum as a welcome first step in the right direction and optimistic that there is a willingness to explore new approaches. We think a further step in this direction would be the establishment of a common passenger charter for the East Lothian area, for all operators and the council to sign up to.

Barry Turner, RELBUS CHAIR

Our consultation with members and Community Councils progresses, but the long read won’t suit all readers (see the earlier post), so we’ve laid out our priorities on a new page here:

https://relbus.org.uk/documents/focus-on-bus-users-consultation-questions/

Our 9 point plan is a menu rather than a prescription, but we hope it will help us campaign more effectively and prioritise our efforts and inform stakeholders what we believe the elements of a quality rural public transport system should contain.

RELBUS campaigns for better rural bus services. Our main aim is to represent the passenger’s voice.  We aim to represent the passenger perspective at all opportunities to politicians, to government and to local government officials and to bus operators.

We are now seeking wider views on the issues raised in our draft discussion paper to gauge bus users’ perspectives on our emerging strategy and priorities.

V1.1 Focus on Bus Passengers

Please mail your views by email before the 20^th Oct 2012 to info@relbus.org.uk or send them to Philip Immirzi, RELBUS c/o BeGreen, 16 Westport, Dunbar, EH42 1BU.

If you want your response to remain confidential, mark it clearly so.