On 26 Jan 2009 at 3:11pm Dog In A Cape. wrote:
I designate the 123/128 Malling bus route the worst in Sussex.
Buses that just don't turn up! Can't be bothered? No, they are conspiring to say that there is no demand for a service, later this year they are going to call for a total end to the service.
Malling needs buses, but there is little fun to be had waiting for the bus that doesn't come!
Lose your bus service or fight for it!
On 26 Jan 2009 at 4:08pm l.pierre wrote:
I saw the 128 go through Malling 8 minutes early today,funnily enough it was empty. I suspect they do it on purpose so they can whine.. "but nobody uses the service"
On 26 Jan 2009 at 4:39pm Mighty Mouse In A Cape. wrote:
It may of been 21 minutes late of course!
Of course they do it on purpose, so they can stop the service altogether.
On 26 Jan 2009 at 5:17pm Ex Tesco shopper. wrote:
Is this the 128 that leaves me stranded at Tesco? I used to use Tesco,but after a large shop,I need a bus to get me home,as I don't drive.
I'm sure the 128 or 123 or whatever comes from Malling....Anyway,it just doesn't turn up.I'm talking about the 18.20 one from outside Tescos.I echo your sentiments.That bus service is the worst in Lewes.
I know you could ring the Highways and Transportation dept and report dodgy bus times...Perhaps I'll get in touch.
The other reason I no longer shop at Tescos is because everytime I did an online order,they were usually late,and some things always seemed to be missing from my order...So I go to Waitrose instead.
On 26 Jan 2009 at 6:06pm Rookie wrote:
I live on Nevill. I occasionally see the 128 taking the wrong route and cutting out about 6 stops where people could be waiting. It makes me wonder how many times it happens and I don't see it.
On 26 Jan 2009 at 7:46pm Tibble In A Cape. wrote:
Seeing the buses are crap, I vote that everyone who wants one should buy a horse.
There pretty easy to keep actually, give it a slap and it walks, food isn't a problem, there's plenty of grass about, and the crap is good for the plants etc.
So there we go. Run the bus company out of town, petrol bomb their 1969 buses, lets have down with it. Whilst I'm at it the council are good for nothing, they should be taken out and weed on then told to sling their hook. They couldn't run a piss up in our brewery. Reclaim your rights. I'm going to get a horse and tin o petrol.
On 26 Jan 2009 at 7:55pm Old Mare wrote:
I enjoy a good slap!
On 26 Jan 2009 at 8:18pm Tibble In A Cape. wrote:
I'll give you a right old slap.
ooh er Mrs.
On 26 Jan 2009 at 8:23pm Monty Dong. wrote:
Do you want a ride on my horse.
On 26 Jan 2009 at 8:26pm Capon in a umm errrh Cloak wrote:
barrck buck buck buck - buck buck
On 26 Jan 2009 at 8:34pm Terry Tibble In Cape. wrote:
This is getting of the seriousness of the serious subject.
That being that the fools in the council are all belarmy.
On 26 Jan 2009 at 9:08pm Annette Curtin-Twitcher wrote:
I like the idea of going back to horses for local journeys, Tibble. I can just picture them all tied up outside Waitrose, and the library would have to install hitching posts.
Quite green too.
The 128 bus is truly dreadful, and never runs at times when you definitely don't want to use the car, ie when you're out on the lash of an evening.
On 26 Jan 2009 at 9:08pm Tibble In A Cape. wrote:
I meant to say "This is getting OFF the seriousness of the serious subject" I might of confused you.
I implore you, we all need to join the 'Dog In A Cape" mob.
He's a good nut.
Lewes a town run amuck with horses will be a good and fearful one.
Buses that don't run who needs em, run em out of town.
On 26 Jan 2009 at 9:22pm Tibble In A Cape. wrote:
Drunk in charge of a horse?
My mate took his horse to the pub, he took it in. Why not.
You maybe my sort of gal Annette Curtin-Twitcher, pour enough Havana Club Rum down you and who knows, we might even twig a little.
On 27 Jan 2009 at 7:56am Annette Curtin-Twitcher wrote:
I've been called a rum old bird many a time, but I don't actually drink the stuff, Tibble! A quart or two of Tanquerays, now that's a different matter. I'd probably be up for weeing on the council after that.
Going back to the horse idea though, I bet they'll be coming down in price soon as pretentious farts who like to play at country gents are forced to part with the pacddock decoration to save money. We should all get one. That'd steal a march on Transvestite Town Lewes and all their post-oil ideas.
I wonder what mileage rate I'd get paid if I used it for work?
On 27 Jan 2009 at 3:11pm not from around here wrote:
Half the trouble with the buses is that lot's of people who use 'em don't have to pay for a ticket. My wife who uses buses (I don't, I drive a car) says that sometimes when she gets on hardly anybody else pays for ticket as they are OAP. Couldn't they pay just a pound to make the bus service more viable? I don't know if the bus companies get funded for this but I would not be surprised if it encouraged them to try to scrap some routes.
On 27 Jan 2009 at 3:58pm sylvia wrote:
The OAPs are paid for by Lewes District Council. The bus companies bill them for every journey taken, in other words us council tax payers. LDC say they are short of about £800,000 punds this year, because so many people are using their passes. They are valid on every bus service in England and Wales. More journeys taken equals more council tax rises.
On 27 Jan 2009 at 4:06pm zoetrope wrote:
(non-existant) buses are a farce in this area, fares got increased 'in line with Brighton' prices.
trouble is, that's a city and the bus service there is good.
i cant really go out at night, because i can't get home safely. Not everyone can afford a taxi.
On 27 Jan 2009 at 4:16pm nettle wrote:
does that mean I'm not paying for the recurring particular group of vitriolic lemon sucking non-lovable oaps that object to sharing the first 5 rows of seating on the brighton bus with mothers and young children?
On 27 Jan 2009 at 4:59pm Dog In A Cape. wrote:
I might start a petition for our bus service, I genuinely feel pissed off, this has been going on for over a year that I know of.
Can't the council do something, or are they just as bad as the bus companies, get a new company in, or ask Roger French.
They agreed to the terms of a contract, the should be made to keep that contract, thats it plain and simple. If they can't, then someone should tell them to piss off.
No use saying its a hard job, either there up to it or there not.
On 27 Jan 2009 at 5:46pm sylvia wrote:
The local authority where OAPs begin each journey is the authority which funds their trip. The bus company contracts are done by ESCC, they threatened to cut the Malling and Nevill service at peak times last year.
On 27 Jan 2009 at 6:33pm Annette Curtin-Twitcher wrote:
The bus company that used to run the service didn't want it any more as it didn't make them any money and RDH had to be persuaded to step in. It's a bit of a vicious circle really - because the servuce is so poor, people are disinclined to use it, and it becomes less lucrative, so there's less incentive for operators to make it a decent service.
On 27 Jan 2009 at 6:46pm Strangely enough wrote:
I really don't begrudge the 'OAP's' having free bus passes, you will find that most of them have worked hard all of their lives and not lived off the state. I do however get pretty fed fed up with the benefit scroungers and such like that cost us a fortune on our council tax because we are paying their rents etc. for them! Leave the olds alone, I think they deserve all the help they can get and if they were charged a £1 to use the bus they probably wouldn't leave their homes.
On 27 Jan 2009 at 7:40pm Dog In A Cape. wrote:
My point exactly Annette Curtin-Twitcher. The more the buses don't turn up, and I mean don't turn up, not late or nothing, people are less inclined to rely on them.
The bus routes were viable when they applied to run them, the only reason they aren't know is that people have lost trust that the bus would actually turn up.
It isn't that demand has "declined" or anything of the sort. With bus passes the company get there money, and people are inclined to use the buses even more.
If they run a campain "Use your local bus or loss it" and they actually ran some buses they would get used.
I suspect its beneficial to the companies concerned to get rid of the slightly unprofitable routes and concentrate on ones that make them money.
But they wouldn't of got there contract with that outlook, so if you don't say anything, sure your services will be terminated.
On 28 Jan 2009 at 9:10am sashimi wrote:
It surprises me in an economic slump that some (not all) individual bus drivers are making so little effort to deliver the very best service on the 123/128. If the service was more reliable, more people would use it and all their jobs would be safer.