Angry passengers have spoken out against the ‘your bus 66’ service.
Many students claim the First-operated bus service rarely turns up on time, and when they do there are often two or three buses together.
Masters student Stephen Harper said: “Every time I’ve used it in the past two weeks it’s been at least 5 minutes late, at worst around 15 minutes.
“Worst was when I was a few seconds away from the bus stop, so I sprinted to catch it, caught it before he’d moved more than 2 inches, he didn’t stop, I kept pace with the bus doors for 20 odd feet until I gave up and he refused to stop.”
YUSU President ben Leatham said: “It is obvious from talking to students and from using the service myself that there are significant issues with the 66 bus service.”
Third year Felix Aylett said: “The 66 bus service is simply awful.
“I find myself waiting at the bus stop for ages and when it finally appears, there are two of them together – how unhelpful is that!
“In addition, the bus drivers drive ridiculously slowly between the Ron Cooke Hub and York Sports Centre.
“Bring back the 44 I say, it was as reliable as Mrs Patmore’s cooking and it never let you down!”
Leatham met with University transport bosses along with First on November 18.
“At this meeting I raised a whole variety of concerns including the unreliability of the service and the fact that buses often travel in pairs,” he said.
“First are going to produce an action plan detailing how they are going to combat these issues going forward.
“If it is inadequate I will be calling another meeting.”
Students have also shared their thoughts on the pink buses on anonymous social media site YikYak.
One student posted: “To the 66 driver who just saw me running for the bus and waving at him, then proceeded to drive off and splash me with vile, muddy water: you sir, are a total dickhead.”
First beat off competition from Unibus, to be the University endorsed public transport service in August.
The contract saw the introduction of a Yorkey card which could be used on a range of First operated bus routes.
Hm yes, because this article is clearly not one-sided..
“Every time I’ve used it in the past two weeks it’s been at least 5 minutes late, at worst around 15 minutes.” (oh wow, 5 minutes! obviously no one cared to complain about 44’s lateness before..)
“I find myself waiting at the bus stop for ages and when it finally appears, there are two of them together – how unhelpful is that! (Fair point on that one. But let’s not recall the number of times 44 came with just a single decker, full of people and unable to take any more.. yes right?).
“In addition, the bus drivers drive ridiculously slowly between the Ron Cooke Hub and York Sports Centre. (oh wow, another student that does not know that there is a speed limit on that road.. wow!)
The previous bus drivers all massively broke the speed limit on that section of road, if you want to get between RCH and the sports centre quicker the speed limit on that stretch of road needs to be increased (you can easily beat the current 20mph limit on a bicycle).
Bus drivers waiting longer than they should at stops (for people who are LATE and hope the bus driver will wait for them) are the cause of having buses arrive in pairs / late at following stops, you can’t have your cake and eat it too.
This article is riddled with typos and errors. Standard Vision.