I had occasion recently to consider everything that goes into a service change for a registered public bus route.
If a supermarket stocks a new item, then the business will procure it, price it, put it on the shelves, and occasionally do some marketing to raise awareness. Relatively straightforward. Compare that to starting a new local bus service.
This article puts aside the considerable work that will have gone into deciding to operate it in the first place, either on a commercial basis (with a lot of business case compiling and critiquing), or on a contractual basis (with a good deal of tender costing analysis).
Once the decision is made to register the route, there are a lot of actions for an operator to complete before a wheel is turned.
The service registration must be completed and submitted to the Traffic Commissioner. It will often also need to be circulated to the local authority and in some cases a government department that provides national timetable and tracking data.
Fare charts will need to be compiled and loaded into ticketing software, and fares published on company websites/apps. Season tickets will need to be made available where appropriate, and new ticket conditions published and circulated to drivers.
The route will need to be risk assessed and signed off for safe operation. Drivers will need to be route trained (and potentially recruited too), with spares trained to cover for absence.
If the route requires additional vehicles, they will need to be identified, inspected, purchased, collected, commissioned, safety checked, kitted out with CCTV, ticket machine baseplates, telematics and marketing posters, and added to the operator’s DVSA database.
If they are newer models, they will now need audio-visual next stop equipment and hearing loop kit. Someone then has to tax them and add them to the insurance policy.
Destination displays will need to be programmed and uploaded to the fleet before day one of operation. Duty boards will be produced, and depending on whether the route fits into an existing rota or forms a new standalone rota, there may be rostering adjustments to be made – and for some operators, a consultation period with workplace representatives.
Roadside publicity must be prepared, printed and fitted, unless you operate in a local authority area where it takes care of roadside information.
Bus stations, user groups and any other local stakeholders (schools, colleges, supermarkets, GP surgeries, etc) benefit from knowing about new services. That is a significant piece of marketing work in isolation.
I have only covered the most obvious actions here. There are many more things that operators do in advance of service changes. It is very clear that sometimes, the best planning possible does not cover all eventualities.
For example, if a driver goes sick and the trained-up reserve driver has been deployed elsewhere, it can be a real struggle to find someone suitable to drop onto the route at the last minute.
Much of this work and commitment goes unnoticed by most of our customers, who just look for a bus turning up when and where it should.
In my mind, given the vast array of challenges and hurdles in the way of punctual and successful bus operation, we could all do more to promote the good work that is done day in, day out to operate these essential services.
There really is nothing easy about the good, professional and punctual operation of bus routes. While some make it look more straightforward than others, it requires significant effort and planning to get right.
