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Passengers’ fury at bus price rises
Tuesday 27th January 2009, 9:40AM GMT.
Thousands of passengers in the West Midlands have signed an on-line petition calling on a bus company to lower its prices.
National Express West Midlands put the price of a single fare up from £1.50 to £1.70 at the start of the month.
Now 4,911 people have signed a petition on Facebook demanding a U-turn.
They are angry that the company, which used to be called Travel West Midlands, pressed ahead with price rises despite a recent drop in the price of fuel.
The rises came into force on January 2 and were a 10 per cent increase, more than twice the rate of inflation.
Mick Burke, aged 21, from Hall Green, Birmingham, who started the petition Get Travel West Midlands To Lower Their Prices, posted a message on Facebook which reads: “This is scandalous. The prices at the moment are already too high.
“The price of diesel has come down, and inflation is set to follow suit.
“There is no justification for this increase. It is about time we told them enough is enough and for them to lower prices.”
The internet company support engineer said today: “Everyone I know complains about the prices of the buses as they are too high.
“It would be OK I suppose if the service matched the premium charged, but it doesn’t.”
Mr Burke started the on-line group on the social networking site shortly before the price rises, and the number of signatories is fast approaching 5,000.
Other groups referring to National Express West Midlands, or its predecessor, have attracted less support. Once group called Travel West Midlands Sucks has just 46 members while another has 653.
Short hop tickets went up 10p to £1.20 while fares on the Midland Metro increased by 6.5 per cent.
An adult day tripper went up 20p to £4.20p, while a return from Wolverhampton to Birmingham shot up by 30p to £4.50p.
National Express blamed the move on “rising operating costs including utilities and staffing costs.” The Birmingham-based company insists that only one in four passengers paid cash for bus rides while the rest bought tickets in advance.
Advance Neil Barker, bus and coach director for National Express UK, said: “We are encouraging customers to purchase their fares in advance to secure the best value for money.
“Setting up a direct debit or pre-paying for Daysavers not only provides the best savings, but also helps reduce queues and delays at the bus stops. The January changes mean we can continue investing in a better bus service for the future.”
Some bus and rail tickets went up by 10 per cent last year – almost five times the rate of inflation.
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you should try living where i live bus fares are £2.70 for a single buses never run at a time you need them so there are no early morning busses for work or late night ones to get you home if you need to go hosptal well thats a realy test cost you £10.00 to get there and back oh i live in st austell and nearest hosp is turuo
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You have my deepest sympathy living in St Austel without having to put up with the lousy bus service. I went on holiday a few years to St Austel thats why i say what i say.
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Why are people complaining, this is the way the government encourage us to use public transport!!!!!!!
And as for petitions they don’t work more than 6,000 people in Blackheath and Oldbury have signed a petition objecting to increased parking charges and their views have been totally ignored by Councillor Mahboob Hussain at Sandwell Council, we don’t we live in a democracy anymore???
Message to Neil Barker, why should it make a difference when you pay for your travel, a vehicle will travel a certain distance to transport a person to their destination, it will cost a certain amount of money to carry out that task, why should it make a scrap of difference when you pay???
You just want lots of peoples money in your bank so you can collect the interest off it.
Jim of Bearwood.
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The problem is Travel West Midlands/NXWM has over 80% of the market share. When you have a monopoly are you surprised tickets are so high and quality so low? Personally I use Diamond or Choice where available, their daysavers are cheaper.
In their defense I know that such organizations buy their fuel way in advance at an estimated price for the year – the fact that oil prices have dropped so dramatically recently will not be reflected until next year. Of course other costs could have risen by then, e.g. minimum wage/staffing costs/tax/inflation so we may see no reduction.
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I pay £38 per month for my bus pass and reckon it’s pretty good value for money and the price has been frozen for the last 2 years. It’s much convenient than trying to find change for 2 bus journeys every day to and from work. Can also use it in the evening and at weekends. And no I don’t work for National Express!
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with the increase in fares they should be able to provide sum better buses like the ones on the 51 route or the 997 n oust those old tin buses
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Well i firmly believe if all the free bus pass passengers made a contribution of 20p a journey it would keep the cost down for the rest of us who have to pay.Shocking the way it keeps rising shame our wages dont match it.
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i’m sorry but when i have paid for my bus ticket being on a low income, and a pensioner who has a free bus pass gets on a full bus expecting me to give up my seat, i stay firmley seated i have had to pay for my ticket they can always get another bus with their free bus pass. bus fair is not fair at all how can national express expect parents with kids to pay those prices.
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I too think the fare rise is inexcusable, especially when we have to travel on buses with loud mouthed yobs , who have no respect for other passengers, they are smoking drugs, and being a general nuisance, and why doesnt the drivers do anything about it, surely he can smell it, everyone else can!!!!!
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i would gladly pre buy a daysaver “book” of five, except national express don’t sell em in wolverhampton, to benefit from these i’d have to travel to walsalls travelshop, hardly ideal mr barker
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“A quick look at National Expresses 2008 Quarter 1 Management statement confirms that they felt fuel prices to be rising enough by May 2008 to hedge 40% of its 2009 needs at May 2008 prices – $122 per barrel. By June that had increased to 60% and 10% for 2010. Quite clearly National Express lost the bet. So today you are paying for yesterdays fuel costs”
http://westbromblog.blogspot.com/2009/01/travel-west-midlands-fare-increases.html
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No Mary, your wrong, old age pensioners have been paying in the form of tax’s, for years, and we are still paying when our pensions get means tested for tax purposes, when we collect them.
Putting more money into the system doesn’t work!!!!! It only allows for more abuse in the system.
I live in Sandwell in the West Midlands, and I pay my council tax regularly, what do I get for my money??????
The Head of the Council on £140.000 a year, roads covered in rubbish because our refuse department is selective in the rubbish it takes away from our houses, even though they are paid to take away all rubbish away, storm drains overflowing across the roads because the water cant drain away, unclean roads and footpaths.
During the icy weather none of the roads in our area were salted, even though the water from the storm drains had run across the road forming black ice to form, don’t say its because of the lack of money Mary, it’s all down to a lack of ability and incentive to do the job require, and that’s the problem.
The more money you put into the system, the more will be siphoned off by the leeches at the top, to fund their lavish lifestyles.
Jim of Bearwood.
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FFS your comment, Jim, Maybe the residents make the area they live in? If they took some pride in where they live, Sandwell wouldn’t be the dive it is!
FFS , Yes of course we wanted that abortion in West Bromwich, that’s why everyone is in uproar about it, well except for Sandwell’s Labour Councillors, who obviously made a lot of money out of the meetings and planning committees involved in its conception.
Its very hard to take pride in the place you live in when we are forced to walk along dirty filthy streets covered in rubbish, because the council refuse collectors wont take the rubbish away, or the council never send road sweepers to clean our roads.
We try to keep our roads clean, but we have to keep phoning the council to clean the rubbish away that the bin collectors have dropped in the middle of the road, or have picked up and tossed over into someone’s garden,
Brian, if Sandwell Labour Council refunds me the money that they owe me for not providing the services I have paid for, then I will happily move out of this dump.
That’s why the world is the way it is, because of people like you, instead of trying to improve life you just want people to ignore what’s happening and go somewhere else, NNNNOOOOOOOooooooooo.
If I am paying for a service, I want what I am paying for, and as yet there is very little evidence that is happening.
Jim of Bearwood
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The price needs to be more flexible.How can a journey of two ‘stages’ or 12 miles have the same price?
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Moan moan moan.. thats all this nation does. Want your views heard? DONT USE THE BUSES.
Not benefited from council tax paid? DONT PAY IT.
Bus driver not telling yobs off for smoking drugs? YOU TELL THE YOBS OFF IF YOU HAVE AN ISSUE(why should driver risk assult).
There are millions of us whom just moan and dont do anything about it expecting someone else to deal with it. MAKE A STAND AND REFUSE TO PAY. HOW MANY OF US CAN THEY PUT IN PRISON? YOUR LOCAL COUNCIL CANT SURVIVE WITHOUT OUR MONEY, WE EMPLOYEE THEM / WE PAY THEIR WAGES / WE CAN SACK THEM.
Can you as an employee tell your boss that you will do what you want when you want and pick your own wages? A)NO
WE LET THIS HAPPEN TO US AND JUST MOAN ON FORUMS. REMEMBER MILLIONS AGAINST RIP OFFS MAKES A DIFFRENCE. I wish you all the best of luck and lets hope one day the world becomes peaceful.
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Sorry Jim but you must live in a diffrent sandwell to me because i don’t see all the filth you talk about. I here people constantly moaning about services and the council. If you all don’t like it here the answer is to move or get on with life. I agrree it ain’t perfect but its alot worse else where in the country, and the world for that matter. You pay for you rservices and you get your service the same as every one else. Tell Me jim what services don’t you get that the rest of us do???? What area are the roads paved in filth??????? Refuse collectors out today in front of my car emptying peoples rubbish!!!!!! If you want a list of services you get for your money i’d be happy to list them here for you Jim and they are the same services that every other council provides!!!! No its not perfect but there you go moan moan moan!!!!!
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STOP PICKING ON THE PENSIONERS AT LEAST THEY HAVE PAID TAXES ALL THEIR LIFE TO SUPPORT SINGLE MUMS WHO HAVE NEVER WORKED AND ONLY LIVE FOR THE GIRO.
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I’m not surprised that so few journeys are cash fares. I used to have a travelcard, which was reasonable value but changed jobs and now commute by car as otherwise it’s a bus-and-two-trains journey to work by public transport. I’d still be happy to catch a bus into town to go shopping but at £3.20 for a return journey compared to £1.20 for two hours parking, the sums just don’t add up.
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