Bus Services to Mad Stad Axed-Reinstated 1st 2 games see p8

[Harpers So Solid Crew]

What a bunch of oxf*rd ..... i cant make many games this coming season but bought my son a season ticket on the strength that he could catch the bus that goes through Tadley. Him and his mate are fckuked now

Post on classified for a car share for them.

[Dirk Gently]

The telling info here is that the club hire the buses and pay all costs, so the company is guaranteed a profit, however it is just a two way trip, with no way of increasing income over and above charging more. Most of the time the buses are sat in the car park during a match.

Do RFC pay for all the buses in this way??? As surely the ones from town must make some profit, which should be offset against the cost of other routes, IMHO.

A I understand it the Reading buses make less of a loss, rather than making a profit. There's still the question of hiring bus and driver for effectively 6 hours (a whole working day) and having them really just used for a period of 2 hours before a game and 1 after it, and sitting idle for 2 hours in the middle. There's no way to make that pay at prices where people will actually use the service.

Personally, I think that if any buses are going to be subsidised it ought to be the local ones, where the subsidy reaches the maximum number of people.

[Sun Tzu]

Is it cynical of me to be curious about the timing; the club only announced this after the seaon ticket renewal period had closed? I can also foresee that STAR will be completely suppine on this issue.

For the small number of people who use the buses it would hardly seem worth delaying the announcement in case they decided not to renew.

Given that the note from STAR suggested they have already managed to get the club to rethink things to some extent your psychic abilities seem rather poor. And what exactly would you expect STAR to do anyway ?

[The Surgeon of Crowthorne]

Er, campaign on behalf of fans and not just regurgitate the club's statements?

[Wycombe Royal]

Er, campaign on behalf of fans and not just regurgitate the club's statements?

So isn't that what they have done in getting them to consider keeping two of the routes?

Some people are never happy. You seem to expect them to make the club bow down and agree to everything the fans want which is totally unrealistic.

If you want stronger action taken, rather than criticising what is already being why don't you get off your arse and do it yourself?

[TFF]

Ray Booth(?) was on the radio this morning being 'interviewed' by Andrew Peach. Pretty much the same argument as presented to STAR but he added that the buses would appear to be more heavily used to the users than the club since they have to honour free bus passes as it's a public service. He said as many as 20-30 people were travelling free.

LOL @ the bloke who's been a STH since '85 and now feels robbed by the club. He now can't get to the games, can they refund his ST please?

How did he travel the 20yrs+ before the bus service started?

[Sun Tzu]

Ray Booth(?) was on the radio this morning being 'interviewed' by Andrew Peach. Pretty much the same argument as presented to STAR but he added that the buses would appear to be more heavily used to the users than the club since they have to honour free bus passes as it's a public service. He said as many as 20-30 people were travelling free.

LOL @ the bloke who's been a STH since '85 and now feels robbed by the club. He now can't get to the games, can they refund his ST please?

How did he travel the 20yrs+ before the bus service started?

To be fair there could be any number of reasons (moved house, lost his licence, can't afford a car, health).

But he's not been 'robbed' by the club, there aren't many entertainments that also provide you with transport to get to them ! I would suspect with a little effort most people could find other fans living in their area and share lifts to games with them, probably fdoing so for less than the bus fare.

But that word 'effort' creeps in....

It is a shame that some people may be inconvenienced, maybe we should have a poll - sign a new centre back or run cheap buses for a few hundred !!!!

[under the tin]

Ray Booth(?) was on the radio this morning being 'interviewed' by Andrew Peach. Pretty much the same argument as presented to STAR but he added that the buses would appear to be more heavily used to the users than the club since they have to honour free bus passes as it's a public service. He said as many as 20-30 people were travelling free.

LOL @ the bloke who's been a STH since '85 and now feels robbed by the club. He now can't get to the games, can they refund his ST please?

How did he travel the 20yrs+ before the bus service started?

That's good shout.
I use the 76, and the vast majority of the "grandees" are using their free passes.
I'm not one to have a go at old folk, but I was under the impression that these buses were chartered by RFC, and therefore not a Reading Transport service, so how could the free passes be valid?

[brendywendy]

but the worry is that once the family price gets over £8 people will just go by car instead. We are in the area with the highest proportion of car ownership in the UK, after all.

just dont see this at all.


bus = leaves hour before game, charge 8 quid each for adults, drops off at stadium, walk out of game, pick up bus outside stadium, get home within an hour of match finishing.

car = leave two hours before game, either park at HP or holiday inn and a long walk, or park at stadium, and wait for an hour before you can get out, pay 8 pound for th epriveledge, plus a fivers petrol, get home two hours after match finishes.


perhaps some sort of consultation with what the fans would be willing to pay 1st, rather than just scrapping it cos you dont think people will use it if its pricier

[Hoop Blah]

It is a shame that some people may be inconvenienced, maybe we should have a poll - sign a new centre back or run cheap buses for a few hundred !!!!

I do hope any new centre back is worth a bit more than the cost of subsidising a few bus routes, if not we're in real trouble!!!

[Sun Tzu]

perhaps some sort of consultation with what the fans would be willing to pay 1st, rather than just scrapping it cos you dont think people will use it if its pricier

I guess the problem with that is that the buses already run at less than capacity, and presumably there is no way of identifying who uses them - so you can't easily consult.
They could ask generally (set up a poll on HNA perhaps !!) and get some kind of indication that some people would pay a bit more. If they then go ahead and sign the contracts for another season and people don;t actually use the buses they are stuffed.
If they announced the buses would be presales only and you had to buy a ticket for the whole season it would be an interesting test of commitment.
There was also an idea that the match ST could include an element to cover transport (ie we all pay £5 extra on our ST and the buses are effectively paid for out of that) but I'm not sure how popular that would be amongst the majority of fans, or how they would gauge how many buses to run.

[Royal Lady]

If they know the rough uptake on certain services, can't they just hire smaller buses (or minibuses or something) which would be cheaper?

[Hoop Blah]

If they know the rough uptake on certain services, can't they just hire smaller buses (or minibuses or something) which would be cheaper?

They could, although I think the difference in cost between size of bus probably isn't that great.

In terms of bein tied down by a contract for the season which Sun Tzu refers to, although need to is negotiate an escape clause if the losses or up take don't make it viable.

[Wycombe Royal]

In terms of bein tied down by a contract for the season which Sun Tzu refers to, although need to is negotiate an escape clause if the losses or up take don't make it viable.

And in that negotiation of having an escape clause inserted the price of the contract would increase making it even less viable. Or do you expect the bus company to add that clause for nothing?

[Hoop Blah]

In terms of bein tied down by a contract for the season which Sun Tzu refers to, although need to is negotiate an escape clause if the losses or up take don't make it viable.

And in that negotiation of having an escape clause inserted the price of the contract would increase making it even less viable. Or do you expect the bus company to add that clause for nothing?

Obviously there might be some trade off but seeing how badly bus companies have been doing over the last few years I'd say that they'd probably do all they could prevent any churn they might be facing.

If it's the choice between losing the revenue now or potentially proving a revised service could work whilst continuing to benefit from the revenue I think they'd do all they could to help their customer.

[Forbury Lion]

What a bunch of oxf*rd ..... i cant make many games this coming season but bought my son a season ticket on the strength that he could catch the bus that goes through Tadley. Him and his mate are fckuked now

Justifiable reason to request a refund IMHO.

I think this needs an Evening Post story with a photo of your kid and his mate stood at a bus stop with sad faces.

[Terminal Boardom]

It would be an easier pill to swallow if public transport was more conveniently available. If I did not drive, I would have to take at least 2 buses and 1 train to get to the Mad Stad. As for midweek games? No chance! My last bus to anywhere is around 7pm! And don't get me n the subject of Sunday travel.

More thought and consultation needed by the powers that be.

[TFF]

What a bunch of oxf*rd ..... i cant make many games this coming season but bought my son a season ticket on the strength that he could catch the bus that goes through Tadley. Him and his mate are fckuked now

Justifiable reason to request a refund IMHO.

Nonsense

http://www.reading-buses.co.uk/new%20bu ... 149mon.htm

[CMRoyal]

I take it Green Park station isn't likely to be an option anytime soon?

Don't laugh, it's a genuine question!

[RoyalBlue]

What a bunch of oxf*rd ..... i cant make many games this coming season but bought my son a season ticket on the strength that he could catch the bus that goes through Tadley. Him and his mate are fckuked now

Correct 'business' decision or not, this post perfectly illustrates why the timing of the withdrawal of the services is effing appalling!

Completely cynical in their timing or just completely incompetent?!

If they know the rough uptake on certain services, can't they just hire smaller buses (or minibuses or something) which would be cheaper?

I would suggest that the cost of the driver is by far the greatest cost, so opting for smaller buses won't save that much money.