Can't . . . resist . . . the . . . rant . . .

[selenay]

Yet again, my arguments for reinstating a national transport network and doing away with this crappy franchise situation are given weight. Grrrr.

When the bus network was originally de-nationalised, two bus companies got the franchise in my area. They split the routes between them and on routes where they both had buses running they had an arrangement that return tickets bought from one company could be used on the other company's buses. Most of the bus drivers complied and it all worked well. It would, of course, be insane for Company A to refuse Company B's tickets on identical routes, forcing passengers to fork out for a second bus ticket just because they're trying to go home at the wrong time of day. Then the two bus companies merged and the whole problem went away for a few years.

Until recently. Some bat-shit beaurocrat decided to allow a new bus company to take over a few routes. Just a few, mind, and some only run at certain times of the day. One of those routes includes the section between my village and the main town. New Company's bus used to only run in the mornings before I needed to get it. Today I merrily got onto a bus, bought my return and went to work, failing to notice that I was on a New Company bus. At the end of the morning (ah, part-time work) I went to catch a bus home. Handed the bus driver my carefully preserved return ticket, only to be informed that it was for the wrong bus company and he couldn't accept it. "But it's the same route!" protested I.

"Tough. I don't take New Company tickets."

"But it's a return ticket! You're taking me to the same place! By the same route! For the same price!" I continued naively.

"Not my problem. Will that be a single fare?"

Defeated, I forked over more money (since when are single fares only a few pence cheaper than returns, anyway?) and climbed on. Because New Company doesn't run a bus home when I need to go home. Bastards.

Tomorrow I am waiting for an Old Company bus no matter what else drives by. Even if I'm late to work, waiting for an Old Company bus, I am not forking out double the fare for a short, three mile journey. Bleh.

At least now I've solved the mystery of the withdrawn Travelcards. New Company and Old Company obviously couldn't agree to accept each other's cards, so the entire system was stopped. Stiffing the passengers yet again. And people want to know why I believe that co-operative, nationalised public transport system would work better?


Feeling better now :-) My lovely new Atlantis DVD arrived today. Woo! 'Rising' in beautiful, crisp images. The Teyla/Weir muse is already surfacing again and I'm hoping to have a new short ready in a few days. If you're a PegB fan, raven_lore wrote a great non-slash Teyla-Elizabeth thing here. It's nice to see that some people are starting to write these characters well.

Also, I must pimp The Only Reality of Consequence by matching_monkey because it is fabulous. She's picked up danvers's SG-15 AU (go and read if you haven't already - SG-15 are just fantastic) and added a story that's slightly quieter, but completely SG-15. I'm starting to wonder whether Atlantis will be the fandom of the AUs - one season in and we've already got PegB's shared universe and SG-15 seems to be going the same way. Plus SG-15 came out of a 'Five Things' idea and Danvers has already written part of one of the other 'Things'. I'm not afraid to admit that I love a well-written AU. Hell, I've written a couple (not saying they're well-written, just written) and it's so much fun to see where other people go with the ideas.

Comments

[alphekka-alpha.livejournal.com]

Write an aggrieved letter to your local paper. No doubt other people will have fallen foul of the same cretinous system and join your protest, then Stupid Company will back down and become Sane Company.

Personally, I'd harrass the director of Stupid Company and demand a refund on the grounds that they'd parted me from my hard-earned cash under false pretenses. And if I could afford that sort of money, I'd buy meself a car and wouldn't touch their company with a 50 foot barge-pole.

But then I'm a bolshy bugger as doesn't take kindly to burocracy or job's-worths...

{VEG}
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[selenay]

And if I could afford that sort of money, I'd buy meself a car and wouldn't touch their company with a 50 foot barge-pole.

I already own a car, but am taking the bus because the parking for over five hours is worse than the bus fare. Except, obviously, when the bus companies rip you off. I want to use the bus so that I can support my local bus system, be a little more environmentally friendly and save a bit of money. Unfortunately, the local transport policy isn't particularly friendly to the bus users, as evidenced yesterday *sigh* The council should be trying to sort this out because they're going to start redeveloping the town (read, knocking large chunks of it down including half the carparks) in a few months and getting people onto buses is the only way to solve the potential parking problems during the redevelopment. An integrated, publically-owned bus system would mean that the council could just get the buses sorted to accomodate. Instead the franchises will probably protest about profits and yadda, refuse to improve the system and probably cut yet more routes during the time. Bleh.

I'm not bolshy enough to write a letter to the local paper. Meek and mild over here. Mind, if there's another balls up with this (particularly after the development starts) then I may get angry enough to do something.

And I'll be out there, attempting to vote in a sane government to renationalise this stuff in May.

[alphekka-alpha.livejournal.com]

.
I'm not bolshy enough to write a letter to the local paper. Meek and mild over here.

Give it another couple of years... ;-)

I used to be meek and mild too, once upon a time, but when you've had the other cheek slapped often enough, the response eventually turns into a knee in the knackers - metaphorically if not actually. {eg}
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[paranoidangel]

The thing with local transport is that they do their very best not to let you get on it, like not turning up, always being late, not going to places you want to at times/on days you want to. And then complain that no-one's using them.

I actually had no idea Atlantis was even coming out on DVD till I saw an advert in the most recent SFX. The Stargate ones aren't even cheap enough for me to get yet!

PS Have you looked at my CV yet? I sent you a load of reviews as bribery

[selenay]

Check your inbox :-) I've just written and sent the email - rather good timing, I thought. And the reviews make lovely bribery, although I now have rather a large update to work on. That database will definitely make these things easier.

And the Atlantis DVD was my treat to myself. That's my story, anyway :-) I'll have a new story when the next one comes out...

Local transport is evil. Yet neccessary. If we could just get the bus and trains companies to work, cooperate and actually do what they're meant to (i.e. serving us, the passengers) life would be much easier. And people wonder why we're a car-driven society...

[selenay]

*g* 'Actually' sounds like a good option, sometimes.

Thankfully I was paying attention today and managed to get a bus with the right company. I even managed to get home a little earlier today - the bus gods were obviously trying to make up for yesterday's balls-up by sending buses my way the moment I reached the bus stops. Hmm.