Well, well, well. Jan 2nd already. Doesn't time fly when you are having fun. If that is true then I must have had a lot of fun in 2006 as it seemed to last about 3 weeks. OK, one or two comments about 2006 before it vanishes into the pages of history and the mists of time.
First, not to be too alarmist about it, it was the hottest year on record since records began some time in the 16th century. Roll on Global Warming.
I had 8 weeks holiday which was nice as we are only supposed to get 5 weeks. Don't worry I only get 2 weeks this year just to redress the balance. One of the problems with the way our holiday rota is set up.
I only had one accident last year but that means I wont get a good driver certificate and the £25 gift voucher that goes with it, just because a stupid, expensive, bus shelter jumped out in front of me.
I worked 226 days last year and I carried 49664 passengers, an average of 220 per day and I would like to thank almost all of them and hope they continue to travel by bus and tell all their friends how wonderful it is,I also hope about 200 of them got a Christmas present in the shape of a book called, "How to travel by bus without throwing rubbish all over the floor, drinking beer and spilling it all over the floor, singing and shouting, not having any money, trying to ride without a ticket, not knowing which direction the bus is going in, thinking the bus driver is there to be verbally abused, etc,etc." and about 10 of them discover the joy of travelling by bike, taxi, police car, ambulance or even walking in 2007.
The Photo. Well I have to start the year as I mean to go on and have a go at the Local Council. Rubbish round her is usually collected on a Friday. The council didn't tell us they weren't going to collect it last Friday so it has been there since Friday (to day is Tuesday), maybe they will come next Friday. I live in Hope.
Best wishes to all in 2007.
5 comments:
Global warming? What global warming? We're currently having the coldest summer here in Brisbane for 25 years.
They had snow down in Victoria on Christmas day, although, that may have been ash from the bushfires.
Happy new year Dave.
Hi Steve, My sister who lives in Tweed Heads says it has been very cold this winter. So next month she is off to Tassie just for some where warmer! Only for a holiday.
Only 220 passengers a day!
I'm sure that those 220 passengers must really appreciate the provision of a bus service to them, but it really does not seem to make much economic sense.
How much does a bus cost to buy? How much a day does it cost in depreciation, maintenance, fuel, staffing etc. etc. ?
How much subsidy is being poured into the bus system to keep it running?
I'm not anti bus. But if I pay a lot of money up front to buy a car and run it, then the only way I might consider taking a bus (bearing in mind the inconvenience that this entails) would be that the cost to take a bus was considerably less than any additional costs involved in driving my car.
If bus fares were less than 10 pence per mile the bus company might experience significantly higher takeup.
If airlines can run, and make a profit, at less than 10 pence per mile, why can't buses?
In reply to the above comment re cost of buses and running costs etc.
I can say the the figure of 220 passengers per day is just those who got on the bus while I was driving. I am not the only driver who uses that bus in a day, sometimes there are 4 or 5 other drivers, all who will carry similar numbers to me.
In our depot the cost of running a bus works out at about £100 000 per year, that figure based on the number of buses we have divided into our total income. Not much of that income, less than half a percent is in subsidies. And a new double decker bus can cost £150 000 to buy if you want one. as for the point about air travel, I worked out that if I had paid bus fare rates to get to Australia last year it would have cost £7500 which is a bit more than the £600 it did cost. I have no idea why there should be such a big difference.
As for car v bus; in our area you can have a weekly ticket for unlimited bus travel for £20, in large cities like London and Manchester (which do get a large subsidy) this would be cheaper. Is that less than running a car and if it is would you save enough to overcome the inconvenience of traveling by bus.
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