The Great Bus Rip Off

[Charles Dapper]

On Monday I popped down to the Mad Stad to say goodbye to the legend that is Graham Murty and imagine my surprize at getting on the bus from the station to be informed that it is now £4.00.

Come on this really is taking the mick.

Reading Buses and/or Reading FC are coining it in at our expense.

The whole point of public transport is to make it cheap and affordable, to encourage people to use the bus instead of their car. More people on buses less cars it should be easier/quicker to get in and out. Better for the environment etc etc...

So by my quick calculations (and it's a very rough guestimate) on a normal match day lets say out of 18,000 supporters with 10,000 on the buses paying £4 is £40,000. Are you really expecting me to believe that it costs that much to run the service?

That's a lot of money for the average fan to pay out and extra £92 a year without cup or play of games.

I hate to think of the costs for a family, and football is our national game....

I remember a trip to Ashton gate and being charged £1 to get back from the game. So I imagine that was £2 return which I think is fair.

I really want to open this up for a serious sensible debate.
I feel STAR should be campaigning on this one.

I think it's really embarrassing and sets a very bad imagine of the club to away fans.

I'm sorry if this has been discussed somewhere else but I do feel it should be put back at the top and actioned upon now.

I would suggest that since it's the summer and the weather hopefully will be really nice for the 1st home game, lets boycott the buses on mass and have one big march from station to Mad Stad.

To launch a great new Era

and

To tell them we're not happy with the prices....

[Thaumagurist*]

You think that's bad, consider the car park charges for that night. Seven f'ing quid!

What is the cost for a return ticket on a no 5/6 bus to Basingstoke Road, does anyone know?

[Charles Dapper]

But that's exactly my point if you have a family of Mum and Dad with 2 kids that'll be £12 on the bus

or

£7 in the car...

Right I'm the car.

How about the cheaper option of parking on the verge

£0

The bus should be cheaper that the car it encourage people to use it.

[Thaumagurist*]

How about the cheaper option of parking on the verge

£0

Or £50 if you get a parking fine!

[T.R.O.L.I.]

What is the cost for a return ticket on a no 5/6 bus to Basingstoke Road, does anyone know?

Two bus prices in the "greater Reading urban area" (or whatever thay call it now).

£1.70 for a single
£3.50 for an all day bus-about (unlimited trips)

[Harpers So Solid Crew]

What is the cost for a return ticket on a no 5/6 bus to Basingstoke Road, does anyone know?

Two bus prices in the "greater Reading urban area" (or whatever thay call it now).

£1.70 for a single
£3.50 for an all day bus-about (unlimited trips)

so if you need to go into town, or use the bus for work it is basically free.

Can't see why the surprise at the prices, they have ripped off the fans at football for ages, rugby is cheaper on the bus, yet the same distance, it's called milk the fans for whatever you can get.

[Charles Dapper]

It's not a surprize really.

More I think something should be done

They have got away with it for 2 long.

How much are the rugby buses?

Does STAR have any opinion on this?

[Sun Tzu]

It does seem very expensive for what is a short bus ride (assuming it's the town buses).

Your guess of numbers of bus users is way out i would imagine though, 10000 would need 100 or so buses and with the best will in the world and even allowing for lulitple round trips there are not 100 bus trips on a match day. I'd be surprised if there are more than 3 or 4000 using the buses - whether halving the price would change that I'm not sure.

Irish may subsidise the buses to some extent. Bear in miond they relocated from London and quite a few of their fans still travel down. IIRC they used to run a bus service from their old Richmond (?) base and that may have transformed into a subsidy on the buses coming from town to help out those who travel in by train from London.

[STAR Voice]

It's not a surprize really.

More I think something should be done

They have got away with it for 2 long.

How much are the rugby buses?

Does STAR have any opinion on this?

STAR will certainly investigate it, but there aren't enough of us to be able to spend all our time pro-catively monitoring Hobnob in case someone say "something should be done about it." It's always a much better option to mail us at info@star-reading.org rather than hope we see a posting such as this. Alternatively, why not be the person who helps "do something about it" and volunteer to help us.

Without investigating this and finding out more information I'm not in position to comment - my feeling is that Reading Buses set the fares, and that the football club has either reduced or completely done away with any subsidy from them. I know they used to subsidise the fares , but that was a few years ago, and so I may be completely wrong.

Yes it is a short ride, but it's one where you need the maximum number of buses to be available for two relatively short peak times - from 1 or 1.30 for 90 minutes or so, and then for about 30 minutes at about 5 pm .

But for that couple of hours' use and what may only be a couple of short trip for an individual bus you're effectively tying up all those buses and all those drivers for the whole afternoon - there's not much else they can do while the match is on except sit there, so in terms of driver time it's not so insignificant.

Having said that, I will endeavour to find out where the price increase is coming from

[STAR Liaison]

It does seem very expensive for what is a short bus ride (assuming it's the town buses).

Your guess of numbers of bus users is way out i would imagine though, 10000 would need 100 or so buses and with the best will in the world and even allowing for lulitple round trips there are not 100 bus trips on a match day. I'd be surprised if there are more than 3 or 4000 using the buses - whether halving the price would change that I'm not sure.

Irish may subsidise the buses to some extent. Bear in miond they relocated from London and quite a few of their fans still travel down. IIRC they used to run a bus service from their old Richmond (?) base and that may have transformed into a subsidy on the buses coming from town to help out those who travel in by train from London.

I agree with your calculation of numbers, don't forget that buses are not full until you get close to kick-ff too.

As STAR CAMPAIGNS has said it is not just Irish who subsidide the buses, RFC have done so ever since we moved to the Mad Stad, you may feel that £4 a ride is making a vast profit but it is not - in the same way that commuter rail is not profit making despite overcrowding, moving a large number of people in a short space of time is expensive.

The last meeting I had with the club on this subject at the end of last season we discussed buses and parking and at that time there was still a subsidy from RFC.

[Jerry St Clair]

There's a further twist to this which is the cost of fares on the Park and Ride buses. They run every 7 minutes on Saturday regardless of whether there is a match on at Madejski, so there is not additional cost to them, yet they increase the prices specifically during hours before and after a game (note that they don't for London Irish games). These buses are run by FirstGroup, not Reading Buses, so I can only conclude that it is simple profiteering.

[peterroyal76]

I know when we first moved to the Madstad tickets were only 50p and the club were subsidising the prices.
And I know everything has to go up inflation, fuel and staff costs etc........but surely £4.00 is too much?
We are being ripped off again as Reading buses know they have a captive market and not everyone can drive or walk to the ground.

Is there anything we can do?....................probably not!

[Ian Royal]

Personally I prefer to walk. It's good excercise and you can walk along the river for much of the way which is quite pleasant if the weather is ok.

I certainly don't intend to pay £4 if I can help it!

[Jerry St Clair]

Personally I prefer to walk. It's good excercise and you can walk along the river for much of the way which is quite pleasant if the weather is ok.

Indeed. 45 min walk along the river, which ain't a lot less than the bus once you factor in queuing at the station which can easily take 15-20 mins. But, remember, this is Reading which seems to have a uniquely lazy population.

[Royalshow]

Personally I prefer to walk. It's good excercise and you can walk along the river for much of the way which is quite pleasant if the weather is ok.

Indeed. 45 min walk along the river, which ain't a lot less than the bus once you factor in queuing at the station which can easily take 15-20 mins. But, remember, this is Reading which seems to have a uniquely lazy population.

I would disagree! Walking through town is pleasant enough but once you hit the dual carriage-way it seems to take for ever.45m-1 hour can be quite nackering, especially if you have been going through the emotions rather then sitting on your hands all game. Hopefully when the the station is built people will have a suitable alternative and be able to vote with there feet.

[STAR Liaison]

I know when we first moved to the Madstad tickets were only 50p and the club were subsidising the prices.
And I know everything has to go up inflation, fuel and staff costs etc........but surely £4.00 is too much?
We are being ripped off again as Reading buses know they have a captive market and not everyone can drive or walk to the ground.

Is there anything we can do?....................probably not!

You could find another bus company to quote a lower fee to RFC. Give Reading Buses a competitor other than First Group who seem happy to join in.

[Harpers So Solid Crew]

why should a fan have to find a different bus company, he has come to the STAR section of HNA to ask if perhaps STAR could get involved, yet once again gets the old response, why not join and help as we cannot do it alone, and we cannot peruse HNA to see if something is posted on here.

Perhaps he/she is a STAR member, and perhaps he/she thought this was the place to ask for advice or to see if STAR are interested.

We know that all the STAR folk are volunteers, but does it really need this same response so often?

[Row Z Royal]

why should a fan have to find a different bus company, he has come to the STAR section of HNA to ask if perhaps STAR could get involved, yet once again gets the old response, why not join and help as we cannot do it alone, and we cannot peruse HNA to see if something is posted on here.

Perhaps he/she is a STAR member, and perhaps he/she thought this was the place to ask for advice or to see if STAR are interested.

We know that all the STAR folk are volunteers, but does it really need this same response so often?

Have you thought about joining and airing your views to the board?

[Big Foot]

I've not paid for the bus between town & the ground on a matchday for about 3 years now

[STAR Voice]

why should a fan have to find a different bus company, he has come to the STAR section of HNA to ask if perhaps STAR could get involved, yet once again gets the old response, why not join and help as we cannot do it alone, and we cannot peruse HNA to see if something is posted on here.

Perhaps he/she is a STAR member, and perhaps he/she thought this was the place to ask for advice or to see if STAR are interested.

We know that all the STAR folk are volunteers, but does it really need this same response so often?

I think you may have missed the point of my post, which did say that we're now looking into this. The important point being made was not that we need more volunteers (although that would be nice)! It was more that there are lots of better ways to contact us than starting a thread on HNA? and hoping we see it.

And anyway, how are you entitled to comment on this thread, having recently disassociated yourself from anything to do with buses?