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I am not a bus user myself, however, this question has been in my mind for few weeks now. I have seen buses running almost empty everyday. There is one rout passing behind our backyard, and every time I have seen the bus passing, it was almost empty, couple of riders sitting on the big bus. Why city transit does not sell these large buses, buy smaller mini- buses , save some money and reduce some pollution from environments? They might be able to add more mini- buses to cover more streets and reduce the travel time, so maybe some more people use the bus.  
In many cities around the world using bus is part of people's life but I think Brandon transit is not efficient at all, not for city and not for people living here. What do you think ? Do you use bus or not and why? Will you use it, if they were more efficient?  
 
Edited by Deb1, 2015-08-30 05:19:39

It goes right by my house and when I used to work downtown close to the Bus Mall it worked really well because I would get off work on the half hour and run out and jump on the bus and be home in 15 minutes or so. Now I work further away and would have to wait until the next half hour. I can be home in 5 minutes with my car or 45 minutes walking. Just not convenient for me

Deb1 said "I am not a bus user myself, however, this question has been in my mind for few weeks now. I have seen buses running almost empty everyday. There is one rout passing behind our backyard, and every time I have seen the bus passing, it was almost empty, couple of riders sitting on the big bus. Why city transit does not sell these large buses, buy smaller mini- buses , save some money and reduce some pollution from environments? They might be able to add more mini- buses to cover more streets and reduce the travel time, so maybe some more people use the bus.   In many cities around the world using bus is part of people's life but I think Brandon transit is not efficient at all, not for city and not for people living here. What do you think ? Do you use bus or not and why? Will you use it, if they were more efficient?     Edited by Deb1, 2015-08-30 05:19:39"

yes, bdn transit runs empty too much but the city still insists on running buses on stat holidays when NO retail is open. Overtime costs must be staggering!  
 
I don't know what the answer is to increase ridership but it's not to expand the days the buses run.  
 
I find it amusing that the city did away with transfers and then claim increased ridership!

did have small buses for a few years, the 40' buses and the mini buses.  
 

I'm a bus user, and I rarely see empty buses. Sometimes they are even standing room only, especially the smaller buses. The smaller buses also don't allow for strollers, and there are always people with strollers using the buses. Certainly the buses are used a bit less in the evenings, but still rarely empty. I do know that when they started Sunday service, they had a target number of riders they had to have to make it worthwhile to continue, and they regularly beat that number by many.  
 
With school starting up again, ridership will be in increasing dramatically, and again in winter. Smaller buses are definitely not an answer to anything.  
 
If you really want to know more about the buses so that you can have an educated opinion, I would suggest going for a ride on one, and not basing your opinion on just one bus that you occasionally see from your yard in the summer when there's the least amount of riders.

Using all routs and any time of day or just one certain one at pick time of the day and your opinion is based on that? With going on one ride which you are suggesting for me, will my opinion suddenly will be an educated one? I am asking this question so people who use it or nor for any reason discuss it and then everybody gets educated, including yourself.  
As I said, what I have seen, have been empty buses, including school time. I am sure more students using bus, but still looks inefficient to me. if at the end of discussion we all find out, there is no other way, and city transit is actuaaly very busy and efficient, would be perffect, but I have not get there yet.  

I agree, I take the bus a fair bit and somedays the bus is so full you have to stand! Mainly in the morning and afternoon it's very busy. I agree that you'd have to take the bus to see how it is run.

friend tell me once he had to close his drapes because he seen the buses running empty on Sundays and that fact bothered him! Hello, I told him, "you voted for the Sunday service".

Yes some routes are less used than others but a lot of people can not afford a car or whatever And rely on the bus for transportation. On some days I use the bus 6 times. Sunday service saved me a ton of money because I was able to catch the bus to work. Sometimes it's hard for people to understand the purpose of a service when they never use it or rely on it day in and day out. I have been travelling on the bus with my daughter and A stroller since she was born and it was so helpful. It would get me to doctors appointments in the dead of winter, at least to the grocery store, and then to daycare. So yes the bus service does help people in Brandon. Despite its minimal cost to everyone else.  

we walked everywhere. We had season tickets for the Wheat Kings and hoofed it to every game. Seldom did we use transit.  
 
Metis Girl, to run transit every day and stat holidays is not cheap. Do you think the city needs to provide service on stats when retail is not open?

never take the bus but have buses on sundays and stat days should really practical for the ones using buses for transportation. City transit should not maybe run as often on those days (or perhaps some evenings). Just figure out a efficient ways and ask bus users their thoughts and/or find out how to make people use buses.  
As for myself the reason not taking the bus would be the morning pickup time and the waiting time I do not drive around blocks and blocks for so long minutes to get where you want to go.  
I took Winnipeg bus last year with my daughter and ho the bus was dirty: get in, sit, look in the sky not the floor.

Why smaller bus do not allow strollers? there are handicap buses that are mini and accommodate handicaps and wheelchair, so must be some smaller bus to have place to put strollers in there.  
As Sunday transit, maybe they can run smaller buses and less number of buses on Sundays on each rout.  
with covering more areas of the city with smaller buses, they will be more transit users probably.  

I don't know about stat holidays, in terms of ridership. I know there are still a lot of places open on stats that people need to get to and from for work, and I know that buses only run on the hour on stats (and evenings), which means they only have half the number of buses and drivers during these times. I would think the city looks at numbers and reevaluates as necessary.  
 
The question that was posed, however, is whether smaller buses would be more efficient, and the answer to that question by those who actually use the service is no. They would not accommodate students going to and from school, they would not accommodate strollers or those with pull along grocery carts or walkers, nor would they accommodate the electric wheelchair users who take the regular bus.  
 
The evenings are definitely slower, and that is why they cut the fleet in half come 6:00 and have buses only run on the hour (which can be very inconvenient for those that use the bus).  
 
I don't believe for a second that anyone is regularly seeing empty buses during the day, because I use buses regularly and never see them empty.  
 
Johnbisonbear, so great that you were able to walk everywhere as a child. Not sure what that has to do with anything?? Children are not the people who use the bus the most. Brandon isn't the same place as when we were children. The population has grown, and traffic has increased. The elderly population has grown significantly, which is proven by the number of retirement homes built in the last 15 years. They are very heavy users of public transit. They can't just walk everywhere.  
 
Anyway, I would suggest contacting city hall and getting some actual ridership numbers, as well as riding a few different routes at different times of the day so that you can see who uses the buses and when.

I was a child walking the streets going to the hockey games! There is nothing wrong with walking, keeps people healthy and yes children too!  
 
As for contacting city hall, will they provide actual numbers of bodies riding the bus or the number of tickets sold? Seeing as there are no transfers anymore has ridership doubled?

The other thing is your costs won't go down nearly as much as you think if you went to a smaller bus.  
 
Your costs to operate a fleet of vehicles is fairly static. Wages stay the same. Insurance stays the same, or goes up depending on year, value, etc of the replacement. Repair and maintenance will be for the most part similar. While a big repair bill can swell an R&M budget, most of the $$$ goes into maintenance (tires, oil changes, brakes, etc) which need to be done on a new bus too. Or if R&M goes down, it is offset by a payment on the new vehicle. Fuel expenses would be down, but with the amount of idling and stop and go driving a bus does, not as much as one might expect.

Once school starts back up, buses will be quite full again. I remember numerous times of being on the bus where they had to refuse people getting on because there was no more room. It's summer now, so I am sure they're not quite as full but I highly doubt they are empty a majority of a time. Maybe it's just the time of day. Which I'm sure the bus drivers see as a much needed break.

Since when is retail not open on Sunday's? Most places are open 9-6 buses run every hour from 8-8. So it basically runs around retail hours. And I am not sure if the smaller buses can take strollers or not. I was just explaining that I used s stroller on the bus. I'm sure the cost of new buses even if they are smaller will be a considerable amount.

I re-read the post and deb1 was referring to stats and not Sunday's. some places are open on stats like McDonald's timmy's etc. even most restaurants are open on stats. Grocery stores are continually open in stats as well.

on Stat days, the buses run on a reduced schedule. Since transit drivers don't work on a regular 8-4, M-F schedule. I'm sure they schedule drivers to reduce the amount on OT used for stats. They essentially work shift work.

Trevor B said "on Stat days, the buses run on a reduced schedule. Since transit drivers don't work on a regular 8-4, M-F schedule. I'm sure they schedule drivers to reduce the amount on OT used for stats. They essentially work shift work. "

does a mechanic have to work Sundays and stats for the buses, you might know as you work for the city.  
 
It seems like every city department works stats and holidays. Or all departments considered shift workers now?

Johnbisonbear said "    Trevor B said "on Stat days, the buses run on a reduced schedule. Since transit drivers don't work on a regular 8-4, M-F schedule. I'm sure they schedule drivers to reduce the amount on OT used for stats. They essentially work shift work. " does a mechanic have to work Sundays and stats for the buses, you might know as you work for the city.     It seems like every city department works stats and holidays. Or all departments considered shift workers now? "

there is a mechanic that works Sundays.  
 
As for shift work, it all depends on the department. Places like Water Treatment and Wastewater work on shift rotations so there are people monitoring. The Airport has staff rotating on various shifts. And no not all departments work shift work. Streets and Roads will alter shifts to do work during the night as needed.

Trevor said "The other thing is your costs won't go down nearly as much as you think if you went to a smaller bus.     Your costs to operate a fleet of vehicles is fairly static. Wages stay the same. Insurance stays the same, or goes up depending on year, value, etc of the replacement. Repair and maintenance will be for the most part similar. While a big repair bill can swell an R&M budget, most of the $$$ goes into maintenance (tires, oil changes, brakes, etc) which need to be done on a new bus too. Or if R&M goes down, it is offset by a payment on the new vehicle. Fuel expenses would be down, but with the amount of idling and stop and go driving a bus does, not as much as one might expect. "

i have worked for the school transportation system in a few districts and i also asked the same question when our buses run with only 5 kids and was told by the guys who do analyze the costs that the cost to buy and maintain the smaller buses is so negligible that is what not worth running them, plus then the bigger buses are available for field trips and such, I would think the same runs true for city buses if they need a large bus for anytime it is more cost effective to buy all bigger buses, as for scheduling the routes id imagine that there would be a line of where the ridership on most days is worth providing the service but the city may decide its fairly low in order to provide a service for those who need it

how many threads were there prior wanting Sunday transit service. More than a few.

Did have smaller buses but found but they tended not to be very reliable. They were not as durable as the larger buses breaking down more often. In that respect the larger buses are more cost effective.

I use one bus more often than others, but do take several different buses to get around to different places. I've never been the only person on a bus, and there is usually at least 10 other people on a bus at any given time. The bus I use most often is always mostly full, and will only get worse when school starts again.  
 
Sometimes, when a bus breaks down, they pull out the older, smaller buses until the regular one is fixed, and it sucks when that happens. There aren't enough seats on the small buses for everyone and you end up with people standing. They also can't accommodate strollers/walkers/wheelchairs, only have 1 door to enter/exit, and narrow aisles, which makes thing hectic with people getting on and off.  
 
I'm sure there is a route or two with less ridership than the others, but the city looks at ridership and routes fairly regularly (yearly I think) and adjusts the routes as necessary. Also, each bus now has counters and they record the number of riders. I assume they do this to make sure they get the most bang for their buck.  
 
And no, taking one bus for one ride won't tell you anything. How about parking your car for a day or two (once school is back in) and using public transit to get to work, appointments and shopping, and then letting us know how your experience was? Were the buses empty or full? Did the half hour schedule work for you? Was it easy to get around? Were the buses comfortable, and were any the smaller ones? Did it take a long time to get from point A to point B? Would more buses or less buses be helpful? How many people with walkers/strollers were on the bus? It's the best way to understand the system, what bus users go through, and what is needed and not needed.

idea came to fruition I spoke to one of the drivers and this is what he told me " the buses aren't busy on Saturdays so I can't see Sunday being any better" He should know, he's drives the buses.  
 
I can remember former mayor SDH when on talk back saying the city could not afford to run the buses on Sundays.  
 
When it changed to Sunday service all of a sudden the city had cash for stat holiday service too!  
 
I have no doubt there are times when the buses are full but there are lots of times when like someone said the driver gets pretty lonely.  
 
As to the level of service? I have neighbour who walks everywhere, she suffered a broken bone in her foot so she had to use the transit. To get home from the hospital she had to sit on a bus for nearly an hour and she said she'll never take a bus again!

I look at the Brandon Transit website today, to find out what rout I can use in case I want to use the bus to go to my work place. From their website, I need to take 2 buse, one from my home at southwest to downtown, and one from downtown to my works place at southeast. So I need to go an extra kilometers from south to center and center to south to get from west to east. It takes about 49 minutes including 11 min of walking.  
I also took distance and time going by my car. It is 7-9 kilometer which takes me 9 minutes going from my driveway to my parking spot at work. So each trip takes me 39 min more if I take the bus, including 11 min walking.  
If it was 10 minutes more, I could take the bus to commute.  
Adding to bus routs will be costly, and not a good solution until there will be some savings from somewhere. From other posts, it seems that shallots buses do not do any good neither.  
It is funny that, I was counting people on some bus stopes that I was passing to day, lol.  

in Brandon is a good transportation for the ones that really need it . in all concerns . Work , shopping , Doc an what every they need .  
 
It would be nice to hear from a driver but its likely in the union that they can not say a word .  
bet they want to ....  
 
An for Deb1. the op . you started this rant on city transit . Why ?  
Have you looked in your back to see bus go buy at 6 am . or your looking at 2 pm .  
also you words at start of post were good . tonight not so good . spelling kinda not there. if you dont believe me read your post at 7:06.

There was something wrong with Internet when I was writing. I sent my post and read all auto-spelling that has happened, and I know, it is embarrassing. I can't edit that post anymore, so I better laugh.