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Hertfordshire Bus Stop Etiquette! And Boarding Proceedure Of Interest To Students.

:smile: With the new UH term rapidly getting under way, many students will not only be unfamiliar both with the locality and Hertfordshire, but unsure if bus stops are either compulsory or request, and methods of payment when boarding the bus.

Almost all bus stops in Herts are, with very few exceptions, request only. There are some compulsory ones, but as a default rule indicate to the driver by putting your hand up clearly and in good time you wish him/her to stop. The stop flags are marked " signal clearly for bus to stop ".

This may seem overstating the obvious, but anybody lucky to have the TfL (Transport for London) level of service will know that there is a role reversal: in the London area almost all of the stops are compulsory, few request.

As to the level of service, due to funding cuts Hertfordshire County Council ( HCC) funded /underwritten services at weekends, later evenings, and public holidays have been drastically reduced over the last few years. The bus companies have taken up some of the slack and continued running a few routes commercially, but not many. On public holidays bus services in Herts as a rule of thumb work to a Sunday timetable, whereas most TfL ones work to a Saturday one.

Payment : in cash as you board is available in Herts, and still seems to be the most used, although electronic options are available and in most cases cheaper. If possible when paying by cash, as intelligent people think ahead and try to tender the correct, or as near to, the fare you can. The UNO services - which most students use- fare structures and tariffs are available to see either in the timetable books or online. And in spite of what some folk think, whether it be UNO or the other companies running bus services, drivers are neither given or expected to carry or start out with a large float of change. For the record, local in-Hatfield fares using the University`s UNO services are £1 with student ID, £1.40 if not. (The inter-campus shuttle is free). Arriva, who run the 300/301/724 through Hatfield charge £1.80, Centrebus who run the 366 to South Hatfield about the same.

UNO will give you a change voucher for future use if the driver is unable to give change which can happen if everybody presents a £20 note at once for a, say, £1 fare shortly after the bus has taken up service out of the depot!

There is work going on in the background to make bus travel in Herts almost totally cashless, I understand the UNO 614/44 will do so next year: When I attended a seminar in The Maclaurin Bld on the subject some two years ago, it was an eye opener to see how many legal and logistic issues have to be overcome to make this possible. Needless to say it will make life much easier pretty well for everbody, as loading times are dramatically reduced, time keeping improved.

Outside London since 1985 the bus industry has been deregulated, meaning unlike in the TfL area the bus companies have no obligation unless running a Herts County Council funded service to interact with either HCC or each other : in TfL land all services irrespective of who are contracted to run that service have to conform to the very strict TfL regulations.

Online info at www.unobus.info for UNO services, www.intalink.org.uk for HCC`s own travel information detailing all services.
(edited 6 years ago)
Very nice info here, thanks for putting this up!
Students outside, University of Hertfordshire
University of Hertfordshire
Hatfield
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Reply 2
Original post by Aria Enoshima
Very nice info here, thanks for putting this up!


:wink: Glad to help- Hope it makes sense!
With the the students returning back from summer leave in full swing, I thought it relevant to add the post, as said many of you are unfamiliar with both the locality and procedures of using the buses around here.

Again, if paying as you go by cash, please when ever possible think ahead and try to tender the correct or as near to the correct fare you can- this makes life so much easier for drivers and passengers alike- I used the 602 to St.Albans on Sunday and the driver told me on an earlier morning 653 he had just begun service on starting from Hatfield Station, almost all the passengers presented him with £20 and £10 notes mostly for £1 student or £1.40 normal local fares. With the students, they all clubbed together and paid using one note then settled amongst themselves afterwards- a sensible thing in the circumstances to do. One of the problems with Herts is the variety of different fare structures and operators compared to elsewhere.

I believe the newly upgraded 614/44 (Hatfield- North London and return) will go cashless next year, and I did hear the 610 ( Cockfosters/Enfield- Hatfield - Luton and return) will be after that. No doubt the 602 and 53 will follow some time.

Incidentally at one of the sustainable transport seminars mentioned about previously I attended at the UH Maclaurin Bld. run by my good friend Professor Scott Copsey on this subject, it was stated that the difference in loading up the bus by going cashless or pre payment as against pay as you board can be reduced from something like five- ten minutes to two or less -multiply this by a dozen or so stops along the route and it makes all the difference to good timekeeping.

As a footnote, I was at Hatfield station this morning ( Monday 25th Sept) and it took fifteen odd minutes for a 602 to load up- this would have been less than five cashless. It also helps if you have your student UH ID and money looked out ready to present when boarding the bus- the drivers are quite fussy about seeing this before giving you the £1 student/UH staff reduction. I believe UNO have laid on some extra shuttle type 602 services to cope with the initial student demand until everything settles down - this bus was non stop to The Forum only and then straight back to the station. UNO also had a deputy manager on hand to give directions.

Comments welcome.
(edited 6 years ago)

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