Well it's ranting and raving time now, First Huddersfield, the biggest pile of horse bollox ever. Of course the type of service you get depends on the bus you get on but there are some common trends from bus to bus- the rude drivers, the terrible time keeping and the sky-high prices. To say I catch on average about four First buses a day I'm very familiar with this bus company so take my advice and STAY WELL AWAY FROM FIRST!
*COMFORT* One of the few things which can actually be considered to be reasonable on First buses is the comfort factor. This , of course depends on where you sit, who sits next to you and the looney level of the driver. The best place to sit is at the back ,especially if you're a teenager. Sitting at the back means that you're meant to be a thug, even if like me, you don't look like one. This is a good thing, yes, that's right a GOOD thing because it means that nobody sits next to you and you get the whole seat to yourself! Don't ever sit at the front, you either get kicked out of your seat by an old person (which I don't object to, I don't mind being polite) or you end up getting your head bashed against the metal bar everytime the bus pulls up! Also, avoid sitting next to the person who spreads themselves out when you get on the bus, they don't move up for you and you end up sitting on the edge of your seat for the entire journey. Single decker buses tend to be the comfiest as they are cosier, warm and not as noisy. The overall comfort level is about seven out of ten, not bad for a bus actually. The seats are your usual foam shite but they're quite comfy. Avoid the grafittied seats though, I once saw a guy sit on a seat which had green sprayed graffiti on it, when he stood up it was all over his black trounsers!!! Huddersfield's buses aren't too vandalised although some of the older ones tend to have chunks of foam taken out of the seats which isn't exactly easy on the old bum cheeks. Apart from physical comfort there is also the personal psychological comfort factor to consider - in other words there are issues of noise levels, smell and visual appeal to consider. Noise depends on which bus you are on, early morning buses at around 8ish are generally ok, yes there is a lot of shuffling going in especially since this is in the morning rush hour but that's about it. Daytime buses at around mid-morning- early afternoon tend to be packed with the elderly, all you are likely to hear at this time is old folk chatting about "our dorothy who's son is getting married". Without making absurd generalisations most old people (particularly women!) on the buses at this time tend to shout quite loud so the entire bus gets to find out that Norman down the road hasn't been to the toilet for three weeks. This is harmless though and doesn't tend to affect my comfort on the buses, I like it when there's a bit of noise because then I don't fall asleep and miss my stop. The teatime buses are terrible for noise though, people are on their way home from work and are making calls on their mobiles, children are coming home from school and are being all hyper and roudy and worst of all- screaching babies with their mums. Although I love babies, this screaching on top of the roar of the bus's engine and men on their mobiles really gets me in a bad mood. Poor things though, I'd cry if I had gone from a nice cosy pram to a bus being driven by a raving looney. First Huddersfield buses don't tend to have a particular smell but now and again, despite the fact that it is clear that smoking is banned from buses, you can smell the odd whiff of stale smoke. Not pleasant. You tend to get this smell mainly at the back of buses. The buses don't look that bad inside either, the newer ones (which are few and far between) have lovely pale blue and purple inside as a pose to the older ones which are yellow, brown and red. You can also come across the odd green one aswell. There's quite a lot in the way of litter towards the end of the day, old metro newspapers are left on the floor, ripped and trodden on and if you're lucky you may come across an old McDonalds cup! They do get cleaned up every night I think but it's not pleasant when you come home from college and you have to sit in a mound of old ripped papers. The newer buses have good lighting which is switched on about teatime-ish and a blue UV style light towards the front of the bus. I often wondered what this was for and since I am so sad and pathetic I actually asked my boyfriend what this was for. It's even sadder that he actually knew the answer! It's so that the light doesn't reflect on the driver's windscreen... now there's something that'll help you sleep tonight!!! Most probably know that there is a wad of about 15 Metro newspapers in a tray in the luggage carrier at the front of the bus, this paper is normally a load of poo but it's free and it passes the time so what the heck. If you catch a really early bus you may not get one though, they don't tend to come out so early and as I stated earlier, by teatime these are all over the floor and shoved down the sides of seats. The comfort of the journey itself depends on the driver. Most drivers for First Huddersfield are raving looneys. More on the drivers later...
*THE METRO CENTRE* The Huddersfield bus station has what is called a 'Metro Centre' where you can find out journey times if you are unsure and can make any general enquiry. You may also complain! They tend to be very helpful here actually they are always smiling and are really friendly. One particular man in the Metro Centre called me 'lovey pops' when I bought a bus pass the other week! From the Metro Centre you can also buy weekly/monthy/annual passes, half fare passes and pensioner passes. You can also pick up bus timetables for every service from the stands and other leaflets. What I really like about this place is that they also sell coach trips which are really good value for money. There's a big list of all the coach trips in each month on the wall to everywhere you can possibly think of. I went to Alton Towers on one of their coach trips, we got 7 hours in the park and including admission it cost me £29.50 for an adult ticket. It cost's £28 to get into the park alone!!! I have no quibbles with the coach service at all. There are also trips to shopping centres such as The Trafford Centre and White Rose Shopping Centre in Leeds and trips out to places such as The Great Yorkshire Show and even Emmerdale! All are reasonably priced and are easy to book. You just ask the lady on the desk and she will tell you all you need to know. I have found the Metro Centre to be very helpful and is very modern in design. If only the buses were as good as this!
*DRIVERS* These people are flippin loonies I tell you! Of course not all drivers are lunatics but they're all crap! Here are some experiences I have had on First Buses involving rubbish drivers... 1. The 'bitch' driver- this is a particular driver which everyone round my area is aware of and is nicknamed 'the bitch'. Without going into detail (incase she should come across this review) she never ever smiles and always inspects everyone's tickets, she'll sit there looking at the expiry dates of old people's pensioner passes for ages whilst there's a bus full of people waiting to get into town. 2. The chain smoker- often caught on the school bus rounds (you can't blame them really!) they tend to have the odd fag inbetween journeys which causes a delay and leaves everybody late and seriously p****d off. 3. The loony- loony drivers are alright actually, they get you home in super-fast time, just what you need after a long day. However, the fact that these drivers go so fast means that old ladies go shooting off their seats and little kids nearly fly out of the windows. 4. The 'I-didn't-see-you' driver- now one particular driver comes to mind, there's one lady who regularly drives past people standing at stops, she's done it to me twice and I've seen her do it to other people too. This is really annoying, especially at weekends or late at night when buses are less frequent meaning you have to wait ages for the next bus.
*FREQUENCY OF SERVICE* As I briefly pointed out in the last section First buses are less frequent on Sundays and after 6pm each night. The most frequent services are during the day. In other words- at peak times. The timetables for buses to areas in Huddersfield come, on average about once every 15 minutes. Areas out of Huddersfield have buses timetables about once per hour. However, when the buses are timetables to come and when they actually do come are two very different things. The 'please yourself' timetable is something which drivers regularly decide to operate. This involves cutting out stops to make the journey quicker (so the drivers can get back to eating doughnuts in the station) and turning up whenever it suits them. This is a complete and utter pain in the a*se, it's happened loads of times to me, my stop has been missed out just because the driver is late and wants to get on his lunch break. It really annoys me. First buses tend to be at least 5 minutes late setting off from the bus station too, this causes a chain reaction meaning the bus turns up at every stop 5 minutes late- another pain in the a*se.
*PRICES* The prices are ridiculous too. Half fare prices are available for those up to about 13 years of age, pensioners and pass holders. Everyone else must pay full fare. These are the one way prices based on the services I use: -PEAK FARES- FULL FARE: £1.30 HALF FARE: 65p
-OFF PEAK FARES- FULL FARE: £1.10 HALF FARE: 55p
This doesn't seem so bad but when you want to go just between villages, say about a mile's drive or so, you still end up paying the same price as someone going on the full journey. A money saver is the day rider or 'First Day' as they've called it now. This is a ticket which you buy on your first journey of the day and just show it to the drivers on your following journeys to get on for nothing. In other words you pay a certain amount to use any First bus in West Yorkshire for the whole day. The prices for these are as follows.
-PEAK FARES- FULL FARE: £2.60 HALF FARE: £1.30
-OFF PEAK FARES- FULL FARE: £2.00 HALF FARE: £1.00
This isn't bad if you end up going somewhere like Leeds for the day or somewhere out of town, it's cheaper than the train (although it does take quite a bit longer!).
Also, if you are a student you can buy pases a great deal cheaper with your half fare pass. The passes are similar to Day Riders except you can use any bus, not just First Buses. The prices for these are as follows.
WEEK PASS: £5.50 MONTHLY PASS: £20.50
They work out to be better value for money if you use the buses most days eg. for school, college or work.
*OVERALL* For such a terrible service the prices are way too high. To say that I am satisfied with anything about the First company would be a lie. There is something wrong with every journey you take. Either the bus is late, early or doesn't turn up at all or the driver is rude and over charges you. Take my advice and avoid First at all costs!
More details
Staff courtesy/helpfulness
Very Poor
Speed
Average
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