First Mainline Buses provide public transport facilities for the whole of South Yorkshire. Personally, I have never really liked using buses, as the service that you receive, varies dramatically from bus to bus.

There are two types of First Mainline buses currently in circulation. Both are manufactured by Volvo and can be either single of double deckers. Single deckers have a capacity of about forty people sitting and eighteen people standing. Double deckers have almost double this capacity.

The cost of travelling via First Mainline has recently been increased for most users. Here are some examples of the prices:

An All Day Saver will cost £2.50 if you buy it in peak times (ie before 9am) or just £2.20 if bought in off peak times.

A Student Week Saver is £2 cheaper than the prices of the normal Weekly Savers on production of students valid NUS or Student College Card.

The Customer Services at the main bus stations, provide useful and easy to understand information about First Mainline Bus routes and timetables. They can also chase up any lost properties claims for you by contacting the depot. The staff are often very friendly and helpful.

The Travel Executive provides a whole range of travel passes that can be used on both First Mainline buses and other forms of public transport. One example is the Travel Master, which is accepted on all First Mainline buses, all other bus services, trains and trams with the boundaries of the district where the ticket is bought (eg South Yorkshire Boundary). There are often two types of these passes. The first is a scratch card where anyone can use it provided they present it to the driver on entering a d bus for example. The other is a photo card, which can only be used by the person identified on the photo card. I think that these are the most sensible option as travel passes can be very expensive if you loose them.

Some bus drivers are very friendly with excellent customer service skills. Some on the other hand have a lot to learn about providing a good service. Some bus drivers will wait until you have sat down before setting off (which I think is good for the older generations in our society) and others just cannot wait to put their foot down as soon as you get on the bus. It also depends on which bus service you are using, some routes have buses as regular as every five minutes and others only have buses running every hour. School bus routes tend to be really uncomfortable with all the children over crowded on the bus and then they are left in a terrible mess with all the sweet wrappers and crisp packets thrown all over.