One very famous quotation is "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" but as the world of transport continues to battle with the car, we are forced to look at new and innovative ways to improve our offering and also serve areas which are either new estates or to divert around a problematic area whether that be social or traffic.
Recently, the Sheffield Bus Partnership as good as ripped up the timetables and routes and started again. These were consulted to the good people of the city and the responses were overwhelming and also very upset at the PTE's plans who would "make a mess of their network".
The start of November saw the "revised" version hit the city's streets and just a few weeks into the new network, things don't seem to be getting any better with the local newspaper, Sheffield Star being full of letters, emails and editorial commenting on the state of the new bus services.
It was to be an improvement on the old setup with new numbers brought in and the big companies all coordinating to provide the best possible service. However the only thing that it has united is its passengers ... all getting together to social media and the local press and condemning what has to be one of the worst reorganisations of a transport network that the city has ever seen.
TAS is a consultancy who were drafted into review and implement the changes with First, Stagecoach, TM Travel and others all merging together with cross-company ticketing and a general Mary Poppins feel to travelling by bus. It's actually more Marilyn Manson.
Maybe not on such a grand scale, but all bus operators have in the past tried to reinvent routes and retimed services and it has sometimes failed. The question is though, how do you deal with it when it has gone wrong and also how long do you give it until you have to say, "it's great on paper, dreadful in reality".
This is the dilemma at the moment in Sheffield. Teething problems with any change follow and you have to be respectful to that before making the final call of going back to the drawing board. The worry is that SYPTE have used a consultancy and many of those people do not actually use the buses. In any good company, the key is your front-line staff. Their views are priceless and I suspect these people are the ones who haven't had the opportunity to say and suggest what they think needs to be done to the Sheffield network. Drivers and controllers are so valuable to a transport business and it's sad to note that this gets overlooked for a consultancy. Bad move.
In reality, nothing can change until around February at the earliest, not least to register any changes so you would expect that Sheffield has to put up with their new wonderful bus services until at least the summer of next year. I'm sure the big boys at First and Stagecoach are delighted with the exposure they are receiving from something that for a change isn't actually their fault.
In my opinion, it's a case of waiting another few weeks and try and iron out some of the recurring problems and if this is still the same after six weeks of running then we have to go back to that drawing board (or SYPTE in this case) and try again.
Although the next time they try again, talk to the people that make it happen every day. They are the most useful tool you have.
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