Waiting for a bus can be frustrating. If it’s either late or doesn’t come at all, using the car is easier. Most of Bergen’s bus routes are to be put out to tender this autumn. Whoever will be operating them from next summer will have to pay a fine of 3,000 kroner, should a bus be more than one minute late, writes Bergens Tidende (bt.no).

Not acceptable

Four out of ten buses in Bergen don’t arrive on time. This is something that Skyss, the company that plans and buys Hordaland county council’s public transport system – a system the county council is itself responsible for – is going to do something about.

“We won’t accept that buses are delayed…It will cost the bus companies dearly not to keep to their timetables,” Odmund Sylta, the company’s managing director tells the paper.

He goes on to say this will be one of the requirements that will be specified in the tender documents.

Unrealistic

Although the measure is supported by county council politicians, it was greeted with dismay by bus drivers in Tide – the company who won the concession to run the routes in Bergen’s southern region from 01 May 2010.

“There are many things we have no control over,...(which make) it difficult for us to keep to the timetables...These will have to be heavily revised if we are to avoid getting a great deal of fines,” says one of the drivers, Lene Julseth.

However, the head of Tide’s buses, Jostein Hatlebrekke, welcomes the move, and tells bt.no that he is committed to improving punctuality.

Consequences

But according to one researcher at the Institute of Transport Economics (Transportøkonomisk institutt), the effects will be negative should the companies fail.

“If people experience that the buses are late on a regular basis, it could lead to individuals beginning to drive instead…The queues will then get longer, and keeping to the bus timetables will become even more of a problem. It will also have unfortunate consequences for the environment,” Nils Fearnley informs the paper in an earlier article.

Maybe it will still be a case of three coming together, then?