There's something equally entertaining and frustrating about a festival bus that drops people nowhere near the festival. It feels slightly symbolic about how much the Hay Festival truly cares for public transport despite the huge benefits if offers.
The First buses come from the Worcester garage so it makes sense to run some journeys to and from Worcester so passengers can potentially subside what would otherwise be dead mileage.
Shame that Hay-on-Wye railway station is permanently closed and long forgotten. And the nearest railway station is Hereford which doesn’t seem too far but yes it can take ages. If there’s lots of traffic and if there is an accident or broken down bus. Overall it’s nice to see you back on UA-cam.
Great video! As a Herefordshire local who loves the festival, it is sad to see such neglect for one of few attractions that brings people to the county.
"Why doesn't the Hay Festival do more for public transport?" Because the Hay Festival is almost exclusively an event for the chatterring classes who care more about looking like worthy environmentally-conscious people that actually being genuinely considerate. Buses are for the poors, though such people would never phrase it in such terms. Genevieve and Tarquin couldn't possibly take the bus, they need their Range Rover to carry their large picnic hamper filled with Waitrose vegan sausage rolls, and to take all their signed James Martin cookbooks (hardback, of course) home again afterwards.
I wouldn’t go quite that far, but there is a lot of truth to this. The Festival seems to cater to the “aesthetic” of sustainability, without really realising that having a nice view of the countryside doesn’t make whatever you’re doing any better for the environment - often, quite the opposite.
I run bus services to events and there be a good reason service does not enter site, as they use a little bus to get onsite, that a cue that big buses cant enter site, also at peak times getting buses off site of big events sometimes mean buses get stuck with the cars fighting to get off site. often events ask for over £20 to park to try price users on to buses and to walk.
It's definitely not that in this case - the small buses don't actually go on site, they just terminate in a layby off the main road, which large coaches also use. They could absolutely get the normal service in there.
@GWVillager So you think they can mix the local shuttle/ coaches/ buses at Egress from a bus lay-by? Risk assessment will tell you to put the buses in a safer space that could handle the flows. It could be part of the event licence to not have them buses picking up at that point. If tickets are sold on the bus the service would also have to be a registered service unlike the coaches that can use any safe space on the highway
@@AnthonyBoocock A layby is perhaps the wrong word - it's almost a separate road. The point is that they absolutely could have the buses run in there. The shuttles sell tickets on board, too.
A particularly valid point made is that it’s pretty well nigh impossible for those on lower incomes to participate in the festival, and that’s true of just about any significant event in the UK these days. Just getting to and from an event would use up a significant proportion of the weekly income. It’s something I’d love to see our new government tackle, but I won’t hold my breath.
Realistically, I don't think there's much the government can do in the short term. It's very much a 10-20 year project, and would have to involve quite radical measures to bring down the cost of living, rather than the cost of events etc. Sadly I can't see it happening.
@@buzzukfiftythree a cynic would say that's a big incentive for the organisers to not improve things. "We can't have the council estate lot showing up and showing an interest in reading, they might get ideas..."
this is one of the reasons i think that we should be restoring rail service to at *Least* every 1000+ population centre busses just don't have the reliability, capacity or the ease of electrification for a sustainable future.
I think 1,000 is very low threshold - that's basically a large village, and most of them can be served by good buses. But there are definitely places (like Hay) that need reopenings.
As a lot of visitors come from London, a shuttle bus (albeit less frequent) to Newport-Casnewydd would be a good idea as well. Hereford is slow to Paddington.
I just noticed another wonderful detail in that car-parking versus bus-service comparison: they proudly announce they have, just this year, _finally added_ wheelchair accessible parking. So despite the car-first attitude they've had, until now nobody with a Motability car was able to go. (Even though middle-class festival-goers are also more likely to be able to afford a powerchair.) Those narrow pavements from the town centre don't look particularly wheelchair-friendly either.
Oh dear... why am I not surprised. The pavement probably just about works? They put some cones in the road which artificially widen it, so pedestrians might be able to stand out of the way of wheelchairs, but it's definitely not ideal.
@@GWVillager when people have their wits about them that can work - alas I have experience that it usually leads to my bumping into a lot of ankles! Even when I say “excuse me!” every 10 seconds. (And that’s if it’s wide enough to not get the front wheels caught in the seams of the kerb.) I mean, I personally probably wouldn’t have come to _this_ specific event, but music festivals can be a similar accessibility concern given they’re also often held in various fields with minimal path reinforcement. And I can certainly imagine someone else with my accessibility needs wanting to go to this function.
Perhaps there could be plans to reinstate the former railway line from Hereford to Neath that could see new railway stations coming back including Hay-on-Wye and for the Welsh government to use their own money to bring back the former railway line that would be beneficial for the Hay Festival.
I doubt that, apart from the period of the festival, there would be sufficient demand. I’d love to see old lines re-opened, but there has to be a reasonable business (and social) case for it.
Why fix public transport when you can have a captive audience, that you can berate and rinse for everything they are worth..... It all goes far deeper than anyone would care to admit
No, but they have been contacted several times by local news when things get cut back, with the inevitable response of "financial viability". I didn't see the point, given their previous reactions, though it probably would have been a good idea. I'll ask them on Twitter.
you really have got time on your hands to find fault with what must be the festival with the most purity and integrity. it happens once a year pal. people are burning toxic rubbish everyday, have a go at them.
There's something equally entertaining and frustrating about a festival bus that drops people nowhere near the festival. It feels slightly symbolic about how much the Hay Festival truly cares for public transport despite the huge benefits if offers.
The First buses come from the Worcester garage so it makes sense to run some journeys to and from Worcester so passengers can potentially subside what would otherwise be dead mileage.
The British railway network needs restoring to the scale of 1960.
Shame that Hay-on-Wye railway station is permanently closed and long forgotten. And the nearest railway station is Hereford which doesn’t seem too far but yes it can take ages. If there’s lots of traffic and if there is an accident or broken down bus. Overall it’s nice to see you back on UA-cam.
Thank you, though I can’t promise that future videos will be any more frequent!
No problem 😊
Great video! As a Herefordshire local who loves the festival, it is sad to see such neglect for one of few attractions that brings people to the county.
"Why doesn't the Hay Festival do more for public transport?"
Because the Hay Festival is almost exclusively an event for the chatterring classes who care more about looking like worthy environmentally-conscious people that actually being genuinely considerate. Buses are for the poors, though such people would never phrase it in such terms. Genevieve and Tarquin couldn't possibly take the bus, they need their Range Rover to carry their large picnic hamper filled with Waitrose vegan sausage rolls, and to take all their signed James Martin cookbooks (hardback, of course) home again afterwards.
I wouldn’t go quite that far, but there is a lot of truth to this. The Festival seems to cater to the “aesthetic” of sustainability, without really realising that having a nice view of the countryside doesn’t make whatever you’re doing any better for the environment - often, quite the opposite.
Nailed it.
@@GWVillagerthis is so on point it makes me cry.
@@GWVillager hear hear
I run bus services to events and there be a good reason service does not enter site, as they use a little bus to get onsite, that a cue that big buses cant enter site, also at peak times getting buses off site of big events sometimes mean buses get stuck with the cars fighting to get off site. often events ask for over £20 to park to try price users on to buses and to walk.
It's definitely not that in this case - the small buses don't actually go on site, they just terminate in a layby off the main road, which large coaches also use. They could absolutely get the normal service in there.
@GWVillager So you think they can mix the local shuttle/ coaches/ buses at Egress from a bus lay-by? Risk assessment will tell you to put the buses in a safer space that could handle the flows. It could be part of the event licence to not have them buses picking up at that point. If tickets are sold on the bus the service would also have to be a registered service unlike the coaches that can use any safe space on the highway
@@AnthonyBoocock A layby is perhaps the wrong word - it's almost a separate road. The point is that they absolutely could have the buses run in there. The shuttles sell tickets on board, too.
A particularly valid point made is that it’s pretty well nigh impossible for those on lower incomes to participate in the festival, and that’s true of just about any significant event in the UK these days. Just getting to and from an event would use up a significant proportion of the weekly income. It’s something I’d love to see our new government tackle, but I won’t hold my breath.
Realistically, I don't think there's much the government can do in the short term. It's very much a 10-20 year project, and would have to involve quite radical measures to bring down the cost of living, rather than the cost of events etc.
Sadly I can't see it happening.
@@buzzukfiftythree a cynic would say that's a big incentive for the organisers to not improve things. "We can't have the council estate lot showing up and showing an interest in reading, they might get ideas..."
I would put good money on the organiser of said festival being a land rover owner.
She's the head of a charity that is heavily sponsored by JLR. No need to own her own landrover when one is provided for free!
this is one of the reasons i think that we should be restoring rail service to at *Least* every 1000+ population centre busses just don't have the reliability, capacity or
the ease of electrification for a sustainable future.
I think 1,000 is very low threshold - that's basically a large village, and most of them can be served by good buses. But there are definitely places (like Hay) that need reopenings.
@@GWVillagerNot going to happen. Would be cheaper to move the event closer to an existing railway station
@@superted6960 I know it won't happen. But it would make sense in a more transport-oriented world.
As a lot of visitors come from London, a shuttle bus (albeit less frequent) to Newport-Casnewydd would be a good idea as well. Hereford is slow to Paddington.
Well said.
I just noticed another wonderful detail in that car-parking versus bus-service comparison: they proudly announce they have, just this year, _finally added_ wheelchair accessible parking. So despite the car-first attitude they've had, until now nobody with a Motability car was able to go. (Even though middle-class festival-goers are also more likely to be able to afford a powerchair.) Those narrow pavements from the town centre don't look particularly wheelchair-friendly either.
Oh dear... why am I not surprised. The pavement probably just about works? They put some cones in the road which artificially widen it, so pedestrians might be able to stand out of the way of wheelchairs, but it's definitely not ideal.
@@GWVillager when people have their wits about them that can work - alas I have experience that it usually leads to my bumping into a lot of ankles! Even when I say “excuse me!” every 10 seconds. (And that’s if it’s wide enough to not get the front wheels caught in the seams of the kerb.)
I mean, I personally probably wouldn’t have come to _this_ specific event, but music festivals can be a similar accessibility concern given they’re also often held in various fields with minimal path reinforcement. And I can certainly imagine someone else with my accessibility needs wanting to go to this function.
Green is just a brand these days.
Perhaps there could be plans to reinstate the former railway line from Hereford to Neath that could see new railway stations coming back including Hay-on-Wye and for the Welsh government to use their own money to bring back the former railway line that would be beneficial for the Hay Festival.
I doubt that, apart from the period of the festival, there would be sufficient demand. I’d love to see old lines re-opened, but there has to be a reasonable business (and social) case for it.
I despise class 165s
Why fix public transport when you can have a captive audience, that you can berate and rinse for everything they are worth.....
It all goes far deeper than anyone would care to admit
I thought that everyone there wafted in on a magic carpet of their own virtue, no‽
Seems like Hay Festival cares more about appearances than anything else.
Reopen the Golden Valley Railway from Pontrilas!
Curious, have you contacted the organisers for a response?
No, but they have been contacted several times by local news when things get cut back, with the inevitable response of "financial viability".
I didn't see the point, given their previous reactions, though it probably would have been a good idea. I'll ask them on Twitter.
you really have got time on your hands to find fault with what must be the festival with the most purity and integrity. it happens once a year pal. people are burning toxic rubbish everyday, have a go at them.
Green nonsense.
Thank you for your valuable input on economic systems