Bishopthorpe News and Views

....and a thermos flask .... and some sandwiches -  if you go to attempt to collect a bus pass from the Salvation Army Citadel.

Edith & I went to collect ours this morning.

Dismayed by the numbers waiting on Gillygate, we left to do an errand and returned to find the queue rather shorter. We joined it, and waited a mere hour and a quarter, only 65 minutes of which were spent out in the cold.

Fortunately, we had adequate identification (proof of age and proof of address) with us. 

On reaching the desk we were told that the passes have not yet arrived from the printer! We did pass the entitlement check, and were promised that the passes would be posted to us at a later date.

I write on the basis of considerable experience (I used to be responsible for the annual enrolment of about 2,500 college students) when I say that this was a management shambles. 

First, the premises are too small and are inconveniently located. Second, there was no arrival filter (to fast track the disabled and to weed out those with incomplete documentation).  Thirdly, inadequate staff numbers were provided. (There was no work space for more anyway.) Fourthly,  advance information provision was inadequate. (Not everyone reads the local press, nor even their local website.)

If it is the case that responsibility for the failed delivery of the passes was outside the control of the City Council, no effort seems to have been made beforehand or on the day to warn people of it. At least, the absence of passes ought to have simplified and speeded the process. Those of us who were called in for new photographs a few weeks ago should not have needed to go through today's procedure anyway.

My advice is that people should not attempt to get passes this week. Existing passes will be valid until September in York and North Yorkshire only. Identity checks will be made and (we hope) passes issued at the Guildhall from 1st - 25th April, so it would be better to try then. Just don't make any arrangements which involve use of your new pass until you actually get it. For those who have registered, it may arrive by post before the starting date. (Are those pigs which I see in the evening sky?)  

Ian