South Yorkshire woman 'spending savings on taxis' as bus service repeatedly fails to turn up

A South Yorkshire woman says she is at her wits’ end as an unreliable rural bus service has been making her late for work almost every day, forcing her to rely on expensive taxis.
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Cerys Tyler 20, takes the X54 bus from where she lives in Todwick, and then changes buses part way through her journey to her workplace at Parkgate in Rotherham.

However she says that the unreliability of the X54 means she often misses he next bus, and is then late for work.

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Carys explained: “I pay £20 per week for a weekly bus ticket to get myself to and from work from where I live in a rural area, which is hard enough as it is.

First South Yorkshire has been slammed over the unreliable service.First South Yorkshire has been slammed over the unreliable service.
First South Yorkshire has been slammed over the unreliable service.

“But every morning the bus is late. And not just five minutes late. An hour late or it doesn’t turn up at all.

“It’s very stressful and it is becoming a problem because I can’t always be late for work. It has been going on for about six months.

“I have contacted First over and over and they always say they don’t know why it is late. They keep saying they will sort it out but they never do. I’ve contacted the council and they say they can’t do anything about it either.

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“I know it is not just me either as other people are complaining that the bus is making them late for work too.

“I end up having to pay for taxis. I have spent nearly £500 and I can’t afford that. It’s starting to use up my savings.

“I am saving up for a car so I don’t have to rely on the bus but because the bus is unreliable I’m losing my savings for the car!”

Rob Hughes, Operations director at First South Yorkshire said: “We have received details from a customer about the reliability of our X54 service that runs between Sheffield and Rotherham. As we haven’t been given specific journey details, I have asked for an investigation to be undertaken into the overall reliability of the service.

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"Obviously we don’t like to see any of our customers inconvenienced due to unreliable services.

"I can assure the person concerned that if it is found that some journeys across the day have not operated to time, I will ask for the appropriate adjustments to be made to assist with improving reliability.

"I apologise for any inconvenience caused through any previously unreliable journeys operated.”