You've just got to laugh

Big Ian, (Letters, February 26), says most of the complaints seem to come from people on the old 47/48 routes, (now 56 and 1/1a on our part of the service), and my family are no exception to that and also the number 10 community transport bus.

We have noticed an improvement on the 56 but that is because we cannot see the bus from where we live to notice if they still run about in threes and mostly the ones we go for have turned up relatively on time during the day.

Rush hour is a different matter and you can give some leeway due to increased traffic.

The one we don’t understand is Sunday evening when buses are often missing and family members end up walking home after standing in the freezing cold for 15 minutes or so.

The number 10 on the other hand got so bad with the introduction of a new section of route and a curtailment at Manor Top that passengers have abandoned it in their droves.

Drivers were harassed and customers were left abandoned as the routes got shortened to get back ‘on schedule’.

As a family we made at least 34 journeys a week on this route, now down to about 10.

Our daughter has vetoed the route altogether.

She made alternative arrangements after previously catching the bus home from work near Manor Park centre.

She got a lift part way only to have drivers not make the return journey when they were late, one driver even waved at her as he drove off when he was only five minutes late and didn’t run on service. Even the changes made this month have not made enough of a difference.

I now seldom go out as I could do without the hassle.

Is the fact that more of the public have voted with their feet the reason that the services are now running to time?

I guess the next round of cuts will be made because services are no longer used enough to make them viable.

I did sign the petition and make numerous complaints but I didn’t attend the meeting? I thought it would be a whitewash and the community transport people aren’t even attending. I doubted the bus would even turn up to take us to the meeting.

Julie Carnall

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