Written evidence from J Heyburn (BUS 70)
I do not think Southend is being affected by changes
in bus services, but I think some aspects could be improved:
— The
buses are usually late, sometimes 10 minutes or later. I have
had to get a bus 45 minutes earlier than I normally would to get
to school on time. You may think this is strange, but there is
a large gap when there are no buses: so it is either early or
late.
— The
bus drivers usually treat the young people that travel on the
bus with what seems like disgust: some are kicked off (usually
after school—there is only one bus that goes into Leigh-on-Sea
that goes past our school (Southend High School for Boys), so
there is usually a competition over seats, which is understandable,
no-one would like to stand up for over half an hour on a stuffy,
hot bus—when the bus driver doesn't seem to want to have
around 50 customers each paying at least £1.20), they say
it is because we are pushing, but if adults were pushing they
would not think of telling them to get off.
Young people are often over charged, we do not bring
it up to them otherwise we will not be allowed on.
March 2011
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