Written evidence from B J Turner (BUS
91)
I understand that your committee wishes to have views
on changes to Bus Services. First of all, let me set the context.
I live in a village (population 700) in Somerset, right on the
border with Devon & Dorset. Our nearest towns are Chard in
one direction, four miles distant, and Crewkerne, seven miles
distant. The largest towns are Taunton to the west, 20 miles away,
and Yeovil to the east, 15 miles away.
Four years ago, we decided to "down-size"
from our five-bedroom house with large garden to a smaller, more
manageable dwelling suitable for retirement living. We had a number
of criteria when looking for a new property, one of which was
that it had to be on a bus route, since my wife does not drive
and we wanted to follow guidelines of reducing car use to a minimum.
We settled on Winsham because it had an hourly bus service that
ran from beyond Crewkerne in the east to Taunton, via Chard, in
the west. This was ideal and we discovered that the bus was well
used. Travelling to Chard or Crewkerne meant that there was an
hour to do what was needed (this might be shopping; dentist/doctor/optician/hairdressing
appointments) before catching the bus back. On occasions, a bus
would not turn up for one reason or another but an hour wait,
although irritating, could mean a visit to the library or a coffee
somewhere and the day was not too badly disrupted.
Recently the service has been changed. It now runs
every two hours and only from Crewkerne to Chard. A change of
bus in Chard or Crewkerne is necessary if one wishes to visit
Taunton or Yeovil. Then there is the constant worry of missing
the connection (in a rural area, one only has to meet a herd of
cows, a slow tractor or two large vehicles unable to pass each
other for this to happen) and having a two hour wait in the middle
of one's journey, possibly in both directions.
The consequence has been that the number of people
using the bus from Winsham has dropped dramatically. People have
lost confidence in the service, certainly where appointments are
concerned. We fear that there are further changes afoot and that
the bus company, Stagecoach, will decide that the service - which
they have ruined - is no longer viable. It will be of their own
making.
We have never had an evening or Sunday service but
we can live with that. What we need is the through service restored.
Even a two hourly through service would be acceptable.
As to the concessionary scheme for the elderly, most
would be happy to revert to the old "half-price" system
if we had a reliable service.
March 2011
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