Buses - not about the buses, but about the people who use the buses
Archive - Originally posted on "The Horse's Mouth" - 2016-01-10 23:43:38 - Graham Ellis
I'm helping to promote Option 24/7 - a practical, positive and affordable development of the public transport network in Wiltshire. Money has to be saved on current subsidies, and the other options on offer are "Beeching Style" cuts - a downward spiral of services. But a network solution rather than an isolated route approach can draw in efficiencies and new customers. It's been tried and works in London ... it's informally done in Torbay ... and it should be done in Wiltshire.
It's not about the buses - it's about the people who use the buses!
Mrs A can no longer drive. She relies on the bus to get her from her home into the town centre where she meets friends and does her shopping.
Mr B works in X. He's unable to drive for medical reasons, and commutes by bus every day; sometimes he has to work late and catch a bus back in the early evening.
The C family send their daughter to school in X - a journey of about 6 miles. It's not their nearest school, but it's the right one for her and she gets there by bus.
Miss D and her college friends want to meet up for a 'social' at the weekend or an evening; due to high insurance premiums none of them can afford a car, and in any case they want to be able to enjoy the eveing without having to be awake (and sober) enough to drive safely home afterwards.
Mr E will be retiring in about 7 years - he's getting on a bit shakey on his legs and can no longer walk to the local railway station without it leaving him so tired he can't do his job properly
Mrs F no longer has a bus to get to her doctors, so now she requires home visits
Ms G had planned to go to college this September with a view to getting qualified and back into employment, but she's had to put these plans on hold because the bus that would get her home at the end of the college day doesn't run any more
Mr H doesn't use the bus at all. But he can't get a car parking space in town / at work any longer as all the spaces are filled with people who used to use public transport, so the gets very frustrated and parks in residential streets to the annoyance of those residents
Ms I is a health service / social services administrator, and she notices a severe strain on her 'customer transport' budget because she's now spending a lot of money (ad organisation time) or arranging and paying for customers who used to use the bus.
It isn't about the bus service - it's about the people using the bus! If you have questions - see if they have been answered in our Frequently Asked Questions document .. if they've not been asked, then please ask them!
And - please - take a read and respond to the consultation. Or if this page has told you enough already, please go [here] to compete the questionnaire. I recommend:
• Question 10, 12, 14, 16, 18 and 20 - select NO
• Question 25 - please WRITE IN "Option 24/7 preferred - www.option247.uk"