Anger at end of bus service (From Warrington Guardian)

Anger at end of bus service

1:00pm Thursday 3rd January 2013 in News

RESIDENTS of Pewterspear Green Road have voiced their disappointment over plans to remove the bus service to their road.

Network Warrington will be pulling the plug on the number 48 service to Dudlows Green in Appleton from Monday, January 28.

The bus company say the service will be replaced in part during peak periods in the morning and evening by the 10C service running along the former 48 service route.

But outside those hours the seven service will be diverted to create a link from the town centre to Stockton Heath, Cobbs estate and Longwood Road.

Andrew Johnson, of Pewterspear Green Road, said: “This service is key to me, as without this I wouldn't be able to get to work on a daily basis.

“We have extremely poor access to public transport as it is in Appleton, so to lose yet another bus service is beyond a joke.

“I appreciate it isn't a money spinner for them, but money didn't appear to be a big issue when they were showing off their shiny new buses only a matter of days ago.”

David Squire, managing director, said: “We have a publicity campaign geared up for the new year with newspaper adverts, a customer road-show, new leaflets which will be widely distributed and revised website information.

“As to why we are having to make these changes, our costs have risen steeply, fuel in particular, has rocketed and the fuel duty rebate we used to receive was frozen under the last Labour Government and subsequently reduced by 20 per cent by the current Government and there are further changes to come. a “Add to this increased insurance costs and lower reimbursement from local authorities for carrying senior citizens and the recession effect of less passengers travelling year on year despite a fares freeze and other marketing initiatives that we have introduced, you will understand that we are being squeezed from both a cost and an income point of view.

“As with any other business we have worked hard to contain our costs and have restructured the three parts of the business to reduce our costs, together with introducing smarter working practices and introducing new income streams.

“Our business has to be sustainable going forward in order to continue to serve the borough. We don’t make changes lightly, however looking at our passenger data we are confident that we have covered the vast majority of the links that currently exist, although times and route numbers may well be different.”