Bus action is no more than a publicity stunt (From This is Hampshire)
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Bus action is no more than a publicity stunt
11:50am Friday 28th September 2012 in News
Sir.–Labour Councillors supported Queen Mary’s College Labour students when they presented a petition with more than 2,000 names calling on Stagecoach, Hampshire County Council and Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council to take action on the appalling cuts to bus services.
Finally, nearly a year later and following several challenges, the Tory council has organised a very limited and thoroughly inadequate consultation exercise. What appears to be little more than a half-hearted publicity stunt, very hastily organised, will not offer the bus users of Basingstoke the real opportunity to express their anger about the cuts and poor bus services.
The loss of a night-time service is affecting employment, not only in the town centre and in the care industry, but specifically at the hospital. People still face buses not turning up on time, refusing to stop and driving past waiting customers.
Stagecoach in Basingstoke is taking us all for ride!
What the Tory council has finally organised are two “roadshows” tomorrow. The first one will be held outside the ASDA store in the Brighton Hill car park between 10am and noon and the other at St Gabriel’s Church, Popley, in the car park, between 1pm and 3pm.
What about the majority of people who either work or study in the daytime, or who live in other parts of the borough? This is a joke, and shows how utterly out of touch the Tory council is.
–Cllr Carolyn Wooldridge and Cllr Jane Frankum, Labour councillors, Basingstoke and Deane Borough Council.
