More bus services to be slashed - excuses, excuses

First have given advance notification of significant cuts in bus services affecting Chipping Sodbury, Yate, Iron Acton, Winterbourne and Coalpit Heath.

From 10 May 2009 they say that:

Service X27 will no longer be operated
Service X42 will run at peak times only and be replaced at off peak times by Service 342

Service 327 and Service 329 (evening service subsidised by South Gloucestershire Council) will continue to run.

They say -

"We recognise that it is not long since we made alterations to services in this area, but the worsening economic climate has meant we have had to bring forward our planned network review. We have needed to react and make alterations to our business quickly, and this has meant that unfortunately we have been unable to give you and our customers the opportunity to comment on these changes"

We think this is just an excuse. We got them to scale back their cuts last time - now they're using the recession as an excuse to make bigger cuts.

Who suffers? We do, the passengers. Removing the X services means that it will take longer to get anywhere, and therefore reduces the employment possibilities for people in our area. And it will mean more cars on our already overcrowded roads.

We all need to fight it. If we don't, it will just happen. More to follow, please watch this space.