Joan Rest on the Buses
The Bus Shelter...
ALTHOUGH I AGREE with Alistair Everett's discussion of the aesthetics of the bus shelter, he has missed the point. A bus shelter is to shelter while waiting for a bus. However, if you lurk in the depths, resting on the antique pine bench, the bus will sail past you. Only from a standing square metre of the far edge of the shelter is it possible to see an approaching bus and flag it down. A mere four buses a day come from Reach, the rest suddenly appearing round the corner of Cage Hill, behind the timetable. This timetable was originally, and aesthetically tastefully, placed on the diagonal, totally obscure the view of any approaching bus. Fortunately, someone has since flattened it.
As a bus shelter, I award Swaffham Prior's two out of ten for design. The bench takes one of these points as it is warmer than the metal ones in many other shelters (even if you cannot use it and catch the bus). The other point is for some shelter. Surely we should have see-through-to-the-bus shelters (perhaps a periscope in Swaffham Prior's)?
And the buses...
HAVING SPENT SO MUCH MONEY ON BUS LANES, shelters and designer timetables, we also need buses we can use. The half hourly service through the day is welcome but not the cut from every hour to every two hours in the evening and reduction in Sunday service as the 122 bites the dust. I never did understand a service to Soham twice a night and only to Ely on Sundays and bank holidays - but it filled the even hours of 8 pm and 10 pm from Cambridge and connected with the X12 in Soham and Fordham so that one could get home from Ely station (once in the evening because the X12 stopped soon after 6 pm). What a con when our County Councillor talks blithely of "improved service".
...And Concessionary Fares
THIS MORNING I HAD AN ADDENBROOKES APPOINTMENT FOR 10 AM. I caught the 8.42 am. It was late but sailed through much of the jam on that auto-green light bus lane. I was unable to use my concessionary pass so paid the full £2.50.
At Drummer Street, (9.28 am), eight people alighted from the 72 seater. Still at Drummer Street, I boarded the number 10 bus to Newmarket, due to leave at 9.30 am, and bought a day rider with my concessionary pass. It cost £2.10. I then jumped off the bus, took the bus to Addenbrookes and back and then the number 10 back to Swaffham Prior. Had I purchased tickets on the Addenbrookes bus (i.e. on a bus not starting or ending my journey in East Cambs) I would have been unable to use my concessionary pass at all, although it was then after 9.30 am. I confirmed this nonsense with the Bus Inspector at Drummer Street, who, in common with every driver, confirmed the nonsense of the scheme. Drivers hand out the "please contact your council cards" with enthusiasm. They are sick of it.
Our representatives (Parish, District, County and Parliamentary) may all agree that it is a "sow's ear". But we, the people, didn't create the ludicrous boundaries and crazy 9.30 am rule. And we in East Cambs did not overspend South Cambs or Huntingdon's budgets. So what has each and every one of these representatives done to try to make it better? I note that there are no District or County Councillor reports in the May Crier. I would like to know how they all voted and when, whom and how they have lobbied to try to change the current mess. Someone is responsible for it. As a private citizen I have written to the County Council (twice) and the District Council and James Paice and am now contacting you, the local media. I will write to Gordon Brown. Come on representatives, you are elected to help.
What are you doing before the next election?