Swindon and Wiltshire Bus Survey

[whole diary]

[grahame]

If you live, work or make leisure or business trips to Swindon or Wiltshire, PLEASE complete the TransWilts Survey at  https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/wilts_bus_survey ... read a bit of the background at http://transwilts.org/tw/news/95-bus-survey-open .

Please pass on a link to this thread / share with friends, colleagues, fellow residents, etc - or point them at the Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/TransWilts/posts/674565952643450 .

We had bus services cut on Friday, more on 1st August, more on 23rd August - all routes within a mile of my home.  Any there are other cuts in Chippenham, Trowbridge, Batheaston, Winsley, Devizes that I know about too.

With Wiltshire council looking to halve the money it puts into bus subsidies, and with a major commercial service operator cutting back services (leaving routes with nothing or the need for a subsidised service), we can look at what's happening this summer and say "you ain't seen nothing yet".  So - what will you see over the next year?  If you can help inform us, we may just be able to pull something, Phoenix like, out of the fire.

[ChrisB]

The Government has realised howuch the OAP bus pass is costing...and can't recind it, so they just cut funding instead, so the services disappear & the OAPs can't use it as easily

So a decision needs to be made nationally - support the bus pass & lose services or keep majority of services & lose the bus pass?

Restrict it to 'local' services maybe? 'Local' being defined locally by where services are located & the need to access them in those locations

[chuffed]

I value my bus pass very much indeed. In the first year of operation 2008 I kept a record of journeys made and the equivalent fare saved'. It equated to ^1500 a year. I think people who do not have a bus pass simply do not appreciate how much it is valued. Anything that gets the oldies out of the house, to do a bit of shopping, have a cup of tea and a cake to stimulate the local economy and the grey matter, must be saving the NHS millions in social services and antidepressants !

[bobm]

I totally agree chuffed with your point about getting people out and about. 

Sadly when the pass was first introduced there were a plethora of stories featuring tales of how far passholders were travelling "for free" including trips from one end of the country to the other.  As mentioned by ChrisB perhaps there needs to be some sort of restriction on how far they are valid for travel from one's home area.  I suspect the current system must be costing operators in tourist areas a small fortune on top of their own local customers.