Fares go up but little progress
Ah, those wizards at Travel West Midlands and Centro - how lucky we are to have them running our public transport services.
Ah, those wizards at Travel West Midlands and Centro - how lucky we are to have them running our public transport services.
Just as the world wakes up to global warming and the effects of it our heroes naturally encourage people out of their gas guzzling cars and on to public transport by, erm, putting up fares.
They still steal thousands of pounds a week as well by refusing to give change to passengers who don't have the correct fare. All in all they make going by bus as financially attractive as buying a Betamax video recorder.
But let us leave aside the question of finance, what of reliability? Well here the lads and lasses in the planning department (assuming they have one, I do often wonder) excel themselves. They give a driver on a Sunday afternoon the exact same time as they give him on a Monday morning in the rush hour to do the same journey.
Think about this for a moment. The result of this "planning" is buses of the same service number following each other about like hideous camel trails all over the West Midlands during rush hours. Wait for one and three (or four, five, my record is six ,yes six 126 buses one behind the other) come together.
The service is absolutely rubbish and it is time those responsible for it were sacked and replaced by people who have either driven buses or used them regularly.
Our heroes led by chief imbecile Bateman sought to stave off any criticism of the fare rise by introducing a new name for the bus passes and putting up works of fiction known as timetables in all bus shelters, calling this progress. What this makeover cost is not known but it is fair to assume it hasn't made one bus arrive on time. Still, it's something isn't it?
Well, turns out no. My local shelter proudly announces a bus serving Merry Hill stops their every 30 minutes Monday to Saturday (no Sunday service naturally). Well that's fine and dandy then! Except it isn't, the bus in question does not and never has stopped at the bus shelter in question!
Steve Sant, Forest Road, Dudley.
