£400 buys a daily bus misery

Once again I have been subjected to an horrendous journey aboard a Travel West Midlands bus.

I use public transport twice a day, six times a week. Like many others I do not have a choice, it is the only way I can reach the town centre or work. For this stressful part of my day I pay almost £400 a year in bus fares.

Every day there is some form of an incident. Today, as on many other days, it was loud music from mobile phones - not only one phone but at least three all playing a different tune.

Yesterday there was someone on the bus smoking weed; sometimes there are people just smoking. Another time a gang of teenage girls were screaming, swearing and shouting to each other at the top of their voices.

Often personal stereos, ipods or MP3 player music can be heard although the usersÊhave headphones on. Why should I be subjected to this abuse when all I want is a peaceful and safe bus journey.

People are too scared to say anything, as they just receive a mouthful of abuse. The bus drivers turn a blind eye for fear of reprisals. I have only known one driver tell a young passenger to turn off their mobile phone music or get off the bus.

The buses themselves are dirty and smelly, they are often driven recklessly by some drivers and certain drivers can be quite rude and unhelpful.

The bus service itself is unreliable and buses often do not turn up on time, if at all. How Travel West Midlands can justify their latest price rise is beyond me. The service has not been improved in any way.

Phil Bateman states that incidents on buses are rare. Well he should travel on more buses and maybe he will realise that some type of incident happens every day. Maybe then he will think about employing security on the buses to stop the above happening.

It is only a matter of time before people seek legal advice regarding their health and safety on public transport.

S Reade, Harvesters Walk, Wolverhampton.