The recent announcement from National Express of bus changes, including the withdrawal of the 10A service, means our very handy direct bus to Lichfield and the delights of Chasetown has gone. We can still get there with a change in Brownhills, but there’s no Sunday service and less frequency too, plus where there’s a connection to be made, there’s a connection to miss.
We thought we’d seize the last day of running and the recent re-opening of The Uxbridge Arms as an opportunity while we could, and it’s a real shame: Chasetown and Burntwood offer, between them, good pubs and restaurants, and even if you probably needed a taxi back, La-di-dah Lichfield was cheaper by having one direction covered by bus.
Still, that’s what happens when bus services are run by the private sector and then the subsidies into Staffs are cut by councils :-/
The thing that frustrates me with transport in particular is not looking at the service as a whole.
They tend look at everything with the “Richard Beeching” lens.
Too many times the ivory tower bean counters look at individual components of a service, and remove non profitable components, and while I tend to be more right wing on my thinking. core services and critical infrastructure must put people first.
In 2016 stage coach stretched the time time service a small town outside of Gloucester, the result was bus moved from 1555 to 1545 (next being 1645) the impact was 50+ school kids now have 45 mins to waste in the town centre
My old bus to work was changed every 20 mins peak not every 15,
Impact :- standing room only and each stop was up to a minute longer while passengers played musical chairs to get of the bus,
In 2014 a bus route in Gloucester was re profiled focusing on getting to and from the city centre, which resulted in a large number of people not be able to get to the local morrisons or Doctors, without a 5 mile trip and a change in the city centre,
In all the above cases , I suspect the data showed the changes were a success !
and someone got a bonus or promotion, and brought them selves a flash car and have a free parking space,