Petition over La Safor's poor bus service

TRANSPORT authorities are drawing up an 'emergency contract' to alleviate the La Safor bus crisis – although it is unlikely this will bring any great improvement.

At present, buses only run between Pego, Oliva and Gandía from Monday to Friday, with gaps of between two and six hours between connections.

Missing a morning bus to one town from another means having to wait until the evening to get the next.

Members of the PP party throughout La Safor have been setting up tables in the streets to get residents to sign petitions calling for a decent public transport link across southern La Safor and to the Marina Alta – an area with no train line either, meaning it is practically impossible to leave one's town without access to a car.

The provisional deal with the franchise firm Autobuses la Amistad covers the Villalonga-Ador-Gandía and the Pego-Oliva-Gandía routes, but will still only run on weekdays.

Only a minimal increase in connections – six a day in either direction – will be included.

Bellreguard's town-to-beach link, which runs once a day on weekdays, will become year-round and be upped to four a day in July and August and will include a stop at the health centre, although with no weekend service.

Autobuses la Amistad had already expressed its desire to drop the franchise because it was running at a loss.

Residents, however, say transport authorities should subsidise loss-making bus franchises, since this is a public service and not designed to make a profit.

The regional government says it is working on a southern Safor bus network which will cover all 33 towns and villages in the district via six links from Gandía, but has not given any indication of when this could be in place.