Wrong way to get people using public transport

ISUPPOSE I am one of those rare males who doesn’t feel it is a threat to my masculinity that I’ve never learnt to drive a car. And given the fact that we’re supposed to be encouraging environmentally-friendly forms of travel, then the more there are like me the better.

It does though mean that I lack knowledge on the workings of the infernal combustion engine. And so when it comes to suggestions that the annual MoT for cars become a two-yearly test instead to save drivers money, I honestly don’t know how this would affect the safety of vehicles on the road.

I would assume that this’d really only be an issue for the oldest cars, and a compromise could be met so that they were still put through the MoT every 12 months.

But taking an overview as to what is mooted, isn’t this another case of the Government seeking to help the motorist, and forgetting about the many who are forced to travel by bus and to go to work or school?

Already since the start of 2022 we’ve seen rail fares go up by more than the rise in the cost of living (as measured by the higher Retail Price Index), as they are required to do each and every year. On top of this local bus fares had a recent inflationbusting increase. So if the idea is to get more people using public transport, then Johnson and company are certainly going the wrong way about it.

Meanwhile it should be said that buses in Grimsby and Cleethorpes continue to be unreliable, with services axed at the drop of a hat and silence from the Stagecoach management as to when the situation will be resolved.

I don’t of course blame the bus drivers, who keep on doing an excellent job under trying circumstances. But I do think me and my fellow travellers are being treated as second class citizens.

Tim Mickleburgh, Boulevard Avenue, Grimsby.