On the bus

In September 2018 I had a letter published in

The News where I complained about the service provided by First bus. Within a few days a reply was published informing me that to run a better service then everyone should pay the fare instead of using their bus pass. No bus pass equals a better service. Well today I will complain again about First Bus. Their customer service is poor to say the least. The latest problem is that myself and many other elderly bus users live on the 27 route.

The service is between Rowlands Castle and Emsworth and is spaced between two and three hours at different times during the day, according to the timetable at all the stops it runs Monday to Saturday. This is okay, except without prior notice they cut out the Saturday service. When I mentioned this to First Bus in March, I was told to look online for the timetable changes due to coronavirus. This may make sense to some who use a computer, but let me remind you not everyone does.

Now seven months later First Bus have still not put up a timetable showing that the bus is only Monday to Friday. Do they not care about their passengers?

You still get people going to catch the bus on a Saturday because the timetable runs from Monday to Saturday. Today I had a neighbour who came to see me. She read the timetable and waited for a bus that never arrived. At Havant the people in the bus office which are all Stagecoach employees just shrug their shoulders and say contact First Bus. So First Bus, seven months after my original question please tell me, Why can't you put up a timetable showing that the 27 service now only runs Monday To Friday. Seven months and still allowing elderly service users to wait for a bus that is not going to turn up, and you wonder why people complain

Print a Monday-to-Friday timetable, and get the bus driver to replace the old one on each stop as they drive round. Job done.

Mike Langley Rowan Road, Havant