Council has spent a lot on bus shelters

I was extremely upset to see the misinformation in an article in the Bath Chronicle last week. Councillor Mark Shelford has already denied the allegation that the council suggested that First Bus reroute the U1 Service away from Dorchester Street because of pollution (Letters, August 16). The council has spent a lot of money in the last couple of years improving bus stops on the U1 route through the city centre. It now finds that was a complete waste and from this week masses of students and staff will find themselves at bus stops in Rossiter Road and Pulteney Road that are open to the elements. Indeed although the Corn Street bus stop was improved as part of this plan it was never designed to cope with the numbers that will be there from Monday morning. The other inaccuracy relates to bus fares. The single bus fare from Corn Street to the top of Bathwick Hill has gone up from £1.30 (multiticket) to £2.50. Residents have been banned from purchasing multitickets which are now only available to students and staff. The number 10 and number 20 services which were introduced by First Bus to placate residents with the changes are infrequent and have proved unreliable. I have written to (First West of England managing director) James Freeman about some of the problems encountered by residents. In any case the number 10 does not run in the evenings or at weekends. As a resident I fully support the students’ concerns about changes to the route and increase in their bus fares. Barbara Luetchford Claverton Down