Travelling by bus in the county

TRAVELLING by bus in the county in recent months has proven a challenge for many.

On Wednesday, I thought I’d see for myself just how difficult it is for people who rely on public transport to get around. I had an appointment at noon in Cheltenham so I thought I’d use the bus to get there. I thought catching the 10.10am from Newent to Gloucester would give me plenty of time to get there, how wrong was I.

My first stretch of the journey started outside the Co-op in Newent, and despite being about ten minutes late, I would arrive in Gloucester within 40 minutes.

The bus was busy and well used by people along the route with several getting on at villages such as Highleadon only to get off at Rudford. Bus routes like this are a lifeline for rural communities. Earlier this year, Newent suffered cuts to bus routes when the 132 to Ledbury was axed and the 32 service to Ross reduced which has made it impractical for more people to use public transport.

I arrived at a busy Gloucester Bus Station at 10.55am, and with the 94 to

Cheltenham expected at 11am I was rather confident I would arrive with plenty of time to spare. However, four consecutive buses failed to show up. The bus at 11am didn’t show, nor did the one at 11.10am, 11.20am nor 11.30am. It wasn’t until 11.40am that I was finally on a bus to Cheltenham.

There were no announcements that buses had been cancelled and no information to explain what was happening, the buses simply didn’t show up. One woman I spoke to said she was meant to meet a friend in Cheltenham at 11.30am, she told me her friend who was also travelling by bus from Winchcombe was also delayed.

The trip to Cheltenham was good. But the bus was extremely busy due to the cancellations.

It was 12.10pm by the time I got to The Promenade, so I was late. A journey which would otherwise have taken 40 minutes by car took a whole two hours to get there by bus.

If the situation does not improve soon, getting more people to travel on the buses in Gloucestershire is going to be a hard sell for transport chiefs.