GIVE US OUR BUS BACK

HAVING endured for the last four to five months the route from Accrington to Bury, who in their right mind thought it was a good idea to sell off Rosso to Transdev, who have slashed services that benefitted the people of Accrington and Rossendale?

The 484 was an excellent service, taking people from Accrington down to Bury. Now it is a complete and utter shambles.

It makes me wonder if the people who run these bus services ever step foot on a bus and have to suffer the inconvenient way they are now run.

When we go to Bury now we have to wait for the X41 from Accrington, to take us to Ramsbottom (which on most occasions is running late).

Alighting in Ramsbottom we have a choice, yes a choice, we can get a 484, which is like rubbing salt into open wounds, seeing as it was our bus.

If you get on that one, you can sit for at least 10 minutes on it before it even sets off for Bury.

Or you can get a 472 / 474 / 477 / 485.

They will take you into Bury, either down Brandleshome Road or Walmersley Road.

Ramsbottom is awash with buses to Bury, so why did they take our 484 off us?

Coming home is another nightmare, because you have to try and time the buses to get you back into Ramsbottom to get that X41 back to Accrington.

If you’re unlucky like we have sometimes been, you can miss the X41 and have to stand for another half hour for the next one.

When this first started in April the weather was bad, at the bottom of Bridge Street in Ramsbottom there is a small bus shelter.

The bus stops after that, including the one on Ramsbottom Lane, Market Place have no bus shelters, your option is to stand in the freezing cold and pouring rain and get wet through before the X41 arrives.

Also, our concessionary bus pass, when we used the 484 we used the pass to travel straight through to Bury.

Now we have to get off in Ramsbottom, and we have to use the pass again to get to Bury.

How much is this costing, is it double the amount to travel to Bury?

We are not the only people who are furious at what has happened taking away the 484 from Accrington to Bury.

Every week people are complaining on the bus.

You can’t blame the drivers, they are doing their job.

There is a saying, ‘if a thing’s not broke then don’t try and mend it’.

Our 484 wasn’t broke, so can we please have it back to stop these horrendous journeys once and for all.

When Rosso was sold to Transdev by Rossendale council for an undisclosed sum, they succeeded in giving Transdev access to the Greater Manchester area, which is now flooded by our buses.

Also when these so called new buses arrive on the routes from Transdev, which routes will they be running on? A fed up bus user via email