The opening lines in a recent letter to the Tribune read “This bus service (local link 413) rattles past my home every day and I’ve never seen more than three people on it.” To find out why so few use this service, your intrepid reporter plucked up courage, broke the habit of a lifetime, and took the bus to town. I choose the week before Christmas and jumped onto the 413 Local Link bus which I hailed outside my home in Glinton; half an hour latter I was shopping in Queensgate. The return journey dropped me outside my front door, and all for just £2.80 return – free for bus pass holders.
I’ve used the 413 Local Link again and found it an easy, comfortable and friendly service to Queensgate. However, on each occasion there were, as the letter suggested, only one or two passengers from our villages. The driver was only too keen to suggest a reason – “nobody knows about it.” A few questions to my neighbours confirmed the drivers view. One neighbour was insistent “you can’t have gone to Queensgate the bus only goes to Werrington!”
The problem is that, quietly and without a fanfare, the bus routes were changed.
The Local Link services now go to Queensgate. A phone call to the City Council also revealed that the Local Link services are all ‘Hail and Ride’ – this means that the driver will stop and pick up passengers who ‘hail’ the bus anywhere on its route through the villages, although passengers need to take care to choose a location that’s safe for the bus to stop. Alternatively, you can use the normal bus stops. If you live on the Local Link route, then, like me, you can hail the bus as it passes your home and the driver will drop you back at home on the return journey. What a wonderful service – for now!
The Local Link service has been subsidised by a grant from central government – the Rural Bus Subsidy Grant. However, as from April of this year the grant will be withdrawn, and the service will be subsidised directly by the City Council. So unless we use this service, we may lose it. The City and Parish Councils could help by advertising and promoting the Local Link buses, after all, did you know the local link buses went to Queensgate and were ‘hail and ride?’
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
As stated, the bus service is not advertised well enough.
I live on Scotts Road and see this bus pass round the houses not knowing where it went, until I checked on the web.
My wife is in a wheelchair and found it very expensive going to Peterborough by converted taxi service we now use this service regularly on a wednesday and saturdays the only fault is the service you have a 3 hrs wait to come home unless you catch 403 via Barnack.
The drivers are very helpful and pleasant.
Its a community bus where you get to meet people
SO MAKE IT KNOWN MORE AND USE IT MORE.
Re this bus service, it is still the Councils’ policy to try and deprive us of this service.
Although more people are using it mainly from Barnack, Maxey, Glinton Peakirk and Milking Nook, where this is their only service.
We don’t want the so-called dial-a-ride system, we like the idea of using the bus when we need it, not when Dial a ride says they can put us on thier list.
Please note figures show that an average of 300 people use this a week- it has risen to 400 lately so why do away with it? LEAVE OUR BUS ALONE