South Wales Evening Post - 7 May 2007
I Have read with interest and dismay of the council's insistence on introducing a bendy bus service that appears to be neither needed nor wanted by many people.
Mumbles and most other parts of the city are adequately served by public transport, so why introduce what is nothing more than a gimmick?
With exorbitant charges in our car parks, who is going to park in the city and then pay the additional cost of travelling to Mumbles?
Maybe the residents of Morriston will use the service, but it will be of no attraction or benefit to citizens who don't live on the route.
Then there is the cost of the necessary road-widening at Morriston to accommodate the vehicle, the destruction of part of our beautiful seafront to save a few minutes' traffic congestion, and the cost of providing a turning area at Mumbles.
If you add the cost of purchasing, maintaining and staffing these vehicles, it would suggest that the buses would need to permanently operate fully laden to balance the books. In the real world, this is rather unlikely.
If the council has money to invest on public transport, shouldn't they first refurbish the Quadrant bus station, something they have been promising for years, or possibly subsidise more fares, making travelling by bus a more affordable and attractive proposition.
Peter Roberts, Oakfield Street, Pontarddulais
