General Chat

Due to lack of funding for rural transport services, Sausage Sandwich Day has been changed to Tuesday.

See end of the world as we know it, is it down to Brexit or early election though?

.....they cut public transport, then complain about the number of cars on the road.....

...but changing Sausage Sandwich Day due to poor public transport - disaster!! :-D :-D :-D :-D

I hope those concerned are writing to their local MP!

Wouldn't that "waste" paper though Maggie ?

Seriously though yes the lack of rural bus service is wrong, even without the moving of of Sausage sandwich day.

Is the consumption of Sausage sarnies dependent on the frequency of the transport?

We occasionally use a local 'rural' bus service to visit a village a few miles away, subsidised from our Council Taxes.

Sadly, the last few years we have traveled there been no more than a couple of people other than us using it, the last time none at all.

Our local Park & Ride (run by the same firm that runs the local buses) regularly runs empty buses every 7 minutes from just outside the city one end to just outside the city the other.
This costs motorists £3 a day - this is to park their car - and up to 7 people can travel along this route all day if they wish, on this one ticket.

For a single person to get into town from where I live, (lets call this a quarter of the Park & Ride journey) and back, it costs £3.40.. :-|
Oh, and we get one bus an hour - if we're lucky, and they're regularly 15 - 20 minutes late.
Meanwhile, Empty Park & Ride buses sally backwards and forwards about a quarter of a mile from our estate. It would add an extra 5 minutes maximum to their journey if the came around it, but we were told it would be 'inconvenient' for the Park & Ride customers if it came this way - you know, the one's that aren't using the service between 9am and 4pm.
Oh, and it's my Council Tax that's paying for this :-P :-P :-P :-P

Oh Bob, do keep up, dear.

You have to catch the bus to get to the cafe to eat your sausage sandwich. If there is no bus running, it is too far to walk or, in Fred's case, roll, to get there so you can't have your sausage sandwiches.

Sausage sandwiches are not for home consumption but can, in emergency, be purchased from the cafe and taken to the hospital for consumption there.

Maggie
That seems a crazy situation, - and part funded by yourself !

I know when we use the Canterbury Park and Ride, we do a loop into a housing estate and people get on and off the bus at many stops along the way.

I frequently use a local bus service and like fellow travellers think if we don't use it, the powers that be will reduce or cancel the service.

We used to use the park and ride into Cheltenham, I can't remember how much it cost then but it was pay by car load. Not so many people use it now apparently because they changed it to free parking but pay per person (obviously saw a way of making more money). This one goes direct from the P&R car park into town and back, no stopping on the way.

We don't use it because we now have our free bus passes and the buses go about 5-10 minutes walk from our door into either Cheltenham or Gloucester and one service runs every 10 minutes, one every half hour.

These buses are usually very full (they actually run Cheltenham to Gloucester and vice versa.) Many of their travellers, from 0930 in the week all day weekends, are people using free tickets and students going from different parts of the college and uni. There are frequently calls to stop free bus passes. If this happens the buses will be empty, or nearly so and the services will be cut, especially as the situation is likely to be the same from our rural area. This will then affect the very people who want to cut free passes so they will have to drive into town, and pay to park which in this area costs more than bus fares.

Be careful what you wish for!!


But Sharron, to have to change sausage sandwich day that would be just awful!!! :-D :-D

What is the world coming to? Changing sausage sandwich day? it's an outrage. Start a petition.

However, It does pose a serious question about rural transport. We made a costly move into town 3 years ago and one of the reasons for the move was lack of public transport. We needed a car to get to shops, banks, health centre etc. If the time came when we couldn't drive we would have been in real trouble.

Our town (a smallish market town) used to be full of independent shops but they have nearly all closed and been taken over by coffee shops and charity shops. We have no major department store. With rural buses being few and unreliable, people from the outlying villages have to rely on cars. The only thing that attractts them here rather than elsewhere is our free parking. 3 hours free or £2 for the whole day. Periodically the local council try to introduce charges but there is such an outcry that they drop the idea for another couple of years.

The park and ride at the major town is like AnninGlos's. We used to pay £3 to park and up to 5 people got free travel into town. Now park for free and pay £3 per person on the bus (or £1.50 with a 'free' bus pass). If a family of 4 have to pay £12 on the park and ride, they might just as well drive into the town and pay to park there, so more cars are clogging up the roads in the town centre.

Anyway, Sharron, enjoy the sausage sarnie whenever you have it.