THE recent story under the heading - Off the buses - provided some food for thought.

I think I can suggest to Lorna Phillips and her colleagues on the council a couple of reasons why bus use has dropped in Bromsgrove.

For a significant period the main bus termini were moved from the bus station to the far side of the main road, distant from facilities, and lacking shelters and timetables. Timetable provision remains less than perfect.

It is impossible to get timetables to use at home without access to the internet (I believe this applies to most of the rest of the country as well, but it doesn't help).

The decline of some services from hourly to a lesser frequency makes this more important, and will - of itself - tend to reduce patronage.

Frankly, though, if "the figures.... only include...First" I do not think we can take them very seriously, as the First Group operates a declining percentage of Bromsgrove bus routes, and has seen competition arrive on the main Birmingham route during the year in question.

Occasional Traveller

Bromsgrove