Sardine service
Date published: 13 October 2009
FURIOUS commuters have demanded their bus services back saying they fear for their jobs after struggling to get to Manchester.
Royton residents have lost buses to other areas as part of the express service that’s ferrying train users to Manchester while Oldham’s loop rail line is converted to tram tracks over the next two years.
To make matters worse, they were told there are no plans to put the five trains from Oldham’s loop line on to the Mills Hill line — resulting in overcrowding for commuters switching to that train line, but saving the Department of Transport £8 million in subsidies.
Angry commuters say buses into Manchester are full by the time they reach Royton, while drivers on the way back from Manchester are not allowing more passengers on to already overcrowded buses.
They blasted transport bosses for problems with overcrowding, late buses and drivers failing to pull up at designated stops every day last week. It’s been standing room only for passengers on double deck buses — if they have been able to get on at all.
Several residents voiced their frustrations at a heated Royton Partners and Communities Together (PACT) meeting last night.
They handed over a list of complaints to Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Executive (GMPTE) service planning officer Mick O’Neil and First Manchester network manager Gary Warren. The number 20 bus has been withdrawn and the 24 service halved — with extra buses provided from Shaw to Manchester instead. Royton commuters say this is unfair and they should have an increased service to cover the loss of the train.
Transport chiefs insisted they carried out lots of passenger surveys but Royton householders who use public transport every day say they never saw any. One resident said: “Why can’t we have the bus services back to where they were? They were obviously making money in a recession.”
Councillor Steven Bashforth said: “It just goes to show what a shambles public services are.
“We are talking about people’s livelihoods here and it’s clearly a problem. Something has to be done quickly.
These people are stuck like sardines on buses and face the sack at work for being late.”
Mr Warren claimed there had only been a slight reduction in buses and the 24 and 20 services were not sustainable.
He said the changes were planned months ago with bosses trying to estimate what passengers would do when the trains were stopped.
He added: “The numbers at the moment make it look difficult to increase the 24 service. I think we have got it pretty close to right but that doesn’t mean we won’t change things.”
Mr O’Neil said the complaints would be reported back and more surveys carried out.
He added: “We have done our best and tried to cater for as many people as we can.”
