Letter: Council ‘wastes money on buses’

Monday 24th August 2009, 7:54AM BST.

bus1Letter: Regarding the rural bus service proving to be a disaster for both passengers and Shirehall finance figures.

Under a freedom of information request, the average number of passengers in six of nine areas is one a day.

The average passenger subsidy is £42.21 per person with the cost of VW minibuses at about £29,000, drivers’ wages at £8 per hour and extra office staff, two on £22,845, one on £13,336.

We think Shropshire Council is spending taxpayers’ money like water running off a duck’s back.

John and Jackie Pond

Shrewsbury


  1. 1
    Jeepers

    That’s a lot of money. I wonder how much the ‘conventional’ bus services that Shropshire Link replaced were costing though?

    Factor in what I’m sure would be hefty consultants fees in advance of setting up Shropshire Link and you can see why they’re claiming to be overspent by £600,000 on the public transport budget…..

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  2. 2
    Andrew finch

    The odd one is a council tax payer too. What about the towns swimming pool look how few people use that per tax payers f shrewsbury that should then go also and many other things also should go as they are not used by the majority.

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  3. 3
    Matt

    Yeah! Make the poor people in rural communities walk! That’ll teach them.

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  4. 4
    pete

    As it seems that Mr and Mrs Pond are experts on this subject then I’m sure they are aware these buses double up for the buses used for school transport too as well as being used for the Shropshire link.

    Nope thought not!

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  5. 5
    doug h

    i think the ponds must earn a rubbish wage if they are moaning that some one on 8 pund per hour is over paid!!! how can anyone live off such a poor wage let alone complain that thats too much- they must be really poor !!

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  6. 6
    Tory Boy

    when we get in we will make it easier to drive, free parking no stealth tax on fuel, and we will get buses and carvans off the road, they get in my way, they are socialist ideas, to travel together, how sickening to share space with other people is surely a communist invention from the stalinist eu and clown brown is happy to oblige them, wasting my hard earned taxes of pensioners buses, we must get rid of labour and all their taxes now, get rid of brown ,get out of the EU, cut taxes now, make driving cheaper, we are the best, vote blue go green

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  7. 7
    e

    Tory boy how can you say ‘get busses of the road’ and ‘vote blue go green’ in the same breath?

    Was Cameron actually referring to traffic lights?

    Politics bores me, you can make changes at the highest levels but everything else remains pretty much the same.

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  8. 8
    Big Matty

    Tory Boy… What do you mean by stealth tax? Its hardly stealthy, its there and we know about it so its far from hidden!

    I do however agree with Tory Boy on other points, scrap buses unless they are fully privatised and financially self sufficient.

    If people in rural areas have problems with transport then there is a simple alternative…. MOVE! Maybe I should get free flights to and from London every day so that I can commute to work!?!…. or I could of course move closer to work!

    Every time you see a bus, take a good look at it and look at how many people are using it. Then consider how many are paying for their journey and even if they are paying, how heavily is it subsidised?

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  9. 9
    Andrew finch

    “VOTE FOR ME” I will give the UK its first dictator trust me i will see all my friends and family are ok and make people who work 9-5 travel by bus to work and make the roads free for me and my voters . I would also ban caravans under health and safety & hygeine rules .Oh and i would ban vauxhall drivers also especially if they have alloy wheels.

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  10. 10
    ron

    I cant wait till the election then we will see Tory boy disappear, as all the promises he muses are all but broken, Green tories lol.

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  11. 11
    qwerty

    what about the economic benefits of buses, to businesses and individuals ?

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  12. 12
    Wayne Emerson

    pond what are you on about

    you cannot do maths properly

    your letter is stupid

    buses are a good thing

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  13. 13
    mrs finch

    so i take it the ponds dont need a shropshire link bus. as they live in shrewsbury where a bus is every 15 mins. so mr pond where do you work and how much do you earn? ah gone fishing have we . thought so. awaiting a reply.

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