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'I couldn't get to the bus meeting because changes meant there was no bus'
VILLAGERS could not speak up in meetings about changes to rural bus services – because new routes left them unable to get there.
Passenger meetings were called by Metro and Huddersfield Bus Company about the changeover of some services previously operated by First.
But bus user Nicola Warrington, of Godley Close, Rishworth, could not get to her closest meeting in Sowerby Bridge, because there were no direct services to the town after 7pm.
Miss Warrington, 43, a nurse at Calderdale Royal Hospital, said: "If I could have got there, I would have gone."
First still operates daytime services from the village, but Huddersfield Bus Company now runs its evening routes – which bypass Sowerby Bridge.
Miss Warrington claimed services had been slashed, buses were often overcrowded or late, and passengers had to buy a pass from each company to travel at different times of the day.
Bus user Dorothy Clark Brier of Oak Terrace, Stainland, also had to make alternative arrangements to attend her closest meeting at Clay House, West Vale.
She said her son drove her to the meeting as the new services would have left her stranded.
The 78-year-old said passengers from Sowood and Outlane also had difficulty getting to the meeting because the old 539 route between Halifax and Huddersfield now finished at Stainland and no longer served the other areas.
She claimed it had also left patients struggling to get to Stainland Road Medical Centre, West Vale, adding: "Some poor old souls are having to pay for taxis to get to and from the doctor and it doesn't come cheap.
"Millions have been allocated for senior citizens' bus travel and here we are cutting back on routes."
She is calling for the original 539 route to be reinstated.
A Metro spokesman said the transport authority was listening to passenger's concerns.
He said: "We have been able to implement some short-term changes which will come into play from the end of April.
"We will also be carrying out a long-term review."
Metro will attend the Ryburn ward forum at Ripponden Junior and Infant School on Thursday March 11 at 7pm.
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Friday 10 February 2012
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