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Bus protesters to continue the fight
Pensioners sat down in front of a bus in Wellingborough on Thursday to protest at cuts and changes to passes
Around 100 people filled a church hall to call for their estate bus service to be saved from the axe.
Residents from the Kingsway area of Wellingborough met at the Kingsway Methodist Church on Friday night to voice their concerns about plans to cut the W3 bus route.
The service currently runs every half-an-hour and follows a route to the town centre, but it is set to be scrapped in May.
Stagecoach Midlands managing director Steve Burd, spoke at the meeting and told residents there were two types of bus routes – those run on a wholly commercial basis and those that are socially desirable but uneconomical which were subsidised by Northamptonshire County Council.
He said the council had cut its budget and would no longer be subsidising the W3, and Stagecoach was unable to run it commercially.
He said the firm had offered to continue to run the route with very little subsidy but another firm, Centre Bus, had offered to run it on a purely commercial basis with no subsidy.
The Corby-based firm will take over the route on a three-month trial when Stagecoach bows out in May.
Resident Malcolm Benham, of Valley Road, said: “I just feel that they could run the W3 from 6.30am to 8.30am for the workers and then from 9am have a service every hour.
“I still think we need the bus service.”
Ian Cokayne, of St Crispins Avenue, said: “It would be okay if we got any bus service but there’s no guarantee it will last after the three months.
“But I think it would be used the same as it is now.”
Nelly Carrington, 84, of Dalkeith Road, said: “I use the W3 every day and I don’t know how I’m going to get down to town if they cut the buses out – I can’t walk there. I hope they do something about it, I’m prepared to pay part of the fare.”
Tony Young, of Windsor Road, said: “I thought the meeting was good. The W3 runs by my house and it’s nearly always at least three- quarters full and most of the people on it are OAPs.”
His wife Pamela said: “If they take the bus off how are people supposed to get to their appointments or get to town to do their shopping?
“For me it’s just a question of what happens after this company’s three-month trial period on the route.”
Wellingborough MP Peter Bone and Croyland councillors Martin Griffiths and Thomas Pursglove also spoke at the meeting, during which a petition was circulated among residents.
Mr Bone is set to present the petition in Parliament on Tuesday.
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Sunday 27 May 2012
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