At a meeting of the Council’s Northfield District Committee on 12th February, I was told that the bus company, Pete’s Travel, had taken the Fordrough, Houldey Road and Slingfield Road off the 634/635 bus route. Residents had been given virtually no notice of this change.
I spoke to both Centro and Pete’s Travel and they accepted that the route for this bus should not have been changed without notice. It has been decided, therefore, that the bus will be changed from 25th April.
I pointed out to both Pete’s Travel and Centro that there are large numbers of pensioners living in Aire Croft and around the Fordrough area. It is important that people can get to a bus without having to walk too far.
Centro tell me that they believe that routes such as the 27 are reasonable alternatives to take people living along the Fordrough into Northfield. I have been told, however, by many residents in the area that they are very concerned about the proposed changes. I have therefore requested Centro hold a public meeting to discuss these issues.
There have been a lot of problems since the former Conservative Government passed a law to “deregulate” bus services. In Parliament, I have supported calls for change to make bus services more accountable.
