Local Issues
Congestion Issues
Bus fares went up last week. I don't drive but regularly travel from Middleton to Rochdale and back. I cannot benefit from a 'day saver' as I stay overnight and come back the next day so it has been costing me £2.90 each way.
At weekend, I discovered the fare had gone up 30p to £3.20. That's £6.40 to get to Rochdale and back but not only that, for convenience, I jump in a taxi at the Post Office once I am in Middleton to complete the journey to my home which can come to £3 in which case I will give the driver £3.50. So just getting home from Rochdale costs me £6.70, yet not long ago when I was in a rush, I got a taxi straight from Rochdale and it only came to just over a tenner so I gave him £11.
So my options are as follows;
I have a ten minute walk from where I am in Rochdale to the bus station. I then have a wait, often up to 20 minutes for the bus to turn up. This is in a bus station often packed with strangers (some dodgy looking) or sometimes quite empty which is even more un-nerving. I then wait in a queue before paying my £3.20 for what is a long, slow, bumpy, jerky uncomfortable ride all the way to Middleton on a usually dirty litter strewn, packed, noisy and invariably smelly bus with someone I don't know practically leaning on me at every bend of the way. Then as I don't have the time to wait around for yet another smelly bus and just wanting to get home, I get a taxi the rest of the way at a cost of £3.50.
My other option is a 3 minute walk from where I am in Rochdale to a taxi rank where there is no wait or queue, and I have a much more pleasant and safer journey getting home in a quarter of the time and affording me my personal space for only about £4 extra.
Personally, I think the extra £4 is good value for money and well spent compared to option 1. Taxis add to congestion but a lot of people will never be encouraged to use public transport when the overall service is so poor and especially when private hire is not actually that much dearer the way the busfares are going up.
PW
13/10/08
Do you agree? Email your comments to me at colette@middletonia.co.uk
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