Commuters angered by cancellation of Darwen to Accrington bus service (From Blackburn Citizen)
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Commuters angered by cancellation of Darwen to Accrington bus service
8:00pm Tuesday 25th September 2012 in News
By Dan Clough, Reporter
Travellers now have to change in Blackburn
COMMUTERS have hit out after a long-running bus service connecting Darwen to Accrington was cancelled by Transdev.
For years, the Number One bus service ran from Darwen Cemetery to Accrington town centre, via Blackburn town centre.
But Transdev, which runs the service, has switched it from a Spot On service to a Lancashire United Service, taking passengers from Ewood to Bolton.
The changes came into effect earlier this month meaning that for the first time in years passengers wishing to travel from Accrington to Darwen have to change at Blackburn.
Brian Holliday, 64, of Brecon Road, Intack, said he previously used the bus to go to meetings in Darwen.
He said: “I was stood there waiting for the Number One bus to Darwen and it just never came.
“One driver asked what I was waiting for and then told me I would have to go into Blackburn and change there.
“It was just a shock. This is ridiculous.”
Mr Holliday said the bus services in East Lancashire were poor compared to other parts of the country.
He said: “I go to Lincoln quite regularly and their buses are smashing.
“It is so much better in other counties where they run their own bus service and it’s not Transdev.”
Darwen Coun Dave Smith said he had raised concerns about the changes at a meeting with Transdev bosses.
He said: “They said hardly anyone caught the bus but I thought they were quite busy.
“There’s only one Number One bus an hour at night now.
“It also makes things difficult for people who may have got jobs in Darwen or Accrington because they knew the bus link was there.
“It is very disappointing.”
A Transdev spokesman said: “It was changed because there are often long delays in Blackburn town centre, so it was felt that by breaking up the service it would speed things up for passengers.
“When reviewed, only three per cent of passengers made the full journey from Darwen to Accrington.
“Splitting it so passengers change in Blackburn will make the service more reliable.”
Comments(17)
trevhd
says...
8:35pm Tue 25 Sep 12
Noiticer
says...
8:36pm Tue 25 Sep 12
Carl_24
says...
8:43pm Tue 25 Sep 12
cricketmad
says...
8:53pm Tue 25 Sep 12
Carl_24 wrote:Oh yes, delightful! Especially in the pouring rain with no shelter. I particularly like the many and varied wandering drunks that frequent the Boulevard and the slightly menacing beggars, it adds such a continental feel..... If I didn't work there I would avoid it like the plague, hence my desire to get out of after work and not spend 40 minutes chez Boulevard!
Isn't Blackburn lovely!!!!!!
frank
says...
8:56pm Tue 25 Sep 12
rubbish ,transdev don't know what reliable is.
try getting from great harwood to burnley or preston using a transdev "connection" you've chance because their service never runs to time.
best to take a sleeping bag and flask when you use this hopeless comnpany.
burner
says...
9:01pm Tue 25 Sep 12
Malthus
says...
9:02pm Tue 25 Sep 12
cricketmad
says...
9:11pm Tue 25 Sep 12
Malthus wrote:I would love a car,sadly I work for a living and have a teenager to bring up on my own, and since our combined travel fares ( hers to Sixth Form and mine to work) are already £120 per month I'll not have any chance of a) affording a car, b) affording lessons, c) insuring it and d) buying petrol. Thanks for your helpful comments though...
I think the people who are complaining are confusing a bus service with a mass people transit system for profit. Sadly, the days of "On The Buses" are over. If a route is not profitable then it will be cut. Get real you people who use public transport and put your hand's in your pocket's and invest in a car. Why should everyone else have to subsidise your transport to your minimum pay job's.
anonther
says...
10:31pm Tue 25 Sep 12
Sad Darwener
says...
11:38pm Tue 25 Sep 12
AnthonyUK
says...
7:28am Wed 26 Sep 12
frank
says...
9:11am Wed 26 Sep 12
AnthonyUK wrote:privatisation brought in by a bunch of millionaires who never used buses.
Bus privatisation was the WORST ever thing that ever came out of the 80's and should never have happened or been allowed to happen;the bus companies as they were long before the evil stagecoach and equally awful transdev took over WERE way better then than they ever are now.
darwenTower
says...
9:29am Wed 26 Sep 12
It's partly/largely down to the fact that when people work in the civil service they take the p1$$ and provide a highly inefficient service.
ricksh
says...
11:03am Wed 26 Sep 12
Sad Darwener wrote:The 225 is now a number 22 which only runs between blackburn and clitheroe
Whats happened to the number 225 buses???
Viv
says...
12:38pm Wed 26 Sep 12
ricksh wrote:Or the 225 is now the Number 1 which runs between Blackburn and Bolton!!
Sad Darwener wrote:The 225 is now a number 22 which only runs between blackburn and clitheroe
Whats happened to the number 225 buses???
The new timetables are a disgrace - the last bus to Darwen now leaves the Boulevard at 10:05pm. This is sheer stupidity and leaves workers who rely on this bus running later into the evening having to negotiate with their employers to allow them to finish shifts earlier.
2 for 5p
says...
11:30pm Thu 27 Sep 12
Saving your energy for your beer drinking and signing your names once a fortnight. :-)
cricketmad says...
8:24pm Tue 25 Sep 12
The prices have gone up, the service has gone down and we don't even get the nice, new yellow buses, oh no , we get the grubby horrors that smell of wet dogs. Transdev think they have a monopoly on this route, well, they don't, and Pilkingtons are getting busier by the day!