Passengers to blame for loss of bus service

Not only does this person admit to using taxis because the bus service is poor, he is actually admitting to not using the bus service in question!

The service in question is 478, and there are some minor errors in his letter. Service 478 was originally started by Ribble buses. Ribble was then taken over by Stagecoach, and Stagecoach sold the Bolton garage to Lancashire United who then sold the garage to Blue Bus. There has never been any competition between bus companies on service 478. This person's confusion must come from the multicoloured buses operating along this route in between Stagecoach selling and Blue Bus eventually buying the route.

If this person looks at a Blue Bus website or its timetables, the company does advise that the service will either be reduced or withdrawn because of low patronage. In this case, service 478 became inoperable because passenger numbers were so low that Blue Bus was actually losing money.

This person is one of many to blame for the loss of the service, because they started to use other forms of transport.

I do, however, agree that Blue Bus could have done better with the service. For instance, it could have been re-routed from Breightmet down the whole length of Long Lane to Darcy Lever and then on to Bolton, thus making a 30-minute service with 544 between Bolton and Darcy Lever, and vice-versa. Or the company could have advertised the service far better to try to get people on its buses.

The same can be said for service X9 - how can Blue Bus make a brand new service work, on a route that has never been done before, if it does not properly advertise!

I hope this clears up some confusion as to why 478, and partially X9, were withdrawn by Blue Bus.

Andrew Mack

Blenheim Road

Breightmet