DURING the last three weeks, First Bus have introduced a revised bus service on the 506/507 bus routes.

The service has been increased to a bus every 10 minutes during the daytime, and one bus per hour in the evenings on each route, Monday to Saturday. The routes have also been changed so that, on Stitch-mi-Lane, South Drive and Hough Fold Way, the buses only run one way.

Passengers who live on Appledore Drive, Stitch-mi-Lane, and in the Newby Road area cannot travel to Harwood Precinct, where there is a supermarket, bank, library, post office, doctor, dentist, chiropodist and hairdresser, or go to Longsight Park, Bradshaw, or Castle Hill, where the new council one stop shop, library and sports facility is being built, nor can they travel to Hall i'th' Wood railway station.

Passengers who live on South Drive and in the Hough Fold Way area can travel to all of the above facilities, but cannot return. Whichever bus is taken, return tickets cannot be used, as the service is one-way.

A "lollypop lady" is provided at the corner of Newby Road/Stitch-mi-Lane, where the 506 bus stopped before the changes, so that children attending Christ Church School, Harwood and Withins Schools could cross a busy commuter route in safety. Mothers, children, the elderly and infirm are now walking a considerable distance, sometimes in atrocious cold and wet weather, along an open and exposed road.

The Government talks about integrated transport systems, reducing pollution, and using public transport; GMPTE and Bolton council continually tell us to use public transport. But, in Harwood/Bradshaw, we cannot use the buses for the purpose for which they are provided.

Bolton council is proposing to increase car parking charges, making public transport more favourable. Bus services are part of the local fabric of society and communities grow along transport routes.

The 506/507 bus routes serve several large housing estates in Tonge Moor, Top o'th' Brow, Harwood, Breightmet, Bradshaw, Hall i'th' Wood and Castle Hill, but the new routes have ensured that residents in Appledore Drive, Stitch-mi-Lane and the Newby Road area of Breightmet cannot reach their families and friends in other parts of north-east Bolton by the direct 506 bus route.

First Bus have not considered the travelling public, nor have they thought about the inconvenience they have imposed with the changes. Harwood/Bradshaw is a large area and, with a little more thought, could support several bus services to the benefit of everyone.

Mr E W Holden

Eskdale Avenue

Bolton