All this disruption for a white elephant

11:35am Friday 9th May 2008

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I read with interest David Endens views on the cancellation of the 19 bus service (April 24).

Like David, I too am a resident on the Squirrels Estate and used to catch the service.

Faced with a half hour wait at a bus stop (with no shelter) just to even get into Halesowen, I too will be resorting to the car to journey to work.

Meanwhile, following the cancellation of the 211 bus from Halesowen to Brierley Hill, my wife who used to use the service to her place of work at The Waterfront ,Merry Hill, faces a three bus journey rather than the one journey she 'enjoyed' previously.

Suffice to say Tuesday evening after leaving work at 4.30pm she arrived home at 7.10pm (after I picked her up in the car from Halesowen to spare her the last leg of the journey). A five-mile bus journey lasting 2 hours 40 minutes. Would it be quicker to commute to London?

Centro's utter contempt for its passengers is quite startling.

Having spoken with Steven Rhodes of Centro, he considered it perfectly reasonable to expect passengers to undergo such an ordeal.

Centro, you are not living in the real world, people WILL use alternative modes of transport namely the car.

Unbelievably, my wife telephoned Centro Helpline for advice on services and was advised it would be easier for her to get into Stourbridge and get a bus from there!!!

What marvellous new this is for Halesowen - a state of the art £5million Bus 'Interchange' (as I found Centro like to refer to it) with passengers diverted to neighbouring towns with more buses!

I am assured by our local councillor Hazel Turner they are doing everything possible to raise residents' concerns and are planning a public meeting with Centro - let's just hope we don't have to catch the bus to get there...

Thank you Centro...18 months of disruption to create a white elephant.

Former Bus Passenger (name and address supplied), Halesowen