Transport is worst in country (From Stroud News and Journal)

Transport is worst in country

STROUD has the worst public transport in the country according to a resident who claims he has extensive experience on the subject.

Business advisor Bernard Wakefield-Heath from Cainscross Road is demanding something be done about it and is calling upon David Drew MP and transport minister John Spellar to sort out what he sees as the rapidly deteriorating state of public transport in and around the area.

Mr Wakefield-Heath is demanding a public inquiry into the situation. "Elsewhere in the country they seem to have far more regular services," he said

He claimed the situation was absurd and the lack of links to other towns in the evenings effectively amounted to a curfew for the Stroud's young people. "If they want to go out outside Stroud they have to drive.

"Otherwise getting a taxi back from Cheltenham and Gloucester is expensive and getting to Bristol using public transport is nigh on impossible,' he said. "You just wouldn't get this kind of situation elsewhere."

Mr Wakefield-Heath argued Gloucestershire was the poor relation to the rest of the country when it came to public transport and said this could have serious implications for the area's economic prospects.

"It is not just rail users who are suffering, bus passengers are getting an awful deal too," he said.

"Trying to get a bus anywhere in the Stroud area is at certain times near to impossible and those that do run are frequently late.

"Taxis are also a lot more expensive around Stroud than many other places, so why is it that we have to put up with such poor and expensive public transport here?"

To highlight the problems Mr Wakefield-Heath described an attempted to trip to Oxfordshire he had taken this month.

A late bus from Cainscross led to him miss a connection in Stroud which in turn meant he missed a train from Cheltenham and had to return to Stroud and try again the following morning.

"I was going to visit friends and effectively got there 16 hours late," he said. "It's becoming increasingly evident that the only way anyone can enjoy a normal life in Stroud is to own a car. "For those without their own transport living in the area is a nightmare."

SB