IT'S about time we cut the bus companies some slack.

With reference to your article dated 29th March "Bournemouth bus passengers among UK's most satisfied", the comments directed at the bus companies are incredulous. People need to realise exactly what these companies face on a daily basis.

I don't doubt there are people who have had bad experiences, but you only have to look at the congestion in this area to see what an uphill struggle the companies are facing.

You yourselves have run at least three articles on how congested Bournemouth is.

And you only have to go to roadworks.org to see an overview of all the existing and planned roadworks for the next 12 months, or turn on the traffic heat maps on Google Maps to see the real time congestion.

With the works on Wimborne Road in Kinson, Wimborne Road in Poole and Tuckton Bridge to name but a few, it's a wonder the bus companies can operate any semblance of service at all.

If anyone is to blame for the degradation in the bus services in this town, it has to be the local authorities.

There have been numerous "improvements", and I use the term loosely, across the area - and with the exception of moving the parking onto the verges on Christchurch Road, they are all a disaster.

  • The re-design of the Sea View Roundabout

  • The "Bus Lane" at Branksome that the buses cannot use properly because there is a bollard at the entrance and then cars constantly crossing the white line.

  • The cycle lanes between the Lansdowne and Bath Hill.

  • The shared space at Horseshoe Common.

  • The shared space at Boscombe.

  • The new roundabout layout at Iford.

  • The totally useless cycle lane on Castle Lane (with its own dedicated traffic light).

If the council really wanted to ease congestion in this town, they would stop wasting money on so-called improvements that are making things worse and use the money to fix potholes (properly, the first time around) and make improvements where they would make a difference:

  • Replace the cycle lanes (that aren't used) between the Lansdowne and Bath Hill with a bus lane heading towards the beach. This would allow buses to maintain some semblance of service when in the summer motorists queue for car parks that are clearly signposted they are full.

  • Remove the right turn into Holdenhurst Avenue from Castle Lane, which would allow the filter lane to Tesco to be extended and therefore allow the traffic to flow rather than stacking up behind everyone queuing for their daily bread and milk.

  • And re-instate some of the withdrawn bus subsidies. Then routes that were once subsided, could be re-instated.

JON SMITH

Wick Lane, Bournemouth