IT’S a pity that your reporter did not do a bit of investigation before writing the article about the changes to the Yellow Bus Timetables (Daily Echo, December 5). Had they done so they would have realised that “changing the timetables of routes in order to improve punctuality” is Yellow Bus speak for “yet again we are cutting back on our services”.

Several years ago, the number 6 provided a service every 10 minutes to the town centre via Winton and the station. That has already been cut back to every 15 minutes. Under the new proposals that will now become every 30 minutes. Although there is now No 6A, this starts at the university and goes via Charminster and Springbourne Library. In theory we could still get a service every 15 minutes to the town centre because the Morebus Service 17 follows the same route and runs every 30 minutes. However it would appear that Yellow Buses are more interested in competing with Morebus than a service for the public because the number 6 runs within 2/3 mins of the 17, thus although there are four buses per hour, there is effectively only a bus every 30 minutes.

The number 8 service has been cut from every 30 minutes to every 60. This used to provide a service to Poole but that has been progressively cut back and now only runs to Wallisdown. Not only that but Yellow Buses have been less than honest. This service used to run around Talbot Village every 60 minutes. This part of the service, as well as through Oakdale, were subsidised by Poole council. Last year Poole stopped the subsidy and the bit around the village was stopped. Yellow Buses said they were able to operate the service without subsidy if the Fern Barrow loop were to be withdrawn. Within six months the service was curtailed and stopped at Alderney. So much for Yellow Buses assurances.

These are not the only cuts. There are many others. The reality is that Yellow Buses are good at wasting money rebranding bus routes and buses but not at providing a service to the public. By their actions they are forcing people to take to their cars and contributing to the ever increasing traffic congestion. As someone said, Yellow Buses seem to work on the philosophy that their buses can't be late if they don't run them

RF COOPER, Laidlaw Close, Poole