515 survival

Finally got the news that

THE 515 IS PLANNED TO RUN FOR AT LEAST ANOTHER YEAR.

That's the hourly daytime bus service between Stockwood and Imperial Park, by way of Whitchurch centre and the hospital/leisure centre/college site at Hengrove Park. The initial year's contract is coming to an end. The tender is now going out for 2013/14. Passenger figures are said to be 'encouraging', slowly building up - as they should be for the only direct bus service between these key places.

Mr Grouchy, of course, still finds plenty to complain about. As an occasional passenger on the route, he's had to spend ages trying to confirm that the service will continue. His emails went unanswered. The 'public transport' phone number on the council website turned out to be the one that staff use to collect their voice-mail; and, hard though it is to believe, the BCC main switchboard's automated voice recognition system doesn't recognise the term 'public transport' - though it has to be said that Mr Grouchy hasn't mastered Bristolian, so there may be some excuse.

The councillors for the two wards - who you might expect to act as a link between the council and the consumers of its services (including the 515 passengers) - haven't said a dicky bird about it, even in the unlikely scenario that they're aware of the importance of the route. But then they don't do e-letters or websites, and they boycotted the NP website that was set up for just this sort of thing. We must wait for the next pre-election newsletters for news like this!