A protest has been held over changes to a Penrith town bus service which has upset residents.
More than 30 residents of Macadam Way met with Penrith town councillor Ron Kenyon to discuss the removal of a bus service which had been enjoyed by the residents for many years.
In its notification of changes to the 646 town service, operator NBM Hire Ltd apologised for any inconvenience which may be caused by its bus no longer going to the top of Macadam Way, but residents have complained that there was a lack of consultation before the change was brought in last month.
Paula Mart, in a letter to the Herald, says that hundreds of residents, many retired and with disabilities, now have to negotiate a steep, and in winter treacherous, road to the nearest bus stop.
It is understood that there are over 400 householders in the affected area, who have up until July this year been provided with a bus service going to the top of Macadam Way, turning around and then heading back down again.
With the new arrangements, which include an extension of the town bus route to include the Persimmon development at Carleton, the bus no longer goes to the top of Macadam Way, but only to the bottom and turns around at Macadam Gardens.
Cynthia Dixon, aged 70, who has lived on the estate since the properties were built in 1974, said many of the residents — who were regular users of the 646 — had also lived on the estate for many years and were of an average age of over 70, some with health issues.
“The loss of the service at the top of a very steep hill has caused much distress and past customers are now having to rely on friends, family or taxis to get to and from town,” she said.
Town councillor Scott Jackson said that, on behalf of the residents, Ron Kenyon was sending a submission to bus company NBM to ask them to look again at the changes made to the 646.
Mr Jackson said that it was understood that with the widening of the service to the new developments at Carleton, some changes would be made, but this alteration impacts the residents of Macadam Way particularly badly.
“Due to the terrain, a great many residents who rely on the bus won’t be able to use it and will find themselves in the horrible position of being isolated within the town. So we would very much like to see this decision reversed,” said Mr Jackson.
He added that, depending on NBM’s response, he and Mr Kenyon would look to take this matter to a full meeting of Penrith Town Council.
A spokesman for NBM Hire Ltd said: “The 646 town service was started by NBM over 20 years ago. It initially had a 15 minute layover in Sandgate bus station and covered a large part of Penrith.
“At that point we could cover a majority of the town with the high passenger volume areas subsidising the low passenger volume areas. The circuit took 45 minutes.
“Over the past 20 years, with ever increasing volumes of traffic and therefore traffic calming measures and traffic lights to control said traffic, the bus is stopped more than it is moving.
“The same route we started with all those years ago would take at least double the time today and maybe even longer on a Friday afternoon.
“As a result of this we have had to cut out many areas where passenger volumes have dropped to below two to three passengers a day to maintain any sort of service to the town as a whole and keep the service viable.
“These decisions are not made lightly and are based on facts and figures monitored over an extended period of time. There are other factors taken into consideration such as access to other nearby stops.
“The 646 town service is a commercial service so we have to go to where the high passenger volume areas are or the whole town would be at risk of losing the 646 town service completely.
“It is up to the people of Penrith to decide.”
