Small buses force Chorley passengers to wait or walk - but travel firm promises service will improve within weeks

A Chorley borough councillor told the Post that she had received a flurry of calls over the summer about the number 109 Stagecoach service.

The route has been temporarily reduced from a 30-minute to an hourly frequency in recent months as a result of driver shortages. While the more regular timetable is set to be reinstated from 5th September, Euxton ward councillor Debra Platt says that passengers in her village had already been struggling with the size of the buses being used - even before they started running less often.

“We’ve got an ageing population in Euxton, so fewer people have cars and more rely on the buses. They are queuing up to go to the market on a Tuesday and then Stagecoach put a small bus on - and, recently, just once an hour.

“So those vehicles are absolutely rammed and drive past all the people in Euxton, because they are near the end of [the route] - and our residents have been standing at the bus stop for another hour.

“I put these complaints to Stagecoach and heard absolutely nothing back. The 109 isn't a money-losing service - so why are they [using] the smallest buses, especially on the busiest day in Chorley?” Cllr Platt asked.

One Euxon resident, who has lived in the village for 40 years - and did not want to be named - told the Post that the reduction in frequency of the 109 was the final straw for locals who rely on the bus for essential trips.

“It’s like they couldn't have cared less about leaving everyone at the stops. The other week, a group of us were turned down for both the 10.00 and 11.00 bus.

“One driver drove past with a sign in the front saying he was full, so I came home to wait for the next one. But there was another lady at the stop who said she would have to sit there, because she couldn't make it home and back in time.

“There was a chap with us who looked quite ill and he gave up and walked to Chorley - although he didn't look fut enough,” she said.

The resident added that long-waiting passengers were often dependent on the goodwill of fellow travellers in order to get to their destination.

“When the second bus came at 11, there were seven or eight of us by then and the driver said he could only take three. So I got a bit annoyed and told him how long we had been waiting - and then some people got up and said they could walk the rest of the way and allowed us on.

“But then once we got on, you could see there was bags of room for standing. And a woman said she had kept shouting there were two seats free at the back.

“When I have been travelling back from Preston, people have been standing from the off and someone said they were regularly being driven past in Leyland - so it’s not just been a problem once the bus gets to Euxton.

“Some people don't get out very often and older people, especially, have a good chat when travelling on the bus - I've actually got friends I've made from meeting them at the stop - so they shouldn't be worried all the while about whether they can make it on time to an appointment or whatever because of the buses.”

Stagecoach told the Post that passengers using the 109 should soon notice an improvement.

James Mellor, the firm’s commercial director for Merseyside and South Lancashire, explained that the largest buses that can be used on the service are single decker, because of a low bridge Wigan Road in Euxton.

However, he said that the very smallest vehicles that have been the subject of the complaints should soon disappear.

“We are in the process of shuffling around some of our fleet to eliminate the smaller buses at our Preston depot and to ensure that we have enough larger single deck buses to operate on service 109.

“As a result of the above, customers should see a significant improvement in the service from September, “ Mr Mellor added.

Details of the new timetable coming into force next month can be found on the Stagecoach website.

WHEELCHAIR USER ‘LEFT IN THE COLD’

The Post has been told of several instances of wheelchair users being unable to board the 109 service because the vehicles have been so full - with pushchairs or prams often occupying the space reserved for disabled passengers.

Lucy - who only wanted to give her first name - provides support to a 17-year-old girl who requires a chair. She denied access to a number 109 which she had queued for at the stop near the Bay Horse back in February.

“There was a buggy in the disabled space and one on the opposite side where the seats fold up. The driver didn’t ask the people to move - and the children were toddlers, so they could have got out of the buggies and sat on a seat.

“He just said he had buggies on board - and so we had to sit there in the cold waiting for half an hour for another bus.

“If we had had to use the other side with the folding seats, I would have just stood in the aisle to stop the wheelchair tipping up.

“There is a sign on the bus saying that if a wheelchair user needs to board, people with a pushchair are required to fold it. The people with the buggies even looked out of the window at us - it was utterly disgraceful,” Lucy recalled.

Euxton ward councillor Debra Platt said that she had been told several similar tales after putting notices in bus stops in the village asking for people’s experience of the 109 service.

Responding to the issue, Stagecoach Merseyside and South Lancashire commercial director James Mellor said: "Our drivers should - as a minimum - ask anyone with a buggy occupying the wheelchair space or spaces to move from [there and] fold down the buggy when a wheelchair user wishes to board.

"In most cases, people are reasonable and comply, but occasionally they refuse and there is little our driver can do in those instances.

"If a driver hasn’t even asked the question, then this is against our policy and I can only apologise. If this happens, we would advise contacting our customer service team, who will ensure that the matter is fully investigated and dealt with," Mr. Mercer added.

According to lawyers Stewarts, a 2017 Supreme Court ruling found that a bus company’s policy of “requesting, not requiring” that a wheelchair space should be vacated for a user was “insufficient to meet the requirements of the Equality Act 2010 and was therefore discriminatory”.

However, the legal firm’s website notes that the judgement did not go so far as to place a legal duty on drivers themselves to force other passengers to move in order allow a wheelchair user into the space reserved for them.

DESTINATION DIGITAL

Chorley bus station is to be kitted out with electronic information boards providing details of bus and train departure times.

A meeting of Chorley Council’s liaison committee last month heard that screens are to be installed near the main entrance and in the centre of the concourse. Another display will be set up to assist people travelling outside of the times that the concourse is open.

However, the boards will not offer real-time travel information, as most of the bus operators do not supply it, committee members were told.

Anderton parish councillor Ian Horsfield said that in a time of climate emergency, the absence of such screens had hitherto been “one of the things which is seriously lacking within the borough in encouraging wider use of public transport”.