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Anger over 30 per cent bus pass rise
27/ 3/2008
DISGRUNTLED bus users have hit out after their weekly travel costs rose by as much as 42 per cent.
Transport operators Stagecoach have withdrawn their bargain weekly Routerider tickets, popular with students and commuters on routes through Chorlton and Levenshulme.
Users who commute in and out of the city centre from Chorlton and Whalley Range using the 85 and 86 bus routes will now have to buy a Megarider ticket costing £10, instead of the route -specific ticket for £7.
Routeriders for the 192 service, which goes through Levenshulme, have also been scrapped, meaning passengers’ weekly fares will rise from £8 to £10.
Stagecoach says the increased ticket costs are necessary due to rising costs of fuel and wages.
But regular users are frustrated by escalating costs. Charlotte Smith, of Greenway Avenue, uses the 192 service to do the weekly shopping with her two-year-old son Nathan.
Charlotte, 39, said: "I am genuinely outraged by this, it’s got so expensive now that I often get the train instead, but many people don’t have that option. It’s also much easier to take the bus when you have a buggy.
"This will affect the poorest households the most, because they are the ones who have to rely on public transport – really it’s a tax on the poor. A lot of people need to get the bus to the supermarket in Longsight – since we lost ours in Levenshulme.
"This just seems to go against everything the council want to achieve. If they are serious about their environmental plan to encourage people to take the bus instead of cars, then they need to do more to prevent things like this."
The bus company has also cancelled day Routeriders for the same services, meaning daily travel to Chorlton will increase from £2.50 to £3.30.
Another frequent bus user Kate Schofield, 33, of Cheltenham Road, Chorlton, said: "Last year the buses were queued back for miles because there were so many of them fighting for the same routes.
"A lot of people have no choice but to use the bus if they work in the city centre and some people will be hit hard by these rises."
A Stagecoach spokesman said the new ticket price was the same as a weekly ticket in 1996. He added: "Unfortunately we are facing well above retail price inflation increases in our operating costs, particularly relating to fuel, wages, and insurance costs."
There will be no change to the Wilmslow Road £5 Magicrider ticket.
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31/03/2008 at 15:41