Newbury Buses Options

[Brewmaster]

Yesterday afternoon I travelled in to Newbury from Great Shefford on the no. 4 service, intending to take advantage of my bus pass to bank a cheque and go straight home again. I arrived in Northbrook Street just before 1600 hrs, did my banking and returned to the bus stop by Robert Dyas intending to catch the 1610 back home, which was scheduled to leave Northbrook Street at 1614.

By about 1625 it hadn't appeared, so I asked the driver of another bus what had happened to it. He told me that this particular service was scheduled to leave the bus station at 10 minutes to 4 and not 10 minutes past, so I had missed it. This was confirmed by two drivers at the bus station, where (inevitably) the office was closed and I was advised to telephone in the morning. A great help. This meant that I had to hang around Newbury for another hour.

The online timetable which I printed out - http://www.reading-buses.co.uk/april09/004MF25.HTML - and the timetable at the Northbrook Street stop both show the service leaving the bus station at 1610, so why does it actually leave at an earlier time? Does Newbury Buses not adhere to its own timetable? What is the point of publishing timetables that are wrong?

To make it worse, the timetable for this service on West Berkshire Council's website shows the departure time as 1600, and also has a different departure time for my journey in. The bus I caught left Great Shefford at 1531, which is the time listed on the first two timetables, but the WBC one - http://www.westberks.gov.uk/CHttpHandler.a...d=16813&p=0 - lists the departure time as 1526. Yet another time table at Travel Line Southeast reveals another Newbury Buses timetable which gives the departure time of the service from Newbury to Lambourn as 1555. So which timetable is the correct one? Why is there this discrepancy?

I have contacted the Cabinet Member for Transport at WBC pointing out that these services are financed in whole or part by the Council, so I assume that the Council has some input to the operating efficiency of the company. I trust that some action will be taken to ensure that accurate and matching timetables are published at all outlets and that Newbury Buses are made to adhere strictly to these timings.

We are all exhorted to cut down on car use to reduce carbon emissions, but yesterday's experience is hardly likely to make me a convert to bus travel.