Salisbury Reds: Disruption after 23 buses broke down in one week

Salisbury Reds, the city's main transport provider, has had to withdraw a number of buses serving different routes in the past week after they suffered "mechanical breakdowns".

This has caused substantial delays for passengers who have expressed concerns about a lack of service.

The bus company announced if a bus was delayed or not running through its social media pages, but some of these updates came up to one hour after the bus was due to run.

Passengers were told there would be no service on the 29 bus one hour after it was due to run. (Image: X)

Between Tuesday, September 26, and Tuesday, October 2, a total of 23 buses were reported to have been disrupted.

These included the R1, R2, R8, R10, X5, PR2, PR3, PR7, PR11 and Active8.

The R1 service is the most regular service that takes passengers to Salisbury District Hospital and it was disrupted five times in one week.

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Operations manager David Newton, at Salisbury Reds, apologised for any inconvenience and said: "Like all motor vehicles, our buses sometimes suffer mechanical breakdowns and have to be withdrawn from service.

"We are fortunate enough to have an excellent engineering team at our depot in Salisbury, and my colleagues work very hard to ensure these buses are swiftly back out on the roads."

Mr Newton said the company has spare buses to replace those being replaced but sometimes a number of vehicles are out of action at the same time "for a variety of reasons".

This is when Salisbury Reds is forced to cancel its services.

Operations manager David Newton has thanked customers for their patience. (Image: Salisbury Reds)

Mr Newton added that "regular updates" are provided on social media and through the company's app.

One frequent bus user, who has lived in Salisbury for 40 years, told the Journal three different buses had broken down while she was a passenger and she has seen problems become more frequent in the last few months.

Our readers shared some of their experiences with catching Salisbury Reds buses on social media.

Richard Teddy Mundy said his children have missed appointments and he's lost money because of the disruption, adding: "Every day for the last few months either cancelled, late by over 30 mins or completely not shown up."

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Luke Chase has been late to work because of cancelled and delayed buses, but he hasn't blamed the drivers.

He said: "A lot of the time it's not the driver's fault. Road works and traffic aren't something they can control but the lack of drivers is causing cancellations which means I can't get to work on time."

Ricky James Skuse said the service Salisbury Reds provides is "reliable enough" compared to elsewhere in the country, adding: "They're doing the best they can I think. There are a lot worse bus companies out there."