AS a regular passenger on the Red 4 Paul's Dene bus service, l find the abandonment of the New Canal bus stop and the relocation to Blue Boar Row both inconvenient and totally against common sense.
Many of the regular passengers, like me, are elderly and the relocation means having to walk from Blue Boar Row if you are going shopping in The Mall or adjacent stores. This may seem trifling to younger and more mobile people, but it is a considerable added burden to the less able, especially if carrying heavy shopping bags on the return journey.
On this return journey it is a lottery whether to wait at the designated stop in Blue Boar Row or to hover between that and the possible stop outside Lloyds Bank, depending entirely on where a space is available for the bus to pull in, especially when the long distance buses are in situ.
l have heard it mentioned that the new route via Endless Street and Chipper Lane saves fuel, but that would hardly seem likely when a driver has to do a double trip round the block before there is a space available to pull in, which I have seen happen.
It is equally a lottery as to where passengers are dropped off on the inward journey, which can be anywhere between Lloyds Bank and Debenhams - again an extra concern for the less mobile.
ln addition to the frustration for passengers, the present arrangements must be equally frustrating for the drivers who, on the whole, remain pleasant and good-tempered, even when Chipper Lane is almost impassable because of double parking on an already narrow road.
l have not yet met ANYONE who is in favour of these changes and can only assume that such decisions are made by people who are both able-bodied and non-users of the bus services for which they are responsible. With the New Canal stop empty and unused and the absurd chaos on Blue Boar Row, surely it is time for a re-think by the authorities and a return to the previous route through New Canal, which would not only benefit both passengers and bus drivers, but would help to relieve the dangerous congestion in Blue Boar Row which has resulted from the closure of the former bus station.
DOREEN GRAHAM
Hudson Road
Salisbury
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