Not enough information about free bus, say users

Users of a temporary free minibus service set up after gas works caused the closure of part of a bus route said the service was not publicised widely enough.

The 20-seat minibus has been running in a loop from Peterborough's Bretton Centre to Peterborough City Hospital and is due to end on 1 November.

Some passengers using the service said they were pleased to have it, but felt it had not been advertised very well and only discovered it by chance.

Martin Marsh, the acting operations director at Stagecoach East, apologised to any customers who "felt they were not adequately informed about the temporary changes".

Gas company Cadent is currently replacing about 700m of piping in the Flaxland area of the city, meaning a section of road near to the shopping centre has had to be closed between 19 October and 1 November.

The firm is funding the free minibus shuttle service, which is being operated by Stagecoach.

Janet Walker is a regular bus user in Peterborough but said she felt the new temporary service could have been better publicised.

"It is just annoying that Stagecoach didn't put any notices up in Queensgate [a large bus terminal at a shopping centre]. I am not online, so I don't get to find out nothing," she said.

Walker said that the only sign advising people about the free minibus was at the Peterborough City Hospital stop.

"One of the bus drivers said that I had to get off at the hospital and walk [to Bretton], another driver did tell me there was a shuttlebus," she added.

Mo Perkins lives in Paston, Peterborough, and normally takes a bus straight to the Bretton Centre.

"I came by bus to the Post Office in Bretton and got to the hospital and was told by the driver to get off because this is as far as we are going," she said.

Perkins said the driver did tell her about the free shuttlebus but she had not seen any other information about it beforehand.

"The free bus is fine but the actual information about it, no," she added.

Bev Hopkins said she was confused when the Stagecoach bus she was on went past the Bretton Centre instead of pulling up to it like normal.

"When the bus reached the Queensgate terminal I asked the driver why he hadn't pulled in to the Bretton Centre and he just replied saying it was closed off until 1 November and there are no buses," she said.

Hopkins said the driver never mentioned the free shuttle service.

Marsh, from Stagecoach East, added: "We made every effort to communicate the arrangements within the short timeframe available, including publishing information on our website on 19 October and providing signage at bus stops.

"However, we recognise the importance of keeping customers fully informed and are sorry to those who feel they did not receive the information they needed.

"The shuttle is a temporary arrangement for the two-week period during which the road is too narrow for our usual buses to pass safely. Once this phase of work is complete, our services will return to their usual routes while the wider scheme continues."

A Cadent spokesperson said: "We would like to thank everyone for their patience and understanding as these essential works take place, they are all about future-proofing the gas network for decades to come."

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