letter to the Standard, 9/10/09
Sep. 27th, 2017 09:34 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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colchesterfoeStandard, Letters page.
Vital to support bus use
Dear Editor,
So, with the latest High Street mirage plans did officers forget to tell the artist that all the buses are supposed to be running down the High Street (and also cars in the evening)? Or is the 'artist's impression' of people sauntering in the road correct?
It is time this council and its officers got serious about climate change and the need to cut emissions by 80% within forty years to avert local and global catastrophes. We are committed to this by the Climate Change Act. We have to start now.
Friends of the Earth is calling for councils to commit to a 40% cut by 2020. A third of these gases are from transport. We must support public transport. We need our town centre bus and coach station far more than a Vaf or a hotel or flats.
We already have a pedestrianised town centre. Buses running across our town need to use the High Street. Passengers need to be dropped close to the shops. Traders should value their custom, especially the thousands going to and from the bus station!
Can we have our shopping trolley base back at the bus station please Cllr Tim Young? I saw a kind Sainsbury's assistant helping an elderly mobility-impaired lady to a bus with her shopping, and then taking the trolley back for her.
Park and Ride is not the answer - we need to encourage more people to catch the real buses into town which are already running close to most people's homes. Park & Ride costs the taxpayer huge sums. It cuts real bus use, but not congestion.
Inner Zone bus passes cost £15 weekly or £52.50 monthly and give people unlimited bus use for the services around the main urban area including Wivenhoe. Not bad compared to car fuel, parking costs and traffic congestion!
The Outer Zone pass covers the whole borough and costs £23.50 weekly or £81 monthly. While students use the early buses why don't more town workers use them? One of the 8.10am buses from Mersea in August only had eight passengers!
Yours sincerely,
Paula Whitney,
Co-ordinator, Colchester Friends of the Earth,
4 Shears Crescent, West Mersea, CO5 8AR.
Vital to support bus use
Dear Editor,
So, with the latest High Street mirage plans did officers forget to tell the artist that all the buses are supposed to be running down the High Street (and also cars in the evening)? Or is the 'artist's impression' of people sauntering in the road correct?
It is time this council and its officers got serious about climate change and the need to cut emissions by 80% within forty years to avert local and global catastrophes. We are committed to this by the Climate Change Act. We have to start now.
Friends of the Earth is calling for councils to commit to a 40% cut by 2020. A third of these gases are from transport. We must support public transport. We need our town centre bus and coach station far more than a Vaf or a hotel or flats.
We already have a pedestrianised town centre. Buses running across our town need to use the High Street. Passengers need to be dropped close to the shops. Traders should value their custom, especially the thousands going to and from the bus station!
Can we have our shopping trolley base back at the bus station please Cllr Tim Young? I saw a kind Sainsbury's assistant helping an elderly mobility-impaired lady to a bus with her shopping, and then taking the trolley back for her.
Park and Ride is not the answer - we need to encourage more people to catch the real buses into town which are already running close to most people's homes. Park & Ride costs the taxpayer huge sums. It cuts real bus use, but not congestion.
Inner Zone bus passes cost £15 weekly or £52.50 monthly and give people unlimited bus use for the services around the main urban area including Wivenhoe. Not bad compared to car fuel, parking costs and traffic congestion!
The Outer Zone pass covers the whole borough and costs £23.50 weekly or £81 monthly. While students use the early buses why don't more town workers use them? One of the 8.10am buses from Mersea in August only had eight passengers!
Yours sincerely,
Paula Whitney,
Co-ordinator, Colchester Friends of the Earth,
4 Shears Crescent, West Mersea, CO5 8AR.
