I’m appalled by bus axe threat

Have read about the potential cuts in bus services (Comet, July 17) I am appalled that Herts County Council can be considering reducing grant support in this way.

I know of two routes in Stevenage which lost their buses in the evening and it was dreadful for the people living there.

Now they want to blank out all of Stevenage buses in the evening and on Sundays.

We appear to be going backwards more and more.

The changes would likely make a lot more people out of work as most everything is open in the evenings and Sundays now, and not everyone drives a car.

I lost my husband October last year and to fill the void I was persuaded to return to work at the Gordon Craig theatre as a casual.

This involves shift work over mornings afternoons evenings and weekends, so these cuts would force me to give up my job as I do not drive.

I have also joined other activities in the evenings and I swim on Sundays so if I cannot get a lift I would have to stop those also.

People could lose their jobs if they cannot get to work business would suffer and some may be made redundant.

Carol Milton, address supplied

We’ve already got the bus cuts blues

Further to comments about the possible County Hall cuts to bus grants which will threaten services in the evenings and on Sundays, people in Letchworth who use the 55 route have not had any evening buses and only two hour service on Sundays for a few years now, and it makes life difficult at times.

It means that if we don’t have access to a car and we need to visit the Lister Hospital in the evenings the taxi fare is £15 one way.

It would be nice to be able to go out for the evening, for a family meal or to the Gordon Craig, or even to the Broadway Cinema

If you travel back to the railway station in the evenings you can’t get a bus home, either.

When the Christmas season arrives there are a lot of lovely things going on in Letchworth, Stevenage and Hitchin but we are unable to take our families.

Surely it’s not too much to ask for a couple of evening buses to get us home from hospital or a later one for theatre or cinema patrons, like we used to have.

We feel so cut off in the evenings – and Letchworth is not a village!

The 55 service during the daytime is very poor as well, with buses often breaking down or not coming at all, as anyone who uses them will tell you.

Name and address supplied.

Grants axe has huge implications

The potential cuts to bus services across Herts have huge implications for anyone who does not drive or needs buses for leisure and work.

This will also mean job losses, because fewer drivers will be needed.

If there are no buses after 6.30pm, older and vulnerable people will not be able to get out in the evenings unless they can afford a taxi..

Jesse Matthews, address supplied