Guernsey Press

Bus passenger increase 'a positive step', says user group

PASSENGER increases are a 'great relief', according to the Bus Users Guernsey co-ordinator.

Published

Following the release of figures which showed the first increase in figures for five years, Fergus Dunlop said it was a positive step forward and hopefully more can be done to build upon this good news.

'I think we are seeing the local population appreciating the CT Plus efforts and seeing the sense of the new summer timetable, which had more round-island services. And visitors had routes and timetables which reflect what happens on the ground. They need to continue to rebuild public confidence and increase ways of capturing the public's imagination.'

Numbers peaked in 2009 with 1.6m. and have declined ever since, but figures released earlier in the week showed for the first six months of this year a rise of nearly 20,000 journeys over the same period last year to 652,155.

And Mr Dunlop said introducing a few modern touches to the bus fleet might persuade more people to take the bus.

Environment minister Yvonne Burford said improvements can be expected in the winter timetable and as part of the new bus contract, currently being tendered for, people could expect modernity.

Sorry, we are not accepting comments on this article.