Exciting bus times

Sir – The bus companies tell us in bus shelters that we are experiencing “some of the most exciting changes to bus travel in Oxford for over a decade”. They have the excitement of saving money, and county councillors and a few colleges have the excitement of fewer buses running along the High Street, but for the passengers it means not only a return to a certain pre-Thatcher simplicity, but also a return to less frequent and more over-crowded buses, which it would be nice to paint in the distinctive old livery at least. Last Thursday at around 17.45 the bus-stop at Bonn Square was showing that the next Iffley Road bus would arrive in 22 minutes. When it finally arrived, we had the excitement of packing in lots of standing passengers, and the struggle to admit even more at Queen’s Lane, then the excitement of trying to get off at our stops. I think that if buses are in future going to be so crowded again at busy times, the drivers need special training in making standing passengers “move down the bus” as they used to, perhaps refusing to leave the stop until they have done so. The present situation, where they cluster close to the driver, makes life especially difficult for disabled passengers, but it is not pleasant for anybody, and sometimes buses leave Queen’s Lane with empty seats at the back! It would help, of course, if they did not persist in using one-door single-deckers at busy times on the unfortunate routes which have been made so exciting.