By Molly Lee
Bus company Arriva’s cutbacks and timetable changes in Leicester have caused serious disruptions to some passengers’ journeys.
The Arriva bus company has made several cutbacks to its services in Leicestershire over the past couple of weeks and more are expected to come.
Bus routes and stops have also been changed – as announced on the company website https://www.arrivabus.co.uk/latest-news/changes-to-services-in-leicestershire – with the reasoning given being that it is only cutting services entirely for those with few passengers.
In another press release, Arriva stated: “There just aren’t enough people travelling to cover the cost of running the buses without significant additional subsidies from Leicestershire County Council.”
More than 20 bus schedules have been amended or cut, including the withdrawal of the X55 service which connected nearby villages to the city centre and Fosse Park, as well as the termination of service 14, running from Leicester to New Parks.
Customers are reporting that these cutbacks have had and continue to have detrimental effects on them due to the confusion it has caused and the limited times in which the buses now run.
A lot of anger from customers has been expressed on Arriva East Midlands’ social media pages as the endless number of complaints build up.
Lee Marlow, Senior Lecturer in Journalism at De Montfort University, experienced the negative impact of the cutbacks when he had to leave a reunion early because his last bus home was at 9.17 pm.
Lee said: “I don’t use the bus often as the service where I live, in North Leicester, is always pretty poor.”
He added: “We are constantly told to leave cars at home to protect the environment, but we need proper and reliable public transport to do so.”
Arriva addressed the changes on its social media channels, saying: “We’ll be making a few changes to the Leicestershire bus network to help speed up some journeys and keep buses running on time.”
One customer commented on the post: “It’s impacting everyone’s lives, especially when the cost of living crisis is going on and not many can afford a taxi.”
Others have reported the cutbacks have left elderly customers waiting for up to an hour and a half for a bus to arrive, after several others had been cancelled.
Arriva East Midlands is yet to respond.
