24/04/2020
Other voices: another passenger wrote to the politicians to have his say (John M.)
"Hi,
I write to your office this evening regarding the recent antics of the national transport authority regarding Clare bus, this organisation really needs to be held to account on this matter and the treatment of what is a charitable organisation , not for profit organisation, firstly the reduction of funding has backed the company into an unsustainable position whereby they couldn't sign the recently won contract for local link services across Clare, even though they have a much proven record of providing these services across the county for two decades now, this treatment has not only in my view already led to a diminished service ,but has put 23 very valuable jobs on the line, this nta needs to be brought to task on the intimidating bullying behaviour it employs , also on the fact that it has stated that all vehicles used by new operators are accessible, this I can assure you is a blatant lie, I have encountered 3 buses so far with the new operator on my route, two of which are not accessible, the third which is accessible seems to be in very poor mechanical condition in my opinion, grinding noises from back axles which shouldn't be there, and a less than desirable gearbox , gears slipping, ,also I notice how unlike Clare bus ,there is no opportunity to do things like you could with Clare bus, for example run into a nearby shop for a pint of milk after work if you need to, it's a very diminished point a to point b service, Even today a non accessible vehicle was used,
I am asking all recently elected representatives for county Clare to do anything they can to return the local link services to the people who have done it for almost two decades now, the people we know we can trust to do it, I personally think it is very unfair of an authority who actually has existed for less time than Clare bus itself to do this,they obviously have absolutely no understanding of Clare bus as they have never even been seen travelling on any service to see how it works,
Regards and stay safe
John M"
