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Save our ‘fun’ bus

30/ 3/2006

A COMMUNITY of bus users has joined together to save a service they say is vital not only for getting to work, but for keeping in touch with friends.

The number 131 JP Travel bus picks up passengers near Boarshaw cemetery every morning at 7.50am and then travels down through Boarshaw, round Alkrington and into Manchester city centre for 8.30am - ideal for those who work in the city. It then takes users home after work, getting back into Boarshaw at about 6.30pm.

But this isn't an ordinary bus service. Instead, users of the 131 have become firm friends who whip round to buy the drivers presents at Christmas and even celebrate each other's birthdays with Bucks Fizz en route.

Now they say they are devastated at plans to cut the bus service due to lack of funds, not only because they will be left stranded but because the friendly community spirit that has built up over the years will be ruined.

PA Louise Duff, aged 49, uses the 131 every morning to get to work. She said: "We were told they were taking it off because it's not making enough money. But it's the only JP Travel bus I see full of people.

"For a lot of people it's their only way they can get into Manchester at a reasonable time. It's just so important to people, it really is. If you live in Boarshaw the only other way is to get to Rochdale Road to get a number 17, or to walk through the Vitafoam factory for a 59.

"A great many of us have been using this service since it started and it has become a lifeline. As a consequence of this and the same people using the service week in week out we have become good friends and several of us have weekends at the Christmas markets in Germany.

"We have celebrated birthdays, births, divorces - it sounds cheesy but we do have a good laugh and not many people can say that when they are travelling to work."

Another regular 131 bus user is Linda Fleming, aged 61, who lives on Conway Close in Alkrington. She said: "JP said that they weren't making enough money to run it and that's why they're taking the bus off. It's absolutely ludicrous.

"What about all the buses they're leaving on during the day that are empty? We're so annoyed about it and are hoping we can somehow get something done. We're not going to sit down and let this go.

"If they'd just spoken to us we'd have said we'd pay three or four pounds more a week just to keep it on. It doesn't make sense to any of us."