Bus journey used by Dunmow teenager for school is cut in half, except for service at 7.30pm and 1am
Carole Rose is paying more than £3000 for all the school travel fares for her children. - Credit: Archant
New timetables for the recently cut 133 service from Dunmow to Colchester have been released – and a parent who had to pay for another bus fare to get her son to college says she “can’t believe” the change.
The Arriva bus now only runs from Braintree to Colchester at 7.30pm and 1.03am, completely useless for school runs.
It was reported in the Broadcast last month that Carole Rose’s son, Jack, is going to be dropped off at Braintree on his way to college in Colchester every day, after the bus service he relied on was chopped in half two months into term.
The Dunmow family had already paid for a season pass for the bus at the beginning of this year, however, and have now been forced to pay another fare for a bus with a separate company to make up the rest of the journey – costing them £90 a month on top of the original £800 season pass.
Arriva have not offered any discount, because they say the £800 is still the cheapest fare they offer, instead of a single from Dunmow to Braintree every day.
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Carole was hopeful the new timetable might provide a shuttle bus to make up the service for the rest of the school year, to spare Jack having to get up at 5.30am every day to make his changes and get in on time.
But to her horror the only times the bus is running from Braintree to Colchester is at 7.30pm and 1.03am.
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She said: “It’s almost like it’s for the kicking out times for the pubs, but they won’t put one on for the students. I can’t believe it.
“The whole point when we looked at the college is that there was a bus to get there for the year. They should at least put one on for the school year now it’s started.”
Carole believes it is so the company can still charge all the way to Colchester on a season ticket, because technically they still provide a service to that area.
Arriva say the buses are on at this time to give bus drivers a lift back to the depot after shifts, and as it is running anyway they will open it to the public.
