CHANGES to the bus routes and timetable from Dursley to Stroud (and Cheltenham) raise quite a few concerns.

1) Dursley bus station struggles to accommodate the different buses that use the place especially first thing in the morning and I thought that that was why no 21 to Stroud bypassed the station and instead went through Dursley either to and from Uley or Woodmancote. It appears now that the new no 61, apart from leaving Uley once a day and only at the early hour 7.07am, will depart from the bus station, ignoring the stops in Woodmancote and the very popular one on Castle Street opposite Sainsburys. Woodmancote has a lot of elderly and disabled passengers who depend on the present no 21 going from these stops. Why have you chosen to ignore them?

2) While it appears to be a step in the right direction to lay on a bus, no 61, that goes from Dursley to Cheltenham why was it decided that passengers from Dursley would not need to get to Cheltenham until

10.03am? There must be many, like myself, who work in Cheltenham, being as the place, like Gloucester, is a main source of employment. Admittedly no 61A from Dursley will offer a service that arrives in Cheltenham at 7.46, but that for myself and many others, I'm sure, is far too early (the office where I work does not open until 9am). Why not allow the future 7.07 from Uley to go to Cheltenham instead of terminating at Stroud?

3) While you are making the changes would it not be possible for you to timetable a Sunday bus service between Dursley and Stroud (and even as far as Cheltenham)?

4) Managing director Rupert Cox was quoted in the Gazette as saying "This is an exciting time for bus services..." It is not an exciting time for passengers, who haven't been consulted in any way about these changes, and who now find themselves having to walk much further in rain and wind to catch the bus. This remark could only have been made by somebody who never uses a bus himself. I invite Mr Cox to use the bus service during peak times at least once a week so that he can understand what we bus passengers have to endure.

I look forward to an early reply the above.

Paul Caddle

Woodmancote

Dursley