Taxi Driver Online

EVENING CHRONICLE (Newcastle, UK)

November 30, 2006 Thursday

HEADLINE: Bus chiefs' pledge on link service

BYLINE: By Peter Young, The Evening Chronicle

Transport chiefs today promised improvements to a showpiece bus service launched in July following teething troubles.

The new LinkUp bus service which people in Tyne & Wear can order like a "taxi" has been overwhelmed by demand.

Newcastle councillor John O'Shea who is a member of the transport authority, says there have been complaints from people who can't get through to order a bus and about the reliability of the service.

In one case, a 78-year-old woman had to walk 1.5 miles home from the bingo in the dark when a driver refused to allow her on board after she had missed her booked slot 20 minutes earlier.

Managers at transport operator Nexus say the buses are already carrying more than 3,000 passengers a week and the vast majority are happy with the service. But they admit there have been problems and will add four more vehicles to the fleet of 12 and take action to improve the response to calls.

New computer software is being installed and the bus operator will be asked to ensure drivers are more flexible. Coun O'Shea, who represents Newburn, has raised the concerns with Bernard Garner, director general of Nexus.

"Complaints I've received raise a number of issues about the flexibility of drivers and the reliability of the booking system," said Coun O'Shea. "It's unfortunate, because the idea of LinkUp is excellent but people won't use the service unless they are sure it is reliable."

LinkUp provides pre-booked services at times when regular buses are ether not operating or are not available.

Huw Lewis, head of external affairs at Nexus, said: "While we knew LinkUp would be popular we've been surprised by the very high early demand which has meant in a small number of cases the service has not met expectations and I want to apologise to passengers affected.

"We are bringing forward planned investment to significantly improve the service."
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Who is the bus operator ?

B. lucky

_________________
"Here's a simple solution. If you don't want to pay more for a premium service then wait in the queue, problem solved".
Skull on TDO

TF pi$$ed on his chips.

I honestly don't know.

JD