Villagers voice fury at evening bus service axe
Brenda Trobe, Ian Patience and Keith Trobe with the petition about bus services in Felton.
Hundreds of residents in a north Northumberland village have signed a petition calling for the reinstatement of an axed evening bus service.
Almost 250 people in Felton have backed the fight to try to force Arriva into a u-turn over recent changes made to the X15.
Last month, the company withdrew the 8.43pm Monday to Saturday journey from Newcastle to Alnwick, which stopped in the village en route.
Now, the final X15 on these days, which runs from the city to north Northumberland, leaves Newcastle at 6.43pm and stops in Felton at 7.42pm.
Arriva says the later journey was axed because it was unsustainable and wasn’t well used.
Residents believe otherwise and say it is having an impact.
Brenda Trobe, who started the petition, said: “This affects people who work in Morpeth and Newcastle or who want to use adult education classes or youth and community activities in the evening.
“The long-term danger is that as services on a route are reduced, you can get to a point where the whole route becomes untenable. We’ve seen that happen elsewhere and don’t want that to happen to Felton.”
Mrs Trobe has already written to Arriva asking them to reinstate the route and has requested a meeting between the company and villagers, but says she is still waiting for an answer.
The petition, which was put in three local shops and signed by 249 people in just a week, will be sent to Arriva shortly.
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Weather for Northumberland
Thursday 20 June 2013
Today
Light rain
Temperature: 10 C to 16 C
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