Local News

850k to explain how buses work

23/04/08 - 2 comments

Council bosses have defended spending £850,000 encouraging residents of Exeter and Exminster to get out of their cars and use public transport.

The council will be sending letters, calling residents and making door-to-door visits to drive home the message that public transport, walking and cycling can be a viable alternative to driving everywhere.

Having spent a fortune on new cycle routes they're obviously keen to get everyone out on their bikes, as at the moment there's only about 7 people in the whole of Exeter that use them.

By our calculations, that's around £34 per person that's being spent, which seems a little excessive for a flyer that will be thrown away or lost and a phone call. And what's the betting the folk doing these door-to-door visits will be driving to their appointments?

Comments on the Echo's site show people are pretty pissed off about this mammoth waste of money when Exeter's bus services are beyond useless.

Surely this money would be better spent starting a new bus service that actually kept to their timetables, because Stagecoach couldn't manage a piss-up in a brewery it seems.

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