A Fine Consultation:  Transports of Delight!

For those interested in local transport services,  your day has dawned!  In Hadleigh Library, {successful, growing but nevertheless under threat}  we recently found a neatly arranged stack of questionnaires, otherwise, we would never have known about this opportunity. 

This is not the Essex Library “consultation” designed to bamboozle the unwary.  That one requires single answers to groups of conflicting questions and seeks personal data as offensively as possible so that the few baffled responses which struggle through can be misinterpreted as approval for Essex Libraries to destroy library services for 75% of Castle Point.

This consultation, however,  offers real choices and encourages input to help set the Essex Passenger Transport support strategy for supported evening and Sunday local bus services.
https://www.essexhighways.org/getting-around/bus/supported-bus-services.aspx

The Local Bus Consultation is now active and closes Friday, 22nd March 2019.   It is available from your local library as a paper consultation, or by phoning: 0345 743 0430 and also on-line at www.essex.gov.uk/local-bus-consultation

Aspects which may be particularly relevant to Castle Point are:
Appendix A shows the Monday to Saturday Evening Supported services – – including,  on Page 14 of the paper version, the late evening Service 21B from Canvey to Southend,  the bus from Castle Point which stops at Southend General Hospital.  For some people,  shift changes at Southend Hospital might be relevant for their feedback.

Appendix B lists the Supported Sunday and Public Holiday services being studied and includes Service 1 Hadleigh to Rayleigh section only under consultation.
( Mis-described as Southend – Hadleigh – South Benfleet – Rayleigh;   which should be
   Southend – Hadleigh – Thundersley – Rayleigh.)    This service could be relevant for people who need Hadleigh and Thundersley access to Rayleigh Station.  Feedback might consider how to coordinate bus and train times at Rayleigh Station.

Please note:  The on-line consultation requires the respondent to state a bus route of interest, whether you actually use a bus service or not.

[Ed. NB The opinions expressed above by the author about the Essex Library consultation do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Archive, although it is suspected that many people may share the relevant concerns]