Campaigners' meeting to be held over '˜unreliable' Hastings buses

The number 28 service, deemed ‘erratic and unreliable’ by passengers, used to run once an hour but now only runs once every hour and 10 minutes.

Members of the 28 Bus Campaign are inviting people to make their views known at the meeting next Wednesday (July 19), which starts at 7pm at Mendham Hall in Vicarage Road.

Marylyn Edwards, from the campaign, said: “This is to create a dialogue with the bus company and let it know about residents needs’, as these changes to the number 28 service will be reviewed by Stagecoach in September.

“The only bus that now runs from the station to the hospital via Ore Village is the number 28. Stagecoach acknowledged this service was unreliable. Users experienced constant lateness, 30 minutes late was not unusual, and buses were often cancelled. To rectify this Stagecoach cut a bus each day and reduced the service from one an hour to every one hour and 10 minutes in the hope the buses will be on time.

“But there are no buses after around 6pm and not everyone has a car.

“It was felt important to have a conversation with Stagecoach and our councillors before the current timetable is reviewed by the bus company in September.

A spokesman for Stagecoach said: “We’ve made changes to the route 28 timetable in order to improve reliability and timekeeping. It had become increasingly challenging to keep the service running on schedule and we understand how frustrating this can be for customers. We recognise they want confidence that buses will run on time, therefore the new timetable allows an extra 10 minutes for the buses to complete each journey.”

Contact the campaign by email at [email protected].

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