Pagham residents want bus link restored

Nearly 400 regulars on the 60 service, which connects the area with Bognor Regis town centre, want its final stop to be moved back to the railway station. The route traditionally began and ended at the station in a loop northwards from the High Street.

But bus operator Stagecoach shortened the route to begin and end in the High Street in May. The company doubled the frequency of Monday to Saturday daytime services to every 15 minutes from early October and brought in easy access buses.

But the link to the trains was not put back. This means users of the 60 service around Pagham and Aldwick are the only bus passengers in the Bognor Regis area without a direct connection to the railway.

Petition organiser Maise Payne (74), of St Thomas Drive, who uses the bus about four days a week,said collected 377 names of fellow passengers who want the situation changed.

"People just want to be able to catch the bus to go to the railway station. There are also so many people who are disabled who go to bingo and used the station stop around the corner."

Daily bus passenger Betty Powell (70), of St Thomas Court, explained: "I consider myself able-bodied but I find it difficult trailing luggage all the way down to the High Street from the railway station. It's not what you want after a four or five-hour train journey."

They presented the petition to Bognor Regis and Littlehampton MP Nick Gibb.

He said he would add his voice to those of the passengers when he passed on the petition to Stagecoach bosses at Chichester bus station.

"It makes sense for buses and trains to tie up if people want to go somewhere like London. That should happen if we want to get people out of their cars," he stated.

A Stagecoach spokeswoman said it was unlikely that the 60's route would be restored to the railway station.

"The congestion in the town centre to get there made it very difficult to keep to the timetable," she stated. "That can have a serious knock-on effect on such a long route."

The number of passengers who used the station stop was small and this had also been taken into account when the route was shortened to serve the town centre only.

She explained that restoring the station link for some of the services would be impractical. "People get confused if routes are varied for buses at different times. We try to keep things as simple as possible.

Every time we simplify a route, more people use it," she added.

The 60 does still stop at the railway station in the evenings and all day Sundays when its route is extended to Elmer.

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