Petition over bus cut

MORE than 300 Lewes residents have so far put their signatures to a petition calling on Stagecoach to restore a full 27 bus service into the town centre.

The company has cancelled its Tesco and Riverside Surgery stops, both on the Phoenix Causeway, to save time and make bus timings more punctual.

But petition organiser, June Brown of Meridian Road, says both young and old people are suffering because of the extra time they have to take to walk from Lewes Bus Station - across a busy and dangerous road.

The operational decision was taken on September 2 but we want Stagecoach to immediately change its mind, said Mrs Brown.

This has had an adverse effect on the elderly residents of Lewes and is a problem for any pensioner who seeks to come and go for appointments to the surgerry.

We want the old route reinstated. It should not be forgotten that Landport has 1,000 residents and this bus route is very important to them.

The petition, which closes in early October, also opposes the withdrawal of the 27 service between 8.15am and 5.15pm to Lewes Railway Station.

Lewes MP Norman Baker said he would be taking the matter up personally with the bus company.

But Andrew Dyer, managing director of Stagecoach (East Sussex) said: Increasing levels of traffic congestion mean that current routes cannot be operated reliably on the existing timetable.

Either we put on an extra bus, which is not commercially viable, or a timetable change has to be made to improve service reliability.

We hope to have inconvenienced as few people as possible.