CHANGES in the bus service from Okehampton to Exeter have sparked anger from city workers, pensioners with hospital appointments and shoppers. The changes come into operation on Monday, but one passenger, Barbara Childs from Okehampton, said many of the buses would not be at the time people want to travel. Mrs Childs is so upset about the changes that she has launched a petition and has already received support from some of the people she spoke to at the bus stop. She said: ?I feel public transport should not be at the whim of private companies. We have a very good service at the moment, so why change it?? Mrs Childs said she was concerned the changes in bus services would result in more pollution, CO2 emissions and traffic congestion. ?We are car-free at the moment, and the last thing we want to do is buy one just so my husband can get to work,? she said. Mrs Childs, whose husband uses the bus to travel to work in Exeter, said she was annoyed that the popular 9.15am service was being axed. She said after the 7.40am bus, the next direct service into Exeter would not be until 10am ? meaning there was no peak travel to work time direct link to Exeter. Cllr Hyder Pirwany described the timetable changes as ?ridiculous?. He added: ?Who was consulted for drawing up such an awful timetable? The commuters certainly were not. ?It seems that money is the only consideration in reaching decisions, not the welfare of the electors.? Cllr Pirwany said the last bus from Exeter to Okehampton was now at 5.45pm. This would greatly inconvenience commuters, many of whom worked too late to be able to catch a bus back at that time. Cllr Pirwany said it would also no longer be possible to have a day trip to London because a passenger would not return to St David?s in time to catch the 5.45pm unless they could catch the slightly later buses on Friday or Saturday. The last bus at the weekend from Exeter has been brought forward and on Friday and Saturday nights will leave the city at 8.30pm as opposed to 9.30pm. Pensioner Edith Seymour said she used the 9.15am bus to go to Exeter for hospital appointments. She said: ?I don?t drive, so the bus is the only way to get into Exeter to go to the hospital. They keep telling us to use public transport, then they cut the services back.? West Devon and Torridge MP Geoffrey Cox described the change as ?incredibly unhelpful?. He said: ?I simply do not understand why the bus company has fixed the last bus for 5.45pm. ?I am going to be asking the company for an explanation and urging them to review the timetable at the earliest possible opportunity. ?Fast and convenientpublic transport links between Okehampton and Exeter are vital, and need to be as flexible to people?s needs as they can possibly be.? The changes in the timetable have come about following First Devon and Cornwall?s decision to alter their commercial services X9 and X10 and surrender supported service X11. Jessica Lyons, a spokesperson for First said: ?The X9 has been losing money, therefore to retain the service we have looked at which sections of the route are used the most and at what times. ?We have based the revised timetable around two vehicles, the maximum we can afford to run on this service. ?We fully consulted Devon County Council on our decision, who will be subsidising additional services throughout the area, with another bus operator.? She said if circumstances changed and more passengers wanted to use the service at alternative times, First would revise the situation. Stagecoach Devon stepped in to register a new commercial service X30 from Okehampton to Exeter via the villages. Mark Whittle, customer service manager for Stagecoach Devon said: ?Another operator has decided not to operate a service. We have looked at it on a commercial basis and done some work on what are the busiest journeys. ?We are trying to provide services to rural communities to offer alternatives to the car and we are still looking at what the level of service will be. ?We always listen to our customers and if there is a demand we will look at meeting that need.?
