IT was good to see that the main headline on the Okehampton Times front page last week (April 10) read ?Plea for daily train to Exeter?, something which is urgently required.
This is followed by a disappointing opening paragraph in Jane Honey?s article, when she reveals that the managing director of Dartmoor Railway hopes to see such a service within five to ten years. Five to ten weeks would be better. Such a delay is inconceivable when the track is there waiting to be used.
Meanwhile, Western National have published a revised timetable for their bus service between these points. This will no doubt please passengers from Okehampton, as some services will now run more directly than previously with an alternative bus serving the villages.
Buses have regularly called at St David?s Station in Exeter five minutes after leaving the bus station, but they are now being allowed ten minutes for the journey or sometimes 15 minutes. It will be interesting to see whether drivers wait at St David?s to take up the time.
A disturbing feature of the bus service recently is the number of times that scheduled services fail to arrive, and it is to be hoped that with the new timetable they will return to their former reliability.
Geoffrey Gill
East Cleave
Sourton