Bracknell

Waiting for Bracknell's buses has become something of a regular headache for young mum Danielle Watts.

But nothing could prepare the 23-year-old for the nightmare bus run she and her son Karl endured one freezing Bracknell day.

What should have been a routine trip from the Great Hollands shops to Sainsbury's at Birch Hill, Bracknell turned out to be anything but simple. In fact, it was a six-and-a-half hour journey from hell.

Like many other young mums in Great Hollands, Danielle, who lives in St Andrew's, relies on the buses to get around and believes the recent fare increases imposed by Bracknell First Bus were "disgraceful".

She said: "If they improved on the appalling services then people would be more willing to accept the increases."

Danielle and two-year-old Karl's ordeal started at 11am when they waited in vain for a 159 bus to arrive at Great Hollands shops. It finally turned up an hour late.

That was only the start of her ordeal by Bracknell public transport.

After she left Sainsbury's with her shopping, the driver of a yellow school bus did not let her on, despite her offer to collapse Karl's buggy.

She said: "It's appalling because when you think about how all the young mums of Bracknell are dumped in Great Hollands, First should be doing more to ensure the buggy buses are working properly."

On January 3, First launched two flat fares for bus travel in the Bracknell town. Prices are now £1.50 for a single and £2.50 for a return.

But the scheme means the price of a ticket for some short return journeys has soared by 47 per cent, while some short single trips have risen by as much as 36 per cent.

Danielle, who went to Owlsmoor Primary then Sandhurst and finally Easthampstead Park School, lives off a weekly income support of around £69.

She said: "Being on income support, you rely on all the money you can get.

"These increases don't make it viable for young people, or anyone for that matter."

Bracknell Borough council commuters' champion Cllr Robert McLean said: "I'm lost for words that anybody has had as ghastly a journey as that."

He said nobody from First Bus had responded to his letter in the Bracknell News last week requesting a meeting to discuss this and other issues.

Bracknell MP Andrew MacKay said: "I am very sympathetic to the concerns of bus passengers, as this latest fare increase does seem unreasonable. But at the end of the day it has to be the decision of the bus company."

He said he was pleased pensioners receive a bus pass from Bracknell borough council, but that did not mean there were not other vulnerable people on low incomes who would find the increases difficult to afford.

He added: "I suspect the real problem is that the buses are not being much used and I regularly notice buses travelling with not very many passengers on them.

"But if the service is poor, as clearly it was with the experience of this young mother from Great Hollands, it doesn't encourage people to use the service."

First Bus operations manager Andrew Taylor claimed the only Bracknell service affected that day on Danielle's route was the 13.51 from Sainsbury's, which failed to leave the bus station because of a mechanical fault.

He said: "It just doesn't seem likely that it took so long. I can't think of any occasion recently when someone has had a problem of that magnitude. It's incomprehensible."

Mr Taylor said First did not have a significant problem in Bracknell with staff shortages, multiple cancellations or mechanical defects to buses.

ic Berkshire ~ Bracknell