The front page story on the BFP last week was about busses going past passengers waiting at bus stops in areas where the street lights have been turned off to save money. It’s another example of a money saving scheme that has been implemented without all the consequences being thought through properly before hand.

With the speed busses travel along the roads these days it’s unlikely the drivers would have time to stop if their visibility extended only as far as the light from the vehicles headlights. It must be awful to stand waiting in the dark for the bus to arrive. As it is so dark how will the passengers know if anyone is creeping up on them while they wait beside the road? Surely the passengers are just sitting ducks waiting to be mugged by criminals who may hide in the hedges and bushes and lay in wait?

It has been many years since I last used the busses regularly and even then I can vividly remember busses driving straight past me in broad daylight. The worst stop was the one in Castle Street close to the railway station. For some reason the busses would come round the corner from Amersham Hill and just drive straight past me.

Being much younger and fitter all those years ago I would run down to the bus station and catch up with the bus there. Usually I would win the race and be first to the bus station. Now the bus station has moved so far from the town centre sadly this practice is no longer practical for even the fittest of men.

I wonder how long it will be before some poor soul waiting by a bus stop in an unlit road is mugged? It’s all very well carrying out experiments switching off the street lights to save money but surely for safety reasons those street lights which double as bus stops should be left on.
_________________________________________________________
The author has left comments at 18.03 on 17/02/08, 22.55, 23.32 on 18/02/08 only. Any other comments left in the authors name are therefore NOT genuine.