State Member for Wallsend, Ms Sonia Hornery MP, will this week call on the Government to ensure that all Newcastle bus services run so that commuters can get to work or school reliably.
For the last 10 weeks, more than 300 services have been cancelled by Keolis Downer across the Newcastle Transport Network due to rostering issues.
The Government and the company have refused to acknowledge that the cancellation of these services, without warning, has stranded commuters across the Wallsend electorate.
The company only acknowledged that it had cancelled services following repeated reports in the media. They are still to issue any sort of apology to the people who had their service cancelled.
Quotes attributable to Member for Wallsend, Sonia Hornery
“The Government needs to step in and ensure this mess is fixed up. We have had more than 300 cancelled trips since Keolis Downer took over the running of the Newcastle Transport Network.”
“In my more than 10 years in Parliament I have never seen issues like this with the public transport system.”
“Drivers are doing their best but the management of the Network is failing the workers and the general public.”
“The trips heading to the far reaches of the Wallsend electorate are the first to be cancelled, despite being some of the busiest services in Newcastle, leaving commuters with very expensive taxi rides to be able to get to work or class on time.”
“Despite raising these concerns directly with the company, they have not responded to any of my emails or letters on behalf of constituents.”
“And to make matters worse, in all of the media reports on radio and in newspapers, the company has not once apologised to the customers that it left stranded.”
“I am calling on the Minister for Transport to work with Keolis Downer to ensure that all Newcastle bus services run so that commuters can get to work or class.”