RESIDENTS in a New Forest village left isolated by a lack of public transport formed a ‘walking bus’ to highlight the dangerous route they have to take to reach the nearest stop.
As reported in the A&T, members of the Better Buses for the Waterside campaign group hand delivered a 1,250-name petition to Hampshire County Council’s offices in Winchester to highlight the struggles residents face from the irregular service, run by Bluestar.
Waterside Changemakers, which was set up to help people in the area struggling with the cost of living, previously said it was “gravely concerned” that changes to timetables meant Calshot lost half its buses in September, leaving gaps of up to five hours.
The walking bus protest highlighted the dangerous route residents have to take
Josie Taylor (72), from Calshot, organised the walk to Fawley to highlight the challenges she and fellow residents now face. A dozen other residents, including members of the campaign group – all wearing hi-vis vests – joined Josie for the 55-minute walk along the 60mph B3053 Fawley bypass.
Josie gave up driving two years ago and is unable to leave her terminally ill husband for more than two hours, meaning she struggles to get to shops because of the long gaps in the bus timetable.
She said: “We are forced to walk in a fast road with no pavement and several blind bends to get to Fawley.
“There are so many lorries on that road, and the speed of traffic makes it really scary. Car drivers seem to think that just because the limit is 60mph they can take bends at 60 – even though they cannot see pedestrians in the road or vehicles coming the other way.”
She added: “Fawley Waterside promised a footpath and cycle path but their plans for the old power station have been withdrawn.
Residents are campaigning for a better bus service in Calshot
“I’d like to see a minimum of one bus every two hours and we also need a usable footpath to Fawley.”
Jackie Clark, who joined the walking bus, said the only existing footpath to Fawley, along the coast via Ashlett, was partly submerged by high tide and had extremely muddy sections in winter, making it unusable for many residents.
Another resident said they had been forced to pay £30 for a taxi after an appointment at Southampton General Hospital as there were no buses.
Hampshire County Council has pledged to investigate how it can help residents. It was recently awarded around £14m from the Department of Transport to support bus services until 2026, prompting it to plan to double bus usage in Hampshire to 42-million journeys by 2038.
The campaign group is calling for the restoration of Calshot’s hourly bus service which operated until the cuts in September.