Once again Swindon Borough Council's transport policy is shown to be the complete shambles which it really is.
On October 23 the Evening Advertiser reported that the temporary park-and-ride which served the town in December in past years has been cancelled, thus encouraging the excessive levels of traffic generated at this time of the year to drive into the town centre.
The council claims it is unable to operate park-and-ride facilities over the Christmas and New Year period and its transport officer Philip Martlew admits the situation is, "very unfortunate".
Paul Watters head of roads and transport policy at the AA said, "If ever a park-and-ride is needed, it is in the weeks leading up to Christmas".
The very next day it was reported that the council will be spending £1,014,000 next year on the transport system with £750,000 of this sum going towards a new park-and-ride scheme.
But the permanent park-and-ride system has been a complete waste of taxpayers' money. This can be seen most of the year by the number of park-and-ride buses which are seen operating in the town almost empty of passengers.
When the services are really required at the busiest time of the year, the council totally fails to meet the demand and yet when there is little demand for these services, they are freely available.
This situation may be economic stupidity, but it is of no consequence to Swindon Borough Council since it has the ever-suffering ratepayer to bail them out and cover for their managerial incompetencies
E FELL
Ellingdon Road
Wroughton
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