Newspaper Article Featuring Jaid and I

Some nice inaccuracy but hayho, not bad really. I guess it gets a point across and it’s a shame they didn’t mention Humanware. I don’t make the journey every day, and sometimes I have to be at the station to get the 20 past 5 train. This all started with one e-mail to the paper. I’ll get the pictures if anyone wants to take a look at them. Just comment ok?


BTW I’m not sure about the quote at the end. Learned to survive without them? Can’t remember saying that.


“DILEMMA: Martin Roberts with his guide dog,
Jade, at Ellenbrook Green. Picture: JERRY TURNER
Martin: I could be forced to move

FOR one visually impaired Ipswich resident losing the
buses is not simply an inconvenience it could mean he has to move house.

Roberts does not have the option of driving on his daily journey to the station to catch a train to Northampton because his limited sight means he cannot drive. Instead, the 29-year-old, of Ellenbrook Road, would have to make the two-mile journey
on foot aided by guide dog Jade. He fears the axe of service
number seven and reduction to service number 13 may lead to
him being forced to move into the town centre.

Mr Roberts said: “I have to get to the station for 6.20am everyday and if the early morning 13 services are cut I will have to walk. “I would be happy to do it in
a couple of months but walking through the estate on an icy morning is not something that appeals to me.

“I work for a technology company and have to bring a lot of the equipment home with me. “I would not fancy waiting at a bus stop for a lengthy period
with all of that equipment either as it would make me rather vulnerable.”

Mr Roberts said he would be happy to pay more council tax
if it meant the Ipswich transport system could be saved. He said: “Once these services are gone they are never coming back.
“You are not going to find in a couple of years’ time that
they will re-introduce them because people will have learnt to survive without them and
the money will already have been saved.””

Anger over Ipswich Bus Cuts - I'm in the Paper!!

A photographer from The Evening Star came and took pictures of Jaid and I at a bus stop last weekend. I won’t print the email I sent them that triggered the lull in my beery weekend but have asked for an accessible copy of the article that resulted.

I thank Mr Smart for tthe below as the cutbacks would impact Clare and I along with other carless people in the town.

“YOUR coverage of the proposed reduction in Ipswich bus services is a timely reminder
to anyone who thinks that 'all politicians are the same' of the huge difference there
still exists between the parties locally.
In the years when the council was controlled by Labour it was happy to continue to
own Ipswich Buses, rather than sell it off, as it believes that public transport
should be accountable to local people and the company should put the development
of local bus services before the need to make profits. This was very successful and
more people use buses in Ipswich than in similar towns, like Norwich, that do not
have their own bus company.
This is not unlike the company model adopted by the government when it set up 'Network
Rail' to replace the ill-fated (and profit motivated) 'Railtrack' that it inherited
from the Tories.
Having admitted 'Railtrack' was a mistake, the Tories who now run the council with
the Liberal Democrats, seem determined to make the same mistake with Ipswich Buses
and turn it into a money-making enterprise for the Council. Ipswich Buses will continue
to make a modest dividend for the Council but this expectation has to be reasonable.
Just at the time when concern for the environment is at the top of the national agenda
with talk of 'green taxes', the Tory council wants to 'tax' the things that are 'green'.
Ipswich is getting ready to become a university town and re-establish its reputation
as a safe place to visit at night. This is not the time to be reducing late evening
buses (all fitted with CCTV), if anything we should be running more.
The new, clean engine, buses that went into service this week (ordered before the
Council announced its intentions) are a good example of what is possible when the
company is allowed to invest its money back into improving services. Alas these may
be the last new buses we see for some time.
May I conclude my letter by reassuring older readers that this has nothing to do
with the recent change to 'free fares' for pensioners. Almost all the extra money
for this came from the Labour government who support better bus services.
Councillor Philip Smart (Labour)”