No Food On The Bus! (From York Press)

No Food On The Bus!

10:07am Tuesday 27th May 2008

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How about some "joined up thinking" on Public Transport as is often espoused but rarely demonstrated by the Government.

My son and his girlfriend went into York by bus for a meal. No problems with having a drink or getting home you might think. They enjoyed a meal in a Gillygate Italian Restaurant (no names no advertising) but couldn’t finish the pizza. The restaurant packed the remaining pizza into the type of packaging you use when you get a takeaway and off they went for the bus. A lovely evening so far!

They wait for the bus which arrives 15 minutes late (well OK they are bound to have the odd problem now and then) to use their return tickets, to be told blankly, “No food on the bus”, leaving them with a problem. This reason was further qualified by the statement that “The passengers don’t like the smell of food”, although I don’t believe a survey actually took place.

So, do they throw away almost all of a perfectly good and not inexpensive pizza (no bins handy incidentally) or politely get off the bus? In a state of some confusion they got off the bus and the happy driver trundled off on his way, no doubt quite happy that he had done the right thing by his interpretation of the “rules”. My question is what is the right thing? We are virtually commanded to use Public Transport, it’s green, it’s efficient, and you won’t need a car because it provides everything you need. Utter cobblers!

If I catch a bus from say Wigginton to Haxby to pick up a takeaway then it will be cold by the time I walk home again because I can’t use the bus. Is that right? Is that sensible? Is it fair for people who have no alternative? Of course it blooming isn’t!

Now I can understand that you won’t want an open can of pop, or any one munching a bag of chips (like they used to when I was a Bus Conductor 35 years ago), because of the lingering food smells and the potential for mess. Surely if the food is packaged and closed there should be no problem.

I would urge Richard Eames, Managing Director of First Group who run busses everywhere, to make sure we can actually use the busses for all our needs.

How did my son and his girlfriend get home? I got out my car and went to pick them up. I won’t hold my breath for a refund of the unused return bus ticket, or for the extra cost of their travel, from Richard Eames.