Letter: Shuttle bus service vital for our town

I have used this bus on occasion when accompanying a friend to a hospital appointment.

I have found it to be excellent and convenient and the bus has always been full.

This is evidence that the shuttle bus is a necessity for Bridlington.

We have a high percentage of elderly folk who live in this town and not everyone has access to a car.

On one occasion my friend felt too unwell to travel in the shuttle bus and we got a taxi to Scarborough.

This cost her £25 and most elderly folk could not afford this cost and would thus be unable to visit friends or relatives in Scarborough which could prove detrimental to their recovery.

The train is long and dreary as well as expensive and would necessitate a taxi to the station, the long train ride and then another bus ride to the hospital, reversing all of that on the return journey.

The bus takes an hour to reach Scarborough and then you have to catch another bus up to the hospital so all in all public transport is not the answer.

The Patient Transport Service says it will take ‘suitable patients’.

What is meant by ‘suitable’?

Will it take people who are accompanying patients, who might be needed to reassure nervous patients or who are concerned about the health of a loved one?

There have been no answers to these questions and what happens to those patients who are deemed ‘not suitable’?

We must stop the cancellation of the shuttle bus.

It is a necessity for this town.

Shirley Cummings

Harewood Avenue, Bridlington