Ticket Problems on Stagecoach Bedford - Milton Keynes Service (40)
- Kieran Lawson, the Stagecoach Operations Manager at Bedford, has now responded to the complaints that the Milton Keynes MOOVE multi-operator bus ticket was not being honoured in the Sherington area. His response and apology is printed in full below.
From: Kieran Lawson ([email protected])
To: Raymond Denman
Sent: Friday, 1 February 2013, 17:08
Subject: Re: Passes
Dear Mr Denman,
Thank you for contacting our offices, from which I was disappointed to hear of the recent issues regarding the 'all in one' passes.
We are currently in the process of issues a notice to each and every driver who does the route, so that there is no dubiety about the validity of the passes.
Please accept my sincere apologies for the inconvenience that this has caused you, and I do hope that your constituent's future experiences with us are trouble free.
Thank you for bringing this matter to my attention.
Yours sincerely,
Kieran Lawson
Operations Manager, Bedford
Company Name: Stagecoach Group plc
Registered Address: 10 Dunkeld Road, Perth, PH1 5TW
Registered Number: 100764 in Scotland
Original email:
Dear Kieran,
You may recall writing to me on the 10th December 2012 assuring me that henceforth your drivers on the 40 Bedford to Milton Keynes route would honour the all operators tickets within the boundary's of Milton Keynes Borough. This was following my complaint on behalf of residents being refused travel on your bus route number 40 within Milton Keynes Borough whilst using a "all operators" ticket.
I have to inform you that this is still not happening. Following more complaints from elderly residents of Sherington village I once again purchased a "all operators ticket" from a rival bus company (Arriva) and was once again twice refused travel on the number 40 bus from Newport Pagnell to Sherington.
As you are no doubt aware your company is legally bound to honour these tickets, and I must now insist that your company starts to abide by its responsibilities in this matter.
For your information one of your drivers said to me " I have never seen one of these they are not valid with Stagecoach" , the other driver said, We were told before Christmas only to accept these tickets in Milton Keynes and not from Newport Pagnell to any of the villages.
I would like to point out that Sherington, Chicheley, Astwood, are within the boundary's of Milton Keynes Borough and therefore are covered by the "all operators" agreement which your company signed up to, and indeed after checking I am assured that Stagecoach is indeed benefiting from the percentage share-out of this agreement.
I am certain that your partner companies in the all operators agreement would not be happy to learn Stagecoach are not accepting the other operators tickets whilst still claiming a percentage of the share-out of the agreement, and I am equally sure that collecting payments from a scheme, whilst refusing to accept the schemes tickets on their own buses, would be construed as an illegal act on Stagecoach's part.
Can you please assure my village residents and myself that this will never happen again, and that your drivers are made aware of this? It would probably be very helpful for a notice to the effect that these tickets are valid within the Borough of Milton Keynes displayed close to the drivers cab so passengers can draw it to the attention of your drivers and avoid the arguments and elderly people being put off the bus and having to wait for a alternative service.
I would point out that the alternative service's do not follow the same route as the number 40, thus leaving vulnerable and elderly people quite a long walk home in most cases whilst carrying heavy shopping bags..
I look forward to receiving assurance that the above point's have finally been dealt with.
Regards,
Cllr, Raymond Alec Denman. MIET.
5 Perry Lane,Sherington. MK16 9NH.