From Agnieszka Czuchra.
I WAS on the verge of leaving work after a busy day at the office, when I noticed that one of my colleagues was still hard at work, beavering away at a massive pile of filing.
 
I offered to stay and help. Having quickly consulted my bus timetable, I decided that, if I caught the 6.10 pm bus home to Gorey, I could put in an extra hour, which should be enough to deal with most of the filing.

By 18:05 the job was done and I ran to the bus stop in Grenville Street, opposite the Forum Wine Bar. Our offices are situated in the vicinity of the Central Market and, while I would not have made it to Liberation Station, I should easily be able to get to the next stop in time to catch the bus.

I need not have rushed. Although I reached the shelter with time to spare, when the number 1 eventually arrived, it sailed straight past the bus stop and quite a sizeable crowd of people hoping to travel to Gorey, myself included, flashing an apologetic message: ‘Sorry bus full’.

Ever the optimist, I stayed put, hoping that another bus would be supplied shortly, once the driver advised the station that so many passengers were unable to get on the 6.10 pm service.

The others must have thought along the same lines, and when it finally became clear that no supply bus would be arriving, it was too late to do anything but wait for the next number 1 at 6.45 pm. However, when this bus finally emerged from the direction of the Tunnel at 6.55 pm, it was flashing another apologetic message and went straight past us.  The bus was full.

By that time nobody was hoping for a supply bus to come to their rescue. To the accompaniment of moans, groans and a curse or two, the disillusioned passengers dispersed to make alternative arrangements in order to get home that night. I felt tired, hungry and rather chilly, having spent the best part of the last hour fruitlessly waiting for buses at a draughty bus shelter.

I was also frustrated, because experience told me that most of the lucky passengers on the Gorey Pier services would have got off by Green Island, and the buses would have carried on to Gorey half empty.

There was no way I was paying for a taxi home, the overtime I had just done would hardly be enough to cover the fare to Gorey. Having no other means of transport, I reluctantly headed towards the bus station, there to await the next number 1 bus at 7.30 pm. I was not going to risk finding out that three times is not always lucky.

As a regular customer of Connex, I feel disappointed with this neglectful, if not disdainful, treatment. And this is only one of many examples of thoughtlesness and lack of customer care.

While the bus drivers are generally very helpful and friendly, the same cannot be said about the staff at the customer service desk at the station. I witnessed the very haughty treatment received from their hands by my fellow passenger, who, having been unable to get into work in Gorey on time as a result of the incident I described above, attempted to lodge a complaint.

Also, I cannot but wonder who Connex is trying to cater for. Although the majority of people theoretically finish work at 5 pm, how many of them are actually able to leave their workplaces on the dot of five? If my personal experience with three different employers in Jersey is anything to go by, not very many.

In that case, who are the Gorey services leaving the station at 4.40, 5.00, 5.05 and 5.10 pm directed at? Certainly not at the greater part of the working population, who would have to rollerblade or skateboard to get to the station in order to be able to catch any of them.
Surely it would make more sense to increase the frequency of services between 5.15 and 6.15 pm, which would help to avoid situations such as I have recently experienced.

Maybe the time has come to dispose of the sorry excuse for a bus service which we have the misfortune to be lumbered with here in Jersey. It would appear that the times of sports cars are over too, our roads getting more clogged up with each passing day.

What should then be the way forward? Well, how about if, instead of investing in yet another multi-storey car park, the States built a number of strategically situated helipads and  began to market a helicopter as the latest, ultimate, must-have status symbol?

RESPONSE FROM: Eric Le Roux, managing director of Connex.

I WOULD like to thank your correspondent for her letter and apologise for any inconvenience that she experienced on 9 July.

As she may be aware, Connex operate the service on behalf of the States of Jersey with whom the service level is agreed. Connex and Transport and Technical Services are committed to work together to enhance the service provision for the ever-increasing number of passengers travelling by bus.

Accordingly, a number of additional services have been introduced to cater for the increased demand. These extra services include departures on the route 1 leaving Liberation Station at 4.45, 5.05 and 5.45 pm. With these extra services in the timetable, there are currently eight route 1 departures from Liberation Station between 4.40 and 6.45 pm.

In addition to these departures on the route 1, there is a route 1a at 5 pm, a route 1b at 5.30 pm (both of which also serve Gorey) and a route 2c at 6 pm, which covers the Grouville area.

While your correspondent queries the demand for the route 1 services between 4.40 and 5.10 pm, these buses are very busy. Every day at Liberation Station, an average of over 30 passengers board each departure between 4.40 and 5.45.

We continuously monitor the number of passengers using our services and do provide relief buses where resources allow, although unfortunately this is not always possible.

We are aware that during the week in question, the network was particularly busy, partially owing to high numbers of visiting students and other visitors.