Future of Canvey's number 16 bus service in limbo (From Echo)

Future of Canvey's number 16 bus service in limbo

11:00am Wednesday 13th March 2013 in News

CONCERNS have been raised that a popular bus service on Canvey could be axed by funding cuts.

Commuters, schoolchildren and shoppers will be forced to make alternative travel arrangements if the number 16 service can’t be saved.

Linda Thaxter, of Sydervelt Road, Canvey, joins the route in Long Road to go to work at Tesco, in Southend.

She has been told the Royal Bank of Scotland in Southend has pulled its funding for the service, leaving its future in limbo.

She said: “It’s a major concern for people who use it.

“It’s a community thing as well as a personal inconvenience. I will have to find a different route which will be awkward and time-consuming.

“People don’t know these things until the buses stop running or they just get notice a couple of weeks beforehand.”

The peak-time bus route, run by First, starts out from Eastern Esplanade, on Canvey, and travels to Southend, via Rayleigh.

Mrs Thaxter said there is often only standing room available on the busy buses, which are also used by children travelling to and from the Deanes School, in Daws Heath Road, Thundersley.

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