Mick Bates Assembly Member for
Montgomeryshire has described individual journey plans that have
been prepared "free of charge" for thousands of people in Powys as
"a complete waste of money."
"The process of advising people who
have been organised and informed well enough to get to work day
after day is madness! I have seen one plan where a teacher who has
walked to work for many years was advised of a bus service that
would get them to work late and involved walking past the school!"
said Mick.
"I appreciate the serious side to
encouraging people to use public transport, walk or sharing car
journeys but I believe that people do this as much as possible
anyway! Montgomeryshire is particularly rural and public transport
is patchy.
"I would love to hear from
constituents who have had a plan that has helped them to travel to
work and it would be fun to hear from those who believe they
received the daftest plan!"
Modus is a free of charge,
impartial journey planning service from Traveline Cymru [supported
by the Welsh Assembly Government]. All members of Powys County
Council staff will be receiving general travel information including
details of local public transport where it appears appropriate. The
information has been generated by computer using the "Traveline"
database and, to avoid issuing personal data, the Council has
provided 8,000 staff numbers, home and workplace postcodes to
facilitate the exercise illustrating how they can get from home to
work.
Mick said that "I understand that
the Welsh Assembly have funded this particular exercise. However,
that money could have been invested in improved public transport for
Montgomeryshire!"
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