Thank you very much to those of you who attended the Public Meeting on the 6th of October and also to those of you who took the time to fill in our questionnaire. At the meeting it was quite evident that many of you are not keen on any kind of yellow lines and there were also many of you who were keen to have some return of the No. 6 bus to travel the old route of Dereham Avenue and Medway Road. I am in communication with Jeremy Cooper, the Managing Director of Ipswich Buses, about a reduced service around 9:30 to 10:00 a.m. returning around 1:00 p.m. and possibly another bus around 2 p.m. returning around 4:30 p.m. to run 5 days a week but not Saturday, Sunday or Bank Holidays.
I also said I would look at an alternative to Ipswich Buses for the senior citizens living on the Rivers Estate. I have spoken with Connecting Communities and a Mr David Sinn who runs this service for residents in Ipswich. There is a small minibus which caters for a wheel chair and 7 other seats. Mr Sinn would be more than happy to run a service from the Rivers Estate to the town centre and return at times to suit you the residents. The cost is £2 each way. His telephone number is 01449 614271.
He also informed me that if any of you have a doctor’s appointment or a hospital appointment, he can arrange to take you to these appointments and return you to your homes. The cost again is a £4 return. I believe Mr Sinn will be very flexible in his approach to residents wishing to go into the town centre and if you were to speak to him, I am sure he will be able to accommodate you.
If you have a disability, you can change your bus pass for vouchers worth £100 per annum and use these for the minibus or private taxi hire. Applications for this can be made online via the Suffolk on Board website. If you are unable to do this, I am sure I would be able to help. I also understand these forms are available in public libraries.
Cllr Liz Harsant
Holywells Ward