This week I met up with Arriva to talk about the changes with the 47/48/44.
Basically the 47 and 48 run round a big triangular route into Leicester in opposite directions (the 48 goes clockwise), but they used to also loop down off Moat St round via Launceton Road and Horsewell Lane every 12 mins.
But now, to save time, they just go along Moat St rather than doing the loop down to Little Hill shops (shown in light brown below).
The 44 (shown in yellow below) WILL still go round the loop down to Little Hill shops but every 30 mins, not every 12 mins.
When I pressed Arriva on this they say that they are trying to speed up the journey, and there were not enough people getting on to justify an every 12 minute rather than an every 30 min service.
Buses will still run along the top of the road so people can walk up to Moat street if they are at that end of the loop, or they can change buses there. They are going to put in a new bus stop by the Sainsbury's Local and re-start using the old one at Bushloe End.
I pressed them on the problems with this. For those at the far end of the loop by Little Hill shops this means that the service is less frequent. While it still takes you to the centre of Wigston and goes just as quickly to LRI as before, because it is less frequent there has been an issue about the people trying to match the timing of shifts at LRI, and he promised to take that away and look at it seriously.
The 47/48 and the 44a and 44b go to the train station - but the 44 doesn't so people will have to either walk or change bus to get there.
I did also point out that this has not been well communicated - he said they are supposed to be sending people a mailing explaining it - the new stops and so on had also not appeared on the maps.
The problem in trying to get them to change their mind is that this bit of the service is not subsidised and they insist the numbers only support a 30 min service not a 12 min service. Unless the council want to step in in some way there is nothing I can do to make them go down to Little Hill more often.
I think the problem has been compounded by the very confusing way this has been communicated.
You can find more detailed maps including live bus locations here → 44 - Leicester to Fleckney | Arriva UK Bus
