AFTER altering most of the bus services across the area, First has vowed to listen to passengers’ complaints and make changes.
The firm changed most of its services across Portsmouth, Fareham, Havant and Gosport, on Sunday in a bid to improve the network.
But it has suffered backlash from numerous passengers.
Many have complained of being unable to get to specific destinations, having to take two buses where previously there was one direct service, longer journey times, and less frequent services.
And now First has said it will listen to the complaints and see if further changes are needed.
A spokeswoman for First said: ‘We have received a lot of feedback in relation to the changes that have taken place in south east Hampshire.
‘We are grateful for all the comments and we are doing our best to respond to customers and stakeholders, offering them information about why the changes have been made.
‘We will be reviewing all the feedback we have had and will be learning from the issues that have cropped up this week.’
Some steps have already been taken to ensure this happens – for example a large bus will now be running on the number 3 service.
Children who use this service to get to King Richard’s School, in Paulsgrove, say they were late for school on both Monday and Tuesday after their bus was more than 40 minutes late, as previously reported.
Others have commented that connection times are too long, drivers do not seem to know their new routes, buses are not arriving when they are time-tabled to, and that when they do arrive they are so full that no more passengers are allowed on.
The spokeswoman added: ‘We are aware that there have been a few issues this week.
‘We are working hard to address these but would like to take this opportunity to apologise to those who have been inconvenienced by them.’
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