Letter: No profit in village buses

THE ARTICLES about villages with no buses ('No bus, no shop, no pub, no school', 3 April), and in praise of the success of Badgerline ('Down the road to riches', Business, 3 April) are not unconnected.

Warminster is on the edge of Badgerline country, and there are definitely gaps in the services. Warminster itself has a good rail service, but villages round about are not so fortunate. There are no evening buses, so without a car one is cut off from evening classes, cinema, theatre, societies, clubs etc. The last bus from Salisbury is at 5.45pm which makes employment until 6pm or later impossible. Badgerline has given notice that it is withdrawing a service from Warminster to Frome as it is not profitable.

As long as each village service has to be justified in terms of its individual profitability, and not within the overall profitability of a district, more villages are going to become isolated, and more cars are going to be forced on to the roads.

Bette Anderson

Warminster, Wilts