I decided to travel to Crawley the other day - by bus. I won't be doing that again until some radical improvements are made to our buses.What was the problem? Well, due to the medication I'm on, this makes me feel lightheaded and dizzy. I also cannot carry heavy bags of shopping, have arthritis in my hips, so use a Sholley Trolley. Fed up with having been stuck at home for a while decided to make the trip into Crawley.
Not only did the bus NOT have a step that gets lowered down, but I had to physically lift my trolley onto the bus only JUST being able to squeeze it past the rail. Once onto the bus I realised there was absolutely nowhere to put my trolley and only a small area for small bags of shopping.
Anyone like me - with a shopping trolley, or mothers with pushchairs were totally at a loss where to put these on the bus. I had no alternative but to block up the aisle with much hissing of breath and tutting when folk tried to get on or off.
I was told that the Crawley buses are designed with a lowering step and also room for trolleys/pushchairs - so why can the Horsham buses not also be pushchair/trolley friendly???
Considering that nearly half the population in Horsham is middle-aged and over then it should be recognised by the powers that be that older folk have additional needs i.e. most of us will be using trolleys etc.
Equally - what about the young mums with pushchairs???
Seats on buses are also pushed too close one behind the other so you cannot sit facing straight as your knees are rammed up against the back of the seat in front.
GET THE TRAIN I hear some of you say - well, ever tried that with a trolley or pushchair ??? The lift is constantly out of order and I cannot physically carry my trolley up stairs.
Despite Horsham Station having some sort of conservation order on it to remain as it is - I personally think that's a cop out. It's miserably inadequate for today's commuters. It's too small, needs revamping, upgrading, improved, made larger.
So again - whoever is responsible for the improvements of Horsham - sort out the railway station as well.