I REFER to the letter from?Sue Dubois from Newnham whose letter 'A vintage celebration' called for 'Better buses for the Dean' and introduced a 'Transport champion' newly elected on the district council.

Buses breaking down is bad enough at the best of times, but when you have connections to make or appointments to keep, it is disastrous. What is needed is a bus which keeps on going, and the bus which fulfills that demand is the RM as opposed to the EE. The RM is known as the Routemaster, the EE is Everything Else.

If ever there was a case in which technology took a step backwards, this is it. The old RM had so many advantages over the EE that it should be re-introduced into service. At the depot you could climb aboard the RM and sit there while waiting for the time of departure. On the EE you are kept out because the door is shut, no matter how inclement the weather, how heavy the shopping, or how long the queue. The RM carried a conductor who would provide information on bus times or indicate to strangers the location of the appropriate bus stop.

On the EE there is a notice telling you not to even speak to the driver while the bus is in motion. The conductor on the RM utilises the time spent travelling collecting fares. The EE is held up at the bus stop until the last in the queue has climbed aboard and paid the fare. It is possible to go sprinting down the road and jumping on board a passing RM, and when you arrive you can jump off it in the middle of the road and run to the pavement. The EE does not provide that opportunity. Those who are not so nimble-footed can always wait till the bus gets to the bus stop anyway. The RM kept going. It is the EE on which Sue Dubois recommends the 'Transport Champion' brings his own spanner and survival kit.

I hope the 'Transport Champion' will make some alterations to the bus routes as well as the bus types. There are three routes in the Forest, 31 and 30 as well as 23. All three could continue going to Gloucester Bus Station; but one could go there direct, one could go via Gloucester Railway Station, and the other via Gloucestershire Royal Hospital.

The Routemaster first appeared in 1954 and they are now getting a bit long in the tooth. The answer, however, was not to build what we have to put up with today, but to build new Routemasters.

– Anthony Reeve, Littledean.