i cant drive, cant afford to learn and couldnt afford a car and insurance if i did. this means my only option for work is what i can find in sedbergh which doesnt pay very highly esspecially if you dont have a licence. not everyone can rely on friends and family support to gain these either.

this means that the bus service is essential to me to allow me to go to places i usually wouldnt afford to be able to. esspecially because of the cost of a taxi to kendal which can cost anywhere from 20-40 pounds dependant on the time of day.

when i first moved here in 2004 there were already concerns about the dwindling services. there used to be night busses that would run on fridays and saturdays for people wanting to go out in kendal and busses to further afield like lancaster. all of these services allowed the community to spread and experience other nearby communities and oppurtunities. however by 2004 it was already only a fraction of what used to be offered with the still retained benefit of being able to work in kendal due to early bus and evening busses being available.

now your lucky if you can get 3-4 hours somewhere with someplaces only giving an hour or so. this is ok for a quick trip or overnight stay but not ideal in anyway.

the reason i raise all of this is that busses are vital to community growth both at home and away. i used to be able to go to lancaster for the day. now i need to ensure ive got a friend to give me a lift back which is just unsustainable.

we need all the busses we can get. more infact and cutting services over and over again to the nearly 3000 people of sedbergh alone nevermind the other communities serviced along the way. if you can get to a hub town like kendal yeah you can have some good places to visit and enjoy, but the surrounding communities are not given the scope to do so by cutting or not even providing funding which is a slap in the face to everyone paying the ever increasing council tax bill.