Withdrawn Centrebus service from Grantham to Great Gonerby leaves elderly residents frustrated

A withdrawn bus service has left elderly residents frustrated as their chances to go into town have been reduced.

Centrebus, which runs bus services within the Grantham area, withdrew the number 14 bus, which ran from Grantham to Great Gonerby, in November 2022.

As a result, Centrebus now offers the number 24, which runs from Grantham to Newark.

Two women in their 80s, who wished to remain anonymous, live on Kelham Road and they both used to catch the number 14 at this stop where it picked up passengers every hour.

Now they are only able to catch the number 24 at 9.30am from this stop and if they want to return on this service, they have to catch it again at 11.35am.

This leaves them with little time to spend in town and “none of us have time to meet people”, one woman said.

She added: “This is the only bus we can get into town. We’re trying to get across a busy road to the other stop with walking frames and some with shopping trolleys and one of these days someone is going to get badly injured.”

Kelham Road is primarily made up of elderly residents.

The other woman, who wished to remain anonymous, said: “We feel very bitter. I like to go out for coffee with my friends but if I do I have to come back early in the afternoon.

“A lot of us are in our 80s and 90s, so it is not fair that we can’t have buses come down in our direction.

“If we have appointments, we have to time them with the buses or get taxis which is expensive.

“It’s ridiculous. We don’t want to sit here and rot.”

Lincolnshire County Council has contacted Centrebus to request an additional service that would return at 2.10pm, but “unfortunately, they felt this was not logistically possible within the constraints of the timetable”, said a spokesperson for LCC.

The spokesperson added: "The changes mentioned were brought about by Centrebus, who have taken the commercial decision to withdraw the service 14 and amalgamate two of these trips into the service 24.

"Centrebus have maintained a 9.30am journey into Grantham with a 11.35am return serving Kelham Road, with all other trips stopping on the High Street opposite Kelham Road.

"Where residents are unable to reach the main bus stop on the High Street, CallConnect can be utilised for journeys into Grantham on a bookable basis – there is availability within the service to accommodate passengers’ needs here and the service is available Monday to Friday, 7am until 7pm, whilst also providing journeys 7.30am until 6.30pm on Saturdays."