Nelson Weekly Locally Owned and Operated
tuesday 20 June 2017
School musicians win top award
2017 AWARDS
Mid-winter marathon
Page 16-17
page 14
page 23
Last stop for Stoke loop Charles Anderson Whenever Barbara Minnitt wants to go anywhere she walks out the back gate of Summerset Village, crosses Nayland Rd and hails down a bus that appears every half an hour. But come June 30 the bus service, which has run for two years, will stop. Barbara, 75, says it will leave her, and a host of other regular users, stranded. “It would be regrettable to see it go. It’s great for the older population. They talk about people being socially isolated and if they can’t get out and about what’s going to happen?” The Weekly hopped aboard the service with Barbara last week to speak to those directly affected. “I think it’s disgusting, to be honest,” says 87-year-old Margaret Farish.
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“It’s just a pity more people don’t know about it.” Margaret uses the bus twice a week for shopping. She says it’s vital for her day to day life. Margaret says she would complain to council but her mind isn’t what it used to be and she struggles to concentrate for long periods of time. But when the service finishes she will have to walk 15 minutes to the nearest bus stop in the height of winter. “That’s not a good result by anyone’s standards,” she says. One bus driver, who does not want to be named, says the closing of the service, with nothing to replace it, does not make any sense. “When they first did the sums on it, it can’t have been to make a profit. It’s a service.” He says the Stoke Loop has
Barbara Minnitt is angry the Nelson City Council is closing the Stoke Loop bus service which she says is a vital lifeline for many elderly residents in the community. Photo: Charles Anderson.
SEE PAGE 4
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