IN response to Mr Collison’s letter, “Another fine mess for bus company” (March 11), I do now believe it is a tactic that is being widely used by First Manchester.

For the last couple of years they have made life intolerable for those who rely on the 95 bus. This has been due to late runnings, buses not turning up and basically providing such an unreliable service that people stop using it.

This, in turn, means that First Manchester then threatens to withdraw from the route unless it is backed by council tax money through the GMPTA making it a tendered route. In other words, the bus company gets money for nothing due to their clever tactics!

The company’s shareholders must be very happy with that — gaining a profit for providing the worst bus service imaginable.

In fact, the 95 bus has become so unpopular due to First’s mis-management of the route (and its predecessors — 92, 94, 520, 536 and 537) that it withdrew it commercially from mid-April, only for GMPTA to step in and fund the route — albeit hourly instead of every 30 minutes — for the next three months.

Now, how many more people will give up on the route considering its being reduced to an hour? How much more traffic will there be on the roads?

First is now managing this tactic on routes 507, 510, 561 and 562, which have seen a reduction in patronage, an increase in the unreliability of the routes and increase in car traffic on the route.

How much longer before First withdraws these routes and then starts on the few routes they have left in Bolton?

Remember, First now only has 20 bus routes in the town, compared to the 60 it had 10 years ago!

Michael Bosje, Whiteoak View, Darcy Lever