YOUR VIEWS: 'Travel changes are no benefit to commuter'
Register for free to read more of the latest local news. It's easy and will only take a moment.
Readers continue to discuss issues with Stagecoach buses as another flags up plans to mark Holocaust Memorial Day.
Travel changes are no benefit to commuter
I completely agree with the comments made by Colin Campbell in a recent article in the Courier regarding the diabolical bus service the people of Inverness have to put up with (Shivering in dark due to public transport shambles, Courier, 30/12/22)
Apart from it being pot luck whether buses turn up at all, Stagecoach have now once again changed their routes, and not for the better.
Instead of taking a direct route into the city centre some buses now take rambling routes in different directions taking half an hour to reach the city centre.
So much for public transport being the preferred alternative method of travel as being promoted by Highland councillors. I am sure they don’t have to rely on buses to get back and fore to their work.
As well as planning to ban cars from the roads, the Scottish Government is also targetting lorries and other transport vehicles, presumably expecting everything to go by rail instead.
The latest target from Green minister Lorna Slater is domestic flight travel within the UK. She wants people to travel by means other than plane if other options are available!
Thank goodness she can’t push this ridiculous idea through the Holyrood parliament as it is within UK government’s remit. But seemingly she wants to talk to the latter about it. I hope she is told to forget it. Are these people in the Scottish Government trying to bring the whole country to a halt. Did we vote for this?
J Maclennan
Castle Heather
Inverness
A reader’s letter about recent timetable changes by Stagecoach and the difficulties they caused for them also sparked online discussion.
“The changes haven’t been made according to passenger demand, it’s just easier for Stagecoach and the buses still aren’t turning up.” – Kim Corbett
“I am absolutely fed up to the back teeth with buses not turning up or taken off the board at the last minute, especially after stating they are due. It is grossly unfair to leave disabled, elderly folk waiting in the freezing cold for over an hour till the next bus decides to come. I understand it’s not the drivers’ fault but the service we have is abysmal to say the least, especially during the run up to Christmas. There are all these fancy new buses, but more often than not, pass us by at the bus stop with “Out of Service” sign. Not everyone can take a taxi, not everyone can walk to and from, not everyone has a car! We, the public, rely on the bus service, for a lot of folk the bus is their only mode of transport. So, come on Stagecoach, give us back our buses and give us the good service we are long overdue!!” – Margaret Edwards
“Kind of sounds like rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.” – Charles Bannerman
“They change at least twice a year, beyond a joke now.” – Allan Thomas Woodward
“Doesn’t make a difference if they’re not gonna turn up.” – Maw Broon
Work together to prevent genocide in the future
January 27 is a day of international commemoration to remember the millions of people murdered in the Holocaust, under Nazi persecution, and in the genocides which followed in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia and Darfur.
Between 1941 and 1945, six million Jewish men, women and children were murdered by the Nazis and their collaborators. The Nazis targeted anyone they believed threatened their ideal of a ‘pure Aryan race’, including Roma and Sinti people, disabled people, gay people, political opponents and others. The victims were targeted because of their identities: an attack on the diversity of humanity.
In 2018 the Inverness Interfaith Group, supported by Highland Council, inaugurated a Holocaust Memorial Day event. This year it will be on Tuesday, January 24 in the town house. The event is being co-hosted by Dr Maureen Sier, director of Interfaith Scotland. We invite you to join us at 7pm as we together bear witness for those who endured genocide, and honour the survivors and all those whose lives were changed beyond recognition.
As we look around the world today we see many people suffering in the harshest of circumstances, enduring the privations caused by the violence and brutality of war and extremist politics and feel helpless about doing anything to change things. We wish things were otherwise, but what can we do? The forces in charge are too strong. We are not brave enough to stand against them. But genocide never just happens. There is always a set of circumstances which occurs or which are created to build the climate in which genocide can take place. Genocide is a steady process which can begin if discrimination, racism and hatred are not checked. There are things we can do, actions we can take. We can educate ourselves about situations around the world at risk of genocide: The Aegis Trust, Genocide Watch and Holocaust Memorial Day websites are good places to start. We can learn about hate crime and report it when we see it, helping create a better future for all.
The President of Genocide Watch, Gregory H Stanton, developed an understanding of the 10 stages of genocide. He encourages us: ‘At each of the earlier stages there is an opportunity for members of the community or the international community to halt the stages and stop genocide before it happens.”
200 million people were killed by genocide in the 20th century. Let us not be among the bystanders, but let us work together and do what we can to make this new century a kinder, more peaceful and just era.
Marlene Finlayson
Letters should be emailed to newsdesk@hnmedia.co.uk. Please include your address and a daytime contact number. You can also tweet us @InvCourier or leave a comment on Facebook @invernesscourier
