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Wednesday 5 February 2014

Suffolk Links

It occured to me that some of you townies might not know about Suffolk Links and how it works. Suffolk Links was introduced a few years ago to cater for those people living in locations not served by normal service buses. This has obviously greatly increased since the austerity cuts decimated council sponsored services. My new village was one of those affected and now I'm without a car for a few weeks if I want to leave the village I am reliant on this service.

Plus points are that it picks me up and drops me off outside my door, and will take me wherever I want in the area - that in my case is normally to a convenient bus stop to pick up the service buses. Last week though I had an engagement in another village not served by buses and it took me door to door. It charges bus fare rates and accepts concessionary passes. The drivers seem knowledgable and friendly and it is a whole lot better than nothing.

Minus points are that it has to be booked in advance, so rules out spontaneity, and there is no guarantee you'll get the pick up times you want. You can only have two bookings at any one time. I'm hoping to get back up to Yarmouth on Friday but that is no certainty at the moment as I won't be able to book till tomorrow having used them today. If you are using them for leisure purposes the long range weather forecast is crucial, but as I said it is much. much better than nothing.

My first (and later my last) bus of the day! A Peugeot something!

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6 comments:

  1. suffolkraider5 February 2014 at 11:19

    It's a good service. As a driver for the other one Beccles and Bungay Area Community Transport (BACT) I enjoy the work but not have done the service 532 yet mainly doing the car work and odd minibus jobs. I hope the bus lobby don't push for us to be licensed as per PSV which will put a lot of volunteers off.

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  2. Steve W5 February 2014 at 11:57

    I hope not but since there are only 8 seats plus wheelchair the vehicles can't be classed as PSV's, and can be driven on car licences. I assume though since fares are charged you need Private Hire licences? Anyway I got my booking for Friday so that's good.

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  3. Anonymous5 February 2014 at 13:12

    thanks I wondered what Suffolk link was now I know thanks c

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  4. suffolkraider5 February 2014 at 20:25

    We have 17 seaters and wav's the buses have tail lifts for chairs which we are allowed on a section 19 permit to drive with no psv or ph needed as volunteers but we do need midas training for disablement awareness and wheelchair security etc

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  5. Steve W5 February 2014 at 20:35

    Ah I stand corrected. Thanks for the info.

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  6. Anonymous24 May 2015 at 12:48

    hi Steve thanks for the information I wondered how it worked .clive

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