Add to this the change to route 864 through Chedworth village (starting today) and I now realise that is a lot of paperwork!
The changing or creation of a route has become a tedious process! Gone are the days of excitement about how it was going to perform, replaced by the laborious process of negotiation and registration.
The change to the 864 for example was initiated by Chedworth Parish Council who, if looking at a map, wanted the route moved a little to the right! So Chedworth Parish Council contacted us and, as the route is effectively owned by Gloucestershire County Council, then contacted them. Gloucestershire County Council then contact us leading to the postal and email systems being overloaded for a while asking if we thought this was a good idea! Whether or not we considered this to be of any benefit will become less relevant as time progresses and it becomes more of a political issue! To be perfectly honest this change, being of a minor nature, meant that there was no issue to us if it happened or not however I personally don't see any possibility of this change increasing patronage! But the machine of change continues and so a change date is agreed and the paperwork may begin as follows: -
- Fill out the registration form (4 pages)
- Fill out the supplimentary registration form (2 pages)
- Provide a scale map of the route (8 pages)
- Write a route description (1 page)
- Create a timetable (1 page)
- Write a cheque for £60.00
And so my 18 pages must now be copied 3 times, 1 for the Traffic Commissioners Office, 1 for the Local Authority and 1 for the file. So thats 54 sheets of paper and a good quantity of printer ink!
Fortunately the Council will print the timetables!!!!!
